The City of San Francisco defended itself Thursday afternoon against charges from Tenderloin residents who claim that the city has caused a public health crisis through its provision of humanitarian supports to drug users in the neighborhood. Four unnamed residents of the neighborhood, along with the Phoenix and Best Western Hotels, claim the city is violating residents’ rights to equal protection and disability laws by allowing tents and people to crowd the sidewalks, creating a public nuisance. The residents first sued the city earlier in 2024, claiming the city treats the Tenderloin as a containment zone where it ignores drug use, Courthouse News reports. On Thursday, Thomas Lakritz of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, arguing for dismissal of the suit, said that the plaintiffs are claiming that just because the city offers shelter, clean needles, and street-based support to drug users in the Tenderloin they are responsible for the conditions on the street.
If the court ruled that the city could not provide resources in the Tenderloin, it would not be able to provide them anywhere, the city argued. Matthew Davis, counsel for the plaintiffs, said that the city's argument did not hold water because then it would effectively be impossible for anyone to sue a government and hold them accountable. Though the judge initially dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims in July, he seemed persuaded by Davis’ final point. Offering up a hypothetical to Lakritz, he asked what if a building owner kept a building in such a terrible state of uncleanliness that it caused an infestation of a neighborhood. Would the hypothetical building owner be able to avoid accountability by arguing, as the city has, that there was no way to prove the larger harm emanated from his building?
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