SF Tenants protest at Rick Holman's Home as part of 'Eviction Free Summer'

Tenants facing eviction from the historic 17 Reasons building by developer and landlord Rick Holman protested outside of his home in South Park in San Francisco this Tuesday. Since the start of the eviction process, Holman has used a variety of tactics such as illegal lockouts of tenants, harassment from security guards, as well as a web of surveillance systems against those paying rent at the building that he wants gone. During a recent block party against gentrification in the Mission District, Holman also worked closely with the police to ensure that the building would not be "occupied" by protestors, and also issued an 'unlawful detainer' to residents inside on the day of the event. How many times have we all had landlords come to our homes, walk around, issue demands, and threaten us? Landlords hold great power over our lives and also take massive amounts of money out of our hands that we make by our labors and put it into their pockets. Thus, it's great to see people taking the fight to their doorsteps and raising a ruckus in their bourgie neighborhoods. Often, most people are too afraid to stand up to the cops, the landlords, and the developers, but we need only keep in mind that are all united in our experiences and our desire to live freely. Hopefully, this is just the start! According to the group, Eviction Free Summer:

Our first action was a smashing success!! With a crowd of over fifty, we loudly took over the narrow SOMA street of South Park, where landlord Rick Holman does business. Neighbors and park dwellers looked in curiosity as tenants from Holman’s building  on 17th St. at Mission (and their supporters) took to the mic to give Holman a piece of their minds. The street reception was mixed, but many passers by were more than willing to take a flyer asking them to call Holman directly. Holman is a local investor, who recently purchased the 17th Street property. Since the beginning of the eviction process Holman has used intimidation tactics, such as locking out his tenants, hiring private security, and installing hidden security cameras.

The Fog City Journal posted an article on the protest which states:

Packing the upscale South Park neighborhood with protest signs, loud chants of “No more evictions!” and flyers calling for landlord Rick Holman to “stop evicting San Francisco tenants,” more than 50 tenants and supporters launched their “Eviction-Free Summer” campaign Tuesday to put landlords, developers and speculators on notice that they will defend tenants who are being pushed out.
 
Fed up with the epidemic of evictions plaguing The City, tenants and activists have organized the Eviction-Free Summer campaign to support tenants fighting evictions while pressuring landlords to stop displacing city residents.

Today’s target: landlord Rick Holman, who is evicting a group of tenants at the historical “17 Reasons Why” building at 17th & Mission. The tenants, many of them lifelong Bay Area residents, are part of In The Works, Rincón, and Food Not Bombs collectives—groups that organize a weekly soup kitchen and support community-building projects in the Mission. Holman, a partner at Asher Insights, Inc., a company described as “security brokers and dealers,” owns several properties in The City and across the Bay and has a history of evictions and tenant conflicts.

Holman recently bought the historic Mission District building and immediately began trying to drive out the tenants, both through legal eviction and by changing locks, installing cameras, and hiring uniformed guards to harass them.

A member of one of the collectives, fearing reprisals if he gave his name, said: “It’s time that San Franciscans push back and let landlords know that enough is enough. We’re not selling out, we’re not surrendering, we’re staying right here in San Francisco. We’re going to fight to defend our spaces, our homes and our city from those who only want to make profit.”

Angel, a member of the In The Works Collective, added, “We’re a part of what makes San Francisco a beautiful, flourishing city. Shame on people like Rick Holman who force us out for the sake of profits.”

The tenants from 17 Reasons learned Tuesday that their eviction settlement conference had been delayed until July 24, and their trial date pushed back to July 29—allowing them more time to pressure Holman to end the evictions.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca, longtime housing rights activist, added: “Tenants and homeowners are fed up with the evictions and foreclosures happening all over the city, displacing us and our friends and neighbors and we’re not going to take it anymore. We’ve taken enough.”

San Francisco Police Swarm Gezi Gardens to Prevent Re-Occupation

People outside of Gezi Gardens.

As with many things, I was stuck at work when friends, neighbors, and those brave enough to face down the San Francisco Police tried to re-take Gezi Gardens last Friday. In between breaks at work I attempted to check the twitter stream and see how the march was doing and texted friends to make sure that they weren't in jail. After talking to several participants who attended the march and attempted to re-occupy the garden I feel on one hand great admiration for those brave enough to risk a nightstick to the back of the head but also great sadness for the destruction of Gezi Gardens. Many of the youth that helped occupy the park were some of the same people that squatted and kept open the SF Commune, which was likewise evicted by the SFPD in a huge raid with automatic weapons.  I hope these youth will not lose hope. I hope that they will not leave the bay area and leave the struggle, fed up with the police repression and constant attacks.

