Food Fight

W e tried to be gracious. Really, we did. We published a long letter from ASIAN Inc. president Michael Chan complaining about our coverage of a power outage at a Tenderloin apartment building managed by the nonprofit ("Power Failure," Feb. 28). We ran another letter from Matthew Huey of MH Construction Management Co. — a partner in the limited partnership that owns the building — detailing why it took nearly three months to restore power at the Polk Street property.

We even agreed to clarify, at Chan's request, that the $30-per-day food allowance promised to tenants — to help cover the costs of eating restaurant food while living in kitchen-less hotel rooms — was actually $30 per day per person in the legal tenant household.

The only problem, according to several tenants, is that they're still waiting to receive thousands of dollars in food allowance funds."We can't wait [any] more," says Polk Street tenant Danny Dang, who was one of more than 30 people who signed a recent petition sent to ASIAN Inc. demanding the money.

Tenants were offered the money when they were relocated to hotels in mid-November, but the building owners suspended it in mid-December, citing a cash shortage. That means tenants have about seven weeks of food allowance funds coming their way, the renters say. Dang, for example, said the landlord owes more than $5,000 to his household, which includes him, his wife, his son, and his nephew. "I'm really tired, this is a big amount of money," Dang said.

Last week ASIAN Inc. issued a written statement in response to our questions about the late food allowance payments. The statement says that the power outage and its aftermath have taken their toll financially on the owners. It added that more than $488,000 had already been expended to meet shelter and other needs. "Owners have appreciated the cooperation of the tenants and have asked for their further cooperation, since there are other significant outstanding operating expenses that must be paid," the statement said.

Thing is, tenants seem to feel they've been pretty cooperative over the five months since the power went out, and Dang warned it may be time for "drastic action."