shaking-up-rochester-2023.03.21-18.00.02.797

The speaker is frustrated with a malfunctioning device and is unable to get it to work properly. They express their annoyance and confusion about why it's not functioning. They discuss technical difficulties with their equipment and express frustration with the situation. The speaker then introduces a guest who created a page called Slumlord Chronicles to address housing issues and improper code violations. The guest shares her own experiences with inadequate housing and the lack of accountability from the city, state, county, and government. She emphasizes the need for laws to protect families from the housing crisis. She recounts her struggles with living conditions, rats, leaks, and a lack of repairs. She describes her experiences with different agencies and organizations that have provided some support, but also highlights the lack of action and communication from the authorities. The guest shares her frustration with the system and the ongoing violations in her current residence. Alright, how do we get this thing to go off? Ah! Where do we get this thing off? Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Oh no! I turned it off. Ah! Come on! Shut off! Shut off! Ah! Stupid thing. Why doesn't it want to shut off? This does not make no freaking sense. I just had this working. I just had this working. What the freak? Why is this not working for me? Why is this not working for me? Everything is bright. Dang. Come on, call. Damn it. Can everybody hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? I just had everything working. What is going on here, y'all? Monitor's up, cue's up. You can hear me on the speaker out there? I can't hear myself and I got all the mics up. Why is this not working right? I had everything working. Can you hear me now? No matter what time of the year. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Computer volume's down. Sorry, listeners. Come on, answer. These phones, I got them all sweating and going crazy. Turn down the computer volume. I'm bored. I got no mics. Our headphones aren't working, though. Our headphones are not on. The first day, getting the hang of it. That's not too bad, though. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Lorraine. Sorry, people. Thank you, Lorraine. First time working this board. Always a chance to have issues. Who doesn't win the first time? I'm here with some special ladies tonight. For Justine, she created Slumlord Chronicles, which is a good page to follow if you're dealing with a lot of landlord issues, improper code violations in your house. It's there to share for the people. We're doing this for ourselves. We're doing this for the people because we live in these situations and we know how bad they are and we don't want others to live in these situations and to keep going through them. We're standing here making a voice for the people. They're here today to tell their stories and the issues that they go through to help better understand the problems of living in slumlords' houses. How was that, ladies, for the first start? Even though we had a bad start this morning, I mean this afternoon, getting going. Please tell us some of your stories. Good evening. My name is Justine Harris, and I'm here to talk about the lack of accountability of the city, the state, the county, and the government because they are all responsible. They are in control. They are the ones that manage the things that are important to us to make our day or ruin our day. It all depends on what you need. What we need is laws in effect that protects families from the inadequate housing crisis here in Rochester, New York, Monroe County that is affecting a lot of families, and it shouldn't be that way. We should not be punished for asking for help. It's to live in conditions we have no control over. So I'm here tonight just to give an overview of what I've been dealing with. It hasn't been easy for me and my family, but you learn to adjust, especially when you feel like there's nothing you can do to change the situation you are in. However, there is help out there because I found some type of relief from all of this housing stress that I'm going through, and I'm very grateful for those who are in my corner and support me. I just don't understand why I'm in this situation. I shouldn't even be living in the house I'm living in because it's not hatable. No matter what they say, I see difference, and I'm tired of inspectors coming, doing the same thing over and over again, just looking around. I don't need you to look around. I need you to step up to the plate and do your job. I need you to let me know and reassure me that I can depend on you to do your job, because that's the way I feel. And this is not the first time that I felt like this. This is my second time going through something like this with backyarders. I like that term, backyarders, because they're never at front center. They're always in the back, so we've learned to turn our backs on them, too, and someone out there who's listening, just make it make sense as I take you down the journey of my story and why I created Slumlord's Chronicle. My journey began last year around January. I lived in this unit on the east side of town, and there were a lot of things going on that I didn't agree with, and what was strange about the whole situation is I'd seen not a property management, I didn't see a landlord, and that kind of made me wonder what was going on because I felt like I was living in an apartment and no one knew that me and my family lived in this apartment because we didn't see anyone. So unbeknownst to us, I kind of got scammed into this apartment because I was homeless, so I took what little funds I had to find an apartment for me and my children, only to find out the lady that showed us the apartment had lost the apartment due to her not taking care of the property, but I didn't know that. I found that out after the fact. But I got in there, and I was so grateful that, you know, I had a place for me and my children to be, but I didn't know the conditions and the terms and what hell I would go through living in this apartment. The rats were horrible, not mice, rats. I didn't know that while I was sleeping they were running through the apartment and running over my head, my children's head, and just everywhere. And it was scary, so I called the county for help. I got a lot of runaround, but that was okay. I kept fighting. Finally, they came out to see what they could do. I called the city. I emailed anyone that would just listen to what I was going through because it didn't make sense. I barely had a door to close to keep the outside air from coming in. I had no windows, leaks, you name it. It was there. Finally, I got in contact with the Mom Meeks office, and they gave me some information. And then I called down to Legal Aid, and they gave me some information. But then there was an email telling me to get in contact with a woman named Barbara Rivera, and I did so. And she worked with people who were having issues with housing. And I met her, and she worked for Citizen Action. So I started to tell her the things I was going through. But word of mouth couldn't justify what I was living through. You had to come and see it for yourself. And one of the city council people came out to my home as well to inspect, and we got the ball rolling. However, they drugged their feet about doing their repairs. They kept complaining about the back rent. I don't know what happened to the rent. The rent was being paid by DHS, and then it stopped. So I don't know. I didn't know about the violations. That's not right. The rent had to stop. I don't know why they stopped paying rent. But then I started to dig further, and I found out that the lady that I thought was the landlord, she wasn't because she lost the place due to her not taking care of the place. And she knew that, but she scammed me out of my money. But now we're in this place. Don't know who the new owners are, but we're here. But the house is not right. It's just so much going on. I had no bathroom sink for a whole year. The sink kept falling on myself. My grandson went to brush his teeth. Him and the sink fell together. And I tell you, my heart dropped because I thought my baby was really hurt because it was an old porcelain sink, but he wasn't hurt by the grace. I was thankful for that. The city got involved to replace the windows. I was kind of disappointed because they didn't give us windows. They gave us plexiglass. How was that supposed to keep me and my family warm? Then they hit the owner with a bill for over $4,000 for this work. But they said, we qualify for the grant. Make it make sense. And that's when I began to see that there was a big problem with them communicating with each other and how I became the villain because I studied. I was calling and complaining and making noise because that's not the way me and my children were supposed to live. So we ended up in court, and we got evicted. And then I lost all my stuff to a sewage backup. Never got any help for that either. No justice for that either. They tossed us out, and I found another place with what money I had saved up just so I could find a place because I didn't want to be homeless with my kids. So I'm off to this new journey. So I thought, and it was worse than the last place I lived in, and that would be 5 Taylor Street where I'm at now. And I went to the net office just to see because I was just adamant that this place was going to work out for me and my family. But I was wrong. This place ended up having 25 violations. The last place had 18 violations, outstanding, both of them. And there was a vacate order, so I started to really feel some type of way because I knew that I was screwed, big time. DHS didn't help me and my family get this apartment. Me working helped me get my family this apartment. So I started reaching out to the org that worked with me before to let them know what was going on. And once again, the city came