While degraded in the media as 'outsiders' and often written off by some revolutionaries for being homeless and not up on the latest revolutionary theories, the homeless kids who made up the backbone of the encampment were the foot soldiers that made the space possible. Many were radicalized and politicized during Occupy SF and the wider Occupy movement and have continued to involve themselves in ongoing struggles. Occupy was the most important recent political event because of this; it pulled in many people on the bottom of American society, outcasted, rejected, and from the gutter. This came with warts and all. Many kids I met at Gezi Gardens came from hard lives and the streets, but in Occupy they found a family and a community. They found a commune. The bourgeois media overlooked this and tried to play on middle-class fears, but in doing so they missed out on what was most subversive thing about Occupy. That it created an event that brought so many of us together and united us in a project. One part resistance, one part simply living. In doing so, we came up against the state, it's repression and surveillance and police, as well as it's media, and also the Left, which attempted to channel us back into political parities and non-profits.

According to various people interviewed and internet reports, people gathered close by Gezi Gardens and attempted to march on the space. With police surrounding the entrance, people then tried to get into the garden from the side only to find that another swarm of police were already inside the garden. Marchers then took to the streets, shooting fireworks and blocking traffic. Several arrests occurred. According to the People's Record: 

Gezi Gardens organizers & supporters marched around the farm, shutting down two intersections during rush hour. The National Park Service was also called to the space after hummingbird carcasses were found, as well as nesting crows in the eucalyptus trees, so the construction & demolishing has been halted (for now)! An archaeologist has also been called to go into the land to confirm that it is a sacred indigenous burial ground. 

People work vacant lot in Richmond.

While writing this report, I drove by Gezi Gardens, but only saw several police vehicles around the space and the front of Laguna blocked off. Talking with a friend on the phone, I also learned that the plot of land in Albany most recently occupied by Occupy the Farm has recently had a fence placed around it. Likewise, a vacant lot in Richmond that high school youths and Occupy gardeners that was being worked on has likewise had a fence and lock placed around it by police. It's disgusting that in an area torn apart by violence and shootings that when people do come together to plant food and start a garden the land is fenced off by police. This move by the state is the essence of white supremacy and the naked violent nature of the state and the police that serve it. More interested in control and suppression of community power, it is willing to keep people off land that is unused than allow them to take control of one small aspect of their lives. It is fear of black people rising up and it is fear that others will link up with them in this struggle.   

At Gezi Gardens, the trees have been cut down and the crops plowed over, but the spirit of the SF Commune remains. For all of us who took part in the occupation of this land for two weeks the experience of living together and fighting together will not dissipate anytime soon. The seed of revolt that has been planted inside so many of us continues to grow. The fight against gentrification and displacement must and will continue. The battle for a new relationship to the land outside of capitalism and against the state will go on. Because quite simply, we have no other choice.

Riot Police Raid Gezi Gardens and Evict Tree-Sit; People Prepare to Re-Occupy on Friday

Black eye from SFPD.

As police in Turkey continue to try and remove people from Gezi Park in Istanbul, last night over 100 riot police raided the encampment at Fell and Laguna, arresting 7 people, removed tree sitters, and destroyed crops and structures. A seen in one video, one tree-sitter fell from their tree while being removed, although it is unclear if they have any serious injuries. According to Liberate the Land, "Folks are gathering at Patricia's Green on Octavia Street between Hayes Street and Fell Street now after a night time lightning raid by SFPD on #GeziGardens, the former site of Hayes Valley Farm on Oak and Laguna Streets, with guns drawn. Folks who just went through the raid and supporters need food, a kitchen, sleeping bags, banner making materials, paint, etc. Come gather with us today, meet up for a discussion at 6pm, and definitely plan to come here Friday at 6pm for a reconvergence. Let it build."

Police blocking of street in front of garden.

Police appear to have the area around the garden blocked off while they destroy the rest of the encampment. As was planned, people will continue to gather at Octavia and Fell Streets to prepare to retake the land on Friday at 6pm. People are encouraged to take part in the mobilization and bring supplies if they are not able to make it out. Occupiers have planned a weekend long festival from Saturday to Monday, to coincide with the construction of the new development on the site of the garden.

Police outside of garden.

As usual, most mainstream media reports are now heralding the raid, portraying protesters as out of town idiot hippies with no community support what-so-ever. Interesting how when hundreds, including many locals came through the gates for a festival last Saturday, most media was remarkably absent. The media loves a good protest story, but they love the happy ending of the government coming in, cracking skulls, and sending those that would dare resist to jail. It's a tale that they constantly repeat and it serves as a warning to anyone else that would dare stand up to the forces of the state and business as to where struggling will get you.

