this notification that went out with the conditional use, they did get some comments from the neighborhood that were reflective of an opinion that something was going to change. that there was going to be an increase of intensity of use, there would be a new amplified sound system, that's not the case. it's an existing sound system. within the past year it's been modified and upgraded, working with c.m. salter, to make sure that there are no problems related to it but there is no increase in the sound output or in the activity. there was a request with the conditional use authorization for us to have live comedy shows earlier in the evening. which was approved. but that would be the only functional change that the comet club would really experience going back to probably the early 197s to. and it certainly won't become more of a problem, they're not changing their format or reaching out to a different

community. as i said, there is no history of police problems at this location. there have been very few complaints over the many years that mr. caponi has owned the place and he always responds to people directly. he's well liked in the community. officer gallagher, the permit officer in northern station, said that he is personally ok with 2:00 a.m. but that it is their policy to recommend 1:30 on all of these applications. so i hope that you will take that into consideration and allow comet club to continue operating as it always has. this is a really good neighborhood, little venue, it doesn't create a lot of commotion, it doesn't make a lot of noise. it's just a good place to hang out. there's a little tiny dance floor, that's not going to change. it's going to stay the same. we didn't include these in your

file, but i've got all these letters of support from the neighborhood historic association and all the businesses of the union street merchants' association and all the individual letters from the surrounding community. it's a well-liked place. and i don't think there's a cause for concern with these changes. as i said, the only people who made any comment to city planning were under the impression that somehow there was a major change in the operation being proposed. just to clarify on the building permit application, because i filed it, they were trying to document the office uses in the upper floors. and commissioner meko is exactly right in his statement of it that city planning included that the -- those other uses in the building should be properly documented before the conditional use is

implemented. that's all they're trying to do. thank you very much and i hope you'll approve the comet club for 2:00 a.m. use on friday and saturday and will not require us to come back before you to get thursday when city planning approves that in six months. thank you so much. president newlin: commissioners, questions? commissioner meko: mr. paul, just to confirm, this is an 80-occupancy place? >> i think it is less than 80. commissioner meko: the paperwork says 80. not a very big place. the conditions that are reced by the -- recommended by the northern station here, the first three, soundproofed, sound not audible outside and all doors and windows be kept closed, are already included in our good neighbor policies, so they would all automatically be imposed. the fourth -- no, number four as well, security at all times,

entertainment. number five is the change to -- no entertainment after 1:30. you object to that, correct? >> we would like to be able to continue until 2:00 a.m. commissioner meko: and how do you feel about number six, shall install surveillance cameras? >> the cameras are in. and have been in for some time. commissioner meko: ok. so your only objection would be number five? >> that's correct. commissioner meko: thanks. vice chair joseph: so, your security guard would be in-house? are they going to be lead trained? >> yes, they will. >> i have documenting. vice chair joseph: ok. and it says, what is your plan to protect patrons in case of an emergency? you say, the bartender or security guard will point out the exit. does the venue have an emergency fire alarm system?

or something that also light u.p.s. the exits? -- lights up the exits? >> yes, it does. vice chair joseph: on number anyone it says, what are your bag policies? bag checks and i.d. checks. overintoxicated people check. what does that mean? >> i can't really speak to what that means but i can speak to the nature of this particular venue and say that -- vice chair joseph: you have to speak to what's on the application. what does that mean? >> owner was going to address that issue. vice chair joseph: you can tell me what you mean by that? >> hi, my name is regan caponi. that means if somebody's coming in intoxicated, we will size the situation up and we will not allow him to enter. it could be problematic. vice chair joseph: thank you. that's the right answer. i appreciate it. thank you very much. president newlin: commission, he -- commissioners, any more

questions? commissioner roja: do we know why the police is request -- commissioner perez: do we know why the police are requesting no entertainment? president newlin: thank you very much. public comment? >> hi. my name is virgil skipton. i was a neighbor. i didn't know there was such a thing as this new good neighborhood policy. i'm surprised there hasn't been applied to my neighborhood. i live just like half a block up from the comet club. you know the neighborhood. and from thursday until sunday it's nothing but drunk kids running around and screaming until 3:00, 4:00 in the

