Co-Owner Of Civic Center Restaurant Sues SF Over Tenderloin Crime, Homelessness

The co-owner of Soluna Cafe & Lounge is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit over “insufferable” sidewalk conditions in its neighborhood.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court, plaintiffs including law school UC Hastings, the manager of a San Francisco single-room-occupancy hotel (SRO), and Rene Denis, a managing partner at upscale Civic Center restaurant Soluna allege that the number of homeless people living in tents on Tenderloin sidewalks has more than doubled since the city’s shelter-in-place order took effect, the Recorder reports.

The suit (which you can read in full here), seeks a court order to block SF from using the area as an alleged “containment zone” for open air drug dealing and other crimes, as well as for tent cities of homeless folks. “The pandemic has ominously exacerbated dangers and harms to those who live, work, and go to school in the Tenderloin, and it threatens to do so for years to come as successive waves of infection bring further death and despair,” the complaint reads.

The SF Examiner reports that Mayor London Breed addressed the suit at a press conference Monday, saying “I don’t think it is helpful that we have people who unfortunately are taking this route rather than trying to work with the city to resolve these issues.”

And in other news...

• Despite a statewide order that requires restaurant dining rooms to remain dark, some NorCal restaurants are reopening for dine-in service. All restaurants in Yuba, Sutter, and Modoc counties are allowed (at the local level, they’re still breaking state rules) to reopen [KPIX], while a Red Bluff restaurant was cited for a “constitutional” reopening [East Bay Times] and at least one Napa restaurant has also opted to flout the protective order. [NBC Bay Area]
• Archive Bar & Kitchen, a SoMa social house that opened in 2013, has closed for good “due to the economic impact of the shelter in place,” co-owner Gabriel Bryant tells Eater SF via email. “The craziest part of this is that it was set to be sold on April 1st. The buyers backed out and now I am forced to file bankruptcy. This place was my dream and now it has turned into a nightmare.”
• North Beach chef/restaurateur Maurizio Bruschi (Ideale Restaurant, Piccolo Forno) has opened a Roman style italian spot called Serafina for takeout. The Russian Hill restaurant with a menu that includes olive-stuffed calamari, crab pappardelle, and — of course —tiramisu. [SF Chronicle]
• Workers at two San Francisco Trader Joe’s stores have tested positive for COVID-19. The grocery chain’s SoMa store temporarily closed Sunday for extra cleaning after management learned of the test results [SF Gate], and a worker at the Nob Hill location (who was last at the store on April 10) tested positive some weeks later. [SF Chronicle]
• The Central California squid fishing season is looking good. [East Bay Times]