Murad and his bar Medjool were the beneficiaries of unwanted scrutiny
last month, when a typographical error in a planner's report permitted him to build the adjacent New Mission Theater condo project 20 feet
higher than neighborhood zoning allows. Newsom then vetoed the Board of Supervisors' attempt to undo the flawed ruling, essentially giving a huge potential monetary boon to his big-time donor Murad.
During the whole imbroglio, meanwhile, it was revealed that the swingin' rooftop bar at Medjool is considered illegal by the city of San Francisco.
"This is just crazy to me," Planning Commission President Christina Olague told SF Weekly at the time. "Every
politician in town has been up on that roof deck. Dennis Herrera had
his fund-raisers up there, even Mark Sanchez, a progressive Green. And,
since 2004 [when the rooftop bar opened], it was illegal and no one
knew? No one held [Murad] accountable?"
While
other nitty-gritty remedies may be available to remedy Medjool's
problems -- and Murad's attorney, Andrew Junius, has always maintained
that all the bar's permitting is in order (but wouldn't show us the
permits) -- this Facebook page may be a stroke of genius.
As the anti-American Apparel parade of incensed hipsters proved in February,
there's no amount of law or logic you can't overcome in San Francisco
by having a few hundred people show up at a city meeting and yell at
the commissioners.
If Ground Floor is indeed behind this
Facebook page, then it's every bit as Astroturf as a backyard lawn mat.
But the results of having a horde of Missionites sashay into a
commission meeting? Those will be real.
Photo | Bakatalk
