Story Archives 2002

by Carol Harvey

An outsider's objective first glance might reveal a class war by wealthy Landlords on low-income tenants,  waged on the battleground of San Francisco's tight rental market.  A June 21, 2000 SFBG article states, "In most cities, falling a week or two behind in your rent is a minor problem; in San Francisco, it's a major catastrophe.  With real estate agents shamelessly enticing landlords to empty their buildings and sell for profit, late rent may be enough to land you and your loved ones out on the street."

Lack of affordable housing has defined the Income Gap between rich and poor in the city.

The following series of skirmishes have been conducted between landlords and tenants, and tenant advocates between 2000 and 2002.

Hordes of rich young people have been moving into the city joining the already ensconced super rich with the money to pay high rent and speculate in the real estate market.

A new Economic Elite wants to drive those with lower incomes out of the city.  Willie Brown is quoted on a Geary sidewalk, "People making less than $50,000 a year have no business living in San Francisco."

Starting before 1994, artistic and creative types have left San Francisco in unprecedented droves because they don't make enough to pay the high rents, a major loss for a City historically unsurpassed for cultural creativity and innovation.

Because of real estate speculation, inflated rents in San Francisco do not match the real incomes people earn.  The old rule was that your rent should never be more than a third of your income, but in San Francisco some people's rent takes up all of their paycheck.

In 1994 I took a Grey Line trip to get to know my new City.  The bus driver/tour guide said most San Franciscans live below the poverty line, and the way the survive is to double and triple up in apartments. 

Middle Income earners, as well, are affected by lower wages and higher rents.  People come to RADCO who make more money than RADCO staff.  Fellow nonprofit workers have come for help with rent during shortfalls.

The new "War on Poverty" is a campaign to harass and banish poor people from the city.  Quality of Life crimes are a form of "economic cleansing," driving the homeless to jail, death, or just "somewhere else," like lemmings into The Pacific, or "Fresno."

Ironically, the system doesn't work without poor people.  Capitalism requires a layer of Poor be "crushed" at the bottom of the pile. They can never be eliminated.  Everybody but the Superrich sink down through the pile, including the middle class.  The Rich can't be rich without the Poor being Poor.  The SuperRich and/or Politicians control the Poverty Monster by constantly threatening it with extinction.  The neverending economic cleansing goes on and on. 

On the Rental Battleground where opportunistic landlords speculate in real estate, the middle class become lower class, a paycheck away from homelessness, and the lower class join the burgeoning ranks of families forced out on the street.

Here are a series of Landlord skirmishes to optimize the financial windfalls from rental properties:

1.The People's Budget set up the Eviction Defense Collaborative to provide free legal help to Poor under eviction threat to help them keep their homes.  In a June 21, 2000 SF Bay Guardian article titled, "Mayor, landlords try to kill eviction-defense funding," Cassi Feldman quotes a barrage of landlord e-mails suggesting The Eviction Defense Collaborative be defunded because free legal advice holds tenants in their apartments longer, slows the eviction process, and costs these opportunistic landlords money. 

2.  Landlords struck again through Ellis Act evictions. Ellis Act is a state law that landlords have an unconditional right to "go out of business."  Landlords reclaim properties by threatening to utilize mass tenant Ellis Act evictions to rid themselves of long-term residents paying affordable rents, or convert rental units into condominiums at a much higher re-sale value using loopholes in the condo law.

3.  The struggle to own a home in a tight rental market has created a situation where groups of people buy a home and create (TICs) or Tenancies in Common. Group landlords then attempt to evict those already in residence by Owner Move-Ins (OMI's) displacing tenants paying affordable rents.

4.  Landlords have created a new way to gouge renters and undermine rent control through Capital Improvement passthroughs.  Prop H was passed in 2001, diverting capital improvement costs from landlord to tenants.  Grandfathered capital improvements have jumped rents astronomically at Lombard Place forcing tenants to their knees financially.  Retired residents in their 60s and 70s are forced back to work for the rest of their lives.

Housing Activists have met Profiteering Landlords with a number of alternative blocking mechanisms or possible solutions to the housing problem.

In 1998, Riva Enteen of the Lawyer's Guild and Rebecca Vilkomerson of Homeless Prenatal noted a surplus in the City Budget. They said,  'Let's use the surplus for unmet needs of poor and working people in the City'.  Stated Enteen, 'They were saying we have to save that money for a rainy day, and we were saying 'For our constituents, it's already raining'."  Enteen and Vilkomerson proposed The People's Budget .

In the year 2000 to 2001, The People's Budget proposed:

Housing $42,242,030

1. Preservation and Creation of Affordable Housing (partially funded 1999-2000)  $36,000,000

Allocate funds to the San Francisco Housing Trust Fund for the new construction, acquisition and rehabilitation, or preservation of affordable housing.

2. Move-in Costs  $2,000,000

Assist homeless and near homeless families and individuals with security deposits and initial rent.

3. Funding for Eviction Representation   $338,000

Provide no-cost legal representation to extremely low-income tenants, and low- or no-cost legal representation to other low-income tenants facing eviction in San Francisco.

4. Back Rent Assistance (partially funded 1999-2000)  $2,000,000

Provide financial assistance to tenants who face short-term financial difficulties that jeopardize their ability to stay in their homes.

5. Emergency Funds for Homeless Seniors and Disabled Persons  $960,000

Assist a minimum of 100 homeless seniors and persons with disabilities to live independently within the community, not "housed" at Laguna Honda or SF General.

