>> the commission meeting of the san francisco entertainment commission. my name is ben bleiman and i'm the president. there are speaker forms to fill out on the tables and you can hand them to staff or you can

come up to the microphone when i call for public comment. we ask that everybody turns off their cell phones including commissioners and staff. i want to thank sf gov tv for sharing this meeting with the public. we can start with a roll call. [roll call] >> the first orer of business is general public comment for any item not listed on the agenda today. does anybody have anything to say? seeing none, general public comment is closed. the next agenda item is number two, approval of the minutes for december 17, 2019. we will need a motion to approve. >> i move to approve >> second. >> any public comment on the minutes from december 17, 2019? seeing none, public comment is

closed. commissioner perez -- [roll call] all right. the meeting minutes have been approved. the next agenda item is a report from our executive director. >> thank you. good evening, commissioners. it's been since november since i've seen you all in this setting. so this is fun to be back. happy new year. and i wanted to take a moment and thank senior analyst rice, dylan, just for being commission secretary tonight while crystal is on a well-deserved vacation. my only update for you all this evening is relative to new year's eve. this is one of our biggest evenings of the year that we prepare for and we provide information to all of the other city agencies for situational

awareness about the events that are going on across the city that evening as well as on new year's day. i believe i shared that with all of you as well so i hope you found that helpful. i wanted to thank our enforcement team for working diligently also along with senior analyst rice to put together the list of events for this year. our inspectors were really important in this role as well because they went out in advance of new year's eve and distributed 350 posters that we partnered with the department of emergency management to produce. and those are letting all of san franciscans know they can sign up for alert sf and it's an evergreen code that they can use essentially nyesf and receive

alerts about incidents that may be occurring, areas to avoid and hopefully we will never have to deal with anything major. this year went out without a hitch. those 350 posters were distributed to 85 venues across the city that we had identified within our list of events. we got really positive feedback from our stakeholders, the permit holders, managers. venue were really positive. a few said the text alert program was really helpful and they were excited to have that service during their parties so we'll continue to work with d.e.m. to come up with those short codes for pride and for halloween and these future big weekends that san francisco has historically a lot of events. on new year's eve itself, the inspectors went out and conducted site inspections of events at 20 venues into the morning of the new year, they worked until about 4:00 a.m. and everybody was in compliance.

and we found that everybody was being responsible and just having a great time. so a good night all in all. and we had very little complaints that evening, this is great, and we'll get into our enforcement report in a moment. we only had four complaints in total. one complaint was received via 311 around 2:00 a.m. gnu year's morning regarding an intersection where there were no permitted venue, and another about the space cowboys block party on the afternoon of new year's day and this is an annual one-time event so we are communicating with the event producer about that. and that's about it. do you have any questions for me? >> i have a question. on the text alert, how does that work if i sign up for it and i happen to be out and about and there's something going on near where i'm at, it will tell me to stay away from that area?

>> yeah. so i encourage everybody to sign up for it just using the regular short code. i can send that information to you. because i receive alerts all the time, essentially, just if you sign up with 88877, i believe it is, i receive alerts for anything in the outer sunset when there's an incident occurring where i live and they let me know avoid whatever intersection there's police activity, sometimes it's more detailed. and so with the new year's eve one, it was anybody who signed up for new year's eve-related text. if there was anything to avoid or have concern about. >> so they have to know based on my gps coordinates where i am that there's something going on around where i am >> exactly. pretty smart technology. even when i'm at work it will let me know when there's something going on around civic

center. >> is it activated heavily during new year's eve? >> was what activated? >> this system. were there a lot of incidents that happened? >> no, there weren't. it wasn't a significant evening for incidents. i believe people just received texts like wear warm layers and get home safe and ride muni because it's free. it was a good night. >> all right. awesome. thank you. >> no questions from me. thank you very much. is there any public comment on our deputy director's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. the next item is number four, which is a report from deputy director azevedo. >> thank you, president bleiman. good evening, commissioners. i want to go through the highlighted notes here from our enforcement report. starting on page one, you'll see i've highlighted 26 and i've

highlighted this venue again because we are still receiving complaints. we are actively working with sfpd mission station and director bleiman and i are arranging a meeting with the owner. and sfpd as well. so we will be going to meeting with them in person to discuss how we can resolve the ongoing issues. i want to note our enforcement team is out there every weekend. and we are observing that they are clearing the sidewalks and folks are loitering, so we want to get to the root of this problem. taking you to page three, i've highlighted revolution cafe. we are still seeing complaints come in about this premises and this friday inspector -- senior inspector roberts will be going out to revolution cafe to have a meeting on-site with the coner to discuss possible sound abatement solutions and do a new sound test. so we are hoping that we can

