{"id":49136,"date":"2021-07-15T18:26:12","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T01:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/?p=49136"},"modified":"2021-07-16T14:17:18","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T21:17:18","slug":"backyard-feud-spills-out-on-social-media-spurs-allegations-of-harassment-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/backyard-feud-spills-out-on-social-media-spurs-allegations-of-harassment-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"Backyard feud spills out on social media, spurs allegations of harassment, racism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By now, it would not be surprising if the majority of Mission residents have at least heard of the ongoing mess that is the literal backyard dispute between next door neighbors Sirron Norris, of Sirron Norris\u2019 Studio & Gallery<\/a>, and Laura Rios, of Laura\u2019s Beauty & Barbershop<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What essentially boils down to an argument over property usage\u2014the now infamous backyard which Norris uses for teaching kids art and which Rios would like to use for her autistic son\u2014has blown up on social media, and the players involved are quick to tell you just how tired they both are of the whole situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To truly understand this conflict, it\u2019s best to start this story at the beginning. The building that houses the shops at 2858 and 2860 24th Street were owned by an elderly local couple, Rolando Walter and Esther Franco, when Laura Rios took over the tenancy of the beauty shop at 2858 24th Street 15 years ago. She describes her relationship with the couple and<\/em> their children as one that was both familial and business-like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Esther] told me\u2026when it\u2019s about business, I love you, but it\u2019s business,\u201d Rios said. \u201cWe had a very long friendship, until she passed from cancer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laura Rios Moreno works on her client’s hair at her shop on 24th Street in San Francisco on July 13, 2021. Photo: Kathryn Styer Mart\u00ednez\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Rios recounted celebrating baby showers and birthdays with the Franco family, as well as grieving together during times of sadness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Establishing family-like relationships like these are rare but perhaps common in the Mission, and it can be that exact quality that tangles up what should otherwise be straightforward business and legal matters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this instance, the original lease that Rios signed with Rolando Walter Franco in 2010 has the hallmarks of a contract drawn up between two parties who subscribed to the \u201cMission way\u201d of doing business; in other words, a tradition where strong relationships and verbal deals can hold just as much sway as any legal document, which is exactly how Laura described much of her legal business with the elder Franco\u2019s as her years of tenancy wore on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laura Rios Moreno stands in front of her Beauty Salon, located at 2858 24th Street on July 13, 2021 in San Francisco. Rios Moreno is currently caught in a dispute between her landlord and her neighbor, Sirron Norris. Photo: Kathryn Styer Mart\u00ednez\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough the years, everything was more verbal than anything,\u201d remembered Laura, an arrangement that suited both her and Esther, who ran a clothing shop next door. Yet to his children, who purchased the building from Rolando Walter Franco in 2018, this type of understanding was both invalid and even, they allege, falsified. The first three years of their proprietorship has only led to escalating legal action against Rios and deteriorating good will from both parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point one might ask, what does this have to do with anything? Landlord-tenant disputes are not uncommon in this city; but the reason it has become such a big problem in this case is that the volatility of this dispute has affected those who weren\u2019t directly involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attitude and frustrations of the landlords seem to have trickled down to color Norris\u2019 and Rios\u2019 relationship before they even had a chance to meet each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some more background: Rios\u2019 renewed lease, among other things, guarantees her 10 more years tenancy at 2858 24th Street, at her original monthly rate of $1,500, as well as 50 percent use of the shared backyard. The current property owners\u2014Rolando Walter Franco\u2019s three grown children\u2014dispute that the renewed lease is legally viable, let alone real: they have accused Rios of straight up faking the document, an accusation that Norris himself echoed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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El patio trasero en disputa. The disputed backyard. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sirron Norris, a long-established San Francisco muralist and cartoonist, took over the tenancy of 2860 24th Street at the beginning of 2021. Neither he nor Rios remember their first meeting with any fondness. Norris described Rios\u2019 greeting as oddly \u201cfake\u2026she immediately told me how she had access to the entire backyard,\u201d without any provocation; Rios in turn described Norris as self-important and explosive when she asked him if he knew how the landlord decided to divvy up the backyard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Local muralist Sirron Norris\u2019 studio is now located at 2860 24th Street in San Francisco. A dispute arose between Norris, his neighbor, Laura Rios Moreno, who runs a salon and barber shop with her husband, Salvador Salazar Alanis. July 13, 2021. Photo: Kathryn Styer Mart\u00ednez\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Both recount a declining relationship from that point on. Rios claims that Norris was consistently loud and aggressive towards her in their sparse interactions, enough that she admitted to calling the police with charges of harassment. Norris was indeed visited by the SFPD on June 29, an interaction that he said left him \u201cpretty triggered all day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norris, in turn, has accused Rios of discriminating against him because he is a black man, a claim that is neither small nor inconsequential. He also alleges that she tried to hinder his business by not only calling the police, but also by reaching out to the Latino culture and merchants organization, Calle 24<\/a>. Norris alleges that certain members of Calle 24 have made multiple sham calls to the S.F. Fire Department with permit complaints (Norris was visited by the SFFD multiple days in a row during the first and third week of June); that they filed a spurious complaint with the Department of Building Inspections (Norris found a notice from the DBI on his door the morning of July 3); and that these certain members of Calle 24 even unexpectedly visited him in person in May, a conversation that left him agitated by the threat that Calle 24 \u201cwould turn the community against me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laura Rios Moreno and her husband, Salvador Salazar Alanis see clients by appointment only on July 13, 2021 in San Francisco. Rios Moreno’s chair used to be right by the window but moved to the back of the salon for her safety. Photo: Kathryn Styer Mart\u00ednez\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Both parties deny the others\u2019 accusations: Norris claims that he has never been anything short of courteous towards Rios, and she denies both the charges of racism and having received support from anyone at Calle 24; Calle 24 also recently issued a statement denying their \u201cengagement in any predatory behavior, within, or outside [their] community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by Calle24 Latino Cultural Distrc (@calle24_sf)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>