A group of anonymous residents and two hotels in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood filed a lawsuit against the city on Thursday over the open drug use, homelessness, and violence that have made living in the area unbearable.
According to a complaint filed in federal court, the terrified plaintiffs are not seeking monetary damages, but simply want the city to make the neighborhood livable once again.
"They are at their wits end because the city has treated their neighborhood as a containment zone for narcotics activity [and] all the problems associated with that," said attorney Matthew Davis, who’s representing the residents, according to ABC 7.
"Every day, at all hours, people are dealing drugs and using drugs in front of their apartment building. There are encampments, people are lighting up bonfires," Davis added. "Their sidewalks are filthy with all types of problems from used syringes, human waste."
Other residents documented being physically threatened with knives and hammers outside their homes.
The two hotels that are part of the lawsuit, The Phoenix and Best Western, say due to street conditions, sidewalks are not accessible to guests and they are unable to attract talent.
"The real impetus for this is to create some positive change,” managing partner of the Phoenix, Isabel Manchester, told the Chronicle. "We want the residents, the employees, the tourists and the businesses in the Tenderloin to be treated the same as everywhere else in the city."
In a statement responding to the lawsuit, the city’s attorney’s office said they’re “making efforts to reduce crime, disrupt open-air drug markets, and address homelessness, all while complying with the preliminary injunction issued in the Coalition on Homelessness case.”