Tenants Together on Edge of Sports Radio with Dave Zirin

Our Executive Director Dean Preston was a guest this week on Dave Zirin's nationally broadcast "Edge of Sports" radio show, a program that covers issues at the intersection of sports and politics.

Listen to Zirin's interview with Preston.

Preston explained why Tenants Together has launched the "NBA: Show You Care" Campaign which calls on the NBA and Commissioner David Stern to condemn racist housing discrimination and to discipline Donald Sterling, the Los Angeles mega-landlord and Clippers basketball team owner. According to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice this month, Donald Sterling is obligated to pay the largest settlement for rental housing discrimination in the department's history. So far the NBA has refused to investigate or even comment on the issue.

Zirin wrote an excellent piece in The Nation lamenting the NBA's silence on this issue. He points out the NBA's hypocrisy in how it deals with players vs. owners and calls for strict action against Sterling:

NBA Commissioner David Stern, always so PR-conscious when it comes to where players mingle, how players dress and whom players consort with after hours, has turned a blind eye to this disturbing pattern. Now these chickens have returned to Stern's back porch to roost. The NFL's union and players spoke out against Limbaugh. The NBA's should absolutely do the same. But even that is not enough. Owners are very fond of declaring "eminent domain" when they need to expel residents, bulldoze apartments and build stadiums. NBA fans need to declare eminent domain on Sterling. It was our game before it was ever his. Every fan of conscience needs to get in touch with the commissioner's office and say that Sterling has got to go.

Please watch the campaign video and sign the petition to the NBA at NBAshowyoucare.org.

Sacramento Bee Runs Front Page Story on CalPERS' Predatory Equity Investments in East Palo Alto and New York City

We were very pleased to see the Sacramento Bee covering the story of CalPERS' predatory real estate investments on the front page of today's paper.

Read the full article: "CalPERS realty deals and image take a beating" by Dale Kasler

The Sac Bee story follows an excellent recent piece, "The pension fund evictions," from Ryan Riddle in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Tenants and advocates in East Palo Alto and Tenants Together have been working for more than a year to get the mainstream media interested in this story, and today's article is an encouraging sign that those efforts are starting to pay off. It appears the media is beginning to connect the dots between these reckless and greedy investment schemes and the devastating impact they have on low and moderate income communities.

This media attention wasn't soon enough to mitigate the awful impact that CalPERS' predatory equity investments in East Palo Alto and New York City have already had on countless tenants, but perhaps the light finally being shed on these issues will help move the public pension fund to reform its investment policies and prevent future debacles.

Here's a excerpt from today's article:

Advocates for tenants' rights say the California Public Employees' Retirement System didn't merely blunder into a couple of bad deals.

Rather, they say the $200 billion investment fund was party to a pair of schemes to jack up rents at the expense of thousands of working-class and middle-class tenants.

"There's absolutely no reason a public employee pension fund ... should choose to invest in that," said Dean Preston, executive director of San Francisco advocacy group Tenants Together.

The controversy could become another public-relations headache for CalPERS, which is struggling with heavy investment losses and a possible influence-peddling scandal. The system manages retirement benefits for more than 1.6 million California public employees, retirees, and their families.

We were also pleased to see that the article included quotes from tenants and allies in East Palo Alto including Mayor Rubin Abrica, Juliet Brodie of the Stanford Community Law Clinic, and tenant activist, Chris Lund.

Once again, we call on CalPERS to take responsibility for its involvement in these schemes and work with tenant advocates to adopt predator-free investment policies that will prevent it from ever again entangling itself in schemes of these type in the future.

Racist Landlords and the NBA

Today Trina Chiasson of YouthNoise Play City posted an excellent piece on her organization's blog about race-based housing discrimination, encouraging folks to sign our petition which demands that the NBA condemn racist housing discrimination and discipline Donald Sterling.

YouthNoise Play City is a nonprofit that promotes sports for social change.

Thanks Trina for letting us repost!

Racist Landlords and the NBA
by Trina Chiasson
YouthNoise Play City

Yesterday a California renters' rights organization, Tenants Together, launched a new campaign called NBA: Show You Care.

Their goal? To prompt the NBA to discipline LA Clippers owner and big-time landlord Donald Sterling for his willful engagement in housing discrimination. A Tenants Together press release said this:

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Sterling “Engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminating on the basis of race, national Origin, and family status.” The DOJ stated that Sterling “refused to rent to African Americans” and that his conduct was willful.

Indeed, Sterling was forced to pay a whopping $2.725 million in the largest housing discrimination settlement to date. But even this sizable chunk of change isn't enough to compensate for the damages caused by many years of racial discrimination and unlawful activity in the housing market. Many would like to see further discipline for Sterling's actions. Many would like to see the NBA acknowledge and take action to address racism within its ranks.

