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tv   [untitled]    June 16, 2011 8:30pm-9:00pm PDT

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on that. president newlin: explain commercial broker. vice chair joseph: a real-estate agent. >> people who are the sign on the side of the building. when someone calls up someone because they are signing by -- they are driving by -- the call that guy. if that guy does not understand what we do and what the city expects, they say "of course you can do this in that building." then there are a whole bunch of consequences when they cannot. van ness -- vice chair joseph: for a building that has a lath and plaster wall, it is a fire hazard. usually for nightclubs under 500 people you need to have metal beams and walls. that is an example. a commercial broker would know
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that. >> they don't know a lot of things. they do know about things like escrow. but they don't know a lot about what we talk about here. that is the process. so, mr. granelli, you're on. >> i will keep my report short and to the point. you have a copy in front of you, just as director kane has said. we won our first appeal against one of our written citations. we will be working with compliance and enforcement, the sfoce, this coming weekend. they have a few spaces that are also under our purview that they want to look at. we are working with them to take a look around.
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we have some sound tests coming up. i mention this because these particular sound tests are different than what we usually do, in that we are havi to organize a large number of residents. i am doing a test thursday night where i have been in contact with five or six different presidents. we will be testing inside their homes as well as inside and around the venue. these are poe's that have a history of some complaints in the past, and now they are coming under new ownership or management, we have an opportunity to correct past sound issues. restaurants doing entertainment, as this commission has heard from the inspector and other officers from sfpd -- we are definitely seeing an increase in entertainment being done at restaurants. mickey this can be a simple dj at a happy hour -- this can be a
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simple dj at a happy hour or something more involved. we have worked with the permit office recently. this is a topic that has been coming up more and more for all of us. we are renewing our effort, especially working with the alu, to look into those complaints a little more frequently, whereas often they get pushed to the side when we have other things to do. with the economy being what it is, i think restaurants are trying to do what they can when they can to bring people in. complaints due to the questionnaire being online -- thank you crystal -- and with better communication with 311 -- thank you nicholas -- we are getting more accurate and up-to- date complaints from the public.
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the good news is we are communicating much better with the public. the bad news is that there are only four of us. the increase in complaints is good. it means, unfortunately, because of it being a small staff in a small apartment, it can take a while for us to be able to investigate or three back into every complaint. -- thoroughly look into every complaint. moving on, you will see some of the incidents. there is one incident at horizon that i want to go into a little bit in more detail. there is an incident. we had some incidents with serious injury, one being next to an nv in the parking lot,
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where some of the patrons were from envy and envy security did not intercede to stop this incident, where someone was beaten with a bat who ended up owing to the hospital. unfortunately in that situation, someone was able to step in and do some good, and be a good neighbor. the horizon incident, i was actually present on broadway for. horizon had made an agreement with the promoter that had pulled a sign promoting bait and switch. when horizon showed up to open their doors, what they thought was quick to be a 200-person event -- was going to be a 200- person event, what they had was
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400 people with a demographic of a very different event. they thought they could manage it. they tried to pull in one of the bottle service parties. the crowd rushed the door. at that point, they realized it was not manageable. they notified sfpd they were going to shut their doors, which is the correct action. the police asked them to hold off for a minute so they could bring in additional units, which they did. they were able to shut their doors and the police were able to disperse the crowd. this took a little bit longer than normal because there were an extra 500 people looking for someplace to go. as stated earlier, i was at the scene. seeing what was evolving, a coordinated with sfpd -- i coordinated with sfpd and horizon. they put their security back on the street and loaned them to
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other venues to help them manage the crowd, which was a very good thing they did. we were able to coordinate the clubs to tighten up there and policies and were able to get the crowd dispersed in probably half an hour to 45 minutes. it was good. it was a situation that could have gone sideways badly. but in high stress or bad times, people pull together. this is one of the examples where we had all the clubs on broadway working together. it shows that when they do all work together, what can be accomplished. that is it for my report, unless there are questions. vice chair joseph: i have a couple. i want to start with horizon. all the clubs on broadway participated or benefited by horizon tipped security going to them? >> yes. -- horizon's security going to
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them? >> yes. vice chair joseph: isn't that the chicago process we were talking about over the years, having security coordinate with each other? and you found it works, right? >> that would be correct. vice chair joseph: and the police saw that it worked. i love being right. i love when we are right. a couple of other things. the incident on sixth street, at room -- i was in that area on saturday night. this was saturday night, this incident, or friday night? a strange thing happened. i saw a bunch of gangbangers arriving in soccer mom minivans on sixth street between jessie
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and stevenson, and on mission street. there were easily three or four previa minivans full of people who may be were not club goers, just being there. my question to you is what happened at the room. >> there had been issues of overcrowding that evening. that overcrowding at closing basically spelled out into the street, blocking the sidewalk and the street. sfpd was involved. they cleared the area and no one was hurt that we know of. but it does show that something that has been brought up before about this particular venue -- poor promoting, poor operations skills, and not the best at crowd control. vice chair joseph: last but not
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least, second-hand smoke -- is this the ordinance that was passed that you cannot be within 15 feet of doors, windows, and bus stops, but you have to be at the curb, at the yellow line? >> that is not the particular issue we are working with them on, but that would be part of the ordinance. vice chair joseph: what is the issue? >> we are looking and venues that have been operating illegally such as hookah lounges that are also doing entertainment. they are on our list for operating without a permit, and on their list for operating without a permit as a smokehouse. vice chair joseph: you are not going after regular clubs? >> no. >> regarding 620 jones, not so much the battery -- isn't that pete's place?
