'Hello' parody targets San Francisco's Mayor Ed Lee

AS SAN FRANCISCO rents soar, home prices are out of reach for the middle-class,  affordable housing is getting more out of reach in the neighborhoods that make up the character of this city, including homes for the newly arrive immigrants and elderly on limited incomes in Chinatown, South of Market (Filipino/American), the Mission, the Bayview -- throughout the City by the Bay.

Ed Lee, the first Asian/American mayor of San Francisco is under a lot scrutiny even though he won re-election easily last November. A lot of his former supporters, who backed him in previous elections because on his history as being an advocate for affordable housing, now see him as having caved in to the dollar-rich high-tech industry whose well-paid workers are willing to pay exhorbitant prices for closets (literally - some live in closets) much less a studio or a one-bedroom flat. 

As this ad that ran during the November election indicates - former allies are now Ed Lee's critics.

Everywhere you look in San Francisco yo see the building cranes building high-rise offices and condominiums raising the property values of those parcels within their vacinity.

The only way some projects are getting approved are through promises from the builders to include affordable housing. In S.F., "affordable housing" -- out of necessity -- means below market rate, which developers are loath to build because it reduces their profit margin.

Lee knows something has to be done to address the housing implosion. He has called for raising the affordable housing mitigation requirement from 12% to something higher. (In some newer projects, it has been as high as 40%.) 

A change in the inclusionary housing policy will require a ballot measure because the law is part of the city's charter. Lee is seeking a proposition for the November election this year.

"We want to do it in collaboration with the private sector," said Lee. 
What happens when the high-cost residences are constructed, landowners of adjacent parcels see the value of their properties rise and are no longer satisfied charging affordable rents and either evict their low-paying tenants in exchange for higher-paying new tenants,  or sell out to other developers who, in turn, build more expensive housing. The poor renter, is left out in the cold or they have leave the city.

We're not just talking about the poor, though they are the first to suffer, the higher cost of living in the city is impacting, the working poor and the what - in other cities - would consider middle-class occupations. We're talking about teachers, construction workers, nurses, bus drivers or all those secretaries and administrative assistants who work in the financial district.

San Francisco is not alone in facing this housing dilemma. There is a dire lack of affordable housing in all of America's urban areas, from Los Angeles to New York City, an issue no presidential candidate has yet to address. In the meantime, he has to put up with the critics who created his parody of Adele's "Hello."

Lyrics to the parody:
Hello, Ed Lee
I was hoping we could talk about a tale of two cities
And not the book, but reality
They say you started on our side
But you were bought and sold by greed

Hello, can you hear me?  
Has Ron Conway got your ear, planning his next big back room deal
Like more tax breaks or bus stops for free
I can’t help but count red carpets, are there any left for me?

Oh this city is filthy rich, yet there’s crisis in the streets

Hello from the other side
The Google bus don’t give no rides
And I don’t work for Twitter or Airbnb
So I’m struggling to stay here, I’m down on my knees,

Hello from the Mission
Ground zero for evictions
Where bus drivers, school teachers, the old and the young
Are fighting to hold on, we’re all on the run

Hello, Mayor Lee
I'm in San Francisco dreaming about how things used to be
When I could pay rent and eat
Can’t afford these here new condos cause I’m not some VIP

How do you sleep Ed, when this city is losing its heart and soul

Hello from Vallejo
This is just how far I had to go
Now I can pay my rent but my friends are all gone
I left my heart, wait, that’s someone else’s song

Hello from a city robbed
Self dealing cronies, inside job
SOS SF, home of the tech bourgeoisie?
Your “progress" is toxic, Mr. Mayor can’t you see? 

For more news about Asian/American &Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

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Plaque unveiling for Victoria Manalo Draves, Filipino/American Olympic gold medalist

DEEP IN THE South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco on a wall of a housing project is a picture of a young woman who appears to be flying through the air. The office workers and techies who walk by look up and wonder who she is.