Police removing tree-sitter.

The luxury condo development which is slated to take place where the garden now stands will be part of an onslaught of developments which will add to the gentrification of San Francisco and the continued displacement of many of the current residents. As the Guardian recently wrote: "Regional planners want to put 280,000 more people into San Francisco — and they admit that many current residents will have to leave."

While the construction plans call for half of the site to be "affordable housing," this is based on half of the median income of the city, which is around $60,000, still much more than many people, including many families are able to make in the city. Trust me, if some Hayes Valley Residents are uncomfortable rubbing elbows with Occupy protestors working a tomato plant, they aren't going to allow a family from the Tenderloin or Hunter's Point to move in next door.

Festival planned this weekend.

San Francisco is still a city swimming with thousands of vacant properties. According to the San Francisco Business Times, "[The city] has more than 30,000 empty homes according to 2010 U.S. Census data. That means about 8.3 percent or about one in every dozen homes is vacant — more than any other surrounding county." There is a reason for all the vacant homes as many are taken off the market by landlords so they will not be rent controlled or purposely made empty so they can be converted into condos through the Ellis Act. As in Turkey, the struggle at Gezi Gardens is not just over green space or a few trees, but a class struggle over the power of wealthy and powerful people to control and exploit our lives.   

The struggle at Gezi Gardens is still far from over. See you on the streets Friday!

Occupation of Gezi Gardens Continues as Hundreds Attend Saturday Event

Turkish dancer performs at Gezi Gardens.

Despite several days of police issuing trespassing notices to people on the ground at Gezi Gardens and pressure from the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association to raid the occupation at Fell and Laguna Streets, people are still holding down the land at the former Hayes Valley Farm, 24 hours a day. This occupation is historic, both in the sense that it is the first public tree-sit in San Francisco, but also as it is one of the largest and longest lasting public occupations of land to stop the construction of luxury condos against gentrification. While downplayed in the media, the occupation is also one of the largest and most militant direct acts of solidarity with the ongoing Turkish rebellion, with many from the Turkish community participating in actions at the park and strengthening the link between the two struggles currently being waged.

Those occupying the space have turned away and kept out not only workers that had come to cut down trees on the site to make way for development, but also the police which have made several attempts to enter into the garden. In one instance police tried to open the gate at space and people literally shut the gate in their faces, proclaiming that police were not allowed inside. This 'cop free zone' brings to mind the Occupy Oakland encampment, in which police were not welcome.

People gather to listen to presentation from Occupy Gezi.

On Saturday, June 8th, several hundred people responded to a call to help occupy the park and enjoy a community festival and took part in the occupation of the space, viewed the garden, listened to speakers and workshops, and also took part in a mass assembly discussion on the future of the garden. The festival occupation was also joined by people from the local Turkish community, some of whom had been to Gezi Park in Istanbul and expressed solidarity to those continuing the occupation of the garden. A workshop was also given by several Turkish comrades on the ongoing social rebellion in Turkey which was attended by a large group of people. The group discussion that soon followed on the future of the space was varied but well attended. Out of that meeting it was discussed and decided that if and when the police raid, the next day people will gather at "at 6:00PM at Patricia's Green - Octavia and Fell - to reclaim the Gardens." Several bands also performed Saturday and lots of food was shared. As the day turned into night, people set up a projector with films and watched documentaries on the South Central Farm and the Occupy Wall Street movement. 

March to solidarity rally with Turkish rebellion.

The next day, people at the farm marched to a Turkish solidarity rally in San Francisco holding banners and chanting slogans. Many people from the solidarity rally then returned to Gezi Gardens and spoke there. At the rally, people read a statement of solidarity with the Turkish rebellion. Read the full statement here. People are still holding the space down and have planned a three day festival next weekend although they are buckling for a police raid on the encampment which they expect soon.   

For more info, pictures, and updates, check out: Humanbein.org

Police Threaten to Evict Gezi Gardens as Support Grows for Saturday Festival

Another badass flyer. DIZAM!

Last evening at around 7pm, SFPD issued an eviction notice citing 'unlawful lodging, disorderly conduct,' and 'health and safety laws' to the Gezi Gardens, the occupied community green and garden space on Fell and Laguna Streets slated to be turned in luxury condos. Occupiers, made up of those on the ground and supporters from around the city and the neighborhood, are planning a festival on Saturday, June 8th, starting at 12 Noon. Participants believe that police will attempt to raid the camp before the festival as a way to drive away community support for the space. Support is needed at the gardens now more than ever! Solidarity with Turkey, Defend Gezi Gardens!

