City in contempt of court

The City of San Francisco will face contempt charges on January 14, 2009. The court issued an Order to Show Cause why the city should not be held in contempt of its orders, injunction and peremptory writ of mandate that ordered the city to set aside both its ordinance placing the Bicycle Plan in the city's General Plan and the legislation implementing the Plan on city streets. Petitioners' Coalition for Adequate Review asked the court to issue the OSC, because the city has refused to remove the invalid text from its General Plan, which is used by the public and city government to determine whether proposed projects conform to city law.

Contempt can carry serious penalties, including additional enforcement orders, fines and/or imprisonment. Even though the court ruled against the city way back in November, 2006, and, despite a number of reminders, the city has refused to remove the legislation from its books, misleading both the public and city government about what the law is. The hearing on the OSC is set for January 14 at 9:30 a.m. in Dept. 301 of the San Francisco Superior Court.