morning. so when i heard about this change of the comet club, how it was put out in the neighborhood was that they were requesting -- they wanted to get a permit to do amplified live music and so my concern is that, you know, we just -- to me it's just more noise in the neighborhood and another magnet for that sort of drunken behavior that seems to be supported by the city, oddly, in that neighborhood. i walk by the comet club every day, i live in the neighborhood . the matrix doors are wide open, the comet club's doors are wide open. no one ever has doors close. you can hear music. it's blasting. the crowds are out of control. i'm just concerned so i thought

i'd show up. i'm sure there's not much i can do to stop any of this, but it's really getting difficult for the people who live in the neighborhood to put up with this. and i know there was an individual who came around when this first came up and was trying to get the neighbors involved and i'm surprised that none of them are here. that's all i have to say, i guess. so, the police officer at the north station has no problem until 2:00 but he doesn't live in the neighborhood, i'm sure. that's all i've got. thanks. president newlin: thank you. any other public comment? >> my name is city ofen and i came here as -- stefan and i came here as a friend to regularen caponey. he has a long history in the area. he also -- the area -- caponi.

he has a long history in the area. he's a good operator and his history proves that but in addition to that the area is conducive and the area is what it is. it has been for a long time. pertaining to his particular venue, it's not a problematic venue. i understand the concerns that the neighbor has and it's just something that we have to pay attention to. but i will support the 2:00 and if there are issues in the future or fear of issues in the future, then we can address those in the future. but i want to give him full support and think you should support the 2:00. thank you. president newlin: thank you. any other public comment? seeing none, commissioners, discussion? no? commissioner perez: i was wondering if maybe the staff can let us know why is the police department asking for a 1:30 restriction? >> commissioners, this is a

condition put on every single permit, application that goes through there their precinct. you've seen it ever single time. commissioner meko: a couple issues that have been raised. the general mayhem in the area, the fact that other clubs are operating with entertainment ongoing, with doors wide open. and that there's a lot of overflow, nuance with kids hanging around, causing general nuance as kids are. now, i represent the neighborhood so this is kind of a tough one. i don't want to close down any clubs, but if they're operating with entertainment present, with their doors open, call vaj. he'll write a citation. it will cost them money from now on. and that's always been the

case. any time entertainment is offered they have to have their doors and windows closed, every club must have their doors and windows closed. so this is not new. it's just that we have more teeth. with regard to stopping the entertainment at 1:30 or 2:00, that's kind of a minor issue. the club has got to be empty by 2:00 so if they're going to run their entertainment at full volume right up until 1:59 and 59 seconds, i think they're going to have a hard time getting people out the door, so i'm really not going to argue one way or another on that point. i would trust the wisdom of the planning commission, if they say they can operate entertainment until 2:00, that's fine with me. vice chair joseph: i move to approve. with 2:00. commissioner meko: second.

commissioner cavellini: aye. vice chair joseph: aye. commissioner meko: aye. commissioner perez: aye. president newlin: aye. thank you. good luck. >> can i request a clarification on that one? president newlin: a short one. >> that the condition applying to six-month -- in six month wes can request thursday night, will we come back to the entertainment commission for thursday night? or is that something that the planning commission -- president newlin: i got the sense from the commission that their intent is to provide you with the hours that you have now, right? >> right. president newlin: bha what is your current thursday schedule? >> well, the planning commission motion limited us until 12:30, i believe, was it

12:30, on thursday night. and in six months we're able to ask for an extension until 2:00 on thursday nights. i would simply suggest that the entertainment commission motion would follow the planning commission. vice chair joseph: you have to come back for an amendment, is that right? commissioner meko: condition of the conditional use, not the place of entertainment permit. vice chair joseph: so they have to come back for an amendment, don't they? president newlin: if we approve it. but you have to stand aside the conditional use permit. commissioner meko: we're accepting whatever it is. president newlin: unless you want to come back. vice chair joseph: come and visit. come and visit. president newlin: very good. thank you and good luck. >> good night, commissioners. president newlin: item 6-b.

