SAN FRANCISCO─San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera assisted the San Francisco Police Department, Sheriff’s Department, property owner and local residents to close a problematic nightclub located at 2110 Palou Avenue. According to a press release from the City Attorney’s Office, the property owners evicted operators of the club on December 19, after a code enforcement inspection of the property and the threat of legal action.
“I’m pleased we could restore safety and peace of mind to Bayview residents just in time for the holidays,” said Herrera. “Keeping our communities safe is our top priority, and we use all the tools at our disposal to do so. This underground operation had been a magnet for crime. I’m pleased we were able shut it down while saving taxpayers the cost of a lawsuit. I want to thank the staff in my office, Supervisor Shamann Walton and the police and sheriff’s departments for their hard work on this. In particular I wanted to recognize the great collaboration our office had with SFPD Captain Troy Dangerfield of the Bayview Station and Commander Peter Walsh of the Field Operations Bureau.”
The City Attorney’s office informed the property owner in April 2019 about constant complaints of an illegal club operating a portion of a building and asked the owner to take action. Another portion of the building is utilized as an automotive shop.
The illegal club generated dozens of 911 calls in the past year. Officers from the SFPD responded to the calls by documenting a pattern of dangerous and illegal activities at the property, including illegal gambling, noise complaints, robberies, assaults, gun shots and apparent gang activity.
Authorities were called to the scene six times in March 2019, including for a person with a gun and three fights, with all of those incidents transpiring after 3 a.m. In one incident officers were called after an assault with aggravated force was reported on the street nearby. After the assault, unknown subjects drove past the witness and told him: “Don’t say anything.”
After the owners failure to intervene, the City Attorney’s Office led a Code Enforcement Task Force inspection of the property in September 2019. City officials continued to receive complaints about the illegal nightclub. As a result of impending legal action from the City Attorney’s Office, property owners initiated court proceedings against the scofflaw nightclub operators. After the court issued an eviction order, the Sheriff’s Department executed the order on an expedited basis, with the eviction being completed safely and without incident.
For more details about the case visit the City Attorney’s website: www.sfcityattorney.org.
