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The Occupy SF Housing coalition joined forces with Occupy SF on Sat., Jan. 14 in San Francisco's Mission district.
Tenant and housing groups were protesting the complicity between real estate speculators and banks as they attempt to evict thousands of San Franciscans.
Several people climbed on top of the Wells Fargo roof at 16th and Mission and unfurled a banner that read: "Banks: No Foreclosures/Evictions for Profit!"
“We can not allow banks and speculators to dictate who stays and who goes in our communities,” said Maria Zamudio, a CJJC tenant counselor and organizer.
For too long the working class has been a target of predatory equity scams, loopholes in Ellis Act evictions, and unscrupulous home loans.
Jose Morales, a CJJC housing rights member, was evicted after a long fight to stay in his apartment. The eviction was based on the Ellis Act. It hasn't deterred him from continuing his activism. He told the crowd: "I'm 82 and a half but you still see me walking around with my sign."
Said Zamudio: “Foreclosures and evictions unbalance communities, jeopardize health and well-being, and leach wealth from neighborhoods. Housing is a human right. If banks and speculators continue to act as landlords, they must respect tenant protections that San Franciscans have struggled to achieve."
Occupy SF Housing is a coalition which includes Occupy SF, SF Tenants Union, Housing Rights Committee of SF, Causa Justa:Just Cause, Eviction Defense Collaborative, ACCE, Homes Not Jails and other community groups and individuals. The coalition came together to stop banks from evicting tenants and homeowners through foreclosures or through their partnerships with real estate speculators.
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Despite recording record profits last year, Wells Fargo continues to drive tens of thousands of people out of their homes through foreclosure proceedings while devastating our communities. The good news is, we're fighting back.
Occupy Bernal Heights formed to resist the foreclosure and eviction of our neighbors. Through public protest, we stopped the bank from immediately auctioning off the homes of Washington and Maria Davila and Alberto Del Rio, but the bank has merely rescheduled the auction dates.
And despite meeting with six foreclosure fighters from the neighborhood and another from Bayview-Hunters Point, Wells Fargo executives have refused to allow any of them to refinance their homes or modify their loans, and have not stopped foreclosure proceedings against them.
Call and email Wells Fargo executives and demand that they grant a loan modification and fair deal to Alberto Del Rio; Maria and Washington Davila; Thomas German; Ernesto Viscara; Victor Granados; DeDe Martinez; and Archbishop King. Tell them to stop evicting and foreclosing on our neighbors!
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Wells Fargo Phone numbers/emails:
Diana Stauffer (Senior VP Regional Servicing Director): 925-552-4347
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Alfredo Pedroza (Director CA Local Gov't Relations): 415-396-0829
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John Stumpf (CEO): 866-878-5865
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Subject line: WELLS FARGO: HANDS OFF OUR NEIGHBORS!
Message: I demand that you cancel the auction of Alberto Del Rio and Maria and Washington Davila's family homes immediately. I also demand that you allow them, along with Ernesto Viscara; Victor Granados; DeDe Martinez; and Archbishop Franzo King, to modify their loans with you or refinance their homes. I call on you to stop evictions and foreclosures in San Francisco.
Stop evicting and foreclosing on our neighbors!
Tweets:
Demand WellsFargo stop evicting and foreclosing on our neighbors Call
Diana Stauffer 925-552-4347 Alfredo Pedroza415-396-0829 #OSF #OB
Demand WellsFargo modify loans and grant fair deal to our neighbors
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#OSF #OB
Tell WellsFargoCEO John Stumpf to stop evicting and foreclosing on our
neighbors 866-878-5865
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#OSF #OO #OB
Demand Wells Fargo grant fair deal to Bernal Neighbors Del Rio;
Davila; German; Viscara; Granados; Martinez; and Archbishop King
#Bernal6+1 #OSF
#OccupyBernal #OB #OSF is working to stop foreclosures and
evictions by WellsFargo. Mtg T2/9 7p 515 CortlandSF
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Background:
Occupy Bernal has identified 84 homes in foreclosure proceedings in Bernal Heights alone. Of these, Wells Fargo owns the mortgage in at least 13 of these cases. Of the homes we have visited, a disproportionate number of the owners are African-American or Latino, reflecting the racist practices of the banks who are preying on communities.
While foreclosures in Bernal Heights represent just the tip of the iceberg in a city that has seen as many as 12,000 foreclosures in the past three years, Occupy Bernal Heights is hopeful that a victory in our neighborhood could spark victories elsewhere in San Francisco.
