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Chinatown Evictions Disrupting Elderly Community

by Lynda Carson (lyndacarson [at] excite.com)
Oakland Activists Urge The Bay Area Community To Show Up At Oakland City Hall For The June 24 Rally (4-6pm) In Support Of The Alice Arts Center/Tenants & Renters of the Pacific Renaissance Plaza!
Chinatown Evictions Disrupting Elderly Community
By Lynda Carson June 19, 2003

Oakland CA-Mass evictions occuring in Oaklands Chinatown have disrupted the lives of an elderly community of retired residents at the Pacific Renaissance Plaza, many of whom are disabled and feeling traumatized by the 90 Day Eviction Notice's.

On April 16 2003, eviction notices were handed out to the elderly tenants of 50 rental units of affordable housing near 9th and Webster streets downtown Oakland. The tenants were given until July 31, 2003 to vacate the premises or face unlawful detainer law suits. The housing units occupied by the evictee's are slated to be renovated and sold off as market-rate condos after the evictions take place.

Francis Chang, the son of elderly Mr. and Mr.s Chang, claims that his parents have resided at the Plaza for nearly 10 years and have been traumatized by the 90 Day Eviction Notices which they received in 2 different versions. One in English which was polite, and the other in Chinese being harsh and frightening to the elderly Chinese speaking tenants, Chang said.

Most of the frail elderly tenants only speak Chinese and are afraid of being forced out of their beloved community and neighborhood that has been so vital to their existance for so many years. Vacancy rates in Oaklands Chinatown are practicaly non-existant, and relocating these elderly residents to locations foreign to them would be like taking fish out of the water, said one of the local activists supporting the evictee's.

Among the 50 units facing eviction theres at least 8-10 rental units where the residents are so frail that they are disabled.

On Tuesday May 20, several of the frail and elderly evictee's joined together with their supporters for a press conference being held in the courtyard of the Pacific Renaissance Plaza, pleading for help and asking that the evictions be immediately stopped.

Sau King Wong, aged 76, asked for help, and said; "I am so worried, I can't sleep at night".
She needs to use a wheelchair or a walker to move about.

Art Hom, the son of 87 year old disabled Wen Hom, is very concerned that the shock of being displaced from the Plaza will lead to the premature death of his mother who has been terrified ever since receiving her eviction notice. Wen Hom has resided at the Plaza during the past 8 years after being evicted by a so-called "owner move in", said Art Hom, and this is a total surprise because none of the renters were informed about the 10 year short term affordable housing deal made with the city which has now come to an end.

Oakland activists charge that wealthy hotel magnate Lawrence Chan pulled the plug on 50 rental units of affordable housing in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza after exploiting the City of Oakland for a $7.5 million loan that was part of a contract Chan had with the city, which was never repayed.

Before Larry Chan declared that he wanted his interview to be off the record, he bluntly stated that he believed that he had a fiduciary duty to evict the affordable housing tenants so that he could sell off the units as market-rate condominiums.

The Pacific Renaissance Plaza, a 1.2 million sq. ft. mixed use retail/residential/commercial development project opened up back in 1993, which included a 10 year contract to keep 50 of the 250 newly built condominiums as set-aside affordable housing units as part of the deal being partnershipped with the City of Oakland and the developer known as Larry Chan. The 10 year contract of set-aside affordable housing units expired April of 2003, and Chan wasted no time in attacking the tenants residing in those units after the experation of the affordable housing deal made with the city.

Larry Chan is the founder, president and chief executive officer of C&L Financial, Inc., which developed the Pacific Renaissance Plaza. Chans company known as the International Hotelier Management Corporation served the eviction notices to the affected renters.

In addition to the 50 units of affordable housing now facing eviction, the development project included a high-rise tower with 200 condominiums, Oaklands Asian Cultural Center, numerous stores and restaurants, the Chinatown library branch, plus an underground garage facility large enough for nearly 850 vehicles.

As owner of the library and Asian Cultural Center, it cost the city $2 million for their completion, plus the city spent another $11 million towards the ownership of 500 parking spaces in the underground garage facility. According to city officials, C&L Financial, Inc., also received a $7.5 million loan to finance the rest of the project, which was never payed back.