From Twitter:

"Tree sitters, activists and community members have been served with a notice to vacate the land known as the former Hayes Valley Farm, now christened Gezi Gardens. Police cite Trespassing , Disorderly Conduct, health code, and fire code violations. We reject the conversion of greenspace into luxury apartment developments, and encourage the community to assist in creating an alternate vision that provides the affordable housing the city needs without compromising one of our last open spaces.

Is 'Brickman' up there? GULP!

Contact: 201-388-2367

CONVERGENCE TONIGHT AT FORMER HAYES VALLEY FARM (Laguna and Oak Streets, SF)
PRESS CONFERENCE TOMORROW, FRIDAY June 7th 10:00 a.m. (Laguna and Oak Streets, SF)

This is one of three urban gardens and permaculture farms in San Francisco that are slated to become housing developments by the end of the year. This is during a fervent dialogue about the need for more spaces to grow local, organic food and current statistics of 36,000 vacant units."

On Saturday, June 8th at 12 Noon, there will be a festival held at Gezi Gardens as well as a community discussion forum about the future of the space. Please come and support the gardens and the occupation by coming and spending time there and helping to build support for the event on Saturday. The more people on the ground, the less likely a police raid. 

"I like the way you plant it...No Diggity!"

Having walked around the camp today taking pictures and conducting interviews, I can personally say that the camp is coming along very nice. I was only there for about 20 minutes before going to work, but in that time several people in the neighborhood stopped by and walked around, many taking flyers back to their buildings. The neighborhood seems very white and upper-middle class and along the lines of, "What petition can I sign?," but overall I haven't heard one negative comment regarding the project. One young person I talked to said that she now, "Hangs out there," instead of down the street at the coffee shop and also volunteered to take posters and put them in her building. One couple drove their SUV into the lot and donated several flats of pears; others donated pastries. The kitchen area was well cleaned and there was a stove and eating area. The garden itself was very impressive. At this point, a large amount of land has already been planted on. One woman, (shown in the picture), agreed to have her photo taken while she was planting. There are several treesits that have been constructed, many very high up. There are also several other structures that are being worked on or that have been built, as well as a common area, art space, free store, and library box.

Tree-sit with banner.

People overall seemed concerned about keeping trash and waste to a minimum and also keeping camping and personal items away from common space areas and making the garden overall inviting to people. Lots of dogs playing. Would have been a nice place to read a book if I didn't have to go work! I'll save my further analysis for a later time, but what makes me most sad is that I haven't even had enough time to get in the dirt and plant. Can't wait to put these black and green thumbs to work! The old People's Park slogan bodes well here. 'Everyone gets a blister!'

In other news, Susie Cagle, radical-journalist on hand to uncova the scoop and author of 9 Gallons, a comic about doing time with SF Food Not Bombs, even managed to give yours truly an honorable mention in one of her comics, ...ah, ala Twitter. Apparently the offer to trade jobs of bus driving in Richmond and writing (and getting paid!) was funny enough to share with others. Keep prole and take a stroll. 

SFPD is some party-poop pas.

Facebook event here. 

Link to PDF flyer here. 

Link to Ryan Rising Interview on Gezi Gardens occupation on Bay Waters here.

Mission Gears Up for 'Eviction Free-Summer': Marches, Graffiti and Meetings

Residents march through Mission on history tour of Ellis Act evicted properties.

Graffiti outside of Adobe Books

Tonight while on a walk in the Mission District, I came across this graffiti outside of Adobe Books on 16th Street which reads, 'Fuck Liz Claiborne.' The message is a direct reference to the landlords who pushed out Adobe Books, raising their rent from $4,500 to $8,000 before finally pulling the plug on the business, a mainstay in the Mission. The upscale clothing store, 'Jack Spade,' is slated to take the place of the used bookstore. Support for the Adobe Books Collective has been high, with it even raising up to $60,000 in funds to help pay it's rent. Esta Noche, a bar about a block away on the same street is also threatened with eviction as well. The graffiti comes after a recent march through the Mission which was a history tour visiting various businesses that had been closed and homes where Ellis Act evictions had gone through. View a march route with stops of interest here.

