I was
Be it love or chaos,
everything I do is
to the deat.
for war, darling.
bred
everything I do is
links
illegal eviction
The links page has all of the documentation surrounding this entire case. every demand, every letter, every email, every complaint, ev-ery-thing. All ignored; ignored by the nonprofit housing organization that did this to me, the judge, my attorney, ev-ery-one. I surpassed my breaking point a very long time ago. One of the more difficult aspects of sharing this story - for me anyway - is the thought of people either giving me "advice" that will make my brain explode, or people chiming in and saying stupid shit because people are people and that's what they do. Maybe worse than anything is no one replying at all, because that has been the ongoing narrative of this whole nightmare.
Click below to read the Statement on Judicial Misconduct and Consequences of Unlawful Eviction I sent to the Village of Saugerties court; this is the most recent document sent.
LINKS
A party seeking equitable relief (such as eviction)
must come with clean hands.
— National Distillers v. Seyopp Corp., 17 N.Y.2d 12 (1966)
It’s a case study in institutional failure, systemic abuse, corruption, collusion, cover-ups, and personal resilience. It’s about a woman who followed every rule, built something out of nothing, and had it drowned, erased, and ignored — by the very people who were supposed to protect her.
My livelihood and purpose were taken from me by a corrupt, bias judge and a reckless nonprofit whose mission statement and actions are completely misaligned. This is my story about a beautiful boutique that gave me financial stability; for the first time in my life, I felt safe. I was wrongfully evicted the night before Thanksgiving with a $47,000 judgment by my nonprofit housing organization landlords who refused to take responsibility for floods that caused over $100,000 worth of damage within the first 10 months of being open, during a pandemic.
My story is not just a story.
meraki
(boutik)
ve
It was a love letter to independence and identity. It was the LA canyon soul with Brooklyn grit, wrapped in an earthy-boho editorial dream. There was intention in every single detail.
It wasn’t just a store. It was a love song to who I am and what women like me have always needed: beauty, freedom, and grounding all in one place.
It was independence after a lifetime of instability and survival mode, a sanctuary where I finally felt rooted, proud, and safe in my own body, an emotional, financial, and spiritual lifeline after years of abuse and chaos, and a place where I was fully in control of my life for the first time.
eraki was a visual love letter to fashion.
M
hi. my name is
(cont.)
Soufflé tootsie roll tart lemon drops brownie macaroon. Gingerbread cotton candy powder toffee chocolate cake gummies chocolate candy. Gingerbread halvah caramels oat cake. Brownie tiramisu chocolate jelly beans bear claw chocolate cake sesame snaps sweet cupcake. Chocolate bar macaroon cookie chocolate sweet danish cookie. Fruitcake cotton candy topping ice cream sweet roll dessert bear claw. Candy cotton candy croissant chocolate muffin.
Bonbon biscuit lemon drops dessert chupa chups toffee. Gingerbread tiramisu icing jujubes cookie pie.
Tart lemon drops brownie macaroon. Gingerbread cotton candy powder toffee chocolate cake gummies chocolate candy.
< back
Ignore every instinct to flee.
Remember:
you are a monster too.
Ever since I was robbed of my livelihood by my nonprofit housing organization landlords called RUPCO (after they caused two catastrophic floods in my store within 10 months, during the pandemic, 19 days into my tenancy — a timeline you’ll see me repeat — a lot) I’ve had a hard time connecting to or believing in anything. I trust no one. Good intentions have a hidden agenda. People are not safe. Nothing but that dark road in the middle of the night is safe…I look forward to it all day. It's the only thing I've had to look forward to in as long as I can remember.
I don’t go anywhere during the day. I can’t be at my apartment without feeling like I’m crawling out of my skin, so I’m always in my car. I have fallen asleep in my car in every parking lot within a 50 mile radius. I have fallen asleep driving and ended up in a ditch off the thruway at 3:30 in the morning. I have fallen asleep in the parking lot where I park when I’m home because I don’t want to go inside and I don’t have the energy to deal with navigating the maze I’ve created to avoid seeing my store.
