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WE WILL NOT BE MOVED (2 of 4)
Although some of the tenants felt there was no other option but to
move out, a spirited group of tenants and their families organized to
resist the eviction notices and enlist the resources of the community
to fight for their homes and survival.
For many, living in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza meant accessing culturally
specific services such as being able to go see a doctor who could speak the
same language. Many of the Pacific Renaissance tenants are also elderly and
disabled and cannot just pick up and move without great disruption to their
lives.
Francis Chang, one of the key tenant organizers, goes to meetings because his
father, who is 93 years old, and his mother, who is 80 years old and on dialysis,
cannot go.
Many of the tenants are planning on staying regardless of the eviction notice
because they have nowhere else to go.
“We’re not planning to move, since neither one of us can walk,” said
94-year-old Robert Wong. “We’re too old to face this kind of change.”
“No One Was Watching the Wolf”
Chan is the president of C & L Financial, a company that received a direct
loan of $7 million from the city of Oakland ten years ago as part of a massive
redevelopment plan that started in the 1960’s in Chinatown. As a concession
for turning over the area to developers, he city of Oakland worked out an agreement
with the developer that 50 out of the 250 units would remain affordable for
at least ten years, with the understanding that the units would be re-negotiated
at the end of the ten years.
In addition to providing Chan and his company with the $7 million loan, the
city ofOaklandalso allowed Chan and his company to pay $8 million less than
the value of the land that the development was built on at the time. Although
the developer originally promised to build a parking garage, library and cultural
center at no cost to the city when he was competing for the development rights,
the city ofOaklandended up additionally investing over ten million dollars
into building the parking garage, library and cultural center.
Chan’s loan was to be repaid with profits from the
initial sale of the 200 market-rate condos and sales tax revenues from
the businesses, with 10% interest on the $7 million loan each year for
a 25-year term, and 40% of the profit. However, that loan, interest
payments, and any profit share were never repaid to the city ofOaklandand
taxpayers and, ten years later, the tenants of thePacificRenaissancePlazaare
fighting an unfair eviction with the support of the community.
Instead, Chan broke the law by overcharging the tenants, a majority of whom
earned between $700 and $900 a month by over $300 a month.
We Wil Not be Moved 3 - The Community Fights
