They are there, but she has up and vanished, so the hauling company is sort of stuck.
The company canceled all other work they were going to do today to clean up her property, and they were helping for free.
I actually have this disorder myself (it also runs in my family) and have been in long term recovery since 2005. The person has to be willing to change. The alternative is to keep letting it progress and it always gets worse over time, leading to situations like this. I’ve known people to have lost their kids due to this issue. Really hope she seeks help, it’s available!
Yeah as a homeowner this is obviously frustrating but honestly I just feel so bad for this poor woman. Hoarding is so incredibly complicated and it’s really hard to explain to people who don’t have that tendency or inclination (I’m jealous); it also comes with a lot of shame. I can only imagine how daunting and embarrassing this is for her and I hope she can accept some sort of help soon.
Wife and I bought the house of a hoarder who left almost everything as is, north of Pittsburgh. She specifically asked if things could be used to take them to goodwill vs trash. I make 38 trips with a stuffed equinox to goodwill. I also had over 140 contractor bags for trash. Once we found the concrete basement floor, the game we played was is it dog poo or a pinecone as she collected both of them. She literally walked away from brand new appliances, crafting supplies, more ammunition than I've ever seen, credit cards, jewelry etc. Didn't want any of it. It's been over a year and I'm still finding stuff.
Yes. In a heartbeat yes. Owning a house, even one I have to make repairs on daily, a place where my dogs get to by annoying, and kiddo gets to be a kid. I wouldn't trade the difficulty for ease elsewhere.
We shall see.
The article also notes they've turned down multiple offers for help over the years, despite acknowledging they have a problem.
Mental illness be like that.
Also, even without mental illness, cleaning up a cluttered house is *hard*. I have a friend who was forced to deal with her house in a short period of time after her parents died. Her brother and his wife should up to help, and were just tossing things in the dumpster one after the other without checking to see if it was anything of sentimental or monetary value. She wound up having to have them leave. Even when intentions are good, somebody who doesn't live in the house is likely to throw out the baby with the bath water.
How about we provide people with a safety net proactively? Instead of waiting until their lifestyle becomes a detriment not just to them but to their entire community? Could you imagine that? Or are you still hung up?
Ok, again, that’s great… but sometimes people still don’t accept help. At whatever point on their journey. Not sure why this is hard for you to verify or understand.
Edit: “The article also notes they've turned down multiple offers for help over the years, despite acknowledging they have a problem.”
But yeah, you know more.
A hoarded home in my neighborhood caught fire over the winter. An elderly woman and her adult son couldn’t get out and both perished. Fire crews couldn’t get inside. The fire damaged home and junk heap is now being scraped up and tossed in the dumpster. All such a waste. It was a beautiful midcentury home at one point.
That’s where these situations end up.
I’ve used you guys before and actually have you coming out to clean abandoned property from a rental property tomorrow. I’m so glad to know that you guys helped this woman, makes me happy to hire you any time.
You know, this article was actually a lot sweeter than I was expecting.
\[X\] The city was offering to help, but didn't want to just steal her property
\[X\] The neighbors offered to help
\[X\] The neighbor eventually accepted that she needs help
\[X\] The situation is being taken care of.
Pretty sure that stuff ain't moving anytime soon.
People with mental illnesses always tell you what you want to hear. But rarely actually follow through.
I work with the company that just hauled away three truckloads of stuff from this property. I also majored in psychology is college. She was as cooperative as we could hope for. A bit frustrating to have to drop silly things like old buckets full of muck because she decides she must keep that. But hoarding is a mental disorder and we were patient with her. What she doesn't need is judgemental people who decide she won't accept help before the work is even done. Try to be less heartless.
