Ethnic Cleansing in San Francisco - Revision history

Ccarlsson: added Ali at HP poster

2018-04-23T19:26:52Z

added Ali at HP poster

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:26, 23 April 2018
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	Not so long ago, San Francisco was home to about 100,000 Blacks, and the Fillmore district was a thriving Mecca of African American life. Today, the Fillmore is gone, wiped out by "Negro Removal" in the guise of "redevelopment," and the city's Black population has shrunk to 40,000. The last bastion of concentrated Black life, Hunters Point, is slated for ethnic cleansing designed to rob African Americans of not only a spectacular view of the Bay, but of any hope of remaining in the city.		Not so long ago, San Francisco was home to about 100,000 Blacks, and the Fillmore district was a thriving Mecca of African American life. Today, the Fillmore is gone, wiped out by "Negro Removal" in the guise of "redevelopment," and the city's Black population has shrunk to 40,000. The last bastion of concentrated Black life, Hunters Point, is slated for ethnic cleansing designed to rob African Americans of not only a spectacular view of the Bay, but of any hope of remaining in the city.

	"They want to kick you out so they can build housing they know you can't afford and allow rich San Franciscans to enjoy it. They don't feel that poor Blacks or other people of color deserve to have a view like that."		<blockquote>"They want to kick you out so they can build housing they know you can't afford and allow rich San Franciscans to enjoy it. They don't feel that poor Blacks or other people of color deserve to have a view like that."<br>
	--''Appolonia Jordan, San Francisco Bayview''		--''Appolonia Jordan, San Francisco Bayview'' </blockquote>

			[[Image:Ali at HP 1967.jpg]]

			'''Poster from 1967 when Muhammad Ali, world heavyweight boxing champion who had relinquished his title when he became a draft resister and went to jail rather than going to Vietnam, was celebrated at a rock festival in Hunter's Point--a time when rock music was still enjoying a [[Debunking ’60s Myths and Catchphrases\|multiracial enthusiasm]] prior to its full immersion in the music business.'''

			''Image: courtesy [http://www.docspopuli.org/ Docspopuli]''

	Alan Goodspeed was my next door neighbor in the Ingleside District on the south side of Ocean Avenue in San Francisco. He was a Black man from Marshall, Texas, who had moved to San Francisco during WWII and worked as a machinist for twenty five years in the shipyards of Hunters Point. Within that time, he bought a home and raised a family.		Alan Goodspeed was my next door neighbor in the Ingleside District on the south side of Ocean Avenue in San Francisco. He was a Black man from Marshall, Texas, who had moved to San Francisco during WWII and worked as a machinist for twenty five years in the shipyards of Hunters Point. Within that time, he bought a home and raised a family.

Ccarlsson at 06:31, 12 September 2016

2016-09-12T06:31:12Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:31, 11 September 2016
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	'''Dress Rehearsal in the Fillmore'''		'''Dress Rehearsal in the Fillmore'''

	To understand what's happening today at Hunter's		To understand what's happening today at Hunter's Point, it is necessary to understand what happened in San Francisco's Fillmore District in the 1960's and 1970's. The Fillmore, often called the "Harlem of the West," was a center of Black culture in the decades following World War II.
	Point, it is necessary to understand what happened in San Francisco's Fillmore		Like Tulsa in the early 1920's, the Fillmore was a flourishing home for thousands of Black people and hundreds of Black-owned markets, auto repair garages, barber shops, salons, restaurants, shoe repair shops, Laundromats, night clubs, and apparel stores. Among those businesses was the legendary [[Jimbo's Bop City\|Jimbo's Bop City]], which featured performances by jazz immortals like [[Billie Holiday\|Billie Holiday]], Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and John Coltrane.
	District in the 1960's and 1970's. The
	Fillmore, often called the "Harlem of the West," was a center of Black culture
	in the decades following World War II.
	Like Tulsa in the early 1920's, the Fillmore was a flourishing home for
	thousands of Black people and hundreds of Black-owned markets, auto repair
	garages, barber shops, salons, restaurants, shoe repair shops, Laundromats,
	night clubs, and apparel stores. Among
	those businesses was the legendary Jimbo's Bop City, which featured
	performances by jazz immortals like Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Miles
	Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and John Coltrane.

