thank you to the city and to the sf commission for having us here today. my name is roxanna, in the eye and an active member of the dance community nights and weekends and a productive member of the san francisco financial district during the day -- and an avid and active member of the dance community. deejays, singers, artists, graphic designers, even volunteers, and other vital people make up the vital nightlife economy that contributes greatly to the city's bottom-line. the new york times calls it techno tourism. we came here today because we care about our rights. for someone like me, at one of

the nation's top three banks, even i cannot get ahead on my career on some things alone. these are helping to dance, promote, plan, regulate, note and repeat, that i have been able to secure additional career networking. without this community, it might not have been activated or advance. i continue to be compressed by the dedication i see with in this particular community. its members and never settle for standards. constantly improving on things for our urban fabric. to these people, i applaud you for these abilities to look up and beyond to give a model of excellence to follow.

we have worked so hard. i will be proud to continue the journey with you in the city. thank you for your time. >> idle hands are the devil's playground. and i would love to be able to attend all of the balls and the orchestras and the giants games and everything in san francisco, but the money does not exist. in the pockets of y0ou -- youth, so taking this away would take away one of the few things we

have. vice chair joseph: could i ask a question? why do you believe that we are taking it away? would you be willing to go to talk about it? do you think everyone around you would want to? >> i hope so. [cheers and applause] >> hi, i am a recent graduate from uc berkley. i just want to thank the commission for allowing me to be here. i am in support of electronic dance music. i have met some of the most beautiful accepting people and

have met some of my closest best friends at these events, and i believe that if we drive it underground, then it would just be more dangerous for people. we should treat it like a public health issue and make sure there is adequate ventilation, adequate water, emt staff on hand, just in case anything happens, it is better to have these events in an open- regulated way. rather than when no one can know what is going on. thank you. secretary: before we have the next speaker, i would like to call some names. [reading names] sorry. [rename -- reading name]

>> good evening, president, inspector, commission, staff. i have to say, this is probably one of the most responsible presentations i have ever heard on this topic, and i think it is very refreshing. i am not sure how it ties into what we're doing specifically in san francisco, but i appreciate the fact that these individuals have -- i went to thank the youth for being here. on a biweekly basis, you can see we were very hard to manage adult venues, so do not think this is strictly a u.s. problem. we have problems with the older,

more mature individuals in our society, so this is a problem that is ongoing. we appreciate the youth commission for bringing us on board tonight, and we will continue to listen and learn. thank you. secretary: next speaker, please. >> this is music and live performance. i use up-tempo music to set a cave-ins while running. while listening to this for years, i remember what it would be like to see the person who had written it and perform did. music has always been a part of my life. i am a classically trained musician. i saw some people of the cow palace while in high school. i not seen a live music performance with the exception of crosby stills and nash --

since crosby stills and nash. they do not need the musicians themselves to reform it. they bring a laptop. with the uplifting nature of the music, i came upon a few thousand people dancing, talking about the music, why we like it. dance and until 3:00 a.m., and seven years later, we are still in touch. with music, it has to be performed live. with an orchestra, it is a studio hall. for a music that is electronic, they call a party a wave now. six hours until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, that is its best way. my parents' generation of the way to make rock concert say for us without changing the nature of the concert. they looked after our safety. we have all lagrone culturally for it. you are essentially changing the

nature of the performance. only california seems to find this budget creativity worth crooning. find a way to allow the performance to exist as it is, at its best, subject to additional safety or shirty bonds. look. we are a loving and includes a group of people. no matter how this goes, you will still be invited. secretary: you cannot do it. you can submit written. you can submit it to staff. thank you very much. ok. we will make sure it gets there. thank you. president newlin: we appreciate it. >> hello. my name is courtney, and i am a

resident of san francisco. there is no easy way to say this, but right before i turned 16, i tried to kill myself, and when i got out of the hospital, i did not want to die, but i did not want to live either, and then i went to my first rave, and that changed everything. i found a loving community, whose credo is peace, love, and respect, and i learned how to dance. the rave scene and the electronic scene in general, i can say that it has been nothing but positive for me. i am proud as a student at the university school of law. but i even met my life partner of seven years at a rave. it has made me a better person. san francisco is amazing partly

