How San Francisco is Changing, Block by Block

Woodward Street used to be a quiet block in the North Mission, home to a diverse array of long-term tenants. The street's character began changing dramatically, however, when speculator Benny Checuti became interested in it.

Checuti began buying buildings on the street several years ago, and quickly snapped up five multi-unit sites. It didn't take long to become apparent the speculator had big plans for the area, and they didn't involve making it a better place for the neighborhood's renters.

Checuti invoked the Ellis Act on every one of his buildings, emptying four of the five of all of their tenants. Immigrants, families, disabled people and seniors were all victims of these evictions.

The tenants of the fifth building continue to fight their eviction, but face a tough battle. Checuti has scheduled almost constant work construction in their homes, located at 55-63A Woodward, in an effort likely designed to displace them. Some of the construction was done without a permit, which the Department of Building Inspection cited Checuti for last week. While the citation stopped some of the work from continuing, it appears Checuti has plans to continue construction as soon as possible.

Checuti has also attempted to get many of the 9-unit building's non-English speaking Latino tenants to sign documents agreeing to move out with little or no compensation.

The four buildings where successful evictions occurred have already been placed on the market as Tenancy in Commons (TICs). This strategy used by Checuti - using the Ellis Act to empty a building of long-term renters, then selling of the units as TICs - represents the exact practice legislation to be heard at tomorrow's Board meeting will attempt to stop.

Read More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3254#more