Some of my earliest childhood memories are of how special my family made me feel. I was digging it until I got a little older and realized how unattractive it was to others to feel that way about ones self. If I wanted to get by in life I had to get over it. Quickly.

For six decades I’ve sublimated those feelings. Then the City and County of San Francisco, in their wisdom and as codified in San Francisco Administrative Code Chapter 37, said I was, indeed, entitled to preferential treatment. Because of my age, sexual orientation and displaced personhood, I won the lottery for a below market rate housing unit. I applied for one and today my application was approved. The apartment is mine.

When I began my crusade against eviction profiteering three years ago my stated reason was to just keep my place. I knew that was unrealistic. What I really hoped for was to get a little money out of it. Which is exactly what I got, very little money. I just didn’t have the resources to fight it in court. Today, local laws have afforded me the opportunity to give the City one more shot.

55 Laguna is in the final stages of construction. It will be six weeks before move-in. The odd thing about the process is that I can only see photos and floor plans for now. The day I sign the lease, put down the deposit and pay the first month’s rent, I will see the unit. The decision has to be made on the spot.

In most markets that would be considered way too risky. In the Mad Hatter world of San Francisco real estate it’s called a sure thing.

***

The Eviction Story

• As the Pot Melts
• Rear Window
• Christmas, Baby Please Come Home
• Mein Kampf
• Visions of Carlotta
• Rotten Plums
• Your Eminence, Your Worship, Your Grace
• Mon Petit Chiu Chiu
• Would You Buy a Used Car From this Man?
• Don’t Piss on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining
• Second Floor, Women’s Lingerie
• What Have I Got to Hide?
• I Have Not Been Served
• Clarity
• A Woo By Any Other Name
• Meet the Mongels
• The Folks at Home
• The Great Un-Quashed
• The Only Person Who Can Judge Me Is Judy
• Said the Joker to the Thief
• I Left My Heart
• Up On Housing Project Hill
• I Fought the Law and the Law Won