>> so congratulations. >> and i, i echo congratulationss for sure. [ applause ] >> well, thank you, but it is not about me tonight it is about the nikko permit. and i think that the applicants and they have been a pretty good and they have done the out reach and there is also the alliance that they can attend that meeting there and also further out reach but i think that it is going to be a plus for the area. thank you any way for the round of applause and thank you. >> thank you very much. >> all right, the floor is open to public comment. nikko hotel? >> hi, my name is michael nolty, overhead. >> comments? >> yeah. well. just have to make sure that you read it. >> just wanted to... we are inviting the hotel nikko as

well as the other permit that we obviously already got permitted. >> and geary street. but you know, we like to have the applicants come to our meetings before they get their permits because it just helps them understand what community out reach is about and they probably can mitigate any problems if there is any beforehand and it would be a lot easier for the hearings because obviously there will be support or, so, you know, we are neutral until we actually hear a full presentation of the organization because that is where we have to stand. but, you know, we do understand that the hotel nikko has been a solid, or establishment, in the union square, area for some time. and we were glad to see it join the union square bid, because there was, i was the former board member on the north of

market community benefit district and it did not want to join us, and when the union square bid finally regot its boundaries larger, it joined so that there was no, zone that was not being covered for cleaning, and safety, and all of that. so, you know, those are the kinds of things that we would like to see happen in the community where the neighborhood has added security and all of that and it was great to see that block including the nikko make a stance and not just be in an island all by itself. i do live in the neighborhood and they are patrolling around their neighbor, as as a matter of fact that just makes, you know, that knowing that that block is usually being secured

which i just really appreciate seeing is that they are in suits, so you don't know that they are really security, but there they are, if i knew their names i would give them awards. >> is there any other public comment? >> good evening, commissioners. my name is karen and i am the executive director with the union square dib and our mission and we are in support of the hotel renewing their permit and extending their hours the dib commission is to promote cleanliness and safety. and we cover, 27 blocks in the area, and we pay for the additional property owners in

the 27 blocks and including the nikko and hotels and the retailers pay for the security and safety and cleaning in the area. we hire the officer who works until 11 p.m. in the evenings and certainly out reach to us the bid about the finstiens opening and we promoted it in the weekly newsletter and we have a reach of 1,000 people in our districts and so the people in our district are aware and are excited about them opening. so, we certainly support finestiens and we had the opportunity to meet who is here tonight and they showed me the security operation and very professional run operation cameras on every exit and entrance and this professional staff and so we are really impressed with the full operation and so you know that i think that it will bring vibrantcy to the district and keeping in mind the safety and concerns in the area. >> we promote and would support the renewal of this permit. >> thank you very much.

>> good evening commissioners, my name is kevin and i am the executive director of the hotel council and the board member on the bid and we are fully supportive of the hotel nikko and their applications for the permit tonight. the hotel has been in business for over 25 years and just celebrated the 25th anniversary and they are a responsible organization that works in the community with the police department and with the hotel community itself. i think that one of the things that i want to believe you with is they also step out and work as far as the industry as well and so they are general manager has worked on city wide programs including being a president of the hotel council of san francisco to make sure that it is a difference not just for the hotel but outside of the hotel. she also serves to the board of directors of the san francisco travel association. our organization represents 72 different hotels. and this march, we met and we did what we call the hotel

heroes award which recognizes, our industry and our employees. and the hotel nikko was chosen out of 72 hotels as the hotel to win the community spirit award. and she mentioned some of the things that they have done and she is out there working and reaching out in the community. >> and i want to be sure that you were aware that have as well >> the visitors spent twice as much money outside of the hotel and that is night clubs, and restaurants and taxis and having a club that is inside of the hotel benefits not just the hotel but also the community around it, but we fully support this and thank you for your attention to it and we hope that you approve these permits in front of you. >> thank you. >> seeing no further public comment, public comment is closed. >> i just want to inform you all that a bunch of my friends got together some years ago.

and threw me a surprise 50th birthday party at the hotel. i do not think that that would effect how it is that i vote, however. >> i have something to say to that too. i used to throw parties at the nikko, new year's eve party and we are talking about 20 years. >> when you were young, right? >> when i was a kid and so it has been a long time. >> having said that, i would like to entertain a motion. >> i would like to move that we approve this application. >> and we have a motion? >> a second? >> and a motion and a second. any further discussion? >> follow the question. >> okay, the motion to approve this permit. the commissioner tan? >> aye. >> lee. >> aye. >> joseph. >> aye. >> hyde. >> aye. >> perez. >> aye. >> akers. >> aye. >> okay. >> all right. you got it. >> all right, good luck.

