Demolition of abandoned Cambridge home buries woman’s SUV in rubble
When Anita Scheuring heard a loud bang about 8 a.m. as she was getting ready for work yesterday, she thought it was just the sound of a longawaited demolition of an abandoned house nearby.
But just 15 minutes later, Scheuring stepped out her front to door to find her beloved 1999 Nissan Pathfinder under a mountain of rubble on her street in North Cambridge.
“While the car isn’t worth that much in dollar amounts, it means a lot to me,” Scheuring said. “Our family took camping trips in it. We took a lot of road trips.”
Scheuring, who runs an elder care business, has had the Pathfinder since about 2002, and recalled taking it on a road trip to the Grand Canyon.
She usually leaves between 7:45 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., but said it hadn’t occurred to her that she could have been in the car when the wall fell. She said it was parked in its usual spot on Cedar Street, and would have moved it if she was asked.
“I’m kind of in disbelief that they didn’t knock on doors,” she said. “They could have just knocked on my door and I would have moved it.”
Scheuring said many on the block have been waiting for the house to be demolished, but it has been disruptive. Workers delivered an empty dumpster early in the morning Thursday.
“I was a little concerned yesterday morning when a big truck showed up,” she said. “Of course I’ve had concerns about living next to a building that’s being torn down.”
Cambridge police did not issue any citations, but Inspectional Services is reviewing the incident, police spokesman Jeremy Warnick said.