Shorty

"My name is Samuel Legasca, but my friends call me Shorty. I was born in Hawaii but am a 57-year resident of San Francisco, and a 12 year tenant of the Drake Hotel in the Tenderloin. I've been a tenant rep with the Tenderloin Housing Clinic and then the Central City SRO Collaborative for the last 8 years. I like being a tenant rep because it gives me great honor and pleasure to help people who don't know about their rights."

Jeff Richard

"I am a tenant at the Covered Wagon Hotel in the South of Market neighborhood.  I became a tenant rep because my landlord badly mistreated tenants in our building and failed to keep the building clean.  Many of the tenants live on fixed incomes and some have substance abuse problems; thus many did not feel comfortable or secure addressing issues with the manager.  He took advantage of people, ignoring requests for repairs, failing to keep bathrooms clean, and disrespecting everyone who lived in the building.  I asked the manager once why he was so disrespectful and he shouted back at me that "I am up here (gesturing with his hand to his head level) and you all are down here (gesturing below his waist level.)"

"As tenants, we just wanted to get some respect and have a decent place to live.  We began organizing with the Central City SRO Collaborative to demand repairs, cleaning, and respect.  We wrote letters, held regular tenant meetings, and informed all the tenants of their rights under the law. As a result of our organizing, we have seen many positive changes.  Now, repairs happen in a timely fashion and cleaning is more thorough and regular.  Also, the rude manager directs most communiction through his wife who is more pleasant and easy to deal with."

Robert

"I am Robert Bowers and I have been a tenant rep for a year and a half at the Caldrake Hotel. Our tenant's association organized to improve security in the building. We worked to get a gate put up along the street because the front lawn and hedge were insecure. We also got exterior lighting put up.

Through the Central City SRO Collaborative I became involved in the effort to save the Civic Center Hotel and stop the evictions of the tenants who live there. I did a lot of flyering raise public awareness and get people to come to city hearings. "

Linda and Lamont

"My name is Lamont Foggy and I am a tenant rep at the Sharon Hotel on 6th street. Linda and I have been tenant reps here for more than 2 years. I am a native of San Francisco and Linda has lived here most of her life, though she was born in Mississippi. As a tenant rep I organize meetings in my building and make sure the manager meets his obligations. I try to get problems resolved and improve peoples living conditions. If necessary I go to city agencies such as the Department of Building Inspection and the Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board. Some successes we have had have been improving the visitor policy and getting many repairs made. I was a resident and worked doing community outreach during Redevelopment in the Western Addition in the 1970's. It is good to be doing similar work for the community with the Central City SRO Collaborative in the South of Market today."

note: Linda and Lamont moved out of the Sharon when Linda got a job as a resident manager of a downtown SRO.

James Dowling

"I have been a tenant rep with the Central City Collaborative for about five months. Most of the work I do involves coordinating tenant complaints with the management. There is no onsite manager in our building, so we tenants must work together to keep the building running smoothly. I have also become involved in the campaign to deal with the bedbug problem. Working with other tenants and the Collaborative, we brought the bedbug campaign to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. We met with aides and staff of each Supervisor to advocate for funding to combat the bedbug problem. I also participated in the Transit Walk to call attention to problems with MUNI in the Tenderloin."

Diane Burke

"My name is Diane Burke and I live on Sixth Street in the Seneca Hotel. I've lived their for 6 years, 3 of which I've been a tenant rep. I am originally from the Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. As I tenant rep I'm active in my building as well as the community. I serve as a tenant representative on the South of Market Project Area Committee which is an advisory body to the Redevelopment Agency. I derive great pleasure and satisfaction from serving my fellow tenants in the community."

note: Diane was a tenant rep for four and a half years until she moved to Pennsylvania to take care of her father.

Mark Ellinger

"My name is Mark Ellinger and I've been a resident of San Francisco since 1968. I've been a resident and tenant rep at the Shree Ganeshai for about three years. I've always had strong attraction to organizing with working class people and the SOMA area is where I felt the strongest connection. One of the reasons I became an activist is because I feel it is important to maintain the sense of history within San Francisco. When I first moved to the City, Third street was purely residential hotels. Most people were retired merchant marines and laborers living on meager pensions. Many labeled these folks as winos and bums, that they were not contributing anything to the welfare of the city. This ignores the fact that they spent their lives making San Francisco what it is. They were the working class, merchant marines, longshoreman, and they were evicted and their homes demolished so their neighborhood could be transformed into extremely upscale neighborhood."

