1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: Al Zon Media. 2 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 2: Welcome to It Could Happen Here, a podcast about things 3 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,240 Speaker 2: falling apart and how to put it back together again. 4 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:12,959 Speaker 2: This is an episode where both happen at the same time. 5 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 3: I'm your host, Bia Wong, and we. 6 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 2: Are returning to what I've realized was I think one 7 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:21,920 Speaker 2: of the earliest things we ever covered on this show 8 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 2: in the sort of misty depths of time, which is 9 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 2: I guess three years ago now. We talked to some 10 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 2: organizers and tenants from the Hillside Villa Tenant Association and 11 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 2: a bunch of stuffice happened since then. A lot of 12 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,880 Speaker 2: it is terrible, Some of it is cool. Well, okay, 13 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 2: the stuff the stuff you've been doing is cool. The 14 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 2: stuff everyone else in the situation has been doing is terrible. Yeah, 15 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 2: And with me to talk about this is Janie You, 16 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 2: who is an organizer from CCUD and on a EE 17 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 2: a tenant organizer at Hillside Villa or via Jesus Christ. 18 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 3: Why am I doing Villa? Oh? I know I know 19 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 3: more Spanish than this. I I know it of Spanish. 20 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 2: When people think that I'm Spanish to start talking to 21 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 2: me on the street, I can kind of communicate with 22 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 2: them abject failure. 23 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, welcome both to the show. 24 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you. It's both good and bad to 25 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:12,040 Speaker 4: be back. 26 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, I wish, I wish circumstances were better. 27 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you for having us, and yeah for staying 28 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 5: in contact with us and trying to stay updated with 29 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 5: our fight. Hillside Villa Danna said, Unfortunately five almost six 30 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 5: years in and we're still trying to find a solution 31 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 5: to this epidemic of housing in Los Angeles. 32 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, so let's start there. For people who don't remember 33 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 2: this from many, many eons in the past, can you 34 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 2: sort of remind people of what kind of organizing has 35 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 2: been happening and the general situation of this building, of 36 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 2: these landlords, and of the conditions of people who have 37 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 2: to rent stuff in La Yeah. 38 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 6: I can kind of start with the bigger picture contact 39 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 6: and then on a definitely fill in from your personal experience. 40 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 6: But basically, hills Idea is a building that was built 41 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 6: in the eighties in Los Angeles Chinatown and it was 42 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 6: meant to be affordable housing. It had an affordable housing 43 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 6: covenant for thirty years up until twenty eighteen, and as 44 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:25,080 Speaker 6: soon as that expired, as would be expected, the landlord, 45 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:29,079 Speaker 6: Tom Botts, immediately tried to raise rent to market rate, 46 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:32,399 Speaker 6: which for the low income, working class tenants that work 47 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 6: at Hillside Villa, it was a two hundred percent increase, 48 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 6: right yeah, which is a de facto eviction, Like folks 49 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 6: who were paying eight hundred dollars in rent were now 50 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:51,079 Speaker 6: being asked to pay twenty five hundred, which is literally 51 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 6: impossible for some tenants who are on fixed incomes. And 52 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:57,360 Speaker 6: so it was a huge issue for one of the 53 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 6: largest buildings in La China Town has one hundred and 54 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 6: twenty four units, multi ethnic, multi generational, and so as 55 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 6: soon as that happened, I think one of the tenants, 56 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 6: Doniel Luisa, who is no longer with us, called the 57 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 6: news channels and organizers got involved, and yeah, this was 58 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 6: six years ago at this point, and pretty early on 59 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 6: in the fight. 60 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 4: I think at the time, we were working with. 61 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 6: The district one council member at the time, Gil Cidillo, 62 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 6: who's you know, an establishment democrat, and he had tried 63 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 6: to negotiate a deal with Tom Bots, the landlord, for 64 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 6: a ten year extension that ended up falling through because 65 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 6: Bots renegged on it. And that was I think one 66 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 6: of the first moments where tenants realized we cannot trust 67 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 6: these politicians to liberate us right to actually solve the 68 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 6: root issues. And so that's when tenants started actually demanding 69 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 6: to use eminent domain, which is the government's power to 70 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 6: basically seize land for public use, to actually use that 71 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 6: power for affordable housing, and to use it as a 72 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 6: long term solution for all of these expiring covenants, which 73 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 6: is a city wide issue. It's not just a Chinatown thing. 74 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 6: There's actually like thousands of buildings where covenants are set 75 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 6: to expire in the next few years. So that was 76 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 6: how this fight was going, and we had actually successfully 77 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 6: pressured our city council in twenty twenty one in May, 78 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 6: which was I think the first time we came on 79 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,359 Speaker 6: the show to set aside the funding to actually do 80 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,359 Speaker 6: that and to actually, you know, take bold action for housing. 81 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:53,919 Speaker 6: And yeah, I'll pass it over to ANII to just 82 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 6: share from your own experience. 83 00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 7: Thanks. I don't know how I could follow that, but 84 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:01,160 Speaker 7: I'll try with Yeah. 85 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 5: So, like Jennis was sharing, the covenant expired in twenty eighteen, 86 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 5: there was already an attempt to evict my family, as 87 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 5: I shared in the previous episode. So after that is 88 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 5: when we all started organizing, and then shortly after the 89 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 5: pandemic happened and everything shut down. During this time, the 90 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 5: landlord Tombot like wasn't stopping. He was going full throttle 91 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 5: into his mission of completely evicting and displacing all the 92 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 5: families living here in Chinatown, the multi generational families that 93 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,239 Speaker 5: have been in Los Angeles not known nowhere else. 94 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 7: You know, this is this is our home. Los Angeles 95 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 7: is our home. 96 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 5: So with this eviction, it meant that we'd have to 97 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:57,359 Speaker 5: first be houseless, be out on the street and be 98 00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:59,919 Speaker 5: forced to like figure something out last minute for our 99 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 5: ourselves and moved somewhere in the outskirts of Los Angeles 100 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 5: to a place where we're not familiar with. So these 101 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:09,719 Speaker 5: are some of the things that we were facing then 102 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 5: during the pandemic, and also facing a continued rental increases 103 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 5: which were illegal during the pandemic and is something that 104 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 5: we've been dealing post pandemic and recently in a lot 105 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 5: of our more current meetings. Who is like bringing that 106 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 5: to light that these were illegal rental increases that had 107 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:38,039 Speaker 5: happened and that he actually asked the city to pay back. 108 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 6: Right, Yeah, So we had applied to e wrap which 109 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 6: is basically a rental relief program to support tenants. 