On December 16, the San Francisco Entertainment Commission approved a year-long amplified sound permit for the 400 block of Hayes Street. The approval authorizes recurring amplified sound on Fridays and Saturdays for up to six hours per day, tied to the ongoing Hayes Street closure.
While the approval has now been granted, the hearing and application record raise serious concerns about process, transparency, and the mismatch between what was approved and the lived reality on a dense residential and retail block.
Who Spoke and Who Did Not
Support for the application came from three Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association (HVNA) board members, along with additional supportive comments from callers outside the neighborhood. Opposition came from long-term Hayes Valley residents.
No businesses spoke in support of the permit.
Several residents attempted to participate via the meeting chat and were told those comments would count as public comment, which limited their ability to speak verbally during the hearing.
“Non-Impact” Assurances vs. Lived Experience
Testimony in support of the permit relied heavily on assurances that sound levels, speaker placement, and programming would be “non-impact” or minimal. Discussion focused largely on intent and technical setup rather than engaging with the lived impacts described by residents and nearby retailers.
This highlighted a recurring gap between how programming is characterized by organizers and how it is experienced by people who live and work directly on the block.
Redacted Safety and Operations Planning
The publicly posted application includes extensive redactions to sections addressing security planning, crowd management, emergency exits, and related safety measures. As a result, residents and businesses are unable to meaningfully review how recurring public-space events will be managed, staffed, or enforced.
For a permit authorizing year-long amplified sound in the public right-of-way directly beneath homes and storefronts this lack of transparency is troubling.
Attendance Claims vs. Economic Reality
The application estimates attendance at approximately 50 people per event. In practice, activations on the block often draw far fewer participants, while still producing outsized impacts on access, circulation, and nearby retail activity.
Retailers have consistently reported losing significantly more than 50 customers per day due to closures, barriers, and spillover effects tied to these activations — a cost that is not evaluated or mitigated in the permitting process.
Approval Despite Unresolved Issues
The permit was approved despite several unresolved and well-documented issues, including:
- Ongoing noncompliance concerns related to the Hayes Street closure
- Documented community opposition to the closure itself
- An Entertainment Zone Management Plan that remains unfinished
- The absence of any on-block business support on the record
These factors were not meaningfully addressed in the decision.
Why This Matters
Hayes Valley is a dense, mixed residential and business corridor, not an entertainment district. Authorizing recurring amplified sound in the public right-of-way without resolving underlying compliance, transparency, and management issues sets a concerning precedent — both for Hayes Valley and for other neighborhoods facing similar proposals.
It is also important to note that, in written correspondence, the Entertainment Commission confirmed that the sound permit is contingent on the underlying SFMTA street-closure permit. Should the street-closure permit be modified or revoked, the sound permit would effectively become null and void.
What Comes Next
A formal follow-up is currently in progress seeking clarification on a number of the above referenced items. We will followup here with any new information.