because of the electronic community. the electronic community is in san francisco, which is not anywhere else. please, do not let reactionary forces the other affecting so many places take root here in san francisco. please guard our rights for assembly. when i first became part of this, we had an organization called dance save, which worked hard to keep it safe, and the police department started targeting us. the promoters had to stop inviting people. i think that is a tragedy. thank you. .secretary of state you. -- secretary: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i go to some of the events which a been discussed before,

the proposal by fiona. i am a veteran, a teacher, a musician, a husband, and a proud father of a baby girl, alexa. one day, i would like to take my daughter to edm events, when we feel it is age appropriate, so i feel that we need to advocate for her now, and i do not want to be denied that time of my daughter in the future. dancing, i have been threw couples counseling, and i feel that when i partake in these electronic music events, there is an elegant of therapy there and allows us to be a better husband and a loving husband to my wife, and i also wanted to mention, a lot of times, i work

with the u.s., and because i am used focused, i go to this event -- a lot of times a work with youth. there have been sometimes were i have had to ups and young people who have maybe indulge to so much, and i feel the i am a one that does that. there are other people, too. at 40 something, i am like an elder in the community, wrote -- community, and i think the harm reduction idea is very good. i went into an electronic music festival in canada where they did drug testing their, and people knew what they were taking, and that is kind of like schickendantz -- kind of like dance save does. thank you. secretary: thank you. before i call the next ones, i just want to read these names.

[reading names] thank you. next speaker. >> i want to say a few things. it is a very big industry that we are facing. there is a lot going on. it has always been opposed, since the days of rock and roll and woodstock and everything that has been mentioned. the drug use, exists in a relative of what is going on, whether it is shady streets or market street. anything. heavy metal. it basically, i just want to say that fiona mas needs to look at

giving the support and making this legal. as safe as possible. and instead of cutting down the hours and making people leave a gathering at 2:00 tonight and going around the streets, that they can stay until they want to state and for these events to continue and go -- part. well, that is the main idea, i guess. there are a lot of festival going on in europe and in the united states. they have been positive. i am sure that the government needs to look into making those safer, because they will happen anyway. they moved into alternative areas.

they need to be positively supported. thank you. >> hi, my name is lee. i ran a dance chapter until 2007, so why it was with thousands of youth. taking a punitive approach just brings a casualty, and that is access, soared shows -- such as honest dialogue. so i went to make you aware of something that has been going on. the department of county health and took it upon themselves to produce ecstasy cards and pass them about to young people and hand out things, and they were

to produce a psa. you will have more people filling you in on their needs. byerly encourage you. commissioner: i have a question. in your estimation, how correlated art ecstasy and raves. >> it definitely is a huge part of the culture and has been from the beginning.

a majority of people at raves on ecstasy, yes, but i do not want to use that to shut down these events. that to be opportunity for more outreach. vice chair joseph: a couple of people have mentioned dance safe. let's test them. let me finish. let's make sure they do not of poison in them. and part of the reason that dance safe was shut down is because drugs are illegal, and you're asking people to show you their illegal drugs. the state comes down and thus you for having drugs, so that is why did save got shut down. -- why it got shut down.

do you think that these psa's have made difference? >> it has not been released yet. vice chair joseph: do you think it will make a difference? >> yes, and promoters are helping. vice chair joseph: kind of like rock the vote but something else. ok, thank you. >> hello, my name is -- thank you for having us. first, i wanted to say that i had no idea that this was happening. the fact that i am hearing so much drug use -- i got involved because of the music. it had nothing to do with the drugs. i have never done ecstasy in my

entire life, and i'd have gone to plenty of raves. i go for the music and the music alone. that is the reason i moved to san francisco, and i think that abolishing raves would be abolishing the reason i came here. thank you. >> good evening. .my name is audrey. i am a taxpayer in san francisco. i am originally from detroit. so when we want to talk about the dangers, we want to talk about the dangers at these events, and we want to talk about a dangerous ravees. -- raves. taking a walk down the street, do these events get shut down? no.

