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<b><big><big>Angered by senior evictions, Filipino American activists
decline award</big></big></b>
<div class="print-submitted">By <em>rebecca</em></div>
<div class="print-created">Created <em>10/31/2013 - 1:22pm</em></div>
<div class="print-content">
<p></p>
<p>The board members of a local Filipino heritage organization, with
ties to a high-profile eviction defense battle at San Francisco’s
International Hotel in the late 1970s, have declined to an accept an
award that San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee had planned to extend to them as
part of a Filipino American History celebration because they are angry
about a growing trend of senior evictions.</p>
<p>In a written statement sent to media by board member Tony Robles,
the Manilatown Heritage Foundation explained that it couldn't accept
the award as long as “elders are being preyed upon, evicted and given a
de facto death sentence thereof.”</p>
<p>The Manilatown Heritage Foundation board members were informed by
Board of Supervisors President David Chiu that Lee had planned to
recognize the I-Hotel as part of an annual cultural history celebration
at City Hall, the statement noted. “Part of the occasion was to honor
the I-Hotel and its many tenants and activists for its contribution to
Filipino American history,” board members explained.</p>
<p>In 1976, the I-Hotel was targeted for demolition, prompting an
historic eviction defense battle led by housing activists who rallied
to the defense of the impacted tenants. A significant fixture in what
was once a predominantly Filipino neighborhood known as Manilatown, the
I-Hotel housed 196 tenants, predominantly low-income Filipino
immigrants. </p>
<p>“The I-Hotel fight was for dignity and it lived by the premise that
housing is a human right,” Manilatown Heritage Foundation members
explained in the written statement. “The fight for the I-Hotel
galvanized the community around the fight for affordable housing,
particularly for seniors—who sacrificed much and on whose shoulders we
stand. The fight included tenants, elders, activists, artists and
students who recognized that the real estate developers and financial
interests were out of control—power unchecked.” </p>
<p>The fight dragged on, at one point more than two thousand people
surrounded the building to blockade the doors in an effort to prevent
an eviction from going forward. The battle over the I-Hotel also
brought on a famous San Francisco episode in which then-Sheriff Richard
Hongisto served five days in his own jail for refusing to carry out the
eviction order. In the end, the tenants were finally ousted. But the
epic battle ultimately helped to produce a different outcome, many
years later: The property became the site of low-cost senior housing,
complete with a commemorative display in the interior documenting the
dramatic I-Hotel fight.</p>
<p>As a young attorney who worked with the Asian Law Caucus, San
Francisco Mayor Ed Lee was involved in that fight – as an activist
defending tenants’ rights to stay. He frequently referred to this
chapter of his personal history while running for mayor in 2011, to
demonstrate his sensitivity to concerns about affordable housing.</p>
<p>But now that Lee is well into his mayoral term, a surge of evictions
of low-income seniors is worsening on his watch. Tenant defense
organizations such as Eviction Free San Francisco are showing up
outside landlords' homes and offices to protest eviction notices that
threaten to push low-income seniors with few options out of the city.
Some evictions have caught the attention of mainstream media, such as
the ouster of elderly Chinatown couple Gum Gee Lee and Poor Heung Lee
and their disabled daughter, Shiuman Lee.</p>
<p>Some <a
href="http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2013/10/24/tenant-group-propose-sweeping-package-ease-eviction-epidemic">advocates
have proposed legislative solutions</a> <span class="print-footnote">[1]</span>;
meanwhile, the situation has evidently become so criticial that even
city’s Human Services Agency <a
href="http://mission.sfgov.org/OCABidPublication/BidDetail.aspx?K=7278">is
seeking outside assistance</a> <span class="print-footnote">[2]</span>
to provide eviction prevention services for elderly and disabled
tenants facing Ellis Act evictions.</p>
<p>And today, the board of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation drew a
line in the sand to send Lee a clear message by refusing to accept the
honor of recognition in the current housing climate. So far, mayoral
spokesperson Christine Falvey has not responded to the Bay Guardian’s
request for comment in response to the Manilatown Heritage Foundation's
statement.</p>
<p>“Given the current state of San Francisco housing by forces out to
make a killing by killing our communities, we as the torch bearers of
the I-Hotel struggle and in the memory of its displaced elders and
advocates Al Robles, Bill Sorro, Felix Ayson, Wahat Tampao and others,
cannot, in good consciousness, accept any honor or award while elders
are being preyed upon, evicted and given a de facto death sentence
thereof. And it doesn’t matter if the honor is bestowed by Mayor Lee,
President Obama or the pope. We have to say no.”</p>
<p>Here’s the <a
href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/i3autlqqpc0xypi/Manilatown_DeclineLetter.docx">full
statement</a> <span class="print-footnote">[3]</span> from the
Manilatown Heritage Foundation. Here's an <a
href="http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Remember_the_Filipinos%21_International_Hotel_%26_the_Dewey_Monument">historical
essay</a> <span class="print-footnote">[4]</span> about the I-Hotel
from Shaping San Francisco's digital archive at FoundSF.org.</p>
</div>
<hr class="print-hr">
<div class="print-source_url"><strong>Source URL:</strong> <a
href="http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2013/10/31/angered-senior-evictions-filipino-american-activists-refuse-award">http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2013/10/31/angered-senior-evictions-filipino-american-activists-refuse-award</a></div>
<div class="print-links">
<p><strong>Links:</strong><br>
[1]
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2013/10/24/tenant-group-propose-sweeping-package-ease-eviction-epidemic">http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2013/10/24/tenant-group-propose-sweeping-package-ease-eviction-epidemic</a><br>
[2] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mission.sfgov.org/OCABidPublication/BidDetail.aspx?K=7278">http://mission.sfgov.org/OCABidPublication/BidDetail.aspx?K=7278</a><br>
[3]
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/i3autlqqpc0xypi/Manilatown_DeclineLetter.docx">https://www.dropbox.com/s/i3autlqqpc0xypi/Manilatown_DeclineLetter.docx</a><br>
[4]
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Remember_the_Filipinos!_International_Hotel_&_the_Dewey_Monument">http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Remember_the_Filipinos!_International_Hotel_&_the_Dewey_Monument</a><br>
</p>
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<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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