Keith David Cooley: 2015 Reading

     I like a good cup of coffee. My thing is a double Americano.
I was in one of those new coffee shops on Valencia Street - Sacrosanct Coffee.
For these moments I had a place: a seat, a wooden chair manufactured in Thailand, a piece of space that surrounded and included me: the table with the cup of coffee, the spot on the floor where my feet rest. I am part of it. I create my presence. Transfixed I gazed at the coffee, black as oil. Rimmed by bubbles percolating up against ceramic wall of the cup. My mobile phone rang. I ignored it. I used a wooden stirrer to poke into the coffee and stir the liquid vigorously.
A man seated at the next table asked me. “I like your boots. What brand are those?”
“I don't know there is a label on one side. ”
He bent over and peered closely at the label, which was difficult to read.
“Ah.” He said, “Boots of Spanish leather!”

     [Read breathlessly] A recent ad read:
Apartment available on South Van Ness Avenue; located in the uber trendy and vibrant Mission District neighborhood; ground zero for some of the city's best restaurants, bars, coffee shops, art galleries and shopping. Walk steps from your new home and you will be in the hippest, food/nightlife-centered district in San Francisco!
     The property boasts charming, modern, bright apartments!! Close to Dolores Park, which has been newly renovated with brand new playground. It is a popular weekend hangout spot for SF locals and tourists. Grab a bottle of wine from Bi-Rite grocery store and enjoy city views and amazing people watching! Perfect for a sunny day in the City!!
It's a sunny 1 Bedroom,1 Bathroom, with contemporary neutral walls.
Asking $2,995.00 per month
Please call Jessica for an appointment.

     At the Senior Center seated at a square table, next to me, sat Martha, a dignified black woman in her late sixties, born here but with parents from Arkansas who were brought to the city to work at the shipyard at the time of the Second World War. We were waiting for lunch to be served.
She told me, “I live in a SRO on 6th south of Market.”
“And I've got a Western Addition voucher.”
“Been waiting 7 years for affordable housing. I want to stay in my South of Market neighborhood.”
I asked. “What about the Tenderloin?”
She shook her head. “No I would never live there.”
“I'm worried cos my voucher runs out next year.”
I asked, “What will you do then?”
“I don't know. ”

      A man dressed in the style called “smart casual” :grey slacks and corporate blue button down shirt. A woman, young, dressed in short black leather skirt, tossed her silky black hair with a coquettish flick of her head. The man asked, “What's the procedure?”
She said, “You're a sub, right?”
He nodded his head.
“Ok, good. You put your life in my hands for two hours. You come to my dungeon in North Beach. Well equipped and discreet.”
“What's the cost?”
“Payment in advance. A grand, that's to cover my rent - I don't have rent control - and my time as pro-dom.”
“OK.”
“Oh and I also serve espresso. Shall I get out my calendar?”
He nodded.
They both pulled out their smartphones.

     [Upper class nasal and bright voice]
The Mission is dirty. I like the people, the diversity, all the ethnics and the gays. But many of the streets are messy and broken down. Along Valencia they are making it more interesting by building nice modern condos and opening fun restaurants. A better class of people are moving in. I can get artisan chocolate and vegan sushi whenever I want. There are too many homeless people. There are a lot of the lovely old Victorians. I would not live in one I would worry about lead paint exposure. But they give the neighborhood historical character. Once you get inside somewhere nice like Foreign Cinema it's a different world away from the smell of urine and being hit up for money on the street.

       “Come into the apartment.”
In walked an Asian man in his late thirties possibly of Vietnamese heritage, working class. I escorted him around the rooms. The apartment was the smallest one bedroom in the building. The going rent was 2500 dollars. We stopped at the kitchen. He said, “This is good. I want to show it to my wife and kids.”
“How many children do you have?”
“Two.”
“What do you do?”
“I am a Muni driver.”
“Do you make three times the rent a month?”
“Yes with overtime. My wife works at a nail salon too.”
“I really want to put in an application.”
“OK.”
After he left I talked to the property manager. He said.
“Fergus does not like children in his properties. Besides I don't think it's legal to have 4 people in a one bedroom.

      “We got the signatures,” she said. I knew what she was talking about.
“Yes we have double the number of signatures.”
“Now the city has to verify the signatures against the file of voter registration signatures.”
She said, “We will be able to stop unaffordable housing being built.”
They call it market-rate housing. We call it unaffordable because only a small minority of the population has the money to live in market rate housing. We don't believe anything the Developers say. We are not going anywhere. We built this city for everyone. “Market-rate housing is never going to trickle down to middle-income people like me, let alone poor and working class people,” she said. “ We completely oppose any more market-rate development. We support Campos's proposal for a moratorium on unaffordable housing.”