The San Francisco Board of Appeals has rejected an appeal by transgender activists that could have set the stage to help them reclaim a building of historical significance from a private prison corporation that now operates the site.
The board on Wednesday rejected a claim by activists that a letter from the city’s zoning administrator wrongly determined the use of the building at 111 Taylor St., the site of one of the first riots for trans rights.
The board conducts the final administrative review process for certain appeals related to determinations made by the city, including by the zoning administrator.
Now operating as a re-entry facility headed by the Geo Group for formerly incarcerated people, the building was the site of a 1966 riot in response to repeated harassment of trans individuals at the hands of the San Francisco Police Department. The event came to be known as Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, named after the then-diner operating at the location, Gene Compton’s Cafeteria.
At the heart of the appeal filed by Chandra Laborde, a member of Compton’s x Coalition leading the appeal, was that the facility’s operations were not aligned with the site’s history.
“Geo uses taxpayer money to profit off incarcerated people at a place of trans and queer resistance against police violence,” said Laborde. “Geo Group’s carceral presence in San Francisco is harmful and fundamentally incompatible with the legacy of Compton’s riot.”
Laborde told board members that Geo Group’s letter of determination that zones the site for group housing was not accurate because of the restrictions on freedom she said were imposed on residents, including residents being subject to curfews and drug tests. The site’s designation would be closer to the use of a residential care or institutional facility, she said.
Geo Group’s subsidiary, Geo Reentry Services, runs re-entry services for people who were previously incarcerated and are now on parole. Geo Group itself operates U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers and has been accused of inhumane conditions at facilities.
About land use, not social justice
David Blackwell, the company’s attorney, said the decision by board members was not about operations and social justice issues.
“Regardless of the merit of those issues and concerns and social justice issues — we’re not discounting those — but they’re not before you tonight,” said Blackwell. “This is simply a land use issue and a land use owner seeking a letter of determination.”
The letter is not a requirement to operate at the site, said Corey Teague, San Francisco zoning administrator. But the letter is used to help maintain contracts with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, according to Blackwell and facility director Maria Richard.
Board member Rick Swig, who made the motion to deny the appeal, said the decision was not on trans rights.
“Tonight, however, is not a referendum on the issue of trans housing and rights — I wish it was — it’s not,” he told attendees.
Swig’s motion also included an encouragement to Teague to continue an investigation into complaints at the facility “which may result in enforcement.” Laborde said at the meeting that there were a number of open complaints against the facility with the Department of Building Inspection about “conditions” of residents and how many beds were in the building.
Swig and three other board members voted in favor of rejecting the appeal. Only board member J.R. Eppler voted against rejecting it.
Supporters who turned out were encouraged to take their push to other bodies like the Board of Supervisors.
Until then, the packed room that spilled into an overflow room was left with some shouting at board members, “If not now, then when?”