The garage of an abandoned Huntington Station, N.Y., home sits in ruin among high weeds in this June 2010 photo. Its former resident, Jose Cruz, moved out after unexpected costs exceed his ability to make monthly mortgage payments. Photo: Todd Baker

TOWN OF HUNTINGTON, N.Y. – Abandoned and unsafe homes are popping up like weeds in this Suffolk County suburb as the number of U.S. foreclosures continues to rise, according to a report released June 23 by the Department of the Treasury.

Town officials must contend with this trend as many deserted homes become a local public safety issue. As of June 30 a total of 882 homes in the county sat vacant as a result of foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac, an online real estate data company. Approximately 7 percent of those, or 62 homes, were in Huntington.

“An insecure home is an invite for kids to hang out and they usually do damage,” said Bruce Richard, director of the town’s Department of Public Safety. “Swimming pools that have stagnant water in them generate mosquitoes, which is a big concern with West Nile. We have tall grass that gives a hiding place for rats and raccoons and insects.”

State lawmakers passed legislation in 2009 requiring lenders to maintain foreclosed properties until “ownership is transferred.” When this doesn’t happen, or when a property is neglected by the owner, the town often gets involved.

It’s a lengthy process in which public safety officers inspect properties and then forward code violations to the town board for resolution. Once approved, the town’s Department of General Services either performs the work or subcontracts it to local companies.

If neglect persists at a property and further work is needed, the entire process – from inspection to board approval – must take place again. It’s a frustrating battle for neighbors and public safety officials.

In 2003, Jose Cruz, 35, purchased what he thought would be an affordable home for his family in Huntington Station, an unincorporated area in the Town of Huntington. Cruz soon discovered hidden decay in the home. His unexpected repair and heating costs made paying the mortgage impossible. He moved out in 2007 and arranged a short sale with the bank, in which the property would be sold for less than it’s worth.

With 4-foot-tall weeds surrounding his former home and its rear garage showing the most visible ravages of neglect, neighbors made repeated calls to the town’s public safety department. Frances Hanlon lives next door and has filed numerous complaints. Her disdain for the condition of the Cruz home is palpable. “We complain all the time. In fact we’re thinking of complaining again,” she grumbled.

With no one to maintain the Cruz property, the town performed two cleanups and another was ordered on June 15. When asked for a reaction to his neighbors’ complaints, Cruz shrugged off responsibility. “It’s the bank’s problem now,” he said.

Property management experts say that banks often don’t know when a tenant has moved. “With so many foreclosures on the market, they really can’t keep a handle on it,” said Paul Ryan, 47, of Huntington, who is frequently hired for the town’s cleanup work.

“You definitely have an emotional feeling about what these people might have gone through to lose their house,” said Joseph Rose, 44, a Huntington zoning inspector.

His boss takes that understanding a step further. Under Richard’s direction, the department works with families on town code compliance issues and tries to match them with agencies to assist their needs. “It’s the ones that just totally ignore the situation and adversely affect their neighbors that we really push on,” said Richard.

As of Aug. 2, the department dealt with 2,829 complaints for the year. In 2009 the total reached 4,154.  With foreclosures on the rise, Richard is sure the department will exceed that number.

The Astoria Park Alliance insists that new signs, bulletin boards and a playground fence would improve their beloved neighborhood park.

A woman gazes at East River while a teenager reads on the lawn, Oct. 20, 2009. Photo: John Ryan.

But the local environmental group cannot buy the equipment it says it needs unless the latest grant application is approved or its winter fundraising is successful. Money is tight for the small environmental non profit, particularly in the recession.

“After a while, paying out of your pocket really starts to hurt,” said Jules Corkey, co-chair of the group.

The Astoria Park Alliance is one of many neighborhood organizations that help to maintain New York City’s 1,500 green spaces. These groups devote time, manpower and money to clean up the parks and act as watchdogs over community areas. But with fewer and fewer resources, advocates worry that they will not be able to devote as much cash to keeping the parks beautiful and clean, nor do they believe that the city can handle the job on its own.

“There’s no way a large park organization can be the sole advocate,” said Nora Lanning, director of marketing at the City Parks Foundation. “It really takes these smaller organizations to be the voice.”

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation did not return calls for comment.

Smaller organizations have been working in Astoria Park for the last six months. In September, the advocacy group Green Shores New York teamed up with Astoria Park Alliance to collect 70 bags of trash along the East River. This past summer, the groups also sponsored the Astoria Water Walk, which they said drew hundreds of residents out of their homes into Astoria Park.

Martha Gilpin, the other co-chair of the Astoria Park Alliance, called the two groups “the pool of passionate and energized people that make things happen in the volunteer community.”

Before the winter snow, another volunteer group will plant daffodils near the war memorial in the park. They will seed and mulch the Butterfly Garden, and they plan to host a vendor sale at the Steinway Reform Church to raise money.

“You see a lot of improvement,” said Abdel Berraha, a resident who has photographed community events in Astoria for the last 10 years. “The parks are hard to maintain.”

In addition to keeping up the gardens and planting trees, local environmental groups also want to call attention to the erosion that is pulling topsoil into the water and exposing tree roots on the shoreline of Astoria Park that slopes into the East River.

“Green space is fragile,” Gilpin said. “We have a lot of work to do.”

Around 40 Muslims from five mosques in the Bronx will make the pilgrimage to Mecca as a group in mid-November, in an attempt to lower travel and accommodation costs and allow more people to afford the trip.

“It’s even cheaper this year,” said Abdul Muhaimin Ladan, one of the imam’s assistants at Mount Hope Masjid, a mosque in the southwest of the borough.

