September 17 OccuAnniversary Events

The Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters of Occupy Bernal, Occupy Noe, and ACCE-SF consensed on the following three OccuAnniversary events at the regular Saturday 10am meeting on September 1, 2012:

EVENT#1) Occupy Senior and Veterans Foreclosures and Evictions

What: Press Conference and Protest

Time/Date: 12:00pm (noon) – 1:00pm on Monday, September 17

Venue: San Francisco War Memorial Building

Address: 401 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102

Description: Please join the Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters and supporters of Occupy Bernal, Occupy Noe, and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) for a press conference on and protest of bank’s foreclosures and evictions of seniors, veterans, and disabled folks. The press conference and rally will take place at 12:00pm (noon) on Monday, September 17. This action is in cooperation with the OccuAnniversary events and the Occupy Action Council of San Francisco.

Contact: Occupy Bernal, info@occupybernal.org


EVENT#2) Occupy Fortress Investment Group

What: Protest

Time/Date: 3:00pm – 4:30pm on Monday, September 17

Venue: Fortress Investment Group Offices

Address: One Market Plaza, Spear Tower, San Francisco, CA 94105

Description: Fortress Investment Group (FIG) is a multi-billion-dollar corporation run by vulture capitalists like Peter Briger, FIG Board Co-Chair, who developed the corporation’s “Financial Services Garbage Collection” strategy. Who’s the garbage according to Briger? That’s homeowners in foreclosure, students who can’t pay their loans, etc. FIG owns 77 percent of Nationstar Mortgage, which has been purchasing distressed home mortgage debt and foreclosing on homeowners at an accelerating pace. Seven San Francisco homeowners, dubbed the “Nationstar 7” face evictions and foreclosures by Nationstar at the moment, and FIG has a long history of poor treatment of tenants and alleged violations of tenants rights laws at Park Merced and elsewhere. Please join us to protest the billionaire “garbage” collectors like Peter Briger who are throwing our neighbors out of their homes. Bring a large garbage bag if you can! Brought to you by the Foreclosure and Evictions Fighters of Occupy Bernal, Occupy Noe, and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) San Francisco, in cooperation with the San Francisco Tenant’s Union, the Occupy SF Housing Coalition, and the Occupy Action Council of San Francisco.

EVENT#3) Occupy Anniversary Mass Convergence

What: Protest

Time/Date: 5:00pm – 7:00pm on Monday, September 17

Venue: Bank of America and Goldman Sachs Offices

Address: 555 California Street @ Kearny Street, San Francisco, CA 94104

Description: OCCUPY WALLS ST (WEST): 1 YEAR! MON SEPT 17, 5pm
Monday, September 17, 2012
555 California st @ Kearny st, San Francisco

Join us on Facebook!

Commit in the coming year to keep building a movement of the 99% to end the rule by the 1%

OCCUPY THE BANKS
All Day: Occupy, move your money, take creative nonviolent action to confront the banks’ theft and destruction of our communities, homes, environment, education, health care and democracy. Plan an action with your neighbors, group, friends, family, co-workers, congregation, or classmates. Let us
know when/where/what and we will include in our list of actions.

HELL NO, WE WON’T PAY! STRIKE DEBT

5PM MASS CONVERGENCE
Debt Burning (Bring Copies of Your Debt Papers to Burn Symbolically), March, Casserole (Bring Your Pots, Pans and Spoons in the tradition of Argentina, Iceland and Quebec rebellions against 1% austerity), Celebration, Music, Guerilla Movies…

“Debt affects us all. Student debt, mortgage debt, health care debt, credit-card debt, and more: debt is the tie that binds the 99%, and it is a primary engine of Wall Street profits. Are the promises we believed in order to take this debt — of prosperity, of stability, of enfranchisement — even worth the paper our statements are printed on? Debt is ruining the lives of individuals, families, and communities while banks get bailed out. We say enough! Join us as we begin to build a people’s movement to strike debt, break the chains of debt, and to create new bonds of solidarity.”
­from StrikeDebt.org in New York City

All occupy groups, allies and supporters are invited to join and mobilize.

