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Tenderloin residents and businesses will file lawsuits Thursday, alleging
San Francisco has treated the destitute neighborhood as a "containment
zone" for illegal drug dealing and use.
A federal lawsuit asserts that the city has failed to address long-
standing issues with street safety and crime.
The plaintiffs include four unnamed residents who are described as
families with young children, seniors, disabled residents and two
businesses, including the Phoenix Hotel and Best Western. The suit further accuses the city of violating constitutional rights, disability access
laws, public nuisance laws and other statutes.
"For years, the de facto policy of the city has been to corral and confine illegal drug dealing and usage, and the associated injurious behaviors, to
the Tenderloin," the complaint states. "The city tries to keep such crimes
and nuisances out of other San Francisco neighborhoods by 'containing'
them in the Tenderloin."
The lawsuit includes photos depicting sidewalks blocked by tents, crowds
of people appearing to buy and use drugs, discarded needles, human waste
and other hazards. It also cites online reviews from hotel guests
disturbed by the neighborhood conditions surrounding the lodging
properties.
In a statement Thursday, spokesperson Jen Kwart said the City Attorney's
Office would review the complaint and respond in court.
“While we understand and share the frustration of Tenderloin businesses
and residents, the city is making progress in reducing crime, disrupting open-air drug markets, and addressing homelessness, all while complying
with the preliminary injunction issued in the Coalition on Homelessness
case," Kwart said.
Kwart also called the latest lawsuit's timing "odd," given the U.S.
Supreme Court's impending decision in the Grants Pass case "potentially altering the legal landscape in homelessness cases."
"It is clear that increased litigation over homelessness is not improving conditions on our streets," Kwart said. "The courts are not equipped to
police every interaction between outreach workers and unhoused
individuals. The courts are similarly not equipped to step into the shoes
of elected policymakers and voters in order to craft broad strategies to address homelessness.”
UC Law SF will also file a court motion Thursday in an ongoing U.S.
District Court lawsuit seeking compliance with a 2020 court order
requiring the city to remove all Tenderloin homeless encampments and
tents.
The city has claimed it is prevented from enforcing that order by a
separate 2022 injunction from Judge Donna Ryu, barring enforcement of
certain anti-camping laws when there are more homeless people than
available shelter beds.
However, the plaintiffs argue that the injunction only applies to those
who are involuntarily homeless, not those who have refused offers of the
city's approximately 300 open shelter spaces. They also note an appeals
court has since limited the 2022 injunction's scope.
The enforcement order asks the court to require the city to resume full compliance with the 2020 injunction by discouraging tents, preventing re- encampment and "employing enforcement measures" against those who refuse shelter.
UC Law SF's attorney, Matthew Davis, said his clients were not seeking
monetary damages.
“Rather, they demand equitable treatment and relief from open-air drug
markets, violence, and impassable and unsanitary streets,” Davis said.
“They demand an end to the rampant illegal street vending, and from the
squalor and misery that exists throughout their neighborhood because the
city has decided that people in the throes of addiction can live and die
on the Tenderloin’s streets.”
Dean David Faigman said the school was committed to helping make
neighborhood streets safer by enforcing the stipulated injunction.
"The Tenderloin deserves to be treated just like any other neighborhood in
the city. As an institutional anchor in the Tenderloin, we have the responsibility to speak for and protect our campus and our neighbors whose voices are often diminished," Faigman said.
Correction: This story was updated with the proper spelling of UC Law SF
Dean David Faigman's name.
https://sfstandard.com/2024/03/14/tenderloin-lawsuit-san-francisco-drug- containment-zone/?itm_source=parsely-api
--
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Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
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