I realized when walking at 2:00 in the morning, in the middle of nowhere, with coyotes howling and the sounds of animals moving in the woods, that most people would think I was completely insane — and would never do it. I don’t jump when I hear a sound in the woods. I don’t get scared when I hear coyotes, or when an owl lets out a screech that sounds like someone screaming in the distance. The darkness doesn’t make me afraid. That hour or two is actually the only time I feel safe. On a dark road in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere.
Because nature and everything in it has never betrayed me, never hurt me, never lied to me, never gaslit me into wanting to run my car into a tree, never taken from me; if I wanted to leave, nature wouldn’t hold me hostage. It always listens to me. Hears me. Nature has been the one constant in my life that I can always rely on, no matter what. When nothing makes sense and my mind won’t stop racing it has been the only thing that grounds me. When I need to feel a connection to something bigger than me I head into the woods.
continue reading
Ever since I was robbed of my livelihood by my nonprofit housing organization landlords called RUPCO (after they caused two catastrophic floods in my store within 10 months, during the pandemic, 19 days into my tenancy — a timeline you’ll see me repeat — a lot) I’ve had a hard time connecting to or believing in anything. I trust no one. Good intentions have a hidden agenda. People are not safe. Nothing but that dark road in the middle of the night is safe…I look forward to it all day. It's the only thing I've had to look forward to in as long as I can remember.
I don’t go anywhere during the day. I can’t be at my apartment without feeling like I’m crawling out of my skin, so I’m always in my car. I have fallen asleep in my car in every parking lot within a 50 mile radius. I have fallen asleep driving and ended up in a ditch off the thruway at 3:30 in the morning. I have fallen asleep in the parking lot where I park when I’m home because I don’t want to go inside and I don’t have the energy to deal with navigating the maze I’ve created to avoid seeing my store.
I realized when walking at 2:00 in the morning, in the middle of nowhere, with coyotes howling and the sounds of animals moving in the woods, that most people would think I was completely insane — and would never do it. I don’t jump when I hear a sound in the woods. I don’t get scared when I hear coyotes, or when an owl lets out a screech that sounds like someone screaming in the distance. The darkness doesn’t make me afraid. That hour or two is actually the only time I feel safe. On a dark road in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere.
Because nature and everything in it has never betrayed me, never hurt me, never lied to me, never gaslit me into wanting to run my car into a tree, never taken from me; if I wanted to leave, nature wouldn’t hold me hostage. It always listens to me. Hears me. Nature has been the one constant in my life that I can always rely on, no matter what. When nothing makes sense and my mind won’t stop racing it has been the only thing that grounds me. When I need to feel a connection to something bigger than me I head into the woods.
continue reading
"If you start thinking about being likeable,
you're not going to tell your story honestly."
amount of money in damages sustained by the floods at meraki in its first twelve months of being open - during a pandemic
number of months between the first flood and the second flood at meraki - a business barely in its infancy
amount of money RUPCO profited when they sold the building my store was in.
amount of dollars in restitution; RUPCO refused to take any responsibility for the damage they caused - until they opened a fraudulent insurance claim after they evicted
07
120,000
10
1,000,000
0
number of months meraki was open in it's first 12 months of occupying the space at 86 Partition St.
02
total number of tenants (that I am aware of) who have had catastrophic floods, all from the residential units above
number of floods I had at Meraki, both of which ruined almost all of my inventory, fixtures, paperwork, my POS, iPad, and other retail supplies
03
total number of floods (that I am aware of) in the building my store was in. Five floods in the same building is not an "accident." It's gross negligence.
05
by the numbers
I’ve spent the last 16 months gathering evidence, studying law, writing demands, filing reports, crying, raging, talking to myself, talking to my dogs, scaring my dogs when arguing with myself, trying to find a “why” for all the horrors I’ve been through since I opened the store, turning to nature, turning to god, turning to ice cream, and putting together a dossier that could be turned into a Netflix documentary called “Landlords Gone Wild: Profits Over People.”
we will be in touch soon
