Transcripts For SFGTV Entertainment Commission 20240712

As if they were physically present. Public comment will be available on each item on the agenda. And channel 26 and sfgov tv. Org are streaming the number across the screen. Each speaker will be allowed two minutes to speak. Opportunities to speak during the Public Comment are available using zoom with meeting 86841426790 or call 16699006833. Using zoom platform to speak, select the raise hand option when it is time for Public Comment. If calling by phone, dial star 9 and we will be unmuted when it is your turn to speak. And please call from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly and turn down the television and radio. When the item comes up, please call from a quiet sorry. Its all written there twice. Alternately while we recommend that you use zoom audio or a telephone, you may submit a written Public Comment and thank you for sharing this meeting with the public. We will start with a roll call. [roll call taken] all right. First order of business is Public Comment. And this is for any items that are not listed on the agenda and i will if you have any Public Comment. Good evening, commissioners. Good evening, president bleiman. I am checking the queue and there is no one with their hand raised. And there is no chat. Okay. Excellent. All right. The next agenda item is number two which is approval of the minutes for the october 6, 2020 meeting. I will ask if there is a motion to i a prove the minutes from the october 6, 2020 meeting. So moved. Second. All right. There any Public Comment on the minutes from october 6, 2020 . I am looking right now and there is no hand raised and no comments in the chat. Okay. Commissioner bleiman . An aye. A commissioner caminong . Aye. Commissioner falzon . Aye. A commissioner thomas . Aye. Commissioner wang . Aye. A commissioner lee . An aye. A commissioner perez . An aye. All right. The minutes have been approved. Moving along. The next agenda item is report from the executive director. Thank you, president bleiman. Good evening. A special good evening, commissioners. So this evening i have a pretty brief update in comparison to last hearing. My apologies again for the long item. I hope you all enjoyed those updates, though. Just wanted to let you know about the jam permit. And some changes that were just released in a new version of the health order moments before this hearing began. And so i want to highlight those for you because these will be these changes in some ways will impact the issuance of jam permits. And its something that we have been anticipating for about a week. And so it may shed a little bit more light on where our numbers are at currently. And a little bit more background on that. And so we do have a new version of the stay safer at Home Health Order along with some mu directives relative to outdoor gatherings. And i just want to pull up the biggest changes that we are seeing essentially in the small outdoor gatherings that we were going to be using as a permissible underlying use to add a jam permit use. So either amplified sound or entertainment being added to an outdoor gathering. Previously the rules were written for an outdoor gathering that you could have a maximum of 12 people and that you could only have six people if you added food and drink. But that there was the possibility to hold simultaneous outdoor small gatherings as long as you could separate the groups. Due to new state guidance, the city had to reconcile the small outdoor gathering rules with more restrictive rules that were coming from the state. So that is what were seeing now. Multiple small outdoor gatherings are no longer allowed at the same space at the same time. And so there is one particular permit application that we were working with folks and i dont think i will go into the details of the permit application but lets just say it was a fabulous idea. To have a couple simultaneous outdoor gatherings that would no longer be permissible with a jam permit. The other parts about us that make it more restrictive and really do not lend itself to us permitting it because it speaks a little bit more toward the personal social gathering as opposed to a commercial gathering is the fact that they are now limited to no more than three different households. So although the number has actually increased now for the small outdoor gatherings to a maximum of 25 total participants, this group of commissioners wanted to get together outside of zoom, only three of you could attend since you are coming from seven different households, if that makes sense. And so that is a really challenging one that were going to have to figure out how to permit and regulate. We are still going to keep it as an option with our permit application, but i think were going to have quite a few denials because of these rules. So i definitely wanted to let you know about that sooner rather than later. And then just to give you a little bit more on that, the other high bullet point for that is eating or drinking take place at small outdoor gatherings, again, the limit is no more than six total participants. And limited to no more than three households. The more restrictive is what you have to comply with. And just a note that indoor social gatherings among different households are still not allowed. And so what were hearing from the City Attorneys Office as well as the Health Officer is that these rules are not going to impact current outdoor religious, cultural, or protest gatherings. They are not being changed by this. We will still continue to permit and regulate anybody that wants to add amp, sound, or entertainment to those activities. This does not impact Outdoor Dining either. That is where were going to see the majority of jam permits being issued and where they are going easily right now. And so a little bit more on that is that, for example, with street closure applicants that want to add entertainment, the only way in which we could do that is if it was permitted to a business using it specifically for Outdoor Dining. We will only see those in smaller alleyway where is a restaurant is closing it to host the patrons out there and they can add a performance with it. Because it is so much more regulated. So with that knowledge, here are some of our numbers right now. So again, our goal with all processing all of the permit applications is that prior to denial our staff are working to try to find other pathways to bring them into compliance with entertainment or amplified sound as opposed to outright denial. We will say this doesnt work, but here is what you could do. So most of the applications are in various stages of review right now or waiting for missing information from the applicant. And in some instances were waiting for review from sfpd, although again, just so you are aware we are just doing 72 hour review with those folks, so once that threshold has been met, they get moved on to the next step in the process. So we have only issued at this point 15 applications. It has been or 15 permits. It has been fairly challenging. I sat on 10 of them for the past week as we have been waping nor updated small outdoor gathering guidance because that was the underlying use they wanted to use. And then i just heard from dylan and crystal and tony who have been working so hard that i have seven in my