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July 14, 2005 Email Update Good Morning! More exciting news about our efforts to make massage regulation in San Francisco more favorable to therapeutic massage practitioners. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I. Meeting with Supervisor Ma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yesterday I had a very positive meeting with Supervisor Fiona Ma about her efforts to pass legislation requiring all new applications for massage establishments to obtain a conditional use permit from the Planning Commission before they are approved. She explained that the number of massage establishments and acupuncture clinics acting as fronts for prostitution has continued to be a problem in her West Side district and elsewhere. Also, the Department of Public Health and Planning Department have been overwhelmed with applications for new massage establishments and would like to slow the process down. The City is also not happy with the federal law enforcement folks co-opting local law enforcement in the arrests of sex traffickers. I let her know that I thought this legislation would, once again, penalize therapeutic massage businesses by lumping us together with the bad apples in the industry. After a bit of discussion, we came to the conclusion that the real problem that we everyone is concerned about is the sex traffickers who bring women in from foreign countries for prostitution. I suggested that, if we are serious about eliminating this blight from our City, we need to take an integrated approach and invite all of the stakeholders to participate in a process that would hammer out an integrated strategy for reform. Besides us, the stakeholders that would need to be included are the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, Police Department, Department of Public Health, Planning Commission, activist organizations such as SAGE (www.sageprojectinc.org/), and social service organizations such as St. James Infirmary (www.stjamesinfirmary.org/). The basic idea is to make sex trafficking a high profile issue so that
we will build the political will to confront this problem with realistic
solutions. Possible outcomes might be: In addition, simply making this a high-profile public issue will put sex traffickers on notice that they are not welcome in San Francisco. I am very excited about this first step and hope you will support this initiative when the time comes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I raised two other issues with Supervisor Ma. I have gotten some feedback from this list that one of the barriers to working legally is the 1,000-foot limit required between massage business permit holders. This was an issue that we decided not to address in the original legislation because it was not a part of the massage law, but rather written into the Planning ordinances. The problem with this restriction is that, as list member David Wabel has pointed out, there are office buildings in downtown San Francisco where 4 or 5 massage businesses rent space for their practices and they can’t make themselves visible to the DPH permit process because they all violate the 1,000 foot restriction. Supervisor Ma agreed to support eliminating that restriction. Yippee! The second issue is the problem of chair massage businesses being required to get two business permits if they are operating in fixed and non-fixed locations. Again, Supervisor Ma agreed that that issue should also be addressed in the next round of legislation. Double yippee! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are well into Phase Two of making the climate in San Francisco for therapeutic massage more favorable. The positive ruling on home-based businesses, eliminating the 1,000-foot restriction, and allowing chair massage businesses their own permit should enable hundreds of us to come out of the woodwork and operate legally and above ground. The original Coalition that successfully supported Phase One, moving regulation of massage from the Police Department to the Department of Public Health, has disbanded. I am creating, and representing a new organization: "Citizens Coalition for Sensible Massage Regulation." The goal of this group is simple: To create a favorable regulatory environment for therapeutic massage practitioners, bodyworkers, and their clients. As a member of this list you are indicating your support of this goal. If you do not, you should remove yourself from this list [see below]. As a list member you will continue to get regular updates about our efforts to address specific issues that threaten or enhance our goal. You will also have the opportunity to respond directly to issues through an issues and comments blog that I am setting up next week. But, most importantly, list members will have the bragging rights to say that your active support makes the world a little bit safer for professional massage practitioners and their clients. When it comes time to send emails, write letters, visit Supervisors, and make phone calls your support will make all the difference. For example, I can tell all of you great list members who took a minute to email your support of a separate business permit for chair massage, our success yesterday wouldn't have happened without you. So, if you decide to remain on this list, your next Action Step is to forward this email to all of your practitioner friends and massage clients and ask them to sign up on our website (www.sfordinance.com). I have a strong belief that change happens from the ground up and your individual voice will be crucial. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you do not give or receive massage in San Francisco, or you feel these initiatives are not ones you wish to support, please “Reply” to this email and ask to be removed. Don’t erase this original message because I need to know the email address of the record that needs to be deleted. If you remain on this list, I am presuming that you want me to represent your interests as massage professionals and massage clients in these matters and others detailed on the website. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In touch,
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