Here are the bios of Occupy Bernal foreclosure fighters:
Thomas German is a seventy-two year-old veteran and retired worker from the US Mint in SF. Has lived in Bernal since 1967 and at his home at 248 Andover since 1974. Thomas is known and loved by all on his street. He was the first Bernal resident to step forward and join OB to battle to keep his home.
Melodie “ DeDe” Martinez is a third generation resident of 150 Elsie St. Her family was at the heart of the launching of the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center(BHNC) in 1976, when she was a child. Her Grandmother Jean Hamer and mother Charlene Martinez were on the founding Board of Directors of the BHNC.
Alberto Del Rio – A father of three, who grew up in his home at 565 Banks St. A strong but gentle and religious man, Alberto is an eloquent speaker on behalf of his family and other foreclosees.
Victor Granados is a tenant at 4207 Folsom St. with his wife and family. He is a quiet but determined fighter against his and other foreclosures. When Occupy Bernal needs guidance and inspiration, he often has words of wisdom.
Ernesto Viscara is an owner and occupant of 249 Anderson, where he also rents to another family living on his 2nd floor. Ernesto has lived in Bernal for 30 years. He is also an accomplished public speaker, a veteran fighter for social justice and a participant in struggles against U.S. military intervention in Central America.
Maria and Washington Davila – A quiet couple with two beloved Yorkshire Terriers, the Davilas have rented their home at 4255 Folsom St. for 7 years. They have been the ideal tenants, and the inside of their home looks like a photo shoot from Home Beautiful.
Their landlord, who faces foreclosure, is ill and lives in Las Vegas.
Archbishop Franzo King pastors the John Coltrane Church, located in the Western Addition community of San Francisco. He is a life-long resident of the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. He has owned his house for over 20 years. He is a member of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) |
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 Revelry and Protest at J20 in SF
Emerging from hibernation after the dismantling of Occupy camps across the country, thousands of protestors dressed in rain gear came out in the rain January 20 in San Francisco’s Financial District. It was the first major Occupy action of the year, and a day (and night) of national protests across the country against corporate personhood which took place in 80 cities.
Demanding an end to predatory evictions and foreclosures, and in support of a constitutional amendment that would overturn a 2010 Citizens United ruling that declared corporations to be people and anonymous campaign donations to be “free speech,” thousands of Bay Area residents descended onto San Francisco’s financial district despite the cold wind and rain.
Some 55 affinity groups held protests across the city -- from stopping a house foreclosure auction to shutting down the banks. The daylong non-violent occupation of SF’s financial district brought people out to the streets from 6am where a giant people squid undulated before Goldman Sachs, to late evening when a vacant building was occupied for a while.
Causa Justa :: Just Cause led a march from Fannie Mae, to Wells Fargo to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to demand an end to separation of families and that Wells Fargo divest its holdings in the GEO Group-- a private prison company that runs immigrant detention centers and the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp for the U.S. government. Detentions of immigrants are set to cost taxpayers over $10 billion a year while profiting Manhattan-based hedge fund managers and other finance industry magnates like Wells Fargo who have significant investments in the private prison industry. Wells Fargo’s prison stock is valued at $88 million.
 Margarita Ramirez, whose home in East Oakland was improperly foreclosed on by Fannie Mae in May of 2011 spoke to the crowd, telling them that she would not give up the fight to make Fannie Mae answerable and to allow the rescission of the sale.
Protestors made a statement when they blocked entrances to Wells Fargo corporate headquarters and shut it down. Protestors chained themselves to Bank of America and blockaded it for nine hours, a mock foreclosure was set up at CitiCorp; Iraq Veterans Against the War did some guerilla street theater/teatro, and religious leaders marched around the banks blowing the horns of Jerico.
In a constant backdrop was Occupy Oakland’s wild, rollicking and colorful mobile bus blaring out funk music to keep the crowd dancing and warmed up. Everyone from cable car operators to clusters of well-dressed and suited up Financial district girls, to throngs of protestors could be seen bobbing to the sounds amid the drenching rain.
Ntanya Lee, one of the protestors at BofA, told Kevin Army on open.salon.com:
“I haven't been involved in Occupy at all, but I have had enough. I can't sit still anymore. Corporations like Wells Fargo got bailed out, our communities, people on my block are still getting foreclosed, losing their jobs, schools are getting shut down, and they're making record profits. It's not right and we need to let people know that we shut down business as usual as long as this is happening.” |
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