Hip Hop Congress

Hip-Hop @ the Alehouse ’07 has been cancelled but we need the Hip-Hop (Berkeley)

Hip-Hop @ the Alehouse ’07 has been cancelled but we need the Hip-Hop
community’s support. PLEASE READ ON….

Update….Thanks for all the support out there. Our girl Ariana from the
Mayor’s office is on top of the issue.

After the Berkeley Police found out this was a Hip-Hop event we were on a
path of being shut down.

First, we needed permission from the police department for the license for
non-profit to serve beer. That is right ALL beer sales were going to a
non-profit. You can only apply 10 days before the event. This is where we
hit a brick wall. We talk to LT. Dennis Ahern ( 510.773.7664) a number of
times to inform him of the positive motives we had. We ensured him this
event was to be a place where people from the Hip-Hop community, 21 and up
united in a very positive manner. In the end he denied us. His first
reason was an under staffed department. We offered more security. Then, it
was told to us that it didn’t matter how many security guards we had they
wouldn’t approve “this type” of event.

Then, we were making arrangements to continue with the event without the
non-profit beer sales. This would mean that beer would be served inside
and none outside. This was not a big issue but it did hurt our vision of
helping the community.

Then, Pyramid received calls from multiple “off duty” police officers who
made suggestions that our noise permit will be revoked and that they would
not recommend going forward with “this type” of event. Baffled, Jeffery
(the GM from Pyramid), asked why this would be the case since he had rock
event and what not with no problems at this location before. He was told
that they don’t want “this type” of event in the city.

All of us made a decision to cancel the event not because we wanted to
give in to this strong arm tactics but because we did not want to have an
event that people spent money on knowing that there is a 90% chance it was
going to be shut down. We are all on losing money but we feel it is better
to be ethical than having this event with the knowledge it will be shut
down.

We are more than disappointed; we are horrified that this is taken place
in a wonderful city like Berkeley. I am reaching out to all of you, The
Hip-Hop Community; we can’t stand still while this happens. We had nothing
but positive aspirations for this event and were pushed down. The Hip-Hop
community needs to stand up by writing and calling to whoever will listen.
This is discrimination flat out.

Please write and call the Mayor’s office to inform him of the
discrimination happening in the city of Berkeley.

Mayor’s Office
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
TEL: (510) 981-7100, FAX: (510) 981-7199, TDD: (510) 981-6903
Office Hours: Mon-Fri 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Email: mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us

If you want copy and paste the email below and send it to
mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us:

Dear Honorable Mayor Bates,
Please be aware of the discrimination happening in the city of Berkeley. A
positive event was going to take place on Saturday the 29th at Pyramid
Brewery. This event featured Hip-Hop artists. This event has been
cancelled due to police suggestions that this event will be shut down and
that they do not want “this type” of event in their city. I encourage your
office to look further into the matter.

Thank you,