Jose Morales, 80, lived in the San Jose Street building for 43 years before he was forced to leave in 2008 through the Ellis Act, which allows property owners to get out of the rental business. Mr. Morales said he now lives in a small space in an office building in the Mission District. "The city should have protected me," he said. "It's like they don't see me. It's like I'm a ghost to them."
But attorney Andrew Zacks, who represented Mr. Tehlirian, said the landlord resorted to the Ellis Act only after Mr. Morales remained on the property illegally, after being given more than a year's notice and relocation fees.
Ok, an 80 year old man was thrown out of a house that he had lived in for 43 years. He now is living in a small space. It is not a good situation.
More than 50 people marched in rain through the Mission District, hoisting picket signs that read "House keys not handcuffs" and chanting "Whose city? Our city." The action was organized by Homes Not Jails, a 20-year-old Marxist group affiliated with the San Francisco Tenants Union. The group's posters and other propaganda contend the rights of squatters should be given preference over the so-called "property rights" of those who buy and manage real estate in search of profit.
By the time the tail of the procession reached the duplex on the 500 block of San Jose Street, at least eight people were inside, the Chronicle reported, holding banners from second-story windows. More than a dozen police officers were on hand, most standing on the sidewalk on the other side of the street. They did nothing.
The police did nothing. They allow these people to break in and occupy the property. What kind of protection is this? Isn't breaking and entering a crime? How would you feel if these people broke into your home and the police stood by and did nothing?
The police who stood by should be fired.
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