Abdul Muhaimin Ladan counts the passports his fellow Muslims will need for the journey to the Mecca on Nov. 15. Photo: Delphine Reuter

Ladan, 42, will supervise the pilgrimage with Mousa Wage, an imam from Highbridge. He said that while the Mount Hope mosque has 400 members, only 12 of them will join the 40-member group traveling to Saudi Arabia for the hajj.

There, they will perform century-old rites like walking seven times around the Kaaba, a shrine covered in a black cloth, located in Mecca, one of the three spiritual capitals of Islam along with Jerusalem and Medina. The Saudi Embassy Web site stated on Nov. 3 that around 250,000 pilgrims had already reached Mecca. Around four million of them are expected from all over the world. The Bronx delegation will gather Muslims from Highbridge, White Plains, and from one mosque in Chicago – headed by Ladan’s cousin.

Ladan said he and Wage will offer three packages this year with the cheapest one costing $4,000, whereas last year the same basic trip would have cost up to $4,500. The price covers the flight, transportation, food and special pilgrimage clothes for the three-week stay.

It is difficult to find a hajj for less than $4,000 on the Internet, and one California organizer even offered a $12,000 package. Ladan explained that the closer the hotel is to Mecca, the higher the cost. This means that the pilgrims who pay the least have to travel the most every day. Ladan was able to offer a cheaper package this year by booking a hotel further away from the center of Mecca.

For Hajie Tunkara, a member of the Islamic Cultural Center in the South Bronx, who already made the pilgrimage in 2006 and plans to join the group this year, the journey is worth it. Tunkara said he convinced the imam of Highbridge to organize the hajj with Ladan, who studied Islam and used to work as a tour organizer in Saudi Arabia.

“I told him that it is better to go with Abdul,” said Tunkara, 37. “He’s been doing the hajj for the past eight years.”

He added that during the hajj, it is easy to get lost in the crowd. Issah Lamin Yusif, 33, a Quran teacher at Mount Hope mosque, said that the last time he went to Mecca, he spent hours locating his tent among thousands of settlements.

“I would not let my wife go alone,” said Yusif.

Fortunately, while the pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, attendance is not required. One thirty-four-year-old woman from the Mount Hope mosque, Hawa Jagana, is not planning to make the trip this year because she cannot afford it. Instead, she is saving about $100 a week to do the trip next year.

“You go if you have the money,” she said.

At the River Room Restaurant, overlooking the Hudson River in West Harlem, the wine is flowing, cupcakes are aplenty, and  close to 100 mothers, bridesmaids and brides-to-be, are making sure their wedding-day dreams won’t break the bank.

Tiffany Daniels signs up for some beauty tips and tricks for her upcoming wedding at the Harlem Wedding Show, Sept. 26, 2009. Photo: Stephanie Marcus

Nicky Mayers, 41, is responsible for The Harlem Wedding Show; a biannual showcase where New York brides can find everything under one roof. For the last two years Mayers, and her company Harlem Weddings have organized the event; attracting more than 20 vendors from all five boroughs and beyond. And at Saturday’s event, wedding expenses in the midst of a recession was on everyone’s minds.

“There has been a drastic change,” said Mayers. “Brides are spending the same amount of money, however they are extending their planning period so they can save the money.”

Mayers said that instead of planning a wedding in 12 months she is seeing couples postponing their engagements to 24 months.

The Knot Inc.’s survey of 18,000 couples married in 2008, released last week, found that the average national cost of a wedding was $29,334. In today’s economy Mayers said for her clients she’s seen that average cost drop to a low of $25,000.

That’s precisely the budget Therese Trapp has. The 33-year-old mother of one who works for the New York City Department of Transportation has been engaged for the past three years, and her wedding is set for July 2011.

“I’m trying to lock in the prices at this time. Plus they say it’s better to plan early, so when I get close to the time I have nothing to do,” she said.

Trapp is expecting 300 guests and is doing what she can to cut costs. ”I’m going to do my own flowers, and I may do my own centerpieces,” she said.

Mayers said more brides are getting creative to save money. ”They are creating a lot of their own invitations, a lot of their own programs to save costs.”

But planning a wedding can be a job in itself, and the role of the wedding planner has changed with the economy. Mayers said that couples are less frequently hiring planners to hold the bride’s hand throughout the entire process, and instead only hiring someone to make sure the day itself goes smoothly.

Melissa Marks,  29, a public school teacher from Harlem, has her wedding set for next September. She isn’t sure whether she’ll use a wedding planner.

“If working with a planner is cost effective then I will, but if not and I can get things done on my own then I will,” she said.

But Colette Brantley, owner of Friend To The Bride, a New Jersey-based wedding planning company, urges brides-to-be to at least hire someone to take care of the wedding day.

“People are trying to save money, the reality is that we all have to be a little more conservative,” she said. “But you need a consultant for the day of.”

Brantley, who charges between $65 and $70 an hour for day-of-planning services, or $2,600 for complete planning from start to finish, said she is all for helping couples keep some of their cash for marital life.

Bernadette Saunders agreed that couples needed to realistically spend within their means. As the owner of the Queens-based Kairos Moment Wedding and Event Planners, her services start at $2,000. She was one of the  highlight of the show offering spend-thrift advice during her workshop.

The Harlem Wedding Show from Stephanie Marcus on Vimeo.

“I don’t want anyone going home and eating peanut butter and jelly for a year,” she said. “A lot of the time we forget that you aren’t just planning for the day, you planning for the rest of your life.”