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Indybay Feature
Sister Bernie Does it Again
As we reported yesterday , the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing has decided to transform a long-vacant office building at 150 Otis Street into low-income housing. This represents a reversal in the city’s prior plan to sell the site to the highest bidder, and another major victory for Sister Bernie Galvin of Religious Witness With Homeless People. Galvin used her position on the Surplus Property Committee to vigorously fight to transform 150 Otis into affordable housing, and the Mayor’s Office, to its credit, reviewed their analysis and ultimately agreed with Galvin’s stance. Galvin’s campaign will add at least 100 units to the city’s low-cost housing stock, and holds important lessons for all activists fighting to improve San Francisco.
Sister Bernie Galvin has been taking care of her 97-year old mother in rural Oklahoma all week, and does not know that her longstanding campaign to save 150 Otis Street has finally brought victory. But knowing Galvin, her inability to attend the February 20 Surplus Property Committee meeting to learn of her victory firsthand will not reduce her satisfaction at having saved 150 Otis for the poor.
The 150 Otis victory is an object lesson in persistence.
After the Board of Supervisors appointed Galvin to the Surplus Property Committee, she found that the Committee was spending most of its time hearing why sites on their list could not be used to house homeless persons. It seemed that every site on the list was not suitable for housing, while none have been sold with the proceeds going to affordable housing (the first sale of a site for this purpose—the Alemany site---will occur soon)
But the original goal of the Surplus Property Law was to have such housing built on-site whenever feasible.
Sister Galvin saw 150 Otis as feasible, and wanted it used to house the poor. As frustrated as she became with the Committee’s slow progress, she persisted in the hope that at least one building on the list would help solve San Francisco’s homeless problem.
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4235#more
The 150 Otis victory is an object lesson in persistence.
After the Board of Supervisors appointed Galvin to the Surplus Property Committee, she found that the Committee was spending most of its time hearing why sites on their list could not be used to house homeless persons. It seemed that every site on the list was not suitable for housing, while none have been sold with the proceeds going to affordable housing (the first sale of a site for this purpose—the Alemany site---will occur soon)
But the original goal of the Surplus Property Law was to have such housing built on-site whenever feasible.
Sister Galvin saw 150 Otis as feasible, and wanted it used to house the poor. As frustrated as she became with the Committee’s slow progress, she persisted in the hope that at least one building on the list would help solve San Francisco’s homeless problem.
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4235#more
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