Nightlife Town Hall with Assemblyman Matt Haney and Honey Mahogany

One of the biggest perks of city living is access to vibrant nightlife. From bars and clubs to festivals and concerts, thriving nightlife is crucial for community building, arts and entertainment, economic vitality, and a city's reputation.

How does San Francisco's nightlife scene match up? What defines our city once the sun goes down and who is working to ensure the bar and club culture of our city stay afloat? What do you, as a community member, want to see more of in our city when it comes to nightlife and entertainment? Coming to Manny's to discuss all this and more are Assemblyman Matt Haney and Honey Mahogany!

Asm. Haney has introduced legislation with Sen. Scott Wiener to allow last call to be extended to 4am in some California cities and is an advocate for revitalizing nightlife in the State Assembly. Honey Mahogany is a SF nightlife icon and recently played a critical role in saving The Stud, an iconic gay bar in San Francisco, of which she is a co-owner, co-founder of the Stud Collective, and an active member of its board.

Grab a beer, bring a friend, and have your questions ready!

Assemblymember Matt Haney proudly represents California’s 17th Assembly District encompassing the Eastern side of San Francisco and serves as the Assembly’s Majority Whip, the chair of the Fentanyl, Opioid Addiction, and Overdose Protection select committee, Renters Caucus, and Downtown Recovery select committee, as well as the co-chair of the Irish Caucus. In addition, he serves on the Local Government, Government Organization, Health, Judiciary, and Appropriations committees. In his first full year in the State Legislature, Assemblymember Haney successfully sent 12 bills to the governor's desk to be signed into law. Several of these bills worked to tackle the addiction and opioid crisis that were signed into law by the Governor. Assemblymember Haney authored legislation that allows mobile pharmacies to dispense opioid addiction treatment medication.

Additionally, he authored legislation that will enable physicians to prescribe buprenorphine, an opioid addiction treatment medication, to youth 16-18 years old without parental consent.

Prioritizing housing, he created the “Rental Deposit Fairness Act”, limiting security deposits to a maximum of one month's rent. Limiting security deposits will increase housing accessibility to renters across California. In addition he authored the “Strengthening California’s Housing Law Enforcement bill”, granting the Attorney General the right to represent the state’s interests in lawsuits brought against local governments for violating housing laws. This bill will strengthen the Attorney General’s ability to advance Californians’ access to housing by granting them the statutory right to enforce housing law.

Looking to help California families, Assemblymember Haney wrote the Keep Families Close Act, requiring the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to place incarcerated parents in the facility closest to their minor children. Addressing the issue of recidivism, Assemblymember Haney knows that keeping family close to inmates is critical to success while incarcerated and after release.

Passing several pieces of legislation that were the first of their kind across the nation, the “Stop Dangerous Pharmacies Act” created regulations for corporate chain pharmacies, such as CVS and Walgreens, to crack down on the nationwide problem of understaffed chain pharmacies making dangerous medication errors. Similarly the first of its kind, the “Mixed Martial Arts Retirement Benefit Fund” created the first MMA Pension Fund, allowing Mixed Martial Arts fighters to access retirement benefits, funded by a percentage of fighters' ticket sales.

Representing the San Francisco Transgender District, Assemblymember Haney wanted to highlight transgender history and raise awareness about the attacks on this community. Passing this historic piece of legislation, Assemblymember Haney created the first statewide declaration of Transgender History Month, declaring August as a month to celebrate Transgender history and communities.

Formed in 2022, Assemblymember Haney is the chair of the first California State Legislative Renters Caucus. Hitting its stride in 2023, the Caucus grew to five members, the only self-identified renters in the State Legislature successfully sending all five priority bills to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law. Assemblymember Haney continues to chair this caucus as they author more legislation working to ensure renter’s rights across California.

Before his election to the State Assembly in April 2022, Assemblymember Haney served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors where he championed bold initiatives guaranteeing mental health care for all San Franciscans and commonsense policies advocating for 24-hour bathrooms, new bike lanes, slow streets, and universal tenant protections. Assemblymember Haney facilitated over 5,000 units of new housing in his district and oversaw record investments in affordable housing, public safety, and economic recovery as Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee.

Before his election to the Board of Supervisors in 2018, Assemblymember Haney served on the San Francisco Board of Education from 2013-2019 where he fought for affordable teacher housing, expanded computer science education, and cut suspensions that overwhelmingly targeted students of color.

Assemblymember Haney attended Bay Area public schools and holds a BA in Urban Development from UC Berkeley, an MA from Stanford University School of Education, a JD from Stanford Law School, and an LLM in Human Rights from National University of Ireland.

Honey Mahogany was recently appointed by Mayor Breed to the lead the city's Office of Transgender Initiatives. Born and raised in San Francisco, Mahogany has advocated for justice and equity for the LGBTQ+ community for more than two decades, many as a community activist. As a social worker, she has championed initiatives to address the needs of people living with HIV, people of color, youth, and the unhoused.

As part of her work in benefit of the trans community, she served trans and gender nonconforming youth as an outreach worker in residential settings and organized trans community members in the creation of the San Francisco’s Transgender District. She also co-organized the Drag Up!, Fight Back! march, and mentored and appointed trans leaders during her time as Chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party.

Mahogany is also a founding queen of Drag Story Hour and, recently, played a critical role in saving The Stud, an iconic gay bar in San Francisco, of which she is a co-owner, co-founder of the Stud Collective, and an active member of its board.

Mahogany’s experience in government and the nonprofit sector includes serving as Community Mental Health Director at Contra Costa County’s Rainbow Community Center and her work as outreach and residential counselor for Larkin Street Youth Services. More recently, she worked for State Assemblymember Matt Haney as District Director and as Chief of Staff when he was a San Francisco Supervisor.

Manny's never turns away anyone for lack of funds. To receive a complementary ticket just email the word "grapefruit" and the title of this event to luis@welcometomannys.com.

Want to support community members? By purchasing a "Pay It Forward" ticket you will allow us to provide free tickets to those who may not be able to afford entry otherwise and ensure we can create a diverse socio-economic audience that represents San Francisco.