On Thursday, February 6, the police were called to escort a 75-year-old man from his room at the Chelsea Hotel. The elderly gentleman, a regular at the hotel when Stanley was in charge, no doubt thought the same rules would apply when he checked into the hotel in January. He had been expecting to be able to stay on indefinitely, as he had been in the past, and had actually paid his rent through to the next week. He was on his 29th day in residence, when Director of Operations Arnold Tamasar swooped down on him with the cops at approximately noon, ordering the gentleman to be out by 4 PM. (Actually, it took a lot of negotiating to get this extension to 4, as Tamasar wanted the resident out immediately.)
The police acted with professionalism and courtesy, but many of them expressed obvious disgust that they were forced to carry out this unsavory task. One officer, incredulous, even asked Tamasar, “You’re evicting a 75-year-old man?!”
Though Tamasar claimed to be acting within the letter, if not the spirit, of SRO laws intended to protect the most vulnerable New Yorkers from ending up on the street, it is likely that the man was here long enough to make a claim of permanent status. (As Stanley said, everything they do ends up in litigation, and this will be no exception.) In any event, with the hotel at 35% occupancy and forced to rent even the largest suites for $89 per night, how much sense does it make for Tamasar to turn up his nose at a stable tenant paying much more? (Answer: it only makes sense if they intend to get us all out.)
The issue is complicated by Tamasar’s bizarre claim that the man threw a bag of orange powder, marked BIOHAZARD, from the balcony of his room, somehow managing to wing it underneath the hotel awning. Much of Tamasar’s time, upward of two hours, that afternoon was spent observing and audio taping myself and other concerned residents as we struggled to move the gentleman’s belongings out before the deadline. Additionally, he wasted more time attempting to entrap the elderly gentleman into some kind of admission of guilt in this matter.
In your face, Tilley! cocky bathroom specialist Tamasar must be saying, You were only able to evict three tenants in your whole six months on the job, and I’ve already booted one in my first week! — Ed Hamilton (Photos provided by Arthur Nash. 1 – Tamasar and Cops, 2 – Man searches for receipts while cops discuss situation.)
Living with Legends 
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