[applause] i do not think there is any other municipality anywhere in this country that ever matched what we did in terms of trying to inspire women to become full participants in the pursuit of justice and equality. i'm just delighted, mr. may or, for you to present this award. to all of you will have been responsible, shelly, and others, i'm delighted. it's going to go on my wall. i'm going to prove to my daughter susan and to sonia that somebody thinks i'm a man of the year. [applause] [laughter] >> we have one more quick presentation before we do a couple of things. a couple of people mentioned

the past womens' summit. jackie is one of them. there are others here. if we could just ask you to stand up. we want to recognize you for the work you did and the history you created. thank you. [applause] >> we have something else for mayor brown. i'm having to present him the jet by night -- jdei knight award for all the years he's been working in the death star. you know all the things he has done to support us. we especially want to give him this award for being the first state legislator in the country

to find family planning for low- income women. in the 1970's, when he was on the national board of planned parenthood. i do not know if you know that, but i was there. we want to give him a weapon today to help us as a fundamentalists tried to take those rights away from us. mayer browor brown -- [laughter] [applause] >> may the force be with you. [laughter] they the force be with you and with us -- may the force be with you and with us. >> a jedi warrior.

now you know what was behind that mask darth vader was wearing. me. >> at this time, i want to acknowledge a couple of people outside of our committee.

>> welcome to "culture wire." i'm here with james lee, and exhibiting artist, and we will have a chat today about the body of work you are presenting. after you left the military, what prompted you to go back to a place where the u.s. is engaged in military action? >> it is interesting. the population of afghanistan is around 29 million, and there's probably no more than 80,000 u.s. soldiers serving in afghanistan right now, but if you look at the stories that come out, you think the numbers are completely reversed. all the stories are about americans, and you see almost no images of stories about the afghan people themselves, so if you look at the dominant representational paradigm uc

today, it is all about foreign soldiers. my idea was to try incurred counted to that a popularized narrative and focus on images and stories that really reflect that lived experience of conflict through the eyes of the afghan people. >> you are exhibiting with three other photographers. it is true all three of them have really focused in the areas where a lot of u.s. and allied forces are seeing action, are actually involved in combat, so your story is different than theirs. what does it mean to show your body of work along side of the stories that probably are more familiar? what kind of juxtaposition does that create for you as an artist? >> i think the strength of bringing the two different stories together is i think there is a real danger in focusing only on surface similarities between conflicts. when people look at a body of

work and say that they see in this conflict photography, and it reminds them of somalia or iraq, i think that is dangerous because i think there are very unique elements to each conflict, and if you do not focus on the distinctions, you start to create a broader, watered-down topic, which is armed conflict, so i think it is important that when we focus on conflict, we make sure we do not just generalize, but we allow specific places and voices and people to be heard and we do not make these generalized assumptions about what conflict is like. >> the other photographers in the show, what is local, and the others are from new york and new delhi. what do you like about some of their work? >> in a big fan of the fact that he approaches photography from a non-traditional point of view. he also cunner has a mixed view of cameras themselves. he calls them toys.

>> he uses these cameras that one might assume our toys, but he also says all the toy cameras are cameras, so it does not really matter to him what he is using to take the images as long as he is getting the images he wants. and because they are taken with these film cameras, they have a very different feel than the other pictures in the show. one of the things i want to talk about is that lindsey's body of work is running down one side of the hall, and it is all about women in afghanistan and how they serve and their special interactions with civilian women and communities, which is the special role that women soldiers play in afghanistan. across from eric copeland's work, which is extremely masculine and black and white and very aggressive -- what do you think about that juxtaposition between their two bodies of work? >> i like lindsey's contribution

to the exhibit. she shoots in color, like i do, so it is great to see more color. she has a gift for capturing distinct moments that balance the conflict that these women are facing did today, but also very intimate, very feminine moments. she has one where a female soldier is shaving her legs at the beginning of her day, and it is kind of an odd thing to consider, but, obviously, it happens every day, but most people do not think about the challenges that face women in these types of environments where they continue to be feminine, continue to be women, but they also serve a vital role in afghanistan. she allows viewers to come in and see those kinds of intimate moments you might not normally think about. >> to our viewers, and actually the curator of the show. one of the things i was interested in with your work and with the other bodies of work i selected was that you are presenting a real human perspective.

