The Anton family is not ready to sail off into the sunset – but the city says they have to ship out.
For 18 years, George and Elena and their son, Edward, have lived on a 34-foot, two-room houseboat docked in a slip at the World’s Fair Marina in Flushing Bay.
But last month, city lawyers lobbed a legal bomb across their bow – filing a lawsuit seeking to evict the immigrant couple and their 19-year-old son.
The suit charges the Antons are squatters and have no right to be there.
George Anton said he sailed his 38-year-old homestead into the harbor in 1990 after he and his family landed in the city from their native Romania.
The 60-year-old disabled X-ray-machine repairman and his wife, 55, were looking for a peaceful existence on the water with their then-infant son. They have rented the slip ever since.
“We lost everything in our country, and we started a new life here,” Elena said. “I’m not here to be homeless. I’m not here to take welfare. We’re trying to live in this country honestly.”
“I chose to stay in a houseboat because I am a free man,” her husband said.
They’ve made a good, if somewhat cramped, life on their boat. It’s kept cozy with electric space heaters. George and Elena sleep below in a tiny space that includes a small bathroom. The upper deck opens to a room with a sink, a miniature electric stove and two cushioned benches. During the day, the room is George’s workshop, where he carves elaborate model boats out of mahogany, which he hopes to one day sell. At night, the room is Edward’s sleeping space.
Elena works as a bookkeeper in Midtown, making about $650 a week, and Edward, a mechanic, chips in. George Anton said he hasn’t worked steadily since breaking his back 10 years ago.
But in 1999, the city reclaimed management of the marina, near La Guardia Airport, from a private company. In the last two years, George claims, it has refused to accept his payments for the slip and electricity, denied the family a key to the marina gate and locked the public bathrooms in winter.
The city filed a lawsuit on Sept. 10 in Queens Supreme Court that charges the family has flouted rules prohibiting “live-aboards” at the marina. It also accuses the family of dumping waste into the bay and asks for $7,800 in fees and utility charges.
The boat is without an engine and immobile, which the city claims is also against marina rules.
“It’s discrimination,” said George, citing houseboats at a city marina on the Hudson that have been allowed to stay.
Several of the 52 houseboats at the 79th Street Boat Basin, which has had a year-round community of residents for decades, are also immobile. After years of fighting with the city over whether the boat-basin residents should be allowed to live at that public marina, the city agreed to grandfather in 50 or so boats.
kboniello@nypost.com