Appellate Court Reaffirms Challenge to
S.F. Hotel Law
SAN FRANCISCO - Sept. 7, 2000 -- Sending a firm warning message to the
City and County of San Francisco, the California State Court of Appeal
late yesterday reaffirmed its August 8 decision to reinstate a lawsuit
by the historic San Remo Hotel challenging the city�s controversial Residential
Hotel Conversion Ordinance as unconstitutional.
In addition, the 1st District Court of Appeal increased the opportunity
for other hotel owners to rely on its ruling. By authorizing official publication
of its entire decision last month, including a key determination that the
62-room San Remo did not operate in violation of zoning laws, the court
has opened the door for other property owners to cite the ruling as a precedent
for similar cases at the trial court level.
�We believe the justices ordered publication of their entire opinion
because the city announced it may simply disregard Appellate Court decisions
that are not published,� said Utrecht. �The court is telling the city it�s
treading on thin legal ice in the way it has treated owners of small hotels
during the last two decades. This stern rebuff to the city�s position sets
the stage for a final determination that the hotel law is unconstitutional.
�A sensible course of action for the city would be to accept that determination,
putting an end to this 10-year litigation. Otherwise, property owners,
public interest groups, cities and counties throughout the state will be
compelled to join in a battle that may now reach the California Supreme
Court or, possibly, the U.S. Supreme Court.�
�The proper solution to more low income housing would be to spend tax
dollars received from a broad spectrum of our society�not to force certain
hotel owners to provide rooms against their will,� he added. �Unfortunately
the city�s position thus far has more to do with politics than logic, legality
or fairness.�
During their decade-long legal struggle, San
Remo owners Tom and Robert Field have charged the city with construing
regulations since 1981 to systematically and unlawfully revoke zoning rights
they acquired when they bought their North Beach hotel in 1971.
Filing lawsuits in both Federal and State courts, the Field brothers
claimed the city relied on unconstitutional provisions in the city�s Residential
Hotel Conversion and Demolition Ordinance, first enacted in 1981 as an
extension of a temporary �moratorium� on conversions of residential housing,
and retroactively applied sections of the city�s Planning Code, which were
added in 1987, in classifying the hotel as residential �group housing.�
Provisions in the hotel ordinance require that certain smaller hotels
set rooms for low-income residents rather than tourists � or arrange to
replace any housing lost as a result of converting residential rooms to
tourist use.
Not only did the city insist the Fields provide lifetime leases to the
hotel�s long-term residential tenants, but it demanded the brothers pay
$567,000 as a �replacement housing fee,� to continue operating the San
Remo primarily as a tourist hotel.
The Fields paid under protest, but sued the city and demanded a refund.
In its recent decision, the Court of Appeal referred to the fee as �ransom.�
Zacks claims �the city is engaging in an unconstitutional regulatory scheme
that amounts to organized extortion.� |
The San Remo Hotel
2237 Mason Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
In December 1906 just after the earthquake and fire destroyed
most of San Francisco, the San Remo Hotel was built. It was originally
called the New California Hotel. Immigrant Italians found refuge at the
hotel and restaurant. Free meals and rooms were given to anyone who could
help out. Sailors, poets and pensioners also sheltered in the tiny rooms.
Penniless artists paid with their paintings.
The hotel came of age in 1922 and was renamed San Remo
Hotel. Full course dinners were served up for fifty cents in the Depression
days. Booze was served in coffee cups and saucers during Prohibition.
Nello and John Torre partnered the hotel through the 50�s
and 60�s, giving San Francisco one of its last family-style eateries and
watering holes where the famous and anonymous mixed with easy informality.
The San Remo�s long and colorful history is being carried
out in spirit by the Field brothers, owners since 1971. Today the bright
clean hotel sports a refurbished decor with modern conveniences yet maintains
the atmosphere of an earlier period with a collection of antique furniture.
The downstairs bar which was shipped around Cape Horn over a century ago
radiates a warmth of its own and offers a full service bar.
The hotel enjoys a world wide reputation as safe, clean,
and economic lodging. Many of its international guests are return customers. |
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Saving the 94-year-old Victorian at 2237 Mason Street from condemnation,
the Fields invested more than $500,000 during the first twenty years of
ownership in authentically restoring the exterior and interior, including
the bar and restaurant on the ground floor. By the beginning of 2000, their
total restoration and improvement costs since first acquiring the property
had exceeded one million dollars.
Built by Bank of America founder A.P. Gianinni after the great earthquake
and fire in 1906, the San Remo freely operated for most of this century
as a commercially licensed tourist hotel that also welcomed long-term residential
tenants.
Offering rooms to tourists for as low as $50 a night, the hotel is popular
with budget conscious travelers from around the world. |