SF Filipinos Deliver Valentine to Mayor Lee

By AsianWeek Staff ? February 13, 2012Posted in: Bay Area, News

SAN FRANCISCO ? For Filipinos in this city, finding an affordable place to live and raise families is hard, especially in tough economic times.

On, February 13, from 6pm to 9pm, the Filipino Community Center in collaboration with other community organizations will host an event entitled ?Home Is Where the Heart Is? advocating for much needed investment in affordable housing in the Excelsior District. The event takes place in the 2^nd Floor Gymnasium of Ocean Avenue Presbyterian Church (35 San Juan Ave, SF 94112).

The evening culminates with more than fifty Filipino residents and other ethnic groups delivering to Mayor Lee a hand crafted house full of Valentine Hearts and love letters with messages supporting affordable housing. Community members will prepare the valentines during the event. Mayor Ed Lee as well as District 11 Supervisor John Avalos is confirmed to attend.

Community members have identified the ?Upper Yard? site at Balboa Park Station in the Excelsior District as a prime opportunity to create new affordable housing.? The site is designated as a transit oriented development site in the Balboa Park Station Area Plan that was adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2009.? For the past several years, community wide effort and support has come together behind a mixed use affordable housing complex at the ?Upper Yard? site.

However, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) which is a co-owner of the land, maintains the site as an under utilized parking lot, and is considering keeping the property for storage of its trains in the future. The MTA?s hold on the property is the main challenge to the progress of the project.

The event is sponsored by Communities United for Health and Justice (CUHJ) is an Excelsior based alliance of three community organizations with a combined constituency of over one thousand including: Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, Filipino Community Center, and PODER (People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights).

CUHJ and thousands of other San Francisco residents hope Mayor Lee will lend his support to urge the MTA to release the land so the affordable housing project can move forward.

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Source: http://www.asianweek.com/2012/02/13/sf-filipinos-deliver-valentine-to-mayor-lee/

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