out, looked around with the owner, and said that everything looked great. And I asked them, well, what does worse look like? Because I knew it wasn't great. And to this day, they haven't done anything. The violations are still open from August of last year. I sent the notice of order out September of last year. Nothing was done. Today is March 2023. Nothing has been done. My roof is open to any and anything. My son's room, it's not safe to sleep in because that's where the roof is leaking. He has no window at the bottom, so it gets cold in here. And I was told by the city official, excuse me, commissioner, there was nothing that could be done about the violations because of the weather. Well, all of my violations are in the inside, not the out. The only thing would be outside would be the roof. But I wasn't concerned about the roof. I was concerned about that hole, the rats, the mice, the conditions of the floor, and the safetiness and the well-being of my children, not to mention I had issues with heat. The landlord wouldn't even bring a thermostat. The city did. I was thankful, but that doesn't give them a free pass. That doesn't give them the right to treat other families like their situations don't matter because it does. And we people are tired. We're tired. You know, we talk about waiting for a saber-toothed tiger. We haven't seen that. They're blowing bubbles. They're making excuses. And they want to give us a sense of hope because it's reelection time. That's why they're stepping up to the plate, but they're not going to help. You know why? I was just at the last meeting. I was given a business card. I was given all this pep talk of how they were going to help me. I haven't heard from anyone. And not a soul. So that's why I'm here. And it's really hard for me to keep my composure because there's some things I want to say, but I can't. So I'm going to just, you know, keep it basic. But I need help here. Families need help. There's no way we should be allowed to live in these conditions. There's no way that properties should be sold with an open violation case. Make it make sense. Correct. How do they get to profit and we're suffering? How do they get to profit off of our pain? Make it make sense. You have no money to make repairs, but you have the right to put it up for sale for somebody else to take over your issues. That's not right. And then I may get tossed out because they may not want to deal with me. But before that happens, I'll be gone. I promise you that. Because I already see they're not going to help. Because the hole that's in the pantry is new. The issues with the roof is new. We knew it was something going on, but now you can see outside. Shouldn't be able to see outside. Not from the outside. Something's wrong there. And the only thing they can say is, well, you know, the owner, he's deceased. I understand that, and that is very unfortunate. But my family is still living in this dwelling. So whoever has the power of attorney should be stepping up to the plate to see how they can help me. But they haven't done that. The only thing I've got is harassed for back rent. I don't mind paying my rent. Everything started out fine for them until I discovered those violations, the vacate order. That almost took the family out. It was very serious. So why am I in this unit? It makes no sense. And the people that I work with, most of them didn't even show up to support me. Those people that I've met through going to meetings, sharing my stories, who have been by my side from day one, not the county officials, can't depend on them for nothing at all. But yet and still they get up on TV and tell us these lies. They're going to start biting, you know. All bark, no bite. They never support us. They never come and sit with us to hear what we have going on because they don't care. So it's time for them to get the resumes in order because it's time for them to go. We need people that's going to support and rebuild our city because it's rotten and it is a wasteland. That's all I have to say. Thank you for listening. I feel what we really need is a bunch of inner city people. No special education. No special pay. Just your mind, your life history, your life learning to help others out. It doesn't matter about your race, color, religion. Just helping each other out with the love of your heart is all you really need to do. Right, because honestly, who wants rodents running over their children while they're sleeping or eating the food that we're supposed to eat that I pay money for? No one's reimbursing me for that. No one reimbursed me for all of the stuff I lost from the last unit. That wasn't my fault that we had to sort it back up. No maintenance. Lack of accountability. Yet, once again, I'm steady losing my stuff. I've already lost most of my sanity dealing with this. Trust me, it looks better than it does, but every day you wake up, you're stressed. You're hurt. You're struggling. It hurts because now I'm scared to even put my children in and let them use the facility because I don't know if the tub is going to fall through the ceiling. Yeah, through the floor, through the ceiling. It's not safe, and everyone besides the city can see that. They're the only ones that's trying to give me this sense, false hope that, oh, everything's going to be okay. No, everything isn't okay because we're past the talking, the visits, the gibberish. Yep. We want action, and that's what we need. So I applaud those who stand up and use their voice. Keep fighting. Even if you feel defeated, don't give up because we're here and we're coming. We're ready to take them down and rebuild our communities, give us safe and affordable housing, and get rid of these labels because we're human beings. We're not animals. We're not poor. We're human beings who use our stories and our voice to encourage others. So if you're listening tonight, just know there is hope out here. There's people that care. And if you want support, tune in. Reach out. We are here. We're not here to judge. We're here to help. We don't want to use your stories for popularity. We want to use your stories for awareness so you'll know that you don't have to live like this and you don't have to settle. Have a great day. Excuse me. If you want to get on the topic today, you can call me, Russell, at 585-448-7733, or you can reach out to the studio line at 585-417-5435. Say it again. If you want to reach out to me on the topic today, the studio number is 585-417-5435, or my number, you can text me at 585-448-7733. Hopefully, by the end of the month, I'll be doing another show myself, and what I plan on trying to do for that one is bring in professionals, someone who can actually talk about the conditions and the health problems that mold, and just covering up these issues can do. So if you are a professional in any phase of construction, like an architect, heating, cooling, animals, just any line of it to help us bring knowledge to the systems that are failing us to help us better knowledge the ones who do not have this type of knowledge. I'm Russell Kelly, and I've worked doing construction all my life, and the next person I'm up to talk is Joycey. Joycey, right? Okay. I'm sorry, Joycey. You go ahead. Hello. Excuse me. Hello. My name is Joyce Nelson, and I really hate this place. I hate Rochester. And I'm going to keep calling it Rochester because of the simple fact that y'all let me get in a situation, me and my son, of something. We didn't have any, any, and no fault of ours. We didn't do anything to get in this situation. Like I said before, 2012, November of 2012, I moved here from Florida to get some medical help, and I moved my son up here in 2014 to also get some medical help, but he needed for mental. He has a mental health problem, and he got the help since he moved up here. Okay. Mine's going to start out with when I moved into this two-story, I mean two-apartment house, and stayed there from 2016 until I got the increase of November 14th of 2019. And I have been talking about this for years. There's something wrong, right, with that place because I never got active. It never had a door, just one door and the door inside the house. But anyway, he was able to take me to court, but no proof of him being a landlord because everything that I have said and shown from the city saying that he did not have a CO since 2012. Me and my son moved into this place 2016 to 2019. I got the eviction granted on me, and that's like I did some type of a crime because death sentence. Ten years for an eviction will stay on your record for ten years, and it will follow you from state to state. If you do not believe me, Google it. So, with that being said, once I got out of there in December 2019, I went into a hellhole with 68 violations and both problems with the first one that gave me the eviction. He was out of CO since 2012. That's way before I moved here. He was out of CO once we moved into his property, 2016. He was 17, 18, 2019. He gave me a 30-day notice, and would you know, he should have never gave that to me because you were never a landlord. Never. You weren't a landlord. You weren't a slumlord, but you had broken the law, New York State law, about no CO so you can't rent, but you rented anyway. My problem is, is that the city of Ranchester, code enforcement, come and whatever they did to write up that you had an open case, there was nothing done. The open case from 2012, 2014, when I came, I brought my son here 2014, 2016, and 2019. He still had an open case. He still wasn't, he was still without a CO, and to find out that August of last year that it wasn't even zoned as a rental, but he was doing that for years with me and my son. There was always somebody staying up there, and it's not just the city by itself, it's the county too. The county had a part, might as well own up your part too, county, because you paid rent to this person for over a year for me and my son. I mean, not for me, but for my son, and you didn't come out and check nothing. The city didn't come out and do nothing the whole while we was there from 2016 to 2019. Now, once we, I got out because my son had a mental breakdown at 64 Murray, and he was taken from me from August of 2019, no, November of 2019. He got in a room before I went to court, and he didn't come out until March of 2020. That's when COVID came around, shut everything down. I got in the hell hole where I'm at. I got in a property that had 68 violations. Like I said, they in violation too without a CO. I just want to know, how is this possible that people, these property owners, but they rent out slumlords, how could they keep continually to rent out property knowing that they in violation some type of way? What did me and my son do? We didn't do nothing, but we the one got our name, well, I got my name tarnished because I was the head of household. So, I got eviction on me, and that's like I did a crime, but they telling me I can't go back in front of the judge because he already granted the eviction, which is illegal eviction. It's illegal, because if you don't have a CO, you don't supposed to rent. And I've been looking for help for years through legal aid, going to different, I guess, senators, politicians, asking for help. Only thing they were concerned about, they weren't really concerned, they were concerned about nothing. Then when I got the 68 violations, that was during COVID. Okay, if COVID came in and shut everything down for a year and a half, that's after my eviction of November 2019. