A rendering of the redesign for the Market and Castro streets intersection.
Image courtesy SF Planning Department.

Rainbow crosswalks and gay historical elements are out. Gingkos and King palms are in.

Due to budgetary constraints, San Francisco planners working on the redesign of Castro Street in the heart of the city’s gayborhood have, for now, cut from the proposal such things as rainbow crosswalks, sparkle treatments in the concrete, and embedding gay historical factoids in the sidewalks.

The first 20 Rainbow Honor Walk plaques honoring LGBT people who have made significant contributions to society, which a nonprofit group is privately raising the money for, are slated to be installed along Castro Street as part of the redesign.

Planners disclosed their decision to eliminate the LGBT design elements at an open house last night (Tuesday, May 14) in the neighborhood. It was the third and final public meeting planning staff held to gather public input so they can use that feedback to finalize their design for the streetscape.

Sometime in July they will present the final plans for Castro Street between 19th and Market Streets to the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency board and then the Board of Supervisors for approval. Construction is set to begin in early 2014 and be completed by October of next year.

As the Bay Area Reporter has noted in past stories, the $4 million makeover is being funded from a road-paving bond measure passed by voters in 2011. Depending on the results of the bidding from contractors on the project, there may be a chance that some of the gay-centric elements can be added back into the project.

“Some things we need to wait for the bid results. If they are low enough we can do such things as the rainbow crosswalks, mica sparkles in the sidewalk and the [LGBT] history facts,”  said Nick Perry, a Castro resident and an urban designer with the Planning Department’s City Design Group working on the project.

A rendering of the redesign for Castro Street between 19th and 18th streets. Image courtesy of SF Planning Department.

He added that the history facts were “always intended/presented as neighborhood history facts, which includes – but is not limited to – the neighborhood’s LGBT history” and meant to be a “unique and neighborhood-specific” compliment to the Rainbow Honor Walk.

As for the special crosswalks, Perry told the B.A.R. that they “wouldn’t necessarily be rainbows, that was just one example we’ve shown.”

Other decisions revealed at the open house included the types of plantings that will be added to the street. Armstrong maples and white barked birch were nixed in favor of Columnar ginkgos for the majority of the street.

For accent plantings King palms were chosen over two other evergreen species: southern magnolias and Queen palms.

As reported by the B.A.R. last week, Jane Warner Plaza is set to be upgraded as part of the plan based on public feedback. And planners are closely looking at the intersection of 18th and Castro streets to improve pedestrian safety there.

An initial idea to relocate the bus stops at 18th and Castro streets was abandoned as it proved to be too controversial. Instead, bulbouts will be added to the corners in front of the restaurants Harvey’s and K-Pop. The bus shelters on 18th will also be relocated closer to the buildings to give pedestrians more room on the sidewalks.

The car lanes along Castro Street were increased a foot to now measure 12 feet, with the width from curb to curb now 40 feet. Planners are also looking at removing the left-hand turn lane onto 18th Street from north-bound Castro Street in order to have extended sidewalks in that area.

Traffic counts the department did revealed infrequent use of the turn lane. They were gathering feedback from the public during the open house to see if there is support for the proposal.

At the Market, Castro and 17th streets intersection the crosswalk leading from Harvey Milk Plaza to the gas station across the street, where a new housing development is slated to be built, is set to be reconfigured. Pedestrians would no longer be able to directly access the median in the middle of the street where the bus stop for the 37-Corbet route is located.

Instead, transit users would need to cross Market to the other side of the street and walk up 17th Street where a new crosswalk would be installed to the bus stop median. To prevent people from running across to the median, planners are looking at having plants be added to it so it is inaccessible to pedestrians.

“We probably will cut back the median,” added Perry when asked about the likelihood of people jaywalking to the bus stop. “We are talking about maybe doing some landscape there so people don’t think it is a landing pad.”

So far the design for Castro Street has met with mostly positive responses. Castro florist Gary Weiss, the owner of Ixia on Market Street, was especially pleased to see gingkos had been selected.

“I am really excited about it. I am a big fan of gingkos,” he said. “The gingko has in incredibly beautiful color. In the fall it turns a brilliant yellow that is just gorgeous.”

One Collingwood resident, who declined to give his name because he works in design and has business connections to the planning department, did express some concern about traffic gridlock the project may create as there will be less room for cars making turns onto 18th Street to maneuver.

But overall he said he is “generally pleased” with the proposal and thinks having new trees lining Castro is going to be “great.”