	And then came something called Urban Renewal in		And then came something called Urban Renewal in the guise of a heavily-cloaked urban real estate operation called the Redevelopment Agency. When the RA was finished, the Fillmore was gone. The bulldozers had smashed and leveled block after block after block. The fabulous Fillmore looked like a bombed-out city in an old newsreel. And that's exactly what it was, displaced residents and all. The people who lived in the Fillmore were dispersed to the East Bay cities of Oakland, Richmond, and to Hunter's Point/Bayview. As the Redevelopment Agency smashed homes
	the guise of a heavily-cloaked urban real estate operation called the		and businesses, it issued thousands of certificates of preference to the people of the Fillmore. These certificates were documents which gave the displaced businesses and families a promise of preference for renting or buying other redevelopment property within the City and the right to return to the neighborhood from which they'd been evicted.
	Redevelopment Agency. When the RA was
	finished, the Fillmore was gone. The bulldozers had smashed and leveled block
	after block after block. The fabulous Fillmore looked like a bombed-out city in
	an old newsreel. And that's exactly
	what it was, displaced residents and all.
	The people who lived in the Fillmore were dispersed to the East Bay
	cities of Oakland, Richmond, and to Hunter's Point/Bayview. As the Redevelopment Agency smashed homes
	and businesses, it issued thousands of certificates of preference to the people
	of the Fillmore. These certificates were documents which gave the displaced
	businesses and families a promise of preference for renting or buying other
	redevelopment property within the City and the right to return to the neighborhood
	from which they'd been evicted.

	Of the 883 certificates given to Black-owned		Of the 883 certificates given to Black-owned
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	'''Hunter's Point Shipyards'''		'''Hunter's Point Shipyards'''

	The onslaught to quickly privatize the shipyards property [moved ahead under Mayor Newsom] regardless of the health of the		The onslaught to quickly privatize the shipyards property [moved ahead under Mayor Newsom] regardless of the health of the residents during construction on this toxic site, or the fact that no one in the neighborhood will ever be able to live in the new housing units. In 2006, Lennar Corporation was cited multiple times for failing to monitor and control asbestos dust during the grading phase on Parcel A. Oddly enough, the project was never shut down to correct any non-compliant operations. Finally, several local African American neighborhood organizations went to City Hall [in 2007] to protest this continuing contamination and request that the City red tag the site until safety measures could be enforced. Their request fell upon deaf ears.
	residents during construction on this toxic site, or the fact that no one in
	the neighborhood will ever be able to live in the new housing units. In 2006,
	Lennar Corporation was cited multiple times for failing to monitor and control
	asbestos dust during the grading phase on Parcel A. Oddly enough, the project
	was never shut down to correct any non-compliant operations. Finally, several
	local African American neighborhood organizations went to City Hall [in 2007]
	to protest this continuing contamination and request that the City red tag the
	site until safety measures could be enforced.
	Their request fell upon deaf ears.

	Meanwhile, the AWDG [All White Downtown Gang], not content with securing a		Meanwhile, the AWDG [All White Downtown Gang], not content with securing a
	financial stranglehold on future development of public lands, continues to		financial stranglehold on future development of public lands, continues to
	target existing public housing for privatization.		target existing public housing for privatization.

	'''Hunter's View'''		'''Hunter's View'''

	The situation at Hunter's View, a public housing		The situation at Hunter's View, a public housing project in the Hunter's Point/Bayview neighborhood with a scenic view of the Bay Bridge and the Bay, is a classic case of how politicians, developers, and financial interests work together to achieve their respective ends of power and
	project in the Hunter's Point/Bayview neighborhood with a scenic view of the		profit at the expense of people. In 1997, a grandmother and five children burned to death in Hunter's View because the smoke detectors didn't work. A recent inspection - ten years later - found that 64% of the units still had non functioning smoke detectors and pockets of sewage bubble up in and around these rat-infested homes.
	Bay Bridge and the Bay, is a classic case of how politicians, developers, and
	financial interests work together to achieve their respective ends of power and
	profit at the expense of people. In
	1997, a grandmother and five children burned to death in Hunter's View because
	the smoke detectors didn't work. A recent inspection - ten years later - found
	that 64% of the units still had non functioning smoke detectors and pockets of
	sewage bubble up in and around these rat-infested homes.

	Do you think City Hall rushed plumbers,		Do you think City Hall rushed plumbers, carpenters and electricians out there to fix things up? Go sit in the corner if you answered in the affirmative.
	carpenters and electricians out there
	to fix things up? Go sit in the corner if you answered in the affirmative.

