San Francisco to streamline permits for live music

"Our job at City Hall and in government is to create the conditions for your success. We want people off the couches and I want them in your bars and on your dance floors."

— Mayor Daniel Lurie

Bars and nightclubs looking to extend hours or provide live music could soon find the permitting process a little easier to navigate.

Driving the news: Lurie said he plans to introduce legislation next week that will allow two types of permits — limited live performance and fixed-place amplified sound — to bypass planning department approvals.

• "We are going to be cutting red tape by ensuring that entertainment permits only go to the departments that actually need to review them," Lurie said at the annual Nightlife and Entertainment Summit this week.
• The planning department had to sign off on about 60 of these types of permits during the last fiscal year, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Between the lines: These aren't the sweeping permitting reforms Lurie promised, but for many nightclub and bar owners, it's a start.