The nuns, the soup kitchen & the condo residents "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." —Plutarch
The teachings of our ancient religious elders give us most comfort when
they remain just sermons in our temples and churches and come up short
when the the addicts, the homeless and the beggars face us in the streets in front of our businesses and our homes.
This clash between the needs of the poorest and the needs of condo
owners to live in pleasant and secure neighbourhoods clash when condos
are built in our cities' poorer areas.
In Denver, and other North American cities, homelessness can be a crime.
A homeless
encampment in Denver near a new apartment complex. The city has been
cracking down on “urban camping” and citing the homeless for sleeping
outside. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times
The euphemism "urban camping" makes it sound like the homeless are on an extended camping holiday.
The conflict of needs between condo owners and the poor rarely makes
the news so vividly as when two nuns want to move their soup kitchen
into a vacant retail unit on the ground floor of a small San Francisco condominium.
Nun soup kitchen imperiled by SF Mission condo owners
Mission Local
By Laura Waxmann
Posted April 25, 2016 7:05 am
The nuns of the
Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen planned to move
into an empty commercial space at 1930 Mission St. Photo by Lola Chavez
The fate of a soup kitchen evicted from the Tenderloin in February
remains uncertain, even though the two French nuns who run it thought
they had found a home in the Mission a month later. Residents at the
new location, 1930 Mission St. between 16th and 15th streets, have
voiced concerns about allowing the nuns to purchase a unit there.
The multimillionaire Tony Robbins, a famous motivational speaker, gave
Marie Valerie and Marie Benedicte of the Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of
Nazareth $750,000 to buy the real estate in the Mission and another
$50,000 to get the soup kitchen up and running once they moved in.
There are 17 condominiums in the building and two ground-floor
commercial spaces, one of which houses a medical marijuana doctor. The
nuns planned to purchase the other and set up a soup kitchen in the
1,434-square-foot space owned by Armen Jalalian.
an emergency meeting
But the building’s homeowner’s association called an emergency meeting
to thwart the soup kitchen from moving in, according to several sources.
“The building’s property manager told me that [some members of the HOA]
are vehemently against selling,” said Antonio Gamero, the real estate
broker who helped the nuns find their new soup kitchen location last
month. “[They] are trying to clean up the Mission and don’t want the
homeless to be there. More crime and more loitering devalues the
property.”
stop this from happening
In emails shared with Mission Local, one resident called for an
emergency board meeting in regard to the sale to “stop this from
happening.”
“I’m concerned about rats and negative property value that a soup kitchen will bring,” wrote another member of the association.
A third condo-owner suggested amending the association’s rules for the
building to prevent the soup kitchen, or any type of restaurant, from
operating in the space.
restaurant permit was approved in 2013
Jalalian, the current owner of the space, said that he applied for a
restaurant permit in 2012. That permit was approved in 2013, according
to documents filed with the Planning Department.
Jalalian said he ultimately abandoned his plan for the restaurant at
1930 Mission St. and put the unit back on the market because his
involvement in operating another restaurant made him realize that he
was a “poor restaurateur.”
But not all tenants seem to be against the soup kitchen moving in. In
an email, one person acknowledged issues that could arise with a
restaurant operating out of the building and asked for solutions.
“We should work with them to figure out a sensible garbage/compost plan
to minimize vermin though. Let’s go in with suggestions and solutions,”
the tenant wrote.
On Wednesday, Tom Tunny, an attorney representing the nuns, said
negotiations between the tenants and nuns are ongoing. The association,
he said, has presented the nuns with a list of “concerns” that the
buyers are attempting to address so that they can sign off by Friday –
a deadline set by Jalalian. But as of Saturday, the deal remained in
limbo, according to Jalalian.
“The sisters are not sure…for different reasons, that this is the best
property for them,” said Tunny. “They are in a delicate spot. We [have
started] to talk to the HOA and are very pleased and optimistic but are
not sure for ourselves if this is right.”
Tunny said that the list of demands include making the unit’s bathroom
disabled-accessible, controlling the crowd of homeless people who are
attracted to the soup kitchen, and installing proper ventilation.
“The physical space is a concern,” said Tunny. “We are trying to figure
out if there is the proper venting for ovens. How much work that would
take, and how expensive that would be.”
Despite having a permit from the city, the installation of a
ventilation system would require the approval of the homeowner’s
association.
Jalalian called the fuss over ventilation “an arbitrary excuse for them to deny the nuns [this location].”
He accused the association of discriminating against the poor by
keeping the soup kitchen out of the neighborhood, and attempting to
discourage the nuns from moving into the building.