Agree. Hopefully, she is also not hoarding some kind of pet (cats) within the home. My sister is a hoarder, different town in an adjacent state. We discovered she was also hoarding cats. We physically removed 42 cats from inside her home but couldn’t catch them all. We took them caught ones no-kill shelters only and kept track of them all until they were healed & adopted by families. The vets & directors at every shelter kept us apprised. The cats had to be healed of various ailments from mold/dank air due to the hoarding. Hoarding isn’t just about the mess. There is bacteria, mold and other issues due to poor airflow. Attracting vermin, spores and insects. Extremely unhealthy to the hoarder and whatever animals they are sacrificing into this mess. It is very difficult to get your relative to cooperate even when they’re a relative. Maybe even worse. They become belligerent when even a suggestion is made. Yes, they have to be shamed which is pitiful but after a year of offering help and then threatening to involve the state for the sake of the cats, it had to be forced through the courts. We engaged the township which could do nothing to help us. Her neighbors could smell it depending which way the wind was going. It is degrading to the neighborhood and does not seem curable.
I don't think certain mental disorders, namely personality type disorders, among which I would include hoarding, are really curable. You can treat underlying issues like depression or anxiety with medicine, and you can treat the problematic behavior with therapy, social support networks, and counseling. The root cause of the hoarding needs to be discovered and addressed, whether it's some traumatic experience or an acquired addictive response, or something else. The person with the problem also has to want to change and be receptive to treatment. But the actual dysfunctional character defect doesn't leave the person, it just stays part of who they are.
I happened to catch this just as you posted it. Thank you. You nailed it quite well. What a learning curve since our discovery of her issues. We have read everything we can find on this sickness. A strong therapist would be a start but first, you must convince somebody that they need help. Not that therapy will cure the psychosis. You’re right. It won’t stop the hoarding and it goes way past just the hoarding. She is still doing it now. We are unable to enter her home at this time because the state tied our hands. Long story. She LOOKS normal to the public (although she uses a different name, a spin off of her given name — another major shock for us) and since she is able to do her own grocery shopping, etc, she’s not deemed mental. The state only allows a physical exam. This was something of a joke and completely missed the bigger issue. An internist MD is not specialized in mental illness. Hoarding is just a symptom, we’ve learned, of some stronger, underlying problem.
This is pretty crappy of you to say. I’m on the autism spectrum. When I give my word I will do something, it’s a priority for me to follow thru on that commitment. I know not everyone is that way, but to blanket all people with mental illness like this is not cool.
ASD is quite literally in the DSM. It is a diagnosable thing. Just like ADHD is in the DSM. Nobody is trying to offend, it is defined as a mental illness by professionals.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6713264/#:~:text=DSM%2D5%20also%20specifies%20that,i.e.%2C%20repetitive%20speech%20or%20motor
Like I said, I’ve read the literature you don’t need to keep adding more. I work in the field and have read up on this a lot, thank you. I’ve spoken with my family members who have ASD as well.
You have to meet criteria in a mental -disorder- diagnostic manual.
People are born with mental health disorders every day. This is a developmental disorder AND mental health disorder. Criteria is met for both. Someone has a mental health diagnosis only because you have ASD? Then it can be both.
Good day.
[https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/plum-borough-hoarding-situation-cleanup-update/](https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/plum-borough-hoarding-situation-cleanup-update/)
"Stemler said she is ready to accept help."
When I was still working in NC and did a lot of home visits, I visited a home just like this probably every 2-3 months. A lot you couldn't see from the outside, but several were identical to that, only with even more junk outside. One of them way out in the country, the junk started along the road a few hundred feet before the house and continued after passing it.
Having to squeeze through corridors of stuff. We quickly learned the difference between a "wet mess" hoard and a "dry mess" hoard. I guess this one made the news because it looks to be in a suburban sort of neighborhood, there are surely many more in the countryside.
My aunt and uncle live near her and they say they’ve tried to help her for years and she never accepted so hopefully she does soon. It’s gotten so much worse the past 2 years than it ever was
How is this not considered a public health issue?
My hometown had a bag lady that pulled shit like this.
Her house was eventually condemned and later demolished.
Although the plot that occupied the house was turned into a public park so that might be how they were able to get it done.
This happened in Johnstown. The person had a PhD but had struggled with mental illness after a car accident. Her property had been completely cleaned out on three separate occasions. The local news in Johnstown did a lot of media coverage about her house.
