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San Francisco X Mess Warehouse Eviction Resistance
Residents of a San Francisco warehouse that they fixed up themselves and have been paying rent to live in for years are resisting efforts by city officials and real estate speculator interests to evict them in this "season of sharing."
This Friday I went to a Volks Kuche gathering in SF's Mission District to share free food, fun and culture. While there I met up with long time friend and Homes Not Jails comrade C who filled me in on what's been happening in his living apace in an abandoned obscure part of Bernal Heights near Bayshore Boulevard.
Outside the Volks Kuche event, as the annual X-Mess debauch approached, people speaking in various tongues occupied the streets and sidewalks conveying the same message: "Almost 2017 years later, there's still no room in the inn!"
In the courtyard outside the event, C and a housemate let me know the latest. A few days before, a small army of SF building inspectors, cops, fire fighters , and other various and sundry functionaries had simultaneously descended on their living space. none having ever visited before, and left behind a paper trail of supposed code violations totaling a small fortune.
The property's elusive landlord put in an even briefer appearance, staying just long enough to proclaim their home, for which they have been paying rent that is far from cheap for years, "just another Ghost Ship," before making himself scarce. The residents send their rent checks to a faceless property management outfit that operates on various continents.
According to C and other creative souls who live and work in the space, the real estate sharks want to turn their home and another space next to them into boiler plate condos, a dubious effort which Bernal Heights community organizations have been successfully fighting against for years.
Among those affected in this attempted mass eviction is Diamond Dave, a long time Food Not Bombs and Homes Not Jails rabble rouser whose activism dates back to early Greenwich Village days hanging out with recent Nobel Prize for Literature refusenik B. Dylan.
A community is forming to support and assist the effort to keep these folks in their home for the holidays and beyond, including people from the Housing Rights Committee, The Eviction Defense Center and many more.
Stay tuned.
Outside the Volks Kuche event, as the annual X-Mess debauch approached, people speaking in various tongues occupied the streets and sidewalks conveying the same message: "Almost 2017 years later, there's still no room in the inn!"
In the courtyard outside the event, C and a housemate let me know the latest. A few days before, a small army of SF building inspectors, cops, fire fighters , and other various and sundry functionaries had simultaneously descended on their living space. none having ever visited before, and left behind a paper trail of supposed code violations totaling a small fortune.
The property's elusive landlord put in an even briefer appearance, staying just long enough to proclaim their home, for which they have been paying rent that is far from cheap for years, "just another Ghost Ship," before making himself scarce. The residents send their rent checks to a faceless property management outfit that operates on various continents.
According to C and other creative souls who live and work in the space, the real estate sharks want to turn their home and another space next to them into boiler plate condos, a dubious effort which Bernal Heights community organizations have been successfully fighting against for years.
Among those affected in this attempted mass eviction is Diamond Dave, a long time Food Not Bombs and Homes Not Jails rabble rouser whose activism dates back to early Greenwich Village days hanging out with recent Nobel Prize for Literature refusenik B. Dylan.
A community is forming to support and assist the effort to keep these folks in their home for the holidays and beyond, including people from the Housing Rights Committee, The Eviction Defense Center and many more.
Stay tuned.
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