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't respond to them because who I'm going to respond to if everybody was home. But I've been told that I waited too long to try to respond or bring it back up, but there was nothing I could do because of COVID. But they could tell me they behind in any area I bet that you asked about, they behind in it because of COVID. They could use the word COVID. They could use that as an excuse. When the world went through COVID, but I can't use COVID. It's an excuse. Because, yeah, they'll tell me it's an excuse. But I couldn't do nothing November 19. Next year was 2020. Everything had shut down. Where I'm at with the 68 violations, I had to end up calling the NED office in March, and that's when my son came home, March, from when we moved out of the house for the eviction. When he came home in March, I had to call the NED office and told them I didn't have any hot water. And an investigator came over, an inspector came over there. He came and knocked on the door, had the mask, both of us had the mask on and everything. He telling me he can't do nothing because of COVID. Shut down everything. The city didn't want nobody doing no inspection. So he couldn't come in over there. But then he wrote on outside some more violations, but the violations I was talking about was in the house where I'm in the kitchen and I'm dodging buckets and bins because the ceiling leaking. And anybody that know me on my page, they know what I'm talking about because I put up the pictures of the water and the water and the light fission. Which is an electrical problem, fire starter. They told me it wasn't. Yeah. They told me it wasn't. Yeah. It's just like when the fire happened at my house. They said, you can turn on the power. I didn't turn it off. Oh, yeah. Smart idea. Water and electric. Right. And then it was a fire at the house where I'm at now. They had a, we thought a Motel cocktail. Cocktail, yeah. Yeah. I was asleep. Yeah. I didn't even know. Wow. The whole, over the roof, I mean, over the doorway, when I looked out was on fire. I had to run up under the fire. They told me they let me stay there. The fire chief or whatever he was, he told me I could stay there. And that's exactly what happened to my house. Sounds like they don't care. They don't. It sounds like we're standing up. It sounds like we're being targeted here. Right. Yeah. I agree. They need to have, they need to pass this bill with good cause because the tenants really need it. I agree. Us being tired. We're getting tired of all the BS, the double talking that's been going, that's going on from the city on up, down, side, left, right. It don't matter. They lying. They say stuff just to ease you. And then, no good and well, they ain't gonna do nothing. I got emails. I got messages on my phone from different people. Oh, Ms. Nelson, I'm sorry this happened, how this happened to you, why this happened to you. And all I could do is tell them it's the same thing that I've been saying. How could this happen with a legal eviction, with a legal eviction put on me? For what? That's crazy. And they not doing nothing. And just like Justine said, this is stressful. It's mental stress. It's emotional stress. It's pain and suffering. It's all of that. This man is set up and told off. Bald faced lie. In the city of Rochester. Let him get away with it. Because once his CFO went out, he's supposed to renew it. If he didn't renew it in 40 days, they have policies and procedures that they're supposed to follow, which they did. Because if they did, they would have went and did it all. In person, not after the 40 days of him not responding, they supposed to have did that. So his 40 days went on from 2012. And then somebody got the property August, well, the last time I was notified about the property was August 29th of 2022. And it was still in his name. He still didn't have a CFO. It still wasn't zoned. He wasn't living there. But he got a pat on the back. And I got eviction on me. And I got money that he say that I owe on my credit report. How could I owe you money if I paid you all the way up until June when you gave me that paper? I couldn't owe you no money. How could I owe you money? And a lot of people know, I can't say the name, but yeah, they know who I'm talking about. Yeah, he was never a landlord, a slumlord. He wasn't even nothing. But he got away with it. But my turn is coming. The doors are opening. For us, we need more and more people to get your stories out of how this city, Rochester, is letting their people live. And it's a shame because this place has so much history here. Black history. They have so much history. And for the people that sit and just not do nothing. They don't want to let nobody go. They don't want to retire nobody. They just want to pay them to do nothing. It's called milk the clock. It's still in time. Yep. When you work for pay but you do not fulfill your job description. Right. It's milking the clock. It's too hard for them to pick up a phone or tap on a keyboard and look on a monitor to make sure everything is copacetic. Everything is all right. Nobody confirmed nothing when I went to court. Nobody. Even his own attorney. He can't bring no paperwork saying that he was a landlord. And to be told about two weeks ago that because he supplied a roof over my head and a place to stay that he was still considered a landlord. Even though he was in violation since 2012, September 1st of 2012. He was in violation since then. That's over a decade already. Right. Right. Make it make sense because it doesn't make sense. And nothing was done. Everything on me. What did I do? What? Just because I came here and I should have hauled. Oh, Lord Jesus. I want to say something. I should have hauled butt with me and my son once we got the medical help. I should have left and went back home. But now I'm stuck up here. I can't find no legal help. Only thing they can tell me is to call legal aid. And what in New York. They ain't helping me. They telling me the same thing. Lies. No. No. Nope. Asking the same question I've been asking. Well, how is this possible? Why did this? I don't know. But I can't go back in front of the judge that granted this. And I don't see why because that's perjury. You lied to the system. And cold enforcement where y'all don't honor y'all name enforcement. Y'all did it too. Y'all allowed him to do this. So y'all need to take y'all accountability on y'all part of what me and my son and many others are going through. The county too. The county too because if anybody on some type of assistance, you paid this man for my son for over a year and a half. And I never had the house by myself. It was always somebody on the second floor which he considered another bedroom. But it was just an attic. Three people, different people, stayed upstairs on me within them three years. Three different people. The county paid rent to this man for us to stay there. And nothing was done. Y'all please make it make sense. And if y'all know of anybody that can help me because I need some legal help because it needs to be. Yeah, I got to put in a notice to them. I got to put a notice. And I'm asking, please share that it needs to be an investigation on the city and on the county of Rochester, Monroe County, New York. It needs to be because something here is not right. Rochester, no, you're not right. The city, I don't care who was in office, who wasn't in office at that time. My concern is from 2012 when this man got an eviction. I mean got out of court. 