6. Affordable Housing Advocacy at the State Level  $15,000

Retain two Sacramento tenant lobbyists to advocate for affordable housing and to push for state measures to address our Cityís housing and homelessness crisis.

7. Low-Income Housing Preservation Fund  $750,000

Replace lost federal subsidy dollars for undocumented families living in affordable housing who face eviction.

8. Supplemental Funding for the Eviction Defense Collaborative for Cantonese Language Services     $25,000

Provide tenant counseling to Cantonese households facing eviction as a first step toward removing the language barrier that impairs their ability to understand and exercise their rights.

9. Move-in Costs for Homeless Families   $100,000

Assist homeless and near homeless individuals and families with security deposits and initial rent.

10. Housing Advocate for Latino Families   $54,030

Hire a Housing Advocate/Social Worker to work with Latino families that have been evicted or are at risk of eviction.

Activists promoting the People's Budget also started the Eviction Defense Collaborative to give legal help to low income renters facing possible illegal evictions.

In 2000, individuals promoting The People's Budget proposed RADCO as a vehicle to help tenants stay in their affordable housing by providing an interest-free loan of one month's back rent.  RADCO'S purpose is to preserve affordable housing by keeping people in their apartments providing back rent during one emergency.  

Originally, RADCO was started as a way to preserve rent control by preventing a unit from flying up to market value if the tenant is forced to leave. 

Now, RADCO has had to expand its program to extend funds to impoverished SRO tenants.  Though RADCo receives requests for rental assistance from every section of the city, the bulk of RADCo recipients are low-income dwellers of The Tenderloin and Bayview Hunter's Point.

Yvonne Cudny of RADCO stated she thinks the housing situation is improving.  A lot of people, especially among nonprofits are excited about Community Land Trusts, a low cost method of affording a house, or a group of people owning a dwelling in common, not the land underneath it which is purchased by a Trust and held in perpetuity.  People in the housing community, nonprofits and artists are purchasing housing on land that will never ever become private property.  Yvone states they can buy affordable dwellings with yards; get mortgages, make repairs, or live collectively with a group.  CLT's may be an fair alternative to Tenancies in Common.

James Tracy of the Coalition on Homelessness' Right To A Roof and others in the housing community have led a promotional campaign for the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, garnering strong local support. for the Fund which proposes the use of surplus interest from Federal Taxes.

In the wake of 9/11/2001, the People are suffering more severe financial hardship than ever before.  However, the Superrich continue to "Capitalize."  According to Riva Enteen, "The budget is not in as good shape as it was the previous four years, but "in this year's People's Budget we included San Francisco's top ten billionaires living in our midst including The Fischers of the Gap, The Gettys and Levi-Strauss, who are worth $21.5 billion.  There are certainly people in San Francisco for whom the economy is doing quite well.  We advocate for progressive tax reform  to improve the budget situation."  Mayor Brown and the Supervisors are responsible to go after the wealthy for their corporate taxes, but they are not motivated to do so "because the Wealthy pay for their campaigns."

by Joe B.

Just when I think we human’s are stepping out of the collective mud of sloth and misery I see an email on bum-fighting on the internet.

Checking it out there men, women with most of their teeth gone looking like walking wounded physical wreckage.

Looking up its website I saw some of its questions like:


Can I order by phone?

What is the delivery time on orders?

Is it safe to order over the Internet?

How long is the video?

The Answer is 57 minutes.

As you can see the website is popular and people enjoy watching
Other people beat each other to bloody pulps.

I want to know if these folks are getting paid with more than food.

Are these people getting residual checks or cash if they become favorites of web or video hits probably not.

What about contracts and their full knowlege of what can happen to them?

There is something wrong, a rot from a gangrene wound when people either volunteer, film, and make profit off the least of us mentally, physically for financial gain.

For some of the people who watch and buy this misery served up for a cheap thrill think:
It could be your friends, relatives, or you on that PC, CD, or video tape but for fortune, luck, and providence.

Remember Rome with its bread and circus gladiator, beasts against citizen’s?

Well this is another crack in this so called great nation and it is up to citizen’s to give this sad, tawdry, show the boot.

BIRD VIEW

Second Mutation

Invisible radiation change their tiny brains to higher intelligence, also gained immortality too.

Today their natural mutation allows them to use telepathy, telekinesis, and powers of suggestion.

Human’s think they’re in control.

First you talk, then, make fun, make laws, now televised on video, CD’s and DVD’s what do you think is the next step… Death Matches?

I don’t know about any of you readers but this does not look or sound like a harmless sport or good clean fun but further proof of people making money off of human suffering.

Don't give me that"Since The Dawn Of Time Crap"

The meaning of evolution is to change our ways and better or situations both physically and mentally rising above the slime and muck.

Even if we are related to tapeworks and fruit flies its no excuse for this crud.

If I’m wrong I apologize if former fight bums or their friends got out of this situation tell your stories it is time for your input.

Please don’t stay mute until death occurs or it already has that must be revealed too.

That’s it That’s all from me… Bye.


HouseCare-Pro Price range:
$25 per day or 100 a week for
1 bdrm. Apt, small House.
4 to 3 bedrooms, $50 to $100 a week,
$5,000 a week for 20 to 40 rm. Homes.
$25,000 by the week or $100,000 for
50 to 100 rm Mansions
Prices are negotiable.
Non drinker, smoker, drugs (unless its aspirin & vitamins)
Not a party animal, Boredom, works me.

For Joe only my snail mail:
PO Box 1230 #645
Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102
Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

by Joe B.

