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Amplified blare rousts Civic's homeless campers Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross, Chronicle Columnists Wednesday, May 2, 2012 Having tried everything else, the managers of San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium are blasting the overnight homeless off their doorstep with the high-decibel sounds of chainsaws, motorcycles and jackhammers - topped off with an aircraft carrier alarm. The nocturnal bombast - which runs at a steady clip between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. - is broadcast through the Civic Center building's outside speakers. "I thought it was the building alarm going off," said building manager Robert Reiter. Concert promoter Another Planet Entertainment - which has been given exclusive rights to operate the auditorium - says it has no other choice. "I'm just at a point where I don't know what else to do," said company Vice President Mary Conde. Conde and her boss, Another Planet founder Gregg Perloff, say they've had "an enormous amount of complaints" about the homeless from people heading to and from events at Davies Symphony Hall and the War Memorial Opera House. Homelessness, of course, has been a fact of life around the Civic Center for years. The debate over what to do with the homeless has been going on for just as long. Lately, anywhere from 20 to 40 people have been spending their days lounging and sleeping in Civic Center Park - much to the frustration of the police, Recreation and Park Department officials, and the mayor's office. The mayor's new homelessness chief, former Supervisor Bevan Dufty, tells us police and social service teams are doing their best to get the situation under control. Another Planet simply used what it had on hand - "industrial" sounds taken off iTunes. So far, it's been "tremendously effective," Conde said. Not everyone, of course, appreciates the after-hour concerts. "What s- behavior," said Oscar McKinney, a homeless man chased away from the building one recent night by the sounds of sirens and revving motorcycles - a far cry from the likes of Phish and Paul McCartney, the usual Another Planet fare. McKinney, by the way, says he has racked up 6,100 quality-of-life citations. SNIP |