2012. And then I moved out of 2019. Nothing was done. But I'm late. They can tell me I'm late because I can't file now. So you was late almost, what, seven, eight years? And nothing, y'all didn't do nothing. That's just weird. It's just, it makes no sense. You know, I just would like to just read over some of the things that I have from my own personal files. And for those who understand the laws, because I don't, I knew this, but I'm willing to learn and it's okay. Before I moved out of my first unit, I went and got a copy of the violations just to keep for my record. And this was my last unit before I moved to 5 Taylor. So some of the violations that was cited by the city was siding, broken, missing, foundation point repair, window panes broken, missing, alarm, smoke alarms required, infestation, interior, floor needs repair, plug hole along wall and floor, fix holes in the floor. And that was just it. The cabinets need repair. It's just the foundation itself. The faucets need repair. The sink is missing. How is someone supposed to be okay with living in those type of conditions? I don't understand it, right? And that paperwork come from the city. And it was dated June 9th, 2021. So then that, remember June 9th, remember that date. Come August 2nd, 2022, right? A whole year later, I'm going through the same thing. Heat, inadequate, gas turned off, no heat, building owner registry, no contact info, trash debris, stair handrail missing, alarm, smoke alarm issues, unsanitary, infestation in interior, mice and roaches, wall needs repair, water damage from the bathroom. Now, that's a huge one. Because that's what I'm going through at this point. And it's right here on the paper. But guess what? It passed inspection. So you see the problem we have here? They're barbitural liars. And it's a secret society among them. And they don't care about us. Because how did you clear something and I'm still living through it? How do I have a notice dated for September 29th to the property management owners and nothing has been done as of today? Nothing. The only thing I'm looking for is an eviction. Because that's all they hand out. They don't hand out much help. So make it make sense. People may laugh and mock and joke about our situation, but it's nothing funny about it. We didn't ask for this. We didn't ask for this. We were just doing the best with what we had at that time. And just like our time is running out, y'all time is up too. Because it makes no sense. And someone definitely needs to answer Joyce. Because I'm not understanding how she has a 10-year eviction and she did nothing wrong. But asks for help. And if that's what we're doing to the citizen of Rochester and the county of Monroe, y'all should be ashamed of yourselves. Because y'all expect for us to line up and vote for you. I'm not voting for anyone. You know there's a movie, excuse me, there's a movie back in the day. It's called Brewster's Millions. It's with Richard Pryor. Richard Pryor, sorry. And it's called Brewster's Millions. And what he did is he became a millionaire and he had to spend $30 million in 30 days. And if he did, he got the whole lump sum of $300 million. Right. And he became a politician. He did his own thing with the money. And he put it as vote for none of the above. Never. None of the above. You can't do your job underneath your heart and the understanding that if it's not good enough for you or your family to go through, don't put it through somebody else. Simple as that. The world was great when we were, it wasn't the greatest, but it was better when we were all sharing lives and before, you know, the world came crashing down before COVID. And I think a lot of us learned a lot of things from social media during COVID. And I know I did. I learned a lot. I learned to speak totally different since I went through my trauma and through COVID. So don't let your mind dictate what your heart says. Retraining your mind while you're dealing with your demons is always the hardest thing to do on your own. So reach out for people. Try to get some help. Don't always fight your demons by yourself because sometimes you need some help. Anything else, ladies? I just want to say I'm just honored that we have this chance to speak and to get the message out. And at the end of the day, if someone out there can help us, help us. If you have some way to shine the light, shine it because we definitely need the help out here. And don't be afraid to reach out for help. Don't let fear play with your mind because that fear can stop you from living the life that you deserve and getting the house for you and your family that you deserve and not settle for shacks and leaky roofs and people who just want your money and don't care about the well-being of your family. And that's all I have to say. And thank you for listening. Josie? Josie? Any more? Anything else you want to say? Yeah. And I also, like I said, it's not just the city. It's the county, too. They take their time doing what they want to do, when they want to do it, just like Rochester. We all heard on the TV by Evan, by this saber-toothed tiger that's supposed to be going after the landlords. Somebody looked up today and they had three, maybe four landlords they're going against. So... There's a lot more out there. Yeah. Where is this tiger that's supposed to be sinking teeth in these slumlords? Because that's what they is. It's a lie. And the definition of a slumlord is like what we're living through, me and Justine and Russell. We're living through it. That's a slumlord that don't care about their property. A landlord takes care of their property. They take pride. Yes. Yes, they do. Landlords, we're not mad at you. No. We need more of y'all. We just need to get rid of these slumlords and the whole, not the whole city. They need to be a clean sweep. Clean sweep, there you go. Yes, ma'am. Clean sweep. Clean sweep in the city of Rochester. In the county of Rochester. No, Monroe. Monroe County of still Rochester. Right. Yeah. It need to be a sweep. It need to go through. It's some good apples in there. Right. Throw them bad apples that are spoiled, that have been there too long. Them rotten apples. Yeah. The ones, yeah, they are dried up. Yeah, they rotten. Get rid of them. Yeah. Because the people need help. They stop protecting these slumlords. Because you have too many people coming, talking about this. And to the people of Rochester, if y'all going through this, y'all got to speak up. Y'all got to speak up because a closed mouth won't get fed and don't get fed. That's right. If y'all want help, y'all want help, but nobody know your story. And the more people that come forward, the more we can fight against these slumlords and the city and the county, y'all really need to do your job. Write not violations. Do not do nothing for write not violations. Write not violations for what? Just to say that you did this? Just to say that you wrote out a violation. Just like that warehouse fire. I know this. The person was $1,999 behind in taxes or either violations. But I guess they're going to pat him on the back and he's just going to be charged with demolition, cleanup. Once you got this big old house, this big warehouse over there where y'all had, I mean, y'all had evacuated people in the surrounding homes. There's no help here. There's no help. There's no help here. The governor know. The senator know. Yeah, they know. Ain't no help. But the city have help because I've been asking for help for over three years. I have emails where I reached out to people, attorneys, because it was fraud committed. My name had been defamed. That's on the city and the county. Because like I say, once the landlord drop the ball, the city suppose they caught that. They suppose they caught that. And if they didn't, they suppose they caught that and they didn't. And like it need to be an investigation to the attorney general. It need to be an investigation done by the governor's office on this place. Because this really don't make sense. It's messy. It don't. I mean, the horror stories. And for where I'm at now, they unsold the property with the six-day violation. And the new owner, he undid more. I think he bought it July, August last year. He undid more in these few months and I was there from January 2020 and still there. And this man have done more on this property in just a couple of months, short couple of months, than the city did. They can come there and just keep putting violations on top of violations. But I don't see no fines not on neither one of the properties I've been through. Either the eviction or the six-day violation, I don't see no fines done on the notice. Yeah, the notice of order. Notice of order. There's no violations being on there. And then it don't, if they have it on there, the length of time that they give them, that's another thing. They give them a pat on the back. Just take as long as you want to. We'll go off on that, but it's pointed to us. Yeah, it's pointed to the tenants. Right. And when you got a slumlord and you get evicted from an old property, it prevents you from getting a new property because of the slumlord beforehand. Right. And if there's no CFO, then there's for, it's an illegal rented property. Right. Because a CFO is a federal contract, if I remember right, which is punishable by federal laws. And I mentioned that downtown at City Hall the first time I went there. Right. And you hear Oscar and everybody in the background. That's what they're saying is no CFO, but proof is in the pudding. All they're doing is talking. Seeing is believing. Believing is seeing. Right. Louder than words. Yes. And I definitely agree because I'm just disturbed and I just, it don't make sense. Like, I need answers because I have paperwork showing that it was some serious things going on at this present place I'm at. But what gets me, someone said it was okay, everything looked great, but every time I look at this paperwork, I keep seeing the same issues repeating itself. The last family went through this, now me and my family is going through this. And it's sad to say that, yes, I'm moving and someone else is going to move in there and go through the same thing because they lack accountability. They're not doing their jobs. Then they get on TV with these repressed lies, these folktales, knowing none of it is a true reality. When the lion roars. Roar. Eye of the tiger. Yes. We're the eye of the tigers, okay? We are. Those are the saber-toothed tigers. They're blowing bubbles. You see my shirt I wear down there? The eye of the tiger, baby. That's why I wear it. We are the eye of the tiger. They've been waiting for saber-toothed tigers. We're not waiting for that. No. We're going to be the voices. Yeah, we are the voices. And I commend us, Russell, Joyce, myself, and others. We are met because we all are dealing with the same thing. Housing issues. Lack of accountability. And it's okay because no one wants to step up to the plate or step on toes. Excuse me. They don't want to step on no one's