Live Nation, well-known for their evil ticketing practices, have been trying to do something decent by giving the Nob Hill Masonic Center a proper rock venue upgrade ever since the event promoting company lost booking rights at the Warfield back in 2008. Although the Board of Supervisors approved using the venue for concerts last May, the neighbors are still fighting plans to upgrade the venue with more seats, more bars and room for - horror of horrors - a mosh pit. As the Examiner reports today, the hill top crowd have employed all the usual NIMBY Tactics: suing the city, calling out the Planning Department for not doing a proper environmental review. But this quote from the president of the Nob Hill Association really ought to be framed in some kind of NIMBY Hall of Fame:
"What happens when they have raucous-type events up there?” asked Bob Varni, president of the Nob Hill Association, which also is fighting the venue’s liquor license application before the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission in Sacramento. “We already have enough people hiding needles in Huntington Park without adding 3,300 more.”
So next time you're trying to chill out at a Feist concert, or an Obama Fundraiser perhaps, please remember to find some place other than Huntington Park to stash your used needles. The folks at the top of the hill will thank you.