Ok, It’s the fourth of July Independence Day, not to be confused with a movie of the same name.

So far I think we have most of our rights intact, there is one more I personally would like to have and its beyond the pursuit of happiness.

The choice of living longer or death in our control.

Its one thing to praise the lord, seek heaven when all of us had little choice when our ticket is punched. But when it becomes blindly clear that human science, technology plus the Eternal’s command that we have free will then everything about life and death changes drastically.

Human’s should live and die as they chose especially if living now means as long as possible and in better health than ever.

For everyone sooner or later will make this ultimate choice.

I’ll make this short; Almighty God was never the problem its how God is interpreted by individuals that’s the problem.

I don’t know about you folks out there bur for me I want a second better shot in life and if that means plunking down a few thousand dollars for whole body freezing or head only

I’m going for it because I’m betting on both God and Humanity to break our death cycle and return to life everlasting.

So folks have a great Fourth of July and may you test your freedom to the limits of possibility. Bye…


HouseCare-Pro Price range:
$25 per day or 100 a week for
1 bdrm. Apt, small House.
4 to 3 bedrooms, $50 to $100 a week,
$5,000 a week for 20 to 40 rm. Homes.
$25,000 by the week or $100,000 for
50 to 100 rm Mansions
Prices are negotiable.
Non drinker, smoker, drugs (unless its aspirin & vitamins)
Not a party animal, Boredom, works me.

For Joe only my snail mail:
PO Box 1230 #645
Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102
Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

by Joe B.

After washing, rinsing cups and coffee machine this lively Monday,July,8,2002.

[Yeah, that’s one of my early chores to make coffee, set it on the conference room table, sometimes vacuum both PC or nerve center of POOR Magazine before composing my column].

In a past life as a woman did I mistreat a few men or as a man brake a few female hearts; which it spiritual terms is a serious if not the worst crime psychically committed?

If my work is only vacuuming and making coffee it may mean my Karma has gone full circle and I'm even.

I dread what happens to child molesters, rapists, and killers if the wheel of Karma really is a fact of life after death cycle.

Laugh, giggle, joke, and chuckle boys, girls, men, and women yuck it up.

Is it completely out of your systems?

Now I understand why women get "Punch, slap, stomp, beat down, guys angryat doing it while other person(s) not handicapped, mentally unable, or otherwise impaired to make there own hyper nerve stimulus jump-start brew.

I don’t like coffee; tea, hot chocolate or white mocha is my speed.

I will drink it once or twice if no one else does because the stuff should not be wasted even if I have an aversion to it.

Once in a while color pictures are taken then scanned in but what really sends shivers of my spine is… T-R-A-N-S-C-R-I-P-T-I-O-N.

I use to fall for the "Its only half an hour Joe."

Three to five hours later at night at 7 or 8 pm I’m still at it in a quiet controlled fume.

I’ve since learned not to ask how much time because most reporters have little or no concept of time especially when they are not doing the transcribing but when they do it’s a shock to them at how long it takes typing out their own interviews – instant Karma is what I call when that happens.
BIRDS VIEW

Human destructive capacities are traits not uncommon to birds or cats.

"Let the H’s think they’re in charge, stumble on discoveries placed in their minds.

The hidden control continues.

Speaking of Karma current Supervisor Gavin Newsom looks to have not done to bad in family, friends, and business dealings all well and good however his "Cash Not Care" sound bites to ‘Help working poor and Houseless folk by taking away what little money from General Assistance or G.A.

Is Social Security Income or S.S.I. Next?

I wonder if Newsom’s hypothetical last life was less lush, did he do something noble, self sacrificing in a long ago war, give up school, his dearest dream for younger siblings or simply be an infant, toddler, young child, or adult that lost her or his life and in this life was rewarded for not having a chance in that last life?

I’m just wondering it there is a bit of self loathing carried over for that short life?

Its conjecture sure but why would a guy given so much not have learned during childhood school days, elementary, high school, college, university, or just life in general the universal "But for the grace, providence, fortune, luck, fate, it could be me, on the street; stoned, drunk in an alley, birth defected in brain body or both, HIV-AIDS ridden and given a shortened span of life."

Although science and the human body have found ways to live with HIV many people still had problems with people who remain health with the desease frozen in its tracks.

If he doesn’t even think "There for the grace of God"

I worry why he wants so bad to be mayor, is he thinking that post as a stepping to a more powerful position?

We already have a non voted-in Selected President causing havoc domestically because within him and a few others church and state have commingled setting a bad precedent not for being religious but using official power to rubberstamp their beliefs into dangerous dogmatic laws.

These mandates or laws slow, retard, or stop ongoing research and development of technology and science slowing many quality-of-life improvement kinds of applied technologies.

It seems strange that both men of power and position instead of being leaders trying to pierce gray fog bringing light and knowledge they create more smoke and shadow leading people in to heavier over cast curtains of heavy clouds and fogging up many lives wanting to live in bright sun near cloudless blue skies.

Tell me if I’m wrong folks, if right-how to escape from this new "Dark Age"
leadership… Bye.

HouseCare-Pro Price range:
$25 per day or 100 a week for
1 bdrm. Apt, small House.
4 to 3 bedrooms, $50 to $100 a week,
$5,000 a week for 20 to 40 rm. Homes.
$25,000 by the week or $100,000 for
50 to 100 rm Mansions
Prices are negotiable.
Non drinker, smoker, drugs (unless its aspirin & vitamins)
Not a party animal, Boredom, works me.

