I know there are at least a few of you out there. The people living at 71 Troy St. and 244 Oak Street in Olneyville need to be out by tomorrow; they were served eviction notices, their buildings are condemned, and there are now dozens of homeless artists/punks/noise makers, etc.
If you can help STORE STUFF, STORE PEOPLE, SHOW UP AT COURT, OR ANYTHING, GO TO OLNEYVILLE NOW-Intersection of Broadway and Westminster streets on the west side, take a left at Wes's Rib House. Seriously, these are some of my best friends in the world and I would be there in a heartbeat if I could.
― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 20 January 2004 23:51 (twenty-two years ago)
it's like fort thunder again. except stupider and even more inevitable and impossible to fight. and all so quick; the fire inspectors and police came through about three weeks back and took pictures and the like. no eviction notices were served until today. demolition starts in less than 11 hours. horrible horrible horrible.
so many memories.
― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 00:50 (twenty-two years ago)
to say nothing of the bands who were supposed to be playing these spaces on tour in the coming days/week/months who now need to figure out what the fuck to do.
and where are we going to get drunk and listen to brutal noise?
― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 00:52 (twenty-two years ago)
"I guess the situation as it stands (and forgive any redundancy here) is that although the Olneyvillians got their landlord to sign a written promise that they don't have to be on the street until Friday at noon, there's still a more imminent problem: demolition.
"Apparently, at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning (that's Wednesday, January 21) the landlord is bringing some hired goons in to demolish all the walls in the building -- not the structural walls, but all the new drywall that people have put up in their spaces. I know that people on this forum have already mentioned that they'll be working all night to salvage what they can from this sinking ship, but there is also a plan to protest when the wrecking crew arrives. Spread the word any way you can -- we need as many people as we can get here.
"An important issue here is that the landlord has obtained a demolition permit from the city, apparently by telling them that the building has already been vacated. If he obtained the permit by lying to the city, it may not be valid. So get out of bed early (unless you're working all night to get your stuff out of the building) and make a stand before the demolition begins.
"There is simply no way that tenants can get all of their valuables out of the building before the hired thugs arrive to start wrecking stuff. This is premature. Demolition must not begin before everyone is out of the buildings, and that means Friday at noon. If the demolition permit proves to be based on the lie that everyone has already moved out, perhaps we can stop them tomorrow. At the very least, even if we can't stop it in time, we can still get the word out about the landlord's shady dealings."
― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 07:55 (twenty-two years ago)
The fuck? Providence, Rhode Island?
― Lewis J. Bateman (Lewis Bateman), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 10:29 (twenty-two years ago)
Providence, RI indeed.
I haven't heard from my friends or anything, but I assume by now the demolition crew has shown up and started going to town if they couldn't be convinced to wait a few days.
― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 20:09 (twenty-two years ago)
the fire inspectors and police came through about three weeks back and took pictures and the likemy sense of timing is fucked; i just looked at the e-mail i got when this all started, and it was only the tenth of jan.
― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 20:28 (twenty-two years ago)