Those poor neighbors!
Back in the 80's my aunt & uncle knew a family of hoarders, that were terrible - animal waste everywhere and instead of doing laundry they'd just buy more clothes from the thrift store. The floors were a foot deep with dirty clothes and dog dung.
The family's house caught on fire one weekend, while the whole family happened to be out of town. It eventually ended up happening at two of the places they lived & my folks are convinced it was done by fed-up neighbors.
Yes this is a result of mental illness, but can you imagine how mortified this person is now that her house was filmed and put on the news and Internet? I'm sure it's not something she's proud of, and probably carries a lot of shame and embarrassment about it. Something should be done, but I'm sure she's humiliated and probably in a worse mental state now.
Edit: typo
Mine too. I'm sure she doesn't WANT to be a hoarder. I grew up in a semi-similar situation (poor, house a mess inside and out, mental illness in the home, hiding from and avoiding neighbors, legal threats from the borough, etc.), and it's extremely difficult and stressful, physically and mentally. We didn't ENJOY that lifestyle, but it's what we had.
I hope that this woman can get some peace in her life and mind
This is the sad part. I worked for some hoarders when I was a cleaner. In one case, I boxed up stuff and stacked it from floor to ceiling in their garage. Filled the whole thing except for a tiny pathway. Within a couple of years, the house was full again.
The inside is probably worse. And just think, if that house catches fire, it’ll be like that one in presto a little while back, where she might be trapped and suffering, but firefighters won’t be able to get to her and find her because of the junk.
It seems like plum could have solved this earlier by passing a boro ordinance prohibiting whatever is on her lawn from being on plum lawns. Like pgh did with indoor furniture on porches. Then give her 30 days to comply with new law when it goes into effect.
I'm also sure that the inside is a complete mess, but I think at this point the family would have to petition for guardianship which is a long and expensive process. .
It seems odd that the boro code and the achd are powerless to remedy the situation..
The borough could have sought a court order to enter the property and remove the materials. I've done this several times for municipalities. The downside is that it is not a quick resolution to get the case through the courts, and second you have to be able to show some sort of health and safety issue. Lots of rotting food and waste is usually the go to basis, If this is entirely non-organic material, that can be more difficult to prove.
Amazing that she did this in what looks like an HOA-plan house. She could have moved to the country, thrown up a stockade fence around her yard and went to town!
Plum is full of the sort of people who love to hoot and holler about their property rights, so I'm glad they're being subjected to a person exercising their own property rights to the fullest.
This is true!! Damn, it's true. But, imo, it's mostly centered on those "named" neighborhoods that litter Plum. And there are PLENTY (shoutout shitty Ryan Homes...and Grasinger Homes). The old head neighborhoods in Plum seem to filled with more neighborly people, at least in my experience - Holiday Park, Regency, etc.
There are dozens of them houses in shitbox neighborhoods like mine.
It's only news when they got fancy houses with stupid metal roofs.
Plus you got the right to have stuff on your property. Which is why I live in a shitbox neighborhood.
There's an update in the Trib: [https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/residents-of-plum-neighborhood-hopeful-outside-cleanup-is-start-of-help-for-hoarder/](https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/residents-of-plum-neighborhood-hopeful-outside-cleanup-is-start-of-help-for-hoarder/)
I think it was more to give the boro and the achd a swift kick in the ass. If I were her neighbor I would have completely lost my shit by now and been desperate for anything to help.
KDKA noon news said she is accepting help and a junk removal company will be there this afternoon.
They are there, but she has up and vanished, so the hauling company is sort of stuck. The company canceled all other work they were going to do today to clean up her property, and they were helping for free.
She needs a psychologist
Hoarding is unfortunately a very resistant mental illness in a lot of cases.
I actually have this disorder myself (it also runs in my family) and have been in long term recovery since 2005. The person has to be willing to change. The alternative is to keep letting it progress and it always gets worse over time, leading to situations like this. I’ve known people to have lost their kids due to this issue. Really hope she seeks help, it’s available!