Patrick Batt, the owner of Auto Erotica on 18th Street, had no objections to the proposed plans. He is concerned that the construction timetable has not been clearly explained.

Planners have said they intend to do the work in sections so as to be less invasive but have not stated which blocks they will start on. They likely won’t known until August at the earliest.

“If we can weather this it will be good for the neighborhood. It will create a lot of bleeding for the neighborhood,”said Batt. “We are at a crossroads right now. My concern is this could be a death knell for certain businesses.”

California’s statewide LGBT advocacy group announced this week it had bolstered its staff ranks and will be heading to the Central Valley to hold a community town hall.

EQCA staffer Rikimah Glymph

Joining Equality California as its new chief administrative officer is Rikimah Glymph and as its communications director is Jesse Melgar.

Glymph, seen at right, had worked at ColorOfChange, a non-profit dedicated to advocating for African Americans in politics and policy, as director of operations and administration. She also worked as the director of finance and operations for the New Organizing Institute, a non-profit dedicated to giving progressive organizers access to skills and technology.

Melgar had been with public relations firm Cerrell Associates Inc., where he worked as an account executive in the campaigns, issues management and media relations practice area.

He also serves on the board of directors for HONOR PAC, the statewide Latino lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender political action committee. Melgar had served as the group’s vice president of communications.

EQCA staffer Jesse Melgar

In a release announcing the hires, EQCA noted that Melgar’s fluency in Spanish will provide significant help to the agency as it expands outreach to Spanish-speaking Californians and Spanish-language media outlets.

“Rikimah and Jesse will provide significant strategy and leadership in their respective areas and build on the incredible momentum we are experiencing,” stated EQCA Executive Director John O’Connor, who took over the agency in December.

Glymph began working in the organization’s San Francisco office, where she will be based, in late April. Melgar, who will be based in Los Angeles, will start on May 13. EQCA did not provide salary information for the new employees.

Fresno town hall set for May 16

EQCA also announced it was boosting its outreach efforts in the state’s Central Valley with back-to-back events next week in Fresno.

The first will be a town hall meeting at which O’Connor will present an update on the agency and its current advocacy work in the state Legislature. There will also be a Q&A session for audience members.

Immediately afterward there will be a briefing titled “Health Happens with Equality” focused on the state’s health care exchange it is setting up as part of the federal Affordable Care Act.  It is part of a series of similar talks being held statewide to educate the LGBT community about the new health insurance options created by the legislation.

“The Central Valley is an important part of our mission to bring full equality and nothing less to California, and that means both actively engaging with the community there,” stated O’Connor, “and making sure that they have access to programs like” the health care talk.

The town hall is slated to run from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 16 at the Fresno LGBT Community Center, 1055 N Van Ness Avenue, Suite A. The health care talk with go from 7 to 7:30 p.m.

Both events are free and open to the public. For questions and further information contact Bella Week at Bella@eqca.org or call (323) 848-9801.

(Photo: Courtesy Starbucks via SF Planning Dept.)

In the first test of new rules aimed at limiting the number of chain stores along upper Market Street, the Planning Commission early this evening (Thursday, May 9) rejected a proposed Starbucks.

The commission voted 5-1 to uphold a staff recommendation not to approve the project. As the Bay Area Reporter has noted, the proposed Starbucks at 2201 Market Street triggers a restriction that any formula retailer that brings the concentration of chain stores within a 300-foot radius to 20 percent or greater would not be recommended for approval. The rule applies to Market Street between Octavia and Castro Street.

According to the planning staff report, the new Starbucks would bring the percentage of nearby chain stores to 21 percent. The staff review also determined that the upper Market area is already “well served” by existing coffeehouses.

Commissioner Rich Hillis said the panel needed to listen to the community objections to the store. He said the vote was not meant to be against Starbucks.

“It is broader and about the feel of that commercial corridor and making sure it stays diverse and unique,” he said.

Also voting against the store was Commission Vice President Cindy Wu, saying it was important to uphold the staff’s recommendation and follow the new policy that was recently approved.

Commission President Rodney Fong agreed with his colleagues’ reasonings for opposing the store.

“I feel obligated to follow that policy and support it,” said Fong.

Commissioner Michael J. Antonini was the lone no vote. Commissioner Gwyneth Borden was absent. He saw the objections against Starbucks as “protectionism”and tried to have the item postponed for 90 days to see it a compromise could be reached, but that was rejected.

He called the proposed building and signage “beautiful” and said it is the right fit for the corner storefront.

