update 2024, more on this on how it relates to the collapse of downtown SF
Randy Shaw and Tenderloin Housing Clinic recently filed lawsuits against hotel operators and described it in his article. The lawsuits contain two parts, one is about the Hotel Conversion Ordinance and the other is about the North of Market Special Use District and Planning Commission Code
What Randy Shaw doesn't mention is that the terminology used in the second part is described as 'nuisance'. Randy Shaw via his THC attorney is essentially saying that 'tourists are a nuisance'. Nowhere is this word mentioned in his press release/article
this is the except from one of the lawsuits (700 Jones, THC v Fard)
This is the legal definition of a nuisance in California
CAL. CIV. CODE § 3479 : California Code - Section 3479
Anything which is injurious to health, including, but not limited to, the illegal sale of controlled substances, or is indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the customary manner, of any navigable lake, or river, bay, stream, canal, or basin, or any public park, square, street, or highway, is a nuisance.
Randy Shaw is saying that the mere existence of tourists in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco is offensive to the senses and demands compensation. The tourists don't have to do anything. They just have to be in the wrong place. This the same Randy Shaw who complains publicly on the same blog about the Tenderloin being a containment zone. The irony would be amusing if it wasn't so insulting. Even more insulting is that Randy Shaw gets public money to conduct Tenderloin historic tours presumably for the very same tourists he finds so offensive
Randy also primarily houses people with 'chronic substance abuse problems' so while those people are fine, tourists are a nuisance
Here is a copy of one of the lawsuits at 700 Jones. Three others filed are nearly identical in form
thc.v.fard.2011 by auweia1 on Scribd
Here's an example of a real 'nuisance'. One of Randy Shaw's own clients grabbing the tip jar at Mythic Pizza on 6th Street. Mythic Pizza went out of business because of this nuisance