In the seven months since JJ Hollingsworth unwittingly bought the “Dirt Alley” behind their Sunset home at a city auction, she has been through a lot of aggravation over the unwanted lot.
What the composer initially thought was an unbelievable bargain — $25,000 for a neighboring home — has turned into an ordeal. Even though the alley now falls within her property line, her home insurance policy won’t cover it, putting her in a constant state of anxiety over the liability involved in owning the pockmarked parcel.
Hollingsworth said the stress set off eczema in her ear canal, which created the perfect conditions for a fungal infection that made her deaf in her left ear, as well as tinnitus so severe it can sound like a siren in her head. The timing was horrible, as the 69-year-old was on a deadline to create a piano concerto.
She waited until learning that her hearing loss was temporary to tell the Geneva pianist and conductor who commissioned her work, fearing the stigma of being known as a half-deaf composer.
“It’s not like Beethoven,” she said.
Her outlook improved further when recently appointed Supervisor Alan Wong pledged to seek the reversal of the sale at the Board of Supervisors.
“There’s an end in sight, after months of this,” she said.
How to undo a tax sale
Hollingsworth’s troubles started when she received a letter from the San Francisco treasurer’s office last spring that advertised an auction on pieces of land where owners had failed to pay their property taxes.
The letter described the parcels as “rendered unusable by their size, location, or other conditions.” Bids started at $1.
Hollingsworth and her husband, Alemayehu Mergia, clearly skimmed the small print, focusing instead on the listed address of 1926 Kirkham. Thinking they were bidding on the three-unit building on the other side of the alley, they decided to take $25,000 out of their retirement savings and put in an offer.
A map of the parcel in question, highlight added by The Standard.
They won the sealed-bid auction, but their excitement turned to shock, embarrassment, and then fury as they realized about a month later that they were the not-so-proud owners of an 82-foot-long, 7-foot-wide alley, not the rental property.
Hollingsworth and Mergia first told their story to The Standard, and their tale of woe soon took off. They were featured on local TV news stations and even made headlines in Australia and the U.K. An anonymous fan/prankster had a professional sign made bearing the name “Hollingsworth Lane” and left it at their doorstep. A local artist reached out to offer to paint a mural to beautify the alley.
Hollingsworth declined the mural but thinks a name change might actually help clear up confusion in the future. What she really wants is to give the alley back to the city.
Aggravation over the alley drove Hollingsworth half-deaf, she said. | Source: Jungho Kim for The Standard
Hollingsworth referenced the attention the story had received when she reached out to Wong’s office in December, shortly after he was appointed as the Sunset’s supervisor by Mayor Daniel Lurie. In an email, she asked her newly sworn-in supervisor to “represent me on a recent ‘street fight’ in San Francisco which needs immediate resolution with the SF Board of Supervisors.”
After they spoke on the phone, the supervisor agreed to represent the couple at the board, his office confirmed, although no timeline to introduce the matter has been set. Next steps are for Wong’s office to meet with the couple in person to explain the process, likely before the end of the month.
“Supervisor Wong is committed to serving and representing the residents of District 4,” his office said in a statement. “If the constituent ultimately wishes to pursue a request to rescind the sale, the supervisor’s office stands ready to assist them through the appropriate process with the Board of Supervisors.”
Hollingsworth reached out to Wong about her plight less two weeks after he was sworn in. | Source: Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
The couple do not need a supervisor to bring the matter to the board, according to the office of the SF tax collector, which organized the land sale. As the owner, Hollingsworth could request on her own that the matter go before the board, a majority of whom would have to vote to overturn the sale. But she feels she has a much stronger case with Wong by her side.
“I’m supposed to go knock on their door and complain? I don’t think so,” she said.
A spokesperson said the tax collector’s office doesn’t take a position on overturning the sale, an event that has happened only once before. In 2017, homeowners in tony Presidio Terrace were successful in rescinding the $90,000 sale (opens in new tab) of a street in their gated neighborhood to a San Jose couple.
After the winter storms and rolling blackouts in her neighborhood, Hollingsworth understands that she’s not Wong’s top priority. But she does hope the situation can be resolved soon and thinks it could be a good way for Wong to show he stands up for his constituents before what is likely to be a heated battle to retain the D4 seat.
“Let’s just get this done,” she said. “It would be an opportunity for him to prove that he can represent a constituent in the right way, see through this bullshit and fix it.”
Whenever she gets her day before the board, Hollingsworth has a pretty good idea of what she wants to say. It’s exactly what she’s been saying since the day she found out she is an accidental alley owner: “I don’t want to own this. Nobody should own it.”