For Joe only my snail mail:
PO Box 1230 #645
Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102
Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

by Ed Willard

It was an uncomfortably hot Saturday morning in June as I walked up 7th St in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, towards the offices of People Organized To Win Employment Rights (POWER). About to enter the building, I pulled up short when I heard my name being called,

"Heats ‘goin kick our asses today, Ed". It was my homeless friend, Joey who had set up a sort of flea market of goods for sale at the entrance to the adjacent alley.

"Oh man, you got that right, Joey! How you doin’ today?

"Not too bad but I do hear there’s a chance our GA benefits will be cut. You know anything about that?

"In fact I’m just now meeting with other POWER members to talk about that, so I don’t have much time but just briefly, yeah, there’s a member of the San Francisco board of Supervisors who is trying to push through a proposal that’ll hurt folks on GA. I’ll get back with you later with more news, Joey. Hey, maybe you can even help out, huh?"

"Yeah maybe, Ed, I’ll be here".

Upstairs, 7 other POWER members were already assembled and we spent 40 minutes locking brains to come up with a way to interfere with Gavin Newsome's kickoff campaign to collect the 15,000 signatures needed to get his measures to slash GA benefits onto November's ballot. As an organization that has been fighting to get better conditions for folks receiving assistance here in SF, POWER seemed a natural to fight Supervisor Newsome’s campaign. After our short meeting we descended the stairs back out into the hot street to walk the short distance over to Local 88 on Market St.

We arrived at a scene of hustle and bustle. A channel 5 news van was parked outside and the entrance to the upstairs meeting hall was a mob of people. Showing up dressed as we were, we supplied a sharp contrast to this young republican looking crowd. At least four of us had worn our POWER T-shirts, I had mine on under my leather jacket, and when I arrived, director of POWER, Steve Williams quickly took me aside. "Ed, we need a spy up there in the meeting!" As the only white boy amongst us, I was elected. Quickly I pulled my long scraggly hair back into a pony tail and, despite the heat, zipped up my jacket, hiding the T-shirt with the picture of the angry African-American woman with raised fist. Nervously looking around for any possible security, I entered the building and climbed the long flight of stairs. Suddenly my hair, clothes and everything about me seemed grungy and I had to forcefully dismiss from my mind the sure conviction that I'd be recognized, challenged and ejected any second.

When I arrived at the top of the stairs I spotted a table set up in the lobby for volunteer sign up, but after a moment's scrutiny I saw that people were passing by this freely into the main hall and I did the same. The scene was disheartening. A LOT of people, (I estimated 150), had turned out for this thing! Nervously I began to mingle, walking around the perimeter of the big hall and soon I got the information I was looking for. Posted on the wall roughly in the four corners of the room were big pieces of butcher paper with locations, (Cala Foods at 18th and Castro, Safeway at the Marina, etc.). I jotted these down. Soon a man acting as MC grabbed a microphone and began addressing the crowd, introducing speakers, first a doctor from the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic followed by Newsome himself. It didn't take me long to get the picture. This guy was supplying credibility to Newsome's main justification for cutting the GA cash, ground that former SF politicians and lawmakers have tread, ad nauseam: People on welfare can't be trusted with cash, they'll just use it for drugs. The doctor told his story about how, ".........just when we'd be starting to get somewhere with people, the 1st or the 15th, (checkdays), would roll around and we'd lose them........." Then Newsome was up and he got out his violin to tell the "heartrending" story of the long struggle he had with his conscience before finally................ reluctantly............. coming to the conclusion that the only humane solution was to take the cash out of GA recipients hands. Gagging, I hurried out of the place.

Outside I received pats on the back for my successful spy mission. We started to plan how best to split up to go out to the different signature locations. By this time our group had been joined by a couple of members from the Coalition on Homelessness and the press had started to notice us. The different news stations interviewed POWER members Larry Latimore, Willie Garner and Jason Negron. The next day Larry's interview was aired on TV supplying an opposite viewpoint to Newsome's lies, chiefly that ...........NOWHERE........... in Newsome's proposal is there any guarantee of the housing or services that the thing is purporting that it will give to people in exchange for the cash they are getting now.

Newsome’s propaganda would have the public seeing it like this: Most everyone getting General Assistance is a totally irresponsible chronic drug user that can't be trusted to make a decision on her/his own. Since the city is giving people a handout, it can do so in any form it sees fit. An essential condition this flawed viewpoint ignores is that everyone receiving the GA stipend has to WORK for the money, sweeping the streets or cleaning city buses. Over the last couple of years, due precisely to the work of POWER and other advocacy/activist groups the situation with workfare has changed but before this, and going back nearly 20 years all the way to the institution of workfare under Mayor Feinstein, the city had, year in and year out, from two to three thousand workfare workers doing identical jobs as city hired workers who were being paid union scale, (14 to 23 dollars per hour). ALL FOR MINIMUM WAGE, saving the city a whopping 30 million a year. All this by a bunch of irresponsible drug addicts who, (if we listen to Newsome), barely know how enough to get their own shoes tied right.

So just who is this guy, Gavin Newsome? Let’s get a little background on him. Earlier in the year this City Supervisor introduced a number of measures to be voted on by the Board. These measures constitute an all-out-attack on San Francisco's poor and homeless. If it became law, one of these would make panhandling on median strips illegal and punishable by a five hundred dollar fine. The same would go for urinating or defecating in public, (this when there are increasingly fewer and fewer public restrooms in the city).

