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Transcripts For SFGTV 20101018

>> hello. i'm joyce louis. i am a longtime resident of the area, for over 40 years. i have seen a lot of changes in the neighborhood. that area that you were just talking about at 1685 sacramento, i remember it as the brownie hardware store, which moved across the street. these changes have been in the demographics and business, both good and not so good. in response to the conditional use application for the liquor license, i oppose this action. stores are selling liquor for off-premises consumption within a four block radius. in addition, there is a bar right next door. so there's always access. i personally oppose any more access to liquor, as this is related to crime and it decreases the quality of life in the neighborhood. we are trying to revive and maintain the area to make it a more safe and family-oriented area. so having another site for liquor sales goes against the core of maintaining the neighborhood's safe and family-oriented. the planning commission's consideration and denial of this application would be appreciated. thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> my name is anthony. i manage the property directly above the proposed site. i would like to support him. he's done nothing but improve the quality of that corner. he's added a lot of lighting for security. i know that the sale of alcoholic beverages can result in violence on the streets. i feel that happens at around -- between the hours of 2:00 and 4:00 in the morning when the barses let out. he's proposing staying open until 9:00. i think that's a good idea because he wouldn't be connected with the violence on the street. it has been happening, but i think that that's a result of people getting drunk and coming over to the doughnut shop we have right across the street, which is wonderful. in terms of over-saturation of businesses, liquor-wise, i think people should be given the option of shopping there. he's given local jobs to local people. he's been very friendly. he keeps the place very clean. and i just think he should be given the opportunity at this point. i know he's been denied before, but i think it's about time that he be given the chance to prosper. and i think the people who oppose him are a little afraid of the competition. so i do support him. president miguel: thank you. michael, anthony, wiley, rebecca. >> commissioners, i live on clay for the past 13 years. i have a lifestyle-based business, meaning i work at home. i walk my dogs three times a day. so i know the neighborhood pretty well, ok? if you can take a look at this map, everybody has been referencing the eight liquor stores that are around the proposed knobb hill beverages. these stores are open anywhere from 8:00 in the morning -- basically you can get liquor in my neighborhood 24 hours a day, seven days a week. if you can't get liquor after 2:00 a.m., you got a problem. russian hill neighbors, lower polk neighborhoods, they have all submitted neighborhoods. pana's board, 27 people unanimous. tina boylan said that's the first time it's ever happened. we take pride in our neighborhood. we have monthly meetings, monthly cleanups. this is about pride. it's not personal. we believe that there's just too much liquor in our neighborhood. and we've got to draw the line. so i ask you to please deny this conditional use. thank you very much. president miguel: thank you. >> good evening. my name is wiley adams. i live one block away. i live in the neighborhood for 11 years. i am also the building manager of a 20-point building at the corner of sacramento and larken, and i'm a member of the middle polk neighborhood association. i am opposed to another liquor store. while this issue is very emotional and there's a lot of varied interests, i'd like to take this opportunity to share an article. i also have copies for all the commissioners. this article entitled neighborhoods, alcohol, outlets discusses the link between high concentration of alcohol outlets like the store being proposed here and partner violence. while it's clear that alcohol is an aggravating factor in violence, this article actually analyzes the importance of environmental strategies aimed at violence prevention such as changes in zoning, community activism, and policing. simply put, as physical availability of alcohol increases, so too will actual alcohol use and the increase of violence. the conclusion is that restricting the availability of alcohol is an effective measure to prevent the attribute to violence. we have an opportunity today to recognize an acknowledge the obvious link between alcohol, the availability of alcohol, and violence, not to mention the multitude of other environmental and societal factors that have already been mentioned here in the testimony. the polk street corridor and the surrounding area is over-saturated with liquor licenses. there are real effects and consequence of this. and it's not just a quality of life issue, but a really critical concern that affects our community. a conditional use for a liquor store is not necessary or desirable. we asked that you deny this. thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> my name is anthony. i've been living in the area for my entire life. i just wanted to reiterate the point of oversaturation. i mean, really, if i wanted alcohol, i can just walk or or two blocks in any direction and there would be one or two stores that i could buy it from. about caly foods closing, there's seven or so if areas if the open for consumers to buy from. when it closes, there's going to be a store right across the street, knobb hill liquors one. also, i wanted to say that the standard of living has gone down a lot. i think a big part of it is due to alcohol itself, and i think that just having another store in the area is not going to do us any good at all. and that's it. president miguel: thank you. rebecca, rowenna, linda, james. >> i'm lynn ca -- lynn ca chapman. -- linda chapman. a lot has to do with the oversaturation of alcohol licenses, not just the off-sale, but the on-sale as well. totally changed the character