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CALL TO ORDER

 

The Chair called the meeting to order at 5:07 P.M.

 

ROLL CALL

 

Executive Director Robert Davis called the Roll. 

 

Present at the meeting were Commissioners John Newlin, Audrey Joseph, Justin Roja, Terrance Alan.

 

Absent at the time of roll call were: Jim Meko.

 

Chair Joseph stated she would have to leave the meeting early due to a prior commitment that she could not change.

 

1. Public Comment

 

Members of the public may address the Commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Commission.  With respect to agenda items, members of the public may address the Commission for up to three minutes at the time such item is called.

 

Frank Therre a resident in the North Beach area stated he was at a neighborhood committee meeting at City Hall and there were two points on the agenda that involved the Entertainment Commission and some of the public comments were concerns of a lack of transparency and a lack of accountability.  He requested a document to state what members of the commission have been involved with consulting projects with clubs in the past and would like to see how the members voted on the permit applications to shed some light on how the permits have been given out in the past.

 

Mark Rennie stated this morning there was a radio program on KQED and he had a chance to look over the 1999 and 2000 San Francisco Grand Jury Report which was one of impetus for the creation of the of the Entertainment Commission.  He added it was clearly and effort or feeling in the community that they should go back to the old permitting ways and get rid of the Entertainment Commission.   He added after spending a year and half on the Civil Grand Jury came to the conclusion that recent police actions to suspend or revoke club permits were part based upon incidents that were not fairly attributable to club management.  He added in the 1990’s the police had decided that club violence was out of control and it was something that had to be stopped and they went after several clubs and the Civil Grand Jury looked at the police reports and came to the conclusion that many of the incidents could not be attributable to the clubs.   He added their second conclusion was the conditions for clubs to meet for the permit should be standardize and specified in the police code as with the conditions imposed on applicants for street use permits and applicants and permit holders should be treated equally through out the permit process.   

 

Robert Garcia with Save Our Streets stated there was a 5 year moratorium on extended hour’s permits and they were called Cabaret permits at that time and it helped their neighborhoods.  He added the reason they needed them was because they were getting too many permits and there were after-hour clubs springing up all over their neighborhood.  He added it stated happening again and they asked for an extension on the five year moratorium and they would not do it.   He added now their neighborhood was saturated again and it was out of control.  He added there were people that were using restaurants and turning them into clubs and there were no restaurants left in the neighborhood and they did not need extended hours.

 

David Overdorf stated he lived in the lower Nob Hill Neighborhood which is a RC4 zoning district conditional use authorization for some operations as for entertainment it was permitted as a right.  He added the Entertainment Commission has been lobbying for some changes in the Police Code and he respectfully asked all of them to consider that the RC for zoning district has about 100,000 residents.  He added San Francisco was a unique place because historically there has been great harmony between the business community and the residential community and it was important that they continue that tradition. The Broadway, Embarcadero Tenderloin and the Nob Hill neighborhood has been a challenging balance and they have survived them up until now.  He added he would respectfully admit the advocated changes by Commissioner Alan and Commissioner Joseph to change the police code was insufficient because they have not taken into account the zoning as it exist.   He added they owed it to the citizens of San Francisco every time they reviewed an application to already have a ruling by the Department of Building Inspection, The Small Business Administration and the ruling from the Fire Department and the ruling from the Police Department and to incorporate the needs and concerns of the residents.   He added one of the reasons he moved to San Francisco was for the vibrant nightlife but all of that was threatened when you had a few shabby operators.

 

Public comment closed.

 

Commissioner Alan suggested alter the order of business so that they can call the items that need a quorum.

 

Chair Roja stated item No. 8 Hearing and Possible Action regarding applications for permits under the jurisdiction of the entertainment commission for the `King of Thai Noodles, 55 5th Street, Place of Entertainment, Volar Music Land, 626 Clement Street, Place of Entertainment and VIA, 449 Powell Street, Place of Entertainment/Extended Hours Premises would be continued to the September 1, 2009 meeting.

 

2. Review and Approve the minutes of June 2, 2009, June 16, 2009 & July 21, 2009

 

Public Comment

No public comment.

 

Commissioner Joseph moved to sever the minutes of June 2, 2009 & June 16, 2009

and July 21, 2009 Commissioner Alan second the motion

VOTE:

AYES - Commissioner Newlin, Commissioner Roja, Commissioner Joseph and Commissioner Alan

NOES - None

Absent - None

 

Public Comment

No public comment.

