>> good afternoon, my name is steven lee. i've been a resident since 1985. my family's been in san francisco 80 years. my grand parents were here and had a small store called yoshi's. i'm on a board of a few community non profit organizations. i've been serving as your entertainment commissioner for two -and-a-half years. i'm here today to ask for your endorsement so i can continue to serve on the entertainment commission for another term. two-and-a-half years wasn't enough for me. i'd like to finish the work i started connecting with the public, educating the community about night life, getting clubs and neighbors to work together, being able to be offer my

professional knowledge about an industry i spent half my life in san francisco. i provide real practical industry experience and not theoretical assumptions to the commission accident occurring process. what motivates me i'm energying to continue to learn more from the community. i attend many safety and planning meetings, i attend monthly meetings with the soma nightclub owners where we actually exchange safety information, not as competitors, but actually as partners, as comrades. i vol volunteer my time as the california music and culture association as a board member and keep me up to date on current state and federal legislation that can be effective with small business and eventually the entire industry. it has been my platform to

encourage permit holders to take care of their own place. police yourself, be prepared, anything could wipe out your business. police your own outside, go beyond 100 feet limit and get your patrons home and clear the area so the neighbors are not impacted. before i became commissioner i lobbied for parking lot legislation where parking lot owners become more responsible with their own lots than the nightclubings next to it. some guys are [inaudible] passed in 2012. last year i instigated a cell phone sting in a club. we were losing a does be cell phones every week for the whole summer and at first we thought it was just isolated but then we figured out it was a network so with using little fluorescent gel and dummy cell phones and decoyed employees we

were able to catch a number of thefts in the club and we now eliminated i would say 90% of our cell phone thefts in the club. i share that information with report rs on channel 2 and 5 so the public would know to watch their purses and keep an eye on their cell phones. my side projects are revitalizing old nightclubs that are now becoming income generators, job creators at popular places for visitors to be attracted to. i've handled the inspection process. this knowledge comes handy on the commission when studying instruction relating items submitted by applicants. the last thing i want to add is as an effective industry remember on entertainment commission is to have an active

and experienced club owner -- a club owner who understands other club owners responsibilities, they should know about the latest laws being enforced, protect the employees, protect the patrons and protect the business. be respectful to the neighbors and the law enforce m. the industry is a important one. i feel i did a good job in 2-and-a-half years. i missed one meeting because it was my birthday. and please let me continue and make the commission credible and diverse. >> okay. were you clubbing on your birthday? [laughter] >> yes. [laughter] >> okay. any questions? seeing none, thank you. any public comments on this item? come on up, line up on that side and you have two minutes each.

>> hi, nice to see you all. i have a list of things i was going to say about steven, but he covered most of them so i'm going to wing it. steven didn't learn by perfection, he learned by getting in trouble. we all learn by getting in trouble and through the years we seek perfection. he's been in our neighborhood for a really long time. he worked with commander korea and we've developed best practices and it's worked out and it continues to work out and having steven on the entertainment commission for me, as a nightclub owner and a festival thrower, for lack of another word, is very important

because he's gone through the trials and tribulations that i have. we do have an excellent relationship with the police department now. we didn't ten years ago. and we work with them. i want to tell an an anecdotal statement. i work with the [inaudible]. steven one night we were in china town and we spent and hour and he told me the china town history and all the families that live there and what their history was and that was just as important and just as touching as having heard the hellman family history. done. >> good afternoon, i currently serve as the president of cmac and i'd like to read a letter from our executive director.

on behalf of the board of directors on the california music and calture association, it is my [inaudible] to the entertainment commission. over the past year as commissioner earnestly and not out of malice, but from an honest desire to inform, instruct and otherwise prepare our would be committees the responsibilities as club owners. we have seen him out in the field late at night gathering first hands street level information as it unfolds and morphs from season to season, being personally acquainted with good and bad players as they come to the scene. in addition to the obligations he performs reckly throughout the city, he has served on the board of directors and has been he a toendz nearly every meeting and is an active par tus pant [inaudible] as well as