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>> and it is not permitted by us. it does not have entertainment. >> i think even before i started on the commission, he was here applied for the permit. that is not the haystacks -- the case? >> was it for public works? i cannot remember. he submitted an application and withdrew it. >> they did submit an application and did withdraw it. >> he has no entertainment? >> correct. >> at 620. correct. >> no deejay. >> no d j, no band, no live music. the business model for 620, and mike public works, which is paid -- which is a club -- it is
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really a lounge restaurant. we have actually inspected it a few times and not found anything. president newlin: i had one question. are we seeing any payment of fines coming in for the citations yet? >> yes. the lion's share of the fines to get paid. we do still have some outstanding. i have been working with director kane and the city attorney on follow-up. president newlin: very good. any public comment on the directors' report? seeing none, we will go down to the police department. they are not here tonight, so we will go to item 5, hearing and possible action regarding applications for permits under the jurisdiction of the entertainment commission. a, bradford, chelsea.
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>> good evening, everyone. even though the applicant is not here, and i recommend you continue this item to the next hearing, i thought it was important to put it on the agenda in case someone showed up for public comment, because the applicant did post a 30 day notice and after that found out he had some hurdles to go through at planning. that is what they are doing now. hopefully, they will be back. if not this month, then the first meeting of july. president newlin: ok. commissioners? did anyone come here this evening to comment on the permit application? no. okay. do we need a motion to continue this? >> i would like to move that we continue it. vice chair joseph: second. >> same house and called?
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-- same house, same call? but now we have a new commissioner, actually. [laughter] commissioner perez: aye. president newlin: item b, chow, shun, broadway billiards and pool tables. >> this is an application for a permit for billiards, for 12 tables at this establishment. you will find the conditions from the police department and planning in your packet. the most relevant ones from planning mainly have to do with sound. they say the building should be
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adequately soundproofed and insulated for noise, so the noise should stay inside. sfpd also has a list of conditions that we need to go over, but i will let the applicant speak. >> good evening, commissioners. i am marsha garland. the applicants are a brother and sister in law who are shy about using their english, so i am going to speak for them. sunny lin chow and her brother in law. this building is a very famous site, which i am sure most of you will remember. it was the crowbar recently, and before that mason street west.
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in between there was a lot of clubs. they only building and have been in touch with everybody upstairs -- own at the building and have been in touch with everybody upstairs. they have the conditional use permit court authorized use of the ground floor. one-third of the space will be a cafe and the rest will be dedicated to a billiard room. the billiard part of this center has been carefully thought through and thought out. we know there are problems on broadway. we have advised them to move forward with billiard academy that will be affiliated with the billiards congress of america. we have been in touch with teachers who are affiliated with that organization who will be instructors there. we are in total agreement with all of the conditions that the police department has set out.
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and i think that is about it. they have a very extensive background in restaurant management, have on the many restaurants in the past. -- have owned it many restaurants in the past. -- have owned many restaurants in the past. vice chair joseph: i am curious on the conditions. it says that you will have security from 9:32 closing. what made you choose 9:30 as a time? >> i think that was an arbitrary power that one of the neighborhood groups asked us to do. vice chair joseph: just curious. you talk about having cameras to monitor activities. what is a set? >> initially they were just going to put cameras on the broadway side, the west side of the building, because of this
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parking lot, here. it has been a troublesome spot. but they do not own that land. the parking lot wraps around so that you can enter another parking lot. it is really one l-shaped lot from montgomery street. the police now would like to have, as -- have cameras on the montgomery street as well. vice chair joseph: how many is that? >> we thought it was two. one each. vice chair joseph: it does say the cameras should capture activity inside the billiard academy as well as the entrance and parking lot. are you going to post at the entry saying that people entering will be filled? i think you have to. >> that is an invasion of
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privacy. vice chair joseph: it is a privacy issue. it has to be posted. >> they don't have any problem with doing that. they are just trying to be cooperative. vice chair joseph: is that part of the police condition that the camera should be inside? i am going to move to strike that. i don't mind cameras outside. walking on the street you do not have an expectation of privacy. but inside, unless they want them inside, in which case they would have to post there are cameras inside, i am going to ask for that to be struck. >> that would be nice. it really came as an afterthought. the real concern was for the parking lot, not inside. vice chair joseph: and you are doing lighting outside? >> yes. on the buckingham side as well. commissioner meko: welcome.