give them a more realistic sound limit. i also did have a sit-down with the owner to discuss their programming. so we are taking steps hopefully in the right direction with this venue. i have highlighted the space cowboys block party which director touched on. we did receive complaints about that and #in contact with the event managers. the last highlight i have for you is on page ten, regarding eltribl. it was the llp we permitted last hearing. just letting you know their first night of entertainment they did go past their llp time. so we did issue a citation for that. this is their third citation since july. and i have spoken with the owner. and i hopefully made it very,

very clear the entertainment needs to end at 10:00. i'm happy to answer any questions that you have. >> i had a question or two. i saw may's pop up back leer. i feel like long ago they had had some issues and then they've kind of melted away for a bit. is there any insight on that? >> you are very correct in that statement. they have been off our radar for quite some time. they popped back up for two complaints pretty -- i mean, as you can see, they are five minutes apart on that one night. so the inspector did respond to those complaints in realtime. he went earlier in the evening when initially spoke with the

manager and then went back later and spoke with an owner and watched their closing time procedures. and so the plan of action here is i do intend to have a conversation with the owner just regarding their closing time procedures with the folks outside. >> i also think that this time of year is strange because the streets are so quiet and if you have one venue that has a lot of activity going on in it, it it can cause a different outcome than normally. questions? >> no. >> all right. thank you very much for the report. is there any public comment on deputy director azevedo's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. the next agenda item is number five, which is hearing and possible action regarding applications for permits under the jurisdiction of the entertainment commission. i would like deputy director

azevedo to please introduce the consent agenda for the evening. >> thank you. so we have two permits on the consent agenda. both are use permits. there was no opposition from anybody for either of the permits. and their permit officers had no permit conditions that were out of the normal regular conditions offered. and so that's why they are on consent. i'm happy to answer any questions you have about these locations. >> so, this space is really kind of a special event space. so it's not all the time? >> which one are you referring to? >> how many are there? there's only one, right? am i looking at the right one? consent cal ripken, jr. darr. the little creatures -- the

consent calendar. >> it is a bruiery restaurant. >> it's interesting how they put 10b officers in there. >> their standards conditions from southern station, we get them every time. >> yeah. well, i mean usually 10b is, like, major. >> it's an alternate. so sufficient security or 10b. >> how dig is the place? >> i can tell you their capacity. give me one second. 250. >> okay. i never see 10b on there, but -- >> yeah, that's a standard southern station condition. we actually worked our deputy director azevedo worked with commissioner falzon and p.d. to pair down. it used to be a dozen conditions

and now it's just a few. >> the approval of the consent calendar. >> i'll second. >> before we vote, is there any public comment on the consent calendar? seeing none, public comment is closed. [roll call] congratulations, if you are here, the consent calendar has been approved. please follow up with our deputy director at your earliest convenience. thank you. all right. and moving on. we are going to introduce the regular agenda. if deputy director can do that as well. >> the only permit on the regular agenda is for a place of entertainment permit at bow bow cocktail lounge at 1155 grant

avenue. the applicant is coming in to compliance by applying for this permit to continue hosting karaoke inside the bar. the owner candy has been in business for 30 years. included is a letter submitted by the neighbors. there was no opposition. they did submit signatures of support. they have been included in your file for review. i want to give you background about the recommendation from central station. so this is submitted to me today. bow bow has been operating for over 30 years without the need of a security guard. they have 49 people. there has never been issues regarding security. central station did recommend they bring on one security guard. and i wrote back to officer that that might be a bit of a challenge because it's not a normal practice for their business programming right now. and we came to the revision of

having one security on friday and saturday nights from 9:00 p.m. to 2 a.m. and so i'm just putting this, the ball is going to be in your court as a decision to be made, it might be a challenge for the permit applicant to accommodate the security recommendation. and so now i will also turn it over to the owner candy and her associate rickey. >> hi. good evening, commissioners. my name is rickey. i'm a member of the bow bow cocktail for three years. candy is the owner of the bow bow for almost 33 years. her husband opened up with her. unfortunately her husband passed away two years ago and i try to help candy to do all the

paperwork. so we are hoping -- bow bow has been serving and entertaining chinatown which is one of the landmark of the city of san francisco for over 30 years. and we have no trouble at all in the past 30 years whatsoever. so tonight i'm here and hoping the commission to approve the p.o.e. permit so we can continue to enhance our business in san francisco. thank you so much. >> should be easy, right? welcome. kind of different now, huh? 30 years ago. >> 33 >> 33 years ago, chinatown. for the police to actually recommend a security, i mean in the three years you've been manager, have you had any?

