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Oh, the power of the Internet! You can say anything you want, make up whatever outrageous assertions that suit your purpose. Scare people. Create boogeymen. Portray yourself as a victim. Ruin reputations. Bloggers will pick it up uncritically and spread it all over. No one seems to be interested in the truth.
“Jim Meko wants to close the Hole in the Wall,” they’re screaming. Oh sure, as if I’ve just spent the last ten years of my life living a lie. This is dishonest and irresponsible journalism:
http://www.sfbaytimes.com/index.php?sec=article&article_id=6279
The Hole in the Wall is in no danger. In fact, the owners have been juggling three options, all of which would guarantee the continued existence of the bar.
They could stay right where they are. They’re not being evicted. If they’d be willing to sign a lease, the owner would be glad to do any repairs but as long as it seems like they might move out at any moment, he’s not interested in doing upgrades specific to the current use of the building.
They could also buy a building that contains an existing entertainment venue. They’ve made offers on the Powerhouse and My Place. They felt the asking price was too high.
So that leads us to the current situation. They found a building comparable to My Place, with the added bonus of a backyard, that was a lot less expensive. Why less expensive? Because it contained a dance studio, not a bar. A bar would require what’s called a “change of use,” and that triggers a hearing process that allows the neighbors to make their feelings known.
They had a choice: work with the neighbors or try to bully their way into the neighborhood. They chose the latter.
I know the Hole in the Wall people are fighting hard to move to this new location, and all’s fair in love and so on, but I wish they’d stop lying about me. The guy that wrote that stuff in the Bay Times .. I don’t know him and he’s never spoken to me and I’m real easy to find. Google me, all right? He might have learned along the way that I’m trying to do some good things down here in SoMa, especially for the LGBTQ community. The letter I sent them nearly a year ago included an invitation to join the Western SoMa community planning process. Foolish me … inviting in people who don’t always agree with me!
I think both the Hole and the Eagle are great bars and I hope they go on forever. One of the things that makes them so much fun is the outlaw factor. Joe Banks and John Gardiner operate right at the edge of what’s legal and acceptable but they’ve been established in this community for so long that I’d fight to defend their right to continue that tradition. My complaint is that they didn’t give any thought to this new neighborhood they decided to move into. Huge difference. Nearly a hundred neighbors in close proximity. 98 units of affordable housing at Folsom/Dore. 140 units of SRO supportive housing with drug rehab programs going in directly across the street. Joe and John got bad advice about that location. I wrote a letter to their real estate agent last July outlining the challenges they would face but they decided to bully their way through all of this. It’s turned into a nasty and divisive fight and I deeply regret it.
I have been talking with Jeremy Paul, who represents the Hole, for about a month and about two weeks ago we arrived at a compromise that I was hoping the neighbors would accept. But then the folks from the Hole started spreading all this crap about me. I didn’t file the appeal, didn’t organize the neighbors, haven’t talked to the Planning Department and am certainly not out to close the Hole (or the Eagle). I’m not the enemy of fun. I do hold a seat on the Entertainment Commission, one that has been set aside to represent the interests of the neighbors. That’s how I got involved. You know what the neighbors are saying now? If this is how they treat one person who disagrees with them, can you imagine what kind of neighbors they’ll be to the rest of us? I’m not so sure anymore how interested in compromise these particular neighbors will be … but I’m going to keep trying.
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Jim Meko is a South of Market activist, currently serving as chair of both the SoMa Leadership Council and the Western SoMa Citizens Planning Task Force and is a member of San Francisco's Entertainment Commission. Here at the Bulldog, of course, he's expressing his own personal opinions. He can be reached at jim.meko@comcast.net.