could things smell any worse

pstrongAfter 20 years of “abandonment” Slumlords reopen Single Room Occupancy hotel as a tourist hotel/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/551/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Lani Kent/PoorNewsNetwork/p pIt was Wednesday night and I found myself sitting in a stuffy room next to a fancy suit wearing a man with fish breath. This malodorous man exhaled often, and with great effort, for he was nervous and light in his seat. As I sat there, waiting for the Board of appeals meeting to convene, I realized he was the lawyer representing West Cork Hotel, and his stench suddenly seemed appropriate. The West Cork situation simply reeks!!/p pAfter twenty years of abandonment, the former Empress Hotel has opened its doors under a different name. But what should be happy news for local residents has turned sour, for this formerly run-down hotel did not reopen for them. Owner, Dahyabhai Patel, opened a now-plush West Cork to a different clientele. It now provides expensive nightly rates to wealthy tourists, not affordable SRO housing to low-income folks. Poor folks have once again been raped of their right to decent affordable housing./p pRandy Shaw, representing the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, showed up with a small army of activists and poor folks to testify the need for West Cork to continue affordable SRO housing. The main point of his argument being that the building was abandoned and did not get city approval to re-open as a tourist hotel. Zoning Administrator, Larry Badiner supported Shaw by saying: “Before they spent all this money [renovating], they should have checked zoning laws.” It has to remain a SRO hotel. And why not renovate for poor folks? Do they not deserve a flushing toilet?/p pDifferent numbers were tossed around as to how much money was spent “renovating.” I heard $2 million more than once, but Patel did not supply receipts or permits. Where I come from $2 million is a little more than a nice evening out. I’d keep THAT receipt. Annoyed, I tried not to dwell on the fact that Patel stole housing from the poor and cared little enough to balance it in his checkbook. But that’s just me. Some of ya’ll might have $2 million to “misplace.”br / Shaw also pointed out that San Francisco does not need another tourist hotel. “Tourism is way down, and many already established tourist hotels are suffering,” argued Shaw. Suffering to the point of laying off the poor folks and the students and the middle management that work for them. If you really think about it, Patel is not only stealing from the poor, he is stealing from the elusive working-class and the dwindling middle-class. Talk about alienating ones self. Greed and robbery on both sides of the fence! /p pUnfortunately this is not even a special case, or the most offensive part of the problem. Poor folks constantly suffer eviction, lame rules impose upon their privacy, and landlords destroy personal property. Patel is just one of many guilty of this crime, and he is so typically selfish it’s almost boring. Unfortunately, this constant assault silently suffocates, and few have the energy to fight back. Those who do, do so with little more than faith. These passionate souls showed up Wednesday to protest./p pShaw and his poverty heroes told their story thru testimony. Although the case was continued to November 28th, it seemed to end on a positive note. The fishy suit man, who by the way is Andrew Zacks, fidgeted and stood aloof from his clients, maniacally searching thru his fancy leather briefcase. He must provide ALL building permits to the board by the next hearing. Hee! Hee! Hopefully, then, the correct decision can be made. Tenderloin needs West Cork for itself. Patel cannot house rich tourists in poor folks’ rightful home. This is just a fact./p pI have always understood the Tenderloin to be the cheapest place in the city to live. So my question is this: If the poor are pushed out of this neighborhood, where will they go? I mean really? According to Residents, Tenderloin is the bottom of the bottom. Must we define new bottoms? Could things smell any worse?br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p