Posted: Nov 21, 2021 / 2:46 PM CST
/ Updated: 11/21/2021 / 4:30 PM CST

Union Square visitors view damage to the Louis Vuitton store on Sunday, November 21, 2021 after looters raided stores in San Francisco late Saturday night. (Danielle Echeverria / San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) – Approximately 80 people, some of whom were wearing ski masks and wielding crowbars, ransacked a luxury department store in the San Francisco Bay Area, assaulting employees and stealing goods, before escaping in cars waiting outside, police and witnesses said .

Three people were arrested while the majority escaped after the large-scale theft shocked shoppers in Nordstrom at the Broadway Plaza shopping mall in Walnut Creek on Saturday night, police said in a statement on Sunday.

Two employees were attacked and one hit with pepper spray while police described it as a “clearly planned event”.

NBC Bay Area reporter Jodi Hernandez tweeted that she saw the thieves rush into the store in the downtown shopping district about 20 miles northeast of San Francisco.

“About 25 cars have just blocked the road and hurtled into Walnut Creek Nordstrom with goods before they got into cars and raced away,” Hernandez said on Twitter.

Cell phone videos from the crime scene showed masked people pouring out of the store, carrying bags and boxes, jumping into cars, and fleeing from the crime scene.

Brett Barrette, the manager of a nearby PF Chang restaurant, began locking the doors of his house as he watched the chaos unfold.

“We saw probably 50 to 80 people with ski masks, crowbars and a bunch of guns,” Barrette told ABC 7 News.

Walnut Creek police said a gun had been seized from one of the three suspects arrested.

Nordstrom employees called 911 around 9 p.m. when thieves entered the store and started stealing goods, police said.

“Walnut Creek Police investigators are in the process of reviewing the surveillance footage in an attempt to identify other suspects responsible for this audacious act,” the department said in a statement on Sunday.

Nordstrom was open as usual on Sunday.

The incident came the day after a large group of people broke into several high-end stores in Union Square, San Francisco, smashed windows, stole goods, and then ran to serviceable cars, police said.

Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Yves Saint Laurent, Burberry and Dolce & Gabbana were all targeted on Friday night, Fox reported 2 News.

San Francisco Police Officer Robert Rueca said in a statement posted on social media that officers responded Friday night to reports of possible looting and vandalism in Union Square shops and arresting several people.

Shops in Union Square, a high-end shopping district popular with tourists, have been attacked for years by well-organized thieves who have sometimes rammed vehicles into shop fronts to smash glass doors and windows and enter the buildings outside of business hours.

In July, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law allowing prosecutors to prosecute those who work with others to steal goods.

The post About 80 thieves ransack division retailer close to San Francisco – KXAN Austin appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Posted: 09/24/2021 / 02:37 PM CDT
/ Updated: 9/24/2021 / 2:37 p.m. CDT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Tall trees are revered across California, but a towering Monterey pine at the center of a heated argument in San Francisco’s wealthiest neighborhood is due to go, according to an appeals court ruling this week.

A state appeals court on Wednesday ordered a couple in the Pacific Heights neighborhood to remove the tree, which is at least 10 meters tall. A neighbor argued the tree blocked her view of San Francisco Bay and other city landmarks, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The neighbor is an 81-year-old woman who moved into the San Francisco home with her late husband in 1976. When the couple “saw the magnificent views, they were sold,” said Barri Bonapart, the woman’s attorney.

“You could see all the way from Marin Headlands to the Pacific Ocean and then the Golden Gate Bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts, Sausalito, Belvedere, Tiburon and Angel Island,” said Bonaparte. She said her client asked to withhold her name because she feared harassment.

The pine was planted by a previous resident in 1999 and by the time the case went to court in 2019 had grown dozens of feet tall with widening, dense branches. The lawsuit was filed in 2018 after the mediation failed.

The woman “tried everything to work with her neighbors to find a common solution,” said Bonapart. “Unfortunately, they have always been adamant that they would never agree to restore their views unless told to do so.”

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ross visited the site before issuing a ruling to remove the jaws in December 2019, citing a San Francisco ordinance aimed at resolving treetop feuds. He decided that “the tree’s rapid growth in height and width blocked the view of landmarks and vistas that could once be seen”.

The first district appeals court upheld Ross’ order, ruling Wednesday that the only viable solution in the case was to remove the tree.

The pruning might have worked when the jaw was smaller, but it has now grown too much to thin or top it to restore the prospect, Judge Ioanna Petrou said in the 3-0 decision. She cited the statement by arborists that the tree provides little shade or privacy to homeowners and could be cut down without disturbing the ground. Under the ordinance, both households would split the cost of the removal, which an arborist estimated at $ 1,800.

The exclusive neighborhood of Pacific Heights, famous for its expensive mansions and breathtaking views, is no stranger to tree disputes.

Larry Ellison, the billionaire chief executive officer of Oracle Corp., sued a downhill neighbor in 2011 for the removal of three sequoia trees and an 80-year-old acacia that was blocking his view of the bay. The lawsuit was settled with an agreement to prune the trees.

The post Court docket battle ends tree dispute in expensive San Francisco space – KXAN Austin appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.