San Francisco hotel removes sprinklers allegedly used to harass unhoused people
The Best Western Red Coach Inn in the Tenderloin removed a sprinkler system attached to the building’s exterior on Thursday, the same day the San Francisco Examiner published a report alleging the hotel had been using them to deter homeless people from camping on a sidewalk behind the hotel, SFGATE has found.
On Friday, a reporter visited the alley and found no visible sprinklers. But Damien Quioz, who regularly stays in the alley, told a reporter that he’d seen sprinklers turned on at least three times, as recently as three weeks ago. Another man, Rigo Trejo, provided SFGATE with a video dated Sept. 15 showing more than a dozen sprinklers attached to the hotel, spraying down the alley and soaking someone on the sidewalk.
Ken Patel, the general manager at the Best Western Red Coach Inn, told SFGATE he had taken the sprinklers down on Thursday, after receiving a notice from the city warning that the sprinklers had been installed without proper permits. Patel denied that hotel employees had been using them to harass homeless people encamped on a sidewalk along Willow Street, which runs directly behind the hotel.
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However, in the video taken on Sept. 15, more than a dozen nozzles attached to the building’s exterior can be seen showering the sidewalk for the entire 48-second clip. One person can be seen in the video being soaked by the sprinklers.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/sf-hotel-removes-sprinklers-harass-unhoused-people-18411562.php
= new reply since forum marked as read
citizens, thank you very much. 