toes. But we keep seeing all these kickbacks. We keep seeing all this funding coming into Monroe County, but it's not being applied to the people who really need it, which is us. When are we going to get a facelift? Y'all have been getting facelifts for years. Your pictures don't even match up with how much work you done had on your face. But you can't even take care of the city. All right. We got to pour. That was a good one. We have to go, and I have to call Nicole about glass that she found in her baby food that she found in a bag of Sesame Street Reese Puffs organics that she bought from Canandaigua Walmart, I believe. And it's a very sad story. We need to get this out there so every woman and man knows that your child is in danger in case this happens again or if it's found in another spot. Also, if you want to get on the conversations, I should be saying this more often. I'm sorry, but you can get on the conversations by calling the studio line at 585-417-5435, or you can text me at 585-448-7733. And we are talking today about housing issues, and in a few minutes, I'm going to be calling Nicole for the baby food. But today also is a special day for me. It's my first day live on my own, and I choose to use this day to let you understand some of the things that I've been through. I'm not here for money, fame, fortune, neither is any of these ladies here with me today. God's telling me I'm going to live off my words and my ability to do new things. I was a hard worker all my life. I did construction, not the light work. I did the heavy work, the concrete, the lifting four-by, six-by-six-by-eight-footer pressure-treated timbers on my shoulder to build decks. I suffer from my hard labors of all my life in doing construction with a pinched nerve between C6 and C7, degenerative disc disease, and, of course, pinched nerves. I'm all beat up from the feet up. I choose to do this to bring positivity to people. I use my weird words and the weird way I talk to bring positivity to everybody because this world today, to me, is full of greed. And I feel that we misunderstand that we are all enslaved to the financial greed, no matter your race, color, religion. We need to leave this racism behind and come together. And these words that I created through my hard time is my positive way that I'm going to support myself and support these ladies and support innocent people from the city and bring positivity. And these are my words. I really don't understand what's going on with the people in this land. Did you not understand history class? I graduated with an IEP diploma and I was at the top of my class. I'm an individually educated person, you see. That's what it means to me. Ironically, IEP backwards spells president's education is inadequate, and as you can see, together we stand stronger, love harder, reunite, and we shall go further in any fight because we, the people of the world, choose no more mass massacre, slavery, segregation, rank elimination, and human life assassination because we're all going to die bleeding the same blood-red rivers. It's our choice to believe in the ocean of love or to keep allowing our governments to control the flow of desegregated ponds of hate. Stop passing the hate because you know even if it's your own family, you will not allow them to do unto you as you feel it's okay to do unto them with ignorance. Amen. I hope that was good for you all and bring positivity to everybody. Yeah. Thank you, Joyce, for coming. Thank you, ladies, for coming. Thank you, too. Thank you. I'm about to call this Nicole. If you guys, ladies can stay until then. Okay, cool. We'll call Nicole right now. Let me find her number. I actually got it in my phone, actually. I forgot. I put it in there so I wouldn't lose it. I can't wait to get this computer done so that way I can organize better. All right, let me get out of here. Phone, phone, phone, let's go. I'm calling you, Nicole. Give me a second. Phone's acting weird. I got so many pictures and stuff on here I got to download them off of this thing. Plus, having fat fingers on a smartphone is really not the greatest. Right. Remember that commercial when they first started with the cracked screens? Uh-huh. Yeah, that's the way I feel. Right. I'll go back to the old flip phone. Give me an old brick phone. Ah, so easy. Lorraine, where are you? I need my co-host. You're my secondary co-host. Here we go. Let's see. Hello? Hi, Nicole. You're on 106.3 FM. How are you doing? Hi, I'm good. How are you? Pretty good. I don't know if you were listening from the start. It's the first day of doing it myself, broadcasting. I did hear that. Congratulations. Is it going good? Yeah, going a lot better. A little nervous, but it's expected. I feel nervous just talking. Oh, yeah. Well, you're live. You just can't say, you got to be careful. You can't say names and stuff like that. It's all new to me, so I'm doing it so people can have confidence in themselves. Right. Tell our shakers and listeners what you experienced with your son. So my son is, he was 10 months when this happened. He just turned 11 months. I always buy the food product. Am I allowed to say the food product? I think so. It was posted on. It was on the news. Yeah, it was on the news. So, I mean, I said it. I was nervous. It was Sesame Street Five Ingredients Peanut Butter Balls. And he always ate them. And I purchased these on a Wednesday, gave it to him on a Friday. He had no problem any other time eating these. And then as soon as he starts eating, he starts choking. And usually he does this cough to fake it for attention. Yeah. This was not one of those times. He looked like he was in distress. He was pulling on his ears. He was just, like, coughing. So I hurried up, you know, got what was out of his mouth out. And then he had been previously playing with the bag that was a little bit open. And he was shaking it on the floor before he went into the high chair. And my husband looked down and was like, what broke? Like, what are you talking about? And I look on the floor and there's pieces of, like, glass, like hard pieces. And I'm like, there's no way because nothing broke. Let me look into this bag because he was just playing with it right here. I emptied it out in, like, a Ziploc bag. And, lo and behold, all these glass chips or whatever you want to call them were in the bottom of the bag. Each cuff was coated in, like, a dust, sand dust material is what it felt like. But at first I'm like, maybe it's sugar. But there wouldn't be sugar in this food and it would not break up. Like, it was enough to pinch my finger but not enough to, like, break the skin. And so I checked his mouth. I put a paper towel in there to make sure there was nothing, you know, bleeding in there. Gave him his water. Took that down fine. I called his doctor. He had a well visit coming up. So he said to monitor him as he didn't have any openings that day. They live, or the doctor's, like, five minutes down the road. So the next day his well visit comes and they check his stomach. They do all that stuff. And everything seemed fine. And so I called the company, well, Walmart, and tried to get that recalled. And they didn't want to take it off the shelf. So I stood in the line in the baby aisle and let parents know not to buy this product. I showed them pictures of these glass pieces, everything, and nothing was done. Wow. I'm like, if it's in my bag, it has to be in the other bag. Yeah, like I was saying, I worked at the bagel factory. And when I was working there, what they would do is the bags would come down the line. I mean, the product would come down the line and it would go into the machine. And the machine would put a burst of air into the bag to open the bag. And then it would push the bagels in. And that's pretty much probably the same concept, only it's probably going to be, like, dropped in instead of, you know. Right. I was trying to find a video of, like, something of, like, how it was made so I can look at it and research it a little bit myself. But I couldn't find one that was decent enough for the situation. So because Walmart didn't want to do anything and they were still, they seemed very concerned, but they didn't take it off the shelf. Because I went, it was on a Friday. I ended up having to go to that store that day anyway and check that same aisle. The food was still there. Went back on that Sunday. Food was still there. I took a picture of it on the shelf. And that's when I contacted the news. I was like, this is outrageous. Like, thank God I was there for my kids and I was able to see it firsthand and, like, be there right next to them. But say a mom gave it to her kid and walked away for a second. Like, just because you're buying at a store doesn't mean it's safe. No, I think we, there's a lot of things that we buy from the store is not safe anymore. And it's, I just saw something on baby food. There was something, not baby food, baby formula. There was, like, stuff in formula that was bad. Oh, yeah. And now I'm eating all my kids' food first. We switched to all human food now, so we're done with the baby food. Wasn't going to chance it anymore because we buy the same line of food but different kind of food, you know what I mean? Yeah. And I wasn't going to chance that. And the company gave me the runaround. It took about, like, three weeks. They told me they sent, I kept the whole entire food. I poured it into a bowl. I'm like, I'm not rewashing this bowl with that glass in it. So I put that all in, like, its own bag and I've been waiting for this retrieval kit for a whole, like, month. And they're like, yeah, we sent it that day, we sent it that day. A new person would call me and be like, nothing's ever been sent yet. And just to shut me up, they sent me compensation. And first they wanted to give me $25. I think I'm not smart that my son's life's worth more than that. And then they're like, okay, 50. I'm like, absolutely not. I said, this is not even about money. Like, you brought up money to basically shut