We are the Creative Spaces Coalition. We have come together for the goal of preserving San Francisco’s historic SOMA neighborhood. The collapse of SOMA’s manufacturing industry has left us with the possibility of defining a new kind of urban living — one which offers a smaller ecological footprint, a denser urban environment, and the integration of the creative into the every-day lives of San Francisco’s residents. SOMA is currently a vibrant and unique community, home to numerous artist’s collectives which are creating work that defines a generation.

However, this nascent way of life is already threatened. Developers would like to tear SOMA down and replace it with characterless SRO hotels. Various governmental organizations whose working urban model does not include creative spaces like warehouses are trying to shut down the artist’s collectives of SOMA. California’s ABC is shutting down fund-raisers and confiscating art and equipment.

San Francisco has long been known as an art mecca, a home for self-expression. However, misguided government bureaucrats want to turn San Francisco into a city just like every other failed metropolis of the United States. At the same time, rising real estate prices are pushing urban artists out of the city and into the surrounding communities. Help us in our fight to preserve our city’s unique legacy and tradition. Help us to keep the artists in San Francisco. Help us to stop developers from ruining our cities with characterless yuppie-boxes surrounded by multi-lane freeways. Help us to preserve unsanctioned, non-consumerist mediums of expression and recreation. Join the Creative Spaces Coalition!