	Here's how privatization for profit works: first) don't maintain anything, let		Here's how privatization for profit works: first) don't maintain anything, let
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	not to rent, that the evicted residents can't afford.		not to rent, that the evicted residents can't afford.

	"Do you think that the snail's pace rebuild of the		"Do you think that the snail's pace rebuild of the infrastructure and return of the displaced residents of New Orleans is accidental?"
	infrastructure and return of the displaced residents of New Orleans is
	accidental?"

	When the Federal government purposely abandoned		When the Federal government purposely abandoned the "inner cities" of Urban America almost thirty years ago, the vacuum left in its wake created vast and lucrative investment opportunities for the exploitation of public property.
	the "inner cities" of Urban America almost thirty years ago, the vacuum left in
	its wake created vast and lucrative investment opportunities for the
	exploitation of public property.

	In response to a Chronicle series about the dire living situation at Hunter's View,		In response to a ''Chronicle'' series about the dire living situation at Hunter's View,
	Pelosi, whose nephew Laurence has worked for both Lennar and Newsom, announced		Pelosi, whose nephew Laurence has worked for both Lennar and [[Mayor Gavin Newsom\|Newsom]], announced that the Democrats had not only increased funding for public housing, but that their $1 million allotment for Hunter's View would create "one-for-one replacement of 267 public housing units" with "new affordable rental units," and "market
	that the Democrats had not only increased funding for public housing, but that
	their $1 million allotment for Hunter's View would create "one-for-one replacement
	of 267 public housing units" with "new affordable rental units," and "market
	rate homes."		rate homes."

	Sounds familiar. Sounds like Lennar's original plan for the shipyards. Sounds like the Fillmore.		Sounds familiar. Sounds like Lennar's original plan for the shipyards. Sounds like the Fillmore.

	Excerpted from ''Ethnic Cleansing in San ~~Francsico~~'', Black Agenda Report, October 3, 2007 [http://blackagendareport.com]		Excerpted from ''Ethnic Cleansing in San Francisco'', Black Agenda Report, October 3, 2007 [http://blackagendareport.com]

	[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]][[category:African-American]][[category:Gentrification]][[category:Redevelopment]][[category:2000s]][[category:1970s]] [[category:crime]]		[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]][[category:African-American]][[category:Gentrification]][[category:Redevelopment]][[category:2000s]][[category:1970s]] [[category:crime]]

Ccarlsson: added Darrell Rogers on the police

2016-09-12T06:26:03Z

added Darrell Rogers on the police

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:26, 11 September 2016
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	--''Appolonia Jordan, San Francisco Bayview''		--''Appolonia Jordan, San Francisco Bayview''

	Alan Goodspeed was my next door neighbor in the Ingleside District on the south side of Ocean Avenue in San Francisco. He was a		Alan Goodspeed was my next door neighbor in the Ingleside District on the south side of Ocean Avenue in San Francisco. He was a Black man from Marshall, Texas, who had moved to San Francisco during WWII and worked as a machinist for twenty five years in the shipyards of Hunters Point. Within that time, he bought a home and raised a family.
	Black man from Marshall, Texas, who had moved to San Francisco during WWII and
	worked as a machinist for twenty five years in the shipyards of Hunters Point.
	Within that time, he bought a home and raised a family.

	When Alan passed away a few years ago, working		When Alan passed away a few years ago, working class Black people had already become an endangered species in San Francisco. According to a 2005 demographic study, there are probably less than 40,000 Black people left in the city. Back in the day when Alan and I changed the oil in our cars in adjoining driveways and jawed about whether Muhammad Ali would regain the title, there
	class Black people had already become an endangered species in San
	Francisco. According to a 2005
	demographic study, there are probably less than 40,000 Black people left in the
	city. Back in the day when Alan and I changed the oil in our cars in adjoining
	driveways and jawed about whether Muhammad Ali would regain the title, there
	were almost 100,000 black people in San Francisco.		were almost 100,000 black people in San Francisco.

	So, here in 2007, ethnic cleansing of the Black		So, here in 2007, ethnic cleansing of the Black population in the city "where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars" is more than halfway to completion.
	population in the city "where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars" is
	more than halfway to completion.		<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/DarrellRogersOnThePolice" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

			'''San Francisco native Darrell Rogers (b. 1945 in the Fillmore) describes his fraught relationship with the police. It starts out as a black child that just moved from the Fillmore to the Richmond where he is befriended by a white officer on horse patrol, but ends in a rather different place.'''