queue to review for approval at the director level, so that is good news. But 22 out of about 90 applications, it is proving challenging for us to issue these in the submission format that they submit to us. So what we are realizing is we need to do an overhaul of our transaction page. We need to better educate folks on what is permissible on the front end. Because the way it is written down now, it doesnt help people as much as it can. We need to be much more clear here are the ways in which you can add entertainment and amplified sound. Right now it is really add it to your outdoor space. But what we really need to say is you can add it to the outdoor space if you comply with one of the following. So let me know if you have questions. Its been an interesting process so far. I just want to be really clear before we start with questions and i know you already said this, but this doesnt apply to all of the people who are this doesnt apply to the permits that were issuing that Effect People taking advantage of the shared Spaces Program with Outdoor Dining. Unless they are trying to do something bigger, right . A normal restaurant that has a speaker outside is still permissible under the rules, correct . They just would apply. That would be a really simple one to approve. And so i think that to your point the ones that we have been seeing coming in the first wave were probably really excited, creative folks. The second wave is what we want to focus on in terms of bringing the people who are already doing this and doing it in compliance with the health order into compliance with the jam permit. And were doing that by focussing on anybody that has had complaints first and foremost. Then were moving on to more proactive outreach. Are there questions . Let me get into gallery view here. Comments . I have a question. You mention the exemption for religious and political and you ls a said cultural events. What is the definition of cultural in that context . That is a good question. I literally just read that directly from an email about the changes. So i would have to look i can probably do a quick search and see if i can find the word cultural in here in this directive. Cultural ceremonial gatherings. So its pointing back to the religious and cultural gatherings directive specifically about that. It says cultural ceremonial gatherings throughout. Looking for the definition. But you can get that later. Wedding ceremonies. Funerals. Thats what they are saying. Got it. Thank you. So maggie, so just to clarify, again, so if the business is applying for the shared street program. Lets say there is an alley they want to block off. And it is to serve outside and whatever. Is there a limit of people that can go inside this alley . Or is it just basically distance everybody 6 feet . The limit would be based on Outdoor Dining and complying with Outdoor Dining rules which limits 6 per table and tables 6 feet apart and maintain a. D. A. Compliance. What happens if there is more than one business that applies for the same closure . Then they can have shared spaces would mitigate that. So if you are applying for a closure for the most part you need to get buy in from any other business or resident on the street from what i can understand because even for shared spaces that want to expand into another businesss curb lane, for example, could do that if they had written permission from the other Business Owner next door. And we can apply for the jam or not we. But them can apply for the jam . For Outdoor Dining, it is pretty easy for us to do those ones because it is so much more, as i said, regulated with rules that keep people socially distant. And now these outdoor small gathering rules feel more restrictive because of the three household limit. They feel more unattainable for us to regulate because of that reason because can you imagine our inspectors going up to the group and trying to say, okay, who lives together. And it is ridiculous. It is not feasible. So in my opinion i think i need to leave it as an option on the application and vet them as best i can. And some of them may be able to comply with, for example, say you want to do an outdoor Live Streaming situation. And you have a couple whatever. Like i think you could do it in certain situations that are more regulated. So ill keep it as an option, but it just feels like it is not written for commercial businesses at all. Does the application have any scenarios like an example, you cant do this. Here is the example. So that they at least know before they apply . Or you just kind of that is a good idea, commissioner. No, it doesnt. But that is mostly because its not the format that Digital Services uses in a user experience. And so it would be more so asking a question, having a field below for your entry and below that help text in certain instances that help the person jog their brain about what they need to fill in there. That is the way its currently set up. And it could be improved. But were what we really need to improve is the initial transaction page. Really laying it out step by step because right now it feels slightly inaccurate. Just because its not it says check our rules but doesnt specifically say you have to have an underlying permissible activity such as blank to be able to add this. I am sure it gets confusing. And so maybe during the q a with a little help and have question marks and push on it and possibly has some scenarios like if they have questions or maybe that will save some time of going through the process and getting denied. I think dylan manages this work with Digital Services so i know he is listening right now. And maybe even at the top right now we say like and use examples that are really basic. They could be an it will bit more specific. Great. Sounds good. I am definitely listening and taking notes. Any other questions, comments . All right. Is there any Public Comment on this agenda item . President bleiman, director wyland asked me to post the slides more frequently. So lets give it a short moment. People can look at it again. Just looking at the queue right now, there is nobody with their hand raised. There is no chat comments. We other going to close Public Comment on this item. The next agenda item is number four which is a report from am i correct . Hold on. Sorry. From Deputy Director azevedo. Thank you, president bleiman. Congressmening, commissioners. We are going to be speaking about the jam enforcement report. I sent to your google folder a brief and edited version. I will not be doing a screen share projecting this so if you would like to follow along with where i am at, it is under item number four in that document. So in total thus far, we have received 53 complaints since the beginning of september. Those are all documented here. You can see that there are complaints about multiple complaints about the same business. And i want to just give a lot of credit to inspectors for doing a really excellent job and getting boots on the ground to work through a lot of the sound complaints. This is a lot of unknowns and we are all in this gray area time in between when jam actually was launched and there was Outdoor Entertainment that was allowed under the health order. So with that said, our inspectors are doing a really excellent job of bringing folks into compliance and educates them about