June 24, 2025 10:30 am
Dear Supervisors:
We urge you to remove Hayes Valley from the Entertainment Zone ordinance. This proposal was introduced without notice, without transparency, and without meaningful consultation with the people who live and work here. Retailers were sidelined. Residents were left out. And now it’s being framed as a model for “activation” when in fact, it’s a blueprint for exclusion.
Over the past several weeks, we’ve spoken with neighbors, businesses, and longtime stakeholders across Hayes Valley. The message has been loud and clear: this was never publicly vetted, and no one wants to give HVNA or any single group unilateral control to orchestrate a party atmosphere in our streets. The most disturbing and indefensible part of this process is how deliberately it has advanced – quietly and under the radar. Hayes Valley is already a dense, mixed-use neighborhood. We are not lacking in open space — what we are lacking is basic respect for the safety, sanity, and economic stability of those who live and work here. This ordinance ignores all of that.
The Entertainment Zone ordinance does not revitalize, rather it rewrites the rules to benefit a narrow slice of the economy: nightlife operators, bar alliances, and political allies. It would replace local-serving small businesses with destination-driven, event-based traffic that serves someone else’s vision – not ours. We’ve seen this pattern before. In 2021, we warned the City that Hayes Valley’s Formula Retail Ban was being quietly eroded. VC-backed chains like Cotopaxi, Todd Snyder, Brooklinen, and Pact were allowed in despite the ban, undermining the neighborhood’s small business identity. We raised the alarm with Supervisor Preston and others, cautioning that without action, our local-serving fabric would be lost. Now it’s happening again — under a different name. Entertainment Zones are the new formula retail threat. Instead of chains, it’s politically connected nightlife. Instead of retail creep, it’s zoning encroachment… pushed by the same players who failed to protect this corridor in the first place. HVNA/MC’s Lloyd Silverstein, who has publicly dismissed concerns about formula retail by saying “the train has left the station,” is now working closely with nightclub and event operators to push through a zoning designation that prioritizes one business model over all others. What’s especially concerning is that the few individuals based on Linden Street are presenting themselves as spokespeople for the broader neighborhood —despite having little engagement with or investment in the commercial corridor they seek to reshape. Rather than activating their own alley, which remains largely underutilized, they are redirecting energy and disruption onto Hayes Street and beyond which will result in lasting consequences for residents and retailers.
This process has been exclusionary by design. Do not reward that with permanent legislation. Remove Hayes Valley from the ordinance.
Sincerely,
HVSafe