“Before there was Starbucks there were very few coffee shops,” he said. “Now there are spin offs for a lot of other chains and a lot of independent coffee shops modeled after Starbucks.”

He also spoke out against the new rule, saying the 300 foot radius is too narrow and should include a larger area.

“It lumps all formula retail together,” he said, noting that the area is not getting a “hyper concentration” of a certain kind of business.

Starbucks representative Phil Burnett noted that the company has been in San Francisco for decades, provides 1,400 jobs and has been a “vocal supporter” of marriage equality. He said the new store would add 25 jobs to the city and help beautify the prominent corner storefront at Market and Sanchez.

“It will be a beneficial, desirable addition to the neighborhood,” said Burnett. “Our customers have been asking for more space in the neighborhood. They also want room for meetings and mobile office space.”

It would be the fourth Starbucks location in the Castro district. There are two stand alone stores, one on 18th Street and one in the Safeway shopping plaza on Market Street, with a kiosk inside the grocery store.

“The site is not an under-served area for coffee or baked goods. It would arguably not be an under-served area for Starbucks,” said Hut Landon, executive director of the San Francisco Locally Owned Merchants Alliance. “It will cost jobs at other stores they will compete with.”

The commission heard testimony from the public for close to 90 minutes. More than 25 people spoke in support of the Seattle-based coffee chain’s proposal; another 16 people spoke out against it.

The hearing included accusations from one man that the remodel of the 18th Starbucks, known as “Bearbucks” because of the hairy, beefy men who hang out there, was done to “drive the bears out” because the new seating isn’t big enough for their “bums.”

At the other end of the spectrum, an owner of a nearby hair salon said he welcomed seeing Starbucks move into that spot as it would attract more daytime foot traffic and improve problems with people defecating at the property. He noted that a “sign posted there said please do not shit here.”

Starbucks can appeal the commission’s decision to the Board of Supervisors and seek approval for the necessary permits from the supervisors. It is doubtful it would win a favorable vote before the board, though, as gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener backed the formula retail rule change that the planning commission adopted.

(Photo: JB Higgins)

An attempt to move the annual AIDS Walk in San Francisco from the summer to the fall has been abandoned.

Now in its 27th year, the charity event is normally held in mid July. But it comes just weeks after the yearly Pride parade held the last Sunday of June and seven weeks after the AIDS/Lifecycle charity ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Earlier this year MZA Events, which produces the AIDS Walk, tried to secure permits to hold the fundraiser through Golden Gate Park in October. But city officials balked, as the month is chock-a-block with events, from the Castro Street Fair to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and Halloween.

The event organizers had wanted to hold the AIDS Walk Sunday, October 13, which is the last weekend of the annual Fleet Week festivities. Despite the cancellation this year of the Blue Angels aerial show due to federal budget cuts, the salute to naval service members will still take place.

Because of the scheduling conflict, the AIDS Walk could not secure the necessary permits to hold the event that day. It will instead be held Sunday, July 21.

“We worked with the various departments, and given how packed the fall event schedule is in Golden Gate Park and elsewhere in the city, it proved logistically impossible to move the walk into the fall this year,” gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener told the Bay Area Reporter this week.

James Loduca, vice president of philanthropy and public affairs at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the lead beneficiary of the AIDS Walk, told the B.A.R. that “MZA was unable to deliver” when asked about the event’s date this year.

MZA Events CEO and President Craig R. Miller, who founded the AIDS Walk, told the B.A.R. Friday, May 10 that due to the scheduling issues both this year’s walk and the 2014 event would remain in July. But Miller said the date change may be re-addressed in 2015.

“Our longtime friend and great supporter, Supervisor Scott Wiener, along with the AIDS Walk San Francisco organizing staff, did a really thorough job of trying to make this happen, while also remaining sensitive to good public process, and the importance of preserving our strong relationships with the various neighborhoods that are most affected,” wrote Miller in an email. “The San Francisco AIDS Foundation also made efforts to achieve the date move.  Ultimately, it was just not doable for 2013.”

Miller added that, “For 2014, we are going to remain focused on other important and beneficial changes to the event, not a date move. We may choose to revisit this issue, in concert with Project Inform and Supervisor Wiener, well prior to the 2015 event.”

As reported in December, Miller decided to end his relationship with SFAF after this year’s AIDS Walk and signed an agreement with Project Inform to be the lead benefiting agency in 2014.

In 2011 Miller alerted SFAF officials of his desire to partner with a smaller AIDS agency, as he felt the AIDS foundation no longer needed the fiscal infusion from the AIDS Walk and the money would be more of a benefit for other Bay Area nonprofits.