110 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 4: And what Bots did was he asked. 111 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 6: The government to pay him the increased rent rates, the 112 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 6: two hundred percent increased rates, and the government fucking gave 113 00:06:57,400 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 6: it to him. 114 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 3: Yeah. 115 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 6: Yeah, and yet he is still demanding that tenants themselves 116 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 6: pay back their rent debt fully. And what happened with 117 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 6: the recent deal that was made behind tenants back, which 118 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 6: is what we're going to get into, is that the 119 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 6: government basically took the extra money back and are not 120 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 6: applying it to the tenants rent debt. So that's something 121 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 6: that we're pretty pissed off about because basically they took 122 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 6: money that was supposed to be for tenants and just 123 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,880 Speaker 6: gave it back to the city government, which also doesn't 124 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 6: even make sense because it was federal funding. 125 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 4: So that's kind of one of the issues. 126 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, so we have a situation where the landlord has 127 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 2: stolen this money and then the city has now stolen 128 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 2: it from him, which they have stolen federal money for themselves. 129 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 3: Jesus Christ literally literally, oh god. 130 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 4: Yeah, it's all just like state sanctioned theft. 131 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 2: You know what else is a structural problem that is 132 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 2: causing the massive miseration of most of the population on Earth. 133 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 2: It is the fraudusts and services that support this podcast, 134 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 2: and we're going to go to them briefly. We are back. 135 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 2: So is there anything else from sort of I guess 136 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 2: like the background era of this that we want to 137 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 2: get to before we move into what's been happening now. 138 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 6: Yeah. I think maybe some additional context we can share 139 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 6: is that after that May twenty twenty one council meeting, 140 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 6: we ended up really supporting our current council member, a 141 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:49,439 Speaker 6: Nieces in her campaign to get elected. This was November 142 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:53,719 Speaker 6: of twenty twenty one. We hosted large forums in Chinatown. 143 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 6: We really mobilized our base in CCD to turn out 144 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:01,679 Speaker 6: to vote for her. And I think a powerful anecdote 145 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,960 Speaker 6: is that Richard one of the longest Vietnamese tenants at 146 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 6: Hillside Via, He's been there for over thirty years. For him, 147 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 6: this was the first vote that he ever cast in 148 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,400 Speaker 6: this country. And I think that, you know, it's not 149 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 6: a unique story. I think for a lot of our 150 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 6: elders it was only because of our efforts that they 151 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:25,720 Speaker 6: participated in this election. So I think a lot of 152 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 6: the statistics show that the Asian base. 153 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:30,719 Speaker 4: The Chinatown base was really essential to. 154 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 6: Getting a Nieces elected, and in twenty twenty two she 155 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 6: officially got in office. 156 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 4: She was able to beat the incumbent Gil Cidio and. 157 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 6: Was the first quote unquote abolitionist DSA, so Democratic Socialists 158 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 6: of America kind of sponsored candidate to win an LAC council. 159 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 6: And since then we've only seen her maybe two or 160 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:04,079 Speaker 6: three times. Right, and I to address the issues at Helsaibia. 161 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 6: Even though during her campaign phase she rhetorically supported our 162 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 6: eminent domain struggle. 163 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 4: She made a lot of promises as politicians. 164 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:19,320 Speaker 6: Do, around housing in Chinatown, and yeah, I think that 165 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 6: kind of brings us up to where we are now. 166 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, so let's get into what is currently happening, because 167 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:31,560 Speaker 2: dear God, it's really I don't know, things somehow getting worse. 168 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,840 Speaker 2: What's been happening in the last I guess immediate period. 169 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 5: Yeah, so wow, so much has happened, and it's really 170 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 5: hard to actually like keep track of. Yeah, all the 171 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 5: big things, whether positive mostly negative things happening. 172 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 7: Just so much has happened over. 173 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 5: The last three years. We've been in the fight for 174 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 5: six years. So as we were mentioning in twenty twenty one, 175 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 5: there was a vote that happened at City Hall where 176 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 5: there'd be an evaluation of the building in order for 177 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 5: the city to purchase a hillside villa or last resort 178 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:22,839 Speaker 5: would be expropriate through eminent domain, although that was never 179 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 5: something that the people in power at LAHD or that 180 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 5: politicians really did behind and like always wanted to try 181 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:42,200 Speaker 5: something a little less radical. Therefore going into negotiations working 182 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 5: with the landlord and having these conversations with the landlord 183 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 5: with LAHD, with us somewhat in the picture, but mostly 184 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:57,320 Speaker 5: not in the picture. 185 00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 7: And that was done on. 186 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:07,319 Speaker 5: Purpose behalf of LAHD and Tombots and the politicians at 187 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 5: CD one. So because we were waiting for this evaluation 188 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 5: to happen at Hillside VA, I believe LAHD. 189 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 7: Needed to do that evaluation. 