of the neighborhood. it was the most attractive residential commercial street if the city because it had a wonderful array of services and not an oversaturation of decorator stores or clothing stores or something like that. now the area is awash in prostitutes and pimps shooting it out at my corner, 48 rounds exchanged, the police said, just before i moved there. i had moved over to south knobb hill when i moved back to west knobb hill completely different. since that time, another shooting at my corner, two doors from me, i understand. now, when we were submitting a protest to abc about a different alcohol license that won't come before you, because somebody gave it a conditional use before, i counted six store fronts proposed for either bar or off sale, one or the other. now that we're aware of, and we are going to have to fight these one by one. i would like to give you these. this is an ad for a pub crawl on sale, they say the people go and buy at the off-sale and drink in the lines that form outside these. these places were restaurants. some are still licensed as restaurants but they have a conditional use for alcohol. and your enforcement person will not deal with it because she says, well, they have conditional uses. two of these were important license. two of them were certainly retail spaces. you know, when i go out on the street at 6:15 in the morning on sunday, i find three streetwalkers on pole exstreet in two blocks. president miguel: thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. i live two blocks from the property. i'm an apartment manager of a 12-unit building. i'm against another liquor license in the neighborhood because it encourages bad behavior, and there's already a lot of it going on. i was born and raised in the neighborhood, have seen a lot and had to see a lot of exchanges. things have gotten much worse. there are many more homeless on the street and all kinds of navy people panhandling and roaming around the neighborhoods. last saturday, someone tried to break in my garage from my lobby. they did a lot of property damage to my door. last year i spent over $500 just in hardware for one door, but this one may need to be replaced because of damage from multiple attempts. when people are inebriated, their judgment is off and they become much bolder. why would someone keep gouging a crowbar above and below a double latch guard where there is nothing to unlatch? i also have had break-ins into garages from streets and cars were broken into and bikes were stolen. about two years ago, my senior neighborhood was blinded in one eye when a thug followed him home from the bank after hearing $200 being counted out outloud and beat him over the glasses with a blunt object. the following week i found tools and bags in my lobby that i removed before someone could do a heist. we don't need any more trespassing, assault, theft, and vandalism. regarding the noise, usually on friday nights, we get a lot of traffic and noise on our block because it's close to the entertainment district. sometimes it wakes me up in the middle of the night. president miguel: thank you. >> please deny this conditional use. >> good evening, commissioners. i live on polk street at washington. i have lived there the last seven years. and the night crowd is getting very intense. there's a big pub crawl going from one end of polk to the other. it's ok. it's very lively. but i think the issuance of a new liquor license wouldn't be in the interest of the neighborhood. just one insdant -- there seems to be a nightly soccer game at the corner of polk and washington after the bars close, and i guess the guys play chicken with the cars that are coming by. it's for about 20 minutes or so, but the more liquor that's available, the more sorts of incidents like that there are. so i ask you to disapprove this application. thank you. president miguel: thank you. tony, david, chris. >> tony spoke. president miguel: oh, that's right. some of these have two cards. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is david elliot lewis. i'm here to speak in favor of the conditional use authorization. i've lived and worked and shopped in this district for the last 26 years. i'm also a vice president of central city democrats and i'm representing them as well. i'm not a customer of this store. and i don't buy liquor from liquor stores, but still, i don't see the problem. i don't see the deterioration that's been spoken of in the neighborhood. if anything, i see polk as improved over the last few decades, not gotten worse. i think the customer should decide. i think the community should decide by either shopping and patronizing this store, or not. rather than any authoritative body deciding what stores they can shop in or not shop in. so i hope you allow the community to decide, not the community of a few vested interest here or competing liquor stores, but the actual people who want to shop and peytonize the store. if they don't patronize it, the store will fail. let the community decide. thank you. president miguel: thank you. is there additional public comment on this item? >> good evening, president miguel, commissioners, i'm gerry -- jeri crowley. our position is to oppose the conditional use permit. the reasons have all been stated by other people. secondly, on a personal level, i recall earlier this year attending a press conference at northern station. it featured chief gascon and neighborhood oh,s. the theme of the press conference was the neighborhoods wanted to take back their neighborhood. crime, alcohol, all of those things were in a very bad mix. and so these neighborhood groups work very, very hard to clean up the neighborhood, and i think if you approve a conditional use permit tonight, it undermines what the neighbors are doing and what they've been doing for the last two years together. thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> my name is chris schulman. i'm here today as a representative of the lower pole ex-- polk neighbors, joining several other nearby neighborhood associations in opposition of this project proposed to you. you've received the official response. thank