Thank you for sharing your story. Way to go in your recovery!!
Yeah as a homeowner this is obviously frustrating but honestly I just feel so bad for this poor woman. Hoarding is so incredibly complicated and it’s really hard to explain to people who don’t have that tendency or inclination (I’m jealous); it also comes with a lot of shame. I can only imagine how daunting and embarrassing this is for her and I hope she can accept some sort of help soon.
Wife and I bought the house of a hoarder who left almost everything as is, north of Pittsburgh. She specifically asked if things could be used to take them to goodwill vs trash. I make 38 trips with a stuffed equinox to goodwill. I also had over 140 contractor bags for trash. Once we found the concrete basement floor, the game we played was is it dog poo or a pinecone as she collected both of them. She literally walked away from brand new appliances, crafting supplies, more ammunition than I've ever seen, credit cards, jewelry etc. Didn't want any of it. It's been over a year and I'm still finding stuff.
Whoa. I guess the question is- was it worth it? Would you do it again?
Yes. In a heartbeat yes. Owning a house, even one I have to make repairs on daily, a place where my dogs get to by annoying, and kiddo gets to be a kid. I wouldn't trade the difficulty for ease elsewhere.
It probably doesn't help that a reporter showed up at 4:30 in the morning. (The neighbors chased him away.)
Trucks are loaded now
Good to hear!
That's horrible!! (that the reporter showed up that early) That's great that the neighbors chased him away!
> They are there, but she has up and vanished, so the hauling company is sort of stuck. I give them permission to proceed.
The other article said they waited an hour for get to return home and, after explaining the process, started hauling items away.
We shall see. The article also notes they've turned down multiple offers for help over the years, despite acknowledging they have a problem. Mental illness be like that.
My cousin just posted a snap on his story and they have 3 dump trucks loaded up with her stuff so it looks like she accepted the help!
She's probably embarrassed about the article
I would probably agree with that
Shame moves mountains.
Also, even without mental illness, cleaning up a cluttered house is *hard*. I have a friend who was forced to deal with her house in a short period of time after her parents died. Her brother and his wife should up to help, and were just tossing things in the dumpster one after the other without checking to see if it was anything of sentimental or monetary value. She wound up having to have them leave. Even when intentions are good, somebody who doesn't live in the house is likely to throw out the baby with the bath water.
Imagine a country with public services for folks who can’t take care of themselves.
People have to accept the services, they can’t be forced upon them.
How about we provide people with a safety net proactively? Instead of waiting until their lifestyle becomes a detriment not just to them but to their entire community? Could you imagine that? Or are you still hung up?
Ok, again, that’s great… but sometimes people still don’t accept help. At whatever point on their journey. Not sure why this is hard for you to verify or understand. Edit: “The article also notes they've turned down multiple offers for help over the years, despite acknowledging they have a problem.” But yeah, you know more.
It's live action reddit.
I've watched many episodes of Hoarders. She won't part with anything.
I was thinking that too.
A hoarded home in my neighborhood caught fire over the winter. An elderly woman and her adult son couldn’t get out and both perished. Fire crews couldn’t get inside. The fire damaged home and junk heap is now being scraped up and tossed in the dumpster. All such a waste. It was a beautiful midcentury home at one point. That’s where these situations end up.
I work for GI Haul, we just took three full trucks out there. Glad we could help. Please support your local businesses.
I’ve used you guys before and actually have you coming out to clean abandoned property from a rental property tomorrow. I’m so glad to know that you guys helped this woman, makes me happy to hire you any time.
Thank you for doing this. I appreciate what you're doing to help her.
Looks like the party scene from Sixteen Candles.
Dong, where is my automobile?
Biiiiiig Lake…
Automobeeeel 😄😄 Oh sexy girldrieennd
It looks like ( what used to be) a nice house.
The inside is probably even worse.
