As a longtime progressive with activist leanings, it takes a lot to turn me away from leftwing causes. But I am currently feeling like a helium balloon that has been stuck with a great big safety pin. As my husband E.D. calls it, "the disillusionment of a liberal!"

My sister and brother progressives in San Francisco have been mightily duped, and it's hard to live with that reality. The scary thing is that if I didn't have inside information, I'd probably be out there on the streets too, with my handmade sign, leading chants and marching with the rest of 'em. What a wake-up call! From now on I will always always always check out the information I'm given by any group. I will not assume I am hearing the truth, even if I hear it from folks with whom I usually stand in solidarity.

My friends who created the wonderful garden apartment that I rent behind their home/office in San Francisco's Mission District own a small architectural company called Pomegranate Design & Development. They are a politically progressive, ecologically sensitive, socially aware, culturally committed married couple. For years they have shared the vision of buying a building in the Bay Area that could house arts and cultural groups, as well as offer rental space to community-serving retail and small businesses in beautifully designed, environmentally-friendly surroundings. This winter they found just such a building 3 blocks from their house, on the corner of Mission Street and 22nd. They were delighted to find that the long-established Dancers' Group was already a month-to-month tenant.

Even before the deal went through, my friends approached the Dancers' Group to begin working with them on how to help them stay in the space. It was clear their 1970s' rents (48 cents per square foot per month) would have to be raised for Pomegranate Design to be able to pay their own building/mortgage expenses (the building needs substantial repairs and renovations). Even though my friends received unsolicited offers of $4 per square foot per month from people who wanted to rent the space, they offered it to the Dancers' Group for $2.50 per square foot per month. As they say, "We are not out to get the highest rents possible, but rather to foster and support the arts, dance, and small businesses in our neighborhood."

For months my friends scheduled meetings to brainstorm with the Dancers' Group about different ways to make their staying in the building feasible. "Tiered rent increases to allow them time to line up sufficient funding and consolidation of their space into a more efficient and affordable configuration" were some of the ideas offered. When Pomegranate Design asked the Dancers' Group to submit a proposal, their request was ignored. Instead the Dancers' Group went to the Bay Guardian weekly newspaper and accused Pomegranate Design of insisting on a 400% rent increase with threats of eviction, with no mention of my friends' efforts to help them stay in the space. They described my friends as "dot.com millionaires" who just want to gentrify the neighborhood. My friends responded with a public letter in which they tried to set forth the facts in a reasoned, non-reactive manner. Since this article was published and the Dancers' Group has continued to spread misinformation online, my friends have been the victims of "hate" calls and emails. In spite of these attacks, Pomegranate Design has stayed true to their promise to let the Dancers' Group stay in the space until after their August performance.

So now a coalition of San Francisco progressives, calling themselves Mission Antidisplacement Project, is organizing a massive demonstration/protest/sit-in on August 15 (the last day of the Dancers' Group's tenancy) at my friends' building at 22nd and Mission. All of their emails, flyers and press releases carry the same misrepresentations that the Dancers' Group has been feeding the media: simply that their rent was raised 400%, and they've been evicted.

A quote from the coalition's email campaign is: "This studio has been occupied by dancers for over 50 years. Its fate now is to become, what? Another dot.com office? NO MORE! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! STOP THE GENTIFICATION! STOP THE CLEAR-CUTTING! HAVE SOME RESPECT!...Make like Julia Butterfly--sit in the tree and don't come down til they talk..." Totally ignoring the fact that it has been Pomegranate Design & Development who has tried to talk for months, and the Dancers' Group that abruptly broke off negotiations in May. As my friends say, "Most significantly, this call for action is attempting to make us the poster children for greedy, eviction-happy landlords, the punching bag for all the anti-displacement energy that has been rushing through the neighborhood and the city in recent months."

What can they do now? What they have done is send emails to their community of friends and colleagues, keeping us abreast of the latest happenings and clarifying things so we know what's really going on. How can we help? The forces against them seem to be rolling ahead full steam. Many individuals and groups involved are most likely ignorant of the truth. Why is the Dancers' Group so consistently misrepresenting the facts? Hard to figure, especially since they're unlikely to find comparable rental space in the city at the below-market rates my friends offered them.

What I can do to help is simply spread the truth, as I know it. And call on those who hear to do what they can to keep this truth rippling out like a stone thrown in a pond. Perhaps these waves of truth will reach someone who can help turn the tide. Public awareness, that's what we need. Persons in high places to advocate for my friends and publicize the truth far and wide. Members of the arts and dance community who are willing to listen to another side of the story. A community of supporters to stand at the side of my friends...perhaps even during the planned demonstration on August 15.

Fighting lies is tough. Especially lies that feed into people's fears. And I know San Franciscans are fearful of rising property costs right now. With good reason. But this is not the time or place or issue on which to focus such fears.

Time will certainly vindicate my friends. The truth will eventually be known. I just want it to happen sooner rather than later.
 

FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2000

Thanks for this.  If at all possible, I'll be there with M. and E. on the 15th of August.  It all depends on the time - it's a regular work day for me.  I will forward your email to everyone I know here in the Bay Area though.

love,
R.
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I read your journal entry and certainly sympathize...

In this case, the protestors still have a valid concern. It's just that their specific target is wrong, and the anger of the movement's leaders won't allow them to see the truth (or even shades of gray). They are correct that dot-com millionaires ARE changing the city, and of course the vulnerable and disenfranchised are the ones being hurt, as they are in almost any major change or action (as you have so eloquently pointed out regarding Iraq, for example). I'm sorry that your wonderful friends are being cast in the ancient role of scapegoats. I certainly know how they and you feel.

I am in a space now where I don't applaud reckless radicalism, but I "try" to accept it as a part of great movements, the way I try to accept the least pleasant part of a whole person. The tragedy is that people get hurt unfairly. M. and E. are lucky to have a friend like you who sees and champions their goodness and truth. Ultimately I think that is the greatest love -- and the greatest good -- we can show to anyone.

Love,
J.
....................

Coincidentally I got your email at the same time as an action alert. Forwarded yr important message to all on the email list.

With prayers for justice and love to you
V.
....................

Sorry to read about your friends.  I read part of the article and after you wrote I have phoned friends who read the paper and they said that it is not the first time the paper tell lies and most sensible people don't pay attention to it.  I hope that your friends will be victorious at the end.

love, L.
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Do M. and E. need to go to their new building on August 15th? If they do, maybe we could go with them, so they won't be alone.  Just walk beside/around them as they go in.  No signs or yelling.  Just a cushion. Do you think this would be perpetuating antagonism, or creating a flea circus of our own?  If we just walk with them. Anyway, maybe they won't need to be there, and can ignore the shenanigans til they blow away.  I haven't heard anything about it, and I've been watching the news for some odd reason lately.  So that's good.

love
P.
....................

Responses I received to an email message I sent this morning to my community of friends in the Bay Area. What an amazing gift to be able to offer friends tangible (virtual?) support while 1000s of miles apart. Before the advent of email, I would have been gnashing my teeth in impotent fury after hearing of the situation that I described in yesterday's journal entry. But now I could actually "do" something that reached the community affected...and do it immediately. For all the internet abuses and problems we hear about, moments like this make me so grateful to be living in this time and place.

And to my community of friends who rally around when they hear the need, I send my deepest thanks.

©2000 Patricia Lay-Dorsey. Please use with attribution.