Update: JP Morgan Chase has postponed the foreclosure auction of the Baful home until March 1, 2013. Please continue the calls and emails to request cancellation of the auction and a fair deal loan modification so the Baful family can remain in their home.
JP Morgan Chase is planning to sell Romeo Baful’s home at a foreclosure auction on January 28, 2012.
Please take action to help Romeo, as well as his mother and his daughter:
Call and email Chase with the following message:
Jamie Dimon, CEO, +1 212-270-1111
Peter Barker, California Chair, +1 888-342-6441
Sample email:
To: Jamie.Dimon@chase.com, executive.office@chase.com, peter.barker@chase.com Cc: action@occupytheauctions.org Subject: Stop Auction of Baful Home (Loan #1835186059)
Please postpone the foreclosure auction of Romeo Baful’s home at 1352 Quesada Avenue in San Francisco (loan #1835186059) and offer him a fair deal loan modification. Romeo has lived for more than 20 years in the home he shares with his 82-year-old mother and 7-year-old daughter. A single father, he works part-time as a home care provider after getting laid off from his job due to budget cuts two years ago. In July, Chase approved a trial modification but, after several months payments, denied a permanent loan modification and set a date of January 28 to sell of the Baful home at a foreclosure auction.
Sincerely,
your name
9:00am on Monday, January 28, come protest at a Chase bank branch, Mission Street at 21st Street, San Francisco (please bring signs, banners, and whistles)
1:45pm on Monday, January 28, come protest at the foreclosure auction at City Hall, 400 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco (auction may start promptly at 2pm, please bring signs, banners, and whistles).
Update: Wells Fargo has postponed the auction of the Reed’s home until February 26, 2013, but let’s keep the calls and emails coming to let them know that postponing isn’t enough: the Reed family needs a fair deal loan modification to remain in their home.
Please call/email Wells Fargo to stop the foreclosure auction of the home of Tuskegee Airman Benjamin Reed and his family on January 24, 2013:
Brenda Wright, SVP of Community Relations, +1 415-623-7738
Alfredo Pedroza, Director CA Gov’t Relations, +1 415-396-0829
Ruben Pulido, Comm. Staff, +1 415-852-1279
John Stumpf, CEO, +1 866-878-5865
Sample message:
To: brenda.wright@wellsfargo.com, alfredo.pedroza@wellsfargo.com, ruben.pulido@wellsfargo.com, john.g.stumpf@wellsfargo.com Cc: action@occupytheauctions.org Subject: Stop Foreclosure of Reed Family & “Wells 29”
Dear Wells Fargo staff,
Please take IMMEDIATE action to stop Wells Fargo’s January 24 foreclosure auction of 85-year-old disabled Tuskegee Airman Benjamin Reed and family at 2 Warren Drive in San Francisco. Please offer the family a fair deal loan modification to remain in their home and meet the demands listed for each of the 29 families who Wells Fargo has put at risk (see list sent by ACCE and Occupy Bernal).
Update: Dozens of protestors mixed with revelers attending the Martin Luther King Jr Day at the Museum of the African Diaspora today asking Wells Fargo to stop the foreclosure auction of 90-year-old Tuskegee Airman Benjamin Reed and his family, as well as the 28 other families of the “Wells 29”. Please feel free to use the following photos and videos (hi-res available by clicking on the photos).
Tuskegee Airman Benjamin Reed
Thanks to Larry Faulks for the last picture of the dream he told the chalk artist at MOAD.
What: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service March & Call Rally When: 11:30 a.m. January 21, 2013 Where: Museum of African Diaspora, 685 Mission St. (@Third St.), San Francisco, 94105
STOP WELLS FARGO FORECLOSURES
ACCE / OCCUPY BERNAL / OCCUPY NOE ACTION
“No Home For You!”
Wells Fargo Bank Shoots Down Tuskegee Airman
What Would Martin Do? Help Save Homes From Foreclosure!
Wells Fargo Bank settled with US Department of Justice on predatory and discriminatory loan practices for $175 million (including Bayview Branch).