you for taking our position into consideration. both myself and other members of lower polic -- polk neighbors consider all requests. this is the third time we've considered a liquor store at this location and our position has been consistent. lower polk neighborhoods agrees with others that the concentration of alcohol retailers in this neighborhood is very high and that additional liquor store is not necessary or desirable. i did want to note, cala has come up several times. i personally believe the void will be a true opportunity for this proprietor. however, these will be in the form of grocery, deli, meats, and other staples. president miguel: is there additional public comment on this item? if not, public comment is closed. commissioner moore? commissioner moore: i see the neighborhoods making a very clear case of what we have had here many times, many hours discussing over and over again. i do believe that the surrounding neighborhoods have a very clearly delineated position of what does or doesn't work for them. i do believe they have pulled themselves up on their shoe strings to create a diversity. i do not believe this is an authoritative body. i take strong opposition to that comment and i do have to say that the department's analysis of the situation is very clear and actually not very difficult to take apart. this area is oversaturated. we also have a letter from the chief strongly recommending against a liquor license here. i would like to make a motion in support of the recommendation and disapprove this conditional use application. president miguel: is there a second? commissioner antonini: second. generally, i am a believer that, you know, it's not necessarily the alcohol, but the behavior. you could put the number of outlets in certain places and you wouldn't have a problem and you put it somewhere else and you do. but that being said, i think the neighborhood has made a pretty good case that, you know, they feel there is an oversaturation and it appears looking at the map that that probably is the case. and i probably will be supportive of the motion. it's just too bad that we don't have more of an ability to get rid of those liquor licenses in those establishths that have a record of problems. mentioned, that might be able to do it, but for this one, i don't think it's going to work. >> there's a reason that conditional use approvals exist. they exist for certain areas of san francisco, they exist for certain types of businesses. and there are reasons for that. and liquor is one of those that is under that consideration. it must be necessary and desirable. the department's conclusions, i think, were very well reasoned. i would be supportive of the motion. there is a saturation, without doubt, and one of the things we have to understand is that once this body and the city ok's a conditional use or liquor license, it's out of our control. it's up to abc. state agency. in the vast majority of instances, to control what happens. it's out of our control. and that is why this body has to be very, very considerate how they deal with these. >> i agree with saff recommendation on this. whenever we look at whether or not something that isn't allowed is necessary, desirable, the issue of oversaturation is one that we look at, as is -- whether it's alcohol or something else. though i do respect the work of the noltes and mr. lewis, and the work they do to approve their neighborhood, i don't agree with them on this particular issue. i do want to encourage people, it sounds like he's an hops player, this proprietor he runs a good business, he's respected in the neighborhood, it doesn't sound as though we are going to be approving the license. i do agree with a lot of the comments of commissioner antonini, he's right. a few bad players make it difficult for them, somebody who is a decent proprietor running a good dizz, -- a good business, makes it hard for them to move ahead when these come before us. perhaps we can work with this proprietor to find ways to make his business successful in ways that may not involve the sale of alcohol. so you know, that's what i'd like moewd hopefully will be able to work with him and also the neighbors, sounds like he's an honest person, trying to run a good business, so you know, work with him to achieve those goals, you know. >> commissioner moore. commissioner moore: i'm interested in the commissioner's forward-looking comments, perhaps there is a time to see that the bad operators are weeded out so that the others can sked and do what -- can succeed and do what is part of a good neighborhood. there are liquor stores, or establishments with wine and perhaps the good stores need to come together and talk about growing support and weeding out che ones which don't. we need to make sure the bad ones don't survive. >> i don't know if it's the role of government to do that or not. if you believe one side, the market will take care of it. obviously -- that's why we have rules, i guess. that isn't what i was going to talk about. the bargain bank, i used to buy wine there, but i assume the reason they were able to exup and down is that they already had a permit or c.u. or something to sell liquor and therefore it got bigger. in terms of calla, i would imagine there's going to be some city push to try to he re-locate a grocery store there. i would think. so even though there might be a hiatus in which calla goes away, i believe the city is very strong on trying to encourage and maybe through oewd find an operator that will come in and it may even be, i would think it would be a new development. i would think that the current building and parking lot situation is totally underutilized and that there will be some kind of development proposal coming forth. that may take a while. eventually i would think that the desire of the city anyway, i can't guarantee that, would be to have some kind of mixed use development in that location, including a grocery store. >> commissioners, the motion on the floor is to disapprove the conditional use authorization. on that motion, commissioner an to nee nee. commissioner moore, commissioner segay;. commissioner