North Beach Jazz Festival Battles with Rec/Park Commission

by Harrison Chastang, KPOO FM Radio, 2006-05-05

"We got slammed man" were the words of Sunset Promotion's Allister Monroe, producer of the North Beach Jazz Festival, considered to be one best street fairs and festivals in San Francisco. Monroe was reacting to the vote by a San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission committee to reject a liquor permit for this summer's North Beach Jazz Festival in Washington Square Park. The vote came the same day the committee reinforced its decision not to grant a liquor permit to organizers of the North Beach Festival, held on Father's Day weekend and not associated with the North Beach Jazz Festival, usually held in late July or early August. Groups supporting the liquor ban claim that both festivals discourage park access to kids and encourage public drunkenness, a position Monroe says is not supported by any facts or documentation, and that his festival has received few, if any complaints from North Beach residents.

Over the years the North Beach Jazz Festival has brought to North Beach Carlos Santana, Pharaoh Sanders, musicians from Cuba, New Orleans and elsewhere while showcasing the history and traditions of jazz in North Beach. Monroe, one of the few African American music promoters in San Francisco, feels that the Jazz Festival is an unintended victim of a long running political feud between the North Beach Chamber of Commerce, which produces the North Beach Festival and the Telegraph Hill Dwellers. North Beach Festival producer Marsha Garland say her group has had a hard time getting permits to hold the festival since the North Beach Chamber opposed the efforts of Board of Supervisors chair Aaron Peskin to block construction of an Lombard Street apartment building Peskin and his supporters wanted as a park space.

While Monroe and the North Beach Jazz Festival had nothing to do with the Lombard Street dispute, Monroe felt that the Recreation and Parks committee that voted against the North Beach Festival's liquor permit had to also say no to the North Beach Jazz Festival to avoid any charges that the North Beach Festival was being singled out for political payback

If the beer and wine ban against both North Beach festivals is upheld, it could have ominous consequences for the future of fairs and festivals in San Francisco. Monroe says that as much as 75 percent of the money needed to produce the North Beach Jazz Festival, which includes one night of free music in Broadway, Grant and Columbus street clubs and two days of free music in Washington Square Park, comes from beer and wine company sponsorships and revenue from beer and wine sales, and that it would be very hard, if not impossible to produce the festival without the revenue from beer and wine sale and sponsorships. Other longtime events held on Recreation and Parks controlled lands could be in jeopardy if the department is consistent with its policy against any alcohol consumption in city parks. The long tradition drinking beer and wine at the Stern Grove Festival could end and the future of events like Reggae in the Park could be dim if no alcohol sale or consumption is allowed in Golden Gate Park. San Francisco's biggest event, the SF Pride festival is held in Civic Center Plaza and could also be subject to the Recreation and Parks alcohol ban. Monroe and other festival producers are concerned that the vote by the Recreation and Parks committee would encourage other neighborhood groups opposed to street fares and festivals to look for loopholes in City laws to reject permit applications for events not held on Recreation and Parks property.

Festival producers say they would like to see a consistency in City policy concerning the rules and regulations of fairs and festivals in San Francisco. Many street fairs produced by community groups like Carnival and the Folsom Street Fair must adhere to an strict 6 PM curfew, meaning that the festival must end by sundown, with liquor sales ending an hour before. City officials almost always reject any discussion of allowing festivals to continue past sunset, a pattern that was broken last year when Monroe persuaded City officials, in an unprecedented move, to extend the North Beach Jazz Festival from its usual 6 PM closing time to 9 PM. Monroe attributes to the good will the North Beach Jazz Festival has generated with City officials and the North Beach community for the extension.

Producers say there seems to be a different policy for events associated with high brow organizations like the Opera and the Symphony, which holds nighttime events like the Black and White Ball where revelers can stroll between different City Hall and other Civic Center venues with beer, wine or stronger libations without the drinking restrictions imposed on daytime street fairs and festivals. While technically City law does ban alcohol drinking in the parks, City officials say that the primary intent of that law was to prohibit individuals and unauthorized groups from using the parks as outdoor drinking halls, and that The City has never had a problem with issuing waivers of the no drinking rule to established, responsible organizations that must adhere to a strict process procedure to produce events in the parks

Monroe says that the praises and benefits the North Beach Jazz Festival generates for the City of San Francisco and the North Beach neighborhood far exceeds the few complaints associated with his festival. The North Beach Jazz Festival has evolved from a one day event to a four day festival jazz critics have cited as one of the ten best festivals in the United States, attracting a world wide audience to San Francisco. Monroe notes that tourism is The City's number one industry and that events like the North Beach Jazz Festival generates a significant amount of money to The City's economy. At a time when corporate music promoters like Clear Channel charge an average of $60 to see a show, music lovers are wondering if San Francisco is losing its reputation as "The City that Knows How" when it comes to providing free entertainment in one of the most expensive cities in the United States.

Monroe plans to appeal the committee's vote to the full Recreation and Parks Commission.