the jam permit. And you will see that quite a few of the businesses who have repeat complaints on the enforcement tracker have, in fact, already applied for that jam permit. I also want to make mention that a couple of these i will get into that in a moment. If you are following along, i am going to talk through some of the highlighted yellow complaints. And you would see that under the action column. And so the first one that i would like to speak about is the valencia room. We, as you know, it holds a place of Entertainment Permit from our office for indoor entertainment. They are not technically a part of the valencia street closure but are close. They have been having a live d. J. And amplified sound occurring outside for their shared spaces and Outdoor Dining program. So we have received multiple complaints about the valencia room. And inspectors worked really closely with the manager and the sound engineer to come to a happy medium about volume that is comfortable for all parties involved. So since director wyland has issued the jam permit and we set a sound limit for them, we have not received anymore complaints about this business. So i wanted to bring that to your attention. Moving on to the saloon, i wanted to raise this to you because it is an example of a band playing unrelated to a business. The saloon had permitted a band to play outside of the bar. But the bar itself was not open or functioning as an Outdoor Dining establishment. So basically they were just pulling power from the business itself. And this is not permitted because it is not in conjunction with allowable underlying activity of Outdoor Dining or another permissible Outdoor Activity under the health order. So our inspectors provide great education. Furthermore, the band was not in compliance with the health order and there were unmasked instruments im sorry, unmasked performers but also instruments being played that are not currently allowed under the health order. So we worked with them and i actually spoke with the lead singer of the band and let him know the rules and he decided they would just cease their operation. Moving on to temple, this is another example of a business that holds an entertainment license from the office but migrated to Outdoor Activity. They have set up a full Outdoor Dining program in an adjacent parking lot to the business. And they are doing a really great job of social distancing the tables and a whole concept that is working. However, we have been receiving complaints nearly every weekend about their sound. Inspectors have also been working closely with the Management Team at temple. They have applied and have applied for a jam permit. And that is near the finish line to be issued. And inspector savino made contact with the complainant to hone in on that direction and in that area sound travels in a way where it effects individuals in their apartment that are actually not that close. It is something we are working through and coming up with solutions that work for the business and with the tenant who is in the surrounding area. The last complaint that i want to speak to is about hotel via. They hold an outdoor llp permit from our office the so they are permed to have Outdoor Entertainment daily until 10 00 p. M. We received a sound complaint about them on saturday and the inspectors responded right away. Upon arrival did notice some Health Order Violations which he was able to mitigate on site. Furthermore, inspector savino went back the following day and provided education about their Rooftop Party in compliance for sunday. We worked really closely with this business, to bring them into compliance immediately. It was a super effective strategy and they were able to be in compliance with the permit and the health order right away. I want to mention that the great example of a project that the staff is working on right now providing current llp and poe holdersover Outdoor Entertainment with basically a one sheeter of this is how to be in compliance with the health order and with jam. The permits do allow for Outdoor Entertainment, but there is some nuance to what is allowed based on the health order. In the very near future those businesses will be receiving instruction on how to comply with the health order under their existing outdoor llp or poe permit. That is my recap. I am happy to answer any questions that you have about this report. Just let me know. Questions, anyone . I just have a quick question, Deputy Director. And you may have said this, so apologies if you did. Were getting a lot of complaints. Are they are we getting a lot of complaints on things that are outside of our jurisdiction basically . Like things that maybe the police or others would have to be dealing with. Is that still a trend . Or have you noticed any trends around covid . So as far as it being handled by a separate agency, specifically about the police, that is not happening often. In fact, i want to say to date we have only encountered that occurring two times where Police Intervention three times, excuse me. Three times where Police Intervention was necessary. The other just speaking in transparency, our inspectors are also very much aware of the health order and what compliance or violations look like. And so when they are out responding to sound complaints, they are also aware of how the business is operating under the health order. So those are being those violations or compliance that they are in is being documented as well. So perhaps that might need to be sent to the department of Public Health for their own followup. We are seeing complaints that are coupled with not just sound but also safe social distancing. And those come into our queue. Got it. Anymore questions . All right. I am going to open this up to Public Comment. Are there any Public Comments on the Deputy Directors report . Flashing on the screen just in case. First glance we have nobody with their hand raised and no chat comments. Okay. I am going to go ahead and close Public Comment for this and move along. The next agenda item is number five, hearing and possible action regarding applications for permits under the jurisdiction of the Entertainment Commission. I will ask Deputy Director azevedo to introduce the item on the agenda. The only permit application tonight is for a place of entertainment change in ownership and an extended hours permit for 1501 folsom street formerly known and the d. B. A. Name is to be determined. The new owner shami plans to maintain the business as a nightclub and an event space by hosting d. J. S and Live Performances as well as utilize the rooftop patio with ambient prerecorded music. The proposed indoor hours of entertainment are daily until 4 00 a. M. Or as needed. And the outdoor hours of amplified sign are 12 00 a. M. Daily. Please note the previous owner was approved by the Planning Commission to use the rooftop with the conditions that there will be to Live Entertainment outside. And that the prerecorded music must end by midnight. The new owners have been made aware and they will inherit these new conditions and they are will willing to comply. As you will see outlined in your file, they conducted extensive neighborhood outreach. They spent a total of 182 letters to tenants and building owners in the surrounding area. Additionally the owners spoke directly with the other