190 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,720 Speaker 5: Well, the landlord Tombots didn't allow them to come into 191 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 5: the building to do that evaluation because it was private 192 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 5: property and they needed some kind of core order like 193 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:38,439 Speaker 5: permit or paperwork to allow the city LAHD to come 194 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 5: into the building to evaluate. That actually halted the process 195 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 5: of evaluating in order to purchase the building and actually 196 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,959 Speaker 5: had tenants waiting for this evaluation to happen for months, 197 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 5: if not over a year, and you can imagine how 198 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 5: tenants felt like if they were like suffocating under these 199 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:09,880 Speaker 5: circumstances of waiting for the city to act, for tom 200 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 5: Bots to allow and there was always this resistance with 201 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:19,839 Speaker 5: the landlord and with getting LAHD to get up off 202 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:27,440 Speaker 5: their ass and actually do something. Unfortunately, the chair of LAHD, 203 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 5: her name is Anne Seul. I'm sure a lot of 204 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 5: people have heard her name by now. She is not 205 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 5: our friend. She's wicked in like in not a cool way. 206 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:42,880 Speaker 5: She's actually as like some conflict of interest in my 207 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 5: opinion that shouldn't allow her to even be in that 208 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:52,079 Speaker 5: position that she's in and to have such power over 209 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 5: a case like ours at Hillside Villa, where she was 210 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:59,280 Speaker 5: going into negotiations with tom Bots. And she's also a 211 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:01,040 Speaker 5: landlord and a white woman. 212 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 7: Oh Jesus Christ, so it's a double lammy there. 213 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 5: And yeah, she became really buddy buddy friendly with tom Bots, 214 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:16,880 Speaker 5: and that is when negotiations began between her and Tombots. 215 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 5: Behind the lucha, the fight for housing, behind the organizers backs, 216 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 5: behind communities back, and so we rallied, we protested, We 217 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:34,880 Speaker 5: did phone banks for over a year and things were 218 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 5: so stagnant, Like I can't even express to you how 219 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 5: how that at least that one year was. And that's 220 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 5: part of like, since the last time we were here 221 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 5: on this podcast was three years ago, well a year 222 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:52,440 Speaker 5: or more, of that was us just waiting around for 223 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:56,440 Speaker 5: the city to actually do their job. And we can't 224 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 5: get them to do their job. Yeah, but we can 225 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 5: protest and we can do direct action. And so we did, 226 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 5: and we pulled up to Ansel's house, not once, not twice. 227 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 5: We rallied the housing community to go protests at her 228 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:17,640 Speaker 5: home and to make her uncomfortable because at any moment, 229 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 5: any of us can get kicked out of our home. 230 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 5: You know, there's no sense of security here. And we're 231 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 5: never there to cause harm, you know, to anyone, no 232 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 5: physical harm or anything. But we're there to also like 233 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 5: kind of get her to understand how uncomfortable it is 234 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 5: and how like safe she is in her own home. Right, 235 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 5: So she called cops on us, She targeted organizers by name. 236 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:45,119 Speaker 7: It was really. 237 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:50,000 Speaker 5: Sloppy on their ends. And yeah, so I think I'll 238 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 5: stop there in Janice, if you want to kind of 239 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 5: add anything, I'm sure you have a lot. 240 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 4: To Oh yeah, that was a really borough summary. 241 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 6: I think all I want to add is that while 242 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 6: Box was denying the city access to the building, which 243 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 6: we you know, questioned deeply because why couldn't a tenant 244 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 6: just give them access to the building. Why do they 245 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 6: need special permission from the landlord. 246 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 4: It's all just. 247 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 6: Smoke and mirrors, right, delay tactics put on by this 248 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 6: trifecta of LHD, which is the LA Housing Department, so 249 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 6: the bureaucrats and then CD one City Council District one, 250 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:36,880 Speaker 6: the politicians and then bots. They're all completely aligned with 251 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 6: each other in their end goal of essentially protecting capital, 252 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 6: protecting landlords. 253 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 3: Right. 254 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:49,240 Speaker 6: So as he was doing that, he initiated the eviction process. 255 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 6: He started evicting tenants the you know, thirty five plus 256 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:59,200 Speaker 6: families that are deeply involved in the Tenants Association. 257 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,000 Speaker 4: We sent eviction papers to all of them. 258 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:06,800 Speaker 6: So and I maybe you can speak to a little 259 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:09,680 Speaker 6: bit of what that experience was like to get those 260 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:13,840 Speaker 6: papers while the eminent domain process wasn't moving forward like 261 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:14,639 Speaker 6: it was supposed to. 262 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:20,400 Speaker 5: Definitely, well, speaking on behalf of like my mom, who 263 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 5: I live here with and who's lived here for over 264 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:29,600 Speaker 5: twelve years, and speaking on behalf of other tenants, a 265 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:33,399 Speaker 5: lot of them are elders over fifty years old, have 266 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:38,640 Speaker 5: lived here for over twenty thirty years. They definitely felt 267 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:44,359 Speaker 5: the burden of those eviction papers and the anxiety, the 268 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,639 Speaker 5: heavy emotions that comes with being at fear of like 269 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 5: losing your home at any moment, the health issues that 270 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,480 Speaker 5: come up with that. So they definitely felt a lot 271 00:17:55,520 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 5: of that, and as much as much as we've been fighting, 272 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,560 Speaker 5: as much support as we have from the community, like 273 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 5: they still felt that insecurity of their housing. For me, 274 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:13,080 Speaker 5: as someone in their twenties and where we've been in 275 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:17,280 Speaker 5: this fight for over six years or about six years, 276 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 5: I felt like we've gone through the eviction process and 277 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:27,880 Speaker 5: I don't fear tombots and I don't fear his tactics 278 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 5: or his eviction papers. So there's definitely a difference in 279 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 5: the way that like a lot of our elders feel. 280 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 5: But I do have a lot of trust in the 281 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:44,440 Speaker 5: organizing that we're doing the solidarity, all though things haven't 282 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:50,639 Speaker 5: necessarily been all like happy and like we're still not 283 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 5: really getting the things that we've been demanding for I 284 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 5: have a lot of trust that we're going to be 285 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 5: able to win those evictions, and and we know how 286 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:06,640 Speaker 5: weak Tombots is his way of thinking, and how weak 287 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 5: their lawyers are. So we must keep pushing. There's no 288 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 5: other way, and we will until this is over. 289 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 7: If it is ever. 290 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,879 Speaker 3: Over, Unfortunately we need to go to ads. Then we 291 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:24,200 Speaker 3: will come back with not ads and instead more incredibly 292 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:35,960 Speaker 3: beautiful stories of struggle. We are back. 293 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,680 Speaker 2: I guess I promised struggle and I didn't. I should 294 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,320 Speaker 2: have added and also betrayal because it's kind of the. 295 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 3: Next part of this. 296 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,320 Speaker 2: Absolutely, let's talk about that and the deals that are 297 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:49,879 Speaker 2: being cut. 298 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:55,959 Speaker 6: Yeah, So at the beginning of this year, we learned 299 00:19:56,040 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 6: that a deal had been negotiated between LHD and bought 300 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:06,840 Speaker 6: completely behind tenants backs, and we had frustrating meetings with 301 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:12,520 Speaker 6: a Nieces our council member, where she was not willing 302 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 6: to take a public stance, you know, against these backdoor negotiations. 