My brush with City Hall

The Entertainment Commission hearing for the Badlands renewal of dance and music licenses was last night at City Hall. This, by all accounts, was the last big hurrah for the AndCastroForAll (AC4A) group, as “mediation” is supposedly set up for this Saturday, and the HRC hearing had been conducted as well as they could, and the ABC had done their own biased “investigation” and found the bar not guilty. The Board of Supervisors had issued their statement, but no event so far had held Badlands finally accountable, with penalty, for anything. A lot of words so far, but no action. No one knows what form mediation is going to take, but only that it will be done with the help of Willie Brown, who people are rightly suspicious of. Willie Brown was immensely helped into SF political power, with the help of Jack Davis, Badlands owner’s buddy and PR consultant (who helped get Brown into the mayor-ship way back when). The goals of the group were not quite clear, because first and foremost, they weren’t after any monetary benefit, they just wanted Les out of the community. That could take many forms, and that’s why it was always so hard to tell people who asked what the group wanted, why they were picketing, etc. It seemed that the group’s only hope was to contact agencies in the City that held some kind of control over the bar, go after Les’ liquor license and dance/music license.

So when I arrived at City Hall last night, 8 minutes late, I waved to Max in the main room, and then found a seat in the overflow room, as the 100 seat main room was packed full, standing room only. Channel 7 news was there and at least 2 other private videocameras. I had set TiVo to tape the hearing, but as it turned out, there were no broadcast cameras in the Commission hearing room, and all we got in the overflow was piped-in audio. The only broadcast cameras, I guess, were in the overflow that we were presently seated in, so it took me a few minutes to figure out that the TV screens on the wall were showing the empty seats at the front of my present room, and that the disembodied voice was coming from the main room. Sort of sucked that I couldn’t see people’s faces, but one could make an argument that the testimony that was soon to follow was made even more powerful by having to imagine the person standing there. Sort of like a book being better than the movie.. sort of.

All of Les’ (the Badland’s owner and perpetrator of the racism) representation was in the first 2 rows of this overflow room, totaling maybe 10-12 people at the height of it, including Jack Davis. The rest of the main room and the rest of the overflow were filled with AC4A members, complainants and supporters. The effort and the urgency that was conveyed to get people to this meeting really, really paid off. It was quite amazing to see the sincerity in everyone’s eyes, even before anyone had spoken. And the fact that all of Les’ people were here in the overflow meant that AC4A people had successfully gotten there early and grabbed seats, as requested at the last few AC4A gatherings I had been to.

The Commission meeting started out interviewing a total of 3 or 4 bar owners and representatives about noise permits, putting up sound barriers, skylight sound barriers (which I didn’t even know existed), before getting to Badlands. Some of us were getting antsy and worried about how long we would have to wait through the other bar’s commission hearings, but soon enough, in the second hour, we were up. Max told me later that Channel 7 news had left already before Badlands even was on the table, and sure enough, watching the news later, all there was was a quick shot of the Commissioners at the beginning of the evening, but none of the proceedings. So it was our turn, and everyone who had wanted to speak had signed up in advance, including Max. The Commission stated that this was not a hearing per se, no vote was being taken that night, but evidence and public testimony was simply being taken for them to have material to mull over while making their decision at a later point. Don, one of the heads of the group, was asked for input on how the meeting should go, and it was decided by the C. that the complainants should go first, so that Badlands knew the case against them and could defend themselves. Don obviously wanted the Badlands people to go first (and said so initially) so that the whole latter part of the evening and the end would include our point of view, but having Badlands go second actually didn’t matter in the least just because of the vast amount of AC4A people there, and also community members came up after Badlands statements, so there was just no way Badlands could compete. First Phil, a civil rights attorney spoke, then one after another, people were telling their stories of how Les would come up to them in the bar, ask them for multiple ID’s (against the law in SF), ask to show them their money to prove they could buy a drink, say he was enforcing some “dress code” and kick them out. Story after story after story, I could not believe it. I have been involved in this group for months, and I had not heard half of these stories. People were crying, clapping after each statement, it was absolutely amazing in a gut-wrenching way.

The Commissioners were really awesome, as well. One of the male members was cracking a few jokes, one of the women caught a Badlands person in a lie, or at least a misrememberance that would have helped his story, had it fit the evidence given by someone else a few moments earlier. Oh man, it was really a coup for us. All the Badlands statements were quite weak given the power and emotionality of the AC4A stories. All they could say was “I’m a bartender there and I don’t discriminate.” I mean, great that doesn’t mean other people didn’t, or Les forced other employees to. Even Jack Davis got up and gave a statement to the effect of “Les is my friend and Badlands is my local hangout and these people are lying.” Ok, I expected a little more than that from him. I was getting a little worried about undue camaraderie when the male Commissioner started joking around with Jack and mentioned a Jack Daniels bottle, referring to an event at Davis’ birthday bash that was the talk/horror of the town a few years ago (Google it). But the buddy-buddy didn’t last more than a few more seconds. I actually think the Commissioner was trying to bring him down to size now that I think about it, after Jack got up there and stated all his accomplishments and powerful friends before giving his statement. Wow. I think the one thing I was left with after watching the Badlands people was, and I don't know if this was just my hopeful perception, but I honestly don't think they believed that any of these stories were true until last night. How many people need to say the same thing until any of them believed that what happened, actually happened? How can you say that everyone is just lying. Point on point, specific, dated, corroborated recounts. I felt really bad for the Badlands employees, having truth shown to them in such a glaring way.

There was never a good time to leave the meeting; each testimony was just as incredible as the last, but Max and I finally left City Hall, we think just before the end of the hearing. Getting word later, the Commission thanked everyone for coming, seemed really distraught and appalled at the extent of all of this, and pledged to do anything they could to help us out.

I felt a lightness today that I haven’t felt in a while, and we finally had a sunny fog-free morning to boot.