please call the roll? >commissioner benetti: here. vice chair joseph: yere. commissioner meko: yere. commissioner perez: here. president newlin: here. >> we have a quorum. commissioner roja as an excuse absence and we are unsure about commissioner cavellini at this point. president newlin: thank you. a wonderful roll call. [laughter] i was reminded by crystal that it will help the filming of these meetings if when commissioners want to speak that in addition to me recognizing them that i call their name so they can properly adjust the cameras. if i fail on that, i hope the commissioners will assist me in that endeavor.

item one, public comment. members of the public might address the commission on items of interest to the commission that are within the jurisdiction of the commission. members of the public might address the commission for up to three minutes at the time such order is called. is there anybody that wishes to make public comment on any issue that is not on the agenda? yes, sir? >> barry toronto. i have not been here in ages. we have had town hall meetings with taxi drivers paying exorbitant fees for credit card charges. i would -- i thought i would come here and catch you up on what is going on with that bill. anyway, i will say two things. first i want to say that i have been really delighted in watching you, president newlin, as chair. i think you have been fair and allowed everyone to speak, and

have let everybody have their say. i appreciate your personality as president. i have barely been impressed with how you have progressed as the person who run these meetings. -- i have really been impressed with how you have progressed as the person who runs these meetings. also, i really enjoy hearing officer masius -- matthias give his presentations. unfortunately, officer dawson has presented cases where he presents all the information at the last minute and does not give the permit applicants a chance to address these issues before the meeting. it is not fair. i have been told maybe these issues could be addressed. i did bring in before the police commission 13 days ago, and i am hoping that had some effect. i watched the "save the rave"

hearing. i suggest you do a resolution supporting how the legislation should be written. it is a state issue. it is not something you have control over. you could endorse what parts would work for you or would not work for you. there have been some compromises. it would be great to get an update about this compromise is as well. i don't know if you have won tonight, but it would be great to get an update on what is going on with this legislation. the next point is about security plans. it has been written in a lot of different places about how they are trying to force these venue owners and promoters to do things that could be against people's rights. and i am glad that -- i believe commissioner joseph has addressed this as well.

thank you for doing that. i still think that you can still do security without having to force people to have to completely out themselves and they go to certain clubs. most people behave themselves. i worked at a club. it is only a few people that caused this problem. to paint everybody that way by requiring expensive additions is wrong. thank you for your time. president newlin: just to clarify, neither the police department nor the entertainment commission has taken any steps forward to infringe on anybody's rights. there were just some ideas floated that maybe at some time will be aired. there will be analyzed. will see if there is any merit to any aspect of them. but as it stands now, it is unfair to characterize what the

police department or the entertainment commission has been doing that -- has been doing as trying to take rights away our come down unreasonably on clubs, hindering their operations. ok. >> mark downey. i was quite surprised when i was on a national website that basically the stock trading and gold buying. all of a sudden, they were pointing out why new york is going to hell in a handbasket. there were cooking the entertainment commission. -- they weren't -- they were quoting the entertainment commission. i thought it was really uncalled for to cast aspersions on the entertainment commission, because they have never, ever done that. they put forward some ideas that were raised, and also the police

department, from certain large clubs. there were putting forward things for consideration because of certain times those id skinner's work. i do not think of was ever anybody's intention to force that down anybody's throat. i think that when viral on the entertainment commission and i felt bad for you. president newlin: any further public comment? item two, review and approve the minutes of march 22, 2011, april 12, 2011, and april 26, 2011. >> i would move that we sever april 26. i do not think we have a quorum to move on that. otherwise, i would move that we approve the other 2 the rosettes of minutes. -- the other two sets of

minutes. >> i was here on the 22nd, but not on the 12th. could we take those one at a time? the minutes of march 22. president newlin: public comment? no public comment on the april 12, or march 22? >> i am calling the roll. commissioner perez: aye. commissioner meko: aye. vice chair joseph: aye. commissioner benetti: aye. president newlin: aye. >> march 22. vice chair joseph: move to approve april 12. >> i can't do some house. commissioner perez: aye. commissioner meko: aye. vice chair joseph: aye. commissioner benetti: i cannot

vote on this. president newlin: i. >> i move to continue the minutes of april 26. vice chair joseph: i second. commissioner perez: aye. commissioner meko: aye. vice chair joseph: aye. commissioner benetti: aye. president newlin: aye. >> those are continued. president newlin: item 3, report from the executive director. >> good evening, commissioners. i would like to introduce you to nicholas king, who started as the deputy director and permit and the stricter about a week ago monday.