303 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:22,440 Speaker 6: And so in April of this year, about four months ago, 304 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,720 Speaker 6: there was another motion that was heard in La City 305 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:29,160 Speaker 6: Council when the kind of details of this deal were 306 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 6: actually revealed. 307 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 4: And they are just obscene. 308 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:38,400 Speaker 6: Basically, Tom Bots is being paid fifteen million dollars by 309 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:43,640 Speaker 6: the LA government and having a five million dollar loan 310 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,119 Speaker 6: that he has owed the city for I think the 311 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:51,879 Speaker 6: thirty years Simple's idea was first bill. He's having that 312 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,120 Speaker 6: loan forgiven with zero percent interest, and all of that 313 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 6: is just to extend the affordability covenant for a mere 314 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 6: ten years, which might sound like a lot to some folks, 315 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:08,199 Speaker 6: but in reality is not a lot at all. It 316 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 6: just means that the children who are in middle school 317 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,000 Speaker 6: now will be in college and have to fight this 318 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 6: fight another time. Right, And so that happened for Bots, 319 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 6: great for him. Whereas tenants are being asked to pay 320 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:28,760 Speaker 6: back over one point five million dollars collectively of back 321 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:36,000 Speaker 6: rent with three percent annual interest added on. And yeah, 322 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 6: their eviction cases were not being dropped. They were promised 323 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 6: to get their eviction case dropped. But what happened was 324 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 6: that this month one of our key tenant leaders, Adela, 325 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 6: her case was moved forward in the courts by Bots, 326 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 6: and we believe it was basically like a test case 327 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:02,439 Speaker 6: to basically pressure tenants to sign the new contracts, you know, 328 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:04,840 Speaker 6: threatening if you don't sign, this is what's going to 329 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,399 Speaker 6: happen to you too. And she is supposed to have 330 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,920 Speaker 6: a court date in September or October, So the timing 331 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,200 Speaker 6: is very obvious. Right time this so that tenants would 332 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 6: sign these new contracts that we were told would come 333 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,040 Speaker 6: out last week. 334 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 4: It ended up being that they didn't come out till 335 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 4: a little bit later. 336 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:31,680 Speaker 6: And when we actually received the details of the new lease, 337 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:36,400 Speaker 6: we were even further taken aback because some of the 338 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 6: details of this lease are just really wild. You know, 339 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 6: it's a complete regression from any kind of tenant law 340 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:49,160 Speaker 6: or tenant protection against harassment. Some of the things that 341 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 6: this new lease includes is that there are behavioral stipulations, 342 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,360 Speaker 6: is what they're being called. Yeah, just that term itself, right, 343 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 6: is so cur But the stipulation say that if a 344 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:09,400 Speaker 6: tenant merely plays amplified sound in any of the public 345 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:16,480 Speaker 6: communal spaces of the building or records slash slanders, slash 346 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 6: harasses the landlord or management, they can be immediately evicted without. 347 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:22,879 Speaker 4: A jury trial. 348 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:24,480 Speaker 3: Jesus like that. 349 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:27,280 Speaker 4: Is insane. 350 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:32,480 Speaker 6: You know, these are clearly anti organizing policies because these 351 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 6: are some of our tools are to amplify sound and 352 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,160 Speaker 6: to and it's our right to be able to record 353 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 6: landlorder management when they are usually the ones harassing us. 354 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,399 Speaker 6: They are always the ones harassing us, right, So that's 355 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,119 Speaker 6: one of the key issues with the new lease. Also, 356 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,960 Speaker 6: the eviction cases are not even being dropped after tenants 357 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,639 Speaker 6: sign this new lease. They're merely being suspended, and the 358 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 6: court actually retains jurisdiction for six years over the eviction cases, 359 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:04,919 Speaker 6: which is not something that any of the tenant lawyers 360 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,520 Speaker 6: we have worked with have ever seen before. And what 361 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 6: this means is that if the tenants are late just 362 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:18,000 Speaker 6: one day on the rent plus the debt repayment that 363 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 6: Bots is asking for, they can also be immediately evicted 364 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 6: without a jury trial. And then, finally, this one is 365 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:29,560 Speaker 6: one of the kickers is that in the least Bots 366 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,919 Speaker 6: also wrote language saying that the tenants are responsible for 367 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 6: paying his lawyer fees which are up to oh are 368 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 6: up to thirty thousand dollars, and he is also demanding 369 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,360 Speaker 6: that the tenants pay his lawyer fees with three percent 370 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:51,679 Speaker 6: in Jesus Christ, so he's asking tenants to pay for 371 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:56,119 Speaker 6: their own evictions. And one of the most wild parts 372 00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,399 Speaker 6: of this whole thing is that a U Nieces is 373 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 6: doubling down on. 374 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:02,440 Speaker 4: Calling this a good deal. 375 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,879 Speaker 6: She is caught on recording at a recent protest that 376 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:11,200 Speaker 6: we did at her house, saying that she would recommend 377 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 6: that one of her family members signs this deal, which 378 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:20,920 Speaker 6: essentially signs their rights away and commits them to paying 379 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:24,919 Speaker 6: an exordinant amount of money to get evicted. 