modi, rakesh, dba omg!. >> it is an upscale lounge and nightclub. it is just south of market street with an emphasis on hollywood and barack obama music -- bongo music. i think we will entertain a request to continue it. with someone, and correct me? >> we have got some of these -- we have everybody lining up. >> good evening, commissioners. at this time, i would like to request a continuance. that is based on the fact that the current security plan is inadequate. i would like your paternity to meet with mr. -- i would like

the opportunity to meet with mr. modi. >> is he in agreement for amendments? >> we can talk to them. >> ok. commissioners? >> can i ask you what you found inadequate? >> number one, he does not have -- the name of the company picked out. there is no mention of lighting, security cameras, patrons upon exiting the establishment, safety protocol for them upon leaving, and hours of the security guards. director kane: ok. thank you. >> ok.

do what the club owners -- yes, sir? >> my name is rakesh modi. we just -- we're ok with having the hearing at another date and working with sfpd. i would like to point out that we have provided all the security plans to the entertainment commission, including the exit strategies, and the lighting, and the cameras. everything is provided. we will definitely make sure that another copy is provided to dfp -- sfpd. we will work with them to focus on their requirements. >> all right. ok. commissioner joseph: i just -- the fact -- the security plan you provided is fine, if, in

fact, you hire your own security guards. if you are going to hire an outside security company, they may have a different protocol. therefore, your security plan would no longer be the security plan. it would be theirs. you have to come to a decision on whether you are going to hire security guards or whether you're going to hire an outside company. i think that we don't necessarily require that you identify that company in order to get a conditional grant. >> we -- since we have submitted the application, we have a company in mind. monarch on 6th and mission has been using johnson security. we plan to use the same security company. we have not entered into any kind of contract or negotiations with them. we do plan to use the same security company.

>> ok. thank you. >> make sure you coordinate before we reschedule you. the officer from southern station and with the staff, we can have everything and everybody in agreement before we come here. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> someone has to move. >> we need a motion to continue. >> one more comment. the applicants -- southern station is actually pretty open. if you're going to hire the security company, you should have a meeting and see if you can work things out. i don't think there's a big problem. what you have here is fine. you should get together with everybody. >> thank you. >> i will suggest you talk to monarch's about the outreach they did in the neighborhood. i know they have a positive experience talking to that nonprofits.

you have done some. they are, like, business associations, not necessarily neighborhood associations. it is only a suggestion that will maybe help you in the neighborhood. i know monarch's found it helpful. i wanted to suggest that you possibly do something like that. i would like to move a for a continuance. >> until? >> i want to make a friendly amendment. you want to move to the continuance at the request of san francisco pd. >> until? >> to the next meeting. that is my friendly amendment. >> accepted. >> i second that. commissioner hyde: aye. commissioner joseph: aye. commissioner tan: aye. commissioner lee: aye. >> all right.

thank you. 5c, luu duc. >> i have to recuse myself on these items because i have common interests with the applicant. it is going to be this one and probably the next one as well. so, i will see you later. >> all right. [laughter] >> call me later. >> space 550 is a dance club located in an industrial area. in bayview. the venue has been there since 1995. the application is speak for -- is the force because of a change of ownership. it would like to continue operating as a dance club. this is a hearing of two permits, extended hours and place of entertainment.

>> ok. chair newlin, commissioners, my name is mark. i have a few things to hand out. pictures. not sure if you've all got these, but there are a couple of letters that came. i would like to pass the mouth. a -- them out. i am here tonight with the "owner and applicant linda, who is with us -- security had [inaudible]

we also have the former owner of space 550 and now the head of operations. he has been a client of mine for over 20 years, probably the most successful gay promoter in california for over 22 years. he has been the owner since 1999. he has a number of other interests and is being hired under a five-figure contract by the 550 barneveld inc. group to stay on as the head of operations. he will tell us about what he plans. there is now a thursday night and sunday night gay party called sundance. there is occasional -- he owns the gus presents, a successful

promotion company. he has monthly events in the venue. the other events that will be planned our corporate in nature. there might be an occasional asian party put on. i forgot to mention, duc luu is not with us tonight. i'm fully prepared and will answer any questions you might have concerning -- concerning any of the other business operations. i know when we were here the last time, there were a number of issues. if i might just briefly cover that, i -- as you know, jocelyn can back me up on this, i have a lot of nightclub clients. i have pretty much the most successful young nightclub lines in san francisco, including vintage 415, atonic boys, red

