In an effort to curb housing and other violations in West Hempstead, the West Hempstead Civic Association has formed a committee to assist residents in making complaints to the Town of Hempstead concerning the possible presence of illegal dwellings as well as graffiti and other code violations.

The purpose of the committee is to go to bat for the citizens of West Hempstead who feel quality of life has been compromised by a code violation. According to West Hempstead Civic Association President Bob Rabey, many have taken advantage of the association's telephone message center and e-mail address as multiple calls have been coming in, which have been reported to the Town of Hempstead.

According to Rabey, over the years, several complaints have been made to the Town of Hempstead about code enforcement issues. The Code Enforcement Committee will now follow up on complaints to see that they are followed through. "I saw the need to start a code enforcement committee wherein the residents of the community could not only retain their anonymity since the civic association would be the ones making the complaint. Having it in the hands of the code enforcement committee, a 30 and 60-day follow-up could ensue until the violation was cleared," Rabey said.

Residents can make complaints to the civic association via phone at 733-0879 or e-mail at email@thecivicassociation.org or by completing the WHCA's Complaint Form, and mail it to WHCA, P.O. Box 425, West Hempstead, NY 11552-0425; Attn: Code Enforcement Committee. The West Hempstead Civic Association would then make the complaint to the Town of Hempstead.

Although illegal housing may be one form of complaint, there are others which the code enforcement committee will handle. "Everybody's been focusing on illegal housing, but there are several other code violations in the town that aren't being enforced, leading to the further deterioration of the community," said Rabey.

The committee is also a way for residents who could often be the best eyes and ears of a community to point out a code violation without causing any disputes between neighbors. "A lot of people see conditions on their own blocks and are hesitant to report them because of the fact that they have to live there. There have been several examples of reprisals from people who have made complaints, adding to the fear of the others to do so. Now, I'm giving them an avenue that they can make the complaints and retain their anonymity," Rabey said.