Tag: AirBnB

Keeping an eye on corporate-committed pledges to Black lives, Kia Croom virtually stears this new corporate philanthropy through a higher integrity to promulgate racial justice in deed as well as word.

These crushing personal accounts of lives living, lived and lost on Treasure Island, are a clear indictment against the white supremacist, racist, capitalist, profits-over-people developers, the U.S. Navy and government entities, which intentionally continue to withhold information and refute any danger and harm to residents suffering and dying from extreme toxic conditions of their harmful living space.

Treasure Island (TI), part of San Francisco’s District 6, according to various censuses, is the third most diverse neighborhood in the U.S. Seventy percent of tenants are Black or Latina/o, and the majority are low-income. The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project and Eviction Defense Collaborative (EDC) documented District 6 to have the most eviction cases represented by the EDC in courts in 2016. The island’s better housing units, on the northwest side, are destined for redevelopment in the form of new, upscale apartment buildings as part of a larger development project.

John Brown, a 68-year-old Vietnam vet and former firefighter, is happy in his one-bedroom unit in Bayview; it’s small but comfortable, clean and tidy. He’s at risk of losing his home. It’s an odd situation: Brown has no problem paying the rent, he’s not violating his lease, he gets along fine with his landlord, there’s no Ellis Act or Owner Move-in taking place. The building hasn’t been sold. He’s facing eviction because his apartment was built illegally – and now the city is cracking down. The tenants are appealing the demolitions to the Planning Commission, which will hear the case Thursday, July 27.

Tim Redmond, executive editor of the website 48 Hills, the Secrets of San Francisco, says that 17th District California State Assembly candidates David Campos and David Chiu are quite different candidates, especially on hard core economic issues. However, the race between them is now so close that it’s all about who most effectively gets their voters to the polls.

In addition to cultivating local demand for products and services, it is critical that brick and mortar businesses have some type of interactive internet presence, from a full blown e-commerce site to a simple but attractive website or Facebook page. These critical changes will help improve local businesses’ chance for survival in this progressively digital age. Technological advances increase convenience and customer satisfaction, and brick and mortar businesses must adapt to maintain their presence in this “digital undivide.”