December 7, 2007

Politics Be Damned!

Yesterday I seemed be all caught up in politics of one sort or another. And it was fucking raining!

I spent half the day at City Hall helping a friend who owns the landmark Cafe Flore get approval from the Planning Commission to expand his hours. The wackos in the neighborhood who oppose the changes, most of whom are admittedly loyal patrons of the Cafe, want to turn the Castro into a suburban retirement village. Either that, or the issue at hand is really about wielding power in the neighborhood, and the proposal before the Planning Commission is just a chance to get on their soapbox. My letter to the Planning Commission is after the jump.

The hearing went on and on, but had to leave at 5:15 after I said my speech. (I think I pissed off a few neighbors...)

I got home to find out that the first gay mayor of Vallejo, CA lost the recount! Gary Cloutier had to step down after two days in office when the recount suddenly "found" extra absentee ballots giving his opponent three extra votes. Something sounds fishy to me. The election was a tie on voting day, and the first recount put Cloutier ahead, but that was after Cloutier was disgraced all over the media by being arrested for being drunk in Palm Springs.

My boyfriend has known Gary Cloutier since High School, we've been to his house and he joined us for dinner just a few weeks ago right before the incident in Palm Springs. Politics are dirty everywhere, but I think the "embarrassment" to the city was just too much for them. Well, so much for my idea of "Miss Gay First Lady of Vallejo Pageant".

The photo is Gary Cloutier soliciting the youth vote at Dore Alley Street Fair in July 2007.

At least I got to end the day properly. We went to Oakland for a sing-a-long screening "Wizard of Oz" benefiting the East Bay LGBT community center, the Pacific Center. Even after watching that movie a zillion times, I can still get verklempt. P.S. It has a happy ending.

I am sick of politics! Let's get back to talking about gay porn! Please patronize my favorite sponsors:

November 19, 2007
San Francisco Planning Department
1650 Mission Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94103
Case number: #2007.0584C (Cafe Flore/2298 Market St)

Dear Planning Department:

I have been a loyal patron of Cafe Flore since around 1981. Throughout the burgeoning years of "coffee house culture", and radical changes in the Castro, Cafe Flore has always been my favorite hangout. To this day, if it's nice outside and I just want to go somewhere to read, write or chit chat, Cafe Flore is my destination. My little inside joke with myself is, "If I sit there long enough at Cafe Flore, eventually I will run into SOMEone I know." Back when I was new in town and didn't know very many people, it was very important to have such a place to go.

As I think back to the early 80's there are only a few businesses in the Castro other than Cafe Flore that still survive under the same name: Twin Peaks, Castro Theater, All American Boy, Cliff's Variety, Midnight Sun, Badlands, Sausage Factory and Moby Dick. Though some of the owners my have changed, they've mostly been able to maintain the same vibe, which is really difficult to do.

I am concerned that the Cafe Flore I've known all these years may be in trouble, though. In order to keep up with the costs of running a business in an increasingly expensive neighborhood and a payroll of 35 employees, Cafe Flore has applied to extend their liquor license two additional hours, and expand their food service to 24 hours. Seems like a reasonable request, right? Apparently, some tired old queens in the neighborhood think that allowing Cafe Flore to serve pancakes at 5am is going to lower their property value.

Huh?

Or maybe these old queens around the corner are concerned that if Cafe Flore is open for drinks till 2 instead of midnight (along with their public restroom) it will cause more people to pee on their petunias? Hmm. Wouldn't actually be better to have one more toilet available at 2am?

The gay men who bought houses in the Castro 20 or 30 years ago are all now in their 50's and 60's. They bought here because it was a fun place to be gay, and they wanted to bring home tricks to a place that was only walking distance from the bars. Now that they've grown up and had their fun, they don't think anyone else should have any fun anymore, so they are pushing agendas that appeal to the geriatric set.

Neighborhood groups all over the city are being taken over by professional "whiners" that have nothing else to do but sit through meeting after meeting and push through agendas designed to make San Francisco a boring suburban family-friendly retirement village. Just look at the attempts to stop Kink.com in the Mission and Hole In The Wall in SOMA brought on by professional whiners from neighborhood groups. In the Castro, it's the same people who opposed Halloween since the early 1990's and still haven't provided any meaningful alternatives other than "end it".

From talking to people involved, I tend to suspect the opponents of Cafe Flore's expanded permits don't really care about the issue at hand. Their motivation is just to have the ability to wield power in their little kingdom and make the neighborhood more boring in any way they can.

Don't let the fuddy duddies ruin the Castro!

Sincerely,

Mark Kliem
San Francisco, CA

Posted by lavenderlounge at 10:16 AM

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