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Nice Neighbors

long_island_rose

17 years ago

"We never thought to check on him."

Here is a link that might be useful:

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Comments (14)

long_island_rose
Original Author
17 years ago
Sorry...the link didn't post.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--long-deadman0217feb17,0,5099428,print.story

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to story
zeffyrose
17 years ago
I saw this on the TV--what a sad way to end your life and no one cared enough to check on him

How are you Wendy???

Florence
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All of which goes to show....do what it takes not to fight with your neighbors. They may be unreasonable (one of ours called the cops to report an abandoned car parked in front of our house....that belonged to my daughter who was on vacation). They may be dead wrong (one of ours thought that, because their property is subject to an easement for use by their adjoining neighbors, they had an easement to use my property). They may even be right (when we were first married more than 30 years ago, another of ours objected that our dog, who we had trained to retrieve the newspaper, was taking their paper. She was.). We have learned to be considerate. When their wishes infringe on our right to live as we please, we set down boundaries, explaining why and what we are doing, accommodating what we can. Neighbor doesn't like cars parked in our driveway? Too bad. We have friends. Neighbor likes to spray the property line with Roundup? Fine, so long as not one drop gets on my plants planted along the fence line. Neighbor doesn't like the view of my yard from their living room window? Fair enough. We do what we can, planting screening to soften infrastructure installed by the developer. Of course I wonder why they didn't do the same on their own property. But I screen nonetheless. It's all part of being a good neighbor. Funny how barking dogs and trash containers get people nuts. We have neighbors who seems to think that leaving the emptied trash containers up on the street for an hour past trash pickup is a sign of poor breeding. Oh well. The green can is so heavy that I cannot wrangle it up the driveway. I get half way up, and it rolls me right back down. So when my gardener fills it, he also does the service of putting the green can up by the street. Neighborhoods used to be organized with those wonderful alleyways at the back of the property. We don't live in that world any more. As for dogs, there's a big difference between a young dog learning to enjoy staying in the yard alone for the first time and a dog that barks all day, every work day while its owner is at work. But not to my neighbors.
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Nice to know you are a good neighbor as well, to help her out.. it is great that we will see you more often SamKaren. How goes the DJ business?? Isn't that your thing??? Glad you have a good neighbor!!!
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Damn, I have some crazy neighbors too, also with anger issues which involve swearing, yelling and throwing things at our young children and puppy. One thing I have learned is the police and justice system in my area have not protected us. We tried to go to court for an anti-harassment protection order, we had photos of property damage, illegal cameras monitoring us especially in areas of our property we have an expectation to privacy, bruises they'd given me by throwing stuff at the kids and me while in our yard etc. We got nothing, they submitted no evidence but a statement which was full of lies and holes (even harassed us within it, accusing is of being drug users with no reasons or facts to back it up and stated we have never harassed her, she's never felt threatened by us--oh but she told the police and our landlord we were! We've always ignored these people too, tried to do our best to appease them and follow their ridiculous request (minis taking down a tire swing that was there when we moved in and is legal to be there and use) we have no legal reason to follow. They break the law too, expired tabs and no permits for their yard, fence and housework. And we ignored it with loud noises all spring and summer, all times of day and night. They even cause pot holes in the road and left large rocks, the size of a child's head, on the sidewalk and street from fixing a retaining wall up front. They shovel snow onto our clean sidewalks and vehicles. You just can't reason with crazy! I'd avoid any communication with this guy. Anyways, what I've learned from them is absolutely follow through with legal actions, don't be intimidated and bullied by them. Try to have your neighbors help you document what they are doing! Most important, document as much as possible, the cameras sound like a huge help! Even recording any interactions you have with him (use in the court varies by state but should you need a no contact/protection order you should be able to submit it for that as it's not used for criminal charges). What helps with the documenting are police records. When it's bad don't be afraid to use the police just so something is filed, it'll help you create an official documented history of their illegal activities (I think parking on your yard and walking on it to damage your vehicles counts as trespassing! Nothing to be done it is on public property unless the cars are left unmoved for so long/expired tabs/not road worthy. I'd move forward with looking into his 'business', reaching out to your cities non emergency hotline or police, they won't give legal advice but can send you to the right department/resources so someone can come investigate your concerns/accusations. They can also help you find out where to file for anti-harassment/no contact orders, and if they're yelling at you and trespassing I'm sure you'll get one with enough evidence and a long enough documented history. Good luck and nail that annoying pest!
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I am happy with the neighbors I have - they are not best friends (like some neighbors I have had). I'm in the city limits of Los Angeles, but the neighborhood has a somewhat suburban feel to it, and the street has almost no traffic. When I lived in Venice (just before moving to where I am now), I had very friendly neighbors on one side, but they were very young and had parties almost every week-end (we were invited), but this did not bother me. Venice has mostly renters but Westchester (where I live now) is mostly owner occupied and there are almost no rental houses on my street now. When I rented in Culver City, my next door neighbors became my best friends, but then we moved away from each other and don't see each other as often as we used to.
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michaelalreadytaken
17 years ago
Yikes! That is sad.

