entertainment commission. supervisor kim: i believe all of the applicants are here today, so first i will be called amie bailey-knobler and then tim eicher. supervisor kim: is amie here? i guess she is not. now tim eicher. same format as with mr. tan. if you could speak about your experience and the things you hope to work on on the entertainment commission as well. >> good afternoon. a move to san francisco in 1989. i own three bars in the castro

and one along the russian river. when i got the first bar in the castro one of the first things i did was to join in the eureka valley neighborhood association. i did that because i wanted to be in this business for the long term and i felt like the long term success of the bar depended on the understanding of the neighborhood concerns and being able to proactively resolve issues before they get out of control and become huge issues. i tried hard with all the bars to make sure they are responsible members of the community and trying to do good and involve the neighborhood. so, i am also on the board right now. i helped former castro after dark which is a coalition of nighttime businesses in the

castro. with castro after dark i took the lead on crime reduction issues. i do not know how many people are aware. there has been an increase in things like petty theft in the castro. people are coming in and stealing iphones and smart phones and wallets and things like that. one of the things we have been working on is working closely with sfpd with mission station to put together an alert program where the bars and restaurants and cafes are working to promote awareness and educate patient -- patrons to watch their belongings and be careful. also i put together a program where the bars can communicate to each other and with the police by texting to a single number that goes to the security staff. something happens at one bar, it will alert all the other bars so

they can be watching out. going through the neighborhood and -- someone going through the neighborhood and stealing smart phones, let's be extra vigilant. i am putting together a series of training sessions for security staff at the bars for things like fake i.d. detection, property escalation techniques, how to detect pickpockets and things like that. i feel like getting the security staff at all the venues properly trained and working together is an extremely important part of decreasing -- increasing safety and decreasing the crime. part of my background, i have a background in technology. as part of that, i have developed skills in problem- solving and finding practical solutions. that is one of the things i bring to the table. as well as one of my strengths is finding common ground on issues and coming up with practical compromise solutions

that everyone can live with. as far as we would like to do on the commission, one of the areas i think i would like to work on is the crime and safety issue. i think if we can extend training to a larger number of venues around all these safety issues, i think it would be positive. cmac has done at a tremendous amount of work in this area. it could be expanded upon. also, the other thing i would like to work on, entertainment is such a vital part of having a world-class city. i would like to see entertainment and nightlife promoted as part of the city's promotion toward visitors and tourists. it is another area i would like to work on. thank you.

supervisor kim: are there any questions for the applicant? ok. i have a couple of questions which will be asking all the applicants. have you attended an entertainment commission meeting? >> yes. supervisor kim: also in terms of your time commitment, do you think you will be able to commit to the time involved in not just the commission meeting but attending association meetings as well? >> that is an important part of being on the commission. i would not want to make decisions in a vacuum. doing that is an important part of being on the commission. supervisor kim: also we have a policy that supervisor wiener and president chiu has brought forward, around on monitored parking lot. we have quite a number in the south of market. >> i think it is a great idea. it is important.

i would -- i am curious about whether i would apply -- it would apply to private parking lots. there are city-owned lots that would benefit from the same techniques. i definitely support it. i wonder if we should not apply to city parking lot as well -- lots as well. supervisor kim: i wondered if you had any thoughts around staggered parking. >> it is a good idea. one of the problems is we have everyone pouring out of the bars at 2:00 a.m. and different groups of people intermingling and there is potential for conflict. i think having staggered exit times would be a great idea. also, late-night restaurants are

great idea. i would like to see more of those. it is a great place for people to go and sober up a little bit before going home. i think having options that don't have everyone trying to pour out and leave these venues at 2:00 a.m. is a idea. supervisor kim: several other folks have brought up the idea. it is not a permit issue. if there are restaurants near entertainment venues or other ways the commission could do l ration what we could do about late-night dining. i appreciate that. thank you. seeing no other further questions. we will call up steven lee. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i come to -- before you to offer my personal time and knowledge in the entertainment field foresee tw -- for seat two.

i bring to 30 years of practical experience starting as a broadcast communications major. living on merced hall, i joined an asian student group that did barbecues and held house parties and dance things. i spent hours producing the music and the dancing stuff and i emceed for them. i worked for pg&e in the mail room. when i finished the promoted me to a public relations in the audiovisual technical field. i was in charge of all their video gear, audio taping, recordings. in 1982, being bored there at the corporate level, i quit to do -- to be an entrepreneur. i wanted to explore the

situation of making a fun part time side money thing into a real business. i quit my job to do this. in 1982, i decided to learn everything i needed to know about the entertainment business in san francisco. from being a d.j. i managed bands and booked the bands. the street fair, the cherry blossom street fair, even worked on the coordination involved, bringing bans and entertainment to the community for their fundraiser uses. at the same time hosting -- over 500 events at that time. the largest one but myself, i had 3000 people at a new year's eve party -- by myself i had 3000 people at a new year's eve party at mosconi center. we had a mobile dj thing and we

were going around. i gained so much -- they were calling me the king of parties but it was called the king of set -- social networking before social networking was known. i work hard to preserve the spirit of entertainment in san francisco. charlie lo, i was watching the documentary on forbidden city. he was the first asian-american nightclub owner who against all odds opened a nightclub in -- near sadr and grant -- sutter and grant, to help the troops and the visitors to san francisco. i met andy wong who was in charge of the sky room in chinatown. well i -- i threw my first outside party when i was 21 and met the owner of bimbo's.