Due to the dissolution of the partnership, which will result in an budget deficit of $750,000 in 2014, SFAF decided not to hand out grants to AIDS Walk partner agencies this year. As reported in today’s B.A.R. it will mean a loss of $250,000 to the smaller nonprofits, who can still enter their own teams into the walk and receive the money raised by the team members.

In an email Loduca sent to the partner agencies Wednesday night ahead of publication of the B.A.R. story, he wrote that SFAF “made some big changes” to deal with its budget shortfall. The AIDS foundation eliminated a vice president position and reduced other administrative expenses, he wrote.

Loduca also noted that SFAF is implementing a 12 percent across-the-board reduction in discretionary expenses as it looks to protect its essential community programs and services.

“Even with all of these changes, we are unable to completely fill the revenue gap.

 That’s why we’ve made some changes to our partner programs at this year’s walk,” wrote Loduca.

He acknowledged the decision isn’t “great news,” adding that SFAF “did the best we could in a difficult situation and tried to bear most of the financial burden internally and limit how much was passed along” to its community partners in the AIDS Walk.

While a few leaders of the smaller nonprofits have privately grumbled about the loss of the grant program, publicly most said this week it would not mean a significant hit to their budgets.

Once again there is LGBT representation on Oakland’s powerful Port Commission.

Tuesday night the Oakland City Council voted to name Michael Colbruno, a longtime planning commissioner, to the Port’s oversight body. Colbruno has sought a seat on the board since January 2012 when gay Port Commissioner Michael Lighty abruptly resigned.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan had pledged to nominate an LGBT person to the Port Commission, at one point telling the Bay Area Reporter she “would love” to find an out person with maritime experience. But her selection of nominees for port seats became embroiled in racial politics, and three vacancies last year went to straight candidates.

She made good on her promise this year by nominating Colbruno for a port seat. He worked as a legislative aide for lesbian former state lawmaker Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) when she served on the Assembly Committee on Ports.

He had the backing of the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club, which sent council members a letter May 1 urging them to support Colbruno’s selection.

“No one in Oakland has deliberated on more land use related issues concerning the Port and its adjoining property than Michael in recent years,” wrote the LGBT political club.

It added that three years ago the city’s LGBT Roundtable had prioritized recruiting qualified candidates for the Port Commission as a top concern.

Quan reportedly interviewed 50 people before selecting Colbruno for the seat. As a planning commissioner for seven years, including back-to-back terms as chair, Colbruno had worked on the rezoning of land on or near the port and the former Oakland Army Base, which is being redeveloped. He stepped off the planning commission this month.

“I’m honored to have served three mayors, first as a Planning Commissioner and now as a member of the Port Commission,” Colbruno wrote in a Facebook note to the B.A.R. “Oakland’s Port has endless opportunities at its airport, over 20 miles of shoreline and its maritime division. I’m eager to help drive this amazing economic engine to new heights…and we have the best views of San Francisco.”

He has been a vocal critic of the Golden State Warriors basketball team’s decision to relocate to San Francisco and build a new arena along the Embarcadero on a dilapidated pier. This week he posted photos to his Facebook account to demonstrate the blocked views the sports facility will cause along the waterfront.

“They need to rebuild in Oakland, which is on mass transit and won’t destroy the waterfront,” wrote Colbruno.

Wesley Cuyler in 2003 (Photo courtesy of Bobby Blair)

A gay former basketball player who was found dead on a Castro area sidewalk last August died of a meth overdose, the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office says in a recently completed report.

Wesley Cuyler, 31, whom an ex-partner described as “the sweetest, nicest kid in the world,” was found unresponsive outside what was then the vacant Leticia’s restaurant, 2200 Market Street (at 15th Street).

Bobby Blair, 48, Cuyler’s former partner, said his ex, who was HIV-positive and homeless when he died, had used methamphetamine for years.

But Cuyler’s family, including his parents, were supportive of him, and he’d been just days away from returning to Winter Haven, Florida, where he was from originally, Blair said.

“It wasn’t like he was an abandoned guy,” said Blair, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He last heard from Cuyler three days before he died.

“His sister was excited,” Blair said. “… We really thought maybe there was a chance of saving him, and we missed it by just a few days.”

According to the medical examiner’s report, which was released last week, Cuyler was found August 4, 2012. People saw him lying unresponsive on the sidewalk, surrounded by needles, and called police. Paramedics determined he was beyond resuscitation, and he was pronounced dead at about 8 a.m.

