Haight Recycling Center Staff Refuses to Leave, City Threatens Legal Action

Recycled materials...the only thing that's being hauled away from HANC today

​Today is the day that HANC Recycling Center is to close; but will its dedicated staff actually leave the premises? Unlikely.

HANC is inching closer to a major legal standoff between the recycling center and the city's rec and park department which is evicting the center today.

HANC representatives claim the eviction is illegal yet the city hasn't flinched at those accusations;  the city attorney this week "delivered a valid eviction notice" to the recycling center and expects the group to close down by the end of the business day, said Jack Song, spokesman for the City Attorney's Office.

"If they don't vacate today, then I think we will proceed with other legal action," Song told SF Weekly this morning.

Police came by the Haight Recycling Center earlier this morning to "find out where the protesters were," said Ed Dunn, executive director of the center. But all they found was business as usual over there.

"The story is that we will still be here at 5 p.m. today," Dunn said.

HANC's attorneys sent a letter to the Recreation and Park Department earlier this week, accusing it of evicting the center without the proper notice. City officials ignored the letter, saying they were standing by the March 4 eviction date.

Dunn had warned that staff would start chaining themselves to the building should the eviction come to fruition today. He sent out a tongue-and-cheek press release earlier this week, asking for donated chains and padlocks.

"We've had a drop-off bucket for old chains all week," Dunn said, "But only one person has given us chains."

And for some reason, Dunn thinks that is a sign that nobody believes they will be kicked out today.

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