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Hotel sprinkler system soaks SF homeless camp

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Skip to main contentYou are the owner of this article.Edit ArticleAdd New ArticleYou have permission to edit this article.EditHomeNewsCultureSportsForumHomesSpecial SectionsNob Hill GazetteSFWeeklyOnline FeaturesOverhead sprinklers can be seen above the alley behind the Best Western at 700 Eddy St.A sprinkler system has been installed in an alley behind the Best Western Red Coach Inn in the Tenderloin — not to water the grass, but allegedly to spray unhoused people who set up their tents on the sidewalk.“They go off at least every hour,” said Manny Velazquez, a security guard for Project Open Hand, a community nutrition program across the street. “When it goes off, there’s like an alarm, then it gets misty.”The sprinklers only go off when people are camped along the Willow Street alley, said Velazquez, who said he first became aware of them a few months ago. He stands outside Project Open Hand’s location at 730 Polk Street throughout the day when meals are being given out and has seen the sprinklers soak people and their tents.This kind of installation, known as “hostile architecture,” can include such measures as planter boxes or metal bars in the middle of benches to discourage people from camping out or sleeping in certain locations.Businesses throughout San Francisco have resorted to such measures as a last-ditch effort to deal with the unhoused population as city services lag behind demand.Deterrent tactics can be minor, such as denying a bathroom or drinking water. But the sprinklers take it a step further, said Eve Garrow, a senior policy analyst and advocate for the ACLU.“When you’re soaked, and it’s nighttime in San Francisco, and it’s cold, you can become very ill from hypothermia, and oftentimes people who are living in outdoor locations are incredibly vulnerable,” she said. “These practices are dangerous to unhealthy people as well as annoying and disrespectful.”Last year, a video of San Francisco business owner Collier Gwin spraying an unhoused woman with a hose went viral. After public outcry, Gwin was charged with assault by the District Attorney’s Office.But this case is not as clear-cut, she said.“Conduct that can cause direct harm for people could be viewed as unlawful,” she said. “The way I would differentiate these ... would be: Does the action directly cause direct and immediate harm?”The business could come back and say that it turns the sprinklers on at certain times to conserve water or for other reasons and that it does not intend to make people scatter from the space, Garrow said.The Golden State superstar was part of Sam Bankman-Fried's plan to bring legitimacy and edge to FTXAuthorities believe she was stuck by a human-driven vehicle firstCity argues the decision&nbsp;"has made it needlessly more difficult for San Francisco to address its ongoing homelessness crisis"“It’s this sort of underhanded way of harming people as a strategy to encourage them to move along that won’t cause them any legal jeopardy,” she said.Ken Patel, who said he’s been manager of the Best Western since 2016, denied that the sprinklers are intended to deter unhoused people from camping in the alley. He said they’re designed to keep the sidewalk clean.“The City doesn’t clean the sidewalks,” he told The Examiner on Wednesday, which is why the hotel hired a plumber to install the sprinklers about a year ago. “We clean it every day.”Patel said the alarm Velazquez has heard go off with the sprinklers is meant to deter homeless people from camping in the alley.“There’s so many people — they have dogs and cats and (they) camp out, they’ll have tents there,” said Patel. “Then they blast music back there, and we get customer complaints, and we have to refund the customer.”There are about a dozen rooms with windows facing the alley, he said, and they’ve received more than one complaint about the encampments.Willow Street is one of the Tenderloin’s major hot spots for encampments. The Department of Public Works and the Homeless Outreach Team have conducted sweeps there at least 14 times this year, according to Sam Dodge, the director of Street Response Coordination with the Department of Emergency Management.“Willow is sort of infamous,” he told The Examiner at a recent sweep. “It’s a pretty tough spot.”But the City’s protocol for the sprinkler system remains unclear. Patel told The Examiner that he didn’t “know anything about a permit.”The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection told The Examiner Wednesday that a permit is required to install a sprinkler system. While a new sprinkler system was installed in 2018 for the inside of the hotel, according to available building records, DBI could not confirm if it would also apply to the outdoor sprinkler system.“DBI plumbing inspectors need to conduct a site visit to observe the condition and determine if the sprinklers were installed with a permit and whether there are any code violations,” the department said in a statement. “We are opening a complaint and will initiate an investigation.”ngurevich@sfexaminer.comOur PartnersIn 1970, one of two chartered twin-engine planes flying the Wichita State University football team to Utah crashed into a mountain near Silver Plume, Colorado, killing 31 of the 40 people on boardSorry, an error occurred.Get StartedLog InYou are logged in&nbsp;Switch accountsHave an account? Log InThank you .Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.Check your email for details.OKSubscribeNeed an account? 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Skip to main contentYou are the owner of this article.Edit ArticleAdd New ArticleYou have permission to edit this article.EditHomeNewsCultureSportsForumHomesSpecial SectionsNob Hill GazetteSFWeeklyOnline FeaturesOverhead sprinklers can be seen above the alley behind the Best Western at 700 Eddy St.A sprinkler system has been installed in an alley behind the Best Western Red Coach Inn in the Tenderloin — not to water the grass, but allegedly to spray unhoused people who set up their tents on the sidewalk.“They go off at least every hour,” said Manny Velazquez, a security guard for Project...

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Natalia Gurevich

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Hotel sprinkler system soaks SF homeless camp

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