So, as it turns out, the horrible landlords who have for all intents and purposes stolen the property of local artists by not letting anyone at all have access to PhotonFlux have decided that we were only allowed 8 people in the building and we only got one hour to get what we could. This isn't even vaguely reasonable. But, from everything I've heard about Cho Yam Chan and Julie-anne Daysh, this is not out of character. These people are genuinely despicable, untrustworthy people.
We had about 30 people show up to help with what was looking like a salvage operation. We were meant to start at 5 PM. However, Chan wouldn't let us in. Chan had also planned ahead and had hired security guards. I can't imagine running a business in a manner that would cause me to feel the need to employ security when a tenant is just trying to retrieve their property. Somewhere in your mind you have to know that you are in the wrong if you are that fearful.
Anton and Nina called the police. They have a right to get access to their own property and Chan was being an unreasonable coward. This move had been arranged a couple of times before but Chan/Daysh had put stupid times on it e.g., 11 AM start on a weekday when most people would be working. Anton and Nina have day jobs too. Then the time was moved to a reasonable "after work" time (5ish from memory) and a day before it was cancelled. Today was eventually settled on though.
The police were basically there to negotiate how the process would work out. This process had already been laid out before the day arrived. I suspect Chan and Daysh did not expect so much support from the community that had grown around PhotonFlux and were taken off guard. They did not once venture out of the building and no-one was allowed to enter the premises either. The police that were present were acting as a go between running messages back and forth. Eventually Anton was allowed in to chat directly. That was when we were eventually allowed into the building to retrieve the property Chan and Daysh had effectively stolen.
The next hour was a mad rush. Eight people inside grabbing what they could and handing it off to the crowd outside where it was moved away from the door and either packed up or placed for processing later. We actually managed to get things moving quite smoothly in the end and I suspect, with the bottleneck at the end of the bar it would likely have been too busy inside if we had all been allowed in. The initial focus was on getting the artists goods out. Taking care of that was a priority for Anton and Nina. That was then followed by kegs, which tend to be 'rented' from the local breweries. So that's another collection of business's whose property was held hostage by Chan and Daysh. After that we focused on getting out as much of the stuff that made PhotonFlux the place that enticed us through the doors.
I'm really enjoying this.
Cho Yam Chan, property owner, all round bad guy and criminal, to Anton Sounes, former small business owner screwed over by his landlord, as he watched a small number of people do their best to salvage 2 years of effort.
Chan and Daysh killed off a local business for no good reason that has ever been presented. They illegally issued a trespass notice. They illegally held the property of local artists by not allowing them in to retrieve their works. The illegally held the property of local breweries by not allowing them in to retrieve their kegs. They screwed over the staff by not giving any notice this process was happening.
Cho Yam Chan and Julie-anne Daysh are cowards and criminals
If anyone is considering going into a rental agreement with Cho Yam Chan, Julie-anne Daysh, Camjec Commercial Ltd or any of the other Camjec businesses then I would ensure that you have a rock solid contract. However, Cho has demonstrated that he doesn't really understand the law around the business he's chosen so even with a rock solid contract I would think twice before considering entering into an agreement with these people.