But Newsome's most poisonous attack comes in the form of a slash to City and County of San Francisco welfare benefits. Currently those of us receiving General Assistance get about 320 dollars per month. If Newsome's proposal becomes law this cash will be cut to 59 dollars and the rest will be issued in the form of vouchers for services. The biggest chunk of these would be in the form of a housing voucher. This is a re-visiting of ground that other San Francisco politicians and bureaucrats have stomped over on a number of occasions. In the summer of '99 bureaucrat, Earl Rynerson introduced the infamous Prop E in a bid to get the laws changed so that 85% of the GA checks would be reduced to vouchers. At that time these vouchers would have made it possible for a person to get into one of the downtown flea bag, single room occupancy, (SRO), hotels for a couple of weeks per month. These SRO's were then and still are now, rat infested and the hangout of drug users and criminals. Even back in '99 there was a serious shortage of rooms in them, a situation which has worsened considerably now since 7 of these hotels have been destroyed by fire. When no rooms are available the only use for one of Newsome's vouchers would be at one of the city's shelters which are currently FREE!! No, you didn't read it wrong.................... if Newsome's plan becomes law, the city will be handing GA folks a voucher worth about 200 bucks with the right hand, only to snatch it back with the left, and anyone who's stayed in one of these shelters sure knows they aren't worth 200 dollars a month! Of course, the idea behind this nastiness is to make things extremely difficult for the poor so that folks will go elsewhere and the streets will be "cleaned up" for the attraction of tourists and the mega-bucks profit of downtown, big business interests.

When POWER found out about Newsome's plans we launched a counter attack. Through these efforts we were able to win over to our side the support of the three Supervisors on the committee who would be voting on the measures. In conjunction with the Coalition on Homelessness, Poor Magazine and other advocacy groups we also organized a press conference where we made public Newsome's plans. The effect of all of this was that, a few days before the public meeting, (held at City Hall), where public comment would be heard and the proposal voted on by the Supervisors, chicken-shit-Newsome, smelling defeat, withdrew it.

Newsome, who's been given the handle "pretty boy" because he's a tall, slim, glamour boy who gets written up regularly in the San Francisco society columns, is Willie Brown's hand picked successor for San Francisco's Mayor, (Brown has aspirations for higher office, probably Sacramento where he can move "up" to doing his insidious damage to the people on a statewide level). Newsome was Brown's appointee for Supervisor in 1997, (when a seat was vacated by State Assemblyman Kevin Shelly). He comes from silver spoon kind of old money wealth and has the support of others of the same ilk, (most notably billionaire Gordon Getty who's son Billy, Newsome is known to pal around with). Now, with the support of the Brown democratic machine Newsome is following in Willie Brown's footsteps, launching an offensive against the homeless that has enough of the earmarks of nastiness to put it on par with the mayor's long and vile record of similar crimes against the poor and working class.

Newsome recently took a trip to New York City to study Mayor Guiliani's homeless plan, one facet of which is it's use of homeless people as dirt cheap labor that gets farmed out to corporations such as Toyota and Citibank. If Newsome and like minded individuals, (namely Mayor Brown and George Smith, director of the Mayor's Dept. of Homelessness), have their way, San Francisco's homeless will continue to live in shelters while doing slave labor to benefit downtown interests, while his measures that criminalize normal human behavior, (sleeping and the performance of bodily functions), will give the police force carte blanche to "sweep' the streets often enough to give the impression that something is being done about the homeless problem, (exactly the "solution" that Guiliani's plan has accomplished in NYC).

Finishing writing this, I think back to this morning, the heat and my friend, Joey. Being homeless is no picnic, even on the warm days. A thought rolls through my mind, "Why, oh, why, is it that snakes like Newsome spend so much money on campaigns to take away what little some of us have when these same dollars could be put into affordable housing, living wage job programs and the like?"

For information on how you can get involved to help us fight Newsome’s campaign, contact: Jason Negron at POWER. (415) 864-8372

by Valerie Schwartz with Jewnbug and Audrey Eichorn/PNN Media Interns

On a sunny but windy afternoon there is a voice that resounds in my head louder than the fervor of the wind knocking against my window demanding my attention… It is the voice of Patricia Webb, a woman who I had the pleasure of speaking with today, who with the help of POOR Magazine/PNN and The San Francisco Bayview has won a crucial victory with the San Francisco Section 8 Housing Authority.

What some people may consider to be only the small problems of the poor and disabled are… more than small. For me this is not only a concept but an understood reality, as I am a low-income disabled person myself, who has had plenty of first-hand experience with discrimination and poverty. Usually in our apathetic world of seemingly monolithic problems these peoples’ "small problems" are rarely heard, understood, addressed or much less resolved. In one of these not so "small problems" Patricia Webb, a resident of the Fillmore Center has gone the distance and held her ground against overwhelming odds.

"My dilemma began with re-certification from Section 8 Housing." In April 2002, Ms. Webb contacted POOR to ask for help with what was an overwhelming problem with her housing re-certification. Ms. Webb is disabled with Cerebral Palsy in a progressive stage. She lived with her son who is her in-home caretaker and employed by I.H.S.S. (In Home Support Services). Upon receiving a letter for her re-certification Ms. Webb was informed by the Section 8 Housing Authority that there was too much income in her household, and raised her rent from $281 to $833 a month. They then informed her that her son must move out if she was to be re-certified for Section 8.