Planning Meetings: The SF Occupy Action Council has agreed to be its organizing/planning hub. The SF Occupy Action Council meets every Sunday, 2-4pm at HERE/UNITE Local 2, 209 Golden Gate Avenue (between Leavenworth/Hyde).

Sponsored by (to date): Foreclosure Fighters of Occupy Bernal, ACCE and Occupy Noe, Occupy SF Direct Action Work Group, Occupy Education­ Northern California, Occupy Action Council SF, Occupride/Community Not Commodity, Occupy Monterey, Occupy Bay Area United, Occupy SF Environmental Justice Work Group

Occupy Anniversary: Mass Converge with Me 17 Sept 2012 #S17 from Peter Menchini on Vimeo.

How to Talk to the Press

HOW TO USE THE MEDIA TO HELP YOU WIN ON YOUR ISSUE, FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FELLOW FORECLOSURE FIGHTERS

July 17, 2012

By Buck Bagot, for Occupy Bernal, SF ACCE and Occupy Noe

HOW #1

• You may be nervous speaking with the press, just like if you are speaking with an elected official or their staff, or a lender. Everyone is. Don’t show it if you can avoid it. Be prepared.

• You may worry that you are not smart, well informed or expert enough to speak with the press. You are. You are an expert. Lord knows you know more about your issues than any person interviewing you from the press! But don’t be over confident or cocky.

• Oh no! What happens if they ask you a question for which you don’t have the answer? Tell the truth – you don’t know the answer. Ask if you can get back to them with an answer. Not knowing the answer to a question is a gift. It permits you to show the person that you are not a glib, BSing know-it-all. And it gives you the opportunity to get back to them and continue to build a relationship.

• If you don’t want to answer a question, don’t.

• One way to answer a question you don’t like is to give the answer to a question you do like. In other words, within reason, keep making your main points no matter what they ask you.

• Both you and the media have strong self-interest in covering your story. They need to cover something – it might as well be you, your story, your organization and your issue.

• Of course, always keep your guard up – never trust the press, unless and until the reporter has earned your respect over time – like in any relationship.

• But – most reporters are at least liberal if not progressive.  While remaining alert and wary, try to give them a way to cover your side of the issue. Even a negative reporter has the responsibility to at least provide both sides of the issue.

WHY

• The media can be one of your/our most powerful weapons. Any relationship with a member of the media is extremely valuable. Try to use any contact with the press to begin what may become ongoing relationships. Take them very, very seriously.

• The media is one of the most powerful weapons we have. It’s a way to way to get your story out more broadly; influence your targets – the people who have the ability to grant your demands; impress powerful allies who have the power to help you win; get your demands – what you want – out to the general public; and let other people in foreclosure know that they are not alone, and that the best things they can do to save their homes is become a foreclosure fighter ans fight back, collectively.

• Make sure to get their full contact information.

• Let a leader or organizer from your organization know about any contact with the press. Review with others how you can use the contact to help you and your fellow foreclosure fighters win.

HOW #2

• Decide what you want to tell the press before they speak with you. Write down an outline. Make sure you tell them what you want them to learn.

• Prepare a short rap on who you and your family are/personal; your situation; and what you need from the Bank to resolve your situation.

• You want a new loan from the Bank that both pays them back and keeps you and your family in your home, affordably.

• You take some personal responsibility for being in foreclosure, but the Bank has even more responsibility, and they won’t admit and take that responsibility.

• The Bank made promises they didn’t keep. They were and are “predatory” lenders. They preyed on people desperate for credit, most of them people of color. Give examples.

• The Bank has no concern at all for their “customers” like you who suffer catastrophe – like your injuries and surgeries.

• In your story, tell how you and your family ought back even before meeting OB/SF ACCE/ You got a nonprofit loan counselor. You contacted Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

• If it applied to you – and if it didn’t, mention the other foreclosure fighters you have met – many folks are ashamed of being in foreclosure. They never ask for help, and they lose their homes. You asked for help. You demanded a fair deal. You joined – and helped found – Occupy Noe. Now you and your families are “foreclosure fighters.” Your fighting to save your home, with other people in foreclosure and your neighbors. And your helping other people in foreclosure come out of the shadows, fight back, and save your homes.

