San Francisco officials decided Wednesday to keep open a lot that has been used to sell Christmas trees during the holidays for the past 40 years. The five-member Board of Appeals unanimously voted to turn down resident Monio Pilpel's appeal of city permits that allow Cyril Hackett and his family to sell trees at the corner of Sloat Boulevard and 19th Avenue before Christmas. Hackett's popular lot is also transformed into a pumpkin patch around Halloween. The case drew an emotional standing-room crowd to City Hall, with most supporting Hackett's claim that the lot is a city "tradition." Hackett will...