Tucked between two towering modern properties in the 600 block of North Martel Avenue in the Fairfax district, it is a brown Spanish-style stucco house that caught the attention of neighbors as there are three-foot-tall garbage bags throughout the front yard.
This is not the first time the house has become the center of controversy. Last year, Mayor Karen Bass visited the house and declared it a “public health emergency” prompting city staff to clean up the property.
Although the house has once again become an ugly scene due to another chaos, many neighbors are defending the homeowner, calling for sympathy and understanding.
Attribute record The owner was identified as Raymond Gaon, who has lived in a two-bedroom home since the 1990s. While some neighbors reminded TV staff to report what many call “trash room,” others defend Goa as a misunderstood man who is simply collecting recycling materials.
Neighbors living across the street should try to show more tolerance towards Goa.
“If he is homeless, no one will point at the camera on his face and try to record his or his life situation,” Wilson said.
She said Gaon’s friend Tonya Lee Jaynes helped those with hoarding problems say Gaon is a Vietnam veteran who insists on strict, well-ordered recycling programs as a means of making money.
“He’s a solo operation, and that’s how he makes money,” Jaynes said. “He doesn’t bother.”
She added that Gaon, 71, refused to talk to reporters about his home.
Jaynes said Gaon was a private figure who earned a degree in biology at the university and allowed vegetation in his front yard to overgrow so he could observe butterflies and other insects. She begged her neighbors to expand their compassion to Gaon, who said it would be difficult for him to break the routine.
“There needs to be agreements, there needs to be mediators, and the community needs to come together and find solutions,” Jaynes said.
Still, other neighbors, including Christopher Watson, who has lived on the street for nearly two years, suggesting that the yard may represent a health and fire hazard that could harm homeowners.
“I noticed the trash when I first moved in, but a few weeks ago, when I walked across the street, I was so shocked,” Watson said. “I can understand how [city officials] It is believed that this may be a fire hazard or poses a risk to the place. ”
Jaynes said that the attention of his yard this year and last year has put Gain in crisis. She said that with the eyes of the media, neighborhood and city, Gaon further secluded herself and refused help.
“Neighbors are calling for coming here in the media to bother this very, very private person,” Jaynes said. “If he sees this happening again, he may have a heart attack.”
Wilson said that applying additional pressure may only exacerbate the problem.
Wilson added: “Mayor Beth and the city came out to clean up, I got it because it might have smells or something, but there is no need to turn it into a spectacle or push the camera on his face for local news stories.”
The Times and the Bays office reached out to comment.
Jaynes tries to help Gaon clean up the mess by whipping a few bags regularly for recycling. But for neighbors, she believes the only way to help older people is to extend compassion.
“The way neighbors can help is to understand…the people who have to do things their own way,” Jaynes said. “He has lived his way for decades and lives his way. We need to know that.”
