Twenty-seven members of Religious Witness with Homeless People were found guilty last week of trespassing on federal property during a demonstration at San Francisco’s Presidio.
But the Bay Area protesters, who included three rabbis, a priest, a nun and a Buddhist abbess, said they won a victory nonetheless.
During their day in U.S. District Court on Friday of last week, the protesters were allowed to put on the stand several witnesses who testified against the federal government’s plans to tear down 500-plus vacant homes.
“It was really like society was on trial,” said Rabbi Zari Weiss, a co-defendant and a spiritual leader of Berkeley’s Kehilla Community Synagogue. “I really respect the judge…for allowing us to try the issue of homelessness and how society deals with it.”
The interfaith coalition wants to transform the structures into a housing and rehabilitation center for the city’s 12,000 homeless residents.
The defendants, who originally pleaded not guilty, changed the plea to no contest at the four-hour trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernard Zimmerman then allowed them to put on the stand experts on homelessness. The government called no witnesses.
In the end, Zimmerman sentenced each of the 27 defendants to a $75 fine or eight hours of community service, preferably in a homeless shelter.
The group had hoped for acquittal based on the morality of their cause. The Rev. Louis Vitale, a San Francisco Catholic priest, testified that the group “went in pilgrimage…to claim this housing in the name of God.”
Zimmerman said he didn’t doubt the coalition’s sincerity but could only rule on the factual basis of the trespass.
“There’s a risk a civilly disobedient person takes,” he said.
Both Weiss and Rabbi Burt Jacobson said they would probably just pay the fine in deference to their busy schedules.
“I give so much community service anyway,” said Jacobson, who co-leads Kehilla Community Synagogue.
Thirty-five protesters, including Weiss, Jacobson and Rabbi Alan Lew, were arrested on Oct. 13. After a prayer service at Lew’s Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco, protesters marched to the Presidio. Up to 100 of them entered an unlocked home in the Presidio’s Wherry Housing Complex. U.S. Park police arrested the 35 who refused to leave.
A second charge of demonstrating without a permit was dropped before the trial began.
Lew had to be legally separated from the group trial because Zimmerman is one of his congregants. Seven other defendants couldn’t make it to court that day.
Dennis Cunningham, the group’s attorney and a co-defendant, said he expected the remaining protesters would be able to accept the same verdict and sentence.
The group, which maintained a light mood throughout the day and burst into applause about a dozen times, didn’t reflect a stereotypical group of Bay Area protesters. Stars of David, crosses and kippot were as common a sight as buttons stating “Food Not Bombs” or “Nader for President.” Gray hair predominated; only two or three of the protesters appeared to be under 30.
Since the National Park Service took control of the former military base, 58 homes have been torn down at a cost of $1.4 million. Last week, President Clinton signed legislation creating a nonprofit trust to run the national park. The legislation calls for the Presidio Trust to carry out the general management plan, which includes tearing down the other 466 homes.
Government officials have stated that lead, asbestos and seismic problems require that the homes be demolished.
But Michael Noon, a building inspector for a nonprofit housing association, testified that he considered these problems minimal for the Presidio homes.
“Generally speaking, they’re in very good shape,” he said.
Co-defendant John Kimber said he believed the real reason for the demolition was based on a bias rather than the condition of the structures.
“It’s too good for the homeless,” he said.