 

Commissioner Joseph moved to approve the minutes of June 2, 2009 & June 16, 2009

Commissioner Newlin second the motion

 

VOTE:

 

AYES - Commissioner Roja, Commissioner Joseph Commissioner Alan and Commissioner Newlin

NOES - None

Absent - None

 

3. Report from Commissioner Joseph on the status of legislation amendments to 1060 and 1070 before the Board of Supervisors.

 

Commissioner Joseph stated the legislation for 1060 and 1070 appeared before City operations and Neighborhood Services committee of the Board of Supervisor two weeks ago and she believed the public did not necessarily understand the legislation.  She added the best way to do that was to tell how it was now and how it will change with the proposed legislation.   The way the legislation was now is the Entertainment Commission has no citation power if someone violates the permit or noise ordinance or one of the conditions of the permit.  She added Sound Technician Vajra Granelli will call for the police to come and issue a citation and has waited up to two hours for a police car to arrive to issue the citation.  She added a noise violation was not high on the priority of the police because they had violent crimes to deal with and often did not get a police car to respond.  She added   the way it is now in order to suspend a permit when enough evidence has been brought forth and presented they must notice the venue for 30 days.  She added they had to follow due process requirements of the state of California and the Federal government and they had no right to suspend people’s rights to do process.  She added once they notice them the Commission holds a hearing and both sides present a case the permit holder has a right to a defense and they often defend.  She added if they decide to suspend a permit it does not closed down the business it stops the entertainment music can still be played if an employee or an owner decides to put a CD into a player.  Alcohol could still be served and the hours of operations so not change, entertainment stops.  She added the Entertainment Commission issues Place of Entertainment, Extended hours permits, Loudspeaker permits and did not tell them that they can or cannot operate.  She added the new legislation would give the Commission the ability to issue an administrative ticket through the Executive Director one of the permit officers can go out and issue a ticked on the spot for a sound violation or violations of the conditions of their permit.  She added the Commission through the Director would also have the power of emergency suspension for 72 hours as a cooling off period and the ability to call a suspension hearing for up to one week that is appealable and could be stayed accept in the case of a violent act that may be deemed unsafe for the public.   She added the new legislation offered a 15% cap on fixed place extended hour permits throughout the city.   She added if the Commission had 100 extended hours’ permits through out the city now and next year they would be able to distribute only 15 additional new permits.  Minim security requirements for all clubs as written in the code as it is now would be strictly enforced and the police would weigh in on all of the security plans.   She added obviously the legislation provides the Commission with better tools to help the citizens who are complaining about the night clubs.   She added the legislation has been continued until the new Police Chief has a chance to review it.

 

Commissioner Alan suggested that it would be helpful to post the explanation on the legislation on the Entertainment Commission website. 

 

Public Comment

 

Captain Jim Dudley clarified a couple of points regarding Commissioner Joseph’s comments including citation power.  He added they always had a dedicated force of officers on Broadway and the Grant Avenue Corridor and elsewhere in their district and to his knowledge they have never been called and refused to respond or took over two hours to show up.  He added Executive Director Robert and Vajra Granelli both have numbers to the Lieutenants desk and it was priority for them.   He added the new legislation that sits now was one of several iterations of the legislation that can easily be confused and the first legislation that was attempted and failed all the way until now.   He added when you talk about how frustrating the shell grant language was the legislation sits open now and if you were making changes he recommends that they pull the shell grant clean it up and make it useable.   He added if all of it was open for change why not change the parts that would make it easier for the Commission to handle.  He added he heard the frustrations from the community and the people making the complaints and he thought when a conditional permit is granted a lot of the neighbors felt left out of the loop.  He added on the face as the code reads if there was another city agency objecting and there were open fire code and planning code violations they have seen unconditional use given and have seen problems go uncorrected and not withdrawn later and with no opportunity for the  community to voice their opinion or displeasure.

 

Chair Joseph stated she appreciated his comments and he was correct about Central Police station but other stations they did not have the task force he had on Broadway.    She added and his district had always been responsive.  She added the suspension power it was important to have the cooling down process that the Director has the suspension power if anything violent happened on a Friday night they could suspend the venue immediately.  She added the Shell Grant has been taken to Federal Court many times in the past and it was a free speech issue and in many ways a by right process.  She added if they changed it she was sure there would be a dozen attorneys running to Federal Court to challenge it.   She added virtual business in the business community today a space to build out a club they usually had contingencies.    She added a conditional grant was not a permit it was conditional and they were not allowed to operate on a conditional grant and had to operate when they got a full fledge permit.    

