Occupy Wells Fargo Homeless Shelter on November 17, 2012

Posted on November 17, 2012 by admin

On November 17, 2012, Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters and their supporters gathered at a Chase bank branch at 15th and Market Streets in San Francisco to protest the effect of bank foreclosures and evictions on homeowners and renters. About 10 police officers turned out for the protest.
Meanwhile, someone altered the signage at a nearby Wells Fargo Home Mortgage location so that it became a Wells Fargo Homeless Shelter.

The protestors moved to the Wells Fargo location on Market Street between 15th and 16th Streets and set up a soup kitchen, played music, and spoke about the problem of foreclosures, evictions, and homelessness, as well as connections with the banks investing in prisons and environmental degradation.

The protestors highlighted the case of Larry Faulks, a disabled African-American gay senior — while negotiating a loan modification with him, Wells Fargo sold his home at a foreclosure auction and now refuses to buy it back from DMG Asset Management, the company who bought the property at the auction. Wells Fargo also refuses to give Larry Faulks a fair deal loan modification.

As one participant read off the names of families at risk from Wells Fargo’s foreclosures and evictions, the group responded by chanting “…shall not be moved” after each name.

Thanks to Arizmendi for donating delicious bread and pastries from their worker-owned cooperative bakery and to Space Transformers for organizing the fabulous soup kitchen. Representatives from many groups participated, including Occupy Bernal, ACCE-SF, Occupy Direct Action Workgroup, Occupy Action Council of SF, Occupy SF Environmental Justice Workgroup, Community Not Commodity, Occupy Noe, San Francisco Tenants Union, Senior and Disability Action, Manilatown Heritage Foundation, Communities United in Defense of Olmsted, and Occupy South San Francisco.

Media coverage: Huffington Post

Thanks to Peter Menchini for first video below.

Thanks to Peter Menchini for the last 15 photos below.

ACTION: 2pm November 17 Occupy Chase to Prevent Homelessness, Foreclosures, and Evictions

Posted on November 16, 2012 by admin

Action Location (rain or shine):
Chase Bank Branch, 2112 15th Street, San Francisco, CA 94114 (at Market Street)

What: Occupy Chase to Prevent Homelessness, Foreclosures, and Evictions with a soup kitchen, street theater, foreclosure and eviction fighters and other speakers

When: 2:00pm on Saturday, November 17

Where: We’ll announce the surprise! location in San Francisco the morning of the action on this web page at http://www.occupytheauctions.org/chase.

Who: So far, we’ve got bread donated from Arizmendi and Ryan and the Space Transformers folks are setting up a soup kitchen, Bob on transport, Lisa and David on signage, music including guitarists Francis Collins and Tommi Avicolli-Mecca.

Join Facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/492628647435647.

Brought to you by Occupy Bernal, ACCE-SF, Occupy Direct Action Workgroup, Occupy Action Council of SF, Occupy SF Environmental Justice Workgroup, Community Not Commodity, Occupy Noe, San Francisco Tenants Union, Senior and Disability Action, Manilatown Heritage Foundation, Communities United in Defense of Olmsted, and others coming soon.

Occupy Wells Fargo to Save the Faulks Home

Posted on October 27, 2012 by admin

Supporters of Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Larry Faulks gathered at the Wells Fargo branch in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco to demand that Wells Fargo rescind the sale of the Faulks home to DMG Asset Management and offer Larry a fair deal loan modification. Larry and his brother are elderly and disabled and don’t deserve to be thrown to the curb after Wells Fargo illegally sold their home at auction while negotiating a loan modification with them (a practice called “dual tracking”).

The group gathered hundreds of signatures to present to Wells Fargo Community Relations Director Brenda Wright and Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf.

Susan McDonough of Occupy Noe explains the situation with Wells Fargo, DMG Asset Management, and the Faulks family. She invites supporters to join an action at an open house of Climb Real Estate, the company that flips the homes DMG Asset Management evicts families like the Faulks family from. The protest will take place 12:00pm to 3:00pm on Sunday, October 28, at 1272 Rhode Island Street on Potrero Hill in San Francisco.

Larry Faulks talks about his situation and expresses his thanks to supporters.

The action was organized by Occupy Noe, Occupy Bernal, and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) with participation from the Occupy Direct Action Workgroup (DAWG) and Community Not Commodity.

Links: Bay Area Reporter coverage

Occupy the Dream House Action at YBCA Occupy Art Exhibit

Posted on October 2, 2012 by admin

Occupiers occupied the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ “Occupy Bay Area” art exhibit on October 2, 2012, setting up a foreclosure “nightmare house” and acting as Occupy docents to attendees at the exhibit from all over the world.

The event was part of a campaign called Occupy the Dream House intended to point out the societal plight of arts organizations who resort to raffling off a “dream house” to raise money from people, most of whom probably wouldn’t be able to pay the property taxes on the $4.1 million dollar luxury home even if they won it. Occupy the Dream House organizers want to point out the contradictions in appealing to people’s greed and gambling dreams while Occupy Foreclosure and Evictions Fighters and millions of other Californians are struggling through nightmares to remain in their homes.

