Dear Reader,
On November 29, 2006 there was a fire at the Hotel Hurley in San Francisco . The only victim of the Hotel Hurley that day was Paul Le Blanc. Paul is a 79 year old long time resident of San Francisco who was in the bed asleep when the fire broke out. Mr. LeBlanc’s burns were not life threatening, but the smoke inhalation caused permanent damage to his respiratory system and vocal cords. He spent the next 9 months in the hospital and, as a result, accrued hospital bills in excess of 1.2 million dollars.
This incident was totally avoidable! If the owners and management of the Hotel Hurley would have followed the law and complied with just one of the numerous citations from the fire and health departments this life altering incident would not have happened. Shortly before this unfortunate incident,A.Vicki Vlasakis ( ONE OF THE OWNERS) received a five thousand dollar (5,000.00) grant from Tenderloin Neighborhood Development (TNDC) to improve the neon sign outside on the building. Unfortunately for Mr. LeBlanc they chose to repair a sign in stead of complying with the law to safeguard human life and health.
At the time of the fire there was a class action law suit brought forward by the tenants of the Hotel against the owners and management of the building. The tenants won the case. The fact that such extreme measures needed to be taken is appalling. George Vlasakis (ONE OF THE OWNERS) is an attorney who prosecutes breach of warranty of habitability claims on behalf of tenants against landlords. Mr. Vlasakis must have forgotten what doing the right thing was since his last trip to court where he spoke against another barbarous slumlord. If anybody ought to know what their obligations are as to smoke detectors specifically, it should be Mr. Vlasakis. He did not care, because he thought no one else cared about his tenants, and he could get away with it.
Something must be done. These people are collecting grant money ($5,000.00) from TNDC. I wonder does TNDC know they’re sponsoring slumlords? I hope not. Have they (TNDC) given them more money since the class action law suite was brought forward and settled? I hope not. The slumlords make the Hotel Hurley what it is, not the people.
Even though the fire marshal’s report states the fire was caused by a electrical cord; clearing Mr. Le Blanc of any and all blame, the slumlords blame him for the fire as well as the lack of compliance with the numerous citations and the lack of a smoke detector in his room. I really want someone to help me understand why these slum lords are allowed to get away with this.
A Concerned Son
