Susan McWilliams
Local Pacaso opponents are celebrating a win after the company pulled a prospective timeshare house from its portfolio, selling it quietly to a couple as a single-family home.
The billion-dollar company had intended the house, at the corner of Kearney and Madrona, to be one of its fractional-share operations, occupied by as many as eight different owners. Neighbors have expressed their opposition with prominent signs, and the house was the site of an anti-Pacaso rally last month that included representatives from groups in Napa and Sonoma.
The wine country opposition groups have formed an alliance and maintain the website stoppacasoNOW.com, collaborating on strategies and outreach to other communities opposing timeshares in their neighborhoods.
St. Helena recently received a favorable ruling in a SLAPP motion that was part of the lawsuit Pacaso has filed against the city, which has said the company violates regulations on timeshares. Currently, two Pacaso houses are in operation within St. Helena, to the continuing dismay of neighbors. Another has been having showings to prospective buyers, while yet another house is in limbo.
The Kearney Street sale shows that local activism works, even when you’re just the resident David against a big, intrusive Goliath.
NOPE (Neighborhoods Opposing Pacaso Encroachment)