Nob Hill Meeting Proves Revealing

On March 4^th, the San Francisco Planning Commission approved a conditional use application for the concert promotion company, Live Nation. The application allows the company to become the sole operator of events the historic Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium and includes renovations to the interior that will increase the capacity of the venue and bring its facilities into the 20^th century. The renovations entail installation of permanent food and beverage stands including eight additional alcohol vendors, updating of the floor and stage, and streamlining of event operations.

While protesters rallied outside City Hall demanding education reform, the showdown before the commission featured the residents of Nob Hill adorned with stickers bearing “Nob Hill Resident” squaring off against proponents of the application wearing rival stickers demanding one “Support the Masonic Center.” The residents, banded together under the banner of the Nob Hill Legal Coalition, bombarded the public comment section on the measure with speaker after speaker. The result proved to be quite telling about the makeup of the neighborhood.

One man stood up and claimed that, by allowing the Masonic Auditorium to become a full-scale entertainment venue as it would with the proposed renovations and capacity increase, the neighborhood would be inviting “sex toy shops, pornography shops, fast food shops and sex shops to invade [Nob Hill].” A woman said that the venue’s general admission events would result in public urination, defecation, and drug dealing in Nob Hill’s historic Huntington Park that is directly across California Street from the auditorium. Another man recited numerous clubs, their capacity, and subsequent shooting deaths that took place after the stated event at the respective club. Another affirmed that Live Nation’s music events would invite people that would degrade and ultimately destroy the reputation of Nob Hill and, inevitably, San Francisco.

It was hard not to notice that the majority of speakers during the Nob Hill residents’ public comment were older, white men, and all were vehemently opposed to the idea of general admission events taking place with such frequency (70 per year as proposed).

After the discussion, Commissioner Gwyneth Borden, an African-American woman, was visibly upset and spoke her mind. Borden said that, judging by the “tone and tenor” of the emails and letters received, as well as by what was said in the public discourse, she feels that one issue is that people on Nob Hill “don’t want people who look like me coming to Nob Hill.” She said that that is how the message has come across and that some residents have "said some really nasty things."

Borden said she viewed the main issue presented by the residents as a censorship issue, which puts an entire new spin on the affair. To Borden, it was apparent that the Nob Hill residents did not want to invite the type of crowd that would attend medium-sized events like rock or rap concerts onto the pristine crest of San Francisco’s most affluent neighborhood.

The Masonic Auditorium, as well as any venue of such nature in the city, is a city venue and not a neighborhood belonging, as pointed out by Commission President Ron Miguel. It was clear to Borden and myself that the opposed residents felt differently and did not want to tarnish the area’s sterling reputation with the riffraff of general admission crowds. This is a telling facet of the makeup of Nob Hill. The opposition was so fierce and the claims so unwieldy that they lend insight into why the area is so commonly referred to as “Snob Hill.”

As it turns out, the application passed, so residents will have to come to grips with its new neighbors and their guests sooner or later. It will be interesting to see if the Masonic becomes the agent of abasement in Nob Hill as the residents have said, but I probably wouldn't count on it.