Essex aims to stop trespassing at vacated hospital
12 years 8 months ago #1
by Vacant NJ
Essex aims to stop trespassing at vacated hospital was created by Vacant NJ
(Sounds like the author has confused Overbrook with the Isolation Hospital)
Essex aims to stop trespassing at vacated hospital
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2011 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY AUGUST 4, 2011, 3:37 PM
BY MARIA KARIDIS
STAFF WRITER
BELLEVILLE TIMES
For years, people have burglarized the former Garden State Cancer Center building at 520 Belleville Ave. in Belleville. Documents have been pillaged, garbage has been strewn about, walls have been spray painted, and hypodermic needles cover the floors.
arious online photo galleries and YouTube videos document unauthorized persons inside the building - some of them rummaging through filing cabinets, others merely touring the 106-year-old structure and historical artifacts inside. The state of squalor documented in some of the footage points to a host of prior break-ins.
The 1.3-acre building, upon 9.3 acres of property, originally housed "Soho" (Essex County Isolation) Hospital, and then the Essex County Geriatric Hospital. GSCC took over about 20 years ago, but, due to foreclosure, vacated the premises this past spring.
In its two-decade tenancy in Belleville, GSCC only utilized the right wing of its building, according to Essex County Deputy Administrator Ralph Ciallella.
"Everything to the left of the main door was untouched," Ciallella added.
In other words, everything left behind by the old hospitals is still there.
The online footage shows decades-old wheel chairs, hospital beds, metal storage cabinets, and gurneys covered in a thick coat of dust, among dilapidated walls and ceilings.
According to county officials, GSCC had a burglar alarm and surveillance cameras in the building. Based on the online footage, it doesn't appear that those apparatuses covered the building's left wing, though.
And, although GSCC didn't use the building's left wing, its lease and arrangement with the county was for the entire facility, Ciallella said. GSCC was therefore responsible for cleaning up whatever the hospitals left behind, as well as renovating any deteriorated structures, he said.
"Once they were in default of their loan, they really let the property go," Ciallella added.
Trespassing footage
A YouTube video - uploaded on June 22 - shows two men, two women and a 5-year-old girl inside the building, in broad daylight. How they gained entry is not shown. They tour the building's hallways freely, read through documents that are both in filing cabinets and spilled across the floors, mention a discovery of medical records, and enter a dark room covered in piles of clothes. A somewhat-new-looking poster adorns a wall in that room, almost as though someone had been living there.
In a second video from the group, uploaded on the same day, they traverse dark hallways with the assistance of flashlights. A woman, who identifies herself as the mother of the 5-year-old girl, announces how unafraid her daughter is, and that's she's going to buy the girl a toy as a reward.
A YouTube photo-slideshow uploaded on March 28, 2010, takes viewers on a tour through the building, showing not only the medical equipment dating back to the early 1900s, but also graffiti-covered walls. On one wall, the names of six people are painted with the words "First ones thru 7-21-06" and "Soccer Crew."
A photo gallery on abandonedbutnotforgotten.com shows a room covered in hundreds of boxes of shoes - the boxes torn open, and the shoes strewn about - and yet another room with what may be a gang tag painted on the wall. The date the photos were taken is not clear. A representative for the website could not be reached for comment.
Vacantnewjersey.com hosts a photo gallery where hypodermic needles litter the ground somewhere in the building, and other websites show a stairwell covered in fast-food containers and assorted garbage. The photos were taken approximately five years ago, when Soho Hospital's subsidiary buildings were grazed to make room for townhomes.
Now that GSCC has vacated its property, who is responsible for keeping it safe?
Belleville Police Lt. James Giuliano and Belleville Mayor Ray Kimble said the property is now under Essex County jurisdiction and that the county has surveillance cameras in the facility.
No such cameras exist, according to county officials.
Moreover, those officials argue that since they have yet to receive the property deed from GSCC, the former tenant is still technically responsible for securing the building, not them. (The county has been mowing the lawn there for weeks, though.)
But, "because we knew it was coming back to our side of the ledger," the county's Public Works Department recently put up barricades, posted "no trespassing" signs and boarded up entranceways, Ciallella said. Someone wrote on one barricade, "You didn't stop me."
"We have instructed our Sherriff's Department to add it to their watch list. And we do have a local resident that keeps an eye on the property and gives us a 'thumbs up' when he sees something out of the ordinary," Ciallella added.
"There was some confusion on the matter, but who's watching the building now are Belleville police and the Essex County Sherriff's Department," said Sherriff's Office spokesman Kevin Lynch. "... Anyone caught on the property will be arrested."
Essex County is suing GSCC and its president, Dr. David M. Goldenberg, on four counts, said Essex County Counsel James Paganelli.
There is one lawsuit to finalize foreclosure; one to collect the $3 million GSCC still owes the county for a loan it took to purchase the property; a third lawsuit wherein the county alleges that GSCC damaged the building while moving out; and the fourth lawsuit, instituted last week, is an order to show cause as to why GSCC has not properly secured or cleaned up its property.
Paganelli said, the old left wing notwithstanding, GSCC has left many of its belongings, paperwork and equipment behind.
Goldenberg did not return a reporter's phone call.
