Rules Committee amends Castro Upper Market entertainment-zone map, continues ordinance to March 24

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Rules Committee on March (date not specified) approved a small amendment to an ordinance that would create the Castro Upper Market Entertainment Zone and then continued the item to the committee meeting on March 24 for further consideration.

Supervisor Rafael Mandelmann, sponsor of the ordinance, told the committee the entertainment zone would clarify boundaries for outdoor alcohol sales and events in the Castro and that the amendment would add “an additional half a block” to include one business on 16th Street that was not on the original map. Mandelmann asked colleagues for a positive vote to forward the item with the amendment to the full board after public comment.

The ordinance, as read into the record by the clerk, would create the Castro Upper Market Entertainment Zone covering portions of Eighteenth, Castro, Market, Church, Fourteenth and Noe streets and would affirm the Planning Department’s determination under the California Environmental Quality Act. Mandelmann said the zone is intended to help local bars and restaurants retain alcohol sales tied to outdoor events and to stimulate neighborhood businesses.

Business owners and neighborhood groups who spoke during public comment urged the committee to adopt the change. Chris Hastings, owner of The Lookout, said he has operated outdoor events in the Castro for years and supported the ordinance: “I think the Castro represents kind of on a national and global scale, what a gayborhood or queer neighborhood could be like and I don't think we live up to those ideals.”

Andrea Aiello, executive director of the Castro Community Benefit District, said the CBD supports the legislation and that allowing alcohol sales tied to local street events will keep revenue in the neighborhood: “Alcohol sales will stay in the community because people will be allowed to go into a bar or a restaurant, purchase alcohol, purchase a glass and a compostable cup… and come outside and kind of stay with the party.”

Other speakers representing neighborhood merchants and small businesses — including Paul Miller, Terry Aston Bennett of the Castro Merchants, Sean Vergara, and Tiffany Chung — likewise testified in support, describing the ordinance as a tool to help revitalize the commercial corridor following pandemic-era declines.

One member of the public opposed creating another entertainment zone while noting ongoing homelessness in the same neighborhoods: “I just wish I saw the same sense of urgency that's being given towards businesses and profits, also towards people and their health and their care,” the speaker stated.

After public comment, Mandelmann moved the amendment described as bringing “in an additional half a block” to add the business on Sixteenth Street; the committee adopted the amendment without objection. The committee then voted to continue the ordinance, as amended, to the Rules Committee meeting on March 24.

The clerk read the Planning Department's CEQA determination into the record; the ordinance as presented affirms that determination. No final passage of the ordinance occurred at this meeting; the committee set the matter for further consideration on March 24.

Votes and procedural actions at the meeting were recorded as unanimous among the members present. Chair Shamann Walton, Vice Chair (transcript: Supervisor Cheryl), and Member Rafael Mandelmann all voted “aye” on the amendment and on the motion to continue.

The committee heard approximately a dozen public commenters on this item, most representing Castro businesses and neighborhood organizations, with one resident expressing opposition. Supporters cited economic and cultural benefits for local small businesses; an opponent urged equal urgency toward homelessness and social services.

If advanced at the next hearing, the ordinance would formally define the Castro Upper Market Entertainment Zone boundaries and authorize the regulatory mechanism the city uses for neighborhood entertainment zones, subject to any further amendments or findings the committee or full board may adopt.