Tell Wells Fargo to Stop Foreclosures & Evictions Now
Tell Wells Fargo to provide fair deal loan modifications Now
Tell Wells to Stop Throwing Pennies at The Arts To Look Good While Robbing Millions of Homes
Honor Dr. King! Call Wells Fargo Out Now- Tell Them to Save Tuskegee Airman Ben Reed’s Home & Other Homes! +1 415-623-7738 Brenda Wright, SVP Wells Fargo/MoAD Board, and +1 866-878-5865 John Stumpf, CEO
“Our needs are identical with labor’s needs: Decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community.”
Update as of 10:30am on January 14, 2013: Despite the protests of Dr. Lehman Brightman’s son Quanah and supporters from the Native American community, Poor Magazine, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Occupy Bernal, and others, Wells Fargo went ahead and sold off Dr. Lehman’s home at the foreclosure auction at the Concord Hilton. We’ll follow Quanah’s lead in deciding whether to continue the fight to save the family’s home.
Update: A representative has indicated that Wells Fargo intends to proceed with the foreclosure auction of Dr. Lehman Brightman’s home tomorrow morning. Please take a moment to call, email, sign the petition, and if you can make it to the Concord Hilton (Golden Gate Ballroom) tomorrow morning (J14) before 9am, join the protestors trying to stop the auction (see below).
Take action to stop Wells Fargo from auctioning off Lehman Brightman and family’s home–
Contact Wells Fargo staff with the following phone and email message:
Brenda Wright, Senior VP of Community Relations, +1 415-623-7738
Alfredo Pedroza, Director of California Local Government Relations, +1 415-396-0829
To: brenda.wright@wellsfargo.com, alfredo.pedroza@wellsfargo.com, ruben.pulido@wellsfargo.com, Timothy.P.Rector@wellsfargo.com, john.g.stumpf@wellsfargo.com Cc: action@occupybernal.org Subject: Stop the January 14 Foreclosure Auction of Lehman Brightman’s Home (loan# 0044126233)
Dear Wells Fargo staff,
Please take IMMEDIATE action to stop the January 14 foreclosure auction of Lehman Brightman and his family’s home at 2434 Faria Avenue (loan# 0044126233) in Pinole, California, and offer them a fair deal loan modification.
Lehman Brightman, a Native American civil rights pioneer, is now 82 years old and had a stroke in 2011. The Brightman home serves not only as a shelter for the family, but as a resource center for the Native American civil rights movement.
World Savings, a bank infamous for its discriminatory practices, had sold the Brightman family a predatory loan. Wells Fargo acquired World Savings’ loans and is refusing to work with Lehman Brightman’s sons on a fair deal loan modification to save the family home.
Please also meet the demands for each of the 29 families who Wells Fargo has put at risk of foreclosure and eviction and stop dual tracking by continuing to list foreclosure auctions while negotiating loan modifications.
Stop contributing to the rash of deaths by foreclosure! Stop the single-minded greedy focus on profit! Stop ignoring the health and well-being of your customers and the communities where we live! Take whatever action is necessary to keep distressed families in their homes!
This is an URGENT request, so please respond right away.
Attend the protest to stop the foreclosure auction at 8:30am on Monday, January 14, at the Concord Hilton, 1970 Diamond Boulevard, Concord, CA 94520.
Background:
Video of Lehman Brightman’s son Quanah Brightman providing testimony at the San Francisco Employee Retirement System Retirement Board meeting on January 9, 2013:
Dr. Lehman Brightman was one of the founders of the Native American civil rights movement. He founded the first Native American Studies Program at the University of California at Berkeley and worked tirelessly for civil rights and to improve the educational opportunities and living conditions of Native Americans.
Wells Fargo is #1 in San Francisco foreclosures. San Francisco’s Mayor and Board of Supervisors have unanimously requested a halt to foreclosures and related evictions, especially since San Francisco Assessor-Recorder’s report showing that 84% of foreclosures have at least one legal violation and due to Wells’ $175 million settlement paid to resolve allegations of racial discrimination in providing mortgage loans in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point and other neighborhoods.