People gather in Adobe Books

Since the Anti-Gentrification Block Party in the Mission last month, talk about the start again of a movement against evictions and displacement has been simmering. The SF Bay Guardian recently published a map showing Ellis Act evictions that have taken place in the neighborhood over the past year - one that is at a record high. The numbers are clear. Rent in most cases have gone up, sometimes doubling. In working class areas, Ellis Act evictions have displaced those with rent control and entire neighborhoods have changed while thousands have been forced to leave the city. From the Guardian article:

Ellis Act Evictions in SF

In 2011, San Francisco rents were 34 percent higher than they had been 2003; by 2012, they had jumped to 53 percent higher, according to a market analysis prepared by The Concord Group. According to San Francisco Rent Board data, 1,757 eviction notices were filed from March of 2012 to February of 2013, reflecting a 12-year high. It's as if there's no longer any room for the working class — the people who, for example, keep the city's number one industry (that's hospitality and tourism, not tech) functioning. It's terrifying. Neighborhood after neighborhood is losing affordable rental housing as landlords cash in on soaring prices. And there's a huge human cost.

In another recent article about projected development and growth from local elites, the Guardian points out how much developers and city planners are already planning on the city growing, and us leaving. As the article states, "Regional planners want to put 280,000 more people into San Francisco — and they admit that many current residents will have to leave."

Someone used to live here.

With the gentrification pandemic reaching such a high point and more and more people starting to get involved again in thinking about resisting the current wave of evictions - a group is calling for a meeting to plan an 'Eviction Free-Summer' this Saturday at the historic Red Stone Building. In a sick Ironic way, the plot right behind the building is set to be turned into condos. Facebook event is here. The text reads:

MAKE 2013 AN EVICTION FREE SUMMER!

We invite you to come out and be a part of this critical first meeting of a citizen driven anti-eviction league, whose purpose is to directly confront the serial evictors taking us away from our homes.

During the meeting, we hope to bring out a lively and diverse crowd ready to take on some serious strategizing. The purpose of the group is anti-eviction home defense, which can mean a lot of different things (phone calls, direct action, petitioning). We can't wait to hear your ideas!

Join us in getting people reeved up for and excited for this new group! Bring your family and friends, and share this invitation widely. And, most importantly, come to the REDSTONE BUILDING
2926 16th STREET AT CAPP,
3rd FLOOR
from 1pm to 2:30pm
ON SATURDAY JUNE 8TH

Interview from Liberate the Land farm Occupation

Video of March to Occupation Site at Hayes Valley Farm in SF

People Take Over SF Urban Farm in Solidarity With Turkish Uprising

Over 80 people marched on Saturday in solidarity with the ongoing struggle in Turkey against gentrification and against police brutality that has lead to massive riots to the Hayes Valley Farm in San Francisco that recently has been evicted to make way for condos. Below is a report from their first day. We have reports that people are still on the land. We wish them all the best of luck!

June 1, 2013 is the first day of a land liberation action in San Francisco at Laguna and Fell Streets.

We marched to the land in solidarity with the struggle currently underway in Turkey. After attempting to save a park in Istanbul – one of the last green spaces in their city – the citizens were subject to brutal repression at the hands of the out of control Prime Minister and his army of unrestrained police. This repression has metastisized what was always a larger movement brewing in Turkey. Their struggle is ours.

Liberate the Land has now planted the land known for the last five years as 'Hayes Valley Farm' with hundreds of starts that, when grown, will feed the community. The group is building a village on-site to maintain the edible landscape and organic garden. We have re-named the land Gezi Gardens in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Turkey and wherever capital threatens the last of our urban green space.

We linked the Taksim solidarity march and land occupation together, showing the intentions of a global movement and helping to spread the news of the brutalization of Turkish citizens. Our fight is theirs because development, no matter where, is strictly in the name of capital, and in that sense, is rife with innocent victims, in the pursuit of profit. In the end, we don't simply want to garden, we want massive systemic change, and are attempting to show ways in which these changes can begin.

The land is slated to become a housing development, a 185-unit condominium, displacing the gardens, the trees, the community, and the huge potential this beautifully maintained soil has to feed others for free.

"As a citizen, I have the freedom of being able to ask what's better for the community, this farm or more developments?" says Morgan Fitzgibbons, head of the neighborhood sustainability group the Wigg Party and farm volunteer. "The farm is an anchor of a burgeoning sustainability movement, and after seeing all the good it can do, are we still going to go in there and build? I think the issue is bigger than one city block." We plan to hold the space indefinitely and create a center for urban sustainability and permaculture.

See the architectural plans Build Inc. and Pyatok Architects have hatched to replace this permaculture haven here: http://www.pyatok.com/portfolio/hayes.html

See past photos of Hayes Valley Farm here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1535994@N22/

The displacement of Hayes Valley Farm, Esperanza Gardens, and The Free Farm in order to further develop will not go unchallenged. A network arises to plant this land located on Laguna and Fell and build a new eco-village. We will maintain the edible landscape and community space. Condominiums are rampant, but urban gardens that can sustain low income families are far too scarce.

