Please recall Councilor Davis's email below. It appears that he was fully aware that "permission of nearby churches" was important to the language in this ordinance for the NHNA board members. That is the impression that I got at every board meeting I attended in which the topic was discussed, and most likely the reason why it was not rejected from the beginning.
I have no idea why the "required permission clause" was not included in the current draft of the ordinance that the attorney's proposed to the NHNA and it appears that the NHNA board members had every reason to believe that it was. It is concerning that intelligent people on the board did not actually read the ordinance or were not able to understand it, before they posted misinformation on our social media.
That being said, I was opposed to the ordinance from the beginning with or without the permission clause and I remain so, for the following reasons (based on the many discussions I have now heard on both sides of the issue) : 1) I do not believe the law should be changed at the request of a single business group in a single industry; and 2) I honestly do not believe the NHNA board has the business expertise to make this decision, because without thorough research into the unique economic factors that make up the Nob Hill business mix, we have no way of knowing if passing this ordinance will benefit our commercial district or the community as a whole. Nob Hill Main Street is working to get that expertise as we speak, and I think we should wait until they get some results before we change our laws based on nothing but the speculations of people who feel they have a stake in the outcome.
Cheers!
Susan Michie, Ph.D
Nob Hill Resident and Property Owner
Professor of Strategic Business Management (Ret.)
Past Chair of the Nob Hill Main Street Economic Development Committee
Past President of the Nob Hill Neighborhood Association
Regular Patron of the Nob Hill Entertainment District