my next 5th birthday party, absolutely. >> congratulations. >> item number 6 g. we are almost there, commissioners. >> galen abbot doing business as sunset sound and stomp y and club cocomo this is for a loud speaker permit for may 26,. >> there are two of them. >> okay. >> go for it yami. >> okay, i know that we will have to separate this out, but just for to be quick. and it is not, it is customary for them the application to be processed by staff but because there has been a history of sound complaints they thought that it would be appropriate for the commission to consider these two. one is for may 26th and this is from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. and the other one is september 1, from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. also and we

did receive the letters from the permit officer at bay view station opposing these permits and i have included those in the binder. >> what days of the week is that? >> they are both holidays, i believe that one is memorial day and one is labor day? . >> sundays. >> oh, they are the sunday before the holiday. >> you are up, guys. >> okay. >> just to keep things, going faster. i submitted basically a document that was supposed to be handed to the commission as rather than going through everything, the only thing that i need to add to that is a documented the recent out reach efforts that we have done in the neighborhood and the reason that i did not do that with that document is that we just had another out reach meeting last thursday evening. and that complete packet was delivered to officer robinson at the bay view station on friday. i am not sure if she sent

copies to you, i don't have copies to go around but i have a couple of copies. >> we basically what is in that, is that the past we have already had a few, you know, noise-related issues, at cocomo. but we have never had complaints come directly to us they were always made to either the bay view station or to the entertainment commission and due to confidentiality reasons, both the entities and one is able to let us know exactly who made the complaints so that we can reach out directly. in the past what we have done is posted notices on the two particular buildings that are close to us. 601 minnesota street and 701 minnesota street. and with the detailed information of the residents who contact us directly if you know they have any issues or noise or other s. >> nobody seems to respond back directly to us. and so, we went a couple of steps further, in the last on

april 13th and then, again, last week, last thursday, we actually invited neighbors to come to cocomo to basically talk to them, and open forum so that they could express their issues. these were imitations that were posted on the buildings as well as thanks to recent on-line blogs and forums and especially next door, which has a lot of responses going back and forth. we posted on next door as well as the dog patch neighborhood association's website creating specific events with the invitations on it. the first meeting had one attendee from 601 minnesota and did not site the sound as an issue and he wanted to be sure that we knew what we were doing and as long as we kept the noise under control he did not have an issue. the second meeting had no one attend, but two, residents, who just happened to pass by and

saw the gates open came by and they happened to actually, have attended some of the sunset parties, that some of their boat party and they were actually glad to know that you know, hey that there is going to be parties and similar events in the summer and going to attend. and so nobody has and in all of our out reach efforts nobody has directly let us know that noise has been an issue to them especially at this. this is our last year at the current venue, our building got sold last year and had an option to buy but given the neighborhood changes we decided that it is better to move and we are in the process of doing that, but this is our last summer in this neighborhood.

>> we looking at hosting in the summer as well. altogether, there are two applications for the two weekend parties but there will also be, or we will be applying for four second sundays starting in june, june through august. >> through september, sorry. >> i have a question. so, i am reading the memo. sent to us, by officer bernedette robinson and she have says, that looking at the printed document it appears that the notices were posted the day prior to the meeting. is that true. >> no, we posted notices before, and then, you know, these notices are posted and these buildings are residential buildings that have one main entrance on the outside and so we don't have access to get into the individual apartments so we posted on the doors itself. we kind of put tape on them.

and... >> when did you post them? how many days prior to the meetings? >> we posted them five days prior and then we would go back to check if the notices are still up so we continue to if they have gone out and there were several that have been taken down or gone away or whatever. they put them up as well. and not only did we post physical notices we also put the events created events on-line on blogs that we know have a lot of traction and there are copies of those. >> let me ask you another question. this report also says that last year, you had agreed to do out reach and provide bay view station with copies of notifications from any or any information of feedback from this out reach. that was last year. and then they said, you didn't do it until april 18th. >> so even if last year was december? that would still be like three and a half months before you

actually attempted to do any neighborhood out reach. >> is that true? >> to a certain extent. we did the out reach, but our methods were not strong enough. we posted notices asking neighbors who had any issues regardless of sound or listering or violence to get in touch with us. if there was, you know if there were any concerns, but nobody contacted us and i enformed that to officer robinson. we had food and beverages traifl and we communicated that to the neighborhood and we had two of them and nobody really showed up. >> so, the cad reports the sound complaint and i want to give you a couple of the dates just so that you know when the police got the sound complaints.