Liberate the Land invites everyone to join this network in the days following today's liberation, to plant food, create and promote permaculture, host and attend workshops, teach and take classes, play and enjoy music, build, gather, experiment, play, learn, and be together.  A vibrant community of plants and people are living on this land as of this first of June rather than the first layers of concrete foundation for condominiums.  We invite our neighbors in Hayes Valley to join us in open dialogue to further decide what Gezi Gardens will become.

Liberate the Land is bringing into dialogue the concept of common space, a classification of space that goes outside of the dichotomy of private and public and instead places itself as the commons. The commons exist as the spaces owned and operated neither by governments and states, nor corporations and private individuals. Instead, the commons are owned, or stewarded, by all people, with an understanding that the gifts of the earth are for all to enjoy and that people need land bases for growing food, harvesting medicinal plans, maintaining healthy forests for building materials and firewood, wildcrafting plants for fabrics, and hosting wildlife habitat.

Hayes Valley Farm has hosted enormous amounts of edible plants, as well as wildlife habitat over the past five years, where before its creation was asphalt, a freeway on ramp, and a camp of people without homes. Now, birds, butterflies, bees, and other wildlife have inhabited the space, as well as gardeners, neighbors, students, and permaculture enthusiasts.

So now, the city having sold the land that sustains these gardens to a developer, the people of San Francisco are looking at losing another recreational and open green space to a housing unit. At first, we may consider the need for more housing in San Francisco, until we look at some of the latest US Census Bureau statistics that state there are currently 36,000 empty housing units in the city alone. There are only estimated to be 6 to 10,000 homeless people. This means we can house every person without a home in SF somewhere between 3 and 6 times over. Liberate the Land claimed in the dialogue and discussion hosted at The Free Farm, another farm slated to become a housing unit, that if housing was the issue we are best to look at these 36,000 empty units, retrofit them and move people into them, especially families who have been displaced due to the foreclosure crisis.

In solidarity with those who criticize the foreclosure crisis and the large corporate banks' role in the displacement of people and the abandonment of viable homes, we will celebrate the solutions offered by the local, organic food movement and urban farms and gardens. The Free Farm, a community farm and permaculture garden that rose in the ashes of a burnt out church at Gough and Eddy Streets, grows thousands of pounds of food that it gives away for free. Every Sunday, the Free Farm Stand sets up at Parque Ninos Unidos in the Mission district. Canopies, tables, and a full spread of free food are on offer. Hundreds of people line up to receive organic produce, fruit, breads, pastas, greens, pastries, and more. The majority of the organic vegetables and greens, in addition to smaller amounts of fruit and other produce is grown right here in San Francisco at The Free Farm and Esperanza Gardens, both slated to become condominiums within the year.

Separately from the Liberate the Land group taking direct action, another network has formed to approach the situation on the legal grounds. With a petition to "Preserve Hayes Valley Farm," and a proposal to "transition ownership from private to the collective common property," this network is asking the city to buy back the land from the developer and maintain it as open space.

We support a diversity of methods to resist the ongoing development of the last viable green spaces in every city across the Earth.

Police Pour Into 16th and Mission during Anti-Gentrification Block Party

Anarchist Hip-Hop at Anti-Gentrification Block Party in San Francisco

Police Shut Down BART Entrance; Pour Into Mission during Block Party against Gentrification

Kids space at the plaza.

On Tuesday, April 30^th, police were stationed across Valencia, in cars, on foot, walking the beat. No, they weren’t involved in a massive Sit/Lie sting, they weren’t out looking to find the next Kenneth Harding evading a fare on Muni, they were trying to, “Prevent another May Day riot,” as they told a friend of mine who they questioned about their presence. Another person that was interviewed stated that they were questioned by police, “Why were they wearing black?” Last year, marching from Dolores Park, anarchists wearing black with masks to cover their faces from police and video cameras, attacked affluent shops and police along Valencia Street, seen to many as the epicenter of the hipster invasion of the Mission and an extreme symbol of gentrification of what used to be a largely lesbian enclave in a working-class Latino neighborhood. 
 

Eddie Falcon

Several weeks after the riot, I sat down with a friend that had grown up in the Mission and asked him what he thought of the riot, which quickly was understood as an attack on gentrification based solely on targets alone. “I thought it was fucking great,” he remarked. “Fuck the caviar Left and their denunciations, everyone I know understood it exactly what it was, a riot against gentrification in the area.” Flash forward to present day, several weeks ago I stood in a donut shop on Mission Street, staring at a poster for an upcoming block party against gentrification. An older white man noticed me looking at it and I asked him his thoughts were. “Have you been to Valencia lately?,” he asked me. “It’s fucking disgusting. Those people just sit there on their phones. They’re destroying the Latino culture here.” It’s clear that the police agreed, and they chose very clearly what side they are taking. In the aftermath of the riot, affluent business owners were furious that the police, who have a substation on Valencia, seemed to be powerless during the assault on their property. Several months later, anarchists again rampaged in the neighborhood, attacking the police station, businesses, and banks after SFPD shot a young man close to 16^th and Mission. Judging from the police presence that was stationed on the street on Cinco de Mayo, May 5^th, police weren’t pulling any punches this time, or should I say, letting anyone else throw them. 

