Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - The Voice of the West, 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94119 - Saturday, November 16, 1996 - Page A17
David Tuller, Chronicle Staff Writer
Judge William Cahill ordered Mike Powers to temporarily limit total occupancy of the Power Exchange at 74 Otis St. to 49 individuals and restrict them to the first floor of the three-story building. The club, which caters to gay men, often draws about 200 patrons in the course of an evening.
Mayor Willie Brown, city health and political officials, safe- sex educators and sex-club owners are grappling with the thorny issue of how to regulate and monitor sex clubs to minimize the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. There are about a dozen gay-oriented sex clubs in San Francisco.
Supervisor Tom Ammiano has proposed legislation to license sex clubs, but Brown opposes the measure and has asked the health department to aggressively monitor them based on guidelines established by a group of safe-sex educators and club owners.
The city attorney's office sought the temporary restraining order against Powers' club after inspectors toured the facility on Thursday. Inspectors said yesterday that, among other dangerous conditions, exit doors were locked or not clearly marked, partitions were arranged in a maze that would hamper fire rescue operations, and stairways were missing banisters.
Powers maintained yesterday that the city was holding him to a far stricter standard than other business owners because of the nature of the establishment.
"This is a morality issue, not a fire hazard issue," he told Judge Cahill. "My club is safer than most clubs in town, dance clubs included."
Deputy city attorney Jeanine Marie-Victoire denied that the city was engaging in selective enforcement of its fire and safety codes. "It's very clear that the place is a risk, it's a hazard, it's a disaster waiting to happen," she said.
A full hearing on the issue will be held December 5.
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