This nasty dispute between neighbors and nightclubs over the question of establishing an entertainment zone on 11th Street has gotten a lot of people worked up.
“People who don’t want noise from people enjoying music and each other shouldn’t live in SOMA, or in the big city at all,” declared one of Entertainment Commissioner Glendon (Anna Conda) Hyde’s supporters.
The last time this idea surfaced, passions became so inflamed by the industry’s “Save the Music” campaign that a nearly completed 15 unit live/work building at the corner of 11th and Harrison Street burned to the ground. The fire was ruled arson but no one was ever prosecuted for the crime.
Maybe it’s time for folks on all sides of the issue to tone down their rhetoric a bit.
Jim Meko, chair
SoMa Leadership Council
soma leadership council 
Hey didn’t a proposed Walgreens or some such burn down by accident in the Haight many years ago? Perhaps the entertainment industry’s supporters would rather burn than build bridges? In any case we who have lived in SOMA and have for many years before the clubs would really like dialogue rather than the tired old rhetoric …”if you don’t like it move”… or “why did you move here to begin with” type of thing. Really that shows little respect for the neighborhood, but apparently it plays well at public meetings.
What bothers me about Mr. Hyde is that he puts forth the premise that local business owners reached out to him because
“they didn’t feel part of the process.” Yet the plan was in the works for 5 years and there were over 66 mtgs regarding it. It’s just sour grapes and either Mr. Hyde knows this and is lying or he is just woefully uninformed.
I just want to make it clear that I never participated in burning any building and think it is regrettable to have my name linked by Mr Meko to arson. Also what friends say on my facebook page do not always reflect my own opinion. I find it regrettable that for a second time my opinion is created by the words of someone else.
An 11th Street neighbor forwarded an email that they received from Mr. Hyde:
From: Charlie Horse (charliehorsecincha@yahoo.com)
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 4:58 PM
To: undisclosed
Subject: I make a living in night clubs
I want you to know that myself and the 10 people I employed lost our jobs thanks to new neighbors wanting to control a bar that had been a bar since the 1800s. I feel that you have very little right to complain about YOUR needs over ours. You moved in AFTER the club had been established and you should be ashamed of your behavior.
Glendon “Anna Conda” Hyde
Glendon Hyde is right on. These people need to move to a suburb and stop being such curtain twitchers. My god, you live in a city folks. This is why you live in the city? To complain about noise?! Really?!
@MoistPup, perhaps you are not getting it. This has nothing to do with the telling people to “move to the suburbs” and everyything to do with “process” and the many years that went into the West SOMA plan by people actually living here, in cases for many years. Why on earth would I be forced to move out of my apartment after 22 years in SOMA because the big Entertainment MONEY is making an end run around a plan that the broad community has worked so hard for? Hardly democratic. I suspect that MONEY interests will win in the end…they kinda try to occupy everything.
hummm , not sure why someone would take down my post ? it was how i felt living here in SF for 24 years with Entertainment ..i guess this isnt an open forum , just a selective few…… now more people are aware of whats going on down there ……. i think every voice should be heard ..Chickpea
What post?
It’s really sad. San Francisco was the #1 Tourist Destination for entertainment for many years back in the late 80’s and into the early 90’s. Now we don’t even rank in the Top 30. It is because people that live the City have A) gotten too old to remember how to have fun and B) they are trying to raise children above a bar. Look, this is a CITY. It’s ALWAYS going to be noisy. We need to focus more on extending after hours and keeping nightlife FUN. Move to Walnut Creek, for Christ’s sake!
Boy that gets tiring….”move to walnut creek”. Where were you when the Western SOMA plan was being developed by the community? You must have skin in the game, perhaps an owner? In any case it makes no difference. The City will always be an tourist destination but it does not have to happen at the expense of tearing the neighborhood fabric apartment. Try working with people that have lived here for several decades before throwing them out of town will you please?