			''Video: Shaping San Francisco''

	'''The Jobs at the Hunter's Point Ship Yards'''		'''The Jobs at the Hunter's Point Ship Yards'''

	By 1974, most the 8,500 jobs at the shipyards		By 1974, most the 8,500 jobs at the shipyards created during World War II were gone, and a decade later a petulant Navy scotched plans to homeport the nuclear-armed USS Missouri when City officials objected to footing the bill with no job guarantees for locals. The shipyards were closed, and the Navy pulled out, leaving forty years of highly toxic contaminants behind them, and a
	created during World War II were gone, and a decade later a petulant Navy
	scotched plans to homeport the nuclear-armed USS Missouri when City officials
	objected to footing the bill with no job guarantees for locals. The shipyards were closed, and the Navy
	pulled out, leaving forty years of highly toxic contaminants behind them, and a
	commitment to clean up their mess some time in the future.		commitment to clean up their mess some time in the future.

	Even as jobs at the shipyards were drying up,		Even as jobs at the shipyards were drying up, the Hunter's Point-Bayview neighborhood was a majority Black neighborhood, a vibrant community in southwestern San Francisco which was affordable and had spectacular views of San Francisco Bay. The slaughterhouses of [[Butchertown's Beginnings\|"Butchertown"]] were gone, along with most of the auto wreckers, and although it was underserved and largely ignored by City officialdom (except for heavy-handed police presence), the neighborhood was hearth and home for thousands of Black Americans.
	the Hunter's Point-Bayview neighborhood was a majority Black neighborhood, a
	vibrant community in southwestern San Francisco which was affordable and had
	spectacular views of San Francisco Bay.
	The slaughterhouses of "Butchertown" were gone, along with most of the
	auto wreckers, and although it was underserved and largely ignored by City
	officialdom (except for heavy-handed police presence), the neighborhood was
	hearth and home for thousands of Black Americans.

	'''Gentrification Rears its Ugly Head'''		'''Gentrification Rears its Ugly Head'''

	Fast forward twenty years from the Navy's		Fast forward twenty years from the Navy's retreat. San Francisco's housing dynamic has changed drastically. Home prices and rents have skyrocketed. A studio rents for $1,800 and a small condo fetches $650,000 to $800,000. The City's light industry has disappeared, and, while most of the dot commers dot come and dot gone, they were replaced by a new urban class of middle managers, hedge fund hustlers, fashion designers, bio-meds, money changers, paper brokers, and techies of all persuasions. Gentrification has metastasized throughout the City, spilling out of the central Victorian neighborhoods into the outlying frontiers, like Hunter's Point/Bayview.
	retreat. San Francisco's housing dynamic has changed drastically. Home prices and rents have skyrocketed. A
	studio rents for $1,800 and a small condo fetches $650,000 to $800,000. The City's light industry has disappeared,
	and, while most of the dot commers dot come and dot gone, they were replaced by
	a new urban class of middle managers, hedge fund hustlers, fashion designers,
	bio-meds, money changers, paper brokers, and techies of all persuasions.
	Gentrification has metastasized throughout the City, spilling out of the
	central Victorian neighborhoods into the outlying frontiers, like Hunter's
	Point/Bayview.

	Consequently, the public lands on which the		Consequently, the public lands on which the
Line 69:		Line 46:
	able to afford the new residences and they will be forced out of this last		able to afford the new residences and they will be forced out of this last
	corner of the City, as the prices go up around them. And, to add injury to		corner of the City, as the prices go up around them. And, to add injury to
	insult, the asbestos dust being raised during construction is making the		insult, the asbestos dust being raised during construction is making the
	neighbors sick.		neighbors sick.

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	rate homes."		rate homes."

	Sounds familiar. Sounds like Lennar's original plan for the shipyards. Sounds like		Sounds familiar. Sounds like Lennar's original plan for the shipyards. Sounds like the Fillmore.
	the Fillmore.

	Excerpted from ''Ethnic Cleansing in San Francsico'', Black Agenda Report, October 3, 2007 [http://blackagendareport.com]		Excerpted from ''Ethnic Cleansing in San Francsico'', Black Agenda Report, October 3, 2007 [http://blackagendareport.com]

	[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]][[category:African-American]][[category:Gentrification]][[category:Redevelopment]][[category:2000s]][[category:1970s]]		[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]][[category:African-American]][[category:Gentrification]][[category:Redevelopment]][[category:2000s]][[category:1970s]] [[category:crime]]

Libby: I left out a large section on gangs, as well as a rant against Nancy Pelosi. This needs a footnote on the final plan by Lennar.

