Occupiers Support ACCE at Savanna Jazz Club Benefit

Update: Check out this amazing video from Peter Menchini–


Dozens of Occupiers and other supporters, including Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters Jamila Mohamed, Carolyn Gage, Ross Rhodes, Archbishop Franzo King, Allen Stowers, and Thida Chan and San Francisco Supervisors John Avalos and David Chiu, attended a festive fundraiser for the San Francisco chapter of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) on the evening of December 13, 2012, at the Savanna Jazz Club in the Mission neighborhood.

Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Pascal Thiam, co-owner of the Savanna Club which is facing foreclosure, took to a stage bedecked with foreclosure fighter banners for some delightful jazz improvisations with Archbishop King. Thanks to the other musicians including Occupy organizer Elaine.

ACCE staff members Grace Martinez, Erin Franey, John Eller, and new executive director Christina Livingston were on hand with a bunch of volunteers who helped organize the event, including Gale Rosboro and Buck Bagot.

Occupy videographer Peter Menchini prepared a special video, which unfortunately didn’t get shown with proper audio speakers and will hopefully get broad exposure at another event soon.

Other notable attendees including Sister E, Julie Anderson, Hanson Lee, Jackson, Christie Hakim, Diane Ross, Becca Gourevich, Tim Poulson, Deborah Gerson, Kathy Lipscomb, Susan McDonough, Julien Ball, Judy Kurtz, Lisa Prochello, and many others who I didn’t catch or left before I arrived.

The event raised more than $10,000 for the organization, which has partnered effectively with Occupy Bernal, Occupy Noe, and other Occupiers to fight predatory foreclosures and evictions in San Francisco. Thanks to everyone who made it happen and to everyone who gave generously to save people’s homes!

Occupy Bernal Affordable Housing Forum on November 29, 2012

Occupy Bernal presented a forum on the Fight for Affordable Housing in Bernal Heights and Beyond at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center in San Francisco on November 29, 2012.

Speakers included:

  • Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Ross Rhodes
  • ACCE organizer Grace Martinez
  • Buck Bagot of Occupy Bernal
  • Amy Beinert of the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center
  • California Assemblymember Tom Ammiano
  • San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos
  • Sheila Chung Hagen for San Francisco Supervisor David Campos

Occupy Bernal Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Ross Rhodes at Sacramento Foreclosure Moratorium Rally

Mainstream media caught on camera our very own Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Ross Rhodes speaking at a Foreclosure Moratorium Rally in Sacramento on June 25, 2012.

Several other Occupy Bernal members attended the rally and lobbying day in support of the Homeowner Bill of Rights and some facilitated a teach-in on foreclosures and activism.

Links: CBS video    Fox video

Ross Rhodes Speaks at SF City Hall Rally Before Supervisors Committee Hear Foreclosure Moratorium Resolution

Thanks to Carol Harvey for this video of Occupy Bernal Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Ross Rhodes speaking at a San Francisco City Hall rally just before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee heard a Foreclosure Moratorium Resolution which passed the committee unanimously on to the full board, probably on April 10.

Carol’s full article appears here.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Committee Passes Foreclosure Moratorium Resolution

After a rousing protest on the steps of City Hall on April 2, 2012, the Land Use Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors held a hearing on foreclosures and passed unanimously (3-0) a slightly-amended foreclosure moratorium resolution and sent it on to the whole Board of Supervisors for consideration. This means that the Board could pass the resolution as soon as the Board meeting on April 10, 2012.

Speakers at the protest included Occupy Bernal Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter (FEF) Ross Rhodes, ACCE FEF Vivian Richardson, Occupy Bernal organizer and MC Judy Kurtz, and Supervisors David Campos and John Avalos, who sponsored the foreclosure moratorium resolution.

The Supervisors on the Land Use Committee voting in favor of the resolution were Malia Cohen, Eric Mar, and Scott Wiener, which brings the total number of Supervisors who have either co-sponsored or supported the resolution to eight, a super-majority of the Board. Among others, San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting, Ed Donaldson of the San Francisco Housing Development Corporation, and representatives of the Mayor’s and State Attorney General’s offices testified at the hearing. Kathryn Galves, who Wells Fargo recently evicted from her Noe Valley home of 40 years, and other FEFs, Home Defenders, and members of the public told their horror stories about foreclosures and related auctions and evictions and spoke in favor of the resolution. Wells Fargo declined to send a representative to the hearing.

Here are some pictures of the protest and the hearing (with more photos from Carol Harvey here:

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Committee to Hear Foreclosure Moratorium

OCCUPY BERNAL AND OCCUPY SF HOUSING MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact: Christie Hakim, +1 (415) 285-6899, press@occupybernal.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Occupy Bernal, ACCE, and Occupy SF Housing Support Board of Supervisors’ First in the Nation Major City Resolution on Unlawful Foreclosures and Moratorium on Foreclosures and Evictions to be heard in committee April 2, 2012

San Francisco, April 2, 2012 – Occupy Bernal, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), and the Occupy SF Housing Coalition will speak out at the Land Use and Economic Development Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in support of resolutions calling for a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions in San Francisco, demanding an immediate moratorium on predatory bank evictions, fraudulent foreclosures, and foreclosure auctions by all city officials.

The organizations plan a rally on the Polk Street steps of City Hall at 1:30pm. Speakers at the rally include: San Francisco Supervisors John Avalos and David Campos, Occupy Bernal Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Ross Rhodes and ACCE Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Vivian Richardson.

After the rally, speakers and other moratorium supporters will attend the Committee meeting at City Hall to present testimony.

Members of several City Departments, including the Assessor-Recorder’s office and the Mayor’s office, will present testimony. A representative from State Attorney General Kamala Harris’s office is expected to attend to address her proposed foreclosure and eviction moratorium and Homeowners’ Bill of Rights currently pending in Sacramento. In addition, counselors who have been working with San Franciscans facing foreclosure and eviction will speak about remedies that will address proposed remedies to the problems their clients face. ACCE and Occupy organizers including FEFs will speak out about the problems they have faced in their attempts to save their homes from foreclosure by Wells Fargo Bank.

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.

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 era or earlier.

“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.”

“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 Christie Hakim. “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.

Both Occupy Bernal and ACCE have recently held successful protests that occupied the home of Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf on February 25, 2012, protested in front of Board of Directors member Lloyd Dean’s Dignity Health office on March 14, 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

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