owners of local businesses. He also met with the sfpd southern station permit officer who has recommended the standard conditions listed below on your form. And i did receive one inquiry from the public about the permit application via email, but i responded to them and then they never wrote me back, so that was a dead end. And i did want to mention that the outreach letter they provided included my Contact Information and the applicant Contact Information. So here to talk to you tonight is the new owner, ghazi shami. So i let in rachel shami. Ghazi will be speaking. He is on the meeting as well. Ghazi shami. Is the name empire by chance . Yes, that is probably it. I will let in empire. Thank you. Appreciate that. Sure. No problem. I will ask them to unmute. Okay. Can you guys hear me . Yes. Okay. Thank you. Youre welcome. Katelyn, thank you for the intro. You said everything that i thought i was going to have to say. And i am willing to be compliant and to speak about anything that you guys need me for. Great. So i think it would be helpful if you just kind of started from the beginning a little bit and just tell us a little bit about why you are excited about this project, what you intend to do in there. Sure. What kind of programming, what kind of sound system youre going to have. What kind of outdoor lighting and anticipating steven lees question. And all sorts of just give us a sense of what kind of Quality Programming you plan on running there . Sure. So i am a San Francisco native. I have been in and around the night life scene pretty much most of my life. I have seen the ups and downs, the good, the bad, the ugly. I decided to go into the music business about 20 years ago. And i built a fairly successful record label and publishing company. And i have also established a pretty successful recording facility on 10th and brian. Right on the alleyway of dorn and brian. And over the course of the last maybe five years, i have been doing a lot of events in the city around the holidays, around valentines day, record release parties, mixers with a lot of the Tech Companies that we do business with because were also a software company. And i found myself spending a lot of money all over the city to do a lot of these events. And at some point it just made more sense for me to steer the narrative by my own venue and be able to create these cultural gatherings where i can do my own events whether they are holiday parties, record release parties, sometimes, again, we do tech mixers with Companies Like twitch and twitter, you tube, apple, google, and i just felt like it was time to put together an event space and have my own space. I have always had an affinity for restaurants. I always imagined one day i would own a restaurant. Its just something that, i dont know, kind of like a passion of mine is food. And i even had an Instagram Page just dedicated to the places i eat when i travel the world. And i just saw the location was for sale and it felt i took a tour of the building and it felt right. Especially with slimmys going out of business across the street. I have a myriad of artists from across the world assigned to my label from nigeria to indonesia to china, domestically, latin america, and i thought i would have a cool showplace to show case the artists. And maybe combine it with a little bit of food on the roof deck certain days of the week. As far as the sound system, i am a sound engineer by trade and a mix engineer by trade. That is what i did most of my life before i went to the business side of the industry. We have talked to mark sweet who is the engineer who is the seni senior manager of integration at spider ranch and they did the install on the sound system. It is a pretty nice sound system. I havent had a chance to meet with him in person because of covid but as soon as i have a chance to meet in person, we will do a run through of the system. I believe they have done some sound tests in the neighborhood and we past the sound tests or the previous owner passed the sound test with the spr rating. And i think thats kind of where its at. Weve also met with the Security Company when it was k11 and they drew up a security detail for us. The name of the company is foreign diamond security and we have decided to work with them and they are very very familiar with the building and the premises and written up a security plan for us. So we pretty much have everything down and i know it will take quite some time for Something Like this to open again, so i dont anticipate opening before next summer. All right. Steven . How you doing . Good. How are you . So your space. I actually like that space. That space has a lot of history. Its very dear to the community. And can you give me your past experience you are an event promoter. Have you had any experience of actually running a food and beverage facility before . Or can you give me some of your experience or what you did these events, obviously you rented facilities that already were in the business. So can you tell me how much training have you had to really run an operation . Because i was like you at one time. I was an event promoter. When i got into owning my own club, it is a whole new world. I am just curious about what you expect and how just tell us your experience that you have in this industry. Well, my first job in San Francisco i dont even think my wife knows this. I was 18 years old and i was working for a Company Called jug shop incorporated. And they were the company that basically ran the showplace, the galleria, and they ran a lot of the venues. And so even from the time i was a child i was involved in bar backing, running the bars, and bussing the tables, and so on and so forth, doing the nightly sweeps and organizing everything. I spent a significant amount of my life in the night life business both as a spectator and participator. And on the other side a significant amount of my family is in the grocery or Restaurant Business both from a distribution side delivering dairy goods and things of that, cheeses and milk and things like that into places like starbucks and some of the Upper Echelon restaurants in the city all the way to operating restaurants and delis. So i have been around a lot of different night life, hospitality, restaurants type of environments, so i dont think it will be a difficult transition for me. And the parties that we have thrown in the city have been pretty expensive. We have done parties at august hall. At the w hotel. And weve spent a significant amount of time integrating with the staff and working and in hand with the staff to make sure that the events materialize in the fashion we wanted them to. And those are events that we have done in the city. Outside of the ones in the city, we have done large scale grammy parties in los angeles and new york. We have done parties with soul train with black entertainment and b. E. T. Tv. We have done events all over the the country. And actually outside of the country, too, with events in london and in latin america. So weve moved around quite significantly, and i have been pretty involved in a lot of the events. And i have a staff here internally just on the record label side that used to produce a lot of the events for cameo which is one of the primary signals in San Francisco. She was the program there and she was the head of staff internally here, the head of event staff. I anticipate when we do move in and take over the building, ill be doing quite a bit of hunting to find, i guess, a general manager for the building that is either come of the night life or has run restaurants and bars before so that i can work hand in hand with them and make sure they can help me develop the infrastructure. I am very much an infrastructure person. I heavily believe in dotting all your is and crossing your ts before you open the front door. How long did you work for jug shop . Probably from the time i was 17 or 18 until i was maybe like 21. 