SAN FRANCISCO—A new ecology center, which put the finishing touches on a new greenhouse Wednesday, could get shut down any day in the wake of the eviction of a connected recycling center.
The greenhouse, which was built with funds from the Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council (HANC) Recycling Center, received a new roof Wednesday.
However, the city has plans to evict the HANC Recycling Center, located on city land, and replace it with a community garden.
With the recycling center gone, the small grocery stores around the area would have to absorb the cost of a $100-per-day fee—by state law—unless they are able to provide a recycling center on their property. Neither option is one the small businesses can absorb, the HANC argues.
The eviction date was originally slated for Dec. 5, but it has yet to happen. According to Mark Nicco, assistant counsel to Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, the law states that the eviction merely needs to happen in a “timely manner,” according to the San Francisco Bay Guardian. The sheriff still fully intends to carry out the eviction, according to his spokesman.
“It’s extremely hypocritical,” said Ed Dunn, executive director of the HANC Recycling Center, at a rally at City Hall Tuesday. “They want to spend hundreds of thousands to build a garden when we already have one.”
