04/04/2026
“The Red Studio” by Henri Matisse, 1911.
URGENT ///
TREEHOUSE will be closed at least this Saturday and potentially Sunday as well. Joseph’s illness, which is now beyond physical (he has just checked himself into the ER with what appears to be walking pneumonia) has now extended to a complete mental and psychological breakdown. All of this is from the attempted unlawful eviction from our spaces at The Phoenix and Waterbury Studios. He is under intense stress and our upcoming mediation meeting next week, in which we might learn that Myers Mermel, the new owner of 5 and 7 Stowe Street, will refuse to sell us the building, has put him in a state of near paralysis despite appearances otherwise. Mental health never bops you on the head and unless the sufferer (Joseph, who is writing this) is transparent about it, you might guess that he was the same happy go lucky guy you see around town.
Our leases, which were flagrantly disregarded in the Dec 22nd eviction notice, have two years remaining downstairs, with a much needed negotiation for our upstairs lease, which ended months before he purchased the building.
We are calling on the citizens and businesses in Waterbury to physically protest outside of WDEV for the next week and communicate to this bad actor, who has now, regardless of his awareness or ownership of the effect this has had on us, has caused severe personal damage.
We started The Phoenix and Waterbury Studios to be common good spaces for the town of Waterbury. All this personal investment ($50,000 of Joseph’s own money plus countless hours of labor) will be for nothing, not to mention Anna’s countless hours of work—legal and otherwise—to support this venture and build it to the sustainable spaces they have become.
Thank you for your help. We are done being polite and we would ask you to hear us. Refrain from mean words, physical violence or threatening behavior. Please do use your free speech rights to make it utterly clear that this will not be tolerated in our little village.
With love and all the mental effort I currently have left, which is very little,
Joseph
PS Anna is here with me and I’m gonna be ok but I’ve hit my limit.
