Last Tuesday, as people began to trickle in to an open house for what one real estate broker described as "a double whammy"— two adjacent homes on Potrero Hill featuring bay views going on the market for $1.8 million apiece —Tarin Towers was upstairs in one of the units advising a tenant on how to make the building seem like an undesirable investment.
"Follow them arround, and if they try to open any cabinets, say, 'Do you have a search warrant?'" Towers, a 42-year-old poet and activist, suggested.
The tenant, who asked not to be identified out of fear of antagonizing her landlord, had taped printed signs all over the walls of the two-bedroom apartment she shares with a roommate: "We feel it is important that you know that two women who are SENIORS live here, one for nearly 30 years, the other for 5 years. Please don't evict us. We will fight to stay in our home. Thank you for taking this into consideration."
The tenant politely greeted the first broker who ducked into the apartment, but then said, "I want you to know that two seniors live here, and we are going to fight to stay."
"Okay, no problem," the man replied. "Are my shoes okay?"
The tenant said yes, and Towers whispered, "At the Tenant's Union they said you should make people take off their shoes because it's a pain in the ass."
The tenant, a 61-year-old Ph.D. candidate, had just found out a few days earlier that her landlord was planning to sell the building. Such news is often the harbinger of eviction for San Franciscans these days (the real estate brokers' information sheet on the buildings boasts that the properties are a "Terrific and unique development opportunity!"), so the tenant attended the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition's Tenants' Rights Fair on April 25 to gear up for a fight. That's where she met Towers, a 20-year resident of the Mission who is about to be evicted from her own apartment after a two-year battle. When Towers heard about the Potrero Hill open house, she offered to help.
The tenants at the two properties on Potrero Hill haven't received eviction notices yet, but they all are fearful. Putting up signs and informing potential buyers that they won't go happily is a preemptive strike in a city that has seen a 54.7 percent increase in evictions over the last five years. Still, none of the tenants who were home on Tuesday seemed particularly optimistic. They all had buyouts on their minds, and none thought staying in San Francisco would be feasible.
"If there's one thing I would change about my fight," said Towers, who has just a few weeks to find a new home, "I would have made a big deal at the open house. It wouldn't have made a difference, but it might have made me feel better."
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