Court Report

Victory! Kind of...?

So here’s the story.  Today, volunteers from the 123 Community Space showed up at court, waited a long time, and then the Friedman’s lawyer showed up and stayed for 1 minute.  What was the result?  We signed a ‘stipulation’ that kicks us out on September 30th.  The entirety of the stipulation will be posted once we have it.

One of the requirements, however, is that Yoel and Meyer Friedman’s numbers and photos be taken down off the blog. To make sure that we fully comply with this request, we have taken the additional steps of contacting both the White Pages and the Internet, and have asked both of them to removed Yoel and Meyer Friedman’s numbers from their databases, as well as any contact information for their holding companies Tompkins Villas or Myrtle Palace.  The authors of this blog would particularly like to thank Google for making this information inaccessible.

In other news, we would like to reiterate.  We are *still* being evicted, and it should be viewed as such.  The battle against landlords will continue until there aren’t any people leeching off of our need for shelter.

Also, COME TO THE PARTY TOMORROW.  We gotta celebrate the fact that regardless of what happened in court today, 123 is never gonna die!

Court Tomorrow and Celebration On Friday

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A Fucking Huge Post-Court Party To Benefit The 123 Community Space

This, BUT BIGGER!

Friday, June 26
800pm till Late
$5-10 Sugg Donation
Cheap Drinks for 21+
at 123 Tompkins Ave(at Myrtle)

So guess what folks-in case you hadn’t heard we’re in the middle of a huge eviction battle.  We have court this Thursday, at 141 Livingston St at 10am, room 904c, and you all should come out.  But regardless of what happens at court, we’re not leaving Bed-Stuy!  Come out Friday night to celebrate with us, with the help of-

Bluzstreetz (Bed Stuy Poetry)
Block(Bed Stuy MC)
Forrest Muelrath(Acoustic Insanity)
Little, Big (solo project of singer from hidden people)
DJ Merge(123’s Own Turntablist)
DJ TV Party(you’re gonna like it)
And more

Also! Sidewalk Painting!(weather permitting)
Street Activities(people permitting)

Come out and support Brooklyn’s only Anarchist community space!

The Dark Past of the Friedmans

Tweedle Meyer and Tweedle Yoel

Many have asked us “who are these dastardly people who want to kick out a community space, with the only possible intention of saying ‘fuck you’ to Bed-Stuy and ‘come on in’ to yuppies?”  Well, we feel it’s about time to answer that question with a brief profile of our landlords Yoel and Mayer Friedman, pictured above.

In doing research on the many and varied ways that the Friedmans have fucked over tenants across Brooklyn, we discovered a number of interesting points.  First, Mayer is adept at creating ‘shell companies’, or business entities that while they are all owned by him, make it appear as though his properties have changed hands.  While he has 97 property listings in the city database, only 40-50 are actual properties.  Washington Mutual(or whatever bank it has become since the collapse of capitalism) is listed as a partner on almost all of these holdings, so perhaps they would be interested to know about it.

On the slumlord tip, we have received anonymous reports of the Friedmans charging their tenants monthly fees for such extravagant items as intercoms or front doors.  We at 123 can attest to the absurdly bad craftmanship the Friedmans use.  For example, the improperly installed windows that have fallen on top of people’s heads on multiple occassions, or the way that they didn’t bother to level out the floor before they installed tile, so that now nearly every tile is cracked.  But it’s all worth it, since we’ve read in the NY Times real estate section that $2000 a month is a steal.  If only some more funky little shops could open nearby…

And finally, we would like to point out the violations that we discovered in the Friedman’s properties.  You can check out the extensive list of violations  here .  To the Friedman’s credit, we would just like to make clear that they are are only 2 of many landlords across Brooklyn who are fucking people over.  So Meyer and Yoel, when you inevitably read this, know that we’re giving credit where credit is due: You are just doing your job as a member of a class that leeches out as much money from real people as you possible can.  If you disagree, maybe you could get your landlord buddies to hold a rally outside 123 or something.  Or better yet, maybe you could just get the fuck out of Brooklyn.

This is a quick temporary post

Hey All,

Just wanted to give the news as quick as possible about what happened in court today.  The landlords and their lawyer cried alot about harassment, and we were set a trial date for June 25th(will confirm this date later today).  There will be a full post up earlier, but wanted to tell everyone that basically not too much happened today.

Tearing Up the Sidewalk

On Monday, June 8th, more than 50 people involved in the 123 Community Space marched from 123 Tompkins to Councilmember Al Vann’s office at 613 Throop Ave to demand that he step in to prevent our eviction.  Before our march began, ‘community affairs’ cops from the 79th precinct came by the space to try and get us information out of us, but the 123 folks weren’t having it, and we took off down the street with the cops trailing us.  Two cops stood out for being particularly sketchy, and when approached refused to give names or badge numbers.  If you see these two, say hello:

"So I says to them, I don't got a badge number, I says"

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At Al Vann’s office, we were met by a representative who initially seemed annoyed, but then invited in two folks from our crew to come in and discuss our demands.  While inside, he placed a call to our landlord, Meyer Friedman, who reportedly ‘shit his pants'(confirmation pending).  The representative assured us that he would get back to us the following day to report back on Al Vann’s response, and we left with things looking positive.

However, it’s no suprise to anyone that as anarchists we’re not counting on help from politicians.  We will be happy to accept Mr. Vanns support, but we’re going to keep marching, keep yelling and keep doing whatever else we have to save our space.  We’re going to keep fighting until the last landlord leaves Bed-Stuy!

Our Banner’s Been Taken Hostage!

Have You Seen Me?