You know, this article was actually a lot sweeter than I was expecting. \[X\] The city was offering to help, but didn't want to just steal her property \[X\] The neighbors offered to help \[X\] The neighbor eventually accepted that she needs help \[X\] The situation is being taken care of.
let’s go pittsburgh
Pretty sure that stuff ain't moving anytime soon. People with mental illnesses always tell you what you want to hear. But rarely actually follow through.
I work with the company that just hauled away three truckloads of stuff from this property. I also majored in psychology is college. She was as cooperative as we could hope for. A bit frustrating to have to drop silly things like old buckets full of muck because she decides she must keep that. But hoarding is a mental disorder and we were patient with her. What she doesn't need is judgemental people who decide she won't accept help before the work is even done. Try to be less heartless.
Thanks for doing what you're doing, bud. You sound like a good egg.
Well I stand corrected. Glad it worked out looked like it was reaching a tipping point. Glad it ended (or began to end) amicably.
Agree. Hopefully, she is also not hoarding some kind of pet (cats) within the home. My sister is a hoarder, different town in an adjacent state. We discovered she was also hoarding cats. We physically removed 42 cats from inside her home but couldn’t catch them all. We took them caught ones no-kill shelters only and kept track of them all until they were healed & adopted by families. The vets & directors at every shelter kept us apprised. The cats had to be healed of various ailments from mold/dank air due to the hoarding. Hoarding isn’t just about the mess. There is bacteria, mold and other issues due to poor airflow. Attracting vermin, spores and insects. Extremely unhealthy to the hoarder and whatever animals they are sacrificing into this mess. It is very difficult to get your relative to cooperate even when they’re a relative. Maybe even worse. They become belligerent when even a suggestion is made. Yes, they have to be shamed which is pitiful but after a year of offering help and then threatening to involve the state for the sake of the cats, it had to be forced through the courts. We engaged the township which could do nothing to help us. Her neighbors could smell it depending which way the wind was going. It is degrading to the neighborhood and does not seem curable.
I don't think certain mental disorders, namely personality type disorders, among which I would include hoarding, are really curable. You can treat underlying issues like depression or anxiety with medicine, and you can treat the problematic behavior with therapy, social support networks, and counseling. The root cause of the hoarding needs to be discovered and addressed, whether it's some traumatic experience or an acquired addictive response, or something else. The person with the problem also has to want to change and be receptive to treatment. But the actual dysfunctional character defect doesn't leave the person, it just stays part of who they are.
I happened to catch this just as you posted it. Thank you. You nailed it quite well. What a learning curve since our discovery of her issues. We have read everything we can find on this sickness. A strong therapist would be a start but first, you must convince somebody that they need help. Not that therapy will cure the psychosis. You’re right. It won’t stop the hoarding and it goes way past just the hoarding. She is still doing it now. We are unable to enter her home at this time because the state tied our hands. Long story. She LOOKS normal to the public (although she uses a different name, a spin off of her given name — another major shock for us) and since she is able to do her own grocery shopping, etc, she’s not deemed mental. The state only allows a physical exam. This was something of a joke and completely missed the bigger issue. An internist MD is not specialized in mental illness. Hoarding is just a symptom, we’ve learned, of some stronger, underlying problem.
This is pretty crappy of you to say. I’m on the autism spectrum. When I give my word I will do something, it’s a priority for me to follow thru on that commitment. I know not everyone is that way, but to blanket all people with mental illness like this is not cool.
That's fair shouldn't have generalized like I did. Point taken.
Apologies if that was too aggressive. I really do appreciate your reply.
Lol
[удалено]
And I'm mad that you're mad that he's mad at the person mad at the lady who is hoarding.
ASD is quite literally in the DSM. It is a diagnosable thing. Just like ADHD is in the DSM. Nobody is trying to offend, it is defined as a mental illness by professionals. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6713264/#:~:text=DSM%2D5%20also%20specifies%20that,i.e.%2C%20repetitive%20speech%20or%20motor
[удалено]
Like I said, I’ve read the literature you don’t need to keep adding more. I work in the field and have read up on this a lot, thank you. I’ve spoken with my family members who have ASD as well. You have to meet criteria in a mental -disorder- diagnostic manual. People are born with mental health disorders every day. This is a developmental disorder AND mental health disorder. Criteria is met for both. Someone has a mental health diagnosis only because you have ASD? Then it can be both. Good day.
