Resource: The Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition

The Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition is.... well, just read their blog, they can speak well on their own behalf. They've been a strong group, and an awesome ally to SOMCAN. Their blog is a solid collaborative, it houses pertinent and accessible information of what goes down in the Mission.

Also peep their position on the Eastern Neighborhood Plan.

http://missionantidisplacement.blogspot.com/

Resource: WochenKlausur

Pallet application beyond the bonfire.

I began my forays into critical and cooperative art expressions sometime in college (UCSD - woot!). Lecture halls and sections were filled with bodies, a poor representative cross section of a patronage of privilege.
Yours truly was part of this mass.
The work produced in studio, media, computer, and photography classes ran the range between personal expressions of ebullient and potential Frida Kahlo's, Robert Frank's, Eric DeGuia's to the despondent, and maybe hung-over 'bohemian' or 'dandy' students.

I began to grow towards a critical discussion in sharing an ever growing knowledge base that included a pedestrian-art relationship (one that physically places art/object in direct opposition to the spectator). However, it's one thing to keep the discussion between academics, it's another to build your chops up by affiliating and collaborating with those "outside" the academy and art production.

Luckily, there was one extremely welcoming professor on campus (Grant Kester) who would point me towards several directions that I continually explore.

One of the directions that I was pointed towards, is a group called WochenKlausur.
(If you have time, please go through their FAQ, and the ART links to get a sense of context)

Certainly not the only group to explore dialogical art productions, there are plenty of individuals (Suzanne Lacy), organizations, and collectives (SF Print Collective) that exercise a more collaborative and pedagogically-friendly approach. However, WochenKlausur has a track record, model, and philosophy that builds bridges between and blurs the concept of art and politics.

Revisiting their website and noting their evolution only makes my brain synapse's go wild and inspire projects that apply a similar methodology.

What if I were to apply such strategies to encourage dialog between developers, residence -- from the rich to the transient -- service providers, business owners, etc. What would that look like?
Perhaps a pre-approved commandeering of 6th Street and Natoma: Imperceptibly occupy a space with a small unit constructed of hundreds of cardboard boxes, or an intricate shell of shopping carts that would house a "warm" space, replete with fresh donuts, fruit, and coffee -- the ideas are endless.

The intent of such constructed spaces are to encourage moderated dialog and political dealings. Can you imagine a 'casual' conversation between two planning commission members and two schoolchildren, and the vehicle of conversation would be crayon drawings based on the theme of home... or even using this space to share cooking tips from an SRO resident and a local grocer... and having these documents integrated into an Environmental Impact Report?

Or, if documented dialog isn't the cup of tea of collaborators, perhaps daily data collection of 6th street goings on. Arguably, this could potentially encourage more surveillance, however, maybe with the inclusion of oral history, video, or photo essay all contained on some accessible database -- would be humanizing. Perhaps the information disseminated would act as an appropriate litmus or forecast that would effectively incite involvement -- in addition to rallies, the public would be in the halls more often... oh wait that's what I'm trying to do on this blog ;P

These ideas aren't pipe-dreams that will lay stagnant, with the relationships that I'm hoping to nurture I'm sure in due time something WochenKlausur-esqe will manifest. Trust.

Who's with me?

Getting Work Done: Rally at the Planning Hearing (07/10/2008)

Several housing rights and community organizations gathered on the steps of City Hall on July 10th, 2008 to show support and unity towards the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan. Many are affected with the prospect of zoning changes, and heavy hitting redevelopment corporations/agencies with the interests of a specific kind of growth in mind, that doesn't typically include families that decide to make their homes in the city.

Following support, I was able to take my camera into the hearing room, and document the 15-minute presentation from SOMCAN that broke down more terms of the the Youth and Family Zone (More on the YFZ in another entry).

Here's a short compilation of the rally:



Some of the speakers included: Marti D., Mai D., Eric Quezada, and folks from PODER, POOR represented as well.

I broke down the hearing into components of the presentation (In the queue for upload are both Chris Durazo's, and April Veneracion's part of the presentation):







If you want to watch this particular hearing, or any other hearing for that matter, hit up the San Francisco GOV TV website. Here's a link directly to the City Planning Commission's meetings. As an aside, it's impressive and makes complete sense that these hearings are available online. Granted, transparency in bureaucracy can never get to 100%, at least it's a step in the responsible direction.

So what's next for SOMCAN? Gathering more support for the Youth and Family Zone, and working towards meeting with the City Planning Staff responsible for the EN plan and working it to get the language and terms down on the page for the Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors to approve and implement.

Estimated time line? Perhaps naively I thought that a final draft of the plans would be set on the tables of the Planning Commission by the end of this month, however, as I've quickly RE-learned, that one can't ever be certain with so many political interests in mind.