You may recall the rusting ladder in the tree that redbankgreen featured a few weeks back in our Where Have I Seen This? contest. (Answer, in case you missed it: in the yard of a house at 236 Broad Street, at the corner of Irving Place.)

Well, a couple of the neighbors were not amused. They complained to us about the conditions on the property. It seems the tree ladder’s been there for quite some time, abandoned after a dangerous and as-yet-unfinished attempt at arboreal trimming. And there’s a second, longer ladder that’s been tied to the porch roof, extending up to the third-floor cupola, for months.

Here’s an excerpt from an e-mail we received, complete with the original buzz-saw punctuation:

I have been looking at the house with the ladder in the tree and a ladder on the house for over a year….when is Red Bank going to tell the owner to clean up his mess ?????? He has an unfinished roof , a falling down garage, and garbage around his house….by the way the huge ladder on his house is about to fall down, why dont you take a picture of that,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Well, folks, don’t let it be said that redbankgreen can’t take a hint. We tracked down the house’s owner, Kevin Boyce, at his home in Long Branch for an explanation.

Boyce tells us, somewhat sheepishly, that he hauled the first ladder into the tree by rope to trim some limbs, but couldn’t finish the job without—get this—buying a longer ladder. And when he did get the extension ladder, he used it instead to replace his roof, a job he never quite finished. Intending to finish it, though, he left the extension on the roof for the sake of convenience. Time passed.

Boyce says he “can probably get them down this week.” Stay tuned.

BTW, the property, which is zoned for commercial or residential use, is for sale. It’s assessed at $477,500, and Boyce is asking $1.5 million. Let’s see if his ambition in that regard is also beyond his reach.

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