Category Archives: politics

The committee established by the Entertainment Commission to review the Western SoMa Community Plan held its second meeting this week and objections continued to fall away as its members learned more about what the plan actually does. Nothing is taken away from the entertainment industry. In fact, the plan opens up the entire area south of Harrison Street for the expansion of new venues.

Commissioners Audrey Joseph and Bryant Tam toured the area with April Veneracion from Jane Kim’s office prior to the first official meeting of the committee and they developed concerns that the proposed buffer zones might be an obstacle to growth. It was later explained that the 200 foot buffer zones only applied to four residential enclave districts (see map) and that the vast majority of the area would provide ample room for new nightclubs.

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Supervisor Scott Wiener released his long-awaited report on the “The Economic Impact of San Francisco’s Nightlife Businesses” at a hearing today, and few were surprised to learn that 77% of the spending on entertainment in the city was at restaurants. Only 4% was at nightclubs or venues with DJs.  Continue reading →

The Entertainment Commission’s Committee on Entertainment in Western SoMa will hold its first meeting tonight at 4:00 p.m. in Room 479 of City Hall. The committee consists of promoter Audrey Joseph, (Vice Chair and Industry Representative), entertainer Glendon (Anna Conda) Hyde (representing the interests of neighborhood associations and groups) and Bryant Tan, a new Mayoral appointee from CCDC who is supposed to represent Urban Planning.

The discussion will focus on entertainment in the Western SoMa Community Plan. Commissioner Joseph will give us a brief history of entertainment in Western SoMa and someone from the Planning Department is supposed to inform us on the impact of current and future zoning in Western SoMa.  Continue reading →

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 

The much-hyped revival of Mid-Market didn’t come fast enough for David Addington and his company Fair Market Properties. J.K. Dineen reports in the San Francisco Business Times that Fair Market Properties, which bought 1028-1056 Market Street in 2004 for $6.4 million, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Jan. 18, according to public documents. Addington owes about $4 million to East West Bank.

Jim Meko, chair
SoMa Leadership Council