“[The nuns had] real estate gifted to them. Never will they be evicted.
[The unit has a] restaurant permit in place. [There are the] homeless
next door,” Jalalian wrote in an email.
Located immediately next door to the building, at 1950 Mission St., is
the city’s only homeless navigation center, a transitional shelter for
the homeless.
“If they really want to feed the homeless with their soup kitchen, this is the best scenario they can have,” wrote Jalalian.
the listing agent for the unit, called the location perfect
Dana Cappiello, the listing agent for the unit, called the location
perfect. “There are very few places so perfectly located that the city
has already permitted a restaurant to go into. We could be serving
people very quickly.”
When contacted, the 1930 Mission St. property manager declined to speak
about the association’s opposition, and members of the association did
not return requests for comment.
Jeff Belote, a real estate attorney who was hired as the association’s legal counsel last week, also declined to comment.
But merchants in the area were more vocal in their concerns about
loitering and crime in the neighborhood. They said loitering is already
a problem on the block and it has been compounded by the city’s
navigation center.
Though all agreed that the nuns’ work is noble, some said they fear
that a soup kitchen to feed the needy could attract more problems to
the block.
“I’m surprised that the people in this building don’t complain more,”
said Viola Wong, an employee of The City 420 Doctors, also located on
the ground floor of 1930 Mission St. Wong said that some of the
homeless people residing at the navigation center frequently sit on the
stoop at the entrance to the building.
“People just sit there in front of the stoop and pass out and are high
or whatever. It’s a daily thing,” she said. “On some days it is worse
than others. I feel like we shouldn’t’ have to deal with this.”
Oscar Garcia, the manager of Fida Market at 1939 Mission St., located
across the street from the Navigation Center, echoed Wong’s concerns.
Garcia complained about frequent theft at his store at the hands of
some of the homeless people who reside at the shelter.
“It’s already crazy enough over here, and the police don’t get
involved,” said Garcia. “You can’t even walk on the sidewalk on this
block because there’s people hanging out who won’t move. To bring
something like [a soup kitchen] in here is going attract even more
people.”
top
Neighbors fight to keep evicted nuns from moving soup kitchen into SF condo
CBS SF Bay Area
December 14, 2016 5:24 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — There’s more trouble for a pair of
well-meaning nuns whose soup kitchen operation was evicted from the
Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco.
For the past several years, the Sisters of the Fraternite of Notre Dame
from France have run their soup kitchen from San Francisco’s Tenderloin
District.
But, the rent drove them out.
After multimillionaire Tony Robbins stepped in to buy them a new spot –
a $750,000 condo in the mission, the sisters thought their prayers were
answered.
“When we give the food we try to give with love, we try to love them.
We try to make the soup kitchen like a family,” Sister Marie Bendeicte
said.
Residents at 1930 Mission Street are trying to block the nuns from relocating their soup kitchen to the building.
The lawyer for the homeowners association wouldn’t comment for this report.
But, he filed a letter with the city’s planning department, saying
feeding the homeless is wonderful thing, but that the Mission condo “is
not the appropriate location.”
The letter also says lines for a soup kitchen could hurt future development.
The building already may have issues – with some residents complaining of drug deals going on in broad daylight.
The nuns believe their presence will help.
The planning commission will have a hearing on the new soup kitchen
location in January The nuns will be there, hoping to change the
resident’s hearts and minds. “I will ask them to be
compassionate,” Sister Marie said. “I know it’s not so easy to live
when you have a lot of encampment on the street, but we need to work
together to help those.”
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SF nuns on a mission to move soup kitchen
San Francisco Examiner
By Michael Barba
09 January 2017
A vacant
building at 1928 Mission Street in San Francisco’s Mission District is
the possible future home of a soup kitchen run by Sisters of the
Fraternite Notre Dame. (Jessica Christian/S.F. Examiner)
Two nuns who run a soup kitchen in the Tenderloin have attracted
international attention and the financial support of inspirational
speaker Tony Robbins in their struggle to continue feeding the poor of
San Francisco.
But next week, the Sisters of the Fraternite Notre Dame will need the
support of the San Francisco Planning Commission if they intend to move
their soup kitchen into a new home in the Mission District.
The sisters, who speak with thick French accents and have served the
Tenderloin’s poor since 2008, were almost forced out from their soup
kitchen on Turk Street by high rental costs last year until Robbins
offered financial support and to buy them a new home near the
intersection of 16th and Mission streets.
the problem is, the homeowners who live in condos above
The problem is, the homeowners who live in condos above the would-be
soup kitchen and the owners of the adjacent property have contested the
proposal to use the bottom floor of 1928 Mission St. as a kitchen.