BART Station was shut down.

Walking up to 16^th and Mission on May 5th, I was not prepared for the amount of police. I’ve been going to protests and demonstrations in the San Francisco bay area for over ten years. I remember the marches after 9/11 decrying the invasion of Afghanistan that now continues via Obama’s drone strikes and somewhat secret “kill-lists.” The mass marches against the Iraq war (round 2), which continued Clinton’s string of extended air strikes and sanctions which left hundreds of thousands dead and shut the city down when the war started. I handed out flyers to bus drivers and riders against MUNI fare hikes; I took the streets against the police killings of Kenneth Harding and when BART tried to shut down limited cell phone and internet service after people raged following the police murder of a homeless man. I’ve seen the police in this city do a lot of shit, but for a block party? 

View from the plaza.

In the run up to the block party, internet blogs such as ‘Uptown Almanac,’ played up the fact that there would be ‘Google Bus Piñatas,’ instead of the fact that this would be the first public demonstration in the Mission District specifically against gentrification in several years. One person even emailed the group asking, “Where can I buy a ‘Google bus piñata’ for my own party?” Reading the reports on Uptown Almanac and others that did cover the block party seemed to focus solely on this aspect: the Google bus piñatas, so much so that they miss the whole story of the event, the police repression that it brought, and what made it interesting. According to the Almanac blog, only 30-40 people attended, which is way off the mark. By around 1:30pm, about 50 people had gathered in the plaza, and throughout the 3 hours that the block party went on, up until about 4:30PM or so, over 150 people had passed through the space and enjoyed the food, speakers, and music. It seemed that what media was there, was mostly only interested in a photo op of the Google bus smashing. At the plaza, people had placed banners up throughout the square, in both Spanish and English. Banners read, "No Condos in the Mission," "Stop Evictions and Displacement," "Ellis Act is Racist," and "Save the 17 Reasons Building." Various groups had tables, including anarchist distros, the newspaper FireWorks, SF Needle Exchange, Homes Not Jails, and the Housing Rights Committee.

SFPD

At around 1PM, the same time that the block party was to start, police were built up around the 17 Reasons building, which was recently bought by a new landlord who is currently trying to evict some of the tenants. The landlord, Rick Holman, was close by, chumming it up with the cops, and also stationed private security which checked id’s at the building and placed surveillance cameras around it. One of the spaces there, In the Works (ITW), which is a ‘Community and (Anti) Art Space,’ was served with an unlawful detainer. During the block party, large amounts of police were stationed all around the building, perhaps in their minds, to prevent an occupation of the building. Clearly, there was a level of coordination between the landlord and the police in trying to keep the block party from happening and also trying to attack ITW at the same time. Police kept a strong presence around the building throughout the day, as well as across Valencia Street. Police were trying to attack the block party and hinder people from participating in it.  

Tommie Mecca

The block party itself drew in a lot of people, both from the street, who were already in the plaza, and who had come just for the party itself. Dee Allen, a long-term anarchist and poet who has published several works of poetry was the MC for the event. Several people performed and also spoke. Among the first people to perform was Tommi Mecca, of the Housing Rights Committee. Tommi unfortunately played several acoustic songs about gentrification. I say unfortunately, because his song with the chorus that goes, “Yuppie, yuppie, yuppie, stole my pad, yuppie, yuppie, yuppie, bad, bad, bad!,” is still in my head. Tommi’s recent editorial that ran in The Guardian, sums up the spirit of much of the entire event. 

“Where is the building-by-building organizing of renters? Where is the street outreach in every neighborhood? Where are the blocked doorways of those being forced out of their apartments by pure greed? Where are the direct actions against the speculators and investors who are turning our neighborhoods into a monopoly game? Where is the pressure on the Board of Supervisors to pass legislation to curb speculation and gentrification rather than approve tax breaks for dot-com companies? Where is the pressure on state legislators to repeal the Ellis Act and other state laws that prohibit our city from strengthening rent control and eviction protections? Every moment we wait, more people are displaced from their homes, more neighborhoods become upscale, more small businesses are lost….It's time to take back what's left of our city.”

