Court of Appeals Saves Tenant Activist’s HomePaul Hogarthbyline‚ Mar. 20‚ 2007Jose Morales, well-known as “San Francisco’s most tenacious tenant,” prevailed at the California Court of Appeals yesterday to – once again – save his home from demolition. In the latest phase of a never-ending struggle for the 78-year-old activist, a unanimous three-judge panel affirmed a prior Court ruling that the San Francisco Planning Commission and the Board of Appeal did not abuse their discretion when they rejected his landlord’s permit to gut Jose’s building. Incredibly, the landlord’s attorney (Andrew Zacks) argued that Jose had “called in political favors,” but the Court saw through such statements as hyperbole. Jose still faces an Ellis Act eviction, but yesterday’s court ruling was an encouraging step in the effort to save his home. |