i kind of know that part of town, and i know broadway can be a challenge, but i really never hear any incidents from your bar. i'm just curious, would there be some idea that maybe just being overcautious? >> well, we do have one on-site manager on friday night, saturday night when it is so crowded, so we can have him to kind of watch out. >> does he check i.d.s? >> well, most of the customers been coming to the parlor for the last 30 years. >> sure, i know. >> i don't see any underage people to go in. >> but obviously if you see -- >> i mean -- >> tourists want to come in and -- >> the bartender always asks for i.d. anyway. they do that all the time. >> your bartender has been there many years? >> over 30 years.

same thing. >> if the manager, if things get loud, he can shut the door. >> this permit says when you are running entertainment you have to shut the doors. >> yeah, we do. we play the karaoke just shut the door and shut the window. >> right. okay. i mean, that's -- i don't -- i mean, well i guess we can talk about but but i don't see a security guard needed. this manager has no security training at all, right? >> right >> how long has he been there? >> five years >> five years? >> yeah. >> okay. that's all i have. thank you. >> hi. i've never been able to go to your karaoke lounge but i've heard so much about it from my friends. >> okay.

thank you. >> so i know that you guys are one of the best kept secrets in chinatown in so many ways. so i understand you have your home grown crowd, and you also have tourists that kind of just pop in. >> yes. >> with that said, i just wanted to kind of get an understanding around what are some of your barriers around why would it be hard for you to supplement having security on fridays and saturdays? so just to be clear, say on the record what are those barriers? is it financial or -- >> well, i would say the customers maybe not get used to it if you have a security guard outside kind of like they've been having karaoke for some time. i don't think some customers feel comfortable with that.

>> the purpose of the security is to create an environment of safety. >> i understand. >> so i just want to understand why -- we are the ones making the recommendation for this permit, so a condition around your clientele not feeling safe, i mean that's just an opinion, that's not necessarily factual but do you have real barriers? is it a financial issue? >> it's not a financial issue. >> okay. >> the question you are asking me why i don't want to have a security guard out there, because with any kind of reason, is that all you were asking me? >> well, we want to have a better understanding of why, like, because the police are making recommendations for a

requirement. and so we have the opportunity to discuss it here and determine if it's something that makes sense, moving forward. i understand for the past 30 years there hasn't been any kind of documentation of any police incidents at your establishment. i understand that. but the recommendation that's coming from the police is essentially a safety issue. and so i want to have an understanding, like a full 360 of why you would want us not to recommend that? >> well, actually the people come to the bar have karaoke just to kind of like at home. a big screen, a big party. so most of these customers, regular customers. they come there all the time. so -- and the owner, candy, she doesn't feel comfortable with a

security guard outside at all. >> okay. so what if your on-site manager, would you be willing for your on-site manager to get some guard training so that they will have -- >> i have to ask him. >> okay. but he's your employee. so as a business, you guys can actually -- >> it's okay. >> she says we required to have it, she will have it >> it's a commitment around the safety for your establishment, for you as employees and also for your customers. and so i'm just trying to get an understanding like what are some of the issues. >> okay. >> okay. >> we can get one on friday night and saturday night then. that's the most busiest day that we have. >> a security guard or the guard

training for your manager? >> we just going to hire a security guard on friday night and saturday night >> but you also have the opportunity for your on-site manager to get the guard training so that person can provide that support. >> i don't know if she wants to do that or not. >> you have the option of both. >> no, i understand that. but i don't think -- i don't know he wants it. >> it's an online training. >> oh, online training? >> it's a certification. it just saying somebody in your establishment -- >> okay. i thought he had to go to a class and get the training. just everything online to get the license? okay. thank you. >> all right. >> can i -- real quick. so to be clear, do you feel like you really feel unsafe or do you feel your customers are -- i mean there are some times public safety is an issue.

we have a lot of challenges right now coming in and robberies. you never know. >> i know. i understand. okay. >> it's being proactive. security guards can also be finally challenged because you don't charge cover charge and you are just charged revenue from the bar. so i guess is she trying to ask you are there barriers preventing you like maybe it's the cost? but if you feel that you agree with the police and you don't mind having a security, i mean, we all prefer everybody to be safe. so it's kind of up to you. and we can discuss that. but i think that's what commissioner caminong was doing, okay? right? anybody else? >> i think for me we work really

closely with the officer and he's one of the best permitting officers in the city, but as with all police, they always try to be very safe. >> i understand. >> obviously you've been operating for decades without problems but when they have an opportunity for you to become official, they always say we want a security guard. now, for my personal, because i own bars and restaurants in san francisco, personally i don't want to just add employees that are not necessary, because they are financially difficult sometimes. you have to pay every hour to an employee for something who may not be necessary for the business but also for the commission, to make sure we are safe and that you don't have any incidents now, but what happens if an incident does happen, has somebody been trained on how to confront it? so i would be very open to that idea as long as -- if we were to condition that, then you

