Homes Not Jails Action

Monday January 27 2003 at 9pm the squatters at 2161 Sutter Street in Pacific Heights were forcibly evicted by the police from a property owned by United Dominion Realty Trust. Please phone United Dominion 925/224.8670 (Fax: 925/225.8657 http://www.udrt.com) and ask United Dominion why they prioritize profit over housing for the poor. The squatted building had been bought from the Macedonia Baptist Church on the same block where it had once been housing for women with mental disabilities and then left to sit empty for nearly a year. Corporate greed and political repression have been the cause of the total erradication of the neighborhood's history and the disempowerment of the community there. Being the site of major Black Panther Party organizing in the past, the area surrounding the block the squat was on had once been a large black neighborhood. United Dominion has since built an apartment complex there which dominates the entire block except for the Macedonia Baptist Church and the evicted squat standing next to it. This same block had been also the home of Winterland, a very popular music hall, where Janis Joplin performed her last show. In a city where the political climate has been advocating the criminalization of homelessness, the occupation of an abandoned building in this affluent neighborhood is a bold statement against big money squashing people's rights for profits. The San Francisco Planning Commission needs to block the further development of expensive over-sized lofts and commercial spaces that, with the economy as it is at present, sit vacant and unoccupied while people die on the streets in the cold. It must take steps to preserve the rich cultural history of the many communities that make San Francisco important and beautiful. Homes Not Jails and the Autonomous Collective had been organizing self-managed social housing at this location ongoing for an unprecedented five months or more. It was providing shelter for at least 30 persons at the time of eviction, eight blocks from callous "Care Not Cash" district Supervisor Gavin Newsom. This Saturday at noon there will be a rally, march and more. People are encouraged to meet at Western Addition Public Library at 1550 Scott (at Geary). Muni 22 and 38 Lines, Take Bart to 16th St. Transfer to Muni # 22. Homes Not Jails, Autonomous Collective Contact HNJ 415/346.3740 or email the AC autonomouscollective@mutualaid.org Tell United Dominion that evicting homeless people to make way for overpriced trendy yuppie apartments is wrong!! Deman all new units be turned into self-managed low-income social housing now!!