380 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 4: So, yeah, this is what we're dealing with. 381 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,159 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I want to kind of focus in on 382 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:35,439 Speaker 2: that last part because that is a DSA elected like 383 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,040 Speaker 2: that is one of the people that she ran. That 384 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 2: was also very specifically was you know, someone who was 385 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,720 Speaker 2: elected off of your organizing and is now instantly turned 386 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,480 Speaker 2: around and gone, I would tell my own family to 387 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:52,720 Speaker 2: pay this guy's lawyer to evict you, which is nuts. 388 00:25:54,119 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 6: Yeah, hardly socialists, hardly progressive, hardly even liberal at this point, right, 389 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 6: It's just such naked, blatant protection of neoliberalism. And she 390 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,439 Speaker 6: not only called this a good deal, she when we 391 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 6: brought up the behavioral restrictions, she referred to those as 392 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:23,200 Speaker 6: simply good neighbor policies that we all have to abide by. 393 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:26,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, which is ridiculous, Like what. 394 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:35,560 Speaker 6: So just completely normalizing the landlord, you know, maximizing his power, 395 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:39,480 Speaker 6: gaining more power than any landlord has ever had. In 396 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:43,680 Speaker 6: the city and completely restricting the tenants right to organize 397 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 6: and to fight against harassment. 398 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:46,920 Speaker 4: Yeah. 399 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:51,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think this raises a really important question 400 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 2: about what are we actually doing as a movement for 401 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 2: the people who aren't involved in this, like who are 402 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,520 Speaker 2: involved directly the tenants organizing, Like, if the thing that 403 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 2: you're doing is putting people like this in power who 404 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 2: get elected off of movement and immediately turn on them 405 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,960 Speaker 2: inside with landlords, what is what is your political project 406 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:10,120 Speaker 2: supposed to be doing? 407 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:10,920 Speaker 3: Right? 408 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 2: And if this is something that you're okay with, you 409 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 2: need to sit down and reevaluate what you actually believe. 410 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:17,880 Speaker 2: And it's something that you're not okay with, you need 411 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,720 Speaker 2: to sit down also and ask yourself how did it 412 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 2: come to this and why is this something that you 413 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:25,600 Speaker 2: think is acceptable? 414 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 6: Mm hmmm, yeah, A thousand percent. So far, even though 415 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 6: we protested Anie Says last weekend, we haven't really heard 416 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 6: from DSA folks in terms of actually publicly supporting us 417 00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:45,040 Speaker 6: and publicly holding a Nie Says accountable. So that's something 418 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:47,920 Speaker 6: that we would like to see ideally. 419 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like like again, like I know there are 420 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:53,320 Speaker 2: DSA people at LA listening to the show, Like please 421 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 2: come collect your trash like this is this is this 422 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:00,440 Speaker 2: is your problem, and you also have to be part 423 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:02,720 Speaker 2: of that of the solution to dealing with it, because 424 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 2: right now what you have is a situation where a 425 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 2: bunch of tennants and a bunch of tenant organizers are 426 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:11,480 Speaker 2: fighting your people at the same time as they're also 427 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 2: fighting the landlords and the rest of the city governments 428 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:19,280 Speaker 2: and the city bureaucracy. And this is the situation that 429 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:24,199 Speaker 2: I think is just absolutely unacceptable and that can be 430 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 2: intervened in by people who are supposed to be doing 431 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 2: this and haven't been. 432 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:34,440 Speaker 5: Yeah, speaking on that, I have a lot of feelings 433 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 5: around that, and as someone that has experienced a lot 434 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 5: of displacement in Eco Park and not happening in Chinatown, 435 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 5: it's something that's followed me my whole life and dealing 436 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 5: directly with the problem of gentrification and the people coming 437 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 5: into our neighborhoods or mostly like liberal folks, I know 438 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 5: a lot of them benefit from the displacement and gentrification, 439 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:07,720 Speaker 5: and it's really easy for them to look away or 440 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 5: just kind of like show their shoulders and just go 441 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 5: have brunch at a new Eco Park or Highland Park cafe. 442 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 7: So definitely thank you for. 443 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,200 Speaker 5: Calling that out, and yeah, we really need to like 444 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 5: think radically and reimagine what it would look like to 445 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:31,240 Speaker 5: find a different solution where we're not relying on these 446 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 5: politicians or yeah, the city to find those solutions, because 447 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 5: it's evident that six years into our fight at Hillside Villa, 448 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:48,160 Speaker 5: it's been cyclical where we're asking our council members to 449 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:53,080 Speaker 5: represent us, and again and again they give us false 450 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 5: promises and disappoint us, and there's complete hypocrisy and backstep 451 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:06,160 Speaker 5: on behalf of the politicians. And you know, all of 452 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:10,880 Speaker 5: these are tactics with the LAHD making us wait for 453 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 5: so long, with tombots working with them, I think that's 454 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 5: a tactic, is making the people the community wait for 455 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:25,560 Speaker 5: so long that they get tired, They get tired of fighting, 456 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,040 Speaker 5: they get tired of waiting. And unfortunately that has been 457 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,360 Speaker 5: a tactic that I've seen, like has gotten to a 458 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,160 Speaker 5: lot of our elder folks or people that are just 459 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:39,640 Speaker 5: fed up having to deal with the bureaucracy of it all. 460 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:44,520 Speaker 5: That a lot of them, kind of not everyone. For 461 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 5: example me, I'm still believe eminent domain could have been 462 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,640 Speaker 5: like a more radical solution in a way for us 463 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:54,480 Speaker 5: to take that power back from the city and the 464 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,960 Speaker 5: way that they use these laws to benefit them, and 465 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 5: that we could use like eminent domain to help us 466 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 5: for once, but eminent domain was completely given up on 467 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:10,720 Speaker 5: on with like certain tenants that we're tired of fighting 468 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,080 Speaker 5: and wanted to reach an agreement and wanted to reach 469 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:19,040 Speaker 5: a deal. So then we have this fifteen year deal 470 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:25,280 Speaker 5: that is then turned into ten years because those five 471 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 5: years that we had been fighting is included into that 472 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 5: fifteen years. Not only that, but yeah, he gets fifteen 473 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 5: million dollars plus his debt to the city forgiven or extended. 474 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 7: I forget which one it is, but this was a millionaire. 