Landslide property owners get another 48 hours
for cleanup plan

By Brent Begin, Bay City News Service

March 1, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - San Francisco property owners affected by the recent Telegraph Hill landslide met today with city officials to discuss cleaning up tons of debris and shoring up the hillside.

Department of Building Inspection spokesman William Strawn said earlier today that landowners would have 24 hours to respond to a notice of safety violation, but that timeline was extended this afternoon and the owners now have until Friday to decide on a plan.

In the next few days, owners of the red-tagged properties, notably the 45 condominium owners on top of the southern end of Telegraph Hill, will have to come up with a solution for cleaning up the rubble and stabilizing the shear hillside.

Residents were given notice Tuesday that it was their responsibility to maintain the safety of their property. Strawn said it would be the same situation if someone complained of a broken stairwell that was a hazard to visitors.

The city can step in and provide the engineering work, but the owners would eventually end up with the bill, according to Strawn.

One of the buildings affected, Broadway Showgirls Cabaret, suffered extensive water and structural damage, according to a statement released Tuesday and its management has already taken action to fix the damage.

"We are grateful that no one was hurt," said the company's CEO Joseph Carouba. "The fact that everyone had just left makes us feel that someone may have been smiling down on our industry at that particular moment.

Had our managers and others been in the offices at that moment, they would have been fatalities."

According to Carouba, the management company in charge of the club has already secured an engineering firm to shore up their portion of the hill.

The club is located at 412 Broadway St. Several other neighboring buildings were damaged by the slide. The U.S. Postal Service will hold mail for residents who live at the affected addresses: 400-468 Broadway, 455 Vallejo St., and 1035-1051 Montgomery St.

Residents can pick up their mail at the North Beach Carrier Annex at 2200 Powell St.

Copyright © 2007 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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