BOSTON -- Boston mayoral candidate Michael Flaherty comes from a family steeped in the tradition of South Boston politics.

Team 5 Investigates Janet Wu reported that his father is a former state legislator and judge. Now retired, he's building a condominium complex on land that neighbors were surprised to find he had owned for decades -- land that they say was abandoned and neglected.

The property on East 3rd Street in South Boston was purchased by Michael Flaherty Sr. 30 years ago from the city as a foreclosure for just under $6,000. Until construction of the condominiums began last year, it looked exactly like the parcel now behind the development.

"It was an empty lot. All the dogs used to go there," neighbor Ron Doyle said. "Sometimes the brush used to get so high that you couldn't even see the garbage."

Other neighbors were less willing to be identified for fear of retribution. One man, who asked to be called Joe, has lived in the neighborhood for 36 years.

"The property was a mess. It was overgrown weeds, trash. It was used as a dog park," he said. "The only ones that came by were the city redshirt workers in the summertime, cleaning up, thought it was a city-owned lot all those years."

City records over a four-year period show that the Boston Youth Fund did clean up that property and abutting parcels of land, filling hundreds of bags of garbage each summer. Since 2002, records of cleanups were no longer kept on file.

"When you found out it was Michael Flaherty Sr., the former judge, what was your reaction?" Wu said.

"I felt kind of taken by having the city clean his lot all these years, using taxpayers' money. Don't think it's fair," Joe said.

"Should you have said something to your father about this?" Wu asked Rep. Michael Flaherty.

"Well, first of all, my dad's not running for mayor of Boston, and he's a private citizen," he said.

Team 5 tried repeatedly but was unsuccessful in setting up an interview with his father, even going to his home.

Unsolicited, he faxed Team 5 Investigates a statement saying, in part, that since buying it in December 1979, "the property in question has been maintained a level compared to all other similar vacant lots in this community."

"You feel you have no responsibility as a city councilor?" Wu asked the candidate.

"That's correct. That's correct," he said. "I take my own inventory. I'm raising my own family and own my own property."