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A homeless couple has commandeered part of a block in Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s old neighborhood and turned it into \u201ca nauseating love nest where they booze it up, have sex, and poop in pizza boxes, ignoring disgusted locals who fruitlessly beg the city to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n
So reports the New York Post<\/em> in its Saturday editions, saying<\/a> the couple have been living in a \u201cmountain of their own trash\u201d on 30th Avenue near Steinway Street in Astoria for the last month, commandeering the sidewalk between a Duane Reade convenience store and a New York Sports Club fitness gym.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m on the way to the gym, 8:30 a.m., the guy is squatting over a camp chair and the other woman is holding a pizza box under him to defecate in,\u201d neighbor Chris Shingler told the Post.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThis is primetime, workday, kids going by to school, this is right out front in the middle of the sidewalk,\u201d said the 46-year-old, who has been in the neighborhood with his wife for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife goes to the gym at 5:30 a.m. and she saw the woman performing oral sex on the man,\u201d he continued. \u201cTough way to start your day.\u201d<\/p>\n At least four schools, including a preschool, are all within a five-minute walk, according to the tabloid.<\/p>\n A Post<\/em> reporter recently went to the scene and watched the couple \u2014 who identified themselves only as Michael and Marabel \u2014 threaten a cleaning crew hired by an adjacent building to oust them.<\/p>\n They refused to budge.<\/p>\n \u201cFuck no!\u201d roared Michael. \u201cGo fuck yourself!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you bother my wife, I\u2019ll fuck you up!\u201d he screamed in between guzzling Vodka.<\/p>\n He also warned the Post<\/em> reporter, \u201cI shoot people,\u201d claiming to be a former U.S. Marine.<\/p>\n The maintenance workers eventually gave up.<\/p>\n Mayor Mamdani reversed his past opposition to removing homeless encampments when a winter storm killed 19 people earlier this year. But, according to the tabloid, the couple\u2019s sprawl doesn\u2019t qualify for removal because it doesn\u2019t have any \u201cbuilt structures.\u201d<\/p>\n Police told the Post<\/em> they have received multiple calls about the couple but claimed they had no proof of illegal activities.<\/p>\n Astoria has become a desired, gentrified neighborhood in Queens but still maintains an ethnically diverse population.<\/p>\n As the city\u2019s tourist site describes<\/a> it:<\/p>\n Just across the East River from Midtown, this Queens neighborhood is a hotbed of international culture and dining \u2014 including a longstanding Greek presence and a Little Egypt centered on busy Steinway Street. Its film-related history and sights provide another draw, as does the attractive waterfront park that bears the neighborhood\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Ironically, even the homeless couple with the trash heap are miffed how they have been able to camp without being tossed.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just don\u2019t see this kind of thing in Astoria,\u201d Marabel told the Post.<\/em><\/p>\n Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller\u00a0<\/em>House of Secrets\u00a0<\/em><\/a>and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See\u00a0<\/em>lowellcauffiel.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0for more.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n