22. You worked with gary and dan then. Dan, yes. The old man. Yes. As a promoter, i worked with them. And at the concourse. We did all those and the exot exotic erotic balls and the drag ball. How do you plan to promote or how do you plan to use strictly all social media . Or going to be i think a lot of our events are going to be private events. I am not really trying to open to the public too much. That is one angle that i have taken. I am probably also going to consult with golden boy who golden boy powers all the shows at the regency and the social hall. And see if maybe i can work with them and maybe ate golden boy venue for thursdays and fridays so that they can handle the scheduling for some of the different acts that come to town. But i havent made a full on decision on how to do that yet just because after we come out of covid, we will see how what sparks peoples interest in the night life scene. Are they looking for a club vibe, are they looking for something intimate and loungey which is where i imagine it would go. I would rather err on the side of upscale and quiet and control than loud and violent, and that is not really my vibe. That street is very congested. There is a lot going on. Good luck to you. I think you have enough experience and i know working for dan and gary, it is a good experience. Because i have seen their work. I am not going to get into the security situation. I let commission falzon handle that, but good luck and if you need assistance, we are their help you. Thank you so much. Hi. First of all, i just want to just begin by saying i think the intersection of tech and culture is really exciting and just in terms of witnessing just whats been put out in the last couple of years. I think it is exciting that there is actually a global record label based in San Francisco. And lake you said, you have been throwing parties all across the country and all across the world. And its nice to be able to have that kind of synergy that would have San Francisco kind of put on the map. I have heard many times a lot of conversations around how San Francisco is a world class destination, night life city. But its kind of been dwindling in the last few years. A lot of large venue clubs have been struggling. And its really just refreshing to be able to see that somebody during covid actually wants to invest in a brick and mortar. And so listening to you answer commissioner lees questions kind of answered some of what i wanted to hear more of, which is your vision and the fact is, we just dont know where were going at this point. There is a lot of time here and it sound like and correct me if i am wrong, but to incubate and kind of figure out what you are building. Absolutely. I am just curious if you can kind of speak to what your experience man like in the last year before shelter in place with booking different venues and what they offer . And what you want to kind of see and improve on and enhance and bring to the table . Sure. I think the things that made me want to go into the night life business and get a venue was that were a fairly significant record label at this point. Were basically hand in hand, toe in toe with columbia and epic and interscope and atlantic and all these historic labels. I am flying these artists from all over the world to come to San Francisco for meetings and usually the meeting ends with, hey, where can i go out . And i found myself struggling to give them an answer. That kind of made me sad because in my teens and in my early 20s i remember being able to go out in San Francisco and being able to go to three, four, five, six venues all in a row in one night. The fact that i struggled to try to find a place to take people kind of brought me to a realization point that i am from the city. I am born and raised in the city. I employ almost 100 people who come in and out of the city every day. That i wanted to give these people not only my own employees and own fabric of the people and the network i built around me a place to go, but the people they entertain that come from out of town a place to go. So i think we did our Holiday Party last december at august hall. It was an amazing event and i was able to draw a lot of alist artist and music executives and people from twitch and instagram and facebook. It was a cool Cross Section of culture where you have tech meeting music. The streets meeting corporate. And it was just like really Awesome Party and event. And i had my wife and family members there. And my cousins got to see things and experience things they never knew imaginable that you would only imagine you experience in new york or los angeles or london or paris or maybe tokyo. At that moment i remember looking at dont laugh at me, but i looked at the bill and what it cost, and i was like, i could probably pay mortgage on a place for a year. And when i was driving by 1501 folsom and it shut down, i have been a big advocate for the last five years, we dont have enough roof decks in San Francisco, and boom, shar main, the via hotel, and others pop up, and you have the cool places having roof deck. I think that San Francisco is an amazing city that can have amazing roof deck culture. And a cool corridor along 11th street which it was an amazing corridor in the 90s. I am hoping that we can revitalize and progress and bring it back to where it was at some point. And i spent a lot of time talking to the owners at butter and holy cow and so on and so forth because i used to frequent the clubs under different management or different names back in the day. I just want to do my part as a kid that is from the city, that grew up and was inspire bid the city to become what i am today and what i am doing today. I want to put money back into the community and back into the city and hopefully i can inspire other people to do the same and watch the night life thrive here in our city. Thank you. I appreciate that. And i am born and raised in San Francisco, too. Were unicorns at this point. I am from excelsior. I used to go to nicks all the time. Right there be where excelsior starts. It is not there anymore. It went away . It is not there anymore. They use to be one of my favorite. Plenty of amazing el salvador spots. On 16th and mission right on the corner and they used to have and the food i live in mission bay now. They used to have a food truck park there had. They took it down, though. I took the food truck down. I do appreciate a lot of what you shared in terms of just giving a nod to the 90s and also kind of recapping the year 2019 which feels like a million years ago. It really does. And i hope we can restore some sense of normalcy very quickly. I believe that on the 27th we are allowed to go into yellow as far as covid response. I