Culture war at City Halltext and photos by Caitlin Donohue
Jazz Mafia's horn section trumpets their support for the EC at yesterday's City Hall demonstration
It’s not everyday that Jazz Mafia plays the steps of City Hall. Hell, it’s not everyday that the San Francisco nightclub community rallies for an event before five p.m. But both went down yesterday in observation of a big battle in the war on fun.
The Friends of the Entertainment Commission turned out hundreds of venue owners, festival promoters and music fans for a committee hearing on legislation that would increase the Commission’s autonomy. Should the proposed changes be signed into law, the regulatory body that oversees nightclubs and special events would have the power to quickly shut down troublesome nightspots and give out special event extended hours permits. Also under debate was a proposal by Sup. David Chiu that would cap the special hours permits if they rose 15% above their current level (a “small amount” now, even in the words of Chiu) over the next year.
The scene inside the hearing room made it clear that we’re in the middle of a culture war. Protesting the increase of the EC’s authority were police officers insisting that public safety demanded clubs and events be given a shorter leash and NIMBY activists showing grainy peeping tom-like videos that showed two scuffles outside Union Square clubs and a whole lot of… people standing in lines. Look, that man is leaning against a wall! Mayhem! We’re under siege!
This sort of scrutiny and criminalization has led to the institution of more and more fees, fines and hassles from the forces behind the war on fun. “It’s getting to the point where the only events that will be held will be organized by billionaires or cost $75 to get in,” said Robbie Kowal, whose North Beach Jazz Festival was canceled this year due to steep permit fees.
Other club owners told of nonsensical regulations involving food at events, uneven code enforcement and of excessive hoops and hurdles from the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. “I’m trying to open a new bar, employ 20 San Franciscans, and there’s this big hold up,” Duncan Ley, owner of Polk Street bar Tonic, told me.
Mandatory police presence soured the scene (and budget) of the Clarion Alley Block Party
Daniel Doherty is one of the organizers of the Clarion Alley Block Party, another neighborhood tradition that survived by the skin of its teeth when $1,200 worth of unexpected bureaucracy appeared out of thin air a month before the planned date.
“This is just another sign of the direction our city’s heading in,” he told me.
The most damaging change wrought on the Clarion block party was the police department’s insistence that two officers be hired to patrol the family event, a move that cost organizers $800. “They tore down the alley on their dirt bikes at one point, issued open container tickets and were really disrespectful in their questioning,” Doherty told me.
Should we really be issuing prohibitive regulations against one of our city’s few thriving industries? Is San Francisco ready to stop having fun? Can we take a vote?
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