Chinatown Neighbors Rally To Support Co-Working Space

Chinatown Neighbors Rally To Support Co-Working SpaceRally in support of 1920C. Photos: Geri Koeppel/Hoodline
Geri Koeppel
Published on May 28, 2015

About 20 seniors from Chinatown, including two influential neighborhood members, attended a rally at 12:30pm Wednesday to show support for a co-working space that's been under fire for bringing office space to a strip designated for retail and restaurants only. 

Wilma Pang (left) and Richard Ow at 1920C rally

"Chinatown should be open for everybody's business and should be multicultural," said community activist Richard Ow. 

Owners Jenny Chan, Paola Rossaro (both of North Beach) and Molly Bacon opened 1920C on the second floor of 950 Grant Ave. on April 1st, marketing the 4,000-square-foot space as a place for everyone from artists to startups to rent desks and equipment by the hour, day, weekend or month, or as an events space. It also hosts pop-up events with specialty retailers and food vendors. They got the name from the year women got the vote in the United States (1920), and the "C" stands for "collaboration and community."

Inside 1920C

But not everyone saw the space as a benefit to the neighborhood. On April 30, the Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) called a press conference to announce that 1920C violated a 1986 zoning law prohibiting administrative service uses in the Chinatown Visitor Retail area along Grant from about Jackson to California streets. (Read the story on that here.) It was initially created to prevent the creep of the FiDi and its deep-pocketed offices and banks forcing out small shop owners and restaurants.

"The supporters of 1920C avoid the fact that the business is ignoring the law and is operating without a permit.," wrote Gen Fujioka, policy director for CCDC, in an email. "Every other homeowner and business in this city is expected to obtain and comply with its building permits. Why should a tech office be any different?" Although 1920C "claims to have added other users than tech," he added, "their primary business is as a tech office co-work hub."

Not so, said Chan. She sent an email saying 1920C clients include nonprofits (including hers, Pacific Atrocities Education), a translator and an art gallery. "A coworking space isn't full of tech, but of small businesses who don't have enough resources and are sick of working out of coffee shops," she wrote. "Due to the changing of the work forces, there are more freelancers now more than ever. And of course, technology had made freelancing and remote working possible." 

Tech or not, the building's zoning prohibits office space. The CCDC complained to the Planning Department, which issued a notice of enforcement to the landlord and the 1920C owners telling them they'd both receive a $250 a day fine if they didn't come into compliance. Subsequently, the 1920C owners wrote to Planning asking to be classified as retail and professional services, not administrative services. The department is reviewing the materials and will have a decision next week.

Wilma Pang and Richard Ow (center) with rally attendees.

The rally on Wednesday was to show not everyone in Chinatown agreed with the CCDC's assessment that co-working spaces are a bad fit for the community, despite the zoning laws. "Chinatown has to change; Chinatown has to expand," Ow said. Now that Chinese communities have proliferated throughout the city from Clement Street to San Bruno Avenue, he said, Chinatown should be more inclusionary. "We invite all of San Francisco to come to Chinatown and establish businesses, provided they can pay the rent," he said, "and everyone benefits."

Wilma Pang, founder of A Better Chinatown Tomorrow and a music professor at City College of San Francisco, thanked the owners of 1920C for allowing her space for traditional Chinese musicians to practice for free after hours and on weekends in exchange for performing at pop-up parties. Pang has had difficulty finding places for musicians to practice and play. They've been ticketed for playing in Portsmouth Square, and many live in close quarters in SROs where it's disrespectful to neighbors. "The homeless musicians will have a home at 1920C," Pang said.

Wilma Pang and Jenny Chan

Before the rally, Ow issued a press release to announce it, saying 1920C transformed a building that was an "eyesore" and vacant more than 10 years into a positive presence. "Many restaurants in the community are struggling to survive. Local businesses are also struggling as well. Grant Avenue is now currently filled with shops competing with each other selling the same merchandise," the press release said. It also quoted the owner of Hong Kong Clay Pot restaurant saying 1920C brings more customers and catering orders.

Also, Chan sent a letter to the media from Andrew Young, grandson of the original owner of 950 Grant Ave., in support of 1920C as well. It said despite efforts over the years to find a restaurant tenant, "nothing ever materialized." Young, whose family owned the building from the early 1940s to 2012, blamed a steady decline in Chinatown business for the lack of interest. He wrapped up the letter by writing, "The community needs to fill vacant space with operations that bring back individuals that are able and willing to spend their money here in Chinatown. 1920C does."

Ow also said Cindy Wu, a CCDC deputy director as well as vice president of the San Francisco Planning Commission, "cannot be the prosecuting attorney and jury and judge" to tell 1920C it has to shut down. "We ask Cindy Wu to recuse herself from further action," he said. He's also going to file a Sunshine Ordinance request to ask for all of her communications regarding 1920C, he added.

Chan, who was visibly shocked on April 30 when the CCDC board members showed up for their protest, appeared just as surprised at the show of support. "I can't ask for more," she said. "It's just been one month, and I get so much love, and everyone is like my grandma and grandpa here."