Petrelis Files

3/2 Presser at 16th St BART Plaza to Stop an Eviction

The battle over San Francisco real estate for residential tenants, small businesses and cultural venues shows no signs of cooling off. This release hit my in-box today. One more flareup in the war over the diversity and gentrification of the Mission. Here's the announcement for the presser: 

  

"Friends of Station 40 will announce at a press conference on Monday March 2, 2015, at noon at 16th and Mission BART plaza that they will be supporting tenants of Station 40, the eleven-year-old collective household and political events in their fight against eviction. 

"Last week the collective received eviction court papers (an unlawful detainer) from landlords Ahuva, Emmanuel, and Barak Jolish. 

"Although the Jolish family had previously stated its intentions to sell, they have refused a proposal presented by the Station 40 collective, SF Community Land Trust, and Mission Economic Development Agency to sell their property to the land trust, in what would be a win-win situation for the property owners, current tenants, and Mission community at large. 

"Friends of Station 40 say it is no coincidence that the collective is being evicted on the same intersection as the hotly contested proposed development by Maximus Real Estate Partners of a 350-unit luxury apartment building in what is a predominantly working-class neighborhood.   

"The press conference will include Station 40 tenants and collective members; Tracy Parent, director of the SF Community Land Trust; Tommi Avicolli Mecca of the Housing Rights Committee; Erick Arguello of Calle 24; Chandra L. Redack, tenant at 1049 Market Street, another building under the threat of eviction; a Plaza 16 Coalition representative; and others.

"As someone who has attended many forums and trainings at Station 40," said Mesha Irizarry of the Idriss Stelley Foundation, "I feel tremendous loss at the thought of this eviction. Station 40 exemplifies what a vibrant creative, collective space should be, [and] has been a nest of the struggle to keep San Francisco the core of art and revolution in the Mission and whole city."