Scamming At A Theater Near You

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. I'll be chronicling the activities of John Altyn and his unrealistic and questionable attempt to "save" 723 Manhattan Avenue, the building which was formerly the Meserole Theatre. I'll take the readers through a detailed look at John's adventures in Fantasyland.

John is an attention seeking self-promoter who never lets an opportunity to bang his own drum go unnoticed. Not coincidentally, John initiated his faux crusade on February 5 of this year, one day after an article appeared in the web blog Greenpointers.com which reported on the imminent plans to partially demolish the building and construct a five story mixed use development on the property. 

Let's take a closer look at John and the ways he attempts to mislead and deceive the members of his Facebook group and people in general.

He's not honest about contacting the developer, Jay Weitzman, or the owners, Arthur Krantz and Joel Levinson. I gave him the names of the developer and owners, who have owned the property since 1984. I looked up all addresses and phone numbers for them and even tried to call them weeks before Altyn said he would. Guess what? all of the numbers are out of service/disconnected. So, he lied when he said he contacted them. Also, he said he had the number for the law firm representing him. There are a couple. One attorney representing them is one of their daughters. The other is located at the same exact office that one of their front companies is in Syosset and I called there. They told me that the disposition of the property is not up for discussion or negotiation and they will not entertain any questions on the subject. End of story. 

John posted a comment regarding his vast experience in legal matters. It contained the following nonsense:

"Good evening and I wish to welcome our new members and hello to everyone else here.  ATTENTION:  When I spoke of finding the attorney that represents those who own the property of the Meserole, NEVER did I intend to publicize it.  I was seeking an attorney to represent us here so as to speak with or at least contact that attorney for the Meserole.  At no time, did I wish to speak with the firm or Attorney, because it would jeopardize that firm or attorney.  You know, Attorney - Client privilege.  I have been working with attorney's for decades, and to publicize it here, would be completely unprofessional.  So to those who offered me, "advice" regarding this information, I thank you, but understand, I too understand the Law and I have no intention of doing unethical actions.  This would NOT help our cause.  Thank you so much for your time here and I will continue working at saving the Meserole."

 It's more than obvious that John doesn't understand a darned thing about attorney-client privilege. What he's attempting to do in that jumbled collection of silliness is to pull a W.C. Fields on the members of his group. He is a practitioner of the principle, "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit." W.C. must be smiling at this very moment. A fellow whom I know, a litigation paralegal with over forty years' experience in the field, offered John advice on confidentiality and attorney-client privilege. John thanked the guy, told him, "Please share with me a better approach if you can.  It will be very helpful to me and to our Cause.", then promptly blocked him, thereby preventing the guy from any further communication with him. This guy sent me the complete exchange between them just in case John denies the conversation ever occurred. John is very adept at gaslighting; My friend thought it'd be prudent to save the content in case John deletes it from his PM session with him. John Altyn, Attorney at Flaw, should read up on the subject:

When You Can Contact Others Who Are or Were Represented by Counsel: Part 1

 Just because you're an idiot doesn't mean you should go out of your way to prove that it's true to everybody.

He also posts updates on interviews he's done with "media". Again, he's full of crap. He posted something about an interview with a Katie Hicks. He claims that she is a reporter with Columbia News Network and Vox. Again, more BS. There is no such news organization as Columbia News Network. As of January 2021, she is attending Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She was just an editorial intern at Vox from June-August 2016. Her only experience as a reporter was as City Beat reporter for the University of Wisconsin-Madison's school paper, The Badger Herald. Check her LinkedIn profile.

Katie H. LinkedIn

John said the following to a member of his group who essentially said that he never heard of Columbia News Network:

"

Katie Hicks

 works with Columbia University in uptown Manhattan and so I am not sure of the umbrella this falls under but I will make sure to find out. Katie was GREAT with her interview."

Great with her interview.....Hmmm, really? Johnny A. would say the same thing after talking to a broken ashtray. As I previously said, Katie is a grad student at Columbia's School of Journalism and is not an employee of the university. John is trying to be cute and create the appearance that he really isn't sure what her connection to the university actually is. If you're going to be interviewed by someone who you claim is a journalist, it would be your responsibility to verify the credentials of the person(s) who will be conducting the interview. John is either very unperceptive or just disingenuous. I believe it is the latter. Notice that he was careful not to mention the name of the publication for which Katie allegedly writes. That was no accident.

It's more than coincidental that, after reading John's pretentious, inarticulate, incoherent and rambling commentaries, you'll notice he'll remind you of Criswell from "Plan 9 From Outer Space".

 

 

He's more of a cult leader than an activist. Here you go, Movie Theater Messiah, you can use this as your group page photo. You're welcome;

More laughs and hijinks to come in the next episode; so, stay tuned.