Goldenberg, who is also the mastermind of Immunomedics, earned $1.56 million in 2010, according to Forbes.com.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Link to original article: www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/12...ital.html?c=y&page=2
Essex aims to stop trespassing at vacated hospital
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2011 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY AUGUST 4, 2011, 3:37 PM
BY MARIA KARIDIS
STAFF WRITER
BELLEVILLE TIMES
For years, people have burglarized the former Garden State Cancer Center building at 520 Belleville Ave. in Belleville. Documents have been pillaged, garbage has been strewn about, walls have been spray painted, and hypodermic needles cover the floors.
arious online photo galleries and YouTube videos document unauthorized persons inside the building - some of them rummaging through filing cabinets, others merely touring the 106-year-old structure and historical artifacts inside. The state of squalor documented in some of the footage points to a host of prior break-ins.
The 1.3-acre building, upon 9.3 acres of property, originally housed "Soho" (Essex County Isolation) Hospital, and then the Essex County Geriatric Hospital. GSCC took over about 20 years ago, but, due to foreclosure, vacated the premises this past spring.
In its two-decade tenancy in Belleville, GSCC only utilized the right wing of its building, according to Essex County Deputy Administrator Ralph Ciallella.
"Everything to the left of the main door was untouched," Ciallella added.
In other words, everything left behind by the old hospitals is still there.
The online footage shows decades-old wheel chairs, hospital beds, metal storage cabinets, and gurneys covered in a thick coat of dust, among dilapidated walls and ceilings.
According to county officials, GSCC had a burglar alarm and surveillance cameras in the building. Based on the online footage, it doesn't appear that those apparatuses covered the building's left wing, though.
And, although GSCC didn't use the building's left wing, its lease and arrangement with the county was for the entire facility, Ciallella said. GSCC was therefore responsible for cleaning up whatever the hospitals left behind, as well as renovating any deteriorated structures, he said.
"Once they were in default of their loan, they really let the property go," Ciallella added.
Trespassing footage
A YouTube video - uploaded on June 22 - shows two men, two women and a 5-year-old girl inside the building, in broad daylight. How they gained entry is not shown. They tour the building's hallways freely, read through documents that are both in filing cabinets and spilled across the floors, mention a discovery of medical records, and enter a dark room covered in piles of clothes. A somewhat-new-looking poster adorns a wall in that room, almost as though someone had been living there.
In a second video from the group, uploaded on the same day, they traverse dark hallways with the assistance of flashlights. A woman, who identifies herself as the mother of the 5-year-old girl, announces how unafraid her daughter is, and that's she's going to buy the girl a toy as a reward.
A YouTube photo-slideshow uploaded on March 28, 2010, takes viewers on a tour through the building, showing not only the medical equipment dating back to the early 1900s, but also graffiti-covered walls. On one wall, the names of six people are painted with the words "First ones thru 7-21-06" and "Soccer Crew."
A photo gallery on abandonedbutnotforgotten.com shows a room covered in hundreds of boxes of shoes - the boxes torn open, and the shoes strewn about - and yet another room with what may be a gang tag painted on the wall. The date the photos were taken is not clear. A representative for the website could not be reached for comment.
Vacantnewjersey.com hosts a photo gallery where hypodermic needles litter the ground somewhere in the building, and other websites show a stairwell covered in fast-food containers and assorted garbage. The photos were taken approximately five years ago, when Soho Hospital's subsidiary buildings were grazed to make room for townhomes.
Now that GSCC has vacated its property, who is responsible for keeping it safe?
Belleville Police Lt. James Giuliano and Belleville Mayor Ray Kimble said the property is now under Essex County jurisdiction and that the county has surveillance cameras in the facility.
No such cameras exist, according to county officials.
Moreover, those officials argue that since they have yet to receive the property deed from GSCC, the former tenant is still technically responsible for securing the building, not them. (The county has been mowing the lawn there for weeks, though.)
But, "because we knew it was coming back to our side of the ledger," the county's Public Works Department recently put up barricades, posted "no trespassing" signs and boarded up entranceways, Ciallella said. Someone wrote on one barricade, "You didn't stop me."
"We have instructed our Sherriff's Department to add it to their watch list. And we do have a local resident that keeps an eye on the property and gives us a 'thumbs up' when he sees something out of the ordinary," Ciallella added.
"There was some confusion on the matter, but who's watching the building now are Belleville police and the Essex County Sherriff's Department," said Sherriff's Office spokesman Kevin Lynch. "... Anyone caught on the property will be arrested."
Essex County is suing GSCC and its president, Dr. David M. Goldenberg, on four counts, said Essex County Counsel James Paganelli.
There is one lawsuit to finalize foreclosure; one to collect the $3 million GSCC still owes the county for a loan it took to purchase the property; a third lawsuit wherein the county alleges that GSCC damaged the building while moving out; and the fourth lawsuit, instituted last week, is an order to show cause as to why GSCC has not properly secured or cleaned up its property.
Paganelli said, the old left wing notwithstanding, GSCC has left many of its belongings, paperwork and equipment behind.
Goldenberg did not return a reporter's phone call.
Goldenberg, who is also the mastermind of Immunomedics, earned $1.56 million in 2010, according to Forbes.com.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Link to original article: www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/12...ital.html?c=y&page=2
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