a host of local problems. on personal note i believe steven's highest qualifications to the entertainment commission lies in managing the glass cat. that's where i first met him. as managing partner of the hotel utah which was next door [inaudible] and being kept alive by staffers who were scraping together money each night to open the doors. major police action was the norm on friday and saturday night to such an extent that that my customers were often barricaded inside by the melee on the street. at that time i was skeptical that we could expect a different outcome since someone with no real niepth club management experience [inaudible] worked day and night in short order created a new safe and sane business that was a true participant within

the community despite what could only [inaudible] how the majority of club owners operate and how they learn for reasons that he now knows what it takes and what you must avoid when it comes to running a good nightclub. it is our opinion uniquely qualifies steven to be our industry representative and it's for that reason that we lends our full support to its effort to regain reappointment to that seat. thank you for your time. >> thank you. just for people that haven't been here before, you have 30 seconds after the first gong to complete your statement. >> thank you. >> supervisors good afternoon, the best way to learn is through experience and sometimes those experiences are

not always the most pleasant, but it is through learning by experience that we learn the true lessons that do not leave us. you are faced today with an extremely difficult challenge. i don't, in any way, wish that i were making this decision. you have qualified individuals who are coming to the commission i am proud that in january i'll be celebrating 20 years of activism. and serving as its founding president. one of the things that is necessary for the commission is continuity and steven brings not only his learning by hard experience, but a continuity to the commissioner experience, the commentary that he gives to people who are applying for a permit and the decisions he's forced to make when people act out of their roles as good nightclub owners. he can bring that experience to

the commission and it's necessary that the commissioners who don't have that experience or who are new coming on to the commission for the first time have at least one or two or three people there who know the ropes because there isn't a formal training program much to my dismay for commissioners. there's no formal way for how they learn the rules, they don't know the law and they learn it by trial and error. i'd like to see qualified members who have come forward before you today and had other opportunities to seek commission appointments throughout the city. i'd like to see the commission expand its commission role by creating an advisory board so these folks can get the necessary experience so when they step forward as commissioner they are ready, they know the law, they know how it works and can move into the job immediately and become effective. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> good afternoon supervisors, my name's [inaudible].

i'm talking about steven lee today. everybody's talked about him from a industry perspective. as everybody knows, i'm a neighborhood guy and i'm going to talk from the neighborhood perspective. i've had to deal with the entertainment commission and steven on a couple things in the richmond district and steven's always been very fair, understanding and knowledgeable. he doesn't just go industry and that's it. he looks at what the neighbors think and what they need and he listens to what they say. when i went into a meeting on a after hours permit and steven was there i sat down and listened because it was my role as the neighborhood representative, i guess you'd call it, and i sat there and just listened and so did steven and both of us just kind of looking like, what the hell is this going on here? and all the sudden we learned that it was an issue of more than what was just on the top and steven kind of went through and found what the issues were

and fixed them and that was something that i really appreciated as a neighborhood guy. and i deal with neighborhood issues always time and one of my main references is steven lee and i truly appreciate he's been able to pick up the phone and listen and give me solid advice when i've had problems with neighborhoodish shub as well when it comes to entertainment. i would hope you'd continue to keep him on the entertainment commission. he's great for neighborhoods so thank you guys. >> good day, my name is phillip, i've lost my voice this weekend from a sporting event. forgive me for that. i'm [inaudible] in that role i am the boss for mr. moshoyannis and i'm here to speak on his behalf as well as to his nomination. he's been our executive director for nine years and

during that time our events have grown, we've expanded a lot in terms of the different ways we present the festival and now it's no longer as known as street fairs, it's considered a music festival. we've got two dance areas, a large music stage, performing arts and this year we're including our physical therapy grounds, the new rock and roll stage. speaking of that, because this growth was specifically mr. moshoyannis's idea, it was his desire that we keep going as an organization, that we present a real event for san francisco citizens, but also an international event. right now i'm the one who sent him to london. it's my fault he's not here. he's marketing our event and our city to both the uk and u and maintaining our licensing and trademark over there. he's been really proactive

