Occupy Bernal? Apparently, it’s no longer just an absurdist punch line. Neighbor Annie writes:
Our wonderful neighbor “T” is getting his house foreclosed on by the Wells Fargo Bank for falling behind on payments on his unfair ballooning predatory mortgage loan. He’s a lovely, elderly, retired, single man. Sadly as of today, there are 59 other houses in Bernal Heights that are in default and/or foreclosure. So we’ve had a couple of meetings with a some experienced activists to help him save his home. This has evolved into the first OCCUPY BERNAL General Assembly on Dec. 21, Wednesday night, at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center. Together we can find ways to help our neighbors, and by extension, ourselves.
Here’s a nice new web site with more info.
Bring some snacks/deserts if possible for the community building schmooze after the meeting.
PHOTO: Handbill poster at Precita Park, by Telstar Logistics
Bernalwood 
Hey, this is terrific! Good for them!
Color me confused…
How so?
I’m all for it, and plenty of people were tricked, scammed, and lied to by the banks, but I hope they do their homework and don’t protest the foreclosure of someone who has taken 100’s of thousands of dollars of equity from their previously paid off home….
RenV – It’s more complicated than that. Some people did take a lot of money out in refinances. Some people made big mistakes. The questions is – does an equitable resolution of their problem, mistakes, warts and all, require that they lose their homes? Folks with Occupy Bernal don’t think so. Speaking just for myself, neither do I want to fight for folks who bought a second home in Aspen with their refi funds.
I think this is awesome. A 75 year old man losing his home? Forget it. I don’t care what he did or didn’t do. I don’t want to live in a country that throws senior citizens out on the street.
If this is about the gentleman I think it is, he loaned a neighbor money from his home equity loan line and the neighbor didn’t pay it back.
There was a fundraising effort for him right around this time last year, but I think he was able to stave off the bank — sounds like they’re back, though.
the real estate firm on courtland most be licking their chops, people have been getting evicted out of Bernal for a long time. The scenario unfolds as follows, long time bernal resident and San Francisco native lives in an apartment that the owner can make a killing on, with lawyers and threats the tenants are either forced and pushed out, they make room for a young 30 year old from back east with high paying jobs, Result: Bernal loses its diversity and community and gains another yuppie, Occupy. . .
I consider myself to be a social democrat. I’m all behind addressing the fraud, greed, corruption, and predatory lending practices of wall street members and their oversight committees. And for reinstating Glass-Steagall and Usury laws, etc. To this end I will continue to work hard. But it gets more difficult for me to rally behind individuals who mismanaged their own affairs; who didn’t do their homework; who should have known better; or who were greedy themselves. Corporate responsibility is vital, but so it personal responsibility. There were many such cases, however sadly. Not all foreclosures are due to wall street evil. The OWS must prioritize carefully and pick it’s battles in order to gain due credibility. That said, reinstate Usury laws and Glass-Steagall!
Since it seems you understand usury laws and fractional reserve lending I won’t debate your points. For me, the conflict of whether people should have refinanced and therefore deserve their pain is easier for me. As long as banks can make insane profits by creating money out of thin air (they don’t actually have to have the $500k they loan you they simply write it down and now you owe them) I have little sympathy for their “losses”. Houses and equity is very real, hard-earned cash that banks get to take if you mess up their payment terms. That is very unfair considering they do not have to have the equivalent in reserves to make you the loan. And now they can borrow from the Fed for near zero percent while we cannot. The field is unequal from the start, so I feel that should factor in when we start making moral judgments about money management.
Very, Very well said, Jen.
Well said, Matt. Because not a peep has been said throughout the whole housing bubble and bust about renters. Some of the stories in the media try to make a sob story about someone who bought a house with 103% financing, then lived in it for 18 months without paying any mortgage, and now, oh no, they are “homeless”.
They are not homeless, they are now renters – like many of us.
Pingback: Media Coverage of Occupy Bernal | Occupy Bernal
This is great but what about fair rents in Bernal? I just lost my house because my landlord wanted to get out on this new wave of tech folks buying up the place at over inflated prices! Had to move away after living in the neighborhood over 15 years! You can’t even get a studio in the Mission or Bernal for less than $2000!! I’m all for occupying Bernal and stopping foreclosures but I can’t even rent here anymore!!
Neighborhoods change, and unfortunately Bernal appears to be on its way to becoming the new Noe Valley. We are long-term Bernal renters (16 years in the nabe), two public school teachers with SFUSD and parents of two kids in public school. Our rent increases on our single-family home (not rent controlled) are such that we will have to leave at some point.
Your new neighbors will not be your kid’s teacher, or your mail carrier, or beat officer or starving artist or anyone else that looks like your neighbors who are leaving due to the high rents and the “Bernal housing bubble”.
Your new neighbors may not be the top 1%, but they surely are the top 5%.