This has gone too far.  The eviction proceedings were bad, and the inspectors from the Department of Health, but our battle against our landlord just crossed a line.  This past week, the banner disappeared from the side of our building, the work of the dasterdly Friedmans.  In typical landlordly fashion, they appear to have thought that they should control what goes on at 123 Tompkins Ave.  To help get that message across, they left this note:

Okay, so ‘No Trespassing’.  Granted, they’re wrong; tenants can go up to the roofs of their buildings as much as they please, but at least it’s sensible.

The Friedmans appear to have then google image searched “trespassing”, and found a sign threating shooting death to trespassers.  Just in case we didn’t realize what they meant, they filled in some of the letters with markers.  Good work guys.  At least these signs are spelled correctly.

In their typical ingenious way, the Friedmans have provided us both with proof of threats as well as fodder for our campaign against them.  This is starting to get like shooting fish in a barrel.

Honestly, we almost want to go to the landlords and say “Listen, we know that you are inept at nearly everything you do, but you’re making this too easy.  By you continually fucking up, it’s taking the fun out of the battle.  What should we expect next?  A note passed to us in court saying “get out or else, pipsqueaks?”  Real talk.

If you want to share your thoughts with the manchildren who own the lease to this building, you can call them at [phone number of Meyer and Yoel Friedman removed as part of eviction process].

Triumph for the Afterschool Program

For those of you who have been following this blog for a minute, you know about our evil landlord’s efforts to get our afterschool program shut down through the Department of Health.  Well, we here at 123 have been vindicated.   Check it out:

Yeah, that’s right.  The charges were found to be unsubstantiated.  This serves as a message to anyone who tries to throw DoH lackeys in our path: You can’t stop us!

But.  We have to give credit where credit is due.  By some strange turn of events, Meyer and Yoel Friedman(our landlords) happened to be present during the inspection and spoke on our behalfs:”’

Hey!  Maybe these landlords aren’t so bad after all!  We here at the 123 Eviction Blog would like to be the first to thank Yoel and Meyer for stepping in and correcting what they must have realized was a terrible mistake on their parts.

Now, if the Friedmans would kindly step in to correct their mistakes in court on  June 11th, it would be greatly appreciated.  If not that, then perhaps they could just stop sending government inspectors our way.

In related news, apparently an anonymous phone call to the Department of Buildings regarding the illegal yuppie lofts directly adjacent to 123 has left them facing possible eviction.  No word yet as to whether the Friedmans made an appearance to save the day in that case as well.

Tomorrow! March to Save 123!

  Tomorrow, Monday the 8th, join the folks from 123 in a march from our doorstep to the offices of Councilmember Al Vann, to demand that he step in and tell our landlord that he will not let us be evicted.  Vann is the city representative for our district and has a very progressive record, voting for items such as a moratorium on the death penalty and, more pertinently, doubling the fines for landlords who fail to provide certain services. 

While it is difficult to look past his stance on the great metal bats intrigue of ’07, we are willing to believe that he will do what’s right and step in.  For those who might look at our appealing to an elected official as capitulation, we reply that we’re using a diversity of tactics.  In no way are we resting on our laurels, hoping and praying that some higher-up will take care of this.  We will be on the streets doing everything we need to in order to keep this space.   

So to that end, we expect to see everyone who supports 123 Monday at 3pm sharp in front of the space.  The march will be rowdy and (of course) unpermitted, but there will be alot of kids present so nothing too crazy.  See you all tomorrow!

Whose Wall? Our Wall!

If you are familiar with the corner of Tompkins and Myrtle, you might recognize that building.  Yep, that brick facade is the side of 123 Tompkins.

Come on by and check out our big beautiful banner.  Then go drop a banner off your building.  Or off the offices of Myrtle Palace.  Or off the 79th Precinct.  We don’t know how to tell you this any other way:  We’re Not Going Anywhere!

Oh, and just as proof that this motherfucker really is pretty big:

Undercover Landlord, Part II

A Sketch Artist's Rendering of the Culprit

In an unexpected turn of events, it appears our landlord’s ceaseless investigation of us has hit paydirt: He has discovered the very blog you see before you.

In a comment to our previous “Undercover Landlord” post, which can be viewed below, a certain ‘Derek’ wrote

“I just want everybody to know.  I’m a tenant of these Landlords.  They are the best I’ve ever had.  Something must be terrible wrong with these 123 kids that they are being evicted.  My Landlord is a very nice person, all services are better than expected.”

The Intelligence Analysis Unit here at the 123 Community Space has come up with the following suspects for the author of this comment:

File Photo, Courtesy of Reuters

1) The Landlords.  Having learned from their infiltration efforts of the past, they came up with an email “derek844@gmail.com” that mentions neither the space nor Bed-Stuy.  Clever.  Another key piece of evidence is their consistent capitalization of the word “landlord”, in the same way that you would capitalize “God.”

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Neighbor At Work

2) Yuppies.  Bed-Stuy is facing a full scale assault from yuppies.  Case in point?  Our ‘neighbor’ who climbs into his Cadillac wearing flip flops and a backwards cap.  This subspecies has been known to defend capital, but unless they formerly lived in a yurt, can’t have possibly found the services to be better than expected.  Hence our final suspect:

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My Mac Rulez!

3) Our Landlord’s 8 Year Old Son.  Okay, so we think that they don’t have any preteen children, but who knows?  It would go a long way towards explaining the unadulterated adoration, and also the ignorance of the way in which wordpress gives you the IP address of people leaving commments.  Oh!  That reminds me!

Help us find out where derek844@gmail.com is posting from.  Here’s his IP address: 98.116.26.121

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In other news,

With Special Afterparty Activities