Our Hear Here community storytelling project has been asking Oakland and San Francisco residents to tell them a story about a meaningful place in their neighborhood. Meanwhile, the KALW news team has set out on a similar mission, and visited iconic places all over the Bay Area to talk to the people who visit them. KALW’s Lisa Ratner brought back this story from Treasure Island.
Margaret Billsborough has survived unspeakable traumas: childhood abuse, wrenching poverty, homelessness, and crack-cocaine addiction. So when she, and many other vulnerable people like her, were given the opportunity to move into an apartment on San Francisco's Treasure Island, it seemed like a dream come true. Here, she thought, was a quiet, idyllic refuge where she could begin to heal.
