You are reading

Airbnb Suspends Bayside Squatters From Renting Rooms in Crime-Plagued House

State Sen. John Liu and Assembly Member Edward Braunstein called on Airbnb Friday to ban listings for a crime-plagued house at 208-16 38th Ave. in Bayside. They also asked the Department of Buildings to issue a vacate order (Photo courtesy of State Sen. John Liu’s office)

March 28, 2022 By Christian Murray

A rally held outside a Bayside house Friday calling on Airbnb to stop listing a property with problematic occupants has proved successful– with the company notifying elected officials that it has canceled all bookings.

Bayside residents and elected officials held a rally outside a house at 208-16 38th Ave. where there have been numerous complaints about squatters illegally renting it via Airbnb. The house has been a source of late night parties, excessive noise and confrontations with neighbors.

The officials called for Airbnb to ban the property from being listed and for the city to issue a vacate order on the home. The issue came to head following a shooting that took place outside the house during the early hours on Saturday, March 19, when shots were fired at a group of teens looking to park their vehicle on the way to a party at the house.

Multiple shots were fired, according to police, with one passenger in the vehicle struck in the torso and taken to hospital in stable condition. Meanwhile, another bullet went through a different vehicle piecing a child’s car seat.

State Sen. John Liu and Assemblyman Edward Braunstein held the rally, where they blasted Airbnb and the city for not clamping down on the squatters. They, along with Congresswoman Grace Meng, wrote a joint letter to Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky demanding that the company ban all listings pertaining to the house.

On Saturday, Meng said that she had been contacted by Airbnb and that the company said that it had canceled all bookings under the address and suspended the listing indefinitely.

“I appreciate Airbnb’s prompt response to my office and its willingness to remedy this situation,” Meng said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing my conversations with the company. As I’ve said, residents of this neighborhood must not have their safety put at risk and their quality of life disrupted, and State Sen. John Liu, Assemblyman Ed Braunstein and I will continue to keep up this fight.”

Braunstein was also thankful to Airbnb for taking steps.

The announcement came less than 24 hours after he had blasted the company for allowing the squatters to rent rooms.

“The pattern of disregard and disrespect shown by the individuals squatting at the single-family residence on 38th Avenue escalated to violence last week [March 19] when illegal Airbnb guests brazenly opened fire on the surrounding streets,” Braunstein said at the rally.

“Several times in the past, my office has worked with residents to get Airbnb listings at the property shut down, only for it to appear again under another account,” Braunstein added Friday, when he called for a permanent ban.

“I thank Airbnb for hearing the community’s concerns,” Braunstein said in a statement Saturday. “Moving forward, we will all continue to carefully monitor the activity at this address.”

Liu is also calling on the Dept. of Buildings to issue a vacate order on the house.

“There are several problems at this location that are preventing a satisfying resolution for our community,” Liu said Friday. “At the end of the day, the city needs to be the one to step up and recognize the dangers here as reason enough to vacate the premises and keep our community safe.”

Bayside residents and elected officials held a rally outside a house at 208-16 38th Ave. Friday (GMaps)

email the author: [email protected]
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Queens Public Library hosts conversation with Astoria author on borough history

Borough history geeks will want to mark Tuesday, April 4, on their calendars for the Queens Public Library’s Queens Memory Project online talk with Astoria author Rebecca Bratspies. The processor at CUNY Law in Long Island City will discuss her new book, “Naming Gotham: The Villains, Rogues and Heroes Behind New York’s Place Names,” and take a deep dive into the lives of the people for whom many Queens places are named, some of which have become synonymous with congestion, recreation or culture.

“Queens is the most diverse place on the planet. That diversity is our greatest strength. Our patchwork of unique neighborhoods has welcomed successive waves of immigrants, each adding incredible foods and traditions to our vibrant civic life,” Bratspies said. “Yet it is striking how few of the names that grace Queens’ major infrastructure actually reflect that diversity. By tracing the lives of the people whose names have become New York’s urban shorthand for congestion, recreation, and infrastructure, Naming Gotham offers readers an accessible way to understand the complexity of multiracial, multicultural New York City.”

Mayor aims to streamline leadup to city’s public review process to better attack affordable housing crisis

Long before the cement trucks begin lining up on Tom Seaver Way and shovels hit the ground on the ambitious Willets Point project across from Citi Field, touted as a transformational endeavor that will bring a 25,000-seat soccer stadium and 2,500 affordable homes to the Iron Triangle, it must first go through the city’s arduous public review process known as Uniformed Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP).

The largest 100% affordable, new construction housing project in four decades will be scrutinized by the Department of City Planning, local community boards, the borough president and Borough Board and the City Council before it ever lands on the desk of Mayor Eric Adams.

Parks Department launches new maintenance initiative to address cleanliness in public greenspaces in Queens and throughout NYC

With temperatures rising and days growing longer, the NYC Parks Department has launched a new maintenance initiative that will deploy 240 newly hired full-time staff to address cleanliness in city parks during peak days and hours.

The so-called “Second Shift” will collect trash and litter and mitigate graffiti at 100 hot spots in 62 parks across the five boroughs. The additional shift will operate from Thursday to Sunday in the evening hours to create cleaner parks while also fighting the scourge of rats — a frequent target of Mayor Eric Adams, who announced the new program in November as part of his “Get Stuff Done” initiative.

Middle Village school encouraging students to walk to school on National Walking Day

P.S./I.S. 49 in Middle Village school is encouraging its students to walk to school on April 5 in celebration of National Walking Day.

According to the school’s Parent/Teacher Coordinator Christina Chiaramonte, the initiative started when she learned about National Walking Day from a local parent and thought it would be a fun idea for students. Additionally, she said the effort could potentially help to alleviate vehicular traffic around the perimeter of the school, creating a safer environment for students.

Hero cops from Queens’ 105th Precinct perform life-saving CPR on 15-month-old baby

A pair of police officers from the 105th Precinct in Queens Village performed life-saving CPR on a 15-month-old baby in Brookville earlier this month, according to the NYPD.

Police responded to a 911 call regarding an unconscious baby at a residence near 226th Street and 146th Avenue in Brookville just after 2 a.m. on March 8. The baby’s family was present at the time of the incident and made the 911 call, according to a police spokesperson.