Grant Bldg. Tenants Fight Evictions

Grant Building Tenants Association
1095 Market Street * San Francisco
(415) 626-2060 * (415) 701-8707
http://www.shapingsf.org/grant_bldg
grantbldg@yahoo.com

Contact:
Karen Topakian agapefn@sirius.com 415-701-8707
Chris Carlsson ccarlsson@shapingsf.org 415-626-2060

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release
Friday, March 2, 2001

Grant Building Tenants Condemn Unjust Evictions

Antidisplacement Movement to Rally Against Corporate Greed

SAN FRANCISCO - Grant Building tenants will demonstrate against eviction Thursday, March 8, 5:00 p.m., on the corner of Market St. and Seventh St. The Grant Building Tenants Association will be supported by its many allies in the City-wide antidisplacement movement. The GBTA will call for the Board of Supervisors to protect small businesses and nonprofit organizations in the Mid-Market area.

Seligman Western Enterprises, the Grant Building's new out-of-state owner, refused negotiations this week, rejected tenants' offer to raise their own rents, and filed unlawful detainer suits against GBTA members.

The GBTA, composed of two dozen small businesses, nonprofit organizations, writers, and artists, demands that the owner put an immediate stop to all eviction proceedings.

Seligman Western Enterprises, with corporate and personal ties to Michigan-based Seligman & Assocs. and Sterling Bank & Trust, has purchased several buildings on Market St. in a bid to gentrify the Mid-Market area. Grant Building tenants stand in their way.

GBTA spokeswoman Karen Topakian, of the Agape Foundation, said the tenants "refuse to let San Francisco be hollowed out. The people of the City should develop the Mid-Market area as a haven for community nonprofit organizations, small businesses, spaces for artists and writers, social services, and affordable housing."

Speaking in support of the tenants, Sup. Chris Daly declared at the GBTA's Feb. 21 press conference at City Hall, "We cannot stand by while the cultural fabric of San Francisco is torn apart by unjust evictions."

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