Elderly Oakland Residents Face Eviction by Hotel Tycoon: The Renaissance Plaza Scandal

Chinatown, Oakland 5/21: About 100 people, including many young people from the community, packed the Oakland City Council District 2 Town Hall tonight to protest the evictions of elderly Chinatown residents from the Rennaissance Park Plaza housing complex and to convince City Councilmember Danny Wan to put pressure on the owner to stop the evictions. The residents of the Renaissance Plaza hotel, located at 9th & Webster in Chinatown were served eviction notices that said they had to be out of their residences by 7/31. Many of the residents have no where to go, and are mainly Cantonese speaking elderly people that depend on the services in Chinatown to survive. Lawrence Chan is a wealthy hotel tycoon and founder of Park Lane Hotels International and C&L Financial Inc which develops and operates projects such as the 1009 rooms Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel in SF; the City Center Marriott Hotel and Courtyard by Marriot in downtown Oakland; the San Jose Marriott and the Pacific Renaissance Plaza in the East Bay.

Danny Wan started out the townhall by giving some back ground on the Renaissance Plaza housing: In 1990 the City of Oakland wanted to do an economic redevelopment project and Larry Chan said he would develop the property. The city redevelopment agency aggregated the land on which the Renaissance Plaza now stands and sold it to Chan, contributing 7 million dollars to the project as ownership shares with the understanding that when the project makes money the city would get a share of the profit as part of the return. This money went towards the garage construction, and building the Asian library and cultural center.

In the agreement, 50 units would be set aside for 10 years for rental to people of moderate income. The apartments now rent for 1000-1300 a month. In 1993 condos were sold, and the real estate market was bad so the prices were lower than expected. Studies done by Chan and by the City declared that the building did not make any profit. The debt on the building was 63 million dollars. The city gave up its shares in 1998 and released its liabilty on the debt. Now the ten years is up. Chan gave eviction notices to all 50 units. Some tenants are elderlly and rely on the services in Chinatown to survive.

What is the city doing?
The city got a letter 1 year ago from Chan saying he is intending to sell. A provision in the agreement gave the city an option of buying it. Chan priced each unit at $450,000. A seperate city calculation priced the units at $350,000. The city of Oakland gets $40 million a year from the federal government for assistance with low income housing. This money can't be used for these people, because the residents do not fit the city's criteria as low income. The city says it can not find a legal way to make Chan allow the seniors to stay in their residences until they have a comparable place to go. Danny Wan says that he has told Chan that he has a "moral" obligation to give the seniors enough time to find a place to live or to help them with financial assistance.

A 90 year old woman who is bound to a wheelchair spoke, according to her eviction notice she has until 7/31 to move out. She says she is not a "dead rat" that Chan can just throw away, but she is an elderly lady that wants to stay in her home. Her brother-in-law spoke saying that he thinks a committee should form with city officials and tenants groups to meet with Chan so that the seniors will not be displaced. He implores for Chan to let the residents live out their lives in peace. Another resident of Renassaince Plaza said that the residents were never notified of the ten year clause and that he wouldn't have moved in if he had known about it. He also detailed how mainenance of the building has been lax. He says that each unit should have access to a parking space, however Chan has rented out parking space for extra money. And also the carpets have not been cleaned in ten years.

The community presented 3 points they wanted Danny Wan to commit to:
1. Get the city and Lawerence Chan to negotiating table with the tenants
2. Get Lawerence Chan to postpone the evictions until this issue is settled
3. Get the city to do a report on how to be more proactive about protecting existing affordable housing units

Wan commited to all 3 demands, but he says that prior reports have shown that there is a desperate, critical need for more housing in Oakland. He went on to say that Oakland has spent as much on police as it has in housing in the past 3 years. He implored the community to help him pressure the federal government to give the city more assistance and blamed the Bush administration for deciding that money should go towards "other things." The community demanded a timeline as to when they would hear back from Wan on the 3 things he promised to do. Wan said that he will notify the community when Chan gets back to him. People in the room were dismayed at this possible neverending wait for a response while the senior tenants are facing eviction very soon. Wan asked "What do you want me to do, get the police to get him?" People shouted "Yes!" One man suggested that if there is no action by 6/30 that the tenants should withold rent. Wan conceded that he will let the tenants know the status of the situation in 1 week. The young people in the audience vowed to support the elderly tenants throughout the whole ordeal.