San Francisco’s redevelopment agency razed the Fillmore’s thriving black neighborhood and business district almost 50 years ago, promising to revamp the area and then bring the residents and merchants back. Instead, the project languished for decades.
Today, there is a renowned jazz club, an Ethiopian restaurant and a cluster of high-rise apartment buildings. But those projects stand out in an area that has become known for its violence and is home to a number of fast-food restaurants and empty storefronts.
In total, 883 businesses were shuttered and 4,729 households were forced out, according to city officials. Roughly 2,500 Victorian homes were demolished.
The redevelopment of the Western Addition, of which the Fillmore district is a part, was one of the largest urban renewal efforts in the West. The California Redevelopment Act of 1945 allowed cities and counties to create redevelopment areas to combat urban blight, which was defined by economics, dilapidation of housing and social conditions – including the size of the nonwhite population.
The Fillmore, where 60 percent of the residents were African American, was declared blight in 1948. The first demolition project began in 1956. The second phase, the brainchild of the redevelopment agency’s then-head Justin Herman, began in 1964 and expanded the area to 60 square blocks. Eminent domain was used to purchase Victorian homes and buy out local businesses. The thriving black business community was destroyed as owners of nightclubs, barbershops, banks and retail stores were forced to close up shop.
“The agency would go to a house and give the head of household a certificate that said they would be given preference in housing built in the future,” said Benjamin Ibarra, a spokesman for the agency. “But there wasn’t a lot of housing built for a long time.”
“People say black folks chose to sell their homes, but that’s not true,” said the Rev. Arnold Townsend, who has lived in the Western Addition for more than 40 years. “We couldn’t get loans to fix up the houses, so we didn’t have a choice but to sell or crumble. There was a mean-spiritedness https://sdarcwellness.com/buy-prednisone-online/ that occurred during the entire process.”
Though the agency promised to move people back into the neighborhood after the project was completed and help the business community recover, the area sat empty for years.
Blackwell said the agency has put $50 million into the economic development of the area, with loans to businesses in the jazz preservation district, money to the four-block Japantown district, street improvements, lighting and landscaping and public art. He could not say how much of that went to African American-owned businesses.
“We don’t have the investments broken down by race,” he said.
The Rev. Amos Brown, who heads the San Francisco branch of the NAACP, has been a pastor in the area for decades. “There is still frustration, hopelessness and a negative mind-set on the part of the African American community because of what redevelopment did,” he said. “In yesteryears, there was a sense of community, with Victorian homes and black-owned businesses.
“They wiped out our community, weakened our institutional base and never carried out their promise to bring people back.”
In recent years, there have been some successes, like Rasselas Ethiopian restaurant, the Sheba Piano Lounge and the 1300 Fillmore restaurant, but many residents say those do not make up for the past injustices.
“Yoshi’s is wonderful, but not worth destroying a community,” Townsend said.
“They keep saying they invested $50 million,” said Agonafer Shiferaw, owner of Rasselas Ethiopian restaurant, “but how much of that went to African Americans? I would guess about 6 percent. If the objective is to stimulate African American economics and business, that is not enough.”
Residents are planning to hold workshops to find ways to move on. They will look at how to connect with the Planning Department, Public Works and the Office of Economic Development. They plan to form more community organizations and block clubs.
Townsend is calling on the mayor to issue an official apology to the Western Addition and the black community for what was done by the redevelopment agency.
“We can’t move on until that is done,” the reverend said.