Larry Chan who resides in Hillsborough CA, also is a Board Member of the San Francisco State University, and is a very wealthy man with political connections reaching out from George Bush Senior to Senator Phil Gram. As the President and CEO, of Park Lane Hotels International, Chan owns a string of Marriot Hotels stretching out across the nation from Oakland-San Jose to New York City.

During a June 12, 2003 protest in front of the 1009 room Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco, also owned by Chan, about 100 demonstrators appeared for several hours to protest the elderly evictions occuring in Oakland during a meeting of the Hong Kong Association of Northern California which Chan also is a Board Member of.

Vivian Chang of Asian Pacific Environmental Network or APEN, spoke at the June 12 protest and declared that the City of Oakland needs to be responsible to the renters, especially the frail and elderly ones, to make sure that they all don't end up being tossed out upon the streets by greedy landlords! During this protest Vivian Chang charged that Larry Chan over-charged the renters at the Pacific Renaissance Plaza by as much as $300 per month, and that Chan never payed back a penny of the $7 million loaned to him by the City of Oakland!

APEN opened it's doors in 1993 in an effort to build community power for poor people, and their Organizing Director is Vivian Chang who charges that Larry Chan refused to meet with the community in an effort to avert the planned evictions.

Margaretta Lin, of the East Bay Community Law Center states that Chan thought the tenants of the Plaza would just roll over and accept the evictions.

Art Hom says that his 87 year old mother is in better spirits now that community support showed up to help fight these evictions. At first she was traumatized he says, because it was a big surprise that they all lived there under a contract about to expire and no one told them in advance.

Now aged 87, Wen Hom the mother of Art Hom was born in China, and came to Oakland in 1946. Though independant, she is disabled with a serious congestive heart failure, lives alone on Social Security and pays a monthly rent of $1,017 which barely allows her to maintain an existance in a world of greedy landlords and crooked politicians.

Art Hom believes that it is his duty to help keep his mother in affordable housing and to support her as much as he can so that she may retain some kind of life with dignity in a community she can survive in.

In his message to the readers of Street Spirit, Art Hom says; Thanks to the people for their support. These evictions cut across all class and cultural lines to affect all generations.

According to Francis Chang, 20 tenants signed a petition asking Larry Chan to stop the evictions, keep all 50 units as affordable housing, and to allow those who already moved to be allowed to reclaim their former homes so that they may move back in.

Out of the 50 units facing eviction there may only be around 20 units left as of June 18, 2003 that have not yet fled to other regions, said Francis Chang. The history of the Chinese is very sad, Chang said. No one fights back when being pushed around, and most follow orders when told to move. Like a fight between an egg and a rock, you cannot win, said Chang.

Chang is worried about his parents delemma and he wants them to be able to live their lives out in peace. The Chang family was born in China, moved to Taiwan, and came to the U.S. in 1980. The elderly 94 year old Mr. Chang retired from the government, and with his 80 year old wife has resided at the Plaza for almost the past 10 years. Both are disabled, and no one ever notified them in advance about the deal made with the city that would result in the displacement of their lives, the younger Chang says.

We have lots of support now from the community and Vivian at APEN, Chang says, and my folks are once again able to get a nights sleep which seemed pretty elusive during the first few weeks after receiving the eviction notices, said Chang.

In his message to the readers of Street Spirit, Francis Chang says; Lets all work together to
fight these evictions. Your help is very much needed. Feel free to call me at; 510/635-4270

A June 24th rally has been scheduled to appear at Oakland City Hall from 4pm-6pm, where the supporters of the evictees plan to unite the cause of the Pacific Renaissance Plaza renters with the renters and Artists of the Alice Arts Center who also face evictions because of back-room deals the City of Oakland has been caught up into. The planned rally is scheduled to head into a committe hearing room of the City Council to seek a resolution to stop any more evictions.

For more information, contact Just Cause at;
510-763-5877

For more information about the Alice Arts Center fight, call;
510-839-4301

For more information about the Pacific Renaissance fight, call APEN at;
834-8920

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