Board of Appeals 4:1 grants the appeal and amends the permit for lion dance performances only on Saturday and one block of Grant Avenue

(SAN FRANCISCO) After a 4-hour public hearing, the Board of Appeals voted 4:1 on April 17 evening to grant the appeal filed by the merchants on Grant Avenue in Chinatown and modified the permit with conditions including the lion dance performances to be allowed only on Saturday afternoon until June 30, 2024.

Jose Lopez, President of the Board of Appeals and the General Counsel of technology company Zeplin, proposed a motion to amend the permit. He said in the meeting that it has been four years for the lion dance performances with street closure in Chinatown which continued to disrupt businesses and neighbors.

"The performances have been going on for a while. My preference is the permit holder to respect businesses and neighbors," Lopez said. "I am a former teacher. The LionDanceMe's passion for the young people is commendable."

"There is a path to preserve the performances," Lopez added and proposed to restrict the LionDanceMe performances on the 700 block only instead of three blocks of Grant Avenue as stated in the newly-approved permit which was granted by the Entertainment Commission on March 19.

Lopez also proposed to reduce the performances' hours on 700 block of Grant Avenue on Saturday only instead of both Saturdays and Sundays in the permit.

J.R. Eppler, a commissioner of the Board of Appeals and attorney providing legal services to small and medium-sized businesses, proposed to further restrict the hours of lion dance performances on Saturdays only from noon to 5pm until June 30, 2024.

John Trasvina, former Principal Legal Advisor to the Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and former Dean of Law School at the University of San Francisco, was the lone commissioner of the Appeals Board to vote no on the amendment of LionDanceMe's permit.

“I don't think we can resolve it tonight," said Trasvina who preferred to have a continuance on the appeal to May 8 meeting and gave more time to both sides to communicate coming up with a mutually agreed plan.

Under the modified permit passed by the Board of Appeals, LionDanceMe can only have lion dance performances on the 700 block of Grant Avenue, between Sacramento to Clay Streets, from May 1, 2024 at noon to 5pm on Saturday only until June 31, 2024. No performances from other organizations would be allowed at the same venue. If LionDanceMe wants to extend the performances after June 31, 2024, a new permit application is required.

During the past four years since 2020, LionDanceMe obtained annual yearlong permits from the City and County of San Francisco to have lion dance performances on three blocks of Grant Avenue, 700, 800, and 900 blocks, from 10am to 7pm on Saturdays and Sundays on all weekends.

In addition to the permit for the outdoor performances on streets, annual permits for street closure were issued in the same duration allowing those three blocks of Grant Avenue to be closed for vehicular traffic and parking from 10am to 7pm on both days on all weekends.

Norman Lau, founder of LionDanceMe, submitted an application to renew the same permit earlier this year in order to extend the performances on streets from April 6, 2024 to March 31, 2025.

In early March, merchants witnessed vehicles being towed while they were parked along those three blocks of Grant Avenue on weekends. In the meantime, the merchants found out new No-Stopping signs were put on roadside poles in front of their stores.

Merchants subsequently learned that LionDanceMe just submitted an application to renew their permit for performances on three blocks of Grant Avenue. A meeting was held on March 12 in the Far East Restaurant with attendants including Lau, merchants, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin who represents Chinatown, as well as the representatives from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA).

On March 19, the Entertainment Commission unanimously approved the permit application for LionDanceMe after the staff of the commission reported that there was no opposition against the permit when the applicant conducted the outreach.

Four merchants on the 800 block of Grant Avenue filed an appeal to the Board of Appeals which scheduled to hear the case on April 17 evening. The hearing room in City Hall was packed with LionDanceMe team members, students and supporters.

Jennifer Kwa, owner of Jen's Gems Jewelry Store on the 800 block of Grant Avenue for 10 years, was one of the appellants and spoke in the meeting that she had never been contacted about the lion dance performances and street closure permit applications in the past several years.

Kwa is an immigrant from China. She learned about the latest permit application because of the newly-installed No Stopping sign from the SFMTA in front of her store. She received a letter at a later time. “The letter about the permit application was in English only. Many of us do not read English well," Kwa said.

"The ideal place (for lion dance performances) is community centers. This appeal is not about the lion dance. It is about the street closure and venue. It has closed the street for the entire year at each single weekend," Alice Luong, owner of Red Blossom Tea Company in Chinatown since the 1980s, spoke in the meeting as one of the appellants.

Luong also emphasized the sound impacts and noise pollution to the store workers and residents in the nearby apartments where many of the residents were seniors.

"It is a tough time for us to survive," said David Au, owner of Wai Hing Chinese Crafts Imports which has been in business in Chinatown for 50 years and one of the appellants. "People who don't work and live here do not understand."

"I close the street and put in money for the community. I felt for them, but then the appeal and the petition..." Lau responded to questions from the commissioners with frustrations. "I have merchants telling me that they felt better about our lion dance."

"We want to bring in more people to Chinatown. That is our goal," Lau said the performances only lasted for 30 minutes in the afternoon on each weekend on the 700 block of Grant Avenue. They only performed on one block of the street instead of three blocks. He had never received complaints about the sound and street closures until recently.

Lau also responded to the commissioners that the street closure was from 10am to 7pm in order for them to clear the street and set up.

A volunteer, who helped Lau sent out letters about the permit application to Chinatown merchants, spoke in the Board of Appeals meeting via zoom that the letter was in English only because the Chinese translation was not available at the time.

Maggie Weiland, Executive Director of the Entertainment Commission, admitted that there was an issue of language accessibility in the matter and promised to improve it for future permit applications. She clarified that the permit which was approved on March 19 was only for the lion dance outdoor performances on the streets from April 6, 2024 to March 31, 2025, not for the street closure.

A representative of SFMTA confirmed that the street closure for three blocks of Grant Avenue in the past four years was initiated and approved by legislation from the Board of Supervisors. SFMTA was one of the seven voting parties to approve the street closure permit. They would evaluate the current street closure permit with Supervisor Peskin.