HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYN MUSEUM AND MARIA THE BARBERETTE WERE EVICTED LAST MONTH 

by Lynette Filips
(Plain Press December 2025) In the article about the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation’s (OBCDC’s) Memphis Pearl project in the April 2025, issue of the Plain Press, I wrote some commentary about Ward 13 Councilman Kris Harsh’s visit to the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn’s (HSOB) March 14th meeting. It included the following two paragraphs:
“The most reassuring statement was that even though tenants of the Greenline Building(s) had been visited by the relocation specialist and required to sign letters about having to vacate in 90 days, that would not actually be the time frame. Equally assuring was that NO building demolitions would occur until all required parking and financing for the project was in place…”
“For accuracy in writing the minutes, the entire HSOB business meeting, including the interaction with Councilman Harsh, was electronically recorded.”
Months passed. Then came OBCDC’s Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday, September 23rd. I wasn’t in attendance but in the section of the online minutes titled “Memphis and Pearl Project Update” I read the following statement,
“…Jim” (i.e., Jim Ambrose, the Director of Business Development at Desmone Architects in Pittsburgh) “shared an update to the Board on M&P, focusing on the need to deploy the Brownfield Remediation dollars awarded to the project by the end of the year to ensure that the funding is not jeopardized.”
Councilman Kris Harsh repeated the same message at his October 8th Ward 13 meeting at Estabrook Recreation Center. I wasn’t in attendance at that meeting either, but I was told that Kris said that demolition of the buildings at Pearl and Memphis would begin in December because if they didn’t start the project before the end of the year, they would lose the $8 million in funding he had secured for it. The $8 million is a mix of grants from the City, County, State and Federal governments, some of which is through the American Rescue Plan Act, also known as ARPA for short.
And so, after the “Notice to Vacate” signs were posted on their doors and they didn’t move out, the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn Museum and Maria the Barberette received eviction letters in the mail; court hearing dates accompanied them.
What about the promise to not begin demolition until all the funding and adequate parking were in place? Someone at City Hall had also confirmed to me that was their method of operation, even though a demolition permit had been issued early in the year.
And was it true that all the funding sources had to be tapped by the end of this month? I asked someone at the City, who is supposedly highly involved in the Memphis Pearl Project about the ARPA money, and was told that December 31st is NOT a deadline. Who to believe? What to believe or know for sure? What can I report for now — and record for posterity — about this project?
For the most part, no one at the City is interested in talking to me about the Memphis Pearl Project. If they return my calls at all they tell me to ask someone else in a different department or to request the Public Record from the City’s Law Department. Trying to get the facts, the truth for these news articles is more than a little challenging.
But getting back to this Old Brooklyn epic saga, toward the end of February both the HSOB and Maria received letters from Albano Mahilaj, the relocation agent assigned to this project. The letters were to make them aware of the services included in the Uniform Relocation Act (URA). Since HUD (Housing and Urban Development) had gotten involved in the project and the URA is a HUD program, as tenants they were now entitled to its benefits/services.
(Interestingly, the official letters to the HSOB were never mailed to the correct address. The Museum was located at 3430 Memphis Ave., but all their mail related to OBCDC’s Pearl Memphis Project was addressed to 3428 Memphis.)
Unfortunately, the individuals assigned to assist the HSOB and Maria came up with very little in the way of storefronts for rent in Old Brooklyn, and the ones they did come up with (on Pearl Rd.) were not acceptable for their purposes. So, the HSOB and Maria were forced to search themselves for new properties to rent. Fortunately, although searching on their own, they were still entitled to HUD’s financial perks because they were forced to move because of a HUD project.
The members of the HSOB’s relocation committee are Constance (Connie) Ewazen, HSOB president; John Rakauskas, HSOB vice-president; Greg Cznadel, HSOB secretary; Anna Maria Hamm, member; Mary Ellen Stasek, member; Brenda Theurer, member; and Larry Theurer, member.
Although they believe that they have found a new place for the HSOB Museum, because the legal paperwork has not been completed, they are not yet ready to publicize the location.
On Wednesday, November 12th, and Thursday, November 13th, three men from Weleski Transfer on Tiedeman Rd. (just south of Memphis Ave.) packed the contents of the HSOB Museum into crates and moved it to their warehouse for storage.
Maria the Barberette relied on her family and customers to help her find a new place for her business and move into it. It is on Broadview Rd. near Portman Ave. in the building next to Metropolitan Coffee. Maria is currently making the necessary alterations to the inside of the building and waiting for the State of Ohio to send her a license to operate there.
Pearl Road United Methodist Church (PRUMC) doesn’t know exactly when they will be moving out of their building, but they have learned that it will be after the first of the new year. So, the little congregation can celebrate one last Christmas in their familiar worship space. They have been working on emptying all the items from their kitchen and community spaces, not knowing if they will ever be together as a congregation again. They don’t have a temporary worship place to move to yet. Their quarter-time pastor from earlier this year, Rev. Matt Whisenhunt, has moved on, but he has been replaced with a quarter-time lady pastor. I hope to be able to introduce her and PRUMC’s new worship space in the next issue. The church trustees who are making the decisions are excited about what they view will be a new beginning, but that is not necessarily the case with the people in the congregation. I hear that many are very sad about leaving their church building and having it altered. They’ve stopped their Sunday evening hunger meals for the community, and the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn, which has been holding its meetings there since the 1980s, is assuming that its November meeting was the last one at PRUMC.
Till next month, if you want to refer back to any previous Plain Press articles about this historic Old Brooklyn corner, access them on the Plain Press’ website, https://plainpress.blog or on the HSOB’s website, http://www.oldbrooklynhistory.org. In time the HSOB also hopes to be able to share news on its website about its progress transforming another building into a museum.