2011-10-20T19:49:57Z

I left out a large section on gangs, as well as a rant against Nancy Pelosi. This needs a footnote on the final plan by Lennar.

New page

''' Historical Essay '''

''by Don Santina''

Not so long ago, San Francisco was home to about 100,000 Blacks, and the Fillmore district was a thriving Mecca of African American life. Today, the Fillmore is gone, wiped out by "Negro Removal" in the guise of "redevelopment," and the city's Black population has shrunk to 40,000. The last bastion of concentrated Black life, Hunters Point, is slated for ethnic cleansing designed to rob African Americans of not only a spectacular view of the Bay, but of any hope of remaining in the city.

"They want to kick you out so they can build housing they know you can't afford and allow rich San Franciscans to enjoy it. They don't feel that poor Blacks or other people of color deserve to have a view like that."
--''Appolonia Jordan, San Francisco Bayview''

Alan Goodspeed was my next door neighbor in the Ingleside District on the south side of Ocean Avenue in San Francisco. He was a
Black man from Marshall, Texas, who had moved to San Francisco during WWII and
worked as a machinist for twenty five years in the shipyards of Hunters Point.
Within that time, he bought a home and raised a family.

When Alan passed away a few years ago, working
class Black people had already become an endangered species in San
Francisco. According to a 2005
demographic study, there are probably less than 40,000 Black people left in the
city. Back in the day when Alan and I changed the oil in our cars in adjoining
driveways and jawed about whether Muhammad Ali would regain the title, there
were almost 100,000 black people in San Francisco.

So, here in 2007, ethnic cleansing of the Black
population in the city "where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars" is
more than halfway to completion.

'''The Jobs at the Hunter's Point Ship Yards'''

By 1974, most the 8,500 jobs at the shipyards
created during World War II were gone, and a decade later a petulant Navy
scotched plans to homeport the nuclear-armed USS Missouri when City officials
objected to footing the bill with no job guarantees for locals. The shipyards were closed, and the Navy
pulled out, leaving forty years of highly toxic contaminants behind them, and a
commitment to clean up their mess some time in the future.

Even as jobs at the shipyards were drying up,
the Hunter's Point-Bayview neighborhood was a majority Black neighborhood, a
vibrant community in southwestern San Francisco which was affordable and had
spectacular views of San Francisco Bay.
The slaughterhouses of "Butchertown" were gone, along with most of the
auto wreckers, and although it was underserved and largely ignored by City
officialdom (except for heavy-handed police presence), the neighborhood was
hearth and home for thousands of Black Americans.

'''Gentrification Rears its Ugly Head'''

Fast forward twenty years from the Navy's
retreat. San Francisco's housing dynamic has changed drastically. Home prices and rents have skyrocketed. A
studio rents for $1,800 and a small condo fetches $650,000 to $800,000. The City's light industry has disappeared,
and, while most of the dot commers dot come and dot gone, they were replaced by
a new urban class of middle managers, hedge fund hustlers, fashion designers,
bio-meds, money changers, paper brokers, and techies of all persuasions.
Gentrification has metastasized throughout the City, spilling out of the
central Victorian neighborhoods into the outlying frontiers, like Hunter's
Point/Bayview.

Consequently, the public lands on which the
shipyards once stood provided both lucrative opportunities for developers and
desirable potential properties for the new yuppie class.

On the part of the shipyard now known as Parcel
A, the bulldozers, scrapers and graders of the Lennar Corporation are hard at
work, flattening a former hillside for new homes and condos. The original plan approved by the City
included affordable rental units in the mix.
However, those units have now been scrapped. Lennar reneged on the
affordable housing part of the plan, claiming a lack of profitability.

Very few, if any, of the local residents will be
able to afford the new residences and they will be forced out of this last
corner of the City, as the prices go up around them. And, to add injury to
insult, the asbestos dust being raised during construction is making the
neighbors sick.

'''Dress Rehearsal in the Fillmore'''

To understand what's happening today at Hunter's
Point, it is necessary to understand what happened in San Francisco's Fillmore
District in the 1960's and 1970's. The
Fillmore, often called the "Harlem of the West," was a center of Black culture
in the decades following World War II.
Like Tulsa in the early 1920's, the Fillmore was a flourishing home for
thousands of Black people and hundreds of Black-owned markets, auto repair
garages, barber shops, salons, restaurants, shoe repair shops, Laundromats,
night clubs, and apparel stores. Among
those businesses was the legendary Jimbo's Bop City, which featured
performances by jazz immortals like Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Miles
Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and John Coltrane.

