Residents of a Red Bank neighborhood say that their neighbor’s cluttered yard is a cause for concern.
Photos obtained by News 12 New Jersey show William Poku’s Bank Street property to be filled with at least eight vehicles, trash bags, car batteries and lawn mowers, among other items.
“He’s a hoarder. He thinks he’s a collector and a hobbyist, if you ask him,” says one neighbor.
But Poku says that all of the items on his property are useful to him.
“These are assets,” he says. “These are materials that I used in a previous business, all right?”
The condition of his property has been the subject of complaints for years.
When asked about complaints of broken-down vehicles on his property, Poku said, “They’re not broken-down cars…They like to describe this vehicle as a broken-down vehicle. You saw me drive it in here.”
Red Bank's business administrator says the municipality is in litigation with Poku, who has appealed actions by the city to get him to clean up his property. But neighbor Jeff Loonan says that he believes Red Bank officials haven't done enough.
“Nothing is changing. In fact, it's continuing to get worse,” Loonan says.
Poku tells News 12 that there is nothing about his yard that poses a danger to his neighbors.
“I am very proud of it because I'm self-sustaining,” he says.
Poku says that he is being targeted because he is African-American and because there are those who want to gentrify his neighborhood.
But some of Poku’s neighbors are black and they are among the neighbors who have asked him to clean up his yard.