Cuyler, who was covered in a yellow emergency blanket, had “old track marks” on his arms and knuckles, and there was “drug residue” at the scene, according to the medical examiner’s report. Among his possessions were a backpack, two cellphones, and $40. He also had heart medications with him, but they didn’t appear to be abused.

The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be “acute methamphetamine intoxication.” Cuyler’s death was categorized as accidental.

Along with HIV, Cuyler also had a history of congestive heart failure, the city’s report says, citing medical records. Blair said his ex-partner was open about his HIV status.

Top basketball player

Blair, who publishes the gay Florida Agenda and Guy Magazine, said Cuyler was 19 when they met at a gay resort in Orlando.

“He was one of the top high school basketball players in the state of Florida,” and Cuyler eventually played in the Gay Games in Sydney, Australia, he said. (Cuyler had a tattoo of Bugs Bunny with a basketball on the words “Pure Magic” on his right arm, according to the medical examiner’s office).

Bobby Blair and Wesley Cuyler in 2000. (Photo courtesy of Bobby Blair)

The two fell in love, and in 2001, they moved to the South Beach are of Miami Beach.

“I started traveling a lot to Atlanta, and he would stay down in South Beach,” said Blair, who worked in real estate at the time. Cuyler, who’d also gotten involved with the real estate business, started going out to clubs and hanging out with people who were doing crystal meth.

“He really, really developed a problem,” Blair said. They both moved to Atlanta, but “unfortunately, he just didn’t stop,” and Blair started having doubts about their relationship. They broke up in 2003. Cuyler moved to California in 2006.

In the years that followed, his life disintegrated, and Blair said he was homeless when he died, although the medical examiner’s office lists a Henry Street address for Cuyler. A friend had paid for a hotel stay the night before he died, but told Cuyler, “I can’t keep doing this,” Blair said.

Cuyler had been hospitalized for pneumonia a few weeks before his death, and Blair suspects he wasn’t been taking his HIV medications.

“He was so disheveled,” Blair said. “He didn’t have any stability in this life.

However, he added, “I can assure you he did not want to die.”

Not long before his death, Cuyler sent Blair a message that said, “Thank you for a sweet life.”

Blair said his former partner’s death is “a great example” of what meth can do to a person. When they’d first met, Cuyler had been goal oriented, and had high grades, he said.

“He had every opportunity in the world to have a happy, successful, stable life, and the crystal meth drug ripped him so hard, and would not let go,” Blair said.

Leticia’s, where Cuyler’s body was found, has been demolished, and a mixed residential and commercial building is now going up in its place.

In an image from her Facebook page, Latiya Pryor poses outside San Francisco’s Hall of Justice.

A San Francisco Superior Court judge today (Friday, May 3) ordered a transgender woman to stay away from Divas nightclub, about a week after a jury found her guilty of vandalizing the Nob Hill venue’s door.

The case against Latiya Pryor, 44, stemmed from a 2011 brawl at the bar, which is popular with transgender women and located at 1081 Post Street. The jury found Pryor not guilty of battery.

The August 28, 2011 fight started after another woman thought Pryor had stolen her shoes, which were eventually discovered not to be missing after all.

Pryor declined to be interviewed before her sentencing, citing an attorney’s instructions, so Elizabeth Hilton, managing attorney in the misdemeanor unit at the public defender’s office, explained Pryor’s side.

Hilton said that as the women, who both performed in the bar’s drag show that Saturday night, were “working out” what had happened to the shoes, bar owner Stephen Berkey, 65, came back to the dressing room, pushed Pryor numerous times, “called her several racial slurs,” and hit her nose with his wrist, giving Pryor a bloody nose. (Pryor is African American.)

As he hit Pryor, “she swung at him in self-defense,” Hilton said. He also said something to the effect of “I knew you were a thief,” she said.

After the brawl, Pryor took off the thigh-high boots with nine-inch heels that she’d been wearing, and swung one of the shoes as she had an “animated discussion” with someone, Hilton said. One of the heels broke the glass in the club’s door, she said.

“Unfortunately,” Hilton said, the jury didn’t believe that Pryor broke the window accidentally.

In an interview, Berkey said that he’d been trying to break up the women’s fight after the late-night show ended, and Pryor “slugged me.”

The hit “knocked me out,” he said. “I was lying on the floor for a good minute, knocked out. … Then, we tried to keep her out of the place, and she kicked the door in.”