about working with neighborhoods and clubs in the fair grounds. this year we've actually adapted our street fair footprint a little bit to work well with the department of parking and traffic, and the other organizations and businesses on the fair groubdz and these are all things that came out of his really imaginative crow yehtive thinking to make the best for san francisco and raise the most money for our charities. i wanted to say as his boss i'm very supportive of this volunteer work and hope you will consider his application. thank you. >> hello supervisors, i'm [inaudible] here right now in my dj and night life producer hat. i'm here today not because any of the other applicants are not strong applicants with great track records. i'm here today because i've had the pleasure of working with mr. moshoyannis on folsom

streets events under deviant after party for the past three years and have been so inspired by the way he's worked with neighbors and other folks in the community and non profits to bring everyone to the table, make sure all voices are heard and to do so in a way that i think is unique here in san francisco, sets a great example. folsom street fair brings in 400,000 visitors every year. it's our second largest street festival after pride. to me, the thing that -- the quality that mr. moshoyannis brings, the ting r thing that makes folsom street fair so special, that they use night life and use this festival to provide over $250,000 annually to non profits and i think that

example of using night life to benefit community organizations outside of the folks that come to your events is one that san francisco should be setting on a larger scale and one that our entertainment commission should be setting as well. again, why i'm here supporting mr. moshoyannis even though we have some fantastic other applicants here today. thank you supervisors. >> thank you for the opportunity to be here. i'm speaking on behalf of steven lee who recollects's been a great friends. i've grown up in san francisco. it was that's what strikes me with steven lee as well as we go out there and are meeting in the sunset and richmond and wherever we are we get a sense of family, a sense of ownership, a sense of

accountability for our residents here as we're approaching one million in the city and looking at a demographic that comes in, doesn't own cars, or a lot of things, but they know how to work hard and play hard. i think that's important that we have that consistency to make sure we meet the needs of that dem grandfatheric and i think steven lee is best suited for that. appreciate your time. thank you. >> as a 30 year resident of san francisco, one thing i do is i don't normally represent or come to here to represent a individual, but steven lee is a good friend, but not only am i supporting him for being a commissioner, but also what he does to prevent such crimes within the entertainment commission. i understand that he came up with one of the tracking system

where prevent the cell phone theft, which is a very big issue in the nightclub industry. he's mitigated that. for me, being a commissioner is not only reviewing and approving a lot of the events that goes on, but try to mitigate the troublesome or the bad parts of the entertainment commission. now, also -- you can see it's my first time here -- steven is also a nightclub owner so he knows that business. we already have [inaudible] who does all the events for the city, the parades and the commission. i think diversity within the entertainment commission to represent the nightclub or the night industry would be a great addition to the the diversity of the entertainment commission. thank you.

>> i wanted to thank you for all your great work during the budget hearing and we're thankful to support low income xhounties. i'm here to support steven lee for all his work. i know that as executive director for chinese newcomer service center he has done an enormous amount to help raise funds for immigrants, low income and support funding for our work force efforts. in the last year he helped us with our charity gala, with the food drive that feeds over 5,000 people, with our tele thon. based on my 35 years of legal experience, i feel very comfortable to appear before someone like steven lee. i know that i have a chance to be heard, i know that he is sensitive to the diverse

backgrounds of our san francisco community, and i know that it would be -- i would definitely, no matter the decision, it would be a fear -- he would hear each of the matters fairly and consider all the issues. i know there's a lot of supporters for steven lee to be reappointed in and i won't repeat everything else that people have said before me. thank you for this opportunity. >> any other public comment. seeing none, public comment is now closed. i want to thank all three candidates for this position. like always, when we have more than one good candidate for one position it's always a difficult choice. i certainly appreciate mr. moshoyannis and steven coming to my office and chatting and

introducing themselves to me and what they'd like to get out of this. and i'd like to say that demitri -- i found him to be a very qualified person and seems to have a real passion for wanting to be on the commission and has a real clear vision of what he wanted to do. if it weren't for the fact that this is a position that's already filled by steven and these come inging to us to get reappointed, i would seriously consider mr. moshoyannis; however, i've known steven for a long time, over a decade, i know his work at the glass kag since it was a regular there for -- once a week. and -- eating the food right upstairs. and the other thing that i