he will be presenting you with your permits tonight. let us see how he does. he is learning very quickly. he has been in the government for some time, doing a number of different positions at the board of supervisors and the mayor's office. i have the expectation of him hitting the ground running. do you want to say anything? i guess not. president newlin: it was my request to have you get up and introduce yourself. >> with that, i will start with the legislative policy update. i have given a couple of times to you guys what is called a legislation creating a limited live performance permit. it was introduced april 26 formally. it has a file number now.

i forgot to attach it. i do have one copy here if you need to look at it. but, again, this was just introduced on april 26. ã9qj? arçj÷ category of permit for limited live performances at a variety of the news -- a variety of venues. the small business commission took part in drafting the legislation and has made it a priority. the entertainment commission may look at this as a separate agenda on may 24. it could go later. the june 13 is the soonest it could possibly be considered. i have not been given any

instruction from supervisor mirkarimi's office. in any event, the commission might consider putting this on a separate agenda to have a fuller discussion a to its hearing at e board of supervisors. i will leave it at that. if you do want to take a look at these, i have given them to you previously, along with the legislation itself. i can for the electronic copies if anybody needs that as well. president newlin: what did you hand me? >> is the legislative digest and a summary of what it is like now. president newlin: i see. i assume the commission would like to review that on the may 24 item. should we discuss it now or do that under item seven? under item seven?

that is what i thought. >> in the staff and office update, i introduced neck. i did not get a chance to talk much of the last couple of meetings. we were busy with full rooms and hearings. so i did not get to do a director's report about the neighborhood summer -- the neighbor summit. i want to think commissioners perez, meko, and joseph for being involved in helping with that event. it was the first neighborhood summit. the were 100 people there. we led a discussion with members from all of the city in south of market. it took place a month ago now. it was a lively discussion. i know all of it was captured on video. i got a d.v.d. of it, but it is not ready for general viewing yet the, that i know of.

but hopefully it will be soon and you guys can take a look into where we have some work to do. i wanted to update the commission on our ability to accept credit cards. we take in huge amounts of money in checks and cash every day in the office. people use plastic. that is what happens. we have not been able to do this. we made a big stride forward. we received a written proposal back after a meeting in mid- april about how this can happen at no cost to the department. obviously, people are used to convenience fees. with a permit fee of $2,000, a convenience fee of a small amount should not be a problem. so we are likely to go with that methodology and have an on-line system. that would not be in the office. it would be all on the internet.

we would be able to confirm payments and send receipts. i think it will be a really modern -- i think it will really modernize our department. we will still have paper. i will keep you informed and let you know. maybe you can give us a donation and see if it works. [laughter] i wanted to update the commission on the update of the promoter registration. legislation was passed at the end of 2010 to create this registration. my hope is we will be able to see the implementation. i met with the designers of the site. it will be called sf promote.

it is going to be simple. we are working with staff in supervisor chu's office to make sure the explanations are clear, it is easy, it is accurate, and there are no excuses for not having are using registered promoters. as you might recall, the legislation does allow us to run the gamut of corrective action all the way up to revocation to discipline permit holders if they don't do the right thing. now we can actually use administrative citations on promoters as well. there is a monetary consequence on them. so we are hopeful that this will be another tool, essentially. i wanted to let you know the entertainment commission was involved in an event, basically,

a workshop for health care for musicians in san francisco. that event was at the bottom of the hill at the end of march. we're recording and music program -- we were recording a music program and put together to a session on how the obama health care program will impact decisions -- will impact musicians in san francisco and how our universal care here in san francisco can cover musicians and try to make their life healthier. we hope to do some more of those. obviously, most of the work was done outside of the department. but i got to be involved in that. probably about 50 musicians attended. little by little, we can do some good.

lastly, i guess the gnarly details on the corrective actions we have done administratively to the office since basically the beginning of march. i have not had the last two meeting is to update you on what we are doing. i wanted to take that opportunity. we did a safety suspension on el rincon, another one, march 5 through 7. it has been a while. this was related to an event that began on friday, march 4, and ended with a stabbing early saturday morning. in the end of the day, that was public safety, which is what we call emergency suspension. that is something we felt was necessary. the updates since that time was that el rincon was evicted from their premises on wednesday,

april 6. as far as we can tell, the sheriff did their job and there is no more el rincon to speak of. i do not know the context behind this eviction. it was not necessarily related to our corrective action at that time. but hopefully we will not have to hear about el rincon any longer. president newlin: the bottom line is the permit is no longer in existence. they cannot travel to another location. and the permit does not transfer to a new applicant. they need to surrender the permit to our staff. >> i was not contacted by the committee -- permitee. i am not sure how i could chase

