Current and Past Projects

Royal Towers Condemnation

TD Invest LLC, owned by the slumlord Richard Baldaramos, allowed the Royal Towers apartment complex to deteriorate into an absolute state of disrepair and squalor. On March 17, 2023 the City of Manhattan’s Risk Reduction department evicted the tenants, giving them the arbitrary deadline of May 1. If they did not comply with the order, then they could be jailed for six months, fined five hundred dollars, or both — per day!

Tenants who lived above the first story weren’t allowed to take any of their heavy personal belongings — such as furniture — due to the advanced state of decay in the stairwells, which created a serious hazard.

Upon learning of the situation, Justin and Noah of RTMHK went out to the towers to assess the situation for ourselves. We conducted a Social Investigation and Class Analysis (SICA), utilizing the methods of successful activist groups in the past, to get to the core of the issue. During our SICA, we asked the tenants a number of question:

1. How are they holding up? In terms of mental, physical, and emotional health; in terms of finances; and just generally speaking.

2. Who did they perceive as their friends in this situation? What groups offered them assistance?

3. Who did they perceive as their enemies in this situation? Who caused the injustice, and who actively worked against their interests?

4. What do they feel is a fair resolution to this situation?

The city’s conscious choice to punish the tenants with eviction, while letting the slumlord Baldaramos off the hook scot-free without so much as a fine, shocked and appalled the tenants. They felt abandoned by their city government, and many were left wondering if they could find housing. The fear of bankruptcy, homelessness, and a general sense of terror were common themes we noticed in our conversations with the Towers tenants. Families, students, and individuals endured months of confusion. Many of them also expressed furious, righteous anger at the slumlord Richard Baldaramos, the parasitic CEO of TD Invest LLC — a faceless corporation that sucks the blood from the tenants like a vampire, upon which Baldaramos feasts!

Two things were clear from our social investigation: both the parasitic landlord Richard Baldaramos and the City of Manhattan did absolutely nothing of value to help tenants and ease the process of being violently evicted from their homes. Tenants spent thousands of dollars in moving expenses; they were forced to leave behind cherished family heirlooms; they had to front the cost of travel, temporary storage, shelter, application fees, security deposits, and first month’s rent.

Some tenants are still curious why they haven’t gotten their security deposit back from Richard Baldaramos. And as if all this weren’t bad enough, the Mayor Mark Hatsesohl went on KMAN radio and had the absolute audacity to blame the tenants for the landlords willful neglect of the property!

Given the horrendous circumstances facing the tenants, many of them were understandably exhausted in a physical, emotional, and mental sense. One of the common themes that our Social Investigation turned up was that the tenants wanted an advocate to call out the city council, raise awareness, and mobilize the wider community to take action. So in that spirit, we went directly to the city commission and held them accountable.

Although all were guilty, we felt there were two particular individuals whose conduct was especially egregious: the Mayor Wynn Butler (and his sycophant-puppet Mark Hatesohl), who avoided accountability and also blamed tenants who are the true victims of this neglectful misconduct! We also put the spotlight on Commissioner Matta — who, by the way, has taken thousands of dollars in political donations from landlords, wealthy businessmen, and other members of the bourgeois Kansas aristocracy!

Although the city refused to take accountability for their willfull misconduct and gross disregard for the masses, the Manhattan community nonetheless stepped up to the plate to fill in what should be a rightful job of our local government. Organizations such as Faith Manhattan Church heeded the call of duty to provide assistance to the victims of Royal Tower Apartments. Although we regret not getting on this issue sooner, we do intend to hold the city government as well as the parasitic vampire Baldaramos, the slumlord, to account. We hope you will join us in this effort!

-2023

Preventing Evictions During an Eviction Moratorium

ManApart LLC, a subsidiary of Genesis Health Clubs in Wichita, refused to offer a lease renewal to Alice McGaughey-Nondorf or Gary LaBarge, exploiting a loophole in federal and state bans on evictions. This is not justice. We knew we had to do whatever we could to prevent them from being evicted. We went as far as protesting the Riley County Courthouse, but unfortunately that didn’t change the judge’s mind. Even though they were evicted, we were able to secure apartment cleaners, and moving for free. We were able to help them secure affordable housing. Winter 2020 - 2021