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regarding deputy chief cashman's request -- >> c. is now deputy chief. commissioner meko: musical chairs. they have asked that the video be stored for 50 days. that is a moving target. we prefer 30. i am concerned about the language -- and be made available to police upon request. you voluntarily agreed to turn this over if so requested. but this is similar to the language the police have submitted to us which was withdrawn at the last minute by the mayor's office for reconsideration. a question for staff -- have we gotten any further opinion from the city attorney regarding this? is this a condition that we should include in this package,
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or just leave it as a private agreement between the police department and this venue? >> we do not have any further information from the city attorney, other than the recommendation you got some time ago. commissioner meko: the city attorney did express reservations about the requirement. >> correct. commissioner meko: i am not inclined to include the language in our set of conditions. >> point of clarification. the city attorney expressed reservations on giving the police footage of the inside, not the up side. is that correct? which one is it? do you remember? >> i don't recall. i think the question the commissioner was asking was about the length of time or turning it over on demand. commissioner meko: it is not about the length of time. it is a requirement that they turn it over on demand.
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>> so it is not about privacy issues so much as this other concerned. vice chair joseph: i understand. thank you. commissioner meko: again, i think the police should probably go through formal due process procedures to get that record and, if it is needed, rather than in decent condition that we write into this, into these conditions right now. at least not until we get further guidance from the city attorney's office. >> i cannot speak for the police department, but often with issues on broadway, when incidents occur, they like to get their hands on the video and watch it instantly so they can then know who they get to release and who they get to arrest. i think what is probably trying to be covered -- all the locations on broadway do not have a problem doing that. so i think what is going on is they are trying to cover
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themselves so they can walk up and say, "this incident just happened. do you have it on video? let me watch it. great, that is the instigator." commissioner meko: i understand their intentions. it is just the legality of our writing this into a condition that makes me nervous. commissioner benetti, you have a background in this area. commissioner benetti: i know if inspector [unintelligible] was here he would express the same concerns about the need for that information. he has expressed to the commission he only desires that information be kept for 72 hours. with privacy concerns, i don't know. maybe outstanding circumstances might out with that. i don't know. -- outweigh that.
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vice chair joseph: if these people want to make an agreement with the police on their own, that is their business. to require it is a different thing. i think that is what you are saying. is that correct? commissioner meko: that is correct. vice chair joseph: if they want to be good neighbors with the police, that is on them outside of the conditions of the permit. other than that, the police need to get a warrant. commissioner meko: that is correct. if i were in their situation, of course i would turn it over immediately to try to solve the crime. but i have concerns, especially given what the city attorney has told us, about writing this into the conditions. i would recommend we strike that language. president newlin: that is fine. your clients want to cooperate, right? >> totally. they just want to make the venue work.
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it has been empty for a long time. president newlin: any other questions? >> i have always wanted to be a pool shark. how many lessons would i have to take? >> let me see it [laughter] . -- let me see. [laughter] are you a beginner? >> i have a lot of fond memories with the crowbar. >> the only building. -- they own the building. commissioner perez: you guys are doing billiards. no tournaments'? >> there will be tournaments'. they will be part of this billiards congress of america. there will be teachers who will rotate around the city.
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there will be different levels. commissioner perez: it will just be a neighborhood bar. there will be events. >> there will be both. they do have topped tables and some would be far more serious game playing and others would be for casual people like me or john. commissioner perez: just curious -- how did you decide upon the greater bay services protection as your security of choice? >> work with them on a couple of other cases. -- we had worked with them on a couple of other cases. it is not written in stone that it be that company, but he has written the security proposal and has been to the venue and familiarized himself with the surroundings, so he is number one in line. it is a fairly new company, only about two years old. commissioner perez: it is in
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your application that your managers will be applying for a guard card. when will that take place? >> they have not started the bill that yet. we will be badgering them to do that. there is a place in oakland that does that. commissioner perez: what was the extent of your neighborhood contact? >> extensive. north beach neighbors, the north beach merchants association, the north beach chamber of commerce, neighborhood veterans group, the telegraph hill dwellers -- it should be in the back of this. i cannot remember all the names. the broadway entertainment and cultural association. also, all of the people who live
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upstairs. there are 13 residents in sro's upstairs. we sent a letter in chinese and english and make sure they knew, and nobody objected at all. also a condominium association in the area. commissioner perez: thank you. commissioner meko: perfect. don't need to say anything more about your neighborhood a rich. as a result, where are the angry neighbors? they are not here. it is a first. vice chair joseph: do you have a liquor license? >> no. they wanted to wait a year. vice chair joseph: this is definitely 21 and over no matter what? >> right, just because they felt it would be an easier demographic. president newlin: thank you. any public comment on that
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proposal? seeing none, do we have a motion? vice chair joseph: i move to approve, with the police conditions striking the indoor cameras and the requirement to turnover the video upon demand, and increasing the minimum from 15 days to 30 to keep the footage. commissioner meko: i second that. president newlin: ok. >> same house and call? president newlin: i think so. thank you, and good luck. item six, commissioners comments and questions. vice chair joseph: just me. once again, san francisco pride -- just so you know, san frsc