When the City Sells Your Street

At first glance, the tale of Presidio Terrace, the mansion-lined San Francisco street sold for $90,000 to a plutocratic power couple, makes for irresistible schadenfreude. Among those suffering the indignities of the Bay Area’s famous affordable housing crisis, there’s something karmically soothing about seeing affluent homeowners subjected to the whims of a new landlord.

For three decades, the Presidio Terrace Association—the homeowners association (HOA) representing the gated enclave’s residents—failed to pay the city a $14-a-year property tax for their private street. Subsequently, San Francisco authorities auctioned off the street (plus its adjacent sidewalks and planted areas) to Tina Lam and Michael Cheng of San Jose in 2015. This only recently became known to the homeowners, when they were asked by representatives of the street’s new owners if they’d like to buy it back.