Uncategorized

Responding to a Hate Crime Against St. Paul Tabernacle Baptist Church

Published

10 years ago

September 20, 2015

By Anh Lê

A hate crime against an African American church occurred right here in San Francisco’s Bayview District when St. Paul Tabernacle Baptist Church was vandalized late last month. >

Vandals broke into the church, either late Aug. 27 or early Aug. 28, and spray painted the walls with racist, homophobic and religious graffiti. They gouged the church’s interior walls, ripped and poured bleach on the pew cushions, and damaged furniture and computer equipment.

Two large mirrors behind the pulpit were smashed. The pulpit was defaced with paint. The pastor’s office was vandalized.

St. Paul Tabernacle Baptist Church has served the San Francisco community for the past 23 years. Most of the 125 people who attend the church reside in the Bayview and Hunter’s Point. Some live in the Western Addition.

“We want to give full support to the people who go there. It’s traumatic, what happened at the church. The church is hurt, the people who go there, their operations. It is a hate crime,” said Raj Vaswani, captain of the San Francisco Police Department’s Bayview Station.

Willie Fenroy, a deacon at the church, said that the church had never been attacked before.

Beverly Taylor, a deaconess at the church, said, “The attack on our church, that’s the devil at work. The building does not belong to us. It’s the Lord’s house. They attacked the Lord when they attacked the Lord’s house.”

“In the Scriptures, the Lord says, ‘A weapon used against me will never stand. I will repay them,’” she said.

The vandalism has forced the church to suspend its food pantry work, one of its ministries, Taylor said.

“The Lord will help us to reopen the food pantry,” Taylor stated with conviction.

Officer Alvie Esparza, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, said, “We will look for the individual or individuals who vandalized this church. When we find that person or the people involved, we will arrest them. This type of behavior is not condoned in San Francisco.”

I call on my fellow San Franciscans to confront and address the racism in our own backyard, and to do what we can to aid our sisters and brothers at St. Paul Tabernacle.

Ask law enforcement officials to address the vandalism and hate crime, and bring the perpetrators to justice. Call on the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the F.B.I to investigate.

Request the City of San Francisco to install security and surveillance cameras on the streets near churches.

Call on our faith leaders — Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist — and San Franciscans of all backgrounds to declare that we stand with our sisters and brothers at St. Paul Tabernacle Baptist Church and that we will not tolerate any act of hate crime or violence.

Call on Mayor Ed Lee, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, and state legislators to issue statements condemning the vandalism and hate crime against St. Paul Tabernacle Baptist Church, and affirming that such hate crime against a house of worship will not be tolerated.

Contribute donations and help the church with repairs so that St. Paul Tabernacle Baptist Church can carry on its ministry in the Bayview. A work party is being planned for Sept. 12 at 10 a.m.

Anh Lê has worked in the African American, Vietnamese American, and other communities in the Bay Area for many years.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Uncategorized

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

7 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

12 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

1 year ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.