The battle over lap dances in strip clubs moved to the Entertainment Commission last Friday as they held an often contentious, standing-room-only hearing on the issue. During the meeting, strippers, err "exotic dancers," testified in front of the commission to say that the proposed new rules, that calling for the ending of private rooms and booths and it's possible ending of lap dancing, could impede their ability to make money. In our minds, the testimony was given like something out of "Hot for Teacher" in which the moment the dancer got up to the podium, they tore their clothes off to reveal slinky lingerie underneath, but we have a feeling things didn't happen that way (BTW, while searching for the "Hot For Teacher" clip we also stumbled upon a bootleg video of VH doing it live in an outdoor concert in 1984 and it is awesome). Oh well. Also testifying in support of the legislation were local Bay Area rappers who claimed that no more lap dances in strip clubs would hurt their ability to "be gangsta." more ›

Now here's an idea we could totally get behind: more outdoor dining at cafes/restaurants. Seriously, why don't have outdoor seating everywhere? Turns out it's because so many weird little zoning laws were shoved on top of weird little zoning laws that somehow it came to be that restaurant/cafes were not able to ask permission to do so. So into the breach steps Ross Mirkarimi, still not quite clear on the concept that members of the Board are not supposed to do anything relevant, who wants to put forth legislation allowing cafes/restaurants to get permits if they want to set up sidewalk tables. more ›