Trouble for the Tiny Houses of Stronghold

A reader shares from the Stronghold Listserv:

“Just wanted to provide you with an honest, sad update on the tiny house collective in the Stronghold alley. Over the past few years, tensions have risen as the owner of the widest house, and the lot has become increasingly aggressive toward us and the Stronghold neighborhood—repeatedly calling the cops on our neighbors with dogs, throwing a 2×6 in the alley to stop kids on scooters, criminally drilling into the streetlight and cutting the power to the lamp directly over the lot, reneging on our promises of a community garden, putting up “no trespassing” signs all along the property. Last month, Brian forcefully evicted Lee (the orange house) and then stalked her to her new location; this month, he has turned his rage on me.

He’s already cut power to the lot once and locked me inside, and as I’m writing this, he has taken the fence off behind my house (the black house) and threatened to have it towed away to parts unknown. So I’m writing for two reasons: first, because if I am pushed off the lot before getting a chance to say goodbye to some of you in person, I want to apologize for any grief this project has caused you, and to let you know that those of us who have left never wanted any part in the actions Brian has taken and will continue to take against you. I’m sorry.

The second reason I’m writing is to ask that if you happen to see a truck attempting to tow my house away, please call 911 immediately to report a theft in progress—Brian does not have legal permission to move the house. And if you see Brian behaving erratically or lurking around other streetlights along the stretch of alley, please don’t hesitate to report it to the authorities.

My sincerest apologies for anyone who has been negatively impacted by all this,
Jay”