i see all these pictures of frank sinatra and glen campbell and i said, what is this place? he was telling me, my place was the place where everybody would go to see big-name entertainers. that kind of inspired me. through my course of my career, and promoting, i felt that the only way to reach salable of any promoter is to own a nightclub. as you know, a lot of the city places are owned by former promoters of san francisco. what happened is, i built a business plan, the trucadero nightclub. a sister club of studio 54. the owner -- the neighborhood

wanted to shut it down. abc and the police wanted to shut it down. the guy was definitely on his last leg. he asked me to propose something to put to renovate this club. first i thought it was a great idea. at the same idea it became the glass cat. i was happy to keep it going. that club has been there since 1977. we have been there 12 years and we remodeled to go another 10 or 12 years. that said, a lot of problems come with a club like that. neighborhood issues, i had to deal with 40 violations from the city to take care of, which are handled. i had neighborhoods in the area that did not want us individually after a few years of mediation, we were able to have a lot of trial and error situations with the neighborhood. i had sweepers sweep the streets.

i had security guards in the alleys so that our patrons do not go down there and park in there so that the wake them up when it is time to go home. they used to be open till 6:00 a.m. but as a transfer rate, we lost that. -- is a transferee -- as a transferree, we lost that. we finally got after-hours and is working out. for the public safety in the neighbors, the after-hours extension has worked out really well. -- and the neighbors, the after hours extension has worked out really well. i went to college here and move to the marina to supervisor farrell's district and i have been here all the way to last year. i lived in my grandfather's apartment building as a resident manager there. on the corner of filbert and buchanan.

one block from union street. believe me, being next to union street and all the things that go on, i know what it is like to be next to a club and to be a neighbor. that helped me a lot to mitigate a lot of the issues with the glass cat and the neighbors there. when the palms came up, i had to do extra work there and so far we seem to be ok with that. ok? supervisor kim: we have your resume. it is extensive and we appreciate your extensive history. if you could talk more about your interest on the commission, what you would like to accomplish with your priorities. >> the commission first of all, i want to come in there and boost the morale. the commission seems after the problems with some of our

brother sister clubs as we say, we have some issues. the entertainment commission has been attacked and we changed and reformed -- re-cangehanged and reformed. giving them rights to suspend is a good thing. i would like to streamline that a little more to get the due process. i want to go out -- i go out every week and still. i live in san mateo, i am still on the board of cmac, i still come to meetings for cmac. i want to go out and see the other owners and talk to them more. i am more of a city-wide guy. i do not just hang out in soma, i party and dine in all

districts. i have business owners in all districts. why not go out with the permit officer and just go? i have no problems with that. i think the main thing is to make the commission something proud that not only that they are promoting entertainment, they're making sure responsible owners own bars and clubs. at the same time, we have to do something to bring business back to san francisco and also to protect the tourists that come here. and because i have relationships with a lot of the venue owners, i could make headway to get some compromise or to get some things going like i did with the neighbors. that is basically it. supervisor kim: thank you. we will open up for questions. i do not know if you remember

the questions i asked before. i know that you worked on the policy. if you could speak about the unmonitored parking policy and why you think is important. and talking about staggered permits for closing time for venues. >> the parking lot legislation has been my idea for many years. we have a parking lot that is one block away from our nightclub that has no fans, no gate. people can come from all directions. it is something that has been bothering me and also with the palms coming out, it has been an issue. we go out to my -- we go out and make sure people are gone. there is no one to take responsibility for someone else's property. i was able to talk to the supervisor -- supervisor chiu and mention the situation.

if we could control the lots, not only will we help them, at the same time, people do not get their cars broken into and their keys are lost and they are crying in the parking lot, making even more noise or there is fights. not even the club goers. these are people that come off the bridge and go into the parking lot at 2:00 a.m. to engage our customers. they fight, why are we even dealing with them when they're not even my customer? this is something that is important. thanks to supervisor wiener for cochairing that. no matter what i did in the city, that is the one thing that i am happy i was able to bring that up. supervisor kim: thank you. and the staggered system? >> ramiya works. like i told you, we turn in our after-hours permit and everybody

had to be pushed out at 2:00 a.m. and the police would come and we had to shut the door and all these people are in the street. we have a series of eight security guards to 15, depending on what the event is. can you imagine if a big cattle call at 2:00 a.m. and the sidewalks are only so big. they end up in the street. we finally got approved, we had music off at 2:30 a.m. and everybody out at 3:00 a.m., people filter out. people drink water. they ask for water. we give free water to people, if you have an intoxicated person you are supposed to take care of them. it did not put them in the street and let them sit there. we give them water or coffee or juice. they have an opportunity to sober up. i still have staff inside but