Meanwhile, Oracle staged an event in the Yerba Buena gardens, blocking off public access to the entire area, similar to the recent Salesforce event that blocked off the entire Civic Center Plaza to the public for a few days. How is it that corporations can cordon off the commons for their own private use? Shouldn’t the public be welcome to any corporate-sponsored events in public venues?

Links: http://occupytheauctions.org/dreamhouse Media Coverage

Occupy Fortress Investment Group for the Nationstar 8 (Occupy Anniversary Action)

Posted on September 17, 2012 by admin

Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters (FEFs) and supporters from Occupy Bernal, Occupy Noe, Occupy Direct Action Workgroup, and ACCE occupied One Market Plaza in San Francisco where the offices of the Fortress Investment Group (FIG) are located. The protestors demanded that Fortress Investment Group stop evictions and foreclosures of FEFs in San Francisco and beyond. Fortress Investment Group owns 77% of Nationstar Mortgage Holdings, the corporate entity actually engaging in the foreclosure activity. FIG Co-Chair Peter Briger has called for a strategy of financial “garbage collection”, so protestors dressed up in garbage bag and chanted: “Fortress: We’re Not Garbage, Nationstar: Stop the Evictions!”, “Nationstar, You’ve Gone to Far; Stop the Evictions!”, and “Share the bailouts to save our homes and schools!”

Occupy Chase Bank Branch in San Francisco

Posted on September 17, 2012 by admin

Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters (FEFs) and supporters from Occupy Noe, Occupy Bernal, Occupy Direct Action Workgroup, and ACCE gave the JP Morgan Chase bank branch at 500 Van Ness Ave in San Francisco a visit as part of the Occupy Anniversary events in San Francisco on September 17, 2012. FEF Ian Haddow entered the bank branch to deliver a demand letter to the branch manager. The letter demanded fair deal loan modifications for eight FEFs in San Francisco, as well as a foreclosure moratorium. It wasn’t until later that day that the bank manager faxed the letter in to Chase’s executive complaints office.

Occupy Senior and Veteran Evictions and Foreclosures in San Francisco (Occupy Anniversary)

Posted on September 17, 2012 by admin

Elderly Foreclosure and Evictions Fighters from the San Francisco Bay Area held a press conference at 12:00 noon on Monday, September 17, at the San Francisco War Memorial Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue. MC Archbishop Franzo King, of the St. John Coltrane Church, kicked off the event by describing and analyzing his own foreclosure situation with Wells Fargo bank and the plight of seniors, veterans, and disabled folks preyed upon by the banks.

92-year-old disabled Navy veteran Robert Moses spoke about the multiple attempts he made to obtain a fair deal loan modification from loan servicer Homeward Residential (formerly American Home Mortgage) and from loan owner Deutsche Bank for his Visitacion Valley home where he has lived since 1972.

Don and Tina Baird spoke about their struggle to hold on to the home in Redwood City they purchased in 1966. Don served in the US Coast Guard in the Pacific, and will turn 90 this month. They face a foreclosure auction scheduled for September 24. He has heart surgery on September 27.

Benjamin Reed, Jr., spoke on his father’s behalf about a similar struggle with the bank. Benjamin Reed, Sr., was a Tuskegee Air Man. He and his wife Irma have lived Twin Peaks for 27 years.

Finally, senior Alfred Richardson talked about the bank’s auction of his home at the War Memorial Building last Tuesday.

After some rousing speeches from Archbishop King and Grace Martinez of ACCE, the press took individual interviews and much of the crowd marched over to the nearby JP Morgan Chase bank branch at 500 Van Ness Ave.

September 17 OccuAnniversary Events

Posted on September 14, 2012 by admin

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.

Oakland and San Francisco Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters Stand Up to Slumlord Fannie Mae

Posted on September 13, 2012 by admin

On Thursday, September 13, 2012, Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters — both tenants and homeowners — and supporters from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and Occupy Bernal stood up to Fannie Mae, their slumlord bank, by visiting Fannie Mae’s offices at 50 California Street in San Francisco, California.

Carlos Martinez and his neighbors are fighting to hold Fannie Mae, which owns their home, accountable for deplorable and inhumane conditions at one of their properties in East Oakland. The sinks in their homes flow into buckets that they have to empty themselves! Despite the despicable living conditions, the mortgage giant slumlord is unjustly demanding the tenants pay nearly double in rent.

Betty Davis and Alfred Richardson are homeowners demanding the right to a fair deal loan modification to remain in their San Francisco homes.

Fannie Mae must treat tenants, homeowners, and communities fairly and be held accountable for their actions! We left bottles of waste water from the building they own to show them what their tenants have have to deal with.