Anti-Eviction Group's 'Murder Map' Uses Our SFPD Database 
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

The activists behind the Anti Eviction Mapping Project have taken the database of civilians killed by members of the San Francisco Police Department we obtained through public records requests to create a Murder Map.

They've compiled the data, after noting its limitations, to show that from January 1985 through August 2014, 69% of the dead civilians were people of color and 40% were black, while pointing out that black folks make up only 6% of San Francisco's population.

What motivated the activists to create this interactive map was seeing "the recent murder of Alex Nieto by the San Francisco Police Department as intimately linked to the hyper-gentrification of the San Francisco Bay Area. We created this map in solidarity with him and the communities fighting for justice here in the Bay Area and across the United States."

We're proud that our sunshine and police accountability advocacy has directly contributed to this much-needed mapping effort. Frankly, we need many more people filing public records requests with law enforcement agencies about officer-involved shootings.

If you're wondering what connection there is between the eviction epidemic in San Francisco, the primary focus of the anti eviction group, and the fatal police shootings of civilians it has much to do with the myriad ways social justice for poor and moderate income people and communities of colors is thwarted.

Take a look at the Murder Map here: http://www.antievictionmappingproject.net/murdermap.html.

Anti Eviction Mapping Project Supports Our Candidacy

By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

(Cross-posted to our campaign site.)

One of the most inspiring developments to rise up out of the horrible eviction epidemic displacing too many long-time San Francisco residents in recent years, has been the creation and activism of the Anti Eviction Mapping Project.

On their incredibly informative web site (http://www.antievictionmappingproject.net/), the group describes itself as "a data-visualization, data analysis, and digital storytelling collective documenting the dispossession of San Francisco Bay Area residents. The project seeks to de-isolate those displaced and act as a tool for collective resistance."

Members of the project and their allies in the affordable housing rights movement have done a terrific job of organizing attention-grabbing street activism, that has helped many keep their apartments and forced City Hall to listen to ordinary folks fighting gentrification. It is one grassroots group that the corporate media and real estate industry simply cannot ignore.

Today, we're very pleased to announce that the Anti Eviction Mapping Project has issued this statement in support of our candidacy:

"We're an organization fighting every day to curb the greed of real estate developers and housing flippers in San Francisco, and the politicians who support them. As proud direct-action advocates working to prevention evictions of poor and moderate income people, we don't make endorsements but we support Michael Petrelis and his alternative candidacy for District 8 Supervisor. His brand of DIY Democracy challenges the power-brokers at City Hall and we support the #ILikeMikeSF team!"

Thank you so much, members of the Anti Eviction Mapping Project, for your statement!

Here are four of the members at last month's Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club dinner, where they received a well-deserved community award.