just saw a message about it today. And i should note that also my wife is an attorney, so she is helping me do a lot of the paper work and is instrumental in doing a lot of the leg work and the ground work on this, so i am very thankful for her helping me with this. I want to give a nod to your outreach effort. That is the most organized, very categorized outreach effort and being able to look at 126 businesses have been contacted is amazing. And just seeing the diversity of who you contacted in that area, props. Great. Thank you. Appreciate it. Is there anything else that i can answer . Really quickly. Hi. I am the land use commissioner here. But i just wanted to also join in and commend you on all the due diligence. You said you like to dot every i and cross every t. Those efforts are clear and it seems like a team effort. Ghazi, rachel, really well done. Steven eluded to the history of the particular site. I am a native here, too, and i know that that exact address was where the first leather bar on folsom was ever established in the 60s. Wandering if you have any program that speaks to the diversity or the community in the city . And secondly wanted to hear more about your extended hours from 2 00 to 4 00 and what are some of the plans during those hours. Sure. As far as diversity, i really when i do the remodels, one of the things is extensive remodels and that is why i dont know when i am going to open. I would love to put memorabilia on the wall that commemorates. If i am not mistaken, it used to be joined to the venue next door and used to be one big venue. Steven, maybe you could speak to that and correct me, but i want it to be a music space. And the very first music studio in San Francisco was on hyde street y the grateful dead and tupac recorded. I would be walking down the hall waist and George Clinton would be randomly wondering the hallway playing instruments. I would love to commemorate i am big on history, like legacy is probably my greatest currency in terms of what is important to me. I live in mission bay and i chose a condo to live in where i can actually see the apartment that i was born in. Because it just means something to me to know Humble Beginnings to where i am now. I would love to maybe steven or some of the people on the board can help me understand the history of the place to commemorate the history when i put plaques and frame things on the wall and create a vibe. I lived in avenues for a long time and frequent the cliff house a lot. I would read the paintings and the history of playland and the Different Things that transpired there. My wife has been in the city with me for over 10 years and she sees me scouring all the time. Looking for things that i find relatable to the history of our family. We came to petrero hill in the 50s. I have been in and out of the city my entire life but from 18 going forward, i have been here. And to answer your question about the diversity and significance of the venue, i would lover to figure out a way to commemorate that in the venue. And also asked about the 2 00 to 4 00. Im sorry. And then as far as the 2 00 to 4 00, so i have a music studio that is two blocks away. And often times we shut our recording sessions down around 1 00 or 2 00. So what i was thinking is go 2 00 to 4 00 there and migrate people there and bring food down and hang out and shut the doors and make it some private space and just have private entertainment or maybe 30 to 50 people. It is quiet, it is a cool vibe. And we can play some music internally and listen to some of the records we were just working and and just give people a second destination to go to. Okay. Very cool. Well, again, in these times of uncertainty, really appreciate you investing and being part of the night Life Recovery here. Thank you. Thank you. Just to follow up on bens comments, i recommend reaching out to the San Francisco leather and lgbtq cultural district. They have been doing a lot of work trying to commemorate buildings and events and people in the soma area, cal, the director of the leather and lgbtq cultural district. I am happy to put you in touch with him. But what was the name . Cal callahan. Yes. Callahan. And sf leather district. Org is their website. They have been doing stuff with the eagle and some of the other venues in the south of market area. Got it. They are one of the holders of cultural history in the area. Good. A whole folsom street and they just raised the flag like maybe a year or two ago. Yep. Okay. Thank you. I noted that. President bleiman, if i ask questions when we get an opening. Please. Good evening. Thank you so much for appearing. I got to say your enthusiasm is addictive. Also i got to say for a man who didnt want to say very much, you certainly found your path pretty quickly. And it is very exciting. But if we can go back and spend a minute, i think without question you have dialled in the cool factor. It sounds very exciting. But with all that can come big crowds, can bring a lot of responsibility. Can you speak specifically to your security plan and how it is going to work . Maybe even break it up into normal Business Hours and then maybe what your late hour vision might be . Sure. I think one of the things that i am very fortunate and blessed in this predictment is that i am not really opening this business for profit. Im not. It is an ancillary business to me and i am not really terribly concerned about profit. A. , i am not trying to overpack the place to make more money on tables and the bar and so on and so forth. And also on the flip side of that, because i am not opening it for profit, and as long as i am running a relatively stable business in terms of not just throwing money away for the sake of throwing money away, i have told the Security Team i dont want to skim on any security. I would rather over do it in terms of guards rather than underdo it and try to save some money. So the primary thing when they did the security detail, traditionally in some areas they would have one person at this door and we can have two. Do you want two . In every instance where we could oversecure the building i said yes to them when they drew up the security detail. And we doubled up on room to double up and the roof deck, the main entrance the side entrance, a couple of staircases on one side of the building that you can use the elevator to go to floor one, two, three and a staircase to go floor, one, two, three and another staircase on the other side. And we just discussed with them to basically whatever they had traditionally done in the locations, if there was room to add a Second Security guard without violating fire codes, we want to have extra security because one of the main reasons that is very important to me is because the the level and the type of individuals i am going to bring there are going to want to feel secure or they are not going to come. You are bringing in a vip crowd who expect that level of security. Absolutely. And a lot of the artists come in with their own security details as well. Right. So give me a sense of numbers. Like how many on a given night when you would be at capacity and successful evening, what do you see in numbers . You mean in terms of how many patrons . Guards. Guards. Rachel, what was the you had the security detail. I think it was 16 or Something Like that. So between thursday