RIGHTNOW: Tues 9/21 Rally to Save Civic Center Hotel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 21, 2004

Contact: Sarah Norr, Central City SRO Collaborative * 775-7110

SRO Tenants Rally to Protect Their Home

On Tuesday, September 21 at 5 PM, tenants at the Civic Center Hotel will hold a
rally to protest the planned demolition of their building. The rally will be held
at the headquarters of the Plumbers' and Steamfitters' Union Local 38 (1621 Market
St., at 12th), which owns the building through its pension fund.

The Civic Center Hotel, a 156-unit building at 12th and Market, is home to a
diverse community of retirees, working people, disabled folks, immigrants and
families with children. It is one of the few options for relatively clean,
high-quality housing available to low-income residents of downtown San Francisco.

But this community is in danger of being destroyed. The Plumbers' and Steamfitters'
Union Local 38, which owns the Civic Center through its pension fund, applied last
year to demolish the building. Now, after repeated requests from the tenants, the
Union has refused to disclose whether it still plans to demolish the building, when
this will happen, or whether it will relocate residents. The demolition would leave
over 150 tenants homeless.

"This is our home * we want to stay here, and we have nowhere else to go," said
Civic Center tenant Tom Morris. "As tenants, we have a right to keep our homes, and
we have a right to know what's planned for our building."

The Plumbers' Union also refused to install fire sprinklers in the tenants' room for
more than two years after they were required by city law * putting tenants' safety
and property at risk. Only after the City Attorney threatened a lawsuit and tenants
filed a complaint at the Rent Board did the Union agree to install the sprinklers.

"The Plumbers' Union is supposed to represent the interests of working-class San
Franciscans," said Sarah Norr of the Central City SRO Collaborative. "They're not
supposed to be a slumlord. They're not supposed to make low-income people homeless
for profit."

The Civic Center would have been protected under the Housing Preservation
Ordinance, recently thrown off the November ballot. Tenants from the nearby Trinity
Plaza Apartments, also slated for demolition, will be speaking at the rally in
solidarity.

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Sarah Norr
Central City SRO Collaborative
415.775.7110
sarahn [at] thclinic.org