Bushwick Trailer Park Artist Community Busted Up Again, Facing Arrest?

Last month the twenty citizens of the Bushwick Trailer Park were evicted from the space they'd been inhabiting without warning. At the time we talked to one of the residents, who told us, "It's been a stressful week. Imagine having an apartment for a whole year and then one day the police knock on your door and issue you summons for trespassing! It wasn't the eviction process that all New Yorkers are entitled to, it was two cops and a bulldozer. We were paying rent just like anyone else. We're now e-mailing and calling anybody and everybody who might have a lot or some land we can park these things on temporarily. If we had been given 30 days, we and all the grumpy internet commenters out there could all be having a laugh about a Greenpoint Trailer Park or maybe a Red Hook Trailer Park."

The alternative artist community began a blog, and addressed their media coverage (and that dreaded H word). But where have they gone? Nowhere, apparently. This morning we heard from another former resident of the park, who told us:

"The police have informed us, the tenants of the Bushwick Trailer Park, that this morning, at 10 a.m., they and the department of buildings will convene at our warehouse space, padlock the doors, and arrest anyone on the premises. This is after we have already been illegally evicted from our abandoned lot trailer park in the backyard three weeks ago. Some of us plan to be on the premises at 10 a.m. when they arrive. We are prepared to face arrest.
On Monday, the FDNY and the police visited the trailer park's warehouse space [located at 304 Meserole Street in Brooklyn], and determined that the conditions of the warehouse were 'imminently perilous to human life,' and that all tenants must immediately vacate or face arrest. We have received vacate orders in the past, but they were always related to the presence of RV's inside the warehouse. There are no longer any engine vehicles on the premises, and now the reason for the vacate order has changed. It is now regarding a woodworking shop in the basement, which is not part of our lease, and which has been there since we first moved in."

For the most part, the residents of the trailer park seem frustrated and confused since it's unclear what the fire department would consider "safe." They have removed the trailers, and "the warehouse has sprinklers, and front and rear egress." Hayden Cummings, one of the founders, says, "We've spent a lot of money bringing this space up to code. Nobody will tell us exactly what is unsafe about this space. They only say that the order is coming from above their heads."

We'll update when we find out what happened with the FDNY today, and when we hear back from the FDNY about their comments on this space.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on April 13, 2011 3:33 PM

Comments [rss]

jej123321

just tell them to move to gerritsen beach it's pretty much a trailer park anyway

CPA_IRS

Look for the money $$$.
20 trailers, $600 a month, 12 months is $144,000 for the organizers.
The cost of a used up trailer is approximately $2,500. Annual rent for one trailer: $7,200. Profit: $4,700 per trailer. They don't get this type of return on investment anywhere. The organizers should get a job in Wall Street. The tenants should get together and rent a decent apartment for way less, with a bathroom and a shower.
Can you imagine the balls to knowingly place trailers (free of charge) on public rail road property and collect rent from others (non suspecting artists). And the balls to go and tell the entire world about it via the internet. To have FDNY, NYPD, DOB over a period of more than one year chase you, but you keep evading the final outcome and endanger the lives of young artists by placing them in trashy trailers connected to exposed electrical wires all over the place.
It is not about the art, it is about the $$$.

leightonish

CPA_IRS i saw your comment on the NYT blog about this same thing.

I'm no CPA or IRS worker or whatever, but it seems like the $600 was also for access to the warehouse space that is the issue in this particular article. The article says they were paying rent for this space... probably, what 5,000 or $6,000 a month? I have no idea what a meserole street warehouse goes for these days.. but that's gotta be 60-70k in expenses, nevermind utilities and whatever. Electricity alone can be a few grand a month in a space that big, particulary from those exposed electrical wires that were apparently all over the place... And you're assuming they had all of these campers full all the time for the entire year..

Maybe you're right, and these kids came up with the most unnecessarily complicated way ever to make a few grand and screw over the IRS, but it seems pretty unlikely.. I'm not sure this is a giant financial scandal by any stretch of the imagination.

CPA_IRS

Well, the warehouse is another profit center. It is a business enterprise. From what I read in the business papers, art can be very profitable. Unless, all along, the organizers intended for the warehouse to be a dwelling for rent enterprise. They advertised it on the internet and u-tube and got the FDNY and NYC DOB to come and take a look. By the way, I am sure these guys are straight shooters and report to the IRS on a timely basis. My concern is not the IRS. My concern was the safety of these young artists in the event of a fire trap at the long gone trailers camp.

Guest

welcome to gothamist. got any sources for that info?

Bernie_Geotz_Squirrel_Luv

I think their problem was not keeping this under the radar. Do not bring attention to yourself by calling it The Bushwick Trailer Park. People live in cars, RV's and boats, why bust these guys?

69GeorgeWBush69

Meserole street is still WBurg as it's above Flushing

Guest

some of the attitudes expressed on this thread are a good indication of why nyc has become such a hypoallergenic strip-mall wasteland populated by automatons who value conformity above all.

whitecastlerock

So move away and stop bitching about it on a blog-take these creative wizards with you...

Guest

stop bitching on a blog about my bitching on a blog.

so you endorse obedience to fickle authorities and quitting rather than perseverance. but many people realize that these bureaucracies are here to serve us, not the other way around.

Mordicai

Yeah, what? I am all for you bitching on a blog; I came to this blog to bitch, we are bitching together. Disgreeing doesn't mean you have to be a jerk about it, does it? Nah. We can disagree & argue, but we're on the same team, ultimately.

Guest

i agree with your sentiment, but i think you need to reread this exchange and the one above. i'm not being crude or trying to stifle debate.

Mordicai

Not YOU, I meant whitecastle. I'm saying-- bitch away, we're all bitching on a blog, that is like, the point. We are COMMENTING. Commenting that someone shouldn't comment...misses the point.

Guest

right, cool.

Mike Pants

One of these roaches is a friend of my roommate and keeps sleeping on our couch whenever the cops raid the warehouse. She straight up admitted that the landlord had absolutely no right to accept rent for that hive of trailers and that "Yeah, we're all living there illegally... but they can't just kick us out!"

Yes, they can. And no, you can't stay on the couch anymore. Now go get a lease and be creative within the law like the rest of the goddamn city.

CaitisMe

I slept on your couch a total of two times. You were home one of the times and were awake for a total of about 10mins while I was there. You never asked questions or engaged in conversation about the place. You don't know all the details and aren't in any position to make informed judgements. Oh, and you're an asshole.

Guest

i hear the 'burbs calling you.

Mordicai

No, see-- Pants is talking about what I'm talking about. That is a depiction of events that rings true to me. Again-- I'm just making armchair calls-- but I believe they are paying rent, & that the landlord is probably the ultimate bad guy. That being said, the space, from what I can tell, is a deathtrap.

Guest

his characterization as "roaches" says it all. this and many other comments are merely kneejerk reactions conveying personal antagonism towards creatives rather than a thoughtful consideration about the role of our city bureaucracy.