wouldn't need to hire a security person. you would just have to have somebody go through the training and maybe sure that person is there, not outside. so that's where we are coming from or at least where i'm coming from. >> okay. thank you. >> anymore questions? you can have a seat. thank you very much. >> okay. >> is there public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. we can discuss. put a motion forward and then discuss, whatever we feel like doing. >> it sounds like a motion to approve with the condition that there be a staff person with a guard card on the friday and saturday he was just. >> all right. so no security. but guard card training for your personnel and no actual security. >> so what i'm hearing is we want a motion to approve with

the staff recommendation except no security officer required, instead we want to have a staff member with a guard card training on staff on friday and saturday night? >> yes. >> at least. >> yeah, minimum. >> who is trained, yes. if more staff can be trained. >> just a question for you all. the officer was specific with time. he said 9:00 p.m. to 2 a.m. do you want to incorporate that? >> thank you. >> wait. you made the motion. >> i'll second. >> sorry. >> public comment? >> we did. >> all right. [roll call] congratulations, it's been approved. please follow up with deputy director at your earliest convenience and thank you for coming in. i hope for another 33 years.

all right. that was a wam bam meeting. all right. we only have one agenda item left, i believe, number six, which is commissioners comment and questions. happy new year, everyone. >> happy new year. >> happy new year. >> should we all say what we did on new year's? >> so embarrassing. [laughter] >> okay, well -- >> detective -- [indiscernible] >> they have lowered maximum rate parking.

if you get a validation at one of the many restaurants you get a $5 discount. so you literally can stay in chinatown for ten hours for $3. so instead of worrying about your car being accosted or whatever, broken in, you can go into a fairly safe garage and you can shop, dine -- >> go to bow bow. >> go to bow bow. go to mr. ju's, wherever you want to go, and only pay $3 for the validation. so hopefully that helps small businesses. hopefully businesses will take the same leadership. this car break-in stuff can get fixed. i think it's a good way of trying to make people who still want to come out feel safe and

have their properties protected. it's not 100 percent, but it's the least, i would say 99 percent, pretty sure. so it's great. >> we will go ahead and post that on social media too, because more people should know about that. >> seven days a week, yeah, seven days a week from 5:00 p.m. to 2 a.m but don't be late, because as soon as it hits 2:01 it goes back to regular rate. don't come to me and say what happened? you have to leave early and get your last call at 1:30 and run to the parking lot. >> although it's not agendized, i don't think it really matters, i did want to follow up with commissioner thomas who had a suggestion for these slower meet when we have less permit applications. i e-mailed all of you,

commissioner lee, thank you so much for sending your ideas. they were great. but if anyone else has ideas for departments that they would want to hear from, presenting on their programs or anything relative to our world that other folks are doing or having staff presentations on certain projects that we are working on, we are happy to accommodate starting february. i would like to get some more programming. so please let me know what you want to all hear about. sorry for the stutter. >> just one of the things i know we raised this during our planning retreat, but identifying ways to work with the department cultural district. i've had conversation with a number of people. there's now this new cultural district and just the overlap between entertainment and our many fantastic cultural districts around the city to just identify what are ways for us to partner with them around promoting entertainment as part

of the culture in those districts and just maybe identifying a couple of cultural districts to start with and start figuring out what that kind of partnership could look like or should look like before we roll it out to other cultural districts. i've had people from the castro and from the other cultural districts respond really enthusiastically to that idea. >> maybe that's where we will start then. >> that's great. >> great job, commissioner lee on the parking. i know it seems like it's a small thing, but it's actually meaningful addressing a problem in your community and taking it on. so kudos to you for that. thank you. i want to congratulate the staff on a successful new year's eve and new year's day. that was smooth. i know we got kudos from some people in city hall for all the cool stuff you did.

so congratulations on that. it seems like business as usual but i think if you flashback 10, 15 years, you would see how exceptional this is you are doing. so thank you so much for that. that's all b all i have. all right. is there any comments on our -- waxing poetic here? comments are closed and we will adjourn this meeting at 6:11 p.m. -

>> good afternoon. we are excited to nows the san francisco safe 23rd annual lunar new year public safety and crime awareness campaign press conference in partnership with sfgovtv. i am the captain and i will be standing in for the executive director who was called away on a family emergency. we will give you helpful public safety continues to keep you safe during this special holiday and educate you about potential crime risks. we are here with community members and city leaders to celebrate lunar new year 2020 san francisco, the year of the rat. we are here for the crime awareness campaign. it is an important yearly collaboration between the chinese-speaking community, law enforcement and the