Divas Manager Freddy “Alexis” Miranda, who referred to Pryor by a nickname, said the incident started after “Classy went on a rampage and started yelling and hollering and causing a disturbance” and jumped on the nightclub’s small stage.

Berkey got up between Pryor and the other performer, and “waved both of his arms in the air” to try to stop the fight, Miranda said. She said Pryor told him, “Get away from me or I’m gonna’ hit you,” and then she did, Miranda said.

Miranda said Berkey hadn’t used racial slurs during the incident. Hilton said that one witness testified she hadn’t heard the derogatory remarks, while another had been outside the bar when Berkey allegedly used the slurs.

Banned

Berkey, who’s owned Divas since 2001 and described himself as “an open-minded straight guy,” banned Pryor from Divas after the incident, but she ignored that fact, he said. Police have been called “a number of times” because of Pryor returning to the three-story club, Berkey said.

In November 2012, he filed a restraining order petition designed to protect one of the club’s bartenders from Pryor. In the records, Berkey said Pryor was “fully aware that she has been permanently banned, but [she] has repeatedly tried to enter the bar.”

The bartender said in a statement attached to the court filing that Pryor had recently come into the bar and become “verbally abusive” and screamed when he asked her to leave. She threatened him with physical violence, and then threw a glass at him, he said. She missed.

“This person has previously threatened to assault me on previous occasions, and continues to come into the bar and cause a disturbance, despite being permanently banned from Divas,” the bartender wrote. The restraining order was eventually granted.

Berkey said that in a retaliatory move, Pryor had unsuccessfully sought a restraining order against him. He said he’d been “harassed by this despicable person” for months “in every possible way,” as well as by taxpayer- and donor-supported advocacy groups and “every freebie attorney” she could find.

The efforts on Pryor’s behalf were “supposedly because I 86′d her because of race,” Berkey said. “I 86′d her because she assaulted me.”

After Friday’s hearing, Pryor, who appeared scattered and in a rush, offered little comment, but she said she’d been ordered to stay 50 feet away from Divas and pay $175.

Miranda said that Pryor’s sentence included a two-year stay away order, anger management counseling, and 20 hours of community service. The terms of the sentence couldn’t immediately be verified.

[Update Monday, May 6]: According to Tamara Aparton, a spokeswoman for the public defenders office, Pryor’s sentence includes two years of court probation, a stay away order of 50 yards from Divas, 20 hours of community service, and anger management. No restitution was determined and she’s likely to do 24 sessions of anger management, Aparton said, citing the Pretrial Diversion Project [End update].

‘Fuck you’

When contacted by the Bay Area Reporter, Berkey initially said his only comment for the paper was “Fuck you.”

“I am tired of everybody sucking up to her and everybody harassing me because she’s such a big damn liar,” Berkey said of Pryor. “She’s probably come to you with some kind of damn story,” none of which would be true, he said. Berkey said he found it “hard to believe” that the B.A.R. hadn’t spoken to Pryor at that time.

He eventually suggested he was sorry, saying, “I’m a little bit upset about this, and I’m taking it out on you.”

When Miranda called the B.A.R., she indicated she wanted to apologize for Berkey’s attitude, on his behalf. She eventually became upset herself after she was asked about Pryor and presented with unrelated questions about the club’s history as a popular spot for sex workers.

“I don’t get where a whole club is being persecuted,” Miranda said. She said, “It’s not up to me to find out what a person does for a living.” If someone is “obviously” soliciting “we ask them to stop or we ask them to leave,” she said.

Hilton, who only referred to Berkey by name after the B.A.R. did, called his allegations about Pryor violating her ban from the bar and making threats “baseless.” She said she and others in her office didn’t know of any other pending charges against Pryor.

During the trial, she added, Berkey was “standing guard” to see which performers from his bar would testify. Hilton said she had to “escort him around the corner twice.”

“I’ve been an attorney in this office for 15 years, and I’ve never had a complaining witness stand guard outside the courtroom” to watch for other witnesses, she said.

Assistant District Attorney Nina Yazdi prosecuted the case.

Revelers at the 2011 Pink Saturday in the Castro. (Photo: Jane Philomen Cleland)

Someone is planning a Pink Saturday party for Saturday, June 29, in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, but it’s not the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the group that’s been hosting the Pink Saturday street festival in the Castro for years.

The Sisters’ event draws thousands of people to the neighborhood and raises money for nonprofits on the eve of the city’s LGBT Pride parade every year, and is set for the same night as the SOMA party.

