Civic Center Stories 2016

“Any kind of job is better than no job, so I do the best I can.”

“There was a real opportunity in San Francisco to do radical design rather than radical displacement. That’s the opportunity that’s lost.”

“That essence of being a human is gone.”

“Families used to come, now you find those people with drugs. They used to come from San Jose and pick up a box and share with the neighbor. They used to [say], ‘Ok, I go to the market this week and I buy…what do we need? We need peach, we need nectarine. Ok, I’ll buy a box each. When I come home, we’ll share with this one, with that one,’ and the whole box it was shared. Not anymore…not anymore.”

“It’s a big deal! So having it here—it’s not going away—we should try to make something of it in the spirit of the past but make it useful for the present and the future.”

“You don’t want a band-aid. You want an actual fix.”

“I’ve changed my mind, so I’m trying to change my life around.”

“That’s the challenge! It’s to not let one activity preclude the others. Let them all exist in their way.”

“They should call this place ‘Harmony’ because you’re never off cue. Everybody can play together.”

“People are people as far as I’m concerned…It really is about love more than hate. We have a short period of life in this life to live. So we need to make the best of it and help one another as people, as human beings.”