Welch

Defendant, Robert Bodeman, the Director of Finance of the City of San Bruno, appeals from a judgment which granted plaintiff, Joseph Welch, a peremptory writ of mandate commanding defendant to process plaintiff’s application for a business license under section 7-1 of the San Bruno City Code as it read on January 29, 1982. The judgment also mandated the City of San Bruno “to provide the process embodied in the former Section 7-1.”

This action was commenced on May 14, 1982, when plaintiff filed a verified mandamus petition against a single defendant: Robert Bodeman, the Director of Finance of the City of San Bruno (hereafter Director of Fi *835 nance). The petition failed to name, as a party defendant, either the city itself, the city council, the city planning commission or any other employee or agent of the city. Reduced to its essence, the petition alleged that, in 1981, plaintiff owned certain real property which was located within the City of San Bruno and which was zoned in such a manner that under the city zoning ordinance then in effect, plaintiff was entitled to operate a video game center on the property “as an allowed use without a Use Permit.” Plaintiff…