each of you zeroes in on individuals, and the kind of sensitive, intimate, or private moments. >> if you look at most people's lives today and the way they spend their lives, it is probably not that different from what goes on on some of these larger for an operating basis. they have cafeterias. they have internet cafes. they have laundromats. they have their own spaces where they read, play video games. it is really like a small, microcosm of what they might find back in the united states. >> what do you hope that viewers take away from seeing your body of work or the exhibition as a whole? >> i think it is important for people to question how much we do or do not know about afghanistan, but conflict in general. too often today, i think we see one or two images and we think we understand what is going on in a part of the world, and we should try to get away from that. we should question what we know about a conflict, where we got the information, and always look

for new perspectives and new focus is on topics that we think we already understand. >> james, thank you for spending time with us, and congratulations on the exhibition and letting san francisco see this big body of work of yours. >> thanks. >> tuesday, his february 26,

2007, meeting. please call the roll. clerk: [reading roll] commissioners joseph and benetti are absent tonight. president newlin: public comment. item number one. members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public battle within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission. with respect to the agenda items, members of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes at the time such item is called. is there any public comment? seeing none, we will go to item number two. review and approve the minutes

of february 8, so i believe we can now do that. no, we cannot. commissioner meko: i move to note continue that. clerk: same house, same call. president bunewlin: i number three, et your title is now executive/legislative policy updates. >> no. good evening, commissioners. sorry you are late. i wanted to make sure we were being recorded. so i do not have anything to report in terms of legislation. there is, as you know, the board is getting their sea legs, so

there will be more as we go forward, and we will keep you informed. i wanted to update you on our summit. with the help of commissioners meko and perez, we have this set up. there is a flyer that commissioner perez put together, and it looks very good. we will work with the panel members, and its commissioner -- commissioner meko will help us with that, as well, and it is from about 6:00 p.m. to 9:00

p.m., and we are working with the sfpuc and the commander, who is our entertainment liaison, as well as inspector falzon. that is a good thing, and the neighborhood in power of network will co-presenter with us to make sure we have good participation with the neighbors who are involved with not like in any capacity. i wanted to refer, and at the end of the report, he will tell us about the entertainment liaison in training. i know that inspector falzon was here previously, talking about how they set up watches to make sure that they are aware of alcohol beverage control and how

they are implemented in san francisco, as well as what we do, a little song and dance about the entertainment commission, and what they need when they are out in the st.. again, when i am done, i will have that person talk to you about what is on the docket. i would like to tell you guys about anything that is out of the ordinary that i get to do as director, so this month, i was asked to represent the commission as a chinese new year judge. that was fun for me. it was really cold and wet, and yet, it was so fun. we were in good company. the mayor was there, the grand

marshal, the head of the recreation and parks department, the city administrator. we had a good cross-section of bureaucrats up their -- there. next month, i will be attending gay bar conference that takes place in vegas march 779, primarily to attend the sessions with the customer service and liability. they are trying to beef up the part of the conference that is not about what your next promotion should be about how to operate within the kind of milieu we deal with, so i think that will be a good experience. when i come back from that, i will let you know what i learned. the joint hearing with the youth commission lives on, as they

came before you, as you might know, and asked for a joint hearing, so we have schedule that for march 22, which is literally one month from today. it will be at 7:30 in this room. a regular meeting will be held at the regular time. we have the permits out for the regular business, and hopefully, we will be able to do the regular business in approximately one hour, and we will hold a special order, if you will, and it will be around at 7:30 tie. we will do it in this room. we will ask you to shove over and make some room for some news commissioners on that day, and if any members need to leave for any particular reason, that is quite all right. it is not a mandatory meeting at all. i. attached an email that i received.

regarding content, if you will. this is for reference. if you want to take a look at that earlier. the focus of that meeting is going to be that bill that fiona ma has introduced but has not moved on, so, obviously, we will be agendizing a more in-depth item, but if you are curious about what the content is, take a look at what is attached. i wanted to go ahead and start looking way into the future about our next industries summit, so, again, in april, we are hopeful to do what i think is our fourth industries summit in may, before memorial day, so any input from the commission for time frames in made at work or do not work for in the commissioner's better interested in being involved re-deposited

in may that work or do not work -- time frames in may that work or do not work for the commissioner that are interested in being involved. rincon, in response to continue to permit violations, this one on 16th street, there was another seven-day suspension. more like a five-day suspension, beginning february 18, through february 24. mr. granelli and i spent some time working through things. we are hopeful that this time around, maybe they will understand what it means to be in compliance with their permit conditions.

