What has been going on? Hungerford to Tremont

It's 6;15 in the morning and here I am not headed into work or heading into prep for moving my studio. The last month or 2 has been so much packing and moving. I am now at a breathing spot where I'd like to share with you what has been going on and also get a chance to blog since I haven't in a while.

I may as well start from a starting point. As some of you may already have known I had a studio at a place in Rochester NY known as the Hungerford building. It has been known for a long time to be an artist building where all 4 floors were filled with artists, crafters, musicians, small local businesses and all-around creatives. Before I had the studio, I would visit during the holiday months especially October where everyone would decorate, dress up, and celebrate the holiday. Each studio would have food and drink which would add to the ambiance of the event enabling people to mingle, chitchat, and get to know the local artists. I had loved this event so much I would go to more events than a friend of mine Rose would eventually get a studio there after being on a waiting list for more than a year. These years we had a lot of fun, some challenging times, but we were part of that artist community. We got involved with monthly meetings, helped with the events, and hosted First Fridays, and Second Saturdays in our studio. It was so much fun, and we loved it. Our landlord and building manager were easy to get a hold of, to talk to, and would help us when we needed help. We liked them and we tried not to be a pain in the ass.

We got the studio in 2018, January I believe. Out of the blue in 2022 after the years of COVID we would get an email from management that they had sold the building. From the talk in the building the sale was more of a forced sale. Apparently, the new landlord was in court with the original landlord for years, new landlord won the case and forced the sale. This is here say. Who knows but we were getting a new landlord. Now I'm not usually one to judge a book by its cover but we received a letter from new management which sounded very slimy and icky. You know, from someone one tries to convince that they are on your side but is so disconnected that it sounds disingenuous. On top of that seeing new management being lead around the building and seeing who the building managers were (3 new managers to our previous one manger) gave me an understanding of who was going to be taking over. This is when the downhill started. New management reminded me of a managers of really bad apartment buildings. In my 40 plus year on this earth and not coming from money I have rented from some scum lords in my time, and this reeked of scum lord.

In the following months/years we would come to find out the following of truths and facts.

-You could not get a hold of the landlord, rich person from Manhattan that has hardly stepped inside of the building. We did have a group HUA that was involved to trying to help the community have good standards with this new management but after a year so of trying the owner stopped talking to us all together like a child.)

- He obviously wanted to raise our rent (To meet market value) yet take away security and eventually would stop cleaning services, fixing certain building problems, hired cheap services just so he could say he did something, and let the building fall into disrepair.

- We had one good manager; she was younger and cared about the tenants and the building and would try her best to get things done. The other two managers didn't like her so they fired her. These managers would give us attitude, lie blatantly to our face, and roll their eyes constantly. I'm amazed they didn't roll out of their head. (This said, as managers they were and are horrible. As people like you and I trying to get by they are kind and good people. The circumstances they were put in were impossible)

- Payments were mad difficult comparingly. Old payment method. PayPal and check if you wanted. quick deposits, quick receipts. New payment method. Checks, money order, pay online, each would add a percentage on. For the website pay feature (a middleman, or investor obviously) would get a cut. Paying just a little bit more after certain things have been taken away or downgraded doesn't add up in my book.

-CAM fees were added- Common Area Maintenance fees. This would add on a few hundred bucks onto rent for people with large spaces making it unaffordable to stay in the building after their lease was up.

-Once your previous lease was up the moved you to a month-to-month rent, added the CAM charges which bumped up your rent significantly.

-Never once came to support the artists. never came to a first Friday or second Saturday and numerous attempts of the artists inviting him.

-New managers were brought in and put in a part of the building where a majority of the tenants couldn't get past the door without a code. They stopped answering the phone and would consistently mess up electric reading so tenants would have to get the RGE electric bill, read their meters and do the math for them.

Website often will add extra charges that are not supposed to be there and building mangers don't really know how to fix it. Everything has to be passed by the Landlord who sits in Manhattan. Micromanagement never really works, does it?

-Don't get me started on the homeless people living in the basement, broken doors, stolen packages, trash in the hallways, violations in the building, and so much more

-Eventually they stopped giving out leases and ended leases of people they gave leases to

-Fire system is not hooked up to the fire department any longer. We literally have to call 911 if an alarm goes off of or if someone gets stuck somewhere. then we don't have an emergency number that they were supposed to give us.

Needless to say, this building that at one point was at 100% at capacity with a waitlist for tenants to come in is now at about 20 to 15 % full. It is sad and i miss what the building used to be. It was once filled with magic and creativity. Now it's filled with sadness and despair. I feel for the people that remain. who knows, maybe it will turn around.

I have decided to leave. Last month I started packing and a few weekends ago I got a group of friends together to move to a new building in the Cornhill section of the city. A friend Tony told me a few places opened above his studio, so I made the move. The building is owned by the previous landlord, the kind one who is local and who will pick up a phone if something happens. I have thanked him genuinely from the bottom of my heart for this. The space has that good energy, those good vibes ya know. I'm excited to open the studios to everyone. Yes 2 studios. One for my tattoos and one for ceramics. I have been unpacking, organizing, building and prepping for an opening party. I may reach out to my students, and Rose to help my set up this party. Even though the Hungerford went downhill I'm grateful for the experience I had with the building. Both in its previous form, and what it is now. Heck I still live here in an apartment, so I am still technically in it. But as a creative, I am out of it and as a hippie dippy free-floating soul my creative side needed that nice environment. I waited till the universe spoke to me. Always trust that things will work out how they are supposed to be. I would get stuck in my head and start digging at everything that was out of my control and that wasn't helping me. So, taking my accountability in my own hands and moving my studio, the students, the clients, and the members to a new environment that can help us all grow and evolve as creatives seemed like the right move. Low and behold I am so happy with the decision. It's a larger space, costs a bit more, but man its lovely. We will make it work. I'm not sure what to name it. If any of you have any ideas on a new name let me know.

These most recent photos are works in progress. I will share more when time comes. Thank you for reading my stream of consciousness. more organized thoughts soon to come.

Oh yeah, my partner and I bought a hose, so now we are packing for that and getting ready to move. So soon we will be 100% out of the Hungerford.