this saul 2013 and today is may. and this is january first and january first, and january 12th and january 13th and 25th, 31st, february 10, 11, 16, 17, 17, 18, and i can go on. i mean that there are a ton and you did not know about any of this? >> no that is kind of one of the points that i am trying to make is that we have done the out reach to tell people to contact us directly. nobody has. we have had in the past, of having a couple of neighbor whose have basically informed us that they just wanted out not to have our business in the operating where we are. and so, sometimes there are calls that are made that i don't just, in order to create a problem, as well, so it is really hard to isolate which ones are actual noise complaints and which ones are not and that is why we wanted to reach out to the neighbors

for us to talk to them. i mean, sort of, >> how long have you been there? >> 15 years >> 15 years. have you been making noise for 15 years. and no way that you guys could have done some kind of sound proofing. >> it is not we have not tried or we just don't care. at certain times in some of the events and especially in the past when we right now we host predominantly live music events. i mean honestly from the one neighbor that actually turned up and he lives in 601, minnesota he clearly saw these guys are here in the out reach meeting as well and he said that in the last 6 to 8 months that noise has not been an issue to him and this is a physical person that talks to us directly to told us that. >> i am glad that it was a physical person as opposed to a

virtual person. >> not like a e-mail or a post on-line, it was an actual person. >> so i understand that your problem is also problem for your neighbors. and it is a problem for the police? and it is a problem for us. and we have been sweating you out for years cocomo, this is just tiring at this point. i mean, just so that you know that. and i am going to... commissioner hyde? >> i just wanted to see where the thinking was since you are by the dog patch. why didn't you go to organized meetings with community members and business organizations why did you decide to have your own? if you already have these meetings where people are going to be, why didn't you go to them? and after you answer that, i would like to know several of the examples of how you have tried to sound proof your place. >> okay. >> we did go to, after we figured out it it is not

working and posting the notices and expecting people to call us and it didn't work. we did go to the dog patch association meetings and those are all business members and they are supportive of whatever we have. we have it in the diagnose patch as well. they meet every odd month, the second tuesday of every odd month and so they were not meeting in april they are meeting next tuesday and we will be attending that. >> how long do you plan to have these parties >> well, these go, the sunset parties. >> yeah. >> yeah, i have been doing events in san francisco, around sunset for 19 years and primarily, outdoor events. and we have worked with the commission for many years and all of our events and we were at them were very attentative of neighbors and people that are in the area whether we are in a park or they are in a venue or not. and during our events, i am out there with sound meters and turning to the patio sound which is what we are

applyinging for. >> so you have known for a while that you are going to be possibly doing these events again and if it was on every other odd month you have known for long enough. >> it is only holidays. >> to that out reach. on the every other odd month for, you have known that you could have done that out reach, so to say that you are here trying to get this permit and you are going to do the out reach in a couple of weeks. you have known long enough that you could have hit one of those meetings before coming here. >> i personally do not because i am not affiliated with the venue. >> i am not asking you. >> so i am just speaking for our events and how attentative we are and high interaction with the neighbors and how i do see the neighbors seem to over react a little bit at the sound because we walk around the neighborhood and we really try to be a community event and we are only on the holidays and this is during the daytime of a

three-day weekend. >> so, i can't speak exactly for the venue. that goes on a weekly basis but i do know for our event that we are extremely attentative to the sounds that we bring in our own sound and we try to keep it directional and curtailed for those days. >> can you tell me what you go around the neighborhood, what is the db that you read? >> it depends on where you want to be. >> tell me. i mean when you go around the neighborhood? >> the furest point? >> wherever you go, give me an example. >> if i go a block away it could be 40 decibels. >> if i go across the street it could be 60, or 70. >> do you go up? >> ever? >> up where? >> do you go up high on a level above the ground? to check the dbs? >> no. i don't. >> i can answer that question because we do this constantly around the neighborhood. our neighborhood where we are, there is a map included in that

memo, it is in our area designated this is not just by our readings but by the department of public health and it reads about well over 70 decibels because it is right next to the 280 freeway. the ambient noise right outside of the club reads 80 decibels. >> what time of day? >> any time of the day. >> 4:00 in the morning there is no freeway that is that loud. >> right. but when cars go by, it comes, but when we operate, we have read, and the ambient noise on minnesota street, to somewhere around 70, 75 decibels around midnight, 1:00 at that time. now, yeah, and that is i know that we read that and i know that was pretty loud and i have taken to myself. >> it has been an ongoing

