BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
The owner of the Flintstone House, Florence Fang, filed a countersuit against Hillsborough yesterday, claiming that the town is racially discriminating against her.
The lawsuit also says that the building official who blew the whistle on Fang’s placement of large dinosaurs and Flintstone statues in her yard at 45 Berryessa Way without permits unlawfully entered her backyard.
First suit in March
The town had sued Fang in March, claiming she did not get the proper permits to put up the large dinosaurs, which can be seen from Interstate 280, or make other changes to her yard. She also has a woolly mammoth sculpture and different-colored mushroom figurines in her yard.
Last month, Fang’s attorney Angela Alioto said there are likely other residents who didn’t get permits for their statues or renovations, but are not facing the same sort of harassment from the town because they are not Chinese.
“Or is it really about treating Mrs. Fang differently because of her dream and that she’s Chinese and this is Hillsborough?” Alioto said.
According to the lawsuit, Hillsborough Building Official Tim Anderson, who blew the whistle on Fang’s remodeling, told another Asian Hillsborough resident, “You have to speak English when you are in Hillsborough.”
The lawsuit states, “The town of Hillsborough … has a practice of discrimination against property owners who are not Caucasians, specifically Asians, such as Mrs. Fang.”
Fang, the former owner of the San Francisco Independent and Examiner newspapers, also claims that she followed the rules given to her by the town’s employees, but the goalposts keep getting moved.
Town’s response
Hillsborough’s Assistant City Attorney Mark Hudak said that the town “strongly denies that it has a policy of discrimination against Asians or any other ethnic or racial group. Our staff is respectful to all residents.”
He also says that the claims against the two city employees are “wrong and offensive.”
On Tuesday, the town filed a lawsuit against the residents of 2130 Skyfarm Drive, accusing them of nonpermitted work on their porch deck.
According to the town’s lawsuit, the residents built a roof over their deck that required a variance permit, and no such permit was obtained by the residents.
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It’s so weak that she’s pulling the race card. She should simply stick to the facts of the violation. Where the figurines that she installed in violation of the zoning codes? Yes or no? I get the feeling that she is used to buying her way out of trouble, and if that doesn’t work, pull a stunt like this to get the town to ease up. I hope the town doesn’t cave.
I don’t believe people anymore when they cry racial discrimination. I used to believe it, but so often the person screaming about it is lying. Now it’s like crying wolf. So I just tune out people like Florence Fang when they cry race bias.
The city is overstepping the rights of property owners. I would do it in my yard but she should have the right to do it in hers.