Political sportswriter Dave Zirin added: "Court testimony claimed that Sterling had said he did not like to rent to Hispanics because "Hispanics smoke, drink and just hang around the building." Witnesses testified that he also said, "Black tenants smell and attract vermin."

Woah. Is this really the type of leadership that we want to see in the NBA? I sure hope not.

Housing discrimination is insidious and largely invisible to enforcement agencies. Most people of color won't start a lawsuit after experiencing housing discrimination on a personal level. It's expensive and difficult to prove. If you're renting, you probably don't have the cash to hire a lawyer or the time to research tenants' rights. Most folks will just silently wonder: Is it just me? Is it a personal fault? Is it my credit score? My references? But then there's that nagging question: Or could it be the color of my skin?

How could one possibly know the precise motives behind an isolated decision to deny housing to a family or an individual? Generally, you don't know. That's why Sterling's case required a major lawsuit to look into broad demographic information and testimonials over a period of years. When lawsuits like this actually come to fruition, you know that there's something very wrong.

I'm hoping that this case involving a high-profile NBA team owner will serve as a warning to landlords all over the country that housing discrimination won't be tolerated. I'm also hoping that the NBA will step up its game and start a dialogue about how the organization plans to address racism in sports and beyond.

In the meantime, there's a petition that you can sign over at NBA: Show You Care "to urge the NBA to condemn racist housing discrimination and discipline Donald Sterling."

Go ahead; sign it.

NBA: Show You Care" Campaign Demands League Condemn Racist Housing Discrimination and Discipline Team Owner

Join the Facebook group.

Sign the petition.

Tenants Together launched a new online petition and video today as part of campaign urging the National Basketball Association to discipline Los Angeles Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling. The campaign follows the announcement last week by the U.S. Department of Justice of the largest settlement ever obtained in a rental housing discrimination case.

Referencing the NBA’s own “NBA Cares” slogan, we are demanding, “NBA: Show you care” and have launched the website www.NBAshowyoucare.org. The website includes a short video and a petition to NBA Commissioner David Stern.

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Sterling “Engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminating on the basis of race, national origin, and family status.” The DOJ stated that Sterling “refused to rent to African Americans” and that his conduct was willful.

This is not the first time that Sterling has paid out millions to make housing discrimination claims go away. In 2006, the Housing Rights Center in Los Angeles sued Sterling for discrimination, a case that Sterling settled for an undisclosed amount that included over $5 million in fees. Sterling has also been sued for harassment and employment discrimination based on race by NBA legend and former Clippers General Manager Elgin Baylor, a case that is pending.

According to the “NBA Cares" mission statement, “the NBA is dedicated to demonstrating leadership in social responsibility.” However, when sportswriters responded to the DOJ announcement by asking the NBA what it plans to do in response, the NBA has said it has no plans to comment or investigate Sterling. As noted by Jemele Hill of ESPN, “The Commissioner has offered only disappointing silence.” Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports asks, “Where is the outrage?”

We launched the online video and petition to put pressure on the NBA to discipline Sterling. “The DOJ busts this NBA team owner for denying housing to people based on the color of their skin, and the NBA has nothing to say?” commented Dean Preston, our Executive Director, “The NBA must take swift decisive action to condemn racist housing discrimination and discipline this team owner.”

The NBA’s inaction contrasts with how the National Football League and Major League Baseball have handled allegations of racism by team owners. In 1996, MLB suspended Marge Schott, owner and GM of the Cincinnati Reds, for over a year for racially insensitive remarks. More recently, the NFL excluded talk show host Rush Limbaugh from becoming a team owner after a firestorm of controversy over past racist remarks. Clippers’ owner Sterling was accused not only of making racist remarks like Schott and Limbaugh, but also of engaging in a pattern of illegal racist housing discrimination against minority tenants, yet the NBA has no plans to discipline Sterling.

The video and petition, along with more information, is available at NBAshowyoucare.org.

LA Real Estate Mogul Pays Record $2.7M Settlement in housing discrimination lawsuit

The Justice Department announced yesterday the largest monetary payment ever obtained by the department in the settlement of a case alleging housing discrimination in the rental of apartments.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald T. Sterling has agreed to pay a record $2.725 million to settle allegations that he discriminated against African Americans, Hispanics and families with children at scores of apartment buildings he owns in and around Los Angeles.

From a statement by the Justice Department:

"Housing is a basic human need, and yet decades after passage of the Fair Housing Act, far too many still encounter barriers like discrimination. Particularly in times of economic distress and rising foreclosures, we must remain vigilant to ensure all individuals have equal access to housing," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "The magnitude of this settlement should send a message to all landlords that we will vigorously pursue violations of the Fair Housing Act."