Tenderloin district sues S.F. over drug use, crime

SAN FRANCISCO — Two hotels and several residents of San Francisco’s troubled Tenderloin district sued the city on Thursday, alleging it is using the neighborhood as a containment zone for rampant illegal drug use and other vices.

Plaintiffs do not seek monetary damages, according to the federal court complaint. Instead, they want officials to clear sidewalks of illegal drug dealers and fentanyl users, violent behavior and tent encampments and to treat the Tenderloin as it would any other neighborhood where crime is not tolerated.

They say city officials have allowed such behavior to flourish in the area by refusing to address issues such as keep sidewalks clear for people using walkers or wheelchairs and failing to ban sidewalk vending, among other acts.

“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,” attorney Matt Davis said in a statement.

The Tenderloin has troubled city leaders, including Mayor London Breed, who declared an emergency in the district and twice vowed crackdowns on drugs. She is in a tough reelection contest, facing three serious challengers who say her administration has failed to address homelessness, encampments or the open-air drug market.

Breed’s office said the approved Proposition E, which she put on the ballot, will bring more officers and resources to the neighborhood.

There are five anonymous plaintiffs in Thursday’s lawsuit along with entities that operate the Phoenix Hotel and the Best Western Road Coach Inn.