Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Promoter Sfpd Allegation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Promoter Lloyd Lewis tells Entertainment Commission he was targeted by SFPD; police offer meeting
Summary
Promoter Lloyd Lewis told the San Francisco Entertainment Commission that SFPD Central Station contacted venues and warned them against doing business with him — a move he says canceled his April 23 show; SFPD said it will meet with Lewis and declined to confirm orders to shut venues.
Lloyd Lewis, owner of Personal Touch Entertainment, told the San Francisco Entertainment Commission on April 27 that he believes he and his company have been wrongfully targeted by the San Francisco Police Department’s Central Station after his event scheduled April 23 at the Butterfly Lounge was canceled.
Lewis said Central Station officers contacted two venues and told them that if they did business with "Lloyd Lewis or Personal Touch Entertainment" they would "be shut down or receive additional scrutiny," and that the interference led to the canceled event. He told commissioners he had sent letters to Captain Anna Brown and to Executive Director Bob Davis and asked the commission to mediate a meeting with SFPD Central Station to resolve the dispute and to place review of that meeting on a future agenda so promoters can report any harassment without fear.
Officer Steve Mathias of Central Station responded during the commission’s police report that he had been in contact with Butterfly Lounge and that his outreach concerned public-safety issues tied to particular events. Mathias said he did not tell anyone he could shut a venue down and that he lacks unilateral authority to close establishments except in hazardous circumstances. Mathias told the commission he had called Butterfly to discuss safety and that he would attempt to schedule a sit-down with Lewis, Captain Brown and Director Davis.
Commission staff and police also noted past incidents connected to events promoted by Lewis. In his summary of Central District activity, Officer Mathias read a 2008 memo recounting a large, poorly controlled private event at 465 California Street that he said had been promoted by Lewis; the memo described crowd-control challenges and a subsequent shooting call. Mathias said those earlier incidents informed current safety conversations and that he would provide records and follow up at the next meeting.
The commission did not make a formal determination about Lewis’s allegations at the meeting. Director Davis said staff will coordinate with Captain Brown and Officer Mathias to arrange a meeting with Lewis and decide whether the matter should appear on a future agenda or be addressed in the director’s report.
Next steps: SFPD indicated it will attempt to meet with Lewis; the commission asked staff to report back on any meeting and, if appropriate, place a follow-up item on a future agenda.
