Club Six and Broken Politics

I remember when Club Six wasn’t much more than a sweaty basement I would have avoided in my own home. Still, those were some of the best parties I can remember, people break-dancing, banging on the bongos (like chimpanzees), progressive trance till 4AM with dry ice fog and giant fans. Those days might be over it seems now that Club 6 is up on trial for noise violations with the Entertainment Commission. Even if you don’t live in SF, or if you wouldn’t know Club Six from a hole in the wall (that’s a different bar), the story of the club and what got it to this point might make you go “hmmm” and make you struggle with your own political beliefs.

It's not breaking news, so I'll just summarize; Club Six is on one of the seediest blocks in all San Francisco, and that's saying something. The Club has served as a catalyst for other cool bars (like Anu) and nightlife traffic in the area. Despite soundproofing efforts, complaints from the neighbors have caused it to be temporarily, and potentially permanently shut down. These complaints have come from a very small minority of people for what amounts to minor infractions. In a city like San Francisco though, everybody matters, so even a few people can cause a huge hassle.

Normally I'm pretty left leaning. By US standards I would be called a knee-jerk liberal. That said, I'm not so knee-jerk that I can't recognize a system that doesn't work. People from all over the city move into SOMA and then bitch about the noise. In the case of Club Six, over $250K was spent to sound-proof and it still wasn't enough. At what point do we say, "let's look at the good of the whole here". Thousands of people enjoy that venue, they pay property taxes, it contributes to the music scene, the owner has spent almost a million dollars making it nice inside. If this was the whole neighborhood compaining, that's one thing, but this is mostly a few people's personal mission to be a pain in the ass to the detrememnt of thousands of other people.

The case of Club Six is an interesting example of liberal politics gone so far that they counter act progress. I never thought I'd say it, but maybe a successful society includes a few assholes who steam-roll over everybody just to make a buck and a few looneys who would stop traffic for a week to save a pidgeon with a hurt toe. Somewhere in the middle, we find practical thought.

Good luck Club Six, I'm on your side!

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