Wells Fargo’s “waterfall” model, along with similar policies from other lenders, ensures that the bank can squeeze the most money possible from homeowners struggling to make payments while finally discarding them like trash if the bank can’t make a profit on every single loan. Running a mortgage loan business means assuming risks, especially after receiving billions in bailout funds from the taxpayers, many of whom are Wells’ mortgage loan borrowers.
Update: The Occupy the Dream House event at the so-called Dream House in Menlo Park was a great success… thanks to all who participated and please check out the media coverage, videos, and photos below.
You are invited to our event! Please come help us show the contrast between get rich quick raffle illusions and those fighting to keep their homes and their ability to create wealth.
Occupy the Dream House Press Conference/ Action in front of the “$4.1 million Silicon Valley Dream House” in Menlo Park
Demonstrating the stark contrast of our hardworking neighbors trying to save their homes from billion-dollar corporations and the “Let Them Eat Cake” mentality of the 1 Percent financial institutions.
When: 10 a.m., Thursday January 10, 2013
Where: Silicon Valley Dream House in Menlo Park
3 Patricia Place
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(Cross street is San Mateo Drive) map
Who: Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters and supporters
Confirmed speakers include Ian Haddow and Stardust. (Please contact us if you would like to volunteer to speak or if you would like to carpool to the event.)
Why: Occupy, other social justice organizations, foreclosure fighters and people who just want to reclaim the American dream of home ownership, gather the day before the raffle winner is chosen to bring attention to economic injustice.
$4.1 Million Silicon Valley Dream House Raffle Demonstrates Homeownership Nightmare
Dream House Raffles such as the one for the opulent home in Menlo Park serve as lures and create a lottery mentality that blinds people to the economic nightmare. They serve as a ruse to keep people from seeing how bad things really are.
Why hold a Press Conference in front of the “$ 4.1 Silicon Valley Dream House?”
To send and repeat the message that the banking and financial system is rogue and is devouring the well-being and livelihood of the 99%.
To send a message to besieged homeowners to fight back and that they are not alone. We stand ready to help.
To send a message to the banks that they must create a humanitarian solution for the economic crisis they helped to create.
To send a message to lawmakers that they have to do more to protect the people from the laws and policies that created this financial quagmire that has eroded the middle class.
To repeat the message that raffles and lotteries are a tax on the poor and create false expectations. Policies and laws should be put back in place to invest in people to grow the economy.
As a story subtext: Banks and corporations should more robustly support public organizations through paying their fair share of taxes. Arts organizations should, in a better world, receive public funds from taxes paid by corporations for their operations. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and other nonprofits are used by banks and other corporations for “public relations” subterfuges to clean up their image and deflect attention from the criminal and inhumane activity they engage in as part of their business practice. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts raises much of their funding in this annual raffle. However, compared to their profits, the minimal donations corporations give, while creating profits on the back of the 99%, using tax loopholes, sending jobs and finances offshore, create an illusion of helping the needy. We need an end to austerities. We need to restore funding to public institutions (libraries, universities, parks/lands) and an end to privatization of the commons. We can do better than this!
Occupy The Dream House, Cheryl Meeker +1 415-255-0668, Stardust +1 415-425-3936, and Eric.
Update: ACCE, Occupy Bernal, and Occupy Noe Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters and supporters provided important testimony about the illegal, predatory, and discriminatory practices of banks like Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America at the meeting of the San Francisco Employee Retirement System Retirement Board on January 9, 2013.
The group asked the Retirement Board to investigate the illegal, predatory, and discriminatory practices of the banks, to request that the banks stop these practices, to sponsor shareholder resolutions if they don’t stop, and to divest from the banks’ stocks if the shareholder resolutions do not succeed. Some of the Commissioners responded favorably to the public comment testimony.
#1 in SF Foreclosures and Related Evictions: Racist and Predatory
Who: (Retired and Current) City Employees, especially those facing foreclosure/eviction and supporters What: Public Comment at San Francisco Employees Retirement System (SFERS) Retirement Board Meeting (2 minute limit) When: 2:00pm, Wednesday, January 9 Where: 30 Van Ness Avenue, 3rd floor (near Market Street)
We are asking SFERS to do the following:
Investigate investments in Wells Fargo, which is #1 in foreclosures and related evictions in San Francisco and elsewhere, as well as other lenders foreclosing on and evicting San Francisco homeowners..
