potrero view

November 2009

Club Conflicts Continue to Flare Up

By Ben Terrall

As the recession drags on and San Francisco’s budget crisis continues, local government is doing what it can to promote economic activity within City limits.  But some residents say that one tactic – promoting nightlife – works against neighborhoods, which have to cope with frequently inebriated patrons as they spill out of clubs.

According to Susan Eslick, who after nine years as president of the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association now serves as its vice-president, “the voters didn’t know what they were getting” when they created the San Francisco Entertainment Commission.  Eslick feels that there’s a “huge conflict of interest” inherent in the Commission’s work, given that it’s charged with both promoting live entertainment and policing clubs.  

Landscape architect Topher Delaney agrees.  Delaney’s studio is a stone’s throw from Kelly’s Mission Rock Café, whose customers sometimes cause headaches for nearby residents.  According to Delaney, when police were responsible for monitoring clubs – before voters passed a ballot initiative creating the Entertainment Commission in 2003 – there wasn’t a built-in conflict with commissioners who are in the entertainment business.  Delaney believes that complaints about noise and bad behavior get short shrift from commissioners, and sees “a lack of real effort on the part of the Entertainment Commission to address these issues in a cogent, thoughtful way.”

Delaney believes that Kelly’s management “sees us as pesky neighbors” who don’t want the club to succeed, but “that’s not it at all.  No ones against them. It’s an issue of civility and cultivating relationships …It’s not the club, it’s the sound.”  According to Delaney, when she lived near Bottom of the Hill, located at Potrero Hill’s northern slope, that venue’s owner maintained excellent relationships with his neighbors, frequently deploying crews to collect trash outside the club.

Bob Davis, the Entertainment Commission’s executive director, thinks residents’ concerns about Kelly’s Mission Rock are overblown, especially given that there has been “one verifiable complaint” about the club since last spring.  Delaney conceded that with a recent ownership change the noise problems at Mission Rock Café had improved.  But she disagreed with Davis’s assertion about the number of complaints about the club.  “I’ve made several,” she said.  

One challenge in managing the potentially adverse consequences of club goers is determining when the venue ceases being responsible for the behavior of its customers.  According to Jeff Grubler, a bartender at the South of Market mainstay the Cat Club, club employees can deny rowdy patrons reentry if they create a disturbance on the street, but if the troublesome individuals are content with expulsion not much more can be done.  Davis agreed, and stressed that due to an overstretched police force, cops can’t always respond quickly to help quell disturbances.

The Entertainment Commission’s “Good Neighbor Policies for Nighttime Entertainment Activities” identifies 11 rules that clubs are asked to comply with, including placing a sign near entrances and exits reminding patrons to be considerate of neighborhood residents by not talking loudly or creating disturbances.  Café Cocomo, which, according to Eslick, “has been a problem for a lot of people around here” due to noise complaints, has a visible sign posted near its entrance which tells customers to be sensitive to neighbors.  The club also recently cancelled its “First Fridays” night, which drew over-capacity, excessively rowdy crowds.  Last month there was no sign posted to dissuade customers from being loud or in other ways inconsiderate at Kelly’s Mission Rock Café.  When told about the lack of signage, Davis said that “we will remind them” to post such a sign.

Kepa Askenasy, co-founder of the Neighborhood Coalition to Save Potrero, which works to preserve Potrero Hill’s cultural mix, had better news to report about venues near her.  According to Askenasy, the Lingba Lounge, located at 1469 18th Street, which has nightly DJs, has been considerate of its neighbors.  She called The Bottom of the Hill’s management “very professional,” sound-proofing the club and distributing notices to locals with a number to call about any problems.  Askenasy feels safer going out at night with young club goers on the street, as the neighborhood used to be deserted after sunset.

According to Eslick there’s another club in her neighborhood that avoids excessive noise:  the Hell’s Angels.  While their motorcycles are noisy, she said, their private club located on Mississippi Street is never especially loud.


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