MichaelAT
morz8 - Washington Coast
17 years ago
Well, it sounds sad, but 'TV still on' as in operating?

Who was paying the power bill?

If this is true, I agree the neighbors should be whipped. Right along with the mail carrier, public utilities who should have noticed the lack of payments etc.

Mine must be one nosy neighborhood, anything that appears to be out of ordinary with even a loose schedule is checked on. DH thought an older neighbors house looked too quiet, too dark, too early one night after we hadn't seen her outdoors in ONE day and called....woke Catherine out of a sound sleep at 8 PM, she'd gotten bored with television, turned off the lights and gone to bed :)
anntn6b
17 years ago
It's sad.
But there's another side to it. There wasn't anyone he was checking on...who would have noticed his inaction and would have done something about it.
If he had family, they didn't make an effort to know his neighbors...or to give phone numbers to call.
It's only a two way street if people want it to be. If one wants privacy, there is a price.
long_island_rose
Original Author
17 years ago
The print edition story gives more details about him and his neighbors. The poor guy was a long-time resident with long-time neighbors:

Mail had piled up, but then stopped being delivered. Neighbors said they had tried to keep an eye on Riccardi, who had diabetes and had become blind in his 50s... Next door neighbors said they never noticed the mail piling up. Another neighbor saw the mail pile up and thought he was in the hospital. Riccardi lived in the home for decades. He built the two-story house after he emigrated from Italy and worked in construction. It's not known why power wasn't shut off or mail stopped being delivered.
long_island_rose
Original Author
17 years ago
Oh, here it is:

Here is a link that might be useful: More detailed news story
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
17 years ago
One of her neighbors found my mom. She had a massive brain anyurism(sp?) while she was apparently taking in her trash barrel and collapsed on the driveway. Since she was so petite no one noticed she was behind the barrel for 2 days. Then one neighbor noticed the newspaper not taken in and the normally closed garage door open a long time and went and checked around and found her.

We'd just taken her out for breakfast the day before she passed away. She said she was going to go to the dentist and do some stuff with friends so don't bother calling for a few days, so I didn't go over like I usually did.

It was just awful. The police called me. It was a terrible shock. The county coroner had to do an autopsy, which determined an anyurism (sp?) said that she was probably gone within a minute or so...was probably unconsious within seconds...

There was messages on the phone from the Dentist and her friends, saying, 'hey, did you forget your schedule?'

Several of my Mom's neighbors and my Mom had all lived there 40+ years (my Mom and Dad were "the new people"--only 33 years) and they all sort of watched out for each other. They had all informally agreed to keep an eye out for each other.

It is baffling that they did not notice the NY gentleman had gone missing. But what I hope is that he passed away painlessly in his sleep, without suffering. That is really what matters, that he was not there helpless in need of care, and ended up dying before he should have.

We are just all in such a hurry these days, tangled in our own little webs.
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
17 years ago
Neighbor April Cowden said she would occasionally read Riccardi's mail to him, pay his bills and buy him groceries. When he began to demand more of her time in the summer of 2005, she said, they had a falling out. "I needed to go to work [one day] and he wanted me to stay," said Cowden, 37.

About a month later, Cowden said, she saw an ambulance at his house. When she saw the mail pile up, Cowden thought he was in the hospital.

Geeze, she must feel bad.
harryshoe zone6 eastern Pennsylvania
17 years ago
It would have been a hell of a lot worse if family members lived in the house with him and just got so used to him watching TV all the time...

I should be beaten for writing that.
irish_rose_grower
17 years ago
LIR - very sad that a person can die and no one even knows they are in the house.
rose_nutty
17 years ago
Are we sure this story is really for real? It sounds vaguely familiar to me - like something that has gone around before some years ago. Plus, would anybody's home be dry enough even in the dead of winter to preserve him like a mummy? I know that my in house, even dry as it gets in our COLD winters, meat that I put in my garbage still rots. And even if it did manage to keep him through the winter, what about when summer rolled around - the humidity would kick in. I know truth can be stranger than fiction, but I'm not sure this story really flies with me.
long_island_rose
Original Author
17 years ago
Yes, I agree, this does sound unbelievable. But I swear it's completely true! (This is a local event here with lots of local news coverage.) Apparently the guy's body mummified *before* the summer humidity set in. Imagine that!

LIR
PRO
Susan Serra
17 years ago
definitely real...the news crews, police tape, etc. were all over it just a few weeks back. On the local news. I don't get the mummy part, him having gone through the summer, but I won't go down that road right now....

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