Artists locked in battle with landlord of Mount Vernon performance space

A group of artists is locked in a battle with the landlord of the performance space in Mount Vernon.

News 12 Staff

Aug 23, 2019, 12:08 AM

Updated 1,706 days ago

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A group of artists is locked in a battle with the landlord of a performance space in Mount Vernon.
Mes Hall is a warehouse that has been converted into a space for artists and musicians to rent.

"It’s been the place that we can secure and store our equipment. It’s been our rehearsal room,” says local musician Joey Cassano.

When he arrived at the building Thursday afternoon, he found a roadblock standing in his way.

"It’s very frustrating, we are spending an extra hour just to try and get our stuff into the room,” he says.

Chris Vinson has been running the Mes Hall for 12 years, and says the road blocks appeared after he posted on Facebook about an ongoing dispute with the former landlord - who happens to be the former deputy police commissioner of Mount Vernon, Joseph Spiezio.

It all started back in February after Spiezio allegedly told Vinson the owners of the property planned on selling. Spiezio provided a document as proof that Vinson was given notice. Vinson said he’s never seen the notice until Thursday.

Spiezio told News 12 the building has been sold, and anyone still using the property is trespassing.

"It’s not that we have a problem with leaving, we have a problem with being shoved around like we are nobody,” says Vinson.

Artists bypassed the roadblock, hoping they can keep their creative space.

Spiezio says the new building owners plan to evict anyone still occupying the building, but Vinson says he has no plans of leaving the property anytime soon.


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