No Clear-Cutting Our Community

Christopher Statton, Clarion Alley, 2015


NO CLEAR-CUTTING OUR COMMUNITY:

 Christopher Statton, Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP), and Tony Robles in solidarity with the South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN) presented No Clear-Cutting Our Community, a new mural on Clarion Alley in August 2015 to bring attention to the negative impact that the 5M development is going to have on the South of Market neighborhood, and primarily on the low-income communities of color in the area, as well as San Francisco as a whole.


WHAT IS THE 5M PROJECT?

Forest City Enterprises, a $9B publicly traded real estate management and development corporation based in Ohio, is buillding the 5M project, a 4-acre development project between 5th and 6th Streets and Mission and Howard Streets in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. Currently, Forest City Enterprises’ proposed 5M Project includes:

  • 630 market rate luxury condo units
  • 4 towers (2 towers connected by a bridge) with heights from 200′ feet to 470′ feet
  • The 470′ feet tower is taller than the InterContinental Hotel (the hotel is 350′ feet) and will cast a shadow over Market St. to Eddy St. to Boedekker Park to the Yerba Buena Carousel

Read about how SoMa, Tenderloin Activists Suing San Francisco Over 5M Project Approvals in Hoodline.

Get updates and learn more about the overall project and the community’s efforts to work with City Hall HERE!


Community gathering hosted by the South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), September 15, 2015 to bring awareness to the negative impact that the 5M Project will have on the South of Market neighborhood. Video by Joseph Smooke

CONTEXT:
San Francisco is experiencing a massive displacement of its residents, its communities, and its diverse culture – as the high tech industry and its workers continue to move into our City and to recruit more and more of its employees from outside of the Bay Area. Additionally, high numbers of foreigners are buying up property in San Francisco as second or third homes, contributing to the shortage of affordable housing. Those being forced out of their homes and neighborhoods include longtime residents (many who are low and middle income, immigrants, and communities of color), local businesses, and non-profit social service and arts organizations – agencies that act as integral parts to the neighborhoods they live in and serve. It’s been truly heartbreaking to watch so many people who have spent many years creating and contributing to our communities be forced to leave because, while they have plenty of creativity, energy, and love for their neighborhoods, they don’t have enough money to keep their homes, small businesses, and community-based organizations.

 BIGGER IS NOT BETTER
To create dialogue around the SoMa residents’ concerns about the 5M Project, Statton has created an image that includes the shadow that the planned towers will cast as well as the gusts of wind the towers will create. To demonstrate the devastating impact the project will have on SoMa’s residents, including many from the Filipino community, Statton painted a scene of clear-cut trees with their roots still planted in the ground. Each stump is engraved with the words from poet Tony Robles. Transforming the neighborhood name of SoMa to “SoMany”, Tony noted each stump in honor of the Filipino community. The words include:

SoMany Manangs
SoMany Manongs
SoMany Mothers
SoMany Manggagawa
SoMany Masa