them down to get it in my hands. i did try. but it is no longer valid in any other location. and it may be that the police department has maybe gotten their hands on the liquor license. i am not sure. we could ask. in addition, we issued a director's order revising the security plan at missed like the club -- at mist nightclub. there were seven separate instances in or around club mist that resulted in police reports. there was a meeting to discuss reports about breaches in security that were indicated in the reports that we were getting. based on that meeting, additional conditions were

imposed on mist's permit via the security plan. to this point, i think we are doing much better over there. i do not have any indication that they are not following their new restriction. lastly, there was a director's order revising the security plan issued to 550 barnveld, related to an incident that happened on march 25 where police reported a weapon being fired inside the night club from the stage. a shell casing was found inside, although no one was reported wounded. again, staff and they the station -- and bayview station met with the owner and manager to discuss the breach and how

conditions in their security plan would close that breach. there have not been any further instances at all. we are hopeful that was an effective treatment of the problem. vice chair joseph: i have just a couple of things, questions. on the promoters permit -- would organizations like pride and folsom street fair have to apply? >> i will have to look. it is possible they would have to register. again, this is not a permit. this is simply a registration. it will take all of 10 minutes. you go on-line, and it is free. vice chair joseph: when did you say that might be working? >> mid-june. vice chair joseph: also come up with 550 barneveld, is the

manager of the club on the permit? >> she is not. vice chair joseph: don't we need to have somebody who is on the permit there when they are open? >> i do not believe that is something that is a requirement in the law. it is a practice that i encourage. the permit has names of individuals who are present. but that isn't all the kermit -- but that is an old permit, issued before the entertainment commission. it is possible to ask someone, but that is not how it is now. vice chair joseph: in keeping with that, 550 usually does pat downs. how did a gun get there? >> i cannot be certain. but after discussion, and given all the information, we got the sense that this was part of the

promoter's group of -- part of the performer's guests, and may not have been put through rigorous security. vice chair joseph: so all of the performers and people who come along are now going to be -- >> absolutely. vice chair joseph: last but not least, in the spirit of self congratulations, i would like to congratulate commissioners perez and meko on a really great event. you did a great job, and you are not even in the event business. [laughter] >> thank you. good night. commissioner meko: regarding mist and barneveld, can you show us the security

requirements? >> i apologize for not bringing those files with me. we did those a month ago. i am nervous to do it by memory. they are different. they are different on purpose. when we do these, we try to sit down and make sure that our conditions that are relevant to the breach that we are having. commissioner meko: i understand that, and i think that is a good idea for the commission as well to craft conditions particular to the venue with an establishing broad, sweeping conditions that really do not apply to what they deal with. but if you could forward those. >> i am happy to send you the specifics, and also, in general, what they do is bring the ratio of security to, basically, one

to 100, or 180, or 150. in specifically 550, we did language around making sure that every single person that is going into the venue or leaves and comes back in goes through security. commissioner meko: better lighting, our cameras? >> sometimes cameras. commissioner meko: four years ago, it seemed this commission had reached a point where we had normal conditions that we could possibly apply. >> you can preconditions. -- tweak conditions. i am happy to send you the conditions on both of those. >> i have it here, thanks to technology. >> you have it in your blackberry. >> currently, we have one of

them right here, which is mist. some of the conditions that we would cease at 1:15 a.m., that there would always be a manager on premise, that the southern station officer would get a calendar every three weeks of events, that their security staff ratio would be adjusted. it is one to every 40 patrons. there would be security staff on duty during all hours of operation. obviously, all security will be over 21. and all security will wear distinctive clothing.

for mist, that is most of the conditions that were set. >> i can explain, if you want. you can stop us. commissioner meko: you are right. >> we wrangled a round at the meeting on the issue of closure. we are not in the habit of producing hours of operation of businesses. again, this is the entertainment piece, not asking them to close the business. it is asking them to and their entertainment earlier than they were doing. -- to end their entertainment earlier than they were doing. that was relevant to seven incidents that happened in three months. there were a tremendous amount

of problems releasing patrons and having fights started inside, in the doorway, or right outside. we felt that an answer to that was slower release. that meant helping them to do a cool down, if that makes any sense. so we are not asking them to close the business any earlier. it has nothing to do with serving alcohol. it has to do with ending the b.j. -- the d.j. that's the entertainment. that is what we do. there is an appeal available on these orders. but that is what we came up with together, as a group. they certainly have a right to due process and to appeal. commissioner meko: the appeal would be to us? >> correct.

are there any other questions on my portion, or can i handed over? -- hand it over? >> my report, which have in front of you, i will go over the first segment. we did have to deal recently on the citation was given to circlo. that appeal has happened. we are currently waiting for the decision. in my opinion, i thought it went well. it was very simple. we will hopefully know by the end of this week what the decision on that appeal was. we have been in contact with citizens -- with the city of honolulu. they are looking at how to work with and use -- with venues