"Family support, as all of you are all too aware, is crucial. It needs to be a part of a network of services that promises inclusion rather than isolation"

Ms. Webb then started the tedious task of following a paper trail of red tape, many grueling physical trips out of her home to attend to the matter… and a game of pass the buck via the telephone with the people at Section 8. As Ms. Webb told me, one of their supervisors, Cynthia Black said to her… "I’ll send you what need, not how to get it!" Ms. Black had also put Patricia’s son down as her attendant instead of her I.H.S.S. in-home caretaker, and created prolonged confusion with the paperwork. Ms. Webb told me later "It is my intention to write a letter of complaint to H.U.D. about Cynthia Black"

Ms. Webb did what was asked of her and provided the people at Section 8 with all the necessary documentation and paperwork she was required to present to them for having her housing re-certified. This also meant showing 3 pieces of verification that her son had moved out of her apartment, yet her rent stayed at $833 even though her son was no longer living with her. She continued to question why and how something that she felt was so unfair was happening to her. How was she going to deal with the absence of her son’s presence and support to help her, especially at night when she needs him there and how to deal with the break-up of her family?

It is unthinkable to me that any kind of social services/housing organization would want a stranger caring for a disabled person when there is a qualified and supportive family member to do so. I can fully understand how frightening it is for many to be cut off from their families and have to deal with having a stranger in their home taking care of them and how vulnerable that could feel. What is the purpose of dividing someone’s family?

"Most of the time the family is the only resource in the lives of disabled youth and adults, especially low income and people of color with disabilities. To cut this link inside the homes of people with disabilities is an invasion of privacy, family values and leads to separation i.e. institutionalization which leads to segregation" Excerpt by Leroy Moore of POOR Magazine/DAMO in an open letter to Gray Davis.

I asked Ms. Webb if her son’s employment and or housing status had been changed by all of this. She explained to me that her son is still her in-home caretaker but he does not live in her home and that he is now residing with his grandmother. I then asked her what would have happened if he had not had his grandmothers help, She answered quickly , "He’d have been up a creek."

As of the 1st of June 2002 Ms. Webb’s rent has been rescinded back to $282 a month a dollar higher than it had been, before the re-certification raise. I was immediately curious about what I consider to be an overpayment of rent for those three months and inquired whether she would have any of that overpayment refunded or put towards her upcoming rent payments. She told me she didn’t know and that she was trying to find out.

Ms. Webb acknowledged her heartfelt gratitude for the support of POOR Magazine, and Victoria Tedder of the Independent Living Resource Center for helping and advocating for her during this long process. She also requested that a mention be made for Mr. David Folis who works at the Fillmore Center for being "kind and helpful"

I finally asked one last question. How does if feel to have won what you thought was a no-win situation with the Section 8 Housing Authority? She replied in a voice that sounded like a melodic blend of humbleness and righteousness, thus creating a funny warm sustaining chord in my head… Her answer was: "Fantastic, totally elated that I fought for what I believed in and what I was doing and that I was willing to lose everything if that’s what it took."

by Michael Vizcarra/PNN Media Intern

Cool, hip music in the background.  Rapid-cut clips of men fighting and doing stunts flash on the screen.  A gratuitous T&A shot.  An MTV video?  A commercial on TV?  NO.  These are the previews you see when you go to www.bumfights.com, the website selling Bumfights:  A Cause For Concern, Volume 1, an hour-long video showcasing gruesome footage of homeless people fighting with each other and performing dangerous stunts.

Watching the video clips from the website made me sick and disgusted, sick and disgusted with the exploitation of homeless people.  In one scene, a homeless man breaks his ankle in a fight.  Another scene shows a homeless man smoking crack.  Another homeless man, named Rufus the Stunt Bum, performs stunts for the camera including ramming his head into walls or riding a shopping cart down stairs.  The filmmakers even do a parody on "The Crocodile Hunter" called, "The Bumhunter," where a man, dressed in safari clothing, hunts homeless men on the street, binding, gagging, and marking them.  The Las Vegas filmmakers, 23 year old Ray Laticia and 24 year old Ty Beeson, were "interested in the inherent humor of something that hasn't been touched upon in mainstream entertainment, which is homelessness."  

This is entertainment? 

I think these two filmmakers should be charged with crimes.  First and foremost, criminal solicitation.  The common-law crime of solicitation occurs when one requests or encourages another to perform a criminal act, regardless of whether the latter agrees.  There has been much debate on whether the producers of the video solicited homeless men to engage in fights with other homeless men.  But if that is the case, then they could be charged.  The crime of solicitation is never construed so as to require an overt act.  As soon as one makes the request or proposal, the crime is complete.

Another crime they could be charged with is conspiracy.  The common-law crime of conspiracy is defined as an agreement between two or more persons to do either an unlawful act or a lawful act by unlawful means.  Let's say, for example, the filmmakers requested or encouraged Rufus the Stunt Bum to fight another person (criminal solicitation), just the act of planning on doing this and preparing to film it would be considered conspiracy.  The Las Vegas police and the Clark County District Attorney would only need someone in the video to file a complaint with them and they would consider prosecuting the filmmakers or anyone who was involved with the making of the video.  The charges could move on to kidnapping (as in the case of the Bumhunter) and assault and battery.

But the filmmakers contend that all the homeless men appearing in the video did so by their own choice.  They also signed consent forms and agreed to the use of their images.  Also, they were compensated with food, clothing or money ($20 to $100) after the taping, say the filmmakers.  But even if they were paid and signed the consent forms they could still sue for assault, says Sgt. Eric Fricker, who oversees the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's homeless-focused detail.