noticed in the last few years, that i go to a lot of events, a lot of venues throughout the city in terms of fairs and just gatherings and one of the people i always see from any commission from anywhere is steven and he seems to be just all over the place, making sure he knows what's going on in terms of entertainment in san francisco. because of that, i will be supporting him. i see no reason not to reappoint him. supervisor tang. >> thank you chair yee. i would have to agree with you. i [inaudible] but in any case, i'd say that i -- all three candidates really bring some unique qualities to this particular position. i had a chance to meet with mr. moshoyannis since he wasn't able to attend here and was very impressed by him and actually he did educate me on a lot of things he had been working on, which i really

appreciated. for me i'm really familiar with commission e lee's work in the community. i see him everywhere. every non profit event in the community, the sun setset district. i appreciate the availability he has in the community. and i've been impressed by the amount of people he brings to the same work to work together to support various causes for the city. i think that's incredibly important for this particular commission so i'd be happy to support his reappointment as well. >> supervisor wiener. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you for allowing me to speak today despite the fact i'm not a member of committee. i'm hear because colleagues, as you know, i -- night life and entertainment in san francisco has been an issue that's been a major life focus for me since i've been o on the board. one of the things i did was

request was recommends an economic impact report on our city so we can stop approaching entertainment in san francisco as a problem. supervisor campos and i have now jointly requested economic analysis of our street fairs and festivals and their economic benefit to our city. this is an incredibly port issue and i work with the entertainment commission a lot and have enormous respect for the institution. i have enjoyed working with commission er lee and i have a lot of respect for him, both his work on the commission and his work in the community and night life community, but i'm here to express my long and very positive experience with mr. moshoyannis, who i think

would be a superb member of the entertainment commission. mr. moshoyannis -- i know you've had the opportunity to meet with him. he's not just impressive in his presentation skills and in what you can read on paper, but in terms of the work he's done, it's just been tremendous. folsom is the second largest street festival in san francisco, one of the largest in the country and lest not forget about [inaudible] which is not quite as big, but is growing and quite large. we all here, we read in the paper, we get reports from people about this event or that event or this street festival or that pa ride and about issues and some of the problems and challenges you have. you never hear anything about folsom or dory and that is because demitri and his team do such a stellar job managing these large street festivals

which could easily spiral into something problematic and they don't because demitri's that conty dense, that hard working and that responsible. folsom in particular is really a model for other street festivals. they were doing composting before it was required. they were -- they are always three steps ahead and that is in large part because of demitri's leadership that these events produce huge amounts of money for non profits in our community. demitri is also one of those people in my experience, who has good relationships with everyone. i don't think i know a single person in our sometimes fracture lbgtb community where people are fielthing a little bit, but he has good relationships with everyone, and can bring everyone to the table, evenl critics of his organization, and i think he'd bring that

same approach to the entertainment commission. speaking more broadly, our street fairs and festivals and parades in san francisco are under enormous pressure. the city has not done what it needs to do to foster these street fairs and festivals and in fact, the stiff makes it incredibly hard and expensive for these fairs and festivals to succeed. the prides and folsoms of the world have the wherewithal to make it happen, they have the resources they need to overcome some of the continuous streams of obstacles that city departments put in their way every year. smaller fairs and festivals don't and go under. having a commissioner on this commission who understands that particular aspect of our entertainment world, i think would be very valuable. so again, i'm not in any way speaking against steven lee. i have a lot of respect for him

and the work he's done and continues to do. colleagues i know -- i'm never envious of those who serve on the rules committee because every week you have to make multiple hard choices, but i wanted to express to you how deeply qualified i think demitri is and what a great commissioner i think he would be. >> supervisor campos. >> thank you. i want to thank all three applicants, actually, for coming forward. i think it's always hard wherever there are more applicants than seats available and i have to say that i've been very impressed with the caliber of the applicants with respect to this commission and i especially want to highlight very impressive, very impressive rez resume and

application of demitri moshoyannis. it's hard to think of sort of more impressive candidate that we've seen for this role in a while and i do want to piggyback on what supervisor wiener said about not only life and entertainment, but more specifically, festivals and parades. i think that there is a lot of work that the city needs to do to facilitate these events and i'm very proud of the work that my office has done in focusing on that issue as supervisor indicated, you know, we are trying to understand, have a better sense of the economic benefits that these parades and festivals bring to the city and in the context of