And then came something called Urban Renewal in
the guise of a heavily-cloaked urban real estate operation called the
Redevelopment Agency. When the RA was
finished, the Fillmore was gone. The bulldozers had smashed and leveled block
after block after block. The fabulous Fillmore looked like a bombed-out city in
an old newsreel. And that's exactly
what it was, displaced residents and all.
The people who lived in the Fillmore were dispersed to the East Bay
cities of Oakland, Richmond, and to Hunter's Point/Bayview. As the Redevelopment Agency smashed homes
and businesses, it issued thousands of certificates of preference to the people
of the Fillmore. These certificates were documents which gave the displaced
businesses and families a promise of preference for renting or buying other
redevelopment property within the City and the right to return to the neighborhood
from which they'd been evicted.

Of the 883 certificates given to Black-owned
businesses, only 39 resulted in other business locations. Of the 4,719
certificates given to families, only 1,099 certificates put families in other
homes. Somehow, the Redevelopment
Agency lost contact with 3,055 families and 590 businesses which held
certificates of preference.

Today, the Fillmore is almost completely
gentrified. Much of the neighborhood
has been condo-ized and yuppified, replete with foo-foo restaurants and ersatz
jazz festivals. However, a pocket of Black families remain in the neighborhood
with enough young Black men to be targeted for a gang injunction from the City
Attorney.

'''Hunter's Point Shipyards'''

The onslaught to quickly privatize the shipyards property [moved ahead under Mayor Newsom] regardless of the health of the
residents during construction on this toxic site, or the fact that no one in
the neighborhood will ever be able to live in the new housing units. In 2006,
Lennar Corporation was cited multiple times for failing to monitor and control
asbestos dust during the grading phase on Parcel A. Oddly enough, the project
was never shut down to correct any non-compliant operations. Finally, several
local African American neighborhood organizations went to City Hall [in 2007]
to protest this continuing contamination and request that the City red tag the
site until safety measures could be enforced.
Their request fell upon deaf ears.

Meanwhile, the AWDG [All White Downtown Gang], not content with securing a
financial stranglehold on future development of public lands, continues to
target existing public housing for privatization.

'''Hunter's View'''

The situation at Hunter's View, a public housing
project in the Hunter's Point/Bayview neighborhood with a scenic view of the
Bay Bridge and the Bay, is a classic case of how politicians, developers, and
financial interests work together to achieve their respective ends of power and
profit at the expense of people. In
1997, a grandmother and five children burned to death in Hunter's View because
the smoke detectors didn't work. A recent inspection - ten years later - found
that 64% of the units still had non functioning smoke detectors and pockets of
sewage bubble up in and around these rat-infested homes.

Do you think City Hall rushed plumbers,
carpenters and electricians out there
to fix things up? Go sit in the corner if you answered in the affirmative.

Here's how privatization for profit works: first) don't maintain anything, let
everything deteriorate; second) throw up your hands in dismay of ever being
able to repair anything with the meager public funds available; third) call in
private developers and their bankers to "help out"; fourth) evict the residents
because by now everything has to be torn down, and fifth) build units to buy,
not to rent, that the evicted residents can't afford.

"Do you think that the snail's pace rebuild of the
infrastructure and return of the displaced residents of New Orleans is
accidental?"

When the Federal government purposely abandoned
the "inner cities" of Urban America almost thirty years ago, the vacuum left in
its wake created vast and lucrative investment opportunities for the
exploitation of public property.

In response to a Chronicle series about the dire living situation at Hunter's View,
Pelosi, whose nephew Laurence has worked for both Lennar and Newsom, announced
that the Democrats had not only increased funding for public housing, but that
their $1 million allotment for Hunter's View would create "one-for-one replacement
of 267 public housing units" with "new affordable rental units," and "market
rate homes."

Sounds familiar. Sounds like Lennar's original plan for the shipyards. Sounds like
the Fillmore.

Excerpted from ''Ethnic Cleansing in San Francsico'', Black Agenda Report, October 3, 2007 [http://blackagendareport.com]

[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]][[category:African-American]][[category:Gentrification]][[category:Redevelopment]][[category:2000s]][[category:1970s]]