A main concern about the contents of these videos is the mental state of the homeless men.  "There has been a long history of the exploitation of people with mental illness," says Leroy Moore, our resident poet, writer, organizer, advocate and lecturer.  Leroy is not unfamiliar when talking of these issues.  A disabled person of color himself, Leroy formed a Bay Area organization for and by people of color with disabilities called Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization, DAMO.  DAMO's main goal is to empower, educate, advocate and bring together communities of color on issues concerning people with disabilities.  He says the problem stems from the de-institutionalizing of homeless people with mental illness.  With nowhere to go, no transitional plan, and no housing, they were left to fend for themselves on the streets.  The American Disabilities Act, ADA, "hasn't talked about people with mental illness," he says.  ""They are the last minority group that hasn't been touched by laws."

I also spoke with Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness about the Bumfights videos.  She says the video furthers the hatred to a particular group of people (the homeless).  The fact that they (the filmmakers) can get away with exploiting the homeless is appalling, she says.  If another video were made using other groups of people, for instance Hispanics or African Americans, there would be more of an uproar, she states.  "In order to get on the front page, you make fun of people.  That's how politicians use poor people to garner votes, that's how the media garners readership," she says.  I asked her what she thought of Ray Laticia's comments, in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, when he said, "To people who are going to take offense, I'd say, 'What have they done for the homeless?'"  Ms. Friedenbach replied, "How is he to know?  Doing nothing is better than doing something hurtful. "

The Bumfights producers are also full of contradictions.   In one interview with BBC News Online on May 25, 2002, Mr. Laticia explains, "It is not done to be shocking.  It was done to show an aspect of society that people would otherwise not see."   But in another interview with www.wired.com on June 5, 2002, Mr. Laticia says, "The video is designed to shock.  We're quite aware that some people find it hilarious and some people find it disgusting.  That's what sells videos."  In another interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Laticia states, "This project is a means to an end.  We want to be feature filmmakers.  We're going to cash in and then cash out and go make some movies."  But, if that were the case, then why would this video be entitled Volume 1?  Hmm.  Documentary or exploitation?  Entertainers or criminals?  I would hope the answer is clear.

by Staff Writer

Letter to PNN from The Campaign For Renters Rights

Dear PNN editor; Please publish this letter and Protest notice;

The eviction for profit system runs rampant in
Oakland. Artists are being dumped on the street by
greedy landlords who want to double the rent.

Sue Doyle is one of many Oakland artists who have lost
their homes due to the lack of tenant protections. She
also lost her garden, her security deposit, and
several paintings-All at the hands of Michael Sturtz,
the Executive Director of "The Crucible." We find his
action highly ironic.

"The Crucible" represents itself as an organization
"Creating artist rental studio spaces in an area with
high artist eviction rates and the tightest real
estate market on the planet."

These actions are a direct contradiction to what "The
Crucible" is supposed to stand for, and we believe
that those who are associated with "The Crucible"
should be aware of what it's Executive Director has
really been up to!

Protest of Artist Eviction- Direct Action Event

Join us for a night to remember as artists and
activists converge on a Crucible event & rally against
the eviction. Sparks will fly for this event!

When: Saturday June 22nd

@7:30PM

Where: "The Crucible"

1035 Murray Street near Ashby & San Pablo)
Berkeley, CA

Letter to the editor From Michael Sturtz of The Crucible

Dear PNN editor

None of the protestors came back on Sunday to talk to me. I was
surprised; I respected the dedication I saw from them on Saturday and
felt that they were committed to uncovering the truth--especially
regarding an issue that is clearly near to their hearts.

As I know that you are writing an article for Poor regarding this
matter, I again offer you the opportunity to contact the previous
owners of the house in question.

I know that Poor Magazine holds high standards for journalistic
integrity, so I am sure that you will be careful to check facts on
anything you write regarding the situation.

Do feel free to call me. In the meantime, I confidently offer this
for print: The accusations that were made in the e-mail and in the
(frankly, rather cruel and certainly preposterous) booklet against me
are false. I handed you an info packet that included documents
disproving Sue's claims.

Thanks. And again, If you have any questions at all about the
accuracy of what you intend to put into print about me, I encourage
you to contact me first.

Sincerely,

Michael Sturtz

Michael Sturtz

Founder / Executive Director

The Crucible

an Educational Collaboration of

Arts * Industry * Community

by TJ Johnston

I look into Komiko’s almond-colored eyes, searching for the same smile they had when I first saw them in Vancouver. They’re now forlorn and searching for departure times at the SFO International Terminal.

"Don’t make this any more difficult than it already is," she says. I turn to the departure board and notice I don’t have much time. Komiko would soon be waiting to be screened for two hours and after that, sitting on the next JAL flight.

"If you get on that plane," I tell her, "you'll regret it. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life. Is there anything I can do to keep you from boarding that plane?" My eyes are tearing. I think it's emotions, but more because of the elderly lady who just passed me wore too much Chanel and Ben Gay.

"You know I love you," says Komiko, "but I need something you could never provide."

I know where this is going: we’ve had this conversation before.

"But I have Medi-Cal," I plead.

"It’s not enough. Japan’s Employee and National Health Insurance Systems can cover my hospital expenses when I become infirm and can no longer take care of myself."

My memory takes me back to our first meeting about five years ago. Before the pharmaceutical lobby squashed it, Hillary Clinton’s Health Care Bill of Rights still had a chance. Those were carefree days. Damn it, if I was a Canuck, I’d have single payer and we wouldn’t be playing this scene. "You don't have to leave this continent," I beg. "We could go to Mexico or Canada to get our cheaper meds."

