Safeway Stores, Inc. v. City of Burlingame

We have here two appeals, one by the plaintiff in the case of Safeway Stores, Inc. v. City of Burlingame and the other by the defendant in Gray v. City of Burlingame. For the purpose of convenience of court and counsel the two cases were consolidated at the trial with a third ease from which no appeal has been taken and the appeals are consolidated and being heard on the records as made below. In the first case the main question at issue is whether the property of Safeway should or should not be included in a proposed parking district and in the second case the issue is the validity of the resolution and ordinances creating the district.

The advent of the automobile on the American scene less than 60 years ago followed years later by supermarkets has wrought over the years a tremendous change in shopping practices for the public and the retailers. Today the old-time grocery with its hitching posts on the street in front is gone, and the retailers who were not forehanded enough to anticipate the change have suffered in sales and profits in not having provided parking space for automobiles. To meet the need the Legislature enacted the Parking District Law of 1951. (Sts. & Hy. Code,…