Galería de la Raza’s former location at 24th and Bryant is now completely covered in graffiti.
It’s unclear who the perpetrators are, but nearby merchants say the tagging has been slowly building up since October, when the gallery was forced out of its home of nearly five decades. The vacant adjoining storefronts’ windows are completely plastered with large, illegible tags.
The billboard-sized Mayan-inspired mural on the side of the building, however, is untarnished.
“It’s started out a little at a time,” said a merchant who declined to give her name because she feared her business would be vandalized as well.
Another merchant suggested that it may have been some community members showing their dissatisfaction with the landlords who ultimately evicted the gallery. “The community is not happy,” she said.
And this merchant is not happy, either. She noted that other building owners whose ground-floor storefronts are vacant have maintained their buildings. “The same thing happened to La Victoria, but the owner is cleaning it up daily,” she said.
According to Rachel Gordon, a spokeswoman with San Francisco Public Works, the property owners have been notified to abate the graffiti at each of the addresses, but the owners have not responded.
GBA Realty, which manages the property for owner Lily Ng, did immediately return our inquiry.
Galería de la Raza, which has temporarily relocated to 26th and Valencia, will not likely return to the space. Negotiations crumbled when the landlords wanted to stick the gallery with upwards of $1 million in capital improvements, even though it only proposed allowing the gallery to remain at this site for two more years. Two potential future permanent homes — at 1990 Folsom and 2779 Folsom — are yet to be built.
But that hasn’t stopped gallery leadership from working to designate the now-graffiti-strewn building at 24th and Bryant into a historic landmark — a move the building’s owners have vehemently opposed, but which the Historic Preservation Commission seemed amenable to.
Read all of our Galería de la Raza coverage here.
Charles, I am not a shrill for the real estate developers but I am familiar with the owner’s sad and unjust situation. When a tenant has not paid their rent, then a “3 day QUIT notice” is served. The Galeria and the media labeled the notice as an eviction. The Galeria did not pay any rent for 3 months. How serious is an “eviction” if the tenant stays for 3 months without paying rent? The property owner was always open to rental negotiations. The Galeria was given a long lease opportunity, but chose to decline it. The ADA issue was under discussion and was later found not to be even close to the exaggerated $1 million figure that was thrown out by the Galeria during the initial negotiation period. The Galeria demanded that the rent be retained at the 0.85 cents/square foot – which one cannot even find for a one bedroom apartment in SF much less for 2 store fronts. The Galeria benefited by the owner’s generosity (by subsidizing their rent) for 46 years. The Galeria decided to pull out voluntarily. No owner wants their property vacant. The truth should have been told long ago and yes, it does NOT fit the narrative that has been unfairly portrayed. The elderly owner was very fearful of the intimidation tactics used by the community activists against her. There were 2 public protests; false and inaccurate information was given out. No elderly person, especially someone who has been benevolent and law-abiding all her life, should be treated like this. Her reputation and private property have been severely damaged and the truth needs to be known.
Graffiti “brings down” a neighborhood and attracts crime. Rents will be lower because the neighborhood becomes undesirable. Let’s not turn OUR MISSION to another Camden, New Jersey! The “graffiti-makers” should be held accountable!
Thank you James and John for your points of view. The point remains that what is happening is unfair. People have tried to change laws, but reasonable people like you confuse the matter and the elected officials torn between attracting tech employers and high paying jobs ignore the pain of the folks who have neither. I doubt that you bring up these points to sharpen the spear point of community action for effective changes that will make a difference. You bring up these points to weaken my call to action. Ms Ng is an elderly and poor woman who has to raise rents to survive. She is also a victim of the current market forces and so another community institution is impacted. My point is the Mission is being destroyed one eviction at a time.
And let’s deal with the other point – change the law. A reasonable Arguement, but neither the Board of Supervisors or the Mayor who have witnessed the destruction of the Black population in the Western Addition (Oh, I forgot it is now called Nopa) and the leggings of the Black population being pushed out if BVHP or the economic displacement of long term Mission residents have done anything to address the problem. Where is the affordable housing and efforts to support community institutions and businesses and property owners like Ms Ng who are impacted by Market forces. I don’t see either of you gentlemen (?) on the front line of folks fighting for Justice. And you hide behind a first name. How do I know you are not shills for the Real Estate Lobby.
Say, here’s an idea: Hold the graffiti makers responsible for their misdeeds.