475 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 5: Yeah, he has a bunch of houses in Malibu. He 476 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:53,960 Speaker 5: doesn't need any more money. And it's just really disappointing 477 00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 5: that at a time like this where we know that 478 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:04,160 Speaker 5: thing aren't working anymore and that things needs to change, 479 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:09,480 Speaker 5: that again, the city and the politicians are continuing to 480 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 5: side with the landlords and continue the cyclical oppression of 481 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:21,360 Speaker 5: lack of housing and lack of accessibility to housing that 482 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:24,680 Speaker 5: affected me as a child, and that is going to 483 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:28,600 Speaker 5: affect the children that are around me now and the 484 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 5: teenagers and the single parents. So that's why we need 485 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 5: these better solutions. And yeah, like Jenna said, for the 486 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:44,640 Speaker 5: two or three years that Eunees has been around in office, 487 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 5: we've only seen her two or three times. She doesn't 488 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 5: know what's going on half the time. And she is 489 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:56,440 Speaker 5: actively supporting shops here in Chinatown that are gentrifying the community. 490 00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:00,280 Speaker 5: Not only herself, but her office is actively trying to 491 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 5: divide our organization and our tenant association. 492 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 2: Yeah. 493 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 6: I think even during her initial meetings with us, she 494 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:14,000 Speaker 6: would kind of use this line of I don't want 495 00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:19,160 Speaker 6: to hear from organizers, especially one of our most committed 496 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 6: organizers is a white male lawyer. 497 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:24,080 Speaker 4: He's there with us every single week. 498 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,959 Speaker 6: She would specifically scapego him, and you know, say, oh, 499 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:29,920 Speaker 6: I don't want to hear from a white lawyer. 500 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:33,840 Speaker 4: I'm here to hear from the tenants. And that dynamic. 501 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 6: Actually like really got entrenched in our organizing, where some 502 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:45,760 Speaker 6: tenants then began to weaponize that and sow division, and 503 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 6: she continues to use that as a talking point. Like 504 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,440 Speaker 6: we saw during the most recent protest at her house, 505 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:59,720 Speaker 6: she continued to use both of these tactics weaponizing identity politics, 506 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:03,520 Speaker 6: which was really ironic because as she was saying that, 507 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:06,040 Speaker 6: you know, from one side of her mouth, on the 508 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 6: other side, she's receiving advice from this white hipster musician 509 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:14,280 Speaker 6: that she appointed to her office who's literally telling her 510 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,680 Speaker 6: every two minutes, like, what is actually on this contract 511 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,920 Speaker 6: because she clearly has not read So it was just 512 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:23,880 Speaker 6: really ironic to see that play out in real time. 513 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:26,919 Speaker 6: She continued to say that she only wants to hear 514 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 6: from tenants, even though tenants are saying the same exact 515 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:35,319 Speaker 6: things that the organizers are, but she's infantilizing them right 516 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:38,839 Speaker 6: by saying like, oh, you wouldn't believe these things if 517 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 6: these organizers weren't putting them into your brains. No, these 518 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,959 Speaker 6: tenants very much have the ability to make their own 519 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:51,399 Speaker 6: decisions and their own critical thinking, and we're offering them 520 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:54,680 Speaker 6: information that they are then you know, taking in themselves. 521 00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 6: And then ultimately, with the most recent protest, she just 522 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:03,360 Speaker 6: completely gas split us for demanding more than she's giving. 523 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:04,799 Speaker 4: The whole vibe was. 524 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,759 Speaker 6: Basically like, why aren't you guys grateful for the ten 525 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:11,240 Speaker 6: year extension? Why aren't you grateful to me for finding 526 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:14,320 Speaker 6: two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to help you repay 527 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:14,840 Speaker 6: your debt. 528 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 4: Maybe we're not grateful. 529 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:19,359 Speaker 6: Because when that two hundred and fifty thousand dollars runs out, 530 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:25,240 Speaker 6: tenants we're on fixed incomes are immediately vulnerable to eviction, 531 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,719 Speaker 6: and they're vulnerable to eviction even before that if they 532 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,400 Speaker 6: even just blast their music too loud in the patio 533 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:36,480 Speaker 6: based on this lease. So yeah, we are very very 534 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:38,280 Speaker 6: pissed off at. 535 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:40,239 Speaker 4: CDU one right now. Yeah. 536 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:42,480 Speaker 2: I think you know, people, people listen to the show 537 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 2: a lot, like you should all recognize these tactics because 538 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:48,880 Speaker 2: these are all incredibly standard union busting tactics, like the 539 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:53,520 Speaker 2: whole like dragging out the first contract negotiation, trying to 540 00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:56,239 Speaker 2: do divide and conquer between the union and you know, 541 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,760 Speaker 2: doing the Oh these are outside organizers, like the union's 542 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 2: outside organizers. This is all just straight up union busting 543 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:04,799 Speaker 2: one oh one stuff exactly. 544 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm so glad you brought that word up, because 545 00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:10,760 Speaker 6: that's what we've been calling it the past year, exactly 546 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:15,320 Speaker 6: Like you said, third partying the union, dragging out contract 547 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 6: negotiations and the I think the sad thing is that 548 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:24,240 Speaker 6: tenant organizing has a lot less protections than labor organizing 549 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 6: or a lot less you know, formalized law, so we 550 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:31,680 Speaker 6: don't have things like the NLRB that can maybe give 551 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:34,520 Speaker 6: us a little bit more teeth in fighting against unfair 552 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:38,680 Speaker 6: labor practices. So that could probably be a whole other conversation, 553 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:43,160 Speaker 6: a comparison between tenant and labor organizing, but so many 554 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:44,160 Speaker 6: parallels as well. 555 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:49,680 Speaker 5: And then like also, she made so many promises and 556 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:54,040 Speaker 5: sweet talked so many of us, and there's just like 557 00:36:54,880 --> 00:37:02,080 Speaker 5: respectability politics that a lot of even tenants became divided 558 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:07,440 Speaker 5: within our movement because they put so much trust into 559 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:12,560 Speaker 5: her office and into the in their hands, whereas other 560 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:19,200 Speaker 5: tenants were still very critical and very hard on u nieces. 561 00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:24,120 Speaker 5: Anytime she was around, we really questioned them, and a 562 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:28,400 Speaker 5: lot of the tenants didn't like that, and they, you know, 563 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:33,160 Speaker 5: demanded that we not question them and that we behave 564 00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:34,800 Speaker 5: in an educated manner. 