The Mint Mall Committee and The Fight to Preserve the Mint Mall

In September 2000, five long-time Filipino businesses and organizations – Arkipelago Books, New Filipinas Restaurant, Super Reproductions, Teatro ng Tanan, and Filipino American Music & Arts Society – were served eviction notices at the Mint Mall located at 953 Mission Street. The evictions were to make way for the Dot Com Boom and the popular demand for offices in the South of Market. In response, the co-founders of SOMCAN, Bill Sorro, Jeanne Batallones, and Roy Recio, along with tenants at the Mint Mall, formed the Mint Mall Organizing Committee (MMOC), to fight the evictions and challenge the illegal conversion of retail space.

The Committee presented a Community Plan to the owner that would return the traditional and historic use of the Mint Mall as a Pilipino hub of community services and retail activity. The Plan included extending and offering leases to the few remaining Pilipino small businesses at the mall, and welcoming more community-serving businesses, cultural arts organizations and non-profits into the building.

For over a year, the MMOC, largely through the leadership of Arkipelago Books owner, Marie Romero, organized numerous rallies and community meetings, speaking at commission hearings and working with attorney Gen Fujioka at the Asian Law Caucus to challenge the evictions and the planning code violations. Ultimately, Marie and the MMOC were victorious, as the City upheld their determination that the owners were in violation, forcing them to extend leases to the tenants.

Today, the Mint Mall and itʻs adjacent housing at the Mint Hall, continues to be a symbol of SOMA Pilipinas, and the presence of a community of working-class immigrants, who struggle to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Further Reading: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/HUB-IN-CRISIS-Evictions-Dispersing-Filipino-3236232.php