miguel. thank you, commissioners, the c.u. has been disapproved. you are now on item number 13. case number 2009.1100c, 1095 market street. >> good afternoon, commissioners, i'm tim pi, representing the planning department, the request is for a conditional use authorization to convert the building at 1095 market street from a 61,000 square feet commercial office building to a hostel use with up to 94 rooms. associated uses within the hostel will include approximately 2,500 square feet related to a restaurant, approximately 3,500 square feet related to nighttime entertainment and two rooftop terraces that total approximately 8,50 0 square feet. >> since the distribution of your parkts -- packets, two letters of support have been submitted to the department and i'd like to give you those for the record. one is a letter of support from san francisco architectural heritage, the other from a nearby property owner. the subject building is a category one significant building, identified under article 11 of the planning code, the historic preservation commission hearing on october 6 last week, the h.p.c. granted a permit to alter, with conditions, for the exterior work associated with the project. this was included in your packet for your reference. the department recommends approval of the project and believes that the project is necessary and desirable for the following reasons. we believe that the project will have a positive effect on the neighborhood, the project doesn't propose any offstreet parkering o-- or loaded and is excepted from this provision of the planning code and is consistent with the city's transit first policy. the sponsor is also collaborating with larkin street youth services to provide employment opportunities for emancipated foster youth and formerly homeless youth and the proje

Transcripts For SFGTV 20101016

polk neighborhood association. i am opposed to another liquor store. while this issue is very emotional and there's a lot of varied interests, i'd like to take this opportunity to share an article. i also have copies for all the commissioners. this article entitled neighborhoods, alcohol, outlets discusses the link between high concentration of alcohol outlets like the store being proposed here and partner violence. while it's clear that alcohol is an aggravating factor in violence, this article actually analyzes the importance of environmental strategies aimed at violence prevention such as changes in zoning, community activism, and policing. simply put, as physical availability of alcohol increases, so too will actual alcohol use and the increase of violence. the conclusion is that restricting the availability of alcohol is an effective measure to prevent the attribute to violence. we have an opportunity today to recognize an acknowledge the obvious link between alcohol, the availability of alcohol, and violence, not to mention the multitude of other environmental and societal factors that have already been mentioned here in the testimony. the polk street corridor and the surrounding area is over-saturated with liquor licenses. there are real effects and consequence of this. and it's not just a quality of life issue, but a really critical concern that affects our community. a conditional use for a liquor store is not necessary or desirable. we asked that you deny this. thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> my name is anthony. i've been living in the area for my entire life. i just wanted to reiterate the point of oversaturation. i mean, really, if i wanted alcohol, i can just walk or or two blocks in any direction and there would be one or two stores that i could buy it from. about caly foods closing, there's seven or so if areas if the open for consumers to buy from. when it closes, there's going to be a store right across the street, knobb hill liquors one. also, i wanted to say that the standard of living has gone down a lot. i think a big part of it is due to alcohol itself, and i think that just having another store in the area is not going to do us any good at all. and that's it. president miguel: thank you. rebecca, rowenna, linda, james. >> i'm lynn ca -- lynn ca chapman. -- linda chapman. a lot has to do with the oversaturation of alcohol licenses, not just the off-sale, but the on-sale as well. totally changed the character of the neighborhood. it was the most attractive residential commercial street if the city because it had a wonderful array of services and not an oversaturation of decorator stores or clothing stores or something like that. now the area is awash in prostitutes and pimps shooting it out at my corner, 48 rounds exchanged, the police said, just before i moved there. i had moved over to south knobb hill when i moved back to west knobb hill completely different. since that time, another shooting at my corner, two doors from me, i understand. now, when we were submitting a protest to abc about a different alcohol license that won't come before you, because somebody gave it a conditional use before, i counted six store fronts proposed for either bar or off sale, one or the other. now that we're aware of, and we are going to have to fight these one by one. i would like to give you these. this is an ad for a pub crawl on sale, they say the people go and buy at the off-sale and drink in the lines that form outside these. these places were restaurants. some are still licensed as restaurants but they have a conditional use for alcohol. and your enforcement person will not deal with it because she says, well, they have conditional uses. two of these were important license. two of them were certainly retail spaces. you know, when i go out on the street at 6:15 in the morning on sunday, i find three streetwalkers on pole exstreet in two blocks. president miguel: thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. i live two blocks from the property. i'm an apartment manager of a 12-unit building. i'm against another liquor license in the neighborhood because it encourages bad behavior, and there's already a lot of it going on. i was born and raised in the neighborhood, have seen a lot and had to see a lot