The agenda for the May 9 meeting of the Interdepartmental Staff Committee on Traffic and Transportation, which oversees street closures for events, lists discussion of a “Pink Saturday Fundraising Block Party.” The party is supposed to take place on Utah Street between 15th and Alameda streets. Whoever’s backing the event is proposing to have the streets closed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. that day.

“That’s not us,” Sister Selma Soul, of the charitable drag nuns group that’s been hosting the Castro party for more than 20 years, said of the SOMA event. “I don’t know who’s calling it Pink Saturday.”

She said that her nonprofit has a business license for Pink Saturday, but she wasn’t sure if it’s been renewed properly.

“It’s become this thing where people refer to that Saturday as Pink Saturday,” just as people refer to facial tissue by the brand name Kleenex regardless of who made the product, she said.

It’s not clear who’s behind the SOMA event, or whether it’s just a paperwork snafu. A city transportation spokesman wasn’t available for comment Thursday, and more information on the apparently new Pink Saturday wasn’t immediately available.

[Update Thursday, May 2]:

According to documents that Derek Hena filed with ISCOTT, the block party is a fundraiser for Pink Mammoth, a collective that builds and hosts a camp at Burning Man, among other activities.

Organizers, which are listed as Mighty and Pink Mammoth, are planning to have DJs and food trucks. The event itself will be from noon to 8 p.m. Hena couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Thursday night.

[Update Wednesday, May 8]:

In a May 3 email, Soul said she’d spoken with Hena, who was “very nice and very apologetic,” and the event’s name would be changed to the Pink Mammoth Block Party Fundraiser.

“It’s a benefit for their Burning Man theme camp, breast cancer, and a colleague dealing with medical issues,” Soul said.

But in response to emailed questions May 7, Hena said, “Unfortunately we’re unable to produce the event at this time until we have full approval” from transportation officials.

The city “just received a letter from the grumpy old man that owns the building across the street who is opposing the event,” he said. The man claims “his tenant cannot have access to his building,” which Hena said is “BS because they are closed on Saturdays and Sundays.”

Hena indicated he may try to plan smaller events to raise funds.

(Photo courtesy of Gil Sperlein)

As friends work to install signage at a meadow in San Francisco named after a gay political leader who died of AIDS complications, park staff recently repaired a bench with a plaque in his honor.

Located in Corona Heights Park, it is in memory of Bill Kraus, a regular visitor to the hilltop open space in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The inscription honors Kraus for his “courage and commitment to social justice.”

Kraus died on January 11, 1986 at the age of 38 after contracting meningitis, according to a news obituary in the Bay Area Reporter. His role in the early days of the AIDS epidemic and the city’s response to the deadly disease was chronicled in the book And the Band Played On.

An aide to gay Supervisor Harry Britt and later Democratic Congress members Phillip and Sala Burton, Kraus also served as president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club in the late 1970s. He was a dog lover and frequent user of Corona Heights Park.

Shortly after Kraus died, his friends attempted to rename a small mini-park on Noe Street near Cafe Flore after him. But city rules prevented it, and based on the recommendations of a panel formed to review the matter, it was decided that a meadow and trail in Corona Heights Park be named for Kraus.

As detailed in a B.A.R. story today (Thursday, May 2), it does not appear any signage was ever installed to let users of the park know that the triangular area at the entrance from Roosevelt Way and Museum Way is officially called Bill Kraus Meadow and Pathway. There is, however, the bench with the plaque.

(Photo courtesy of Gil Sperlein)

It had been in disrepair as of last week, said John Mehring, a gay man who knew Kraus from the Milk club and is spearheading the effort to install signage at the meadow that also includes a brief bio on Kraus.

“The plaque there has been painted over. Usually, a park bench is a dark green but this is painted brown,” Mehring had told the B.A.R. last week.

Sometime after Saturday, when the Friends of Corona Heights Park held a cleanup day in the meadow, staffers with the city’s Recreation and Parks Department repainted the bench and cleaned up the plaque. Gil Sperlein, an organizer with the volunteer group, spotted the work and emailed several photos of it to Mehring.

“It looks much better,” noted Sperlein, who asked that the photos be shared with the B.A.R.

(Photo: Rick Gerharter)

A group of investors is proposing to launch a chain of gay gentlemen’s clubs in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro district, with expansion plans for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas.

The new company, called RR-SF, which stands for Randy Rooster, is in the process of buying 400 Castro Street for $7.7 million. The historic building has housed the clothing chain Diesel and sits adjacent to Harvey Milk Plaza and the Castro Muni station.