so, everybody, cross your fingers. and lastly, there are two appeals still pending. 181 eddy was issued a suspension last year, but the party exercised their right to appeal, and the appeal was initially scheduled in january. however, as you may recall, we did a bunch of corrective actions, and that venue is closed at this time and remains closed. that liquor license is no longer on the premises, and the appellants have asked that the appeal be put on hold indefinitely, and staff has no objection as long as there is notice if there are attempts to

reopen anytime. there is no liquor license, but there is, assuming they have paid, and they have a representative here, for their licenses, their entertainment licenses are still intact, so it is important obviously that we are noticed and come to some agreement, but i do not believe, and the commissioners can certainly ask what their intentions are, and, lastly, at van ness, where it was problematic for some time, this is also one of those where this commission has ordered a new set of conditions placed on their permit in december, and then, an appeal was filed with the board of appeals, and in the meantime of these actions, the appellant requested a continuance to allow for the transfer to a new owner.

the city in all of its forms was anxious to actually see a new owner at this location, so at this time, a liquor license transfer has had their conditions signs. a new application for a place of entertainment was submitted and posted for your march 8 hearing. staff met with two concerned neighbors about two weeks ago and agreed to be present for a meeting at the venue before the hearing date to address additional neighbors' concerns, so i think those are two good outcomes too problematic venues, and that concludes my report. mr. granelli, are you awake?

>> commissioners, very quickly. to go through the binders, polk street was issued in notice for violation of sound and good neighbor policy. on a positive note, director caen and i will be meeting with the owners tomorrow. the alu meeting that is going on just as the director described, what they are doing is they're bringing them in in the night shifts, and we have about a 3.5 hour training, and they are giving them a crash course in abc law and entertainment law. we have a small part of that, where we explain. about the officers there, what the e.c. is, and more importantly, when they do run across these incidences, what we

need. so far, the first one was last but we -- last week, and we had great attendance, not only on the night shift but some swing shift officers there, as well, which we are hoping to have again tomorrow night. the training went very well. we will be doing these every wednesday for a few weeks. just as the director said, el rincon did not appeal the suspension. obviously, we had problems with them. myself and crystal have been working to create new forms was the e.c. there are certain things that we need if someone wants to appeal, such as a hardship waiver, the three of us have been working on that. lastly, the party bosses.

i know we have not talked about that for quite awhile, but i thought it was important that over the last few weeks, i have noticed a big jump, at one point, down on aid and folsom, and at one time, i counted six, all parked. with their participants or patrons, riders, whatever you want to call them around that area. there is also someone inside the party bus. so these party buses continue to be a major problem. again, there is a very high volume of consumption of alcohol, both on the bus, usually before the patrons get on the bus, and then as they hit

each venue. for the new commissioners, this has been a problem for us for about the last two years. what we're seeing is these buses coming to different locations, and the patrons on the bus are already really, and they are getting more drinks when they get off of the bus, and often of venue or club will not let them in because they are so drunk that it causes them problems. some, without the party bosses, they would not any business at all. i do not understand why we have seen a jump in the business, but we are. we are seeing more and more and more. at the end of last year, the last few months, we saw them dry out a little bit. we did not see as many out there. the buses we saw were from legitimate companies. now, i am seymour, et from

legitimate buses to what looks light coat old airport trucks that have been spray-painted, and they are driving people around. i talked to the alu unit and the sfpd, and they were trying to seeing who has jurisdiction and how we can manage this situation. i will keep you guys, the commission informs " but i am not quite sure where this will take us. moving on, you will see we are still looking into complaints we have gotten from a couple others. in japan tel, there was a new karaoke bar. it was basically an old carry a keyboard that changed ownership. we did a little bit of education, -- it was an old karaoke bar.

and last, the only incident we have the we have not gotten a police report on yet was an assault and stabbing in the mission area, and the interesting thing is that at this time, one, we are not sure about the nexus between that and the surrounding bars, and two, we are not sure if the bar have a permit in the first place. this may not be in our purview at all. we are just waiting for more information at this time, and that is all i have. thank you. president newlin: commissioners, any questions? any items from the public? seeing none, we will move on to item four. none. all right, item number five, a

hearing and possible action regarding applications for permits under the jurisdiction of the entertainment division. item a, artura angulo, dba southtown arcade, 447 stockton. >> a retail store on the union square side. as i understand, it will have local art from local artists and st. cultural items, and i know the applicants are year, and they can talk more about but, so it is not entertainment. it is simply a whole bunch of videogames that are mechanical devices. the hours of operation plant