Dee Allen’s opening speech was also on point: 

"Since the 1990’s, we have seen thousands of people displaced, evicted, pushed out, and gentrified from the Mission and in the greater San Francisco era. Using tools such as the Ellis Act, landlords have been able to remove whole families from buildings and then covert them into condos – making millions. In recent years, these evictions have only gone up, not down, with the Mission one of the hardest hit neighborhoods. Local businesses have closed due to high rents, while others have been forced to declare bankruptcy and shut their doors. AIDS patients, those on a fixed income, senior citizens, and the working poor are especially hard hit, and many have become homeless.”

POOR Magazine

Also speaking at the event were representatives from POOR Magazine, Esperanaza Gardens, a community garden which is facing destruction from developers who want to turn the area into condos, as well as Homes Not Jails, who weekly meets to find housing for homeless people through the illegal act of squatting vacant buildings. Having gone to several of their meeting, I know that every week they go out, seeking to place in vacant homes homeless people who are interested in starting and keeping squatted spaces. I especially enjoyed the talk given by Kevie, a San Francisco native, who talked about the history of gentrification in the city, as well as background info on the developers who recently bought the 17 Reasons building. Performing at the event where two anarchist hip-hop acts, MC Lovelle and Eddie Falcon of the 40 Thievez. I’ve seen Eddie perform at 16^th and Mission several times, the last time being outside of the part of the anarchist bookfair several months ago and Lovell at a graffiti festival in Modesto last year. Both of the artist’s game has improved a lot, and the crowd definitely loved both. I talked with Falcon after the performance, and asked him what the local 16^th and Missioners thought. “I got a lot of support. A lot of people asked for cd’s,” he responded. Many of Falcon’s songs reference the Mission area. Eddie is a long term member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and became an anarchist after returning to the US following tours of duty in the army in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

MC Lovelle

Food not Bombs also was on hand, doing a fine job of feeding the gathering with homemade tacos and donated pizzas from the worker-cooperative Arizmendi, which is part of the NoBAWC group, which includes worker owned businesses ranging from ‘Mendi which slings pizzas, to the union strip club, ‘The Lusty Lady,’ made famous from the documentary, ‘Live Nude Girls, Unite!’ Food not Bombs, which has a rich history in San Francisco, and also helped spawn Homes Not Jails in the early 1990’s, serves free food in the 16^th and Mission plaza several days a week.

By around 4:30pm however, the police had had enough. Just as the last Google bus piñata was being dramatically smacked down by a large wooden stick and Dee Allen was delivering a fiery set of poetry, the gas on the generator run out. Police then stepped in and stood in front of the generator – and also confiscated the gas can. When asked why they had also decided to shut down part of the BART station, they replied, “Someone threw a bottle at us.” It was clear that the police were done with the event and were ready for it to come to an end. As event organizers tried to squirrel away sound system before the police could take it away as “evidence,” around 20 police officers spilled into the plaza, in effect, shutting the event down. What was saddest of all was that talking with people that were there at the event, the open mic portion was about to start and many people who came to share their thoughts did not get to do so. I wish that more people had come to the event, and that even more would have stayed. It’s clear that the high numbers at the start of the block party kept police at bay for the first several hours of the event. Unfortunate as it is that the open mic did not happen due to police harassment, still a clear message was articulated to the Mission neighborhood on May 5^th: condos are coming in, gentrification hasn’t stopped – it’s gotten worse. Ellis Act evictions aren’t a thing of the dot-com past, they have continued and this year, reached their highest yet. Clearly the police presence in the neighborhood and also around the 17 Reasons building is a clear reminder that the state understands and supports the side of wealth and power. They are organized and have made their plans. Those that stand with poor and working people have got to start making theirs. 

Food Not Bombs serving food.

It’s important to keep in mind that displacement and removal of people – and resistance to that displacement and removal in the Mission District is nothing new. Ohlone people fought and died in what is now the Mission District to stop colonization and being forced onto Missions. Radical labor organizers and militants have called the mission home for decades, using the neighborhood as a staging ground for action and resistance, including the San Francisco general strike. Since the 1950’s, people have clashed with everyone from BART to yuppies to stop the flood of upper-class residents and developers in the neighborhood. Using and collection of tactics from marches, to arson, to postering, people have fought the removal of thousands of poor and working people from their homes in the Mission District and struggled against Ellis Act evictions and landlord greed. What happened on Cinco de Mayo isn’t anything new, but it is part of a history of resistance against something that poor and working people have been fighting against for a decades. 

Read more on the history of resistance in the Mission here and recent history of the fight against gentrification here.