bull, mayhem, a couple of more things. i also have mr. luu. the sake lab sale was pending. he was the most successful asian promoter in san francisco. he held parties in places, such as at&t park. he did city hall. he has a party on halloween and new year's eve in fort mason's that is always attended by approximately 3000 young, asian, college-and vacated professionals. there has never been one party -- college-educated professionals. there has never been a problem with those parties. i would have to stand here and say that, absolutely, duc is the

most successful of these people. he started as a promoter. he got a place on broadway. sake lab used to be a problem. there was a top-five hit list and it was up there. when mr. luu took over this, ronnie law has been a manager there. linda has also been the operations manager. there have been essentially no problems in one of the worst streets in town. i would like gus to come up. i would like to comment on a couple of letters. hopefully, you got these. i decided to print them. especially the letter from ana tran at first republicbank. she told me duc's history of

coming from hong kong as a two- year-old, living in the tenderloin, what was that like. that was 30 years ago. miss tran -- they grew up in the tenderloin. he started as a promoter and was successful. now he is a successful businessman. what he does with some of the money he generates is he tries to invest in other properties. he understands the entertainment business. he has done a good job with it. if you can talk to some of his managers tonight, i think you will see that he has excellent staff. he will manage them. gus, could you tell little bit about what is going on? >> sure. >> my name is gus beane. i've been a longtime promoter in

san francisco, 26 years in the business of throwing parties and special events, largely for the gay male community. in 1999, after doing parties at space 550, a purchase the business. that was the height of the good times with the dot com and the demographic was everything from gay dance parties, gay latin, trance events, asian parties, and mentioning asian, duc cantu is probably almost eight years ago as a promoter with blue ice. we had the pleasure of working with him and probably eight or nine events, all of which were successful, well-managed, and i believe incident-free.

a i am excited about both selling the business, having duc come on board, and having the opportunity to stay on board, showing them the ropes, but to stay in place, continue booking events at the facility, both my own and others, as mark mentioned. currently, bookings are a bit scarce. we are looking forward to generating some new excitement. duc plans to invest a fair amount of money in the facility, making repairs, so, wwith -- with that, i am expected to continue with the facility. right now, we have thursday and sunday, which are the gay cowboy nights. sundance saloon, an important civic event, all money going to

charity, a great bunch of guys. they have been there for years. other than that, i am doing parties about once a month. the other big demographic, which i think he failed to mention is the burning man community. we do quite a few events, camp fund-raisers, we have worked with the actual founders of burning and over the years, lots of great parties, great electronic music, and those, along with the dance events for the gay male community, are the ones that to continue late into the night with after hours. we're excited about continuing those in addition to my events. myself and my new were bar manager, frankie, which i would love to introduce to jocelyn at some point -- we always like to

-- we will do lunch. anyway, that is my speech of us are. >> i have a question. so come in the years you have been operating, can you tell me the last time you had an incident late-night that would be between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., where the police had to be called, or anybody had to be called? >> i appreciate that. to my knowledge, after 2:00 a.m., after the bar closes until 6:00 a.m., again, i believe we have been incident- free for several years. when things have happened, and it has been quite some time, there have been medical emergencies, usually minor. other than that, most of the

police calls, and there have been more than a few, have largely taken place between the hours of midnight and 2:00 a.m. it very much involves an alcohol-drinking community that pretty much leaves and goes home when the bars close. >> a. another question is, you are going to have your own -- you will hire security, but you will have epic manage them? is that right? >> i was going to get into that. we have talked to epic. we're talking to another firm. we might handle it in-house. we have quite a few people at various venues. we might want to hire them ourselves. >> ok. also, sundance saloon is an outstanding group of people. i am proud to say they were birth to many years ago, 15 or 20 years ago.

they give a ton of money back to the community. i don't think you have ever had any incident with them. i know i never did. they are outstanding people. i know we in the community appreciate you do them two nights a week. that is great. >> if i could quickly add to that, duc is not only raised in the tenderloin, but i think he respects the diversity of the city, and certainly the night live community. he is thrilled to have the cowboys their. he is very much looking forward to continuing on as a gay dance party space of note to a pretty diverse line of events. >> thank you. -- lineup of the events. >> thank you. >> i would like miss lamb to give a brief background on herself. >> good evening. my name is linda.

i started right in the very beginning when he opened his business. after graduating, a double major in accounting and finance, he decided to hire me as his operation manager. i currently operate that menu -- venue. i have been there for three years. watching is pretty amazing. actually making something out of nothing is pretty impressive. i am really glad that he is extending out. he is giving opportunities to those who need it, you know? with the economy being so bad, he is providing more jobs for those who need it as well. whenever we can, whenever there are events, we do give back to the community as well. it is not all about making money. it is also about giving back to the community. thanks.