and sunday, we have about 16 guards. And then we have one per every 75 guests. And that would include, for example, like ghazi was saying, more than one guard in specific areas. In the vip lounge we want two versus one. I believe that the requirement is one per every 100. We have one per every 75 guests is what we are anticipating. We also have two guards attending the roof deck and restaurant area during the open hours in addition to the evening events. Okay. And are you guys will you folks be hiring your own security or are you contracting with a Security Company . We are contracting with the name of the company is four diamond security. And they were the previous Security Company that worked there at the location and they are familiar with the building. They have come out recently and they helped us with the questionnaire and fill out the security plan working on the Entertainment Permit application. They came out and met with ghazi and the owner the the current owner opened up the building to take a look and redraw up the plan. And so we were able to get them to mark the xs and on the floor plan to kind of show us where exactly they will be standing. They were able to provide us with a plan on the cotton on the outside if that was going to happen. And if there was smoking we decided no in and outs on smoking currently. We dont have a smoking area, for example. And so they have given us a pretty detailed plan. We are going to commit that to that once we obstain the building. Sure. And also should note that the camera systems were pretty primitive there, so i will be installing them. You just read my mind. It is very primitive. So i am very much i am very tech forward. So i will be redoing the whole place with a very sophisticated camera system so we have eyes everywhere. There is only so much a Security Guard can do. There is a lot of blind spots. [please stand by] well, ive got to say, the fact that youre not going to be chasing profits means youre going to be making smart decisions. The place where they start to get in trouble is when profit starts dictating the business plan. I wish you guys the best of luck. It sounds like a really good venture, and it sounds like a really good suite of companies. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Good luck. Thank you, president bleiman. Thank you. Commissioner perez . Hi, ghazi. Hi, rachel. Thank you for coming in. I want to commend you and thank you for your optimism for starting your own club in San Francisco and to help activate and cultivate and expand the night life in San Francisco. I have some questions about the mailers that you showed us, or the lists. So this one mailer, how many times did you mail it out . I can answer that. Its one mailer, and kaitlyn has a copy of that. We got that. Okay. Great. We had one mailer, and we mailed all the tenants and the owner of the building, as well. Letters went to everyone, whether they were tenants or residential tenants, and then, a letter went to each of the owners, as well. So some of the letters went back to san mateo, completely out of the city. I believe there was 180 letters that went out, and got these folks to approve this. Otherwise, it was one letter that went out to the surrounding, basically. Okay. So you guys had a lot of contact with the people that are speaking out about the noise level already . So i believe one person spoken to ghazi, and i think shes no longer an issue. Ghazi, do you want to speak about that . Yeah, i think she gave gina a little trouble at halcyon, and they got it straightened out. As long as i stay within the rules and the sound ranges, that there wouldnt be any issues. And how would you guys handle any noise complaints from neighbors . How do you handle that realtime . You know, i think you have to document it, get their information, their emails. It depends if the complaint is from a civilian or from a Business Owner, and then, you would you know, you deal with it on a case by case basis. I run a record label where i deal with thousands and thousands of compliants, everything from a mom and pop business to huge corporations with teams of lawyers. I think you figure out the business that youre dealing with and try to understand the landscape of what youre dealing with. I think maintaining your professionalism is always key to every situation. And i think if it ever became an issue, we would reach out to kaitlyn. Shes been easy to work with, so definitely reach out to her. Yeah, and i forgot officer gabriel was actually told me to reach out to him, as well. Everybody seems to be very helpful and highly communicative, as well. Sk as far as i remember, a neighbor came and said, turn down the noise, is that a reasonable request . Absolutely. I think a reasonable request is the key to the entire situation. My ego, theres no ego here. Its just about maintaining a symbiotic relationship with the community so they see you as a part of the community and not a nuisance to the community. Just one last question. Are you guys planning on adding any sound proofing or sound dampening . I think thatll probably happen when i do the remodel. Im probably going to do some cool fabric and things like that on the wall to make it look a little more luxurious. Ive built many studios, so im very much into aaccucoustics. Okay. Anybody have any other questions . I think the night life in San Francisco has been up and down, lately, more up than down, which is something thats nice to see. This area literally was designated by zoning as the First Entertainment zone in the city. I cant speak for everyone, but i have to say im impressed. The business is awesome, and your background is clearly legit, and the idea of having Something Like that in San Francisco is cool for me. Its great. Thank you. You know, the theres a push and pull. They built an entertain being zone, but right outside the boundary of the entertainment zone are people who own property, and often, theyre owners, not renters, and those people have been very vocal over the years when there are violations or issues that they see are happening in that area, and so its been an area that weve had to become involved and pretty intimately over the years, at least since ive been involved with and before then in all of these other places. So i just want you to be aware of that. Its almost crazy. Its nobodys fault, but the zoning is, like, put the clubs and the music venues right here, and then dont give a buffer zone. Theres no buffer. Its just there are people that live right 2 inches outside of the line of it, right . So were a little hypersensitive to this neighborhood, but also, we believe in the promise of the entertainment zones and how incredible it could be. Which is why were so excited for projects like this to come along that also see that value, right . Can i ask a question of the board . Sure. Is there any other future development along that corridor that i should be aware of . You know, and im talking from a positive perspective. Oh, we can ask you mean, developments in emergency room its of, like, Housing Developments . No. Is there any new entertainment or night life going in . I heard the old flynns is going to be transformed into a night club. Yeah. And i seen a food truck going up in the middle of the block, some new steel piping. Maybe director weiland, do you know . I dont