Mark is a photographic artist living in the Shree Ganeshai Hotel on Sixth Street. His work is featured throughout this web site and can be viewed at his blog by clicking on the image below:

Jerry Longoria Sr.

"My name is Jerry D. Longoria Sr. I am a resident of the Bayanihan House at 88 Sixth Street in San Francisco. I must say my housing keeps getting better as I live clean and sober. I work with the Central City SRO Collaborative as a tenant rep in all kinds of community activities. The most important one to me has been my work initiating Alcoholics Anonymous workshops. I have almost 6 years clean and sober and with the help of the Central City Collaborative, have been able to organize in my community. I love the program and love myself for what I do and who I am today."

Steve Rodriguez

"I have been a tenant at the Post Hotel for more than 10 years. I became involved with the Central City SRO Collaborative when I realized I needed help confronting management because they were not holding up their end of the bargain.

One of the major campaigns I am working on is confronting the bedbug epidemic in my building and the city. My manager would not take the problem seriously and blamed tenants. I began by personally picketing my hotel. Working with the Collaborative, we eventually got a lot of media coverage from the Bay Guardian, Channel 4, Bay Times, etc. We also got the building cited by DBI for worn carpets, holes in the ceiling, peeling paint and more.

I still have my picket sign in reserve and will hit the streets again if need be."

Darin Kennedy

"My name is Darin Kennedy and I live at the Pacific Bay Inn, and have for the last three years. I have lived in San Francisco for the last 16 years. Originally I come from Flint, Michigan. As a tenant rep I run a food pantry program in the building that gives a couple of bags of groceries each month to my fellow tenants. I enjoy doing the food pantry because we get food and supplies to the people who really need it. I also like doing it because it creates a nice sense of community in the building."

note: Darin passed away in 2005 after many years of working to improve life in his building for his fellow tenants.

Antionetta W. Stadlman

"I became a Tenant Representative for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic on June 1, 1992. At first this involved dealing with complaints and issues of residents regarding various aspects of life in the Baldwin House Hotel. However, it eventually became apparent that many of these problems were not confined within the Hotel, but were extant in the lager community as well. This necessitated my involving myself on a larger level and started with my participation with the South of Market Problem Solving Council (SOMPSC), the predecessor to today's Redevelopment Project Area Committee, of which I am the Chair. At the same time, working on issues of mental illness and substance addiction brought me into contact with various health outreach workers, and led to my becoming a member of the Tom Waddell Advisory Board, of which I am also Chair. Finally, among other things I also sit on the City's SRO Hotel Task Force, which tries to address some of the larger, more institutionalized problems that exist in SROs in general."

Deforest Woods

"Hi, my name is Deforest Woods and I am a tenant rep and mental health advocate with the Central City SRO Collaborative. I live at the Canon Kip Community House and am a long-term South of Market SRO tenant. I have enjoyed working with the Central City SRO Collaborative for three years. My main focus is to go with my fellow tenants to city hall and let politicians know what is going on from the grassroots perspective. I plan to continue working with the Collaborative for a long time."

Prince Bush

"Hi, I am Prince Bush, the tenant representative at the Jefferson Hotel with the Central City SRO Collaborative. One of the things I do as a tenant rep is give help to tenants when they have problems in their rooms. Sometimes tenants can get things done by going to the manager, but a lot of the time, the management will take too long to do work that should be done in just a few hours. I tell tenants what their rights are and what the management's responsibilities are. When tenants need advocacy I work with the management on their behalf. I get to help a lot of people who often don't know the right places to go."

Otto Duffy

"We're investing tens and hundreds of millions of dollars to stabilize low-income tenants, seniors, and the disabled into nonprofit and government subsidized housing projects. If all we're doing is building buildings, property management agencies, and project development teams, then all we're going to get for our money is so many Geneva Towers; failed projects that we'll have to tear down and rebuild again in 2030� In my building, management has eliminated as much input from tenants as possible. Because of this you get a harm reduction model that doesn't reduce harm. We need empowerment where residents are making decisions about how the building is run. We need more tenants on the Board of Directors and more independent tenant oversight of the organization."