me up and I'm just telling you that there's a product on your line that has it in it. Right. And they're like, so what do you think is fair? I said, easily, like, $200 to $500. I could have easily done a hospital bill. Oh, yeah. And they're like, oh, let me put you on a brief hold. So I was on hold for over a half hour. And they're like, we can only do this amount of money. And it was $200. And they're like, if we do anything above that, it goes into, like, claims. And I'm like, so only one person can call you with a complaint? And the lowest you can go is, like, $200 for them? You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, I'm pretty sure, like you were saying before, it's not about the money situation right now. It's about a life, a life that was going to eat something, you know? Yeah, and it was just getting me heated that they kept saying the lowest. And I'm like, my kid's worth more than that. This is not what it's about. It's about, like, don't throw money in my face. I want you to do something about it. Yeah, take it off the shelves so that way other kids ain't getting hurt or injured, you know? Exactly. I mean, show that our children actually show that our children are our future still. Because the way I see it in this world today is not. Again, after each call, they always say that same exact thing. Our kids are our future, and we only want the best. Well, be the best at your product and manufacturing it and looking into this. Because I sent them, I'm sending them back the food so they can properly investigate this again. Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, they should be, there's no reason why they shouldn't be concerned for a child's safety over wanting to give you money. No, the first thing out of their mouth should have been, oh, well, if this was my child, I'm going to want to investigate this quick enough myself. Exactly. I was the one that said, if this was your child, I would hope you'd investigate this the same as I'm doing for my child. Oh, I completely understand, they say. Well, you don't. The problem is, like I was telling these ladies, you know, we're all enslaved to the financial greed. You know, it's all about the greed. Nobody wants to admit that no matter where they reside in life, they have greed in them. You know, I feel that's what we were breed on, you know, all of us. I mean, we all want better things in life, but we've got to struggle to get to them. And, you know, it's crazy. There's no reason why greed should be more important than children. I completely agree. So how's he doing today? I know you said that he was outside playing with the dog. I think it was earlier yesterday. Yeah, that was my two-year-old was playing. I have a two-year-old, and he was playing with the dog. And the little one just is learning to clap. He just learned how to walk before he learned how to clap. Oh, my gosh. So I have a video of him clapping so hard he falls backwards and then just gets up and, like, has this mean face. And then he just lets out a huge giggle. Kids are the best. Yeah, they do the craziest things. And then when they get older, they drive you nuts. Oh, yeah. I forgot what I was going to say. What's the doctor saying about the ingesting of any of that? They think just because he had just that small puff, he had already went through him in his coop. They wanted me to, like, look into his coop, but it was like what he ingested was more like a sandy dust, so there was no way I could look. Yeah. You know what I mean? Well, glass is hard to find, too. I don't even know that. Can you get an X-ray to see if there's glass in your system, in your body or something like that? I mean, I've got glass in my hands and stuff multiple times, just picked it out, you know, when I'm working on cars and stuff like that. I mean, I'm sure you can because it's not like metal to where you can't go through an X-ray machine. Yeah, but it's clear. That's the only thing. Unless what we think is glass, is it really glass? It's like some kind of harmful substance or something else. Yeah. How is you and the family dealing with this situation? My husband's the same way like I am and fighting for our kids, and he's proud that I, like, stood my ground and I wasn't going to take no B.S. from people because I'll do anything for my kids, and that's what I told the news. And when they came over, he said, was there anything you wouldn't do for your kids? And I cried. I said no. Yeah, same here. No, there is nothing I wouldn't do for my kids. That's right. And that's why we're here. It boggles my mind that people, like, have kids but they don't care or they just don't care as much as I do. I'm not going to say that, but, like, want to fight for, like, if something happens, like, they'd brush this off, like, oh, whatever. Yeah. Because they don't want to deal with it. But I'm like, nope, this is my kid. I'm dealing with it. Yeah, that's what me, Justine, and Joyce. I'm so bad with names, and I still can't get her name straight. It's messed up. I'm sorry, hon. That's why I call everybody. You know when you get older and you start calling everybody hon or sir or hey, buddy. Is that why everyone does that? Yeah, that's why everyone does that. That's why I'm doing it now. Hey, hon. Hey. That makes me feel better so I don't have to worry about remembering names. Hey, hon. But when you've got two women here and no other man to be separating, it's like, you know, how do you say hon and then you've got two ladies? They still won't know. You've got to be like, hey, hon, hey, sweetie. Yeah, right. Just try to be respectful. I'm sorry, I don't remember your name. I just said it, like, two seconds ago, you know. Yeah. What other things do you feel is important that people should know about this situation? Like I said before, just because it's on the shelf doesn't mean it's always safe. If it's in a baggie that you cannot see the food in, I would put that into a clear plastic baggie so you're able to see all the contents in that bag and even taste one before you give it to your child to make sure it's consumable and safe for them. Because I'd put myself in harm's way, so if anything's toxic, I'm eating it before my kids. Yeah, exactly. And especially finding glass inside a bag of food, you know, that was processed at a factory, it's kind of a big thing there. Yeah. And I can only imagine when this kit gets sent out how long they're going to wrangle me for with this. Because it was like a whole month just to get this retrieval kit that took, based on 21 days, and it took literally a day. Yeah. They're just, to me, I mean, I can't really say what they're doing, but I feel that they're just delaying the situation and trying to figure it out so they can dictate, you know, the things that they want to say or whatever, you know. Oh, right. As soon as I told them that I went on the news, they're like, oh, really? Like, yeah, really, you guys aren't doing nothing. At all. Yeah. My kid can't talk to tell me, like, hey, Mom, fight for me. Yeah. And the kids, you can't do that for the kids these days. They don't know that kind of stuff, you know. Right. Especially, you know, a 10-year-old. 10-year-old or 11-month-old. Yeah. You said your son's 10 months old, right? 11 months old now. 11 months old. Okay, yeah. Why did I get 10 years? I think you can definitely tell me. Yeah. I'm just trying to, you know, make sure I keep talking. Trying to make it. Yeah. Trying to make it. Trying to make it interesting, you know. Trying to figure out the exact good things to talk about. Did they ever discontinue the brand? Did they ever, do you know if they discontinued the brand or stopped making it? I don't think so, no. When I went to Walmart the last time, it was not on the shelf, but there was one bag left on the shelf. So I don't know if everyone bought them out or they took them out. But when I went to Wegmans, because I also got them taken out from there because it's the same distributor that goes to those stores. Yeah. It was gone from that Wegmans as well. Maybe that's something we can check out when we go out and about and see, you know, see if these items are still there. Like I said, we're trying to do this to bring awareness to everybody. If you want to get on the call and the conversation, you can text me at 585-448-7733. Or you can text that call at 585-417-5435 at 106.3 FM. Anything you ladies want to add or you want to ask? You know. Well, thank you for sharing your story. Yeah, thank you for having me. I just wanted to get it out as much as I can. There's not many resources out there, so. No, no, not at all. And it's a good thing that your son is safe. That's the most important thing. Yes. I mean, this is more common than we think. I mean, it was a time where our parents didn't have to worry about these type of things. But now every time you turn on the news, you see recalls because the product or the food isn't safe. Right. You know, so that, you know, it sucks that you have to reconsider what we really feed our children, what we bring into our household. And we think it's safe, and it's really not. I know. And it's every time you turn on the news, it's always some kind of baby product, baby food, baby formula. That is correct. That's why the best way to go is natural. Breastfeed your children. Right. You know, I know a lot of people are not into it, but it's so much safer than what this crap they have out here. That's this thing. Well, yeah, I did it as long as I could. He was in the NICU. He was born at 34 weeks, and he was 4 pounds. So we live an hour away from Rochester. Okay. So he had to go to the NICU, and he was there for 19 days. And I ended up drying up, and then my second son was born at 40 weeks but swallowed fluids, and he needed to be in the NICU for five days. And the NICU would give him formula at night, and I didn't know. Right. So when I tried to give him the breast milk, he wouldn't take it. He didn't like it. And then he would take it, but then at two months old, he ended up getting COVID. Oh, no. Oh, my God. And he ended up with, like, a very bad oral thrust in his mouth, so his whole entire mouth turned white. Aw. And he stopped taking a binky. He stopped breastfeeding. He got the worst rash. Like, it lasted a month of just blood on his butt. Oh, my God. And the doctor, I saw the doctor, like, every other day because it was just causing him so much pain. Right. And the doctor had no idea what it could have been. We tried every over-the-counter, over-prescribed, and the one thing that only helped was at three months old, we gave him Activia yogurt, and that rash went away within a day because it was a GI issue. Mm. Mm. And in the yogurt, he got the probiotic. Yeah, the activity, the green one, the green yogurt. Wow. Yep. Okay. So you, I mean, like, that whole experience just opened up a whole panel of different experiences that you and your family had to endure. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Well, I thank you for taking, you know, taking a stand and using your voice and not being afraid. We need more people in the world like us. Yeah, because some of these kids can't talk, and who's going to talk for them, you know? Exactly, you know. Yeah, because we are the voice for our children until they learn how to use them for themselves. Mm-hmm. You know, so I'm very adamant with that, you know, about using my voice and speaking highly about my children. Yes. What, um, I forgot what I was going to say. There was something I was going to mention. I was trying to let you finish, and I forgot what I was going to say. No. It's okay. I'm just glad the baby's safe. Yes, glad the baby's safe. Me too. Glad there's no, no kind of interior scratches and stuff from him. I know. But, yeah, there is, I mean, it reminds me of having to check the children's candy at Halloween and stuff. Mm-hmm. And stuff is just getting really worse, you know? I took my 2-year-old out for the first time and had to check all of his candy. Yeah, and it's just, it's crazy. There's no, there's no reason for it, you know? Now, just so I don't have to do that, I think this year I'm going to buy separate candy, and when he gets the trick-or-treating candy, I'm going to swap him out. Yeah. That's not a bad idea. My dad used to go to Trippy's Foods and buy big bags of it and just go around the table and sort it out for the neighborhood kids and pass it them out in bags. Yeah. That's what it's going to have to come back to, because especially now with the way the addiction level is here. Yeah. It's wicked. Yeah. And they end up, and they target our children. They are. Yeah. And like I said, I agree with you, this isn't about race, creed, color, none of that. No. It's about just having common sense and agreeing that things need to change here, not only in our city in America. Yeah. Too much violence. Yeah. In this whole world, there's too much violence, there's too much, there's too much hate, all because. Too much hate. You know? Some families will outcast you depending on that deep belief. Oh, you're going against the family code because you're, no, y'all are sick, because I like people. I have friends of all nationalities. Yeah. It doesn't matter. Exactly. Shoot, my favorite plate is rice and beans with the octopus in it, nice big fat piece of pork skin, and some collard greens. Everyone judges everybody. Yeah. No, that's right. They do, and there's no, you shouldn't judge people from the outside. There was a saying I did before, it was like, no matter what you, we're all the same thing on the inside. If we turn ourself inside out, we'll still be the same bloody mess. We're just different. Everyone just wants to be tough because that's how they were raised. But it's your responsibility not to want to be raised like that, want to change that cycle. Yeah, I mean, you got to be tough in a manner of speaking so you don't get taken advantage of. I mean, that's me. I was, you know, I did a lot of work. I did a lot of help with people and friends and families, and, you know, that's where the, you know, being taken advantage of from. And then you got like bullies in school, and they're like, I'm terrified for my kids. Oh, yeah. I mean, I grew up, I graduated in 97 with a fifth grade reading level and an IEP diploma. I was in 77 school in Buffalo and went to Burgard. I graduated looking like a geeked out Fonzie Raleigh clown. You know I'm not about to play with him. I got bullied so bad I couldn't graduate. They're over here laughing. They're like, I can't with him. He's got issues. I understand. I was 42, so I understand. I hate bullies. No, I can't stand them either. I remember I was like in ninth grade, and somebody saw this girl I didn't even know, thought I wore her pants, and I got jumped by like six females in the bathroom. Oh, that's crazy. It's just absolutely crazy with the world today. People are, yeah. What a, geez, I'm losing my mind. I'm losing talking space here. What do you foresee trying to happen with the situation? What do you want to try to happen for the situation? Just that when I send this retrieval kit, they'll actually look into it and not just not, like so just not get it and just throw it out. Like I want this product to be recalled completely until the matter is like fixed, or if it can't be fixed, it can't be fixed. But they have to look into it. I'm not going to stop calling. Yeah, they have to re-pull everything off the shelves to go through it so that way, you know, people can be safe. It's not, it shouldn't be about the money. It should be about making sure our children are safe because if it was their children that are eating it, they would want their children to be safe along with it. Oh, right. You know, and how does that saying goes? If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander or something like that. That's it. You know. Maybe. I don't know that saying. I don't know. That's it. That's it. Okay, I got it. I've heard it before. Yeah, I'm 46. You're a lot younger than I am. My husband's very, like, old school and says those little things. Yeah, that's cool. That's good to have. Well, I guess I'll take a break and play some, play a song. I'm trying to think of, I got another text. Somebody else. Sorry, I'm trying to focus on phones and, too. I'm stuck now. I'm stuck on what I'm trying to say. Yeah, I'm going to take a break and come back and I'll play some music from Crucifix. How's that sound for you? Do you know, Ko? Is that okay? Sounds good. I appreciate you calling, me calling you and letting me talk to you on my first try here for broadcasting. I'm glad I ain't doing too bad. Thanks for having me on. You're welcome. Please call back, you know, let's talk some more. I mean, this issue needs to be out more than just one time. Absolutely. All right, Nicole, I appreciate your time and have a good night. You too. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Let me see about putting this song on. I got to go to the bathroom. All right, we only got a half an hour left anyway. We're going to Albany tomorrow. We got to leave at the bus by six. But thank you. Now, is this every week, every month? Every Tuesday from six to eight. But Lorraine already has... Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Sorry, everybody. That didn't work too well to hook up the phone. Okay. Turn this down a little bit. I got 20 minutes left on the clock here. If you want to call in on any of the conversations we talked to today about the Slumlord Chronicles, you can call the studio line at 585-417-5435, or you can text me at 585-448-7733. My name is Russell Kelly, and I'm the co-host for the first time today by myself. It's a little nerve-wracking. But to give the people a little idea of what I've been through, I graduated in 97. I got an IEP diploma. I grew up in a family of five boys, different dads, same mother. I did construction all my life. The hard labor, not burger flippers or anything else. The hard labor, construction, concrete, decks, foundations, you name it. You should never let your education level, your race, your color, your religion determine how you are. We should all come together as one and realize that neither of us are perfect. We may be different in different ways. But we can always survive if we treat each other the same way we expect to be treated. There's a band called Crucifix in Overtime that's coming to Rochester, New York on 4-2. I highly recommend you from the inner city. It's an inner city vibe. They got good music. This is one of my favorite ones. If you're going to go to it, be nice. Don't have shooting or anything like stampede like you did at the armory. If that keeps going on, there will be no place for musicians to come here so you can go out and have any good music or even the music that we all used to listen to back in the day, the gangster music, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Onyx. Here's one from Crucifix. It's called Don't Stop Believing. This is one of my favorites. Don't stop believing in yourself. I'ma let the dream take me anywhere. I grip this broke down mind. This music right here in my hand. And I ain't quitting this fight until it's very over. The first time that I picked up a microphone was the very last time I'd be alone. Like the rest of life, when I spit lines. With a pen and paper, how I get mine. Ever since I was an independent baby. Falling to the water was a rhythm that made me. I couldn't talk, but I could live it with the 8-track. Dancing and bouncing, I was turnt up way back. Ends no stronger than I go along. If it was coming out the speaker, then what's wrong? But the underground is where I woke up. Opened up my mind and mouth, and when I spoke up. Took pictures that'll never ever be before. No longer knocking, I was digging in the front door. And I'm just getting started, I ain't trying to quit. This is what saved me. Can I get a witness? This track. This song. A living testimony to the days till it went wrong. This moment. My time. Blood flowed from my pen-written hand to my rhyme. This soundtrack. Called life. In the D&D bed, cut like a knife. Cut like the first strike of first beat. Don't drop when you believe it. In the music, it ain't never gonna stop. Don't stop. Believe it. Just hold on to that feeling. Don't stop. Believe it. I've been down like a nerve, gonna let it go. Go underground, always trying to have my own show. Don't stop. Believe it. Just hold on to that feeling. