You cannot blame people who live near the 3200 block of Scott Street – particularly those who detest the bar noise, the hubbub on the sidewalks at closing time, and all of the late-night milling about – if they are a little suspicious over the opening of another nightclub.

Truth is, it’s just a license change.

We’re talking about Reed & Greenough, an upscale bar that opened on Aug. 30, 2011 on Scott Street between Lombard and Chestnut, in the site of the former Gravity Room.

All of this civic contentiousness is nothing new. If you’ve lived in the Marina for any significant time, you know the neighborhood is a draw for fun lovers and – in years past – some pretty damned good musicians and artists. This reporter lived on Chestnut Street for 22 years, across the street from Cobb’s Comedy Club where Robin Williams and Bobby Goldthwaite would “kill” whenever they took to the sagging, wooden, rickety stage. It was amazing that the structure could support their talent. Odd that the club is now the site of the Wells Fargo Bank. Not so odd is that the Marina still draws jazz lovers and people who wish they had seen the players at Roland’s on Fillmore and Lombard: Jules Broussard, Bobby Hutcherson, Denise Perrier. The Marina is, after all, a “mixed use” district – that is, there are some of us who like to sleep at night and some of us who like to carouse. Not necessarily in that order.

But it all shuts down by 2 a.m. That’s part of living in the City.

The new owners of Reed & Greenough are running into a few local obstacles as they request a “place of entertainment permit” that would allow live music in their venue. It seems that the new manager, Paul Owens, is doing everything right, but history is getting the best of him.

In November 2010, there was a murder at the Gravity Room, allegedly gang related. No such crime has happened since, though many Marina dwellers are unnerved by news reports of killings at nightclubs in SOMA and parts of North Beach.

There is no such epidemic here. The cops out of Northern Station, under the direction of Capt. Ann Mannix, watch the Marina very carefully.

Seems the loudest complaints about Reed & Greenough so far are over its dress code that prohibits ball caps, athletic gear, flip-flops, and baggy clothing. As for the desire to run a nightclub, “Each nightspot’s license is different,” says Ariel Ungerleider, president of the Marina Community Association. “No one has rights or privileges. It has everything to do with the neighborhood.” Supervisor Mark Farrell adds, “It’s up to the neighbors to decide on how things go.”

Owens first appeared before the Entertain-ment Commission to request an entertainment permit for Reed & Greenough on July 26, 2011. The commission staff and the police department both recommended approval of the permit at that meeting. During the hearing, however, Supervisor Farrell’s office asked that the hearing be continued as the supervisor had concerns over a lack of adequate neighborhood outreach, given the venue’s problems under previous owners. At the commission’s behest, Owens requested that the application be continued to allow more time for outreach.

A second hearing on the permit was scheduled for Jan. 10, 2012. Just before the hearing, Owens once again requested that the application be continued to a future meeting. While the permit itself was not discussed, interested parties who had come to the meeting were given the chance to speak to the commission. Members of the Marina Community Association, the Marina Merchants Association, and Supervisor Farrell’s office once again expressed concern that adequate community outreach had not been done.

In an attempt to remedy that, Owens is meeting with community members and neighbors at the end of January to discuss the bar’s plans for live entertainment and amplified music.

“We know that if he’s willing to reach out to the community, that will all be for the good,” said Ungerleider. “As long as we are talking to each other, then things might be worked out.”

All in all, it seems a case of defying gravity – more specifically, defying the past of The Gravity Room.