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[T] People v. Ventura5/6/2004
bury Blaze, Newsday, May 19, 1998 at A27; Zamgba J. Browne, Mother Wins 15-Year Battle Over Daughter's Wrongful Death, the New York Amsterdam News, July 9-15, 1998 at 3. Regrettably, it is also quite apparent that a problem of this magnitude could not exist in the absence of corruption and campaign contributions where elected officials, albeit not in the Village of Westbury, have been in the forefront of enforcement, to look the other way when it comes to code enforcement or building legal affordable housing that would compete against the demand for illegal occupancies. The Village of Westbury stands nearly alone in its vigilant enforcement efforts. It needs the cooperation of Town, State and County officials to help with enforcement efforts and in building new housing. In this regard, this Court notes that the location of this property is in the southeast portion of the Village, an area which is a minority community, not far from New Cassel, an unincorporated portion of the Town of North Hempstead where illegal housing has proliferated due to the lack of Town Code enforcement for many years.
Commendably the Village of Westbury led the way in New York State and in Nassau County in 1986 when it passed a local law requiring that all residential, rental units be registered with the Village and that a rental permit from the Village be obtained. This has proven to be a useful measure geared to stopping the spread of illegal multiple dwellings and monitoring their location. See Article XXXII, § 248-281 of the Westbury Code. Similarly, the Village has sought to take action against real estate brokers and salespeople for listing, soliciting, advertising, offering or renting illegal multiple dwellings or apartments. See Article XXXII, § 248-293 of the Westbury Code. This too has proven to be an effective law enforcement measure.
This Court is concerned that while the Village here has attempted to inspect the property on consent or even by written notice that tenants or owners of the property may have no understanding of their rights under these circumstances. For example, the written notice that was offered into evidence was not printed in Spanish; it is seemingly impossible to determine on whom it was served and what efforts, if any, were made by the Building Department to communicate with the inhabitants in Spanish. The return receipt on the notice had a printed name on it other than the owners of the property or even the tenants therein. On the day of the search there were two police officers and four inspectors present. One of the inspectors also spoke Spanish and acted as an interpreter of what and of whom, this Court is not certain. The Village has made extraordinary efforts to be fair and in many ways this application is a learning experience for this Court and others who may look to this Village for clarification pertaining to their own enforcement efforts. With caring public servants putting their shoulders to the wheel to solve the problem, the situation should improve. Westbury is in a position to teach others about our efforts. The publication of this decision may help to start the dialogue that will ultimately aid more communities in finding solutions to these complex problems.
Notwithstanding the Village's laudable efforts to obtain consent for the search or even to provide notice, they would do well to advise residents of their constitutional right to refuse entry of inspectors without a search warrant. This advisement of rights should be in a writing, in both English and Spanish. They should also have been served by hand on the occupants of the home prior to the search. See Stender v. City of Albany, 188 A.D.2d 986 (1992). See also, People v. Cherlind Realty, 7/10/96 New York Law
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