Prepare and submit a Wells Fargo shareholder resolution to stop predatory and/or racist foreclosures and related evictions for consideration at the next annual Wells Fargo shareholder meeting (probably in April 2013).
If Wells Fargo doesn’t adopt the shareholder resolution at its next shareholder meeting and take immediate steps to implement policies and practices in line with the resolution, then divest from any investment in Wells Fargo within three months after that shareholder meeting.
We are asking San Francisco Mayor Lee to do the following:
Appoint only qualified candidates to the SFERS Retirement Board who are not executives or employees at Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, or Bank of America (the top three in predatory foreclosures and related evictions in San Francisco).
Issue a statement in support of divestment from Wells Fargo of all San Francisco City and County funds, including employee retirement and disability funds.
Background:
The San Francisco Employee Retirement Systems (SFERS) handles investments for pension funds for current and retired San Francisco city employees. SFERS has policies that include “Social Investment Procedures” adopted at the SFERS Retirement Board meeting of September 27, 1988, which requires the SFERS Retirement Board when making investments in stocks, mutual funds, and so on, to consider:
“Community Relations: the relationship of the corporation to the communities in which it operates shall be maintained as a good corporate citizen through observing proper environmental standards, supporting the local economic, social and cultural climate, conducting acquisitions and reorganizations to minimize adverse effects and not discriminate in making loans or writing insurance.” (emphasis added by Occupy the Auctions)
Wells Fargo is #1 in San Francisco foreclosures. San Francisco’s Mayor and Board of Supervisors have unanimously requested a halt to foreclosures and related evictions, especially since San Francisco Assessor-Recorder’s report showing that 84% of foreclosures have at least one legal violation and due to Wells’ $175 million settlement with the United States Department of Justice paid in response to allegations of racial discrimination in providing mortgage loans in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point and other neighborhoods.
Wells Fargo’s “waterfall” model, along with similar policies from other lenders, ensures that the bank can squeeze the most money possible from homeowners struggling to make payments while finally discarding them like trash if the bank can’t make a profit on every single loan. Running a mortgage loan business means assuming risks, especially after receiving billions in bailout funds from the taxpayers, many of whom are Wells’ mortgage loan borrowers.
Update as of 9:25am on January 4, 2013: Good news! Wells Fargo has postponed the auction of Peter and Linnea’s home until February 5. It wouldn’t hurt to keep calling and emailing about a fair deal loan modification for them and to get Wells to do the right thing for the rest of the “Wells 28“.
Take action to stop Wells Fargo from auctioning off Peter Fairfield and Linnea Sweet’s home of 33 years–
Contact Wells Fargo staff with the following phone and email message:
Brenda Wright, Senior VP of Community Relations, +1 415-623-7738
Alfredo Pedroza, Director of California Local Government Relations, +1 415-396-0829
To: brenda.wright@wellsfargo.com, alfredo.pedroza@wellsfargo.com, ruben.pulido@wellsfargo.com, john.g.stumpf@wellsfargo.com Cc: action@occupybernal.org Subject: Stop the January 4 Foreclosure Auction of Peter Fairfield and Linnea Sweet’s Home (loan# 1100225238)
Dear Wells Fargo staff,
Please take IMMEDIATE action to stop the January 4 foreclosure auction of Peter Fairfield and Linnea Sweet’s home at 831 Chenery Street (America’s Servicing Company loan# 1100225238) in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood and offer them a fair deal loan modification.
The Fairfield-Sweet family accessed their home equity to save their photography business with a predatory loan that a mortgage broker assured them they could refinance when payments skyrocketed. But that turned out to be false once the economic crisis set in. Now that their family business is secure, Peter and Linnea (who is disabled) are seeking to live out the rest of their senior years with a loan modification that has affordable payments so they can remain in their home.
Please also meet the demands for each of the 28 families who Wells Fargo has put at risk of foreclosure and eviction and stop dual tracking by continuing to list foreclosure auctions while negotiating loan modifications.
