By Challa Godwin

The June 7, 2000 rally was a rainbow coalition of some two hundred demonstrators ranging from individuals to progressive East Bay housing groups. Everyone present was there to fight the unjust evictions spurred by Mayor Jerry Brown's 10K planóa plan to build ten thousand new residential housing units that's expected to attract new businesses and entertainment attractions to downtown Oakland.

Several speakers outside the steps of Oakland City Hall called on council members to speedily enact Just Cause Eviction legislation to protect low-income working poor, longtime, downtown minority residents, from evictions by slumlords trying to increase rents.

The protestors voiced their concerns over the changing racial and economic demographics in and around the once predominantly poor black and other minority neighborhoods within downtown Oakland. Hundreds of volunteers with Just Cause Oakland, the East Bay tenant rights grassroots movement that is working relentlessly to stop unfair evictions, are quickly trying to gather voter signatures for a November ballot initiative to protect renters from being thrown out of their homes.

At the heart of downtown Oakland's housing crises lies the "No-Cause Evictions." Oakland slumlords can evict tenants with 30-day notices, even if the tenants pay their rent and abide by their lease agreements. This horrifying practice has increased 300% from last year, and the vast majority of evicted residents are low-income people and often people of color. It happens often to long-term residents, including the elderly, disabled, and families with children. These individuals are being forced to leave the city's downtown district in droves.

Diana Robinson is a low-income African American resident of Oakland. She works at the Henry Robinson residential hotel downtown, and, like many of her clients, she is now facing an eviction battle. "My big issue is not so much me, but my mother's 81 years old . . . she's on fixed income now . . . where's she gonna go?" exclaimed the single mother who also shares her downtown home with a daughter.

Market rate rents rose 18% in Alameda and Contra Costa counties between 1997 and 1999. And, since Oakland slumlords frequently abuse the rental laws by raising tenant rents way more than the prescribed 3% annual rate, low income renters of color in search for affordable housing often find that their incomes fall short.

At the demonstration, East Bay labor and Housing organizations demanded that the Oakland City Council include the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance on the November 2000 Ballot. They also called for 25% of all housing built under the mayor's plan to be affordable to households earning less than $35,000/year. "The city council is now feeling the heat," said Council woman Nancy Nadel of District 3. Nadel expressed her public support for the fight for a Just Cause to protect tenant rights. "We need to make sure they pass reforms that really will work, not empty laws with no enforcement," Nadel said.

Just Cause Oakland is also calling on the city to enact a registration system so slumlords have to declare what they charge for their rental units. They also want full staffing of the Oakland rent board, where tenants take their rental disputes. "Let's make every day Tenant Day at City Hall . . . Let's tell the City Council we count," shouted Just Cause advocate Holly Fincke."

Mayor Jerry Brown's plan to revitalize businesses in downtown Oakland by building ten thousand new residential housing units is designed for housing developers, who are mainly interested in serving households earning at least $75000 to $100,000/year. It's not clear why Oakland's Mayor Brown seeks to lure new retail stores and tourism to serve dot.com. folks, when those funds could be used to develop sufficient housing for displaced low-income and homeless residents. Who'll benefit from Jerry Brown's 10K plan? Now that the housing boom sweeping through the San Francisco Bay Area has finally landed in Oakland, who stands to gain from nearly all of these fresh influx of capital?

"We are the poor working people affected by Oakland's 'Jerrification'," said Nany Nadel at the rally in front of City Hall. "We're here to tell Mayor Brown to put jobs first by creating policies that encourage business to benefit the very poor who dwell downtown."

"Why should only dot.com workers and business executives get to live and work downtown?" demanded Jennifer Hernandez, a downtown resident and janitor with Service Employees International Union Local 1877.

Even the social service agencies, such as the Henry Robinson Multi-Service Center and other not-for-profit programs located downtown, which provide critical assistance for Oakland's poorest residents are in danger. They are facing rising rents, fueled by the arriving dot.com economy.

Jo Carroll Smith, director of First Step, called for an end to speculatory evictions. First Step is a community substance abuse program that provides 20% of the county's recovery beds. Like so many East Bay tenants, First Step also faces eviction from its downtown prime location. Activists will also fight to preserve the downtown social service agencies, the multi-service center, and the single-room occupancy hotels.