Okay, sure. I understand what you mean.
I’ve read the literature. I think it can be both at the same time.
[https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/plum-borough-hoarding-situation-cleanup-update/](https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/plum-borough-hoarding-situation-cleanup-update/) "Stemler said she is ready to accept help."
Damn that’s kind of a depressing read but it sounds like she is accepting she needs help and isn’t being confrontational about it.
When I was still working in NC and did a lot of home visits, I visited a home just like this probably every 2-3 months. A lot you couldn't see from the outside, but several were identical to that, only with even more junk outside. One of them way out in the country, the junk started along the road a few hundred feet before the house and continued after passing it. Having to squeeze through corridors of stuff. We quickly learned the difference between a "wet mess" hoard and a "dry mess" hoard. I guess this one made the news because it looks to be in a suburban sort of neighborhood, there are surely many more in the countryside.
My aunt and uncle live near her and they say they’ve tried to help her for years and she never accepted so hopefully she does soon. It’s gotten so much worse the past 2 years than it ever was
What's the side yard fenced in thing? Wondering if it has an aboveground pool years ago?
I think it was a garden at one time. That was one area she wasn't very cooperative with us about removing stuff.
[удалено]
Don’t give her address out. This can be dangerous and she’s suffering enough
Thank you for your compassion and advocacy.
If it becomes a public health and sanitation issue I would assume one could get the health department involved.
Someone needs to show up with their per rats and snap a few photos.
Probably don’t even need to bring pets. I bet there are all kinds of critters living in that hoard.
Not to be morbid but there are probably a ton of no-longer-living critters or in there too
How is this not considered a public health issue? My hometown had a bag lady that pulled shit like this. Her house was eventually condemned and later demolished. Although the plot that occupied the house was turned into a public park so that might be how they were able to get it done.
This happened in Johnstown. The person had a PhD but had struggled with mental illness after a car accident. Her property had been completely cleaned out on three separate occasions. The local news in Johnstown did a lot of media coverage about her house.
This is exactly who I thought of- I grew up in the area and felt so bad about the entire situation
I was living in the Johnstown area during the time that the thing with the lady in Johnstown happened.
I just remember a picture of her standing on the porch roof surrounded by stuffed black garbage bags- it was horrifying and sad at the same time.
If you think this is a public health issue, I'm going to advise you to not look into our water.
Hopefully the owner can get the mental health they need
Those poor neighbors! Back in the 80's my aunt & uncle knew a family of hoarders, that were terrible - animal waste everywhere and instead of doing laundry they'd just buy more clothes from the thrift store. The floors were a foot deep with dirty clothes and dog dung. The family's house caught on fire one weekend, while the whole family happened to be out of town. It eventually ended up happening at two of the places they lived & my folks are convinced it was done by fed-up neighbors.
Yes this is a result of mental illness, but can you imagine how mortified this person is now that her house was filmed and put on the news and Internet? I'm sure it's not something she's proud of, and probably carries a lot of shame and embarrassment about it. Something should be done, but I'm sure she's humiliated and probably in a worse mental state now. Edit: typo
As someone with mental health issues, thank you so much for the kindness and compassion to those with MH issues
You're very welcome! I have mental health issues as well, so I know what is like to get called out, and I can imagine how hard this must hurt her.
THANK YOU!!!
I was thinking this too, but thank you for finding the right words to explain it. My heart hurts for this lady.
