I’ve been banned from the community room, computer lab and the 15th floor library for 30 days by Ralph Garcia because of “grievances” regarding a YouTube post (Commotion in the Community Room) I put up on the Kenmore Confidential YouTube channel. It shows Lisa in the community room screaming abuse and obscenities at Eddy Wong; the clip I posted starts with her calling him a Chinese motherfucker. A little background: I’d been in the community room one evening, and Eddy Wong was seated near the tv. He’d fallen asleep in his chair after eating his dinner. Lisa walked into the room, and started slamming her cane on the counter, waking Eddy up - and then she started screaming at him. The whole episode was completely unprovoked: as I’ve already pointed out, the man was ASLEEP in his chair when she came into the room.

Garcia’s issue with me is apparently connected to the “rule” stating that nobody can take pictures or videos of other tenants in the building without prior permission from H.S.I. That’s nice. We’re all on camera when we’re in the halls and common areas of the building, but those cameras have never protected anyone BUT H.S.I. They also don’t capture AUDIO, and my video does... and the 2 minute clip I posted shows Lisa at her worst - making racist comments and harassing another tenant for no reason at all except that she’s a nasty person. She’s actually worse when she’s got her card crew in the community room - Anna Barnes (who doesn’t even live in the building any more, but is a regular visitor) and others in that group have made a habit of targeting their neighbors for at least the past decade, and staff and management does NOTHING to stop them. It’s disgusting. What hasn’t been addressed is the drinking that goes along with their occupation of the community room when they’re playing cards - and alcoholic beverages are also prohibited. Apparently, whoever’s supposed to be watching the cameras down at the front desk is completely missing the bottles of wine that Lisa’s daughter brings in concealed in brown paper bags, and the vodka in little travel size bottles that get mixed with orange juice in cups, and whatever beer Chris brings in... and the drunker they get, the louder and nastier they get.

I don’t care about the ban; as I pointed out to Garcia during out meeting, I can pick up a wifi signal from the community room just by standing in front of the building, because the signal comes right out the window. I can also go up to the corner and get free wifi from Freehand, the new boutique hotel that took over the George Washington (and they have some nice, comfortable benches to sit on, too). There are a dozen other ways to pick up a legal, free wifi signal within a 5 block radius of the building, so being banned really isn’t a problem for me. My access to the internet isn’t being restricted.

What IS an issue, though, is that while Garcia is “punishing” me by banning me from common areas of the building, the crack dealers are still doing a very regular and brisk business inside and outside the building, and nobody regulates their activities. Last time I checked, this was ILLEGAL. But that doesn’t seem to matter to H.S.I. They like their pet crackheads. Lisa & company are allowed to run the community room unchecked: I’m not the only tenant who’s had a problem with them. The front desk staff cooperates with them and enables them, too: Lisa has them on a tight leash, and when she’s too lazy to get off her fat ass, she calls downstairs to get one of the workers to bring her a nice cool soda from the refrigerator.

I’m not taking the video clip down. I’m not apologizing, either. If I have to have another conference with Mr. Garcia about this, I’ll be recording it and posting it to the Kenmore Confidential YouTube Channel - and will do the same if I catch any flack from Lisa or her cohorts. Just putting you all on notice.