Bayside Man Calls his Erratic Neighborhood Behavior a ‘Mistake’

Luis Rivera, Jr., has lived at 8660 N. Greenvale Rd. in Bayside for 16 years. During those years, he's been nicknamed the for scaring children and racked up $7,500 in municipal citations for trespassing, disorderly conduct, destruction of property and more.

Rivera told Patch that it was a mistake and he's trying to make amends. But what really upsets Rivera's neighbors is a professionally made sign he's had posted in his front yard on multiple occasions.

"This sign was offensive," said Twila Bergeron, a neighbor to Rivera. "It has no place in a pleasant neighborhood such as ours, nor does the misplaced anger behind such a sign."

The sign he posted in his front yard, without approval from Village Hall, said:

"Stop trespassing on my life!!! To the Racist, Jealous, Envious People at: 8640... 'GET A LIFE' If you were a real Man, we would not have this problem!"

"First, a sign with angry implications is intimidating to the family living next door and is very uncomfortable for them as parents of young children," Bergeron said. "Secondly, an angry sign of this nature adversely affects housing values and makes our street less appealing to those looking to move to Bayside."

A lengthy history

The conflict between Rivera and his neighbors predates the posting of the controversial sign. Rosalie Tocco lives next door to Rivera and says the controversy began Memorial Day 2007, when she asked him not to swear in front of her children. Since then, she has a laundry list of events that have left her family fearful.

"He rants and raves and is irrational with anyone who appears on my property," Tocco said. "He's yelled at my father-in-law, my babysitter and he yells at me regularly. He even spits on the ground when he sees me."

Tocco said he's also threatened "to have 200 bikers in his backyard," blasted music so loud she says you can hear it two houses away and parked his motorcycle as close as possible to the children's window and revved the engine at 6 a.m. on a Saturday until everyone was awake.

"My husband works shift work so I'm alone a lot and I'm starting to fear for my safety," Tocco said. "Several people are recommending that I just pick up and move. My friends are very, very concerned."

And those friends, many of whom live nearby, are sharing those concerns. However, for fear for their own families, some preferred to remain anonymous. 

"The sign makes me feel scared for my friend's family," one neighbor said. "The language in the sign was very inflammatory, and it spoke directly to her family. He has threatened them and made life miserable for them, and I am concerned about how far he might take all of his rage."

"A couple of days ago, he was screaming vulgar things to my friend’s husband," another resident wishing to remain anonymous said. "We’re worried he’s going to become violent, it’s that bad."

Tocco and her family moved to their current home, next door to Rivera, in 2005 and says he wasn't always so combative.

"He would actually clear our driveway of snow, offer to share tools, call me and talk. I remember him saying I'm 'the best neighbor.' But since then, life has been very hard to Rivera."

In a short phone conversation with Patch, Rivera was unwilling to discuss any additional details that may have led to what he calls his "anger issues."

Village intervention

After throngs of phone calls from fearful neighbors, Village Hall and the Police Department began what Village Manager Andy Pederson calls a balancing act between protecting Rivera's rights and the rights of his neighbors to feel safe. 

"There is that balance between people's property rights and their individual Constitutional rights, versus maintaining civility and camraderie of a neighborhood," Pederson said.

In early December, the village sent a letter to Rivera advising him to take down his sign within five days as it had not been approved by the Architectural Review Committee. He kept the sign up until police arrived at his front door and told him he needed to remove the sign. He took it down and was issued an additional three citations for $1,500 per incident for posting the illegal sign, trespassing when he removed survey markers from the Tocco's property and for destruction of property — a grand total of $4,500 in fines.

Rivera was cited in September for disorderly conduct when he walked by some children and their mothers waiting for the school bus with his dog and told the children that they were

He was cited again in from a neighbor's tree that had grown over the property line.

Police say Rivera has paid all his citations through his last municipal court date, which was Tuesday. He heads back to municipal court on Feb. 14 for the newest citations.

But Rivera says he's trying to make amends.

"I made a mistake," Rivera said. "I have an attorney and I'm going to try to apologize to all these people. I'm going to try to change my life."