miles, john, the fishbowl. mechanical music device. >> hang on. this is really a no-brainer. the applicant applies for a permit for one video game, the buck hunter, it's called. at this neighborhood bar on divisadero pine street. they're only until 2:00 a.m. seven days a week. there is no entertainment. they serve some light food. the planning department, i attached, what indicated this is a permitted use on the ground for only and if they want to add more buck hunters they have to go to the planning commission. so they're waiting for their electrical inspection. he response from richmond station, no objections from richmond station as long as the following situations are met. no gambling, no online

capability. i don't know what that means. not to be operated by minors during school hours and only the aforementioned game is to be installed. those are the recommended conditions from richmond station. what? and -- oh, this is wrong. my memo is wrong. sorry. staff recommendation is certainly to issue a conditional grant. but again i apologize, we got this recommendation really late in the day and wasn't able to call richmond to clarify what no online capability means. online gambling. i think mr. miles can tell you that you can play buck hunter with other people online at the same time in other bars. do you know this? i would love to play. but i want to clarify -- vice chair joseph: it's like a trivia game.

you can compete against other bars. >> i just wanted to bring it to your attention for discussion. i think just so we don't get out of order. why don't we ask mr. miles if he has anything to say and then we can go into that discussion. >> i've been in front of you guys for a lot more complex things. this is kind of an easy one. we have a video game and we need a permit. any questions, i'll entertain any questions. vice chair joseph: i want to make sure that i'm clear. you give your customers a con sole, you have screens up there and they play on the console onto the screen -- >> no, it's like a pac man. you go up, put the quarters in and just -- vice chair joseph: this he can play against people in ohio? >> typically people don't go up and play it. it's just a video game. vice chair joseph: but you intend to be online?

>> it's online, yeah. vice chair joseph: so what happens is if i score two million and they'll say, high score, second highest score is jones from ohio or something. >> yeah. vice chair joseph: that's what i thought. >> my name is kevin. i'm the partner of the fishbowl. with the computer games as they are now, they have a hard drive which certain pads or whatever and then there's also an online component which you can download moran mals. so we do do the online component because it has more diversification in terms what have our customers want to hunt. that's pretty much it. i don't know of anybody who is playing anybody in south dakota. it's just what we download. it's a new game that they can issue. president newlin: any other questions from the commission? ok. i hear a motion?

public comment? no? ok. vice chair joseph: if i could ask for clarification -- >> if i could ask for clarification. do you have to be online. so it would be helpful for staff if when the motion is made you address whether this is a condition you want to keep in the permit or not. president newlin: ok. thank you. >> i just wanted to give you guys the heads up. vice chair joseph: don't go there. president newlin: do we have a motion? vice chair joseph: i move to approve with the internet. this is 2010 going into 2011. president newlin: ok. do we have a second? commissioner cavellini: i'll second with the worldwide web.

commissioner cavellini: aye. vice chair joseph: aye. commissioner meko: aye. commissioner perez: aye. president newlin: aye. >> thank you. president newlin: good luck. item number seven. president newlin: aye. commissioner joseph: good luck the president newlin: i just had a question. what is the boundary? the cross street with richmond? they changed the boundaries. all right. item 7, police department comments and questions. >> good evening, commissioners and staff. i attended the halloween work shop and i thought they had a lot of good information there. i like the dialogue, the back

and forth. i look forward to working with them in the future for either best practices or other safety areas. as far as issues that have been going on in the district, a couple things they had mentioned. one is on october 10 at 424 clay street, the bar, this is kind of an example where you see one of the establishments really doing something good, responding appropriately. a guy went in there, ored three beers one at a time and they gave him the bill, the big bill of $12 and he got ire at and he wanted to get out and he threw, they said, a large metal fish. it's obviously heavy. at that point the manager and a customer held him down until the police came. so they acted appropriately. a lot of times when we're up

here we talk about what the clubs are doing bad but this is something they did right. and in front of the club on broadway, two people were stabbed. nonlife threatening. the victims whether -- were not exactly cooperating with the police. so they were released. i would like the super -- center fold, i would like to see them out in toronto -- front managing the crowds a little better. and aggravated force at post and grant. victim said he got into a verbal fight just after he left a night club. i don't have the name of the night club. i could speculate but i don't think that's appropriate. we're looking into that to see exactly what the name of the club was. october 17 at the parlor, 2801 leavenworth, a suspect, or actually one of the patrons, a

lady was dancing on the dance floor, somebody knocked into her. spilled her drink, and came back with a new drink and then she felt like it had been drugged so she was wondering when the person went to go get the drink that they put something m it. so they made a report on that. and the incident at 561 gary street as far as a female patron felt like somebody approximate had -- had put something in her drink as well. and at show girls a patron got into a verbal fight with the doorman. the doorman went inside and all of a sudden somebody came from the inside and got in a fight and weat -- beat him up. i don't know if there is any correlation between the doorman and this person. and the last is named powa. october 21, around 11:00. the impala security pointed out

