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Subscribe to RSSNEW YORK -- A Bronx man who runs a fish farm in his 14th-floor apartment is being sued by his landlord in a building where neighbors claim the tanks leak and stink up their homes.
The landlord claims Christopher Toole, 47, is violating his lease at the Riverdale building by illegally breeding fish and running the Society of Aquaponic Values and Education from the home, according to the New York Post.
He has "refused to refrain" from making noises and causing odors, the lawsuit says.
Read the story at NBCNewYork.com
"He's running a business out of his apartment," Errol Brett, the landlord for Windsor Apts. Inc., told the Post.
Neighbors say Toole is responsible for several large leaks and drags his fish farming materials across the floor through the night.
“It’s irritating because you hear noise all the time. It’s 3:30 in the morning, and you hear him dragging his aquarium or whatever it is across the floor. It has changed my life,” resident Roch McDowell, who lives directly below Toole, told the paper.
Toole formerly worked at Morgan Stanley and served as a vice president for Sovereign Bank, according to the Post. He now teaches kids about fish farming and sells his tilapia.
He told the Post he was not aware of the suit, but said "any publicity is good publicity."
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Leave a Comment:
Sounds like a great neighbor. Not. I wouldn't be happy living next to this guy either. I can just image the horrible smell not to mention the noise round the clock. People can be so disrespection living in close counters.
I know the housing prices in NYC suck but seriously, he can't afford one despite working for Morgan Stanley and being a VP of a BANK?
“It’s irritating because you hear noise all the time. It’s 3:30 in the morning, and you hear him dragging his aquarium or whatever it is across the floor. It has changed my life,” resident Roch McDowell, who lives directly below Toole, told the paper.
Come on man, that's a bit of an exaggeration.
Alex...
If it has changed the persons sleep patterns, it very well could be a life changing issue. I'm not saying that is the case, but having had new neighbors that did similar things that affected me, I have empathy for the situation.
Yes! I have loads of empathy, but none for this moron. Sounds like he's a a nutcase. Throw him out on his backside...PRONTO! I used to live below a moron who use to get up at 3:30 in the morning and proceed to bang walk with his heels on the floor. Put a few holes in the ceiling because of him.
Disrespection indeed!
BTW, "not" jokes are total disrespection too.
So he is a "fish" rancher........I can see it now his seahorses herding up the Talpia moving them into the corral tanks. I bet the branding has to be a bitch though the water keeps cooling off the branding iron.
Metazip wrote "Throw him out on his backside...PRONTO! I used to live below a moron who use to get up at 3:30 in the morning and proceed to bang walk with his heels on the floor."
You're basically calling for a ban on women because they make the most noise clacking about in the morning with their high heels in the house. It's so loud that even if you live next to someone, you will be disturbed.
VP @ Soveriegn Bank, you have to understand that almost everyone that works for a bank with the exception of the tellers are Vice Presidents...
Anytime your talking to a Branch Manager at your local bank your talking to a Vice President. Trust me their rate of pay is never going reach the 1%.
Still, I am gratified to know that at least one bankster lost his job, and now, he sleeps with the fishes ...
It sounds like the guy is in violation of his lease, not to mention most likely violating zoning laws by running a business like this in his apartment. He deserves to be thrown out on his ass, in particular because of his childishly arrogant attitude. Making statements like "any publicity is good publicity" just shows that this guy is an arrogant jackass and that he does not give a @!$%# about his neighbors. I hope the landlord is successful in throwing him out on his ass and I hope he gets sued for the costs of repairing the water damage he has caused and for restoring the apartment to habitable conditions since it is going to take a lot to get the fish smell out of the place so that someone else can actually live there.
Not as bad as when I moved to NYC in 1979- the real estate agent told us about Waterside , there on the river: seems there were a LOT of roaches on a few floors ; nobody could figure why.....one day maintenance happened to enter an aprtment rented by an Indian family whose dad worked at the U.N. They were raising chickens , just throwing the feed on the floor- it was 2" deep in old feed and feces and roaches. There may have been a goat in there too, not sure....
Ritdog-908299, no one will believe you unless they have lived in NYC. As one who did live there I can tell you, you are most definitely NOT exaggerating! The things that would be living in the apartments in the city were unreal....Sometimes the sound of the roaches running through an apartment would wake a person up. The cats were afraid to get on the floor at night because of them. People laugh and roll their eyes when you tell them about the rats the size of a dachshund but really, that was the norm. Some were bigger! New Yorkers are definitely a breed apart and most are pretty inconsiderate....
Awesome. Why aren't yuppies that throw dinner parties cited for lease violations?
...everyone that works for a bank with the exception of the tellers are Vice Presidents."
Yep, and the tellers are "Associate Vice Presidents." Seriously though, this guy sounds just like some of the idiots I've lived below, or next door to, which is why I don't live in apartments anymore. Never again.
Dog owners are usually the problem; they have one or more barkers and take an f-you attitude toward anybody who complains about the noise. Inadequate legal enforcement perpetuates the problem. But now we have a problem with fish farming, too? Some people need to be institutionalized, badly. This dude appears to be one of them.
