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SF Mayor Hides From Tenants Seeking Renter's Relief

by Michael Steinberg (blackrainpress [at] hotmail.com)
Today San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom hid in his office and locked the door on a crowd of tenants who came to petition him to support a package of renter relief measures. The SF Board of Supervisors passed the package earlier this month, but not by a veto proof margin, and Newsom has said he will veto it.
Today, as a crowd of tenants from across San Francisco chanted, “Let Us In!” San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom hid in his office and locked the door on them.

Over 50 renters from the Tenderloin, Chinatown, South of Market, the Mission, Bayview and other city neighborhoods gathered on the steps of City Hall at noon to protest Newsom’s promise to veto a package of renter relief measures passed by the Board of Supervisors earlier this month.

One measure would provide for limiting a tenant’s rent to 33% of income. A second would make it easier to add roommates to help pay the rent. And the third would limit “banked” rent increases (those saved up from previous years) to 8% a year.

All three measures, sponsored by Supervisor Chris Daly, are intended to provide economic relief to tenants hard hit by the current economic crisis.

Though the measures passed, the margin was not enough to overcome a mayoral veto. And Newsom has announced that he will veto them.

At noon a line of tenants stood holding signs and wearing tee shirts reading “Where’s Our Relief?”

Ted Gullicksen of the SF Tenants Union told the crowd, “We’ve tried to meet with him, but we’ve been met with total silence. If Newsom doesn’t meet with us, or vetoes, we’ll tell him this,” as the tenants joined in:

Gavin Newsom better know
Tenants say you’ve got to go

Then, with a cry of, “Let’s go in!” everyone entered the bastion of civic authority. Going up the stairs, the chant rang out, “Where’s Our Bailout?”

At Newsom’s door two Sheriff’s deputies barred the way. Gullicksen told everyone, “They say they’re sending someone out.”

While the crowd waited, spirited chants went up in a number of languages expressing San Francisco’s diversity.

Former SF Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman read a poem he’d written for the occasion, “No Veto.” It featured these memorable lines: “those who will never be able to buy anything but a pound of darkness;” “yes, private property is the root of violence, and the mayor’s veto will be an act of violence;” “the future home of those who can’t pay is to move to street USA;” “now’s the moment to wake up mayor.”

Ted Gullicksen added, “Newsom won’t say why he’s vetoing without any explanation. We deserve to have him come out, not his representative, and tell us.” Then the people broke out with, “Let us in! Let us in!”

“We know he’s here,” Gullicksen went on, “because we looked at his calendar and it said he’s in meetings here all day, but obviously he won’t meet with us.”

Chants and clapping went on, then the crowd marched off to Supervisor Bevan Duffy’s office, chanting “Housing Rights Are Human Rights!” Duffy was less then stellar in his support of the Renter’s Relief legislation, thus the visit.

People entered Duffy’s office en mass, but were told Duffy wasn’t in. So after leaving word of their plight, and disappointment in his lack of support, they marched back to Newsom’s door. A deputy was posted at Duffy’s door after they left his office.

By then it was 1 o’clock. Once back Gullicksen announced, “They’ve locked the door, won’t let anyone in, and probably aren't sending anyone out.” Like a Greek Chorus, the crowd shouted, “Shame, Shame, Shame!” There were three deputies blocking the door now.

Someone quipped, “Is the only way to see the mayor to make a large contribution to his gubernatorial campaign?”

Then Gullicksen said,” He’s not coming out, so let’s go, but when he vetoes it…”

And the people continued, “We’ll be back, we’ll be back!”

As tenants marched off, one of the older people who had taken to sitting on benches because the mayor of San Francisco had kept them standing on their feet outside his office for so long suggested, “When we get home, call to tell him to stop ignoring the voters of San Francisco.”




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Sun, Jul 26, 2009 9:15PM
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