Initial online reports that a male strip club would be moving in were inaccurate, as the owners told Castro merchants there would be no nude performers when asked about it by the Bay Area Reporter.

“It will be an upscale restaurant and nightclub,” said co-owner Stephen Jones. “We want to bring a gay gentlemen’s club to the Castro.”

Jones later added that the entertainment would be in an “upscale burlesque style” that caters to the tastes of gay men.  He likened it to the Crazy Horse in Paris, which opened in 1951 and bills itself as an “avant-garde cabaret,” and the gay nightclub The Abbey in West Hollywood.

While the famous Parisian nightspot features half-naked female performers, the San Francisco venue will not involve nudity, said Jones, adding that the business will be run with “dignity, honor and respect.”

A press release from RR-SF describes the planned performances as “tasteful burlesque style entertainment for gay gentlemen.” It would appear to be a gay-male-oriented version of the Supperclub chain, which has locations in San Francisco and Amsterdam, that provides an evening filled with cocktails, multi-course meals and over-the-top performances while patrons lounge in all white beds.

There is a reason why there are no gay strip clubs with nude dancers in San Francisco, or other major California cities, as the state has a lengthy list of rules that forbids establishments with liquor licenses from having any worker reveal their genitalia. Doing so would be “deemed contrary to public welfare and morals” by the state Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control.

Go-go boys are allowed, as long as they do not remove their underwear, according to the agency’s rules. But no employee, whether a dancer or hostess, can wear or use “any device or covering, exposed to view, which simulates the breast, genitals, anus, pubic hair or any portion thereof,” according to the ABC.

The rules also prohibit patrons’ actions at establishments that serve alcohol and have live performers. According to the ABC, that business could be in violation if it were to “encourage or permit any person on the licensed premises to touch, caress or fondle the breasts, buttocks, anus or genitals of any other person.”

Venues with live performers can also get into trouble with the state ABC depending on the type of acts they showcase. The rules forbid such things as “sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation or any sexual acts which are prohibited by law.”

Also not allowed is “the touching, caressing or fondling on the breast, buttocks, anus or genitals” under the ABC rules.

Certain clubs have gotten away with a skirting of the ABC prohibitions. During its long run at the Stud bar in San Francisco, practically all of the weekly Trannyshack shows were in violation of at least one ABC rule.

While that drag burlesque show may have gotten away with breaking the rules, other clubs have tangled with the ABC over the restrictions. Back in 2009 the DNA Lounge and the ABC were at loggerheads after state regulators labeled it a “public nuisance” due to nudity and simulated sex acts occurring at club nights marketed to gay Latinos and lesbians.

That club’s straight owners were forced to close for several weeks in 2010 and was put on probation by the state agency in a deal to avoid having its liquor license be suspended.

Should it receive the green-light to open, RR-SF and its performers are sure to face intense scrutiny from the ABC and its undercover investigators, especially opening at such a high-trafficked intersection in a residential neighborhood.

RR-SF is billing itself as a “socially responsible business” with a “philanthropic approach.” It plans to funnel a portion of its proceeds to local nonprofits.

Jones said that patrons of the club would be able to choose from a list of five charities to designate the donations to and the selected nonprofits would rotate on a regular basis.

The restaurant would be open for lunch, dinner and brunch on weekends and be open to anyone, according to the owners. Entrees during the day would be priced in the $20 range, dinner would be higher, while cocktails would range $12 to $18.

There would be a cover charge for the nighttime shows, and VIP memberships are being planned.

Build out of the space is estimated to cost $6 million and would need to navigate the city’s permitting process. Due to the initial rumors that the business was a male strip club, reaction from the neighborhood has been overwhelmingly negative, said Jones.

“The first email we got said we don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell,” he said.

The club has a bare-bones website that has not helped address rumors about it.

Today marked the first time that the investor group, whose members so far have not been disclosed, made a public presentation on its plans and released a statement to the media. The B.A.R.‘s requests to speak with the investors last month were not returned.

“The rumor mill has already started, so we are here to clear up the air,” Jones told members of the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro this morning (Thursday, May 2).

His presentation proved to be vague, however, and left many questions left unanswered. Jones said they have been meeting one-on-one with Castro leaders, as well as gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, to discuss their plans.

He said they expect the approval process to take a year to 18 months. Despite the difficulties many businesses run into in trying to secure permits and open their doors in San Francisco, Jones said they specifically picked the city for their first location of RR-SF.

“We want this to be our flagship location,” he said. “Many people have said we are crazy to start here. The answer to that is if we can get it open here, everywhere else will be a whole lot easier.”