(Editor's note. The graphic of Al Robles by Ted Visaya)
We live in a time of amnesia, deletion—of communities. With gadgets we garner “friends” and—just as quickly—delete them whimsically out of existence. Poet Al Robles refused to buy into the culture of amnesia. Robles’ poetic and community work documented the lives of Filipino elders who lived in the International Hotel in San Francisco’s Manilatown. He knew the heart of the community--who was having a problem with the landlord, who needed help with their doctor, who needed help with the bureaucratic systems that mock people with institutionalized disdain. He knew the community without a cell phone, computer or application. He was part of the fight for the I-Hotel, in which the community organized against the eviction of elders who lived there. The owner wanted to convert the hotel into a parking lot to accommodate the insatiable hunger for land by the expanding financial district. The hotel became the epicenter for the fight for housing rights in the city in 1977, a battle that still rages with the rampant landlordism and an eviction epidemic that is an all-out assault on elders (as well as families and artists) that is nothing short of elder abuse.
The epidemic of Ellis Act evictions compels us to remember the I-Hotel. This past Thursday, in a show of passion, compassion and strength, elders from Chinatown converged on city hall to protest the evictions that are preying upon elders such as the Lee family, a senior couple in their late 70’s who care for their disabled daughter. The Lee’s lived in their rent controlled unit on Jackson and Larkin Streets for over 30 years. After a delay in the eviction and community outcry, the Lee’s were forced to leave and are now living in a hotel until they can find stable housing. The protest by Chinese elders had a message for the mayor (whose name is also Lee): Things are out of balance. Ellis Act evictions in San Francisco have increased 80% from last year. Seniors live in fear because that they will be evicted at any time.
In this tech-driven culture where friends are made by the click of a button and deleted just as quickly, we find that our communities are being deleted—the Mission, Bayview, Fillmore. Have we not remembered the lessons of our elders, the lessons of the I-Hotel? The eviction epidemic, fueled largely by tech money, has meant death and sickness for elders looking to keep a roof over their heads. And how has the tech industry reacted? Not a tweet to be read (or heard).
Activists like Al Robles and Bill Sorro did not forget. They fought the battle for the I-Hotel more than 30 years ago when the developers, who knew nothing about building community, let the site of the hotel sit as a hole in the ground. Al Robles, Bill Sorro, Emil DeGuzman, and others who cared for community and honored their elders, insisted that nothing less than decent, low income affordable senior housing be built on the site of the former I-Hotel. After 30 years, it became a reality with the opening of the new I-Hotel with 105 units of senior housing. Every Ellis Act or unlawful eviction is a desecration of the memory of the elders that stood up and fought for the I-Hotel. The Ellis Act has dealt a poisonous hand upon our elders, preying upon them in the name of real estate speculation. The I-Hotel calls for the end to the Ellis Act because as long as this unjust law exists, our elders, families and working community are not safe.