The next door owners are worried that the soup kitchen “serves a
clientele that has already proven to bring crime, graffiti, substance
abuse, and panhandling” to the Tenderloin, according to city documents.
“Allowing the proposed use will cast a long, dark shadow over the
future of the otherwise bright future of the Mission District,” a
representative for the 1924 Mission St. owners, Sahu Brothers LLC.,
wrote in an application for a discretionary review to the Planning
Commission.
In their rendering for the mixed-use development planned at 1924
Mission St., the sidewalks are clean, occupied by people wearing
business-attire and the storefront on the bottom floor has a sign that
reads “Techubation.”
Matt Dorsey, a publicist for Lighthouse Public Affairs is representing the nuns pro-bono
Matt Dorsey, a publicist for Lighthouse Public Affairs who is
representing the nuns pro-bono, criticized opponents of the soup
kitchen for “stigmatizing homeless people.”
“What opponents of the soup kitchen are arguing is that this is only
about homelessness,” Dorsey said, noting that the kitchen actually
benefits many variations of lower-income individuals.
“There are a lot of people who benefit from the opportunity to have a
free meal,” he said. “It has a lot of support in the neighborhood.”
The other dissenters of the proposal, the Mission Street Homeowners
Association, raised a number of concerns including the lines of people
that would form outside their homes for the soup kitchen.
“This property is just the wrong location for this in terms of size,
and is not suitable for what they’re trying to do there,” said Jeff
Belote, an attorney who is representing the 15 homeowners in the
building.
In another application to the Planning Commission, Belote wrote that
the soup kitchen would bring “hundreds of homeless people on a daily
basis” to the building and sidewalk.
Belote also noted that Robbins has not yet purchased the property for
the nuns. According to Planning Department documents available online,
the deed has not been transferred since 2012.
Planning Department staff recommended that the commission approve the proposal
Despite the complaints, Planning Department staff recommended that the
commission approve the proposal since the soup kitchen “would serve a
marginalized community in need of the proposed services and will
complement similar social services in the vicinity.”
There is a temporary Navigation Center that connects homeless people
with services just down the block, at 1950 Mission St., which has been
funded through the end of the year.
The Planning Commission is expected to review the proposal Thursday.
top
City backs former Tenderloin nuns for Mission soup kitchen
Yearlong trial after tenderloin eviction comes to an end
Curbed San Francisco
By: Adam Brinklow
13 January 2017
Hallelujah. Despite the complaints of neighbors, sisters from the
Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth, an offshoot of the Catholic
Church based in France, finally broke out of the purgatory of San
Francisco’s planning process Thursday with Planning Commission approval
for their new location.
The sisters made headlines in early 2016 when their landlord, SRO-mogul
Natverbhai Patel, raised the rent on their Turk Street home.
They holy charity service had been serving out of the 50 Turk Street
kitchen since 2008. Although the building and its neighboring hotel and
apartments (owned by the same landlord) were constantly receiving end
of warnings from building inspectors, Patel still laid $2,000-plus rent
hike on the sisters, raising it to $5,500/month.
Self-improvement guru Tony Robbins swooped in out of the blue to offer
them a new place in the Mission, but first the new kitchen had to win
over city, and more importantly their would-be neighbors in the same
building.
At Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting, residents of 1930 Mission
Street repeated concerns that the kitchen—which caters largely to the
homeless, although at the Turk Street location some of the clientele
were working people who lived in nearby SROs—would blight the
neighborhood.
Condos in the nearly 25 year old building sold for over half a million
dollars in 2013, and of course could fetch much more today. But
building residents complained that there are already a lot of homeless
people on the block and alleged harassment and property crimes.
One man took pains to call the kitchen “a noble effort,” but argued that their building “wasn’t right” for it.
But it’s hard to win an argument when your opponents are a trio of
smiling, genial, intentionally impoverished, French-accented nuns who
bake for the homeless and feed over 200 people daily.
Dozens of boosters, including Tenderloin cops and the Mission’s own
affordable housing developer, turned out to support the sisters, and
the commission in the end unanimously approved the new use of the
ground-floor space.
Commission Vice President Dennis Richards ruled that the soup kitchen
is essentially a restaurant, and that the city couldn’t very well
discriminate against the Fraternite for catering to the needy rather
than to paying customers.
Tony Robbins, San Francisco, Jeff Belote,
Matt Dorsey, Mission streets, Navigation Center, Mission Street
Homeowners Association, Notre Dame, Planning Department, Turk street
