PEOPLE WHO LIVE NEAR MEDJOOL NEED YOUR HELP!

THIS IS A CRITICAL MOMENT!

On February 10, Medjool could be allowed to run a large rooftop bar with no requirement to address the noise impact on the community.


What Are The Issues?

The City should require Medjool to address community impacts through a formal permit review and approval process like any similar business typically does. Those processes make sure all neighbors can coexist.

• There is more development coming. By being vigilant about Medjool’s rooftop we make sure that now and in the future the City and businesses will follow the proper processes protecting the health of ALL the neighbors in our mixed residential-commercial area.
  
  
• We want to avoid a situation in which neighbors call Medjool and the police night after night at 1:00am to have music turned down, and ask them to quiet down drunk, yelling partygoers. Gus Murad, the owner, cares about the Mission so we hope that he does not want this either. It's the City’s job to use its permitting authority and expertise to keep the neighborhood livable.

Options for Helping at City Hall

One hundred and fifty people are needed on Feb. 10 at City Hall. A strong showing of concerned neighbors is critical to provide an alternative point of view to the one being generated by Medjool's professionally run "Save Medjool" PR campaign. Now is the time to make the urgency known to the City and to Medjool.

Depending on your availability, there are 3 options for your participation:

1. Full participation: Arrive by 4:40pm to get a seat in the hearing room and plan to stay until 10:00. We will make the time fun for us all!
   
   
2. Targeted participation: Come solely for public comment period, which is most essential. During public comment you can just stand up when needed to show you want noise impacts addressed, or speak for one minute (optional talking points provided). Reserve 5:00-10:00pm to be able to zip over to City Hall when needed. Then sign up for Twitter updates (@missioncoexist) live from the meeting that will broadcast the time that this agenda item will be likely to begin.
   
   
3. If you can’t attend Feb. 10 at all, there are other ways to you can help (see Four Ways You Can Help, above.)

Is it Really So Loud?

We will let the people who live near Medjool speak for themselves. Here are three different neighbors sharing their points of view:

1. We moved to our home right around the corner from Medjool in 2008. We were excited to be a part of the vibrant area, but quickly found that the noise/music/boisterous crowds on the roof were disruptive even with our windows closed. In addition, the "after party" seemed to continue outside on a number of occasions requiring police, fire trucks, and / or ambulances, which only added to the disruption and noise. Medjool needs to be held accountable for the constant nuisance its neighbors have had to bear and become more considerate neighbors.

2. I felt like my apartment was vibrating with sound, even with windows shut, a pillow over my head, and earplugs in my ears.

3. I have a view of Medjool's rooftop bar from my front windows. Sound carries from there, directly into my living and bedrooms, and it's as if it's playing in my own home.

People talking loudly or shouting - I can make out conversations perfectly some nights. Camera flashes bounce off the walls in my living room.

And then when the bar closes at 2am, there's a chorus of people carrying on as they disperse throughout the neighborhood.

It's extremely disruptive and deeply inconsiderate.

When Medjool's roofdeck was being operated without scrutiny, the noise was oppressive. Since April of 2009, it has been quieter, but Medjool wants to pursue a busier, more active rooftop bar/restaurant with an international clientele (people on vacation who at 1am won’t think about whether their party is keeping neighbors awake). Life could become unbearable again for neighbors if we don’t have a conditional use permit limiting noise from the rooftop.


More About Medjool

Though it is part of a larger, legally permitted business (Medjool restaurant and bar, and the Elements Hotel), Medjool’s rooftop restaurant and bar is not legally permitted. Despite multiple legal avenues Medjool had pursued in order to try to justify the rooftop restaurant/bar, the City Planning Department informed Medjool in April of 2009 that the rooftop restaurant and bar were operating without proper permits. Medjool appealed the notice, and a Board of Appeals hearing was held on December 16, 2009.

Medjool provided free transportation and other incentives for over 100 people to attend the hearing, many of whom spoke in support of their appeal. (Read hearing transcript.) The Board decided to reconvene on February 10, allowing Medjool to keep operating the illegal rooftop bar in the interim and giving them a chance to put together a plan to rectify their violation. City staff suggested that Medjool choose the conditional use permitting process to make their rooftop business legal. This process would require that Medjool address impacts on neighbors in the rooftop design (for example, by building sound barriers) and the operation of the bar/restaurant (for example, by agreeing not to play outdoor amplified music).

At the December 16 hearing, the Board also noted that in the years they had been operating the rooftop bar, Medjool had not acted in good faith with neighbors. For example, less than 24 hours before the hearing, Medjool’s attorney contacted the SFBC to share a short list of ideas for mitigating sound. The SFBC was glad to be contacted and also knows that real solutions need to come from neutral, technically qualified consultants, and be legally enforceable. The letters sent by the SFBC to the Board of Appeals give more detail on concerns about the rooftop bar and restaurant’s impacts on neighbors. (Read SFBC letter.)