Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Compliance Compliance Compliance

The name of the game is compliance and the penalties for being out of compliance are severe. To help the licensed entertainment community the California Music and Culture Association, a newly formed trade group, recently held a compliance workshop and the attandance was out the door. With an estimated one hundred club owners and managers showing up for a 90 minute presentation by a star studded attorney panel with only 5 days notice, you can tell people are scared.

So what happened to bring everyone out to listen to a group of attorneys?

Well from the best we can tell, there is a rouge element in the SF police department that is bouncing from one venue to another around the city intimidating management, arresting employees and inaccurately issuing citations. The net result is that responsible management and owners are concerned that they will become the next target and from what we have heard, you don't want to be that target.

Confiscating equipment, arresting bartenders, issuing citations for allowing patrons to wait on the sidewalk for a cab and threatening patrons are some of the stories what we are hearing and the sources are not just one or two clubs. On last Saturday alone over 8 complaints came into our hot line from concerned management wondering what to do with these unwelcome and unruly police officers.

Our answer is to be in compliance until we can get the message to the Mayor and the Police Chief that this is a waste of resources. It may satisfy a few egos, but it does nothing to help restore the consumer confidence to encourage shopping in San Francisco and help struggling merchants stay in business.






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