• When you convince B of A to give you a fair, affordable deal, it will help not only you and your family, but thousands of other families in the same fix.

• You have learned a lot. You’ve met scores of other foreclosure fighters, and neighbors. You’ve helped lead negotiations with your and other lenders; worked with the Mayor’s office, the Board of Supervisors, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. You’ve even learned to be a press spokesperson (pause for the to chuckler!).

• At the end of any contact with the media, thank them. Repeat what you want them to report on/quote. Ask them if and when the item will run. Ask them if they require any additional information. Get it to them, and fast. Track if your item appears. Send them a thank you note.

• In coordination with your organization, always contact them again in the future – personally, not just through a press release – any time your have story that you
want them to cover/that might interest them.

Occupy SF Housing and San Francisco Officials to Call for Foreclosure Moratorium 12:00 Noon, March 20, at City Hall

Links: Foreclosure Moratorium Resolution (as introduced)    Photos of the event

Update: Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters and Supervisors spoke together at a press conference on City Hall Steps. Supervisor John Avalos introduced the Foreclosure Moratorium Resolution at the Board of Supervisors meeting as planned.

OCCUPY BERNAL MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Occupy Bernal: Julien Ball, +1 (415) 483-9138, press@occupybernal.org

ACCE: Erin Franey, +1 (503) 816-4593, efraney@calorganize.org

Occupy SF Housing: Stardust, +1 (415) 425-3936, stardust@willdoherty.org

Occupy Bernal, ACCE, Occupy SF Housing Demand San Francisco End Evictions, Foreclosures, and Foreclosure Auctions

San Francisco Officials to Speak on Unlawful Foreclosures, Moratorium Resolution

San Francisco, March 20, 2012 – Occupy Bernal, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), and the Occupy SF Housing Coalition today take their demand for an immediate moratorium on predatory bank evictions, fraudulent foreclosures, and foreclosure auctions to city officials, some of whom plan to introduce a foreclosure moratorium resolution to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Press Conference of Foreclosure/Eviction Fighters and City/County Officials:
12:00–12:30pm, Tuesday, March 20, at
City Hall Steps, 400 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco (foreclosure auction side)

Speakers at the press conference will include: San Francisco Supervisors John Avalos, David Campos, and Christina Olague, Occupy Bernal Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters (FEFs) Alberto del Rio and Ernesto Viscarra, ACCE FEF Monica Kenney, who recently successfully fought a Wells Fargo eviction, and Molly Martin, an organizer from Occupy Bernal.

After the press conference, Supervisor John Avalos and co-sponsors – Supervisors Campos, Olague, and Kim, and Board President Chiu – plan to introduce a resolution for a moratorium on foreclosures and related auctions and evictions to the Board of Supervisors meeting at 2:00pm at City Hall.

Occupy organizers and supportive Supervisors have invited other officials from the City and County of San Francisco, including Mayor Ed Lee, Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting, Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, District Attorney George Gascón, and other members of the Board of Supervisors, to the press conference and to introduce legislation and policies that will prevent unlawful foreclosures and related auctions and evictions in San Francisco.

Occupy Bernal, ACCE, and other community organizations in the Occupy SF Housing Coalition are also announcing an Occupy the Auctions/Evictions direct action campaign to invite the 99% to halt the dozens of foreclosure auctions that take place on City Hall steps each weekday.

Occupy Bernal, ACCE, and the Occupy SF Housing coalition invite the press to hear from San Francisco residents as well as from officials of the City and County of San Francisco.

“I no longer want to worry about what to tell my children when I return home each night,” said Occupy Bernal Foreclosure Fighter Alberto del Rio. “We who face bank foreclosures and evictions just want a fair deal from the banks so our families can sleep soundly in our homes.”

“We are fast losing residents from our communities – seniors, families, community leaders, city workers,” said ACCE Foreclosure Fighter Archbishop Franzo King. “The city must do all in its power to pause foreclosures and cease partnering with predatory banks so we can all hold the banks accountable for their crimes.”