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. The underground ain't never gonna ever stop. The underground ain't never gonna ever stop. I just can't stop this feeling. This music got me kneeling. Deep in my soul, this beat. I just can't stop believing. The underground will hold me down. I don't plan on leaving. Until they put me in the ground. Till I'm no longer breathing. Through all the sweat and tears. Through all the blood and fears. This music never left me. It's had my back for years. Those nights when I was lost. Beside myself, thinking weird. I took my hands up off that wheel. And let the music feed me. It took me to a place where I felt like no one could hurt me. Even if my home is turned to rips. My will to serve me. This music's part of me. Honestly, I don't feel worthy. This ruled my life from darkness. Many nights while on this journey. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. The underground ain't never gonna ever stop. The underground ain't never gonna ever stop. I just can't stop believing. The underground ain't never gonna ever stop. I put it down like a knife. The underground ain't never gonna ever stop. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. The underground ain't never gonna ever stop. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. The underground ain't never gonna ever stop. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. Don't stop. Believe it. I'm insane, didn't know it, but I'm still alive now. Don't stop. Believe it. The deal with some slumlords we really need to get a group together that is of all professionals of all the construction fields, electrical we need to get plumbing I want to put it together another radio show where I have all these professionals at least call in or come in to discuss the issues with housing starting with foundations because the foundation of a house should be repaired before any other material is added to the house to add extra weight to an unsecured improper foundation if the foundation is not proper it's going to fall apart you add more weight to it Robert's not here but we need to come together we need to be there for each other a little bit better than what we are today there's just too much crime too much things that don't even need to be happening today like fires there's so much we need to get together we need to realize that the police, the fire department they're all in and stressed out because of the issues we the people need to understand that we got to come together and learn that we all have hard times it doesn't mean that we need to take it out on each other that we don't even know or even if we know each other it's not right we can live together in peace and harmony as long as we realize it's better not to be the same than to be the same if we're all the same we're doing the same thing we'll all be stuttering on the radio just like me plumbing we need to make sure plumbing is proper my old house it had a p-trap under the ground we had electrical, new electrical boxes however none of the wires were upgraded how are you going to upgrade electrical boxes if you don't upgrade the wire in a house these wires in the houses some of them still have the old cloth wire in the walls because instead of changing out the wires and ripping down the walls to get to the wires because inside walls they're usually stapled to the 2x4's so you can't just yank them out and fish one through some of them they have the old blown in insulation and you try to fish them through the wall without tearing up the wall tearing the whole house apart just to rerun the wires it's going to be a fire hazard no matter what I had a fire in my house one time and it had a 220 box mounted above it from a 110 box which is electric unsafe it should never have been like that there's rodents I have one person I'm in contact about that he was there for me at my house for rodent control he's a very well educated father and son I mean a father and uncle program where they come out and do your rat traps and stuff for you on a regular basis they at the time wouldn't do my house unless it was an evasive one because of the situation with my dad and stuff geez 10 minutes didn't sound like it was that long when you're sitting in the city hall speaking it seems like it goes by fast a lot quicker the roof issues with people's roofs those roof areas when they let the rat no I'll be fine squirrels and birds and raccoons come in your house when your eaves are all torn apart behind your gutters and stuff like that they get in there people go in there they fix the animals from getting back in but no one cleans up after the feces and stuff that's left in there that's all health issues what about when's the last time you had your heater ducts actually cleaned out all your heater ducts your heater duct pipes all the way going down to like the furnace and stuff like that that causes airborne follicles to go in the air for you to breathe also that's unsafe the one lady here she had no stove because of a gas line if you have illegal people people who are not certified for messing with gas lines and don't do properly it can lead to an explosion which could also lead to family death or even the person who's messing with the line that's not certified to be in trouble for causing death and stuff from people that are doing stuff that you shouldn't be doing gas lines and electric it should be left up to the professionals because if something happens you're going to be accountable for it 100% keep getting text messages let's see what we got here ah best heating let's see Lorraine saying best heating is boiler best heat is the best it is but amazing thing how many of you from the old day actually got burnt by those freaking radiators those water radiators that hang around I don't remember many of us getting burnt by them about about the oh god I'm sorry guys I thought I was going to have more to talk about this 10 minutes is going by slow like the one lady's house she had the ceiling fall from the bathroom pipe upstairs leaking it was a drop down ceiling and the problem with that is is above that they leave the old plaster lath that's up above there which is the problem why it falls and burst through the cardboard drop ceiling and cause house damage could hurt somebody me I had a bathroom that was over my stove and the thing kept leaking picking a contractor it's hard to do that these days they you can never tell which one's telling the truth which one's lying that's why you really need to get a bunch of estimates to make sure you're getting the best price for the best buck if you go with the less person you're going to get less quality you're better off probably going with a mid-grade person to save money these days the finance stuff I really don't know the greatest of but doing the work is my best I'm surprised I'm not getting any calls in here you should never give you should never give the whole amount of money up front you should make sure that they're doing work you know in phases I mean it's not it's really not easy to check up on everybody these days because you never know who's who and you can do your best research on a person and they still can be the biggest scam artist in the world and you would not even know that's the hard part we we need to get together as people and help each other out at our own free time our own free will you know with our own education that we learn through our lives it doesn't matter where you reside in your life you got an education from the time you lived and if you don't allow yourself to live your life you'll never know the true you'll never know the true strength the true strength and the true knowledge that you can obtain by just living your life and our life knowledge is something that we can always share with somebody at our own free time at our own free will to help each other out doesn't always have to be about money I used to like helping out everybody with cars and asking for a lot of money but now I can't do it my back my body's too beat up and I know there's a lot of construction workers out there that feel the same that there's a need to be somebody for the construction workers because there's too many people out here that worked hard all their lives that were good men that did what they're supposed to and the systems just deteriorated them because I'm one of them we really have to stand up for construction workers a little bit more because we're the ones that built everything that everybody takes for granted every day but yeah I feel that construction workers don't really get much appreciation as they should but I'm almost out of time so next I think Lorraine said maybe in April I can I'll be on the air myself again so I'm going to set up one where I can talk to a bunch of professionals and housing issues like I was saying so if any of you are listening and would like to be on the show next time please call me or text me at 585-448-7733 I'm looking for anybody in the phases of construction to help bring knowledge professional knowledge to the people in struggle of housing issues and remember always be kind to each other try to show the equal respect and remember my words together we stand stronger love harder reunite and we shall go further in any fight and that means any fight we can stand together and we can battle it together and we'll come out victorious so I hope I didn't do too bad today hope I didn't lose too many listeners hope I inspired a lot of more listeners to come out and do what you want to do believe me stage fright is scary and I'm in it have a good day y'all and remember always listen to 106.3 FM