Stop contributing to the rash of deaths by foreclosure! Stop the single-minded greedy focus on profit! Stop ignoring the health and well-being of your customers and the communities where we live! Take whatever action is necessary to keep distressed families in their homes!
This is an URGENT request, so please respond right away.
Sincerely,
your name here
Background:
When their photography business got dot-commed out of a SOMA office building with 30 days notice to vacate, Peter Fairfield and Linnea Sweet decided to access their home equity to save their main source of income. A mortgage loan broker convinced them that a sub-prime loan with escalating payments could easily be refinanced when the payments ballooned, so they thought their problems were solved. But the economic downturn made a refi impossible and Wells Fargo (America’s Servicing Company) foreclosed on their home of 33 years. Peter and Linnea are seeking a fair deal loan modification from Wells Fargo so that they and their dog Dagmar can remain in their home.
Wells Fargo is #1 in San Francisco foreclosures. San Francisco’s Mayor and Board of Supervisors have unanimously requested a halt to foreclosures and related evictions, especially since San Francisco Assessor-Recorder’s report showing that 84% of foreclosures have at least one legal violation and due to Wells’ $175 million settlement paid to resolve allegations of racial discrimination in providing mortgage loans in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point and other neighborhoods.
Wells Fargo’s “waterfall” model, along with similar policies from other lenders, ensures that the bank can squeeze the most money possible from homeowners struggling to make payments while finally discarding them like trash if the bank can’t make a profit on every single loan. Running a mortgage loan business means assuming risks, especially after receiving billions in bailout funds from the taxpayers, many of whom are Wells’ mortgage loan borrowers.
Check out this wonderful video from Peter Menchini about the activities of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment to stop predatory foreclosures and evictions.
Senior and Disability Action and the Grey Panthers announced that they plan to move their money out of Wells Fargo due to Wells’ policies with regard to foreclosures and evictions of senior and disabled folks. Protestors from those and other supportive groups such as Poor Magazine, Occupy Noe, Occupy Bernal, Occupy Action Council SF, and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) gathered at the Wells Fargo bank branch at 1 Grant Avenue in San Francisco at noon on December 18, 2012. Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters including Kathy Galves spoke at the rally.
Update as of about 7am on December 13, 2012: DMG Asset Management attorney Jak Marquez and Sheriff’s deputies evicted Larry Faulks. He’s now on the road, sleeping in his van.
Update as of 7:30pm on December 12, 2012: Greeted by a rainbow and a light rain shower, a group of about 30 supporters of Larry Faulks came to his home to bear witness the eviction, including holding up signs and banners, lots of friendly discussion, wonderful hot cappuccinos and tea from Larry’s brother, and a carol rendered as “Silent Night, Homeless Night” thanks to Tommi Avicolli-Mecca. We also made calls to DMG Asset Management principals and Wells Fargo Senior Vice President of Community Relations Brenda Wright to try to get them to stop the eviction. When the eviction hadn’t materialized by 11:30am or so, so a group of us took Larry out to lunch, then he requested that we head on our way while he went back to take a nap.
Investment firm DMG Asset Management plans to evict disabled African-American senior Larry Faulks even after they agreed to postpone the eviction to work with him and his family on negotiations with Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo has not yet agreed to rescind the foreclosure sale of Larry’s home, which they did while negotiating a loan modification with him. This practice is called dual tracking and it will be illegal in California starting January 1, 2013, under the 2012 Homeowner Bill of Rights.
Please take action:
Come to the Eviction Witness on Wednesday, December 12. Time is tentatively scheduled for 8:00am (will post updates to this page).
Larry Faulks and his brother — both disabled — as well as their renter want to stay in the home their parents purchased in 1962. The Faulks’ were the first African-American family in the Diamond Heights neighborhood and at a time when only the Eichler company was willing to sell homes to black families. Please come to the Eviction Witness (there may be an opportunity for those who wish to participate in nonviolent direct action to block the eviction).
JP Morgan Chase is planning to sell Romeo Baful’s home at a foreclosure auction on January 28, 2012.
