Behind the scenes at the San Francisco Condo Lottery

Have you ever heard about the condo lottery?  Chances are if you aren’t the owner of  a TIC (Tenancy in Common) then probably not.  One of the advantages to being a photographer is getting to see what goes on behind the scenes or observe politics and civics in action.  Today, among being Chinese New Year and National Signing Day for college football, was the condo lottery and it was an interesting look into a group of homeowners who are looking to have their dream of converting their TIC into a condo fulfilled.  Room 400 in City Hall was full of a mixture of homeowners, activists, and lawyers who specialize in condo conversions.  As the lottery was conducted (yes, complete with a spinning container full of lottery tickets), the audience looked on with anticipation.  The mix of people was a good cross section of San Francisco minus the crazy homeless and crackheads.

The first winner drawn jumped up in elation and everyone clapped.  We stopped Tom (below) who had been in the lottery for seven years and just won.  In all there were two properties that won twice (although duplicates don’t count), butmy own unit was not a winner.  Ah well, it was an interesting experience and we’ll enter it again next year with fingers crossed!