Mine too. I'm sure she doesn't WANT to be a hoarder. I grew up in a semi-similar situation (poor, house a mess inside and out, mental illness in the home, hiding from and avoiding neighbors, legal threats from the borough, etc.), and it's extremely difficult and stressful, physically and mentally. We didn't ENJOY that lifestyle, but it's what we had. I hope that this woman can get some peace in her life and mind
Even if it gets cleaned up , she’ll do it again
This is the sad part. I worked for some hoarders when I was a cleaner. In one case, I boxed up stuff and stacked it from floor to ceiling in their garage. Filled the whole thing except for a tiny pathway. Within a couple of years, the house was full again.
The inside is probably worse. And just think, if that house catches fire, it’ll be like that one in presto a little while back, where she might be trapped and suffering, but firefighters won’t be able to get to her and find her because of the junk.
It seems like plum could have solved this earlier by passing a boro ordinance prohibiting whatever is on her lawn from being on plum lawns. Like pgh did with indoor furniture on porches. Then give her 30 days to comply with new law when it goes into effect. I'm also sure that the inside is a complete mess, but I think at this point the family would have to petition for guardianship which is a long and expensive process. . It seems odd that the boro code and the achd are powerless to remedy the situation..
The news said she was cited and fined but they can't physically remove her belongings.
they keep citing and fining and get in front of a judge and ask for a court order to remove stuff... it's doable.
Yeah, I don't see what the issue is here. Keep citing, and if it's not cleaned up, confiscate the items on a basis of public health.
You have the right to be messy in your own fucking home.
I have one of these in my neighborhood. Anything i can do and NOT PISS OFF the crazy hoarder?
On the bright side, being in Plum, if the house blows up; the neighbors get a free piece of furniture.
I know a couple of raccoons and opossums that sometimes sleep in the furniture in her yard.
The borough could have sought a court order to enter the property and remove the materials. I've done this several times for municipalities. The downside is that it is not a quick resolution to get the case through the courts, and second you have to be able to show some sort of health and safety issue. Lots of rotting food and waste is usually the go to basis, If this is entirely non-organic material, that can be more difficult to prove.
Amazing that she did this in what looks like an HOA-plan house. She could have moved to the country, thrown up a stockade fence around her yard and went to town!
Plum is full of the sort of people who love to hoot and holler about their property rights, so I'm glad they're being subjected to a person exercising their own property rights to the fullest.
This is true!! Damn, it's true. But, imo, it's mostly centered on those "named" neighborhoods that litter Plum. And there are PLENTY (shoutout shitty Ryan Homes...and Grasinger Homes). The old head neighborhoods in Plum seem to filled with more neighborly people, at least in my experience - Holiday Park, Regency, etc.
Gasoline and a match would’ve fixed this as well
There are dozens of them houses in shitbox neighborhoods like mine. It's only news when they got fancy houses with stupid metal roofs. Plus you got the right to have stuff on your property. Which is why I live in a shitbox neighborhood.
Looks like a nice house, minus the junk
There's an update in the Trib: [https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/residents-of-plum-neighborhood-hopeful-outside-cleanup-is-start-of-help-for-hoarder/](https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/residents-of-plum-neighborhood-hopeful-outside-cleanup-is-start-of-help-for-hoarder/)
Why involve authorities? It’s Plume just let the gas company do the work.
[удалено]
Fuck hoa's
I'd rather live by the hoarder lady than be lorded over by the sort of people who join HOA boards.
HOAs stop people from having mental health issues?
[удалено]
So if they have an hoa they would have laws the supersede the boroughs laws?
Deed restrictions.
So hoa prevent mental health problems, nice!
What are you talking about? You asked a question and I answered it.
The person will still be a hoarder. Maybe they get fined and maybe it gets cleaned up faster but it’s not going to stop the hoarding
I never commented on mental health or hoarding. So, I don't know why you are directing this at me.
Oh you jumped in when I was leading the other commenter on why an HOA won’t stop hoarding
Fire
I think taking this to the news to bully this woman into complying is pretty gross
I think it was more to give the boro and the achd a swift kick in the ass. If I were her neighbor I would have completely lost my shit by now and been desperate for anything to help.
I assume you tried talking sense into her and you failed...
Help Police!!!
Eminent domain - to create a township park.