San Fran Residents Mount Last-Ditch Fight Against Shelter

San Francisco residents who object to a homeless shelter going up in their upscale neighborhood aren't done fighting yet. A new lawsuit says the project will hurt the environment, reports the Guardian. The project will lead to "additional homeless persons, open drug and alcohol use, crime, daily emergency calls, public urination and defecation, and other nuisances," reads a lawsuit on behalf of residents of the waterfront Embarcadero neighborhood, where a 200-bed shelter is set to break ground following unanimous approval from San Francisco's Port Commission. The San Francisco Chronicle reports construction equipment is already on site.

The suit, filed against the city and California State Lands Commission, requests a full environmental review before the build begins. Critic Kelley Cutler of the Coalition on Homelessness gives the Guardian a memorable quote: "Methane emissions are bad for the environment, and this smells like bull----," Cutler says of the lawsuit. A rep for city attorney Dennis Herrera says an environmental review has already been completed. The shelter, granted a two-year lease on a 2.3-acre parcel of land, is expected to open by December. (More San Francisco stories.)