Busy today ...

A friend, the Rev. Gloria Del Castillo, is facing foreclosure of her home at the end of the month. Yes, she was behind in her payments and the house is "underwater" -- worth less on the current market than her remaining mortgage debt would require her to pay.

She has been attempting to negotiate refinancing with the bank (CitiBank, in case you wondered) but apparently the bank has been engaged in the underhanded practice of "dual tracking" -- pursuing foreclosure without disclosing this while stalling talks with my friend.

On January 1, this sort of bank duplicity will be outlawed under legislation passed last year. So naturally CitiBank has scheduled foreclosure for the December 31.

Time to organize against this outrage! The San Francisco Organizing Project has called for a press conference and demonstration outside a branch of the bank. Here's the information:

Thursday, Dec. 20 -- 10am sharp
CitiBank at 245 Market Street, near Embarcadero BART, SF

Call CitiBank Corporate Headquarters: 800-285-3000 and tell them to stop the auction of Rev. Gloria del Castillo’s home! Press 8 for the Directory, then press * for operator assistance, tell them your name and that you would like to lodge a complaint with the CEO on behalf of Gloria del Castillo, whose home is being foreclosed upon. You will probably be put on hold for a little while. More information about making these calls at SFOP.

Regular blogging will resume when I've done some organizing for this.

We need to put the banks on notice they can't get away with their greedy tactics.