Graff is a form of art not a crime , don’t @ me #GraffitiSupport
Graffiti is ugly and painful to look at. It ruins the property and the surrounding neighborhood. We as a community should not tolerate it. Graffiti is a crime and a perpetual problem. SF City Public Works offers $250 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of graffiti vandals. Anyone who witnesses a tagger in progress should call 911. Then you file a police report with suspect information that leads to the arrest and conviction of graffiti vandals. Don’t let graffiti artists get away with it!
The owner, an elderly woman and not a big time developer, is unfairly maligned. For over 46 years, rent was rarely raised. It remained substantially below market rates. As expenses rose exponentially over this span of time, the owner could not subsidize the Galeria any longer. She had no choice but to increase the rent modestly. Rent was less than $3200/month, which is absolutely unheard of for occupying 2 store spaces in San Francisco. This came out to about $.85/sq ft. The median rental rate for the area was around $3.50/sf. Even doubling the rent to $1.70/sf was still a huge bargain. The Galeria overly exaggerated capital improvement cost at “up to $1 million” was just an arbitrary figure thrown out at the initial stages of the negotiations. Later on, the actual estimates from the City were a lot less. In the end, Galeria did agree to consolidate into one space. They were offered a 10 year lease with a 5 year extension option. However, negotiations broke down regarding ADA compliance costs. The Galeria on their own accord set the date to vacate. The owner wanted to negotiate a fair settlement but the Galeria did not agree. The Galeria still owes 3 months rent.
The Galeria was frequently late paying rent for months at a time. Due to the patience of the owner, the Galeria was allowed to remain operating. Any other landlord would have evicted them decades ago. Instead of being vilified, she should be thanked for allowing the Galeria to operate as long as they did on 24th Street and Bryant.
the truth doesnt matter.
But, but, but those facts don’t fit the narrative! Every eviction must have a victim that fits the narrative!
1. The Mission is being destroyed one eviction at a time.
We need to demonstrate at the home of Lily Ng, the owner, and canvass her neighbors. We need to let future landlords evicting long term tenants and businesses that there will be consequences for their greed.
2. We need to stop techie busses. They provide free commutes to tech employees. The folks who are evicted by skyrocketing rents and move out of San Francisco don’t get free commutes back to their jobs in the city.
3. We need to confront the tech companies over the harm they are doing to the long term mission community. Attracting tech workers to SF result in increasing rent levels forcing long term tenants to the street and displacing the traditional businesses and institutions that serve the community.
And meanwhile our elected representatives do nothing. Act to restore justice to the Mission or get Fired.
It is time to Organize and take Action. The Mission is being destroyed one eviction at a time. The message is clear – destruction of community.
Charles,
1. Vigilante justice will not prevail over rule of law. If you don’t like the law, lobby to get it changed. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
2. It’s not a free ride. The tech companies pay for this and it’s part of the compensation package. These “free rides” are the result of environmentalists not wanting more commuters. . If they didn’t get “free rides”, the tech employees would have higher salaries and would be driving to their jobs. A “Free Ride” does not determine where a rich person wants to live. People with means choose which neighborhood they want to live in, and then pick the best home they can afford. They have money which gives people more choices in life.
3. What do you suggest? Sounds like you want to build a wall around the Mission to keep the bad people out. Do you have any actual ideas you want to put forward? Protests and organizing don’t do shit. At the end of the day, only changing the law actually accomplishes anything. What law changes do you recommend?
It’s a typical developer’s ploy — boot the tenants, let the building go to seed for a year or so, and then crow to the planning commission about how their shiny new apartments, if permitted, will clean up the “blighted” area.
As a Latino, it saddens me that this kind of action just confirms the negative stereotypes that exist.
Pride in one’s culture and heritage is not reflected by turning an iconic street into a slum.
The graffiti is a necessary part of “de-gentrification” and should be welcomed. If we are going to turn the clock back 30 years on the Mission, large parts of the neighborhood will need to be made over like this. Only then will the techies leave and rents drop for the people.
You’re nuts. You want to trash your own neighborhood? Who think like that?
I’m afraid the clock will never be turned back 30 years. The most aggressive economic disruption would likely only reset the clock by 10 years.
Capitalists will cry foul, but gentrification is a battle. The only way we have to fight back is to boycott and protest whatever moves into this space. Doesn’t matter what it is. The point is not to punish whoever moves in. The point is that we all must have solidarity against the owners of real estate who exploit the value of their land by evicting ppl for profit.