of exchanges. things have gotten much worse. there are many more homeless on the street and all kinds of navy people panhandling and roaming around the neighborhoods. last saturday, someone tried to break in my garage from my lobby. they did a lot of property damage to my door. last year i spent over $500 just in hardware for one door, but this one may need to be replaced because of damage from multiple attempts. when people are inebriated, their judgment is off and they become much bolder. why would someone keep gouging a crowbar above and below a double latch guard where there is nothing to unlatch? i also have had break-ins into garages from streets and cars were broken into and bikes were stolen. about two years ago, my senior neighborhood was blinded in one eye when a thug followed him home from the bank after hearing $200 being counted out outloud and beat him over the glasses with a blunt object. the following week i found tools and bags in my lobby that i removed before someone could do a heist. we don't need any more trespassing, assault, theft, and vandalism. regarding the noise, usually on friday nights, we get a lot of traffic and noise on our block because it's close to the entertainment district. sometimes it wakes me up in the middle of the night. president miguel: thank you. >> please deny this conditional use. >> good evening, commissioners. i live on polk street at washington. i have lived there the last seven years. and the night crowd is getting very intense. there's a big pub crawl going from one end of polk to the other. it's ok. it's very lively. but i think the issuance of a new liquor license wouldn't be in the interest of the neighborhood. just one insdant -- there seems to be a nightly soccer game at the corner of polk and washington after the bars close, and i guess the guys play chicken with the cars that are coming by. it's for about 20 minutes or so, but the more liquor that's available, the more sorts of incidents like that there are. so i ask you to disapprove this application. thank you. president miguel: thank you. tony, david, chris. >> tony spoke. president miguel: oh, that's right. some of these have two cards. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is david elliot lewis. i'm here to speak in favor of the conditional use authorization. i've lived and worked and shopped in this district for the last 26 years. i'm also a vice president of central city democrats and i'm representing them as well. i'm not a customer of this store. and i don't buy liquor from liquor stores, but still, i don't see the problem. i don't see the deterioration that's been spoken of in the neighborhood. if anything, i see polk as improved over the last few decades, not gotten worse. i think the customer should decide. i think the community should decide by either shopping and patronizing this store, or not. rather than any authoritative body deciding what stores they can shop in or not shop in. so i hope you allow the community to decide, not the community of a few vested interest here or competing liquor stores, but the actual people who want to shop and peytonize the store. if they don't patronize it, the store will fail. let the community decide. thank you. president miguel: thank you. is there additional public comment on this item? >> good evening, president miguel, commissioners, i'm gerry -- jeri crowley. our position is to oppose the conditional use permit. the reasons have all been stated by other people. secondly, on a personal level, i recall earlier this year attending a press conference at northern station. it featured chief gascon and neighborhood oh,s. the theme of the press conference was the neighborhoods wanted to take back their neighborhood. crime, alcohol, all of those things were in a very bad mix. and so these neighborhood groups work very, very hard to clean up the neighborhood, and i think if you approve a conditional use permit tonight, it undermines what the neighbors are doing and what they've been doing for the last two years together. thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> my name is chris schulman. i'm here today as a representative of the lower pole ex-- polk neighbors, joining several other nearby neighborhood associations in opposition of this project proposed to you. you've received the official response. thank you for taking our position into consideration. both myself and other members of lower polic -- polk neighbors consider all requests. this is the third time we've considered a liquor store at this location and our position has been consistent. lower polk neighborhoods agrees with others that the concentration of alcohol retailers in this neighborhood is very high and that additional liquor store is not necessary or desirable. i did want to note, cala has come up several times. i personally believe the void will be a true opportunity for this proprietor. however, these will be in the form of grocery, deli, meats, and other staples. president miguel: is there additional public comment on this item? if not, public comment is closed. commissioner moore? commissioner moore: i see the neighborhoods making a very clear case of what we have had here many times, many hours discussing over and over again. i do believe that the surrounding neighborhoods have a very clearly delineated position of what does or doesn't work for them. i do believe they have pulled themselves up on their shoe strings to create a diversity. i do not believe this is an authoritative body. i take strong opposition to that comment and i do have to say that the department's analysis of the situation is very clear and actually not very difficult to take apart. this area is oversaturated. we also have a letter from the chief strongly recommending against a liquor license here. i would like to make a motion in support of the recommendation and disapprove this conditional use application. president miguel: is there a second? commissioner antonini: second. generally, i am a believer that, you know, it's not necessarily the alcohol, but the behavior. you could put the number of outlets in certain places and you wouldn't have a problem and