565 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:36,960 Speaker 7: But look look at what we have now. 566 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:41,759 Speaker 5: We have a contract that is completely has sold all 567 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:45,959 Speaker 5: of us out, and what for, you know, for these 568 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:54,200 Speaker 5: promises and fooling the people into believing her, into trusting 569 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:58,560 Speaker 5: those promises or that she would actually have our best interest. 570 00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:02,400 Speaker 5: So here we are are, and these are some of 571 00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:05,920 Speaker 5: the things that we've also been dealing with in the association. 572 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:08,919 Speaker 6: Yeah, and just to quickly add on to the point 573 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:12,120 Speaker 6: you were just making an i E. I think we've 574 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:18,360 Speaker 6: really learned these past few years about the insidiousness of 575 00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:23,120 Speaker 6: these so called progressive electeds, right, who come from some 576 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:28,880 Speaker 6: kind of left leaning background. Aanieces comes from Law Defenso, 577 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:34,239 Speaker 6: which is a nonprofit that has organized for you know, 578 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:39,440 Speaker 6: certain kinds of reforms within prison spaces, and so she 579 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:44,000 Speaker 6: would constantly refer to herself as an organizer and weaponize that, right, 580 00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:47,680 Speaker 6: like as an organizer, like I know what I'm doing 581 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,560 Speaker 6: and you guys can trust me. Whereas with Sidillo, the 582 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:55,200 Speaker 6: previous council member, the contradictions were just obvious, like we 583 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,800 Speaker 6: knew this guy was bullshit, and you know, we would 584 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,680 Speaker 6: just be openly fighting him all the time. But in 585 00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:05,799 Speaker 6: a lot of ways, us getting her elected I think 586 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:09,640 Speaker 6: made our organizing harder because of the way that she would, 587 00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:12,719 Speaker 6: you know, call us her fam which should have been 588 00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:14,239 Speaker 6: a red flag from the beginning. 589 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:15,759 Speaker 4: Right, that's also another word. 590 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, family, Well. 591 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:19,800 Speaker 4: Your co worker, here's your family. 592 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:25,080 Speaker 6: But yeah, I think that's definitely been a huge lesson 593 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 6: in the past few years. 594 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's I think something is not very well 595 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:34,880 Speaker 2: understood about the way that sort of campaigns are destroyed 596 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:37,520 Speaker 2: is that like someone who is nominally on the same 597 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:40,400 Speaker 2: side of you is significantly more dangerous of an opponent 598 00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:44,360 Speaker 2: than someone who isn't right. And I mean, like you 599 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:47,000 Speaker 2: can look at immediately after World War Two in Italy 600 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:49,640 Speaker 2: in nineteen nineteen nineteen twenty, there's this thing called the 601 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:50,480 Speaker 2: Bennio Rosso. 602 00:39:50,719 --> 00:39:51,920 Speaker 3: This is the two Red years. 603 00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:54,799 Speaker 2: The two Red Years culminate in what becomes known as 604 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:57,879 Speaker 2: the occupation of the factories. This is these mass sort 605 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:01,200 Speaker 2: of workers' movements sort of cumulate from all of the 606 00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:02,800 Speaker 2: effects of the war and all of the sort of 607 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:06,239 Speaker 2: repression that's been happening for centuries in Italy. And what 608 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:08,880 Speaker 2: happens is, instead of calling a conventional general strike in 609 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,160 Speaker 2: which you know, workers leave the factories and allow bosses 610 00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:14,880 Speaker 2: to hold on to them, workers instead just seize control 611 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:16,799 Speaker 2: and occupy the factories they work. And this is why 612 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:18,680 Speaker 2: it's you know, it's called the occupation of the factories. 613 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:23,520 Speaker 2: And in this period, right, these workers have the capitalists 614 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:25,440 Speaker 2: on the ropes, right. Without control of the factories, the 615 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,960 Speaker 2: bosses can't restart production with scabs, and more importantly, it 616 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:30,960 Speaker 2: puts the workers in the position to simply drive the 617 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:34,560 Speaker 2: bosses out entirely and restart production under the control of 618 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,440 Speaker 2: the workers who work in these places and who literally 619 00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:40,680 Speaker 2: built the entire economic system that these capitalists have been 620 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:46,040 Speaker 2: profiting from. And this was the best chance any country 621 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:48,920 Speaker 2: in Europe was ever going to get to defeat the 622 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:51,480 Speaker 2: capitalists once and for all. Right, this was this was 623 00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:53,239 Speaker 2: the best they were ever going to have it. But 624 00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:56,919 Speaker 2: the worker's oldest allies, these are the socialist and social 625 00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:01,239 Speaker 2: democratic politicians in the Socialist Party opposed the occupants. And 626 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:04,480 Speaker 2: these these Socialist Party politicians, these are their friends, These 627 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:06,200 Speaker 2: are their comrades, These are these are the people who 628 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:10,279 Speaker 2: lead their unions. I mean, these are people who you 629 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:12,800 Speaker 2: know a lot of these people have spent thirty years 630 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:15,600 Speaker 2: organizing with these people just to carve the workers movement 631 00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:17,880 Speaker 2: out of sort of the stone of history. These are 632 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:19,760 Speaker 2: the people, you know, who, in a lot of cases 633 00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:22,719 Speaker 2: like they had gone to war with So when the 634 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:25,080 Speaker 2: social Democrats told them to immobilize and told them to 635 00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:26,839 Speaker 2: go home, and told them to, you know, just give 636 00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:30,120 Speaker 2: the fact the factories back to the capitalists and give 637 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:34,600 Speaker 2: up all of their leverage. The workers listened, and once 638 00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:36,680 Speaker 2: they've been totally demobilized, there was no way for them 639 00:41:36,719 --> 00:41:39,680 Speaker 2: to resist the fascists. Mussolini Marshall on Rome the next year, 640 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:42,960 Speaker 2: and in the wake of the socialists betrayal, the fascists 641 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:46,600 Speaker 2: would rule Italy for twenty five years. You have to 642 00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:51,560 Speaker 2: be incredibly weary of these people who who take power 643 00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:53,719 Speaker 2: from you know, like the most personal example to be 644 00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:55,680 Speaker 2: is we have this with Brandon Johnson, who is like 645 00:41:55,719 --> 00:41:58,080 Speaker 2: a you know, the big here. He was the mayor 646 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:00,680 Speaker 2: of Chicago, where I I guess technically now I don't 647 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:03,040 Speaker 2: live there, but I live there for ages. Who was 648 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,759 Speaker 2: you know, quote our quote unquote movement mayor and then 649 00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:11,279 Speaker 2: immediately started just fucking putting migrants that had been like 650 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,960 Speaker 2: bust up in just like these fucking horrible conditions in camps. 651 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:18,560 Speaker 2: People were dying, people are getting fucking terrible diseases, like 652 00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:21,840 Speaker 2: buildings with mold in them, like stuff that was condemned 653 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:24,239 Speaker 2: and like all of this stuff happened, and you know, 654 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:26,759 Speaker 2: and it really kind of in a very similar way 655 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,279 Speaker 2: because this was, you know, this was supposed to be 656 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:30,000 Speaker 2: one of us. 657 00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:33,520 Speaker 3: The resistance to it has been really innutered. 