 

Public Comment

 

David Overdorf stated the residents and the taxpayers have been consistently left out on the negotiations on the legislation.   He added they had to be properly informed to make judgments.   He added let’s figure out what needs to be done  and bring the stakeholders to the table and make sure they are making legislation that was not going to benefit a single industry for late night entertainment but everyone.   He added they did not want it to be Walnut Creek but a vibrant city for all industries. 

 

Robert Garcia stated the Hawthorne Group posted and was ordered by the Sunshine Group to repost for 10 days.  He added they waited until last Friday to post and should have been posted for 10 days.   He added there is a rule that you could not protest within 5 days of the hearing so that cuts it to five days.    He added the legislation has been worked on for 18 months and they have not gotten it right he added it was dead and have the decency to burry it.

 

Public comment closed.

 

4. Report from the Executive Director. Neighborhood issues in North Beach and SOMA, Kenny Chesney concert at AT&T Pac Bell Park. Vajra Granelli report on recent venue sound inspections and report of activities by staff. 

 

Executive Director Robert Davis stated there has been a spike in the number of acts of violence or fights weapon seized in and around the Broadway Corridor both 15^th of August there were two incidents fights and battery of a police officer on the 16^th there were four incidents one of a gun call and a concealed weapon and public drunkenness and there has been a spike of violence in the North Beach area.  He added the 6^th of October a suspension hearing would be held and will need Commissioner’s to be present.  He added the Holy Cow and ICON were involved in an incident and Vajra would elaborate on the details.   He added the Kenny Chesney concert was a anomaly and they got some comments and on the following Monday and Tuesday there were comments from the Haight and Castro and along on King Street that there were noise issues and would come back to the commission to talk about the anomaly’s and what they could do differently.  

Vajra Granelli’s reported the following.

 

Kenny Chesney Concert – The focused on Potrero Hill because they traditionally got complaints from that area.   He added they had not previously gotten complaints from the areas mentioned in Executive Directors Davis report.   He added he has been consulting other sound engineers in the city to get an idea of what was possible.   He added August was generally one of the worst months for club violence citywide.

 

Impala Night Club In the last two weeks there has been continued violence that he has been working with Central Police Station on but the problems have continued.

 

The Cellar There was a stabbing and the police report was pending. 

 

383 Bay There was a fight at the venue.

 

Holy Cow two incidents of violence resulted in an injury and an arrest.

 

Cigar Bar There has been no real change on their end with the venue on controlling their sound. 

 

ICON Another large incident this weekend he witness there were club violations and ABC violations.

 

El Rincon Sound has improved and is more under control but was back to club protocol, security protocol and controlling the patrons. He is working with the venue on those issues.

 

Boss Night Club - July 25^th there was an incident where security was hurt escorting someone outside and they came back for revenge and the security guard was sent to the hospital.

 

447 Broadway - August 15^th there was a fight that spilled out on to the street between two girls over a stripper pole.   He added there was someone who was taken with the possession of narcotics from the crowd.

 

Broadway Area person was groped and arrested. August 16, 2009 car vandalism held for possession of a firearm which turned out to be a beebee gun person was released and police responded quickly.  On August 16, 2009 on Stockton Street moving away from a club in the procession of brass knuckles he was arrested and the weapon was confiscated. 

 

Dirty Martini Fight between security and a patron person was asked to leave.

 

Public Comment

No public comment.

 

5. Review and possible action to review and change the conditions of the Place of Entertainment permit for Cigar Bar & Grill located at 850 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA. 94133.  [Action Item]

 

Executive Director Davis stated the item was before the Commission about a year and a half ago for noise complaints.  Discussions have been made with Officer Gaines about changing some of their conditions and hearing from the applicants on what their plans were for enclosing the patio and what steps would be taken to secure the noise.

 

Matt Kahn one of the owners of the Cigar Bar stated their plans were to enclose the courtyard of the Cigar Bar in glass.   He added they tried to do it a year ago but the building changed hands and they had to get approval from the new owner of the building. He added they have spent $30,000.00 dollars on sound reducing shutters and they completed $16,000 worth of a solution that is sprayed on the ceiling to dampen the noise which was recently finished, they have changed their hours of operation their bands to play an hour earlier and hoping to get the glass done in about four months.

