QUEENS (PIX11) – After sustaining life-threatening injuries during her tour of duty abroad, second-generation US Marine veteran Kate Ragazzino doesn’t take any chances with her health.
That's why this Rockaway, Queens resident still passes through a plastic construction tarp to keep smoke, soot, and other dust particles from a Jan. 2022 fire across the hall from drifting into her apartment at the Dayton Towers. It's a Mitchell Lama co-op building with blockbuster views of the Atlantic Ocean.
"If they take this down, you can see all of the wiring is gonna cause soot. I have asthma. In order for me to maintain my health and wellbeing, this is up here because I know when they're gonna come fix this," said Ragazzino.
Two and a half years later, building officials say a partial vacate order remains in effect for unit 80, where the fire originated. Kate says she's had to fight tooth and nail for any repair made up to this point in her unit.
Ragazzino says she's been through hell trying to get her life, and her apartment back in order after that 2022 fire. That includes dealing with her balcony, which she says she's asked to be power washed. It also includes her new kitchen - recently remodeled, partly at her expense, and the once water damaged flooring that she says led to a nasty fall.
"I ended up falling almost through the doorway here," said Ragazzino.
Attorneys for Metro Management, Ragazzino's management company, declined to comment for this report, citing her lawsuit against the company.
But State Assemblywoman Stacy Pheffer Amato, one of the many elected officials Ragazzino reached out to for help, tells PIX11 News, "After defending our country, Katherine deserves to be back in her home, and the failure to properly restore her apartment is completely unacceptable. This whole situation was not her fault, and we will continue to advocate and push everyone to do their job.
Ragazzino says she isn't giving up.
"The health and safety of the environment after the fire should have been addressed for not only myself, as a shareholder, but for those living in this building. I'm a United States Marine. Hell yeah," said Ragazzino.
English (US) ·