>> good evening. my name is rommie lau -- ronnie lau. i was hired about four years ago to be the general manager, as well as oversee the security operation. there was a bit of lack of security, so he hired me to be the consultant and revise the security plan. i have now been appointed to hopefully do the same for 550, increase the level of respect with the community, as well as the safety and security of the venue itself. thank you. >> thank you. >> i might add, ronnie goes back -- he was the head of operations and head of security with a 600- person occupancy, in line with what we're talking about here.

he has some history going back. i was going to mention that we do have in the security plan that we would hire epic, but it is point, we are not. if you have any further questions -- i think we passed out the photographs of the place. for commissioner hyde, i would like to mention that not a lot of neighbors are there, but the biggest neighbor that is open is best beverage catering, two doors away. i had conversations with of the general manager and with a couple of the folks over there, suzanne, and bob williams. basically, i remember years ago, there was some problem when it first opened. i think there was no parking. people were parking in their driveway. i have made contact with them and said, please talk to your people. what can we do to help you? we want to make it right.

rejoined the bayview merchants association, farther out in bayview. we have contacted the dog patch, a merchant association. they said, you are not in the dark patch. there is a neighborhood association we have associated. they are dormant. we have reached out to the bayview basin neighborhood association. we would like them to use our facility, just like sundance. on sundance, there have been discussions with me present about sundance. duc was all for it. we told them this is very important to certain communities, and that even if it was just breaking even, he should do it. he said, absolutely. actually, they're the ones who built the spring dance floor in that facility.

that is a large facility. they took their charity money and built a dance floor from it. i have a few -- i am not sure how many letters are e-mails. i have a few here. there has been some concern in the entertainment community because i believe the sfpd as requested no after-hours. if we really think about it, we, especially if you look at the letter from the international arts festival, andrew wood, if we are going to be a cosmopolitan, world-class city, we cannot shut down all or after hours. we cannot shut down hamburger joints. we cannot shut down our after- hours clubs, especially the one club which is cited such that it will not disturb anybody. as youit is beneath a busy free.

space 550 is a half a mile from anybody or anything. this was the one time out of 350 tests i have done where ed cam e in, he said why? there is nobody for miles. he walked away. you pass, he said. there is nobody out there. there is plenty of parking. it is a perfect space. other than bbc, there is nothing out there. the burning man and the parties go until late in the morning. 5:00, 6:00, we would request a conditional grant on this for the place of entertainment and the extended hours and request that the extended hours have no

restriction. >> is there any questions from the commission to the applicants and? >> i had a question. you said there will be some improvements to the actual building. can you describe, i know it is not laid out, but the thoughts? >> number one, hopefully the roof will not beat anymore. that has been going on for more than a few years. some roof repairs, electrical, some sound system repairs. expanding the allied dating -- the lighting. booth seating and table areas. a lot of stuff we have has taken a beating over the years. that is it. no structural changes. other than repairing the roof.

>> i'm dating myself. i have fond memories. >> colossus is still going on. i will see you on gay pride. [laughter] >> i remember from a month ago, march 12, i have my notes. you made rug -- remark about violations was good neighbor policy. the sidewalk completely blocked, people had to go around. groups of people. dressed arrests. -- drug arrests. i was wondering if you know, if those things are salolved. i was wondering what your -- >> this is the same owners, same

a management group. as far as issues that department 24, since that report, if i'm correct, that security is gone. there is a new security company. after that incident, apartment 24 released their current security company. we have not been receiving reports on sidewalks being blocked for that kind of stuff. >> my question to the applicants, what did you learn from that experience that you will apply to your new venue? >> my client learned that he cannot hide anymore, for one thing. he felt bad about that. he fired all of the security people, brought in a new security. he was going to give back. he is a half owner in that place

with an investment banker. he was going to give back half of his ownership because he said there is no upside on broadway. there is only down side of broadway. now i have bigger venues, i have things that, if anything happens, is going to reflect poorly on my other places. i think there is a possibility there is an offer on the table. there is a chance he is going to hand back apartment 24 and leave broadway. which you have to remember, duc is one of these guys, at by low and sell high. he bought verizon for a gun -- horizon for a good price. if you remember the end of an apartment 24, robert nunez, we had to take it over because we

were afraid the abc was going to shut it down. we came in prematurely on that one. it was a distressed property. some of these venues, with the leases of up,duc has a good report on the owner of the building. he got a deal on that. as i said last time, made is not fair to beat on their heads. with apartment 24, anytime you have a drug sale, a knife, a gun, some sort of a violent incident, the buck stops with the owner. we take this very seriously. any time anything that happens is any of his clubs, at heads will roll. there are 200 employees.