 

Commissioner Roja asked if there were signs in the courtyard area reminding patrons to be respectable of residents in the area.

 

Matt Kahn stated they did not have signs but would be happy to put some in the area.

 

Commissioner Alan asked did the applicant have any amplified sound in the exterior patio and what were the hours of operation on the exterior patio as well as the use of the exterior patio.  He added what was the capacity set by the Fire Marshall and were there security guards posted in the area.

 

Matt Kahn stated he did not know the capacity set by the fire Marshalls and they had two security guards posted.

Captain James Dudley stated Central Police station had not received complaints on the Cigar Bar and they were not the originating complainant on the location.

 

Public comment

 

Frank stated he was not affiliated with the Cigar Bar but was puzzled because he never had an issue with the Cigar Bar and it was one of the few decent clubs and he was surprised they were going through the elaborate process when there were three nightclubs around the corner that had issues of violence and noise and wonder why their venue was getting so much scrutiny.

 

Officer Scott Gaines stated he met with the people across the street and it’s a commercial area.  He added the Cigar Bar was up in operation prior to the residential area across the street which is where the complaints were coming from. 

 

Chair Joseph stated the applicants obviously have spent a lot of money and have hired Salter & Associates and was not sure what action to take and the Captain had not received any complaints at his station. 

 

Officer Scott Gaines clarified the complaints did come from residents in the neighborhood to the station.

 

Chair Joseph stated they should be allowed to continue their sound proofing and call them back in for a review and in the meantime have them to communicate with Sound Technician Vajra Granelli and have him go out and do sound test on a regular basis as their installation moved forward.

 

Commissioner Alan proposed that the patio be closed until the sound work is completed and when it’s tested it’s opened.   He added they have heard for four months about noise complaints from the Cigar Bar and if it was a couple of months away it would motivate the applicants to get it done faster.

 

Chair Joseph moved to approve the applicant move forward with their work and communicate on a regular basis with the Sound Technician Vajra Granelli and bring them back in 8 to 10 weeks for a review. Commissioner Newlin second the motion.

 

AYES - Commissioner Roja, Commissioner Joseph and Commissioner Newlin

NOES – Commissioner Alan

Absent – None

 

Motion Fails.

 

Commissioner Alan stated they have gone through the entire process to bring them before the Commission and he did not want the complainants who have  called staff and the police department for months to feel like they were given another two months that they would have to put up with the noise.   He added if they could come up with something creative to help reduce the noise and if it was simply voices it could be done by reducing the capacity of the patio. 

 

Commissioner Alan suggested the following motion, the applicants be enabled to proceed with their construction, report back to the commission on completion for a sound test or within 8 weeks for an update and during the time and prior to the restrictions being lifted the occupancy of the smoking patio be limited to 12 person.

 

Sound Technician Vajra Granelli stated he agreed with Commissioner Alan that they did not know what the limit were allowed on the patio but from his personal experience it was jammed with people and what ever the limit was it they were way over it.  He added the doors leading into the terrace were left opened and should be kept closed and security guards on duty need to do their jobs of engaging the patrons.  He added the tools to make the conditions work until the construction was done to get some traction as far the neighborhood they just need to be employed.  He added those three actions alone they would see a reduction in sound.

 

Chair Joseph seconds the motion with a friendly amendment to keep the doors closed and have the security do their job.

 

Commissioner Alan suggested that security engage the patrons so that their voices are kept down and their behavior is moderated so the net affect of their presence in the smoking patio is at a minimum and keep the doors closed.

 

Commissioner Alan moved to approve during the time that the Cigar Bar is engaged in the closure of their patio the outdoor patio be limited to no more than 25 patrons security be engaged to moderate behavior such as the sound volume is at a minimum and that the doors are closed at all times except when patrons are coming and going and that they complete the construction within 8 weeks or at the 8 week period give the Commission demonstration of the construction is being completed to make the sound check or that they give the Commission a written progress at the end of the 8 week period so the Commission could give a progress report.  Commissioner Newlin second the motion.

 

Commissioner Newlin offered a friendly amendment the applicant would have the authority to come back to the Commission during the time of the 8 week period and ask for a review of the patio based on the recommendation of staff and Central Police station.

 

Commissioner Alan accepted the friendly amendment.

 

AYES - Commissioner Joseph, Commissioner Alan Commissioner Newlin and Commissioner Roja

NOES - None

Absent t- None

 

The meeting was adjourned early due to lack of a quorum.

 

Adjourned at 6:32 P.M.