Members of the Ozone Park Residents Block Association (OZPKRBA) stood outside of the neighborhood’s Dollar Tree at 137-20 Cross Bay Blvd. on Monday, Aug. 7 to warn locals of “a rat infestation” that ultimately forced the store to close after numerous complaints.
This past weekend, OZPKRBA President Sam Esposito, a lifelong Ozone Park resident, received complaints from residents who notified him of the store’s condition. Esposito arrived at the store on Sunday afternoon to check it out for himself only to find rat droppings underneath and on top of some of the store’s food products, as well as packaging that appeared to have been eaten through by the rodents.
“What we saw was appalling,” Esposito told reporters on Monday. “It’s all over the store.”
For Esposito, his immediate concern rooted from the store’s close proximity to local shelters that house families that rely on Dollar Tree for affordable food. Upon seeing the extent of the store’s rat problem for himself, Esposito confronted the store’s assistant manager before contacting Dollar Tree’s corporate office and the neighborhood’s elected representatives.
“[She] dismissed us, disrespected us, would not take this seriously and would not remove the food from the shelves,” Esposito said of his conversation with the store’s assistant manager. “Corporate from Dollar Tree came onto the scene [and] shut down this site down, as of eight o’clock this morning, indefinitely.”
Dollar Tree first opened its doors on Cross Bay Boulevard in 2018 shortly after the closure of Lady Jane Craft Center, which previously occupied the space for decades. Since opening, Esposito said the store has been an ongoing source of problems, including garbage buildup in the streets, not cleaning the sidewalk, leaving gates unsecured and prostitutes “doing business” in the store’s garage.
This, according to Esposito, has earned the store a poor reputation over the past few…
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