I hope he does a better job fish farming than what he did in Morgan Stanley and Sovereign Bank.
What a scumbag. Throw him and his fish into the river.
i think he may have a few issues...
This is a fishy story
You got it, and the story stinks as usual! Another slow news day on MS-BS.com You would think that there is actually news worth reporting out there.
It says Tilapia, a common fish you can find in fillet form in most grocery stores. I'd like to hear more about this, sounds interesting. Raising food in your apartment. Very cool.
And Tilapia no less..... it's a cheap farm fish that honestly isn't that good to begin with. It just breeds fast.
tastes ok but is fun to fish & bowfish for
@lunatoo
I seriously doubt he is raising any food in his apartment. More likely he is breeding fry which he then sells to others who raise the fish to full size.
Sounds like a better use of an apartment than keeping dogs that bark all of the time and run around scratching up the wood flooring.
Even after the banksters stop bank-banging, they still find a way to f*ck with people.
Next time you walk into your local bank ask the manager what his/her title is. Banks have more Vice Presidents than they have tellers.
Sounds like his prior work place was pretty fishy so I can see why he gravitated to his current profession!
He has a lot of experience in fishy business.
Hey, the guy is a shark. What do you expect? bada bing!
After a life of fishy business, this guy just wasn't going to flounder.
His neighbors have a STINKING WHALE of a TAIL to tell. They seem very CRABBY!!
Oh, somebody please stop me.
This guy literally "sleeps with the fishes"............stolen from the Godfather.
The article says he "illegally bred fish". How do you illegally breed fish? No marrage certificate? or.....ewwwww
@Lori: Well, he worked as a bank VP, so there's a 60-70% chance it's the second one......
.
These Morgan Stanley guys just keep thinking of new ways to piss people off... hats off to 'em. If the smell bothers you just open a window and get some fresh... uh... never mind, New York City. Imagine what he would've done if he was an ex-Goldman Sachs guy? Whoa fookin' Nellie! He probably woulda had a herd of buffalo up there. Also, for your collective information the Society of Aquaponic Values and Education (S.A.V.E) happens to be a pro-Romney Pac and was recently acquired by Bain Capital for three boxes of bread crumbs, a carton of lemons and jar of tartar sauce.
"All lies are bullshyt but not all bullshyt are lies!" Keep smilin' kids.
This is one of many situations that happens behind closed doors in New York City. Hey! how about some moonshine?
Maybe the complaining neighbor should open a Sushi restaurant in his apartment and invite the fish guy over for dinner.
Why is this news? He has breached his lease. You evict him, and you're done with it. Even if it was a condo, and he owned it, the guy would not be allowed to run a fish farm on the 14th floor and cause all this disruption to his neighbors. People are so selfish and inconsiderate, that they think they can do anything and get away with it. A judge will hear the case if he appeals, and throw him out. If he has damaged his apartment, he will have a judgement against him and have to pay for that as well.
Leases typically exclude dogs and cats but not fish.
Which anticipates a single tank of tropicals or goldies, not a commercial operation.
Uhhhh... he teaches kids?? Like, parents bring their children to some dude's stinky apartment where he is illegally breeding tilapia, for "educational" purposes? hahaha. If that's the case, those parents need to have their heads checked along with Steve Zissou over here.
Perhaps parents should be excited to have an elementary school with 100% female teachers (men are employed to empty the trash and clean the toilets) that have zero experience in anything other than collecting a nearly worthless degree in Education.
I'd rather have my son or daughter have contact with an expert in fish breeding, apartment or not, than sit around and cut pieces of paper to be glued together.
Just wondering---- Are the Anti job-creation opponents Democrats or Republicans??
Drain the water from his tanks and toss a couple of cats in the apartment.
He worked for Morgan stanley? Are we sure that "Aquaponics" are the only "Ponics" going on up there? Them Morgan Stanley peeps can be a little left of the law most times.
Throw out the fish farmer and the seahorse he rode in on....
He is obviously a moron. Issue a cease and desist order and let him move his operation to a rental warehouse. Or just kick his stupid self out.
Someone is employed and we take away his livelihood. That is the regulations at its best.
It never ceases to amaze me the new levels of stupidity that people seem to reach.
what does it say for us as a society when a consenting adult cannot graze some catfish in his NY apartment? What si next? No cow milking in my condo?
Wow, that must smell almost as bad as the rest of the city. No common sense anymore.
Properly done he could most likely breed fry like someone above mentioned and noone would be the wiser. Charcoal filters for the air and bio filters for the water....of course there is the issue of the weight of the tanks....I hope that the building is concrete floors and is not a wood framed building. Unless it is a converted wharehouse like to many buildings in New York are, then he might be ok. Still would not want to be his neighbor.
I am sure that he will be found in violation of his lease and made to move to a commercial building where that type of thing is tolerated.
If this article were about a woman hoarding 13 cats, there would be more sympathy. There is no tolerance for an inventive and industrious man.
Sounds like what he is sorely lacking is a good beating. Once he gets that, I think the fish issue would resolve quickly. I doubt any other approach would work with an idiot like this.
The banker and his fishy apartment. there's a parable in this tale, somewhere...