I'm not sure what else to say. Many of our doctors, out of frustration and diminishing profit margins, don’t see Medi-Cal clients any more. And don’t get me started on HMO’s.

"Besides, we’re still young. If we can risk the hazards of the human heart, we could do the same with those of Highway 101 and super-sized fast food."

"That’s the difference between you and I," she rejoins. "You are reckless and live for the moment regardless of type-2 diabetes. I’m lactose-intolerant. You’re too much man for me."

"Baby, if you stay, I could always continue the fight for health care reform or else, get a real job." Komiko stands there for a moment. The highlights in her jet-black hair shine. That British Columbia glimmer appears once more. Then it vanishes.

"Neither one is possible," she says. I guess we'll always have Canada. Her flight number is called on the PA. She kisses me off, one last time and queues in that final line before the metal detector. I remember it’s lunchtime and I have just enough for a super-sized combo-meal.

by Alexandra Cuff/PoorNewsNetwork Media intern

Saturday afternoon I watched for the first time in my life, a spider capture and kill a fly. The power struggle was amazing. The fly was much larger than the spider but the spider’s attack was so natural, so organized. The web was beautiful. I was standing outside the neighborhood flower shop on 23rd and Shotwell, which was the first of my stops as I entered the free block-party on Shotwell Street on June 29. A rarity in San Francisco, a hot summer day – I had the afternoon off, folks were barbequing and playing live music in the street. Neighborhood youth were spray-painting murals, without harassment. My boyfriend and I, both recent victims of master-tenant schemes to rip off unassuming household members, rode our bikes down Shotwell street to celebrate this Mission neighborhoods' successful resistance to eviction.

Nuevo Ramize (a Flores mercado) is an example of one of the 1st successful cases of surviving unjust eviction during the peak of gentrification in the Mission district during 2001. When the flower shop moved to it’s current space on 23rd and Shotwell a neighbor wrote to city hall to advocate for an eviction based on an allegation that the zone was supposed to be residential. People in the community didn’t see the shop as being out of place. Through petition signing and legal and moral support of the community members, CBOs, and the landlord, Nuevo Ramize is still here. The owner, Carmen Ramirez is going through a legislative process through the Planning Commission to get a parking variance for the shop to gain two parking spots for clients.

Through the heat, the second annual Active Resistance celebration shouted, We Are Still Here. This wasn’t just a summer block party, it was a party to celebrate the victory that residents of the Mission have won in reclaiming our rights to stand up against the economic, racial and social inequities slithering into our neighborhood in the guise of the law and neighborhood rehabilitation. The founding block party was the first publicly recognized party for fighting the eviction of families living at 868 Shotwell Street in February 2001. Although threatened with eviction by their landlord, Khorges, for "nuisance, too much foot traffic in the building, and noise" – all of which were never proved - the Marenco, Recinos, and Barbarosa families were not leaving.

Rogelio Barbarosa brought the situation to the attention of Robert Morose who is a member of PODER (People Organized to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights) and a teacher at Cesar Chavez. Together Morose, Rogelio, PODER (which is a member of MAC, the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition), St. Peters, and the community, organized weekly meetings, which sometimes saw up to seventy folks gathering together to come up with a strategy for dealing with the eviction. The tactics which were created came straight from the parents, children, teenagers and other community members. The meetings organized marches through the neighborhood which targeted the Khorges' other properties including the property of displaced residents who were already victims of his unfair evictions. Interestingly enough, the owner of these families’ homes also owns a liquor store, other apartments, and a check-cashing mart. The business’ were boycotted and Khorges' lawyer’s office was targeted as a protest site. Khorges finally gave in due to the lost business, calls from Tom Ammiano and other supervisors, and the proactive resistance from the community.

There was a lot representation going down on Saturday. A number of different community members contributed as vendors, educators, poets, cooks, artists, and community planners. Among friends representing were MEDA (Mission Economic Development Association), POOR Magazine, MAC (Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition, and as a vendor, community member Orlando Velez who teaches silk-screening at the Mission Cultural Center and has recently started his own clothing business.
MAC had a couple of tables set up which represented a virtual map of the North East Mission. People were invited to paint and build small models of buildings and neighborhood icons and place them wherever they wanted. This is part of the community planning process, "People’s Plan for Land" which through MAC, is handing the planning process back to the community. The Po' Poets from POOR; Mari, Jewnbug, A. Faye, Charles Pitts and Joseph Bolden performed, some of them doing "slam-bios" others reading pieces of poetry that spoke to the issue of gentrification and displacement. Joseph, (also a PNN columnist) whose poem "Death of a City" spoke of a city unfit to live in, warned us not to "make this cautionary tale come true".

Although the rents are slightly less in the Mission and there has been attention brought to the problem of gentrification, people are still being evicted. More than half of us are renters as opposed to owners here in San Francisco. Rents have dropped off about 10% in the past year but that is menial compared with the 100% rise in the past 2 years. Mom and pop stores are surviving on year-to-year leases. The victories already won are proof that through community solidarity and awareness, we can work to make decisions about our neighborhoods for ourselves. Although I’m aware that I’m still part of this modern feudal system as a tenant, I rode my bike to my rented home with a confirmed hope that not everyone is turning their head when an injustice goes down. I’m also looking forward to next year’s Shotwell Street block party and hope that it will stretch a couple more blocks and that even more of us will be able to say: We Are Still Here.

To get involved with or learn more about the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition’s Community Planning Process, call PODER at 431-4210.