The Art of Protest

Sixth street is a corridor in San Francisco's South of Market Area (SOMA), where the city tries to contain much of it's homeless and poverty-related problems. Local residents are often heard asking the city to please apply the same standards of law-enforcement here as they do in the swankier neigbourhoods. But they don't. So drug usage and pimping and other activities are allowed to go on here - within certain limits anyway, so that the rest of the neighborhoods can be kept "cleaner." Sounds a little like the mess Vancouver created with its east end of Hastings.

Anyway, our mission outpost 'church' / activity center was smack in the middle of the 6th street corridor. And down the block at the corner of Howard, we saw this building that has been converted to a protest-work of art. I forget the exact story, but Lynn Kopec has supplied it:

The original building had a fire in it in the 80's and had to be closed down. The owner did not want to do the repairs, so did not re-open the doors. As the homeless problem increased, he was asked to reopen the hotel and allow people to live there. He said no and actually was quoted as saying "why don't they just move the homeless, they can be homeless in Idaho". As a result, several people broke into the hotel and created the "work of art" using furniture etc from the hotel. The owner has allowed it to stay that way, but it still remains empty.

It's unique and artful way to express a point!