the rest of the team is following the month -- them out to the parking lots and making sure there are obeying the law, not disturbing the neighbors. the rest of the people go in there is less drum in the parking lot and less stress in the street. the police hardly come when we could take care of it. especially nowadays when there is six officers at night. patrolling all the areas of the market. supervisor kim: thank you. are there any follow-ups? thank you. next we will call up the last applicant, steffen lippman. >> good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for taking your time to hear from us. my name is steffen lippman, i have been a resident for 20

years. in the sitting member in -- i am the sitting member in district 2. i come to you today feeling uniquely qualified for the entertainment commission simply because i have spent the last 25 years in the nightclub business. that said, i have worked pretty much in a wide variety of club rules -- roles, including production, marketing, running clubs, day-to-day management. i did that in new york for probably 10 years, here in san francisco now about 16 or 17 years. i also feel i am uniquely qualified because i currently own a cd and dvd distribution company that represents 500

independent labels. i have run this business from the ground up starting in 2003 with 7 labels now representing close to 500 labels. that said, i am an artist myself, a poor farmer myself. in fact, -- i am an artist myself, a performer myself. in the night club industry, dealing with the venues or artists as well as dealing with the police, dealing with enforcement agencies. specifically to that point, i was basically appointed to create an album in 2000 between greek cypriots and turkish cypriots, proving that conflict

resolution through music can be achieved. that said, here in san francisco, i have spent quite a bit of time getting to know various members of the entertainment community. including current members of the commission and current owners of many clubs in the city. entertainment is my life. i basically live and breathe it. as an entrepreneur in the work with -- work 90 hours -- i work 90 hours a week to keep my business going. for me it is an ability to get involved without necessarily a huge amount of, let's call it vested interest in any party. i will say i come to this from an independent standpoint and knowing that independent musicians have a hard time in the booking aspect, in making enough money to be sustainable here in the city, and i would

see myself in a role tha tcould -- that could liase between artists and the community. i feel like we are in a time where the industry is changing so much. my company has gone from a distribution company to a marketing company and in that way i interact with press all the time and social media. i bring i feel all level of youth to this. the reason i am successful in my day job is because i am an artist, i am involved in creation. that said, san francisco has a vibrant entertainment scene. it continues to grow, it continues to bring people to the city. i believe that there are a lot of ways that this commission can positively impact the scene as it is now. i would say one of the first things i would bring to the

table ideally would be the way to book local and by that, i mean to have venue owners to have successful venues whether they be corporately owned or independently owned. book artists on weekends to open up for established artists with the hope of growing those artists to fill their venues on monday or tuesday and wednesday. this was an idea i discussed a long time ago with boots houston who owned the maritime hall. i asked why do not book on a local opener and he said they do not drive people -- drug people. -- draw people. if you do it would add to the revenue. that is why would like to see happen. i cannot say anything more than willing to encourage the current lackluster book local.

supervisor campos: thank you. -- supervisor kim: thank you. have you attended an entertainment commission meeting? >> i have attended a couple of them. supervisor kim: how do you see your role as a commissioner in working with them? >> i spent time with independent artists. supervisor kim: how do you view the commission's role in doing that? is that part of the role of the entertainment commission? >> i feel like it is part of the role of the entertainment commission as they are the only governing body that can get the ear of the community. the owners of the clubs. but also from the standpoint of there must be 10,000 independent acts that are based here. they do not have a voice and i feel like the commission could give those independents and not

to say that what is going on currently in legislation with trying to make it easier for been used to book acts, that was a great step in the right direction. there is still a disconnect between these artists who want to get into these been used but they do not know how. supervisor kim: in terms of your time commitment. do you feel you have the time to attend community meetings as well? >> yes i do. i would perhaps upon being appointed i would resign my prose that commission. supervisor kim: there [unintelligible] >> there is a need nowadays. i tend to be there sometimes

late at night. there is absolutely a need for some type of legislation to protect the innocent. people who are not involved in what is going on. supervisor kim: thank you. also your position or thoughts on the staggered system of pernice -- permits. >> 4:00 a.m. was an early by our standards. i support the idea of having a staggered system. it would relate for me, it having its place in the committee. certain communities could go as long as 6:00 a.m. but i feel like there are certain communities that would be a hindrance to the community or-to the community to allow the venue to stay open late. supervisor kim: thank you. any follow-up questions or comments? thank you so much. at this time we will open up for

public comment. i have a number of cards. i will call those names first. first i will call up seven names at a time. dennis juarez, gregory chu, jesus lara, wayne hom, larry metzger, and john belmore. >> hello, supervisors. i work at slim's and this may be awkward. i came here to speak in favor of steven lee. i have known him for