know about that. We focus on these like, when they apply for them, and then, its our job to work through the licenses. And how far on 11th street does that extend because i know theres another club on the corner . Yeah. It was intended to be between 11th and folsom, but theres other little things. The point is that its simultaneously, like, did ebaty one of the best places in the city, and whether there are issues and theyve come up, to the credit of this commission, weve been able to mitigate those issues, for the most part, and to manage the issues as they come along. Can i get i was going to say, my last question is, im seeing that some of those venues are also starting to build, like, patios outside. I think it was maybe it was butter or in front of halcyon, they were building out, like, a patio. Theres one venue down there that also doubles as a restaurant, i believe. And my question is, im a big fan of how all that is rolling out in the city. I think its Pretty Amazing to see. I dont know how much you health covid, as far as the Zoning Commission or whatever, are you guys going to allow those to remain or on a case by case basis . Thats a great question, but thats not our purview. Okay. I think from the standpoint of us, so i just want to finish what im saying here whats important for us to see is that youre working with neighbors and neighboring businesses and being very, like, active and proactive to concerns that they have. Sure. I think in that specific division, in that area, we have seen the businesses that are really proactive and become a part of the community. Theyve really they do fine, right . Its when people kind of get really defensive and say, you cant stop me and dont have the conversations and dont communicate that weve seen issues come up, so we would just urge you to have communications and talk with people. Understood. Again, youve done this, and thats great. We just have to say that anything that comes up in this neighborhood [inaudible]. Understood. It is a great place to do business, but you just need to understand the dynamics of the street. And then, with covid and the pandemic, just to see somebody investing in an area, it makes me so happy personally, it makes me so have faith in the future, and it gives me hope. So i want to thank you for that, and i really appreciate having some [inaudible]. Thank you so much. Great time to do it. [inaudible] opportunity, man. And im not a native. Ive only been here 19 years, sorry. But i love that you have the native thing going. And the last thing, and then ill stop, is the issues that we have is where people see the Entertainment Commission as their opposition or as a foil that they need to get over. And time and time again, we have built a we have built a system here and it came way before me and many of the people here, but that really works with clubs and night clubs and health. And rather than seeing us as opposition, if if some of our license holders or permit holders see us as collaborators and helpful, we always have succeeded in what we need to do. So i would just encourage you and your team to look at us as partners the best you can, and sometimes, we may have to deliver some Bad Information to you, and and work with you to solve problems. But in general, were very, very supportive of projects like this, and we want to make them [inaudible] okay. Keep us in the loop. Call us, call director weiland, and we will help you. Okay. And thats it. Kaitlyn, do we contact you to get everybodys information so that if we have yeah, just go directly to the staff. Okay. Absolutely. If you contact me, id tell you to go to the staff. Thats all i can say. I meant to say contact the staff. Hey, president , can i say one quick thing . An extra precautionary . The best thing is we support Small Business here, but we also want to, you know, live with our neighbors. But just unless youre building your club, the best thing is preventative maintenance. Anticipate things that you might think will come up, and thatll save you a lot of time and operation and headache later. Okay. So talking to your neighbors. If you are going to do some remodelling, obviously, your sounds going to change, so bear that in mind because when i remember when leticia added soundproof, but if youre going to be doing some elimination and things, you better make sure you put some things in for preventative maintenance so you dont have people bothering you during operations. Understood. Thats what ive learned over the 30 years im doing this. Its 8 30 sorry. Its the 20 years ive been doing this. Anymore questions or comments from the commissioners . All right. Thank you very much for coming. We appreciate it, and were thank you so much for everybodys time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Were going to turn things over to Public Comment here. Analyst rice, Senior Analyst rice, do we have any Public Comment . Ill just flash the screen. Im looking at the queue, and theres nobody with their hands raised, and there is no chat on this. Well give it a second, just in case. All right. Were not hearing any Public Comment, so were going to close Public Comment on this. We can open it up to voting. Well need a motion and a second. Id like to make a motion to approve with the staff recommendation. I second. Can i ask im sorry. Before we vote, can i ask a qualifying question oh, you said staff recommendation. Sorry about that. Do you want me to repeat them . Sorry. Okay. [roll call] all right. Congratulations. Your permit has been approved. Please follow up with our staff at your earliest convenience to find next step social security. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. Appreciate your time, everyone. Appreciate it. Have a wonderful week. Thank you so much. All right. Were going to move onto the final agenda items, which is commissioner comments or questions tonight. Does anybody have something to say . Can i just make a quick plug . So tomorrow is october 21, wednesday. We are hosting mayor london breeds Filipino American History Month celebration, 5 30 via livestream on her facebook page, instagram, and twitter, so i would like everyone to come join us and celebrate Filipino American History Month. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else . I just had a quick comment. It looks likely today that were moving into yellow, for San Francisco, which i think is a huge giant great thing thats happening here that we have accomplished as a city, considering no bay area counties and no urban areas in california have been able to move into yellow yet for their covid response, but i am very cautious and kind of feeling a little bit nervous about everything. It looks like we may be able to open, according to the mayor, indoors at 50 , and it looks like sometime halfway through next month, they may examine the idea of outdoors, without serving food, which i think is a long time coming. But while i have this pulpit, i just want to encourage all the actors to follow the rules as much as they can. I think there are some venues in San Francisco that are not following the rules, and not only is that not fair to businesses that are doing their best to follow the rules, but also, its a health risk. And unfortunately, if there are more outbreaks in the city, it means that everybodys going to have to go backwards and close