California Attorney General Kamala Harris on February 27, 2012, asked lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to halt foreclosures statewide and for principal reductions for those facing foreclosure.

“The banks have torn apart our communities and caused a financial and health crisis by unjustly foreclosing and evicting our neighbors from their homes,” commented Occupy Bernal organizer Molly Martin. “We support those city officials who have joined with the state Attorney General in calling for an immediate halt to predatory and for-profit foreclosures and related auctions and evictions.”

An audit commissioned by San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting on nearly 400 San Francisco foreclosures over the past three years reveals that “fully 84 percent of the foreclosure files contained at least one clear legal violation and more than 66 percent of the files contained multiple violations”. This report confirms what many have suspected and provides the evidence required for issuing a moratorium on all predatory or for-profit evictions, foreclosures, and foreclosure auctions until such time as the law violations mentioned in the report are resolved and mechanisms are put in place to prevent further bank abuses of homeowners and renters.

The recent deal between banks and the Attorneys General of 49 of 50 states is woefully inadequate and does little for the Californians hardest hit by the crisis. Foreclosures have cost the state $650 billion in lost home values, property taxes, and foreclosure-related costs, according to a report released last December by California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE). The top banks – Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Ally Financial – pay only $18 billion in this sweetheart deal, which amounts to only $150 per foreclosure statewide. About 750,000 families will receive up to $2,000, a pittance compared with even the depressed value of their homes. The largest chunk – more than $12 billion – will in part go to pressure even more homeowners to sell their homes for less than what they owe, in real estate transactions called short sales that are nothing more than an easy way for banks to make money and save time evicting homeowners, while leaving more and more neighbors without homes. To summarize, the 1% are profiting off the economic distress of the 99% to finagle the largest land grab since the Depression era or earlier.

In a city that has seen 12,000 or more foreclosures in the past three years, Occupy Bernal started organizing in December 2011 to stop the evictions and foreclosures of our neighbors, joining a community of housing rights organizations who have long been fighting for tenant’s and home owners’ rights. In response to public protest in January 2012, Wells Fargo Bank postponed auctions of the Bernal homes of Washington and Maria Davila and the Alberto Del Rio family, but the bank also rescheduled the auctions. Despite meeting with six foreclosure fighters from the Bernal Heights neighborhood and another from Bayview-Hunters Point, Wells Fargo executives have refused to allow any to refinance their homes or modify their loans, and have continued plans to sell off their homes.

This press conference follows on successful protests that occupied the home of Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf on February 25, 2012, and shut down Wells Fargo headquarters on January 20, 2012, and Wells Fargo bank branches in the Bernal and Excelsior neighborhoods on January 5 and January 7 respectively.

To sign up for the Occupy Bernal press list and/or obtain photos and video of the actions, see http://www.occupybernal.org/press

Organizations and Campaigns:

Occupy Bernal is a neighborhood-based Occupy currently focusing on preventing the banks from throwing our neighbors out of their homes. Web: http://www.occupybernal.org

Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) is raising up the voices of low income, immigrant and working families across California. Web: http://www.calorganize.org

Occupy SF Housing is a coalition which includes OccupySF, SF Tenants Union, Housing Rights Committee of SF, Causa Justa :: Just Cause, Eviction Defense Collaborative, ACCE, Homes Not Jails, Occupy Bernal, 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. Web: http://www.occupysfhousing.org

Occupy the Auctions/Evictions is a campaign to halt for-profit and predatory evictions, foreclosures, and foreclosure auctions in San Francisco and beyond. Web: http://www.occupytheauctions.org and http://www.occupyevictions.org

– 30 –

Photos

Photos of Wells Fargo Campaign Actions Press Conference

Here are photos from the Wells Fargo Campaign Actions press conference that took place at 11:30am on February 14, 2012, at Bradley Manning Plaza (Justin Herman Plaza), organized by Occupy Bernal and Occupy SF Housing. (Thanks to Becca for snapping these photos!)