a car that was going at a high rate of speed at broadway and kearney streets, blowing through all the red lights and almost running people down. security was able to point out the car and the officers were able santo go make the arrest. another example of one of the clubs stepping up and doing the right thing. that concludes. any questions? president newlin: any questions from the commission? no. thank you very much. have a good night. thank you. any public comment on the police? comments and questions? seeing none, item 8, commissioners' comments and questions. commissioners? none? ok. i just, a couple of things i have. i want to ask you if you haven't already done so to notify staff as to what your attendance anticipation is for the remainder of the year. i've decided along with staff to not schedule a meeting for

december 28, but i'd also like to know if we're going to have a quorum problem before that so thep don't go ahead and have to schedule stuff and then we have to cancel the meeting. secondly, i know we have a lot of passion on this commission, but i'd like the commissioners to be recognized before they start shouting out questions to the public. and lastly, every year we have to take the sunshine task force lesson plan and the first fibe minutes of that plan every year states that people don't have to state their name when they come to the podium. so, it's, it's not required. so just if we want to ask them, fine. but if they don't want to tell it or they forget to tell it, it's not a major issue. there's no violation there. and lastly new business requests for future agenda items? seeing none, we will call the

tuesday, october 26, at the same time commission meeting officially closed. thank you very much. >> thank you all very much for

taking the time to be here. as chief gascon promised, we're keeping you abreast of our changing crime statistics on a quarterly basis. of course, as you knew with the new model of policing, we do that more often and technology and data is really driving so much of our deployment and strategies in terms of crime fighting and crime prevention in our city. the good news is we were audacious in our goal setting earlier this year. we had some stretch goals. we raised the bar in terms of our expectation. we came into the year with among the lowest homicide rates we had seen in a generation. in fact, till the early 1960's, we had no seen homicide rates as low as they were last year. there were some that felt it was inappropriate to set the goal of continuing that trend downward in terms of the homicide rates in particular since lastior some had suggested was an anomaly.

we felt differently, not only in terms of the goal setting, but we felt that last year was an extension of a trend that we saw happening occurring in the middle part of 2008 and the summer of 2008. that trend continues now into the new year. while the statistics, you will see in the presentation the chief will provide very shortly, shows that homicide are up by one homicide, 3% the actual numbers today if they were adjusted show that homicides are down by 3%. the new numbers that we just brought in today actually shows them lower than last year. nonetheless and to the point, we are seeing part one crime continuing to decrease in the city. it was double digits last year and it's down as you'll see in a moment 9% this year. we're making progress. the work that the police department is doing in concert and partnership with the

district attorney's office continue to show very positive gains in terms of reduction in crime. the stats, as always, mean nothing to the people of this city. behind the stats are real human beings, real narratives and real lives. we recognize we can do more. we recognize we can do better. we recognize good enough never is. but i just want to compliment before i ask the chief to make the presentation and the district attorney, to complete our presentation and answer any questions, i want to compliment the men and women in uniform, the men and women of law enforcement in this city. i want to compliment the partnerships with the district attorney's office and the courts. we are making tremendous progress. we are seeing stats that we haven't seen in decades in san francisco. we're seeing a reduction in violent crime and property crimes, the likes of which we haven't seen in decades in this city and we're doing it longwindedly with this point. we're doing it with less resources, that money has not been our excuse. we're doing it with substantially less resources

than we have had in the last few decades. that, i think, is a remarkable testament to leadership and with that, let me give you leader of our police department, our police chief, george gascon. >> thank you, mr. mayor, and thank you everyone. as the mayor indicated, this is really about people working together. it's about the police department, the mayor's office, the district attorney's office, our chief probation office and her department who happens to be here and the community. certainly our federal partners. what we're going to do very quickly is walk you through a powerpoint that will illustrate what the numbers are. i think it's important as the mayor indicated, there are lives, there are real people behind the numbers. i think that is what we should be focusing on. while the numbers tell a story, the numbers really are meaningless unless we put the context to the numbers. the fact that there are less people being victimized in our city. as a matter of fact, we were looking at a study that was published a few m