this continues to exist as it has for 12 years, and now only brings millions of dollars and hope, inspiration, in change to the people, and right now, actually, in detroit, this is one of the only industries, the entertainment industry calm that is supporting this. i watched a 6-year-old breakdance to the music. looking in his eyes, the hope that change, do you think he was on ecstasy? i do not think so. i understand where you guys are coming from. we should not attack electronic music as the problem. we should attack underage drinking as a problem. i look around, and it is not the drug use and the underage youth.

so i ask that you do not address the problem by putting a band- aid on it. i ask you to get to the return of the problem and address it that way. do not take away the hope and the inspiration of the future in our youth. i have heard a lot actually say to a peace, love, unity, respect. i would like to add another on tibet, including responsibility. "plurr." [bell] >> good evening. my name is jason roger. i am happy to be here and have all of your peers. -- ears. the name my family that i know gave me is omega.

they accepted me. i am a united states marine veteran. i have gone to several wars. i was wondering this world like a lost puppy, and they accepted me with open arms. the power of acceptance and compassion. that is something that creates a structure. i also did the research, the economic status. these events bring much, much to the city. it affected their lives. it affected me. this saved my life. i had a very difficult transition from being a marine to being a civilian, a veteran, and these people say to me. i did not know anyone. this is extended, every single person. these events are amazing in that the people make them amazing. and the passion.

it is just amazing what they give us, like at the end of the tunnel. we all know that life is not easy, and this helps. i know thousands and thousands of people go to these events. some of their names i know, i do not. if there is such positive influence coming from the other end, we need to look at that thank you very much for your time. >> good afternoon. my name is -- i am here because

i believe in the culture. people are coming together every day. backgrounds herds. i believe that all of these people are here for a reason, and we are trying to help each other out. and a big thing is about the drugs, but we are all looking out for each other. .we are all constantly trying to prevent any of that from happening. i am just here today to let all of you guys know that if you take this away, it would just not be a good thing for all of these people. we all need each other together, just like we need allies. we believe in love, peace, respect, and we are coming

together to show you guys that we want to make a difference, and we are trying. an event coming up for japan relief. we're just trying to make a difference here. president newlin: 80. before the next speaker, i would like to call up some more people. [reading names] secretary: jonathan pinkous. president newlin: [reading names] thank you. >> my name is -- and i am currently a loss do it.

i want to thank you for hearing the public, and do not let people tell you that young people stay apathetic, because that is not true. a concerned resident of san francisco, and i think the best policy is misguided public policy. we have already had a number of people talk of these implications at the events as creating a desirable city, and i think we have seen that in san francisco with over broader restrictions that. participation in public space. the way that the legislation is written right now, it would criminalize activity that it does not intend to. pre-recorded music is a pretty broad category, and during the night, it is a pretty long time.

street fairs, festivals that the study makes a lot of -- that the city makes a lot of. i do not think they would be willing to enforce the law in that sense. i do not been there is a way to write is where it is not unconstitutional. this would restrict their ability to express themselves and give privileges to certain people. it seems like a 14th amendment issue. thank you for hearing us.

secretary: next speaker. >> my name is -- i am an oral historian and a librarian, an idea been dancing for about the past 15 to 17 years. i am currently living in oakland. i want to remind people that ecstasy has been developed and utilized as a therapy tool for people who are having psychological issues. i would like to also reiterate that lsd is back on the table. this is an issue that may go over the state, but i look to san francisco for solutions. san francisco is known throughout the world as being a leader, with tolerance and education. education is extremely important here, because san francisco is an intellectual giant, home to more than 24 public and private institutions of public learning.

clearly, the city is a hot spot. san francisco is the creative cradle of technology in new thought paradigms' and is a rich resource for solutions. this is the concern that the city holds for the safety and well-being of parte attendees by the misuse of a small percentage that requires education, not a restriction of rights. we have access to some of the most brilliant in the world. let's not cease and neglect the rights of the citizens. this city is a tolerant city, and i can attest to the breadth and scope for the city to also accommodate and celebrate the various sexual preferences and political perspectives. you may not be in our lifestyles as appropriate and may have opinions on the safety of these events, but it is our hope,