A few blocks away is a 2-acre patch of green amid the warehouses, artist studios, auto repair shops, nightclubs and trendy restaurants - a park named after a woman whom users ask, "Who is she?"

The park is the Vicky Manalo Draves Park and the mural depicts her diving off a platform into a pool of water.

Vicky Manalo Draves

A former resident of the SoMa neighborhood, she was the first Filipino American - man or woman - to win two Olympic gold medals for the United States. This Saturday, Oct. 10, a plaque will be installed at the park to explain to the office workers and neighborhood kids who this historical figure was.

The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department joins the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), in honoring Olympic heroine Victoria Manalo Draves with a special plaque unveiling October 10 at 10 a.m.. 

Draves was the first American woman to win two gold medals for diving and became the first woman of Filipino heritage to win an Olympic gold medal. She won them in both springboard and platform at the 1948 Olympics in London.

Born in the South of Market area in 1924, Draves attended school on the same site that would become the neighborhood park named in her honor in 2006. The plaque ceremony on October 10 will be held at Victoria Manalo Draves Park, located at Folsom and Sixth Street.

“Victoria Manalo Draves was a brilliant athlete and a great role model for both women and Asian American communities,” said District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim whose district includes Victoria Manalo Draves Park. “I am proud to be honoring her legacy as an athlete and as an Asian American woman who never gave up on her dreams despite the discrimination that she faced.”

Draves attended the school adjacent to this site, which later became Bessie Carmichael Elementary School and now hosts the Filipino Education Center. 

Despite facing discrimination early in her diving career, Manalo Draves persevered and claimed gold medals in the 3- meter springboard and the 10-meter platform competitions at the 1948 Olympics. This performance continues to serve as an inspiration for all athletes interested in competition regardless of race, creed or national origin. She did not try diving until the age of 16. 

A year later, she attempted to join the Fairmont Hotel Swimming and Diving Club (ironically, the club that rejected her because she was Filipino is now the home of the Tonga Room, a tiki-bar extraordinaire) that features a floating stage on which brown-skinned musicians play island music. 

She was able to take part in amateur competitions only after changing her last name to Taylor, her mother’s maiden name.

Her coach told her that she could not compete unless she changed her name to Taylor, her mother’s maiden name, said Draves in an interview. She and her mother reluctantly agreed.

“I don’t know how my dad felt,” Draves said in an oral history in 1991, “because he never said anything.”

Despite her athletic accomplishments, the beautiful Draves was often in the shadow of her white teammate and rival, Zoe Ann Olsen. After the Olympics, she was a featured diver in the professional aquacades costarring with Buster Crabbe.


“The Bronze Plaque in honor of Victoria Manalo Draves contributes to the vibrancy of San Francisco and illustrates Rec and Park’s partnership with the SoMA community,” said Rudy Asercion, executive director of National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA).

Since many people who use Victoria Manalo Draves Park do not know who she was or what she accomplished, the community wanted to provide that history by installing a plaque near the entrance of the park that tells her story and celebrates her achievements, according to press release from SF Parks and Recreation.

“Ms. Draves is an idol for young boys and girls everywhere, she changed diving forever,” said Phil Ginsburg, SF Rec & Park General Manager. “We’re proud to be able to tell her story in the park named for her.”

Draves passed away in 2010 at the age of 85 but she lives on in ethnic studies classes and in the hearts of generations of Filipino Americans who learn her story. It's appropriate that this ceremony take place in October, designated Filipino-American History Month because it is also the month that of earliest recorded instance of a Filipino - first Asian, for that matter - to set foot in North America in 1587, as a crew member of a Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Esperanza under the command of Spanish Captain Pedro de Unamuno, who dropped his ship's anchor in Morro Bay to replenish food supplies.

Draves, the unsung heroine who overcame racial bias to win two Olympic golds and a proud native of SoMa, still has not been inducted into the San Francisco Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame - an honor given to her contemporaries, Olsen, who never won as many gold medals. 

As Vicky Manalo, she was asked to change her name to Taylor, her mother's maiden name.

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