By Kathianne Boniello
Angelo Cancassi has spent the last few weeks of summer staring intently out the window of his Windsor Park apartment, but the elderly Bayside resident has not been enjoying the sunshine.
Instead Cancassi has been watching and waiting as bees nest near the roof and window of his sixth-floor apartment, eventually making their way inside. Cancassi has claimed his cries for help have been ignored by both the city and Windsor Park management.
Management at Windsor Park, an apartment complex near 73rd Avenue and Bell Boulevard, could not be reached for comment as of press time Tuesday.
But a spokeswoman for state Assemblyman Mark Weprin’s (D-Bayside) office said both the management and the city went to the apartment building several times for inspections to address the problem.
Cancassi and one of his neighbors said in a recent interview with the TimesLedger the bees have been nesting in an aluminum cap that lines the top edge of the apartment buildings.
The bees fly back and forth from beneath the medal edging, and in some places try to nest in the corners of apartment windows, including Cancassi’s.
“They’ve been in here,” said Cancassi, who said he awoke several weeks ago to find the bees in his bedroom despite his attempts to keep the windows closed. “We can’t get any help.”
An elderly veteran with several medical problems, Cancassi said he is not sure if he is allergic to bees and does not want to find out. Bee stings can cause a strong allergic reaction in some people.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen if I get stung,” he said.
A neighbor of Cancassi’s who did not want to be identified said the bees have become more than a nuisance.
“There have been at least 30 bees inside my apartment,” the neighbor said. “They never do anything about it.”
Ruth Wimpfheimer, a spokeswoman for Weprin, said the assemblyman’s office contacted both the city Health Department and Windsor Park management on the bee issue.
According to records in the assemblyman’s office, Wimpfheimer said, the city Health Department eradicated two bees nests near Cancassi’s apartment in August and did inspections.
“He is saying they never came,” she said.
Anne Marie Boranian, district manager of Community Board 11 in Little Neck, said the board wrote a letter to Windsor Park management on behalf of the residents urging the development to address the insect problem.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
