Occupy Chase Bank Branch to Save Haddow Home

At 9:00am on October 2, 2012, Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters and supporters from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Occupy Bernal, and Occupy Noe showed up at the JP Morgan Chase bank branch at Mission Street and 21st Street in San Francisco prepared to protest and occupy the branch. Happily, Chase had postponed Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Ian Haddow’s foreclosure auction scheduled for later that day at City Hall due to his filing of a loan modification application and our calls and emails supporting him in obtaining a fair deal loan modification from Chase. Instead of entering the bank branch to protest, we went in to thank Chase for postponing the auction and to ask for the loan modification for Ian and several other Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters who have similar cases with Chase. We didn’t have to go to City Hall later in the day to protest the foreclosure auction. Thanks to everyone who organized the action and called and emailed Chase on Ian’s behalf… we’ll probably still need more of those to obtain a loan modification for Ian.

Links: Alert    Media Coverage

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

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

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)

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.

Media Coverage of San Francisco Occupy Anniversary Actions

Below is some independent media coverage of Occupy Anniversary actions in San Francisco (with a couple on NYC Wall St) followed by a sampling of the extensive corporate media coverage of the planned afternoon events.

INDEPENDENT MEDIA
As Occupy San Francisco Marks its One-Year Anniversary, Anti-Foreclosure Actions Abound
The Pacifica Evening News
http://pacificaeveningnews.blogspot.com/2012/09/as-occupy-san-francisco-marks-its-one.html
Banks Threaten Elderly Veterans With Foreclosure
New America Media, News Report, Viji Sundaram
http://newamericamedia.org/2012/09/elderly-veterans-fight-home-foreclosures.php

It’s Alive! Occupy Actions Across the Country Show the Movement’s Impact

Here’s our on-the-ground reporting from the East and West coasts.

AlterNet / By Sarah Jaffe, Alyssa Figueroa

http://www.alternet.org/activism/its-alive-occupy-actions-across-country-show-movements-impact

Occupy San Francisco One Year Anniversary
CNN Ireprot
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-843017

 

Occupy Wall Street 1-year Anniversary

by Liz Highleyman
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/09/18/18721913.php

 

Occupy San Francisco One Year Anniversary

by D. Boyer
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/09/18/18721946.php

Occupy’s 1st Anniversary Was a Party with Politics in San Francisco
Peter M., Indybay
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/09/18/18721873.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/09/18/18721894.php

Rally demands banks stop foreclosing on veterans
by: MARILYN BECHTEL
http://peoplesworld.org/rally-demands-banks-stop-foreclosing-on-veterans/

 

#StrikeDebt: Occupy morphs into debt resistance movement

by Jerome Roos, ROARMAG.org
http://roarmag.org/2012/09/occupy-strike-debt-resistance-operations-manual/

 

NYC S17: Celebration and Disruption, Mission Accomplished.

http://www.nicholasmirzoeff.com/O2012/2012/09/18/s17-celebration-and-disruption-mission-accomplished/


Occupy Bernal: Occupy at the local level
By Jen Chien, KALW
http://www.kalw.org/post/occupy-bernal-occupy-local-level

Occupy Your Victories; Occupy Wall Street’s First Anniversary
TomDispatch.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-solnit/occupy-wall-street-anniversary_b_1889956.html

 

How Do You Measure a Dream?

by Marina Sitrin

http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/how-do-you-measure-a-dream

 

One Year Anniversary of Occupy, San Francisco

YouTube video by Thomas Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIQlFQihLD8

Occupy Celebrates Birthday, Forges Ahead

By Judith Scherr, Inter Press Service

http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/09/occupy-celebrates-birthday-forges-ahead

CORPORATE MEDIA

Occupy protesters take to streets to mark movement’s anniversary

KTVU News

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/occupy-protesters-take-streets-mark-movements-anni/nSDR6/http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/occupy-protesters-march-through-downtown-sf-on/vd5fS/

http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/occupy-march-through-sf-marking-anniversary-loud/vd5pN/


Occupy SF Protesters Mark 1st Anniversary Of Movement

CBS News

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/09/17/occupy-sf-protesters-mark-1st-anniversary-of-movement/
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7422030n

 

Occupy Gathers in San Francisco on Anniversary

Activists gathered in front of the Wells Fargo building in SF’s Financial District

NBC News

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Occupy-Gathers-in-San-Francisco-on-Anniversary-170120506.html


Occupy SF marks anniversary with peaceful rallies

The Associated Press

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/17/4827445/occupy-sf-celebrates-first-year.html


Occupy protesters celebrate in S.F.

Justin Berton, Kevin Fagan and Michael Cabanatuan, SF Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Occupy-protesters-snarl-traffic-streetcars-3872516.php


Hundreds celebrate the birthday of Occupy in San Francisco

Thomas Pendergast, Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/article/hundreds-celebrate-the-birthday-of-occupy-san-francisco


 

On anniversary, Occupy takes stock of movement

By Doug Oakley, Oakland Tribune

http://www.mercurynews.com/occupy/ci_21567917/anniversary-occupy-takes-stock-movement

Arrests mark Occupy anniversary

by Rick Hampson, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012/09/17/arrests-mark-occupy-anniversary/57797548/1?csp=34news