process. the building itself it is one of the metal corrugated insulations most of the buildings and the stage area and the ceiling and a lot of the building was already insulated when the building was put in to use. however, we identified and noticed a lot of places where there was like a big curtain but behind it there was no insulation maybe. so a lot of those have been, pretty much every space that is exposed has been insulated for sound. as much as we can do it. >> you know, the ones that we can reach. and on top of that, we have also invested a lot in our equipment itself. rather than putting massive speakers, we have invested a lot in like the new sound limiters and just to get cleaner sound without having to blast the volume. >> one thing to note is that especially from that one neighborhood that we talked to and we said just around ten you

could hear a little bit of noise coming through and that corresponds directly the time when the bands first start and that is due to some of the, especially the base guitarist. and they bring their own bass amp and that is beyond that control and as soon as the first set, you know is tweaked out by the sound engineers and things settle down. >> so you don't do sound checks for your bands? >> on a weekly basis, the bands play on a weekly basis. >> so you have a chance to tweak them after they played and not before they played. >> it is correct. >> so then if those are their settings why do you have to retweet every time? >> it is their equipment on stage their individual amps and the piano and the base that

they use. that needs to be set. >> we don't control those. >> i get you. >> all right. >> i remember this permit coming up early, similar party, right in october, of last year. >> yes. >> was there any complaints that came from that party? >> no. >> did we kind of limit the types of equipment that you could use? >> yes, we are using... sorry. >> could i speak on that? >> okay. >> i'm noel daniels with second sunday prodaoutions, vag came in on october and i think that was the discussion ta we had, i think a week prior and the beginning of october. and he came in, and did the sound check, and right before we opened the doors at noon. and in which he went to 601 minnesota, and he could not hear the sound over there. and he went to 701 minnesota and he went the opposite direction and according to him the sound checked out good. and we did not have any sound complaints that day.

and i checked back, that week, that following week with joslin and we did not have any sound complaints and we also had a limiter that he set and he taped it and we made sure that it was taped the entire time. so with the diagram that i presented right now was the same set up as to what we did in october of last year and that is what we are proposing for this summer. >> i think that, you know, there are obviously problems with the venue and i am a little surprised because i feel like you are giving us the same speel in october about trying to sound proof your venue. if we did the right and if there were not any complaints and we did the right limitations on your sound at that time, i feel comfortable kind of continuing that same set up. i think that is separate from the issues that you have that could shut your party down altogether. >> right. >> right. >> and what you are focusing on

correct me if i am wrong commissioner tan. you want to focus on these outdoor permits solely and not on their club. >> right. >> i mean, there is a lot of cre dense to what you are saying and definitely i hope that for whatever reason you are still trying to go back to the venue that is problematic. but, the party itself, i think that it has been well run. and you know, we can only guess whether there is any complaints that day or not. and i think that we are trying to put the right measures in place so that those complaints don't happen. >> why don't you take a seat. >> yeah. >> so that we can talk about

this. >> come on up. and nice to see you. >> good afternoon, good evening. >> i am lieutenant lauren knight representing captain sullivan and the bay view station. and is this working okay? >> captain sullivan has asked that this permit be denied, both of these, and for the following reasons, and commissioner hyde has pointed out some of them. out reach, has been less than aggressive. can i say, and i appreciate that they did some, but they should have done more. and they had plenty of opportunity to do that. one of the things that is there are 11 news complaints since february and there have been 25 and just noise complaints in the last 6 months and 69 runs

means calls for service to that address. in the last six months. so, scratch just the noise complaints but all of the complaints and it is specific to that address. also, they have been cited by the entertainment commission, on the third of april, as well as the 8th of april. and on the 8th they were cited for a good neighbor policy and a news complaint and also, a permit violation. and on the third it was noise. we believe that they could have done more out reach. and maybe resolved this problem. and i think that they had ample opportunity to do that. there are complaints from october, i'm not exact on the dates that they had their events, but there were plenty of complaints in the month of october. so i think that they did reach out to the merchants association which is great and

it is always great to have their buy in as well. but they should have gone and attended a neighborhood association meeting or two. a lot of people go to the boosters meeting which is up on the hill but they are from the lower area there as well as the dog patch association meeting. they also have a sf safe neighborhood association meeting on minnesota street that they could have attended and these are things that in the future if they need that information, we would be happy to provide that to them. but they just need to let us know. but we would respectfully request that, you deny both of these requests for permits here. >> okay. questions for the police? >> okay, thank you so very much. >> i am opening the floor to public comment. and the speaker permit for sunset sound and the club