658 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,279 Speaker 2: And that's a dynamic that you know, we haven't had 659 00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,360 Speaker 2: as much in the US because there hasn't been a 660 00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:45,680 Speaker 2: left in this country until really the last maybe decade, 661 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:48,239 Speaker 2: and that's stretching it. And now, you know, we need 662 00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:51,040 Speaker 2: to actually get back to understanding how this kind of 663 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:53,880 Speaker 2: stuff works, because more and more the people who are 664 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:55,960 Speaker 2: going to be arresting you are people who you know, 665 00:42:56,080 --> 00:42:59,160 Speaker 2: you used people used to be organizing with people, people 666 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,920 Speaker 2: who you used to know, people who, even when you 667 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:03,399 Speaker 2: put a mic in front of their face, will claim 668 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:04,280 Speaker 2: to be on your side. 669 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:04,799 Speaker 4: Yeah. 670 00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:09,000 Speaker 6: No, those are some really great comparisons to draw to. 671 00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:13,319 Speaker 6: And yeah, I think we've definitely learned to be more 672 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:14,920 Speaker 6: vigilant collectively. 673 00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:15,960 Speaker 7: It is here. 674 00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:17,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, is there anything else that you two want to 675 00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:18,960 Speaker 3: say before you wrap up? 676 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:25,360 Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's really important to hold people accountable always. 677 00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:28,120 Speaker 5: As much as they don't want to be held accountable, 678 00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:32,400 Speaker 5: they still they probably won't, but they still have a 679 00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:37,480 Speaker 5: responsibility to the community. And yeah, I think we need 680 00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:42,799 Speaker 5: to do stick to direct action and less working alongside 681 00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:46,080 Speaker 5: of politicians because at the end of the day, the 682 00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:49,720 Speaker 5: same thing will happen again and again will be sold 683 00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:53,480 Speaker 5: out and it'll be a big waste of time. So 684 00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:58,640 Speaker 5: I think the collective power of community in doing direct 685 00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:03,319 Speaker 5: action always will be the solution. And that's something that 686 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:07,080 Speaker 5: I've learned more recently the way that things have kind 687 00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:12,479 Speaker 5: of unfolded with Hillside Villa. And lastly, I know there 688 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:17,360 Speaker 5: are some key demands for CD one we can share too. 689 00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:20,760 Speaker 6: So yeah, I think, picking up on what you were saying, 690 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:24,719 Speaker 6: an I, direct action has always been our bread and 691 00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:28,840 Speaker 6: butter to actually get meaningful results, and we're already seeing 692 00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:32,719 Speaker 6: it after this recent protest at Aune's house. 693 00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:36,920 Speaker 4: Where CD one, the city council district is now. 694 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:40,560 Speaker 6: Completely changing their two and saying, oh, this this lease 695 00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:43,440 Speaker 6: was just a draft, like you don't have to feel 696 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:46,560 Speaker 6: pressured to sign it. You can put together account proposal, 697 00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:50,200 Speaker 6: And that is completely not what they were saying at all. 698 00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:51,160 Speaker 4: For the protest. 699 00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:55,279 Speaker 6: They were really really pressuring us to sign the lease, 700 00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:57,960 Speaker 6: and even at the protest right a Unie is recommending 701 00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:01,320 Speaker 6: that a family member would sign it. So we're already 702 00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:06,040 Speaker 6: seeing the results, and in our counterproposal, we plan to 703 00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:09,960 Speaker 6: really highlight a few demands first and foremost that the 704 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:14,360 Speaker 6: rent debt is turned into consumer non evictible debt, no 705 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:17,120 Speaker 6: behaviors stipulations, those are bullshit. 706 00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:20,360 Speaker 4: The eviction cases actually. 707 00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,680 Speaker 6: Get dismissed and not suspended in court for six years. 708 00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:28,120 Speaker 6: And finally, no fifteen million for Bots until a fair 709 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:30,800 Speaker 6: deal is reached. And that's a key point of leverage 710 00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:36,279 Speaker 6: because CD one is acting as the escrow of the 711 00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:41,040 Speaker 6: fifteen million, meaning that they're supposed to. Yeah see if 712 00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:46,000 Speaker 6: both parties, so US and Bots quote unquote like fulfill 713 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:49,000 Speaker 6: what we're supposed to do with a deal before giving 714 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:50,280 Speaker 6: Bots the fifteen million. 715 00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:53,719 Speaker 4: And so they have so much power over this situation. 716 00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:56,560 Speaker 4: They keep throwing their hands up and saying they don't 717 00:45:56,600 --> 00:45:59,520 Speaker 4: have power, but they can withhold the fifteen million from 718 00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:02,560 Speaker 4: him until he actually responds to some of these demands. 719 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:06,480 Speaker 4: So that's what we really want to highlight in this moment. 720 00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:10,399 Speaker 6: And for folks who you know, want to kind of 721 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:17,160 Speaker 6: stay updated on the struggle, our handle on both Twitter 722 00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:22,680 Speaker 6: and Instagram, I believe is Hellside Underscore yep, So feel 723 00:46:22,680 --> 00:46:25,600 Speaker 6: free to check us out there and stay updated. 724 00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:28,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, well we'll put the link to the description too. 725 00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:30,680 Speaker 2: And on that note, thank you to both so much 726 00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:36,080 Speaker 2: for coming on and yeah, fuck them, Fuck the DSA electeds, 727 00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:40,160 Speaker 2: Fuck the landlords, but the housing department. Hope, hope you 728 00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:40,839 Speaker 2: crush the ball. 729 00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:43,879 Speaker 4: Absolutely fuck them all. 730 00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:45,640 Speaker 7: Thank you so much for having us. 731 00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:48,719 Speaker 5: And yeah, definitely the city a lot needs to be 732 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:54,520 Speaker 5: dismantled and reimagined and reconstructed, starting with housing and so 733 00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:55,080 Speaker 5: much more. 734 00:46:55,239 --> 00:46:56,080 Speaker 7: But thank you again. 735 00:46:56,520 --> 00:47:00,439 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I encourage everyone listening to the show give 736 00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:05,160 Speaker 2: them hell. Whoever them is in this scenario, give them hell. 737 00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:12,240 Speaker 1: It could Happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 738 00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:13,640 Speaker 3: For more podcasts from. 739 00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:16,480 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media, visit our website cool zonemedia dot com 740 00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,200 Speaker 1: or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 741 00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:22,280 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources 742 00:47:22,320 --> 00:47:25,439 Speaker 1: for It Could Happen Here, updated monthly at coolzonemedia dot 743 00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:27,680 Speaker 1: com slash sources. Thanks for listening.