The owner of a Los Angeles home known as a “garbage house” due to bags of trash piled up on the property was spotted outside on the same day city workers began removing the pile of trash.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass came to his door Wednesday to order immediate action against what the city called an “immediate threat to health and public safety.”
“To me, this is a public health emergency,” Bass said. “This is a fire hazard and I’m concerned about the people who are there, this place catching on fire, losing lives and damaging the quality of life for our neighbors.”
Neighbors say they’ve had to deal with odors and rats for years because of the mess, but the media attention has focused on the home on North Martell Avenue near Melrose Avenue. He said he was finally relieved that something had been done to address the situation.
A “garbage house” in Los Angeles attracts attention as an eyesore and a threat to public safety.
Raymond Gaon, the owner of a “garbage house” in Los Angeles, was spotted outside on April 3, 2024. (FOX 11 Ross Angle)
“It’s sad that it got this bad and took this long,” neighbor Charlie Topial told KTLA-TV. “I think it should have been addressed years ago.”
Hours after Basu’s remarks, sanitation workers wearing coveralls and masks arrived and began loading trash into trucks.
Local FOX11 reported that when the garbage bags were removed, numerous items were revealed underneath, including multiple cars.
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Garbage bags were piled up outside homes in Los Angeles’ affluent Fairfax neighborhood. (KTTV)
Raymond Gaon has owned a two-bedroom Spanish-style home in the Fairfax neighborhood since the mid-1990s, public records obtained. Los Angeles Times state.
“He’s a very nice guy, a sweet guy,” developer Jonathan Fromen told the Times. Fromen built a house next to Gaon’s house and is currently building another house on the same street, the Times reported.
The garden was cleaned up briefly in 2018 and 2019 after Gaon was charged with a misdemeanor for failing to comply with a court cleanup order (the case was ultimately dismissed), the Times reported. Since then, trash has started piling up again, neighbors told local media.
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Aerial photos of this home on North Martell Avenue show how much trash has gathered around the house. (KTTV)
The Department of Building and Safety has filed more than a dozen complaints about the property since last July, according to records obtained by the Los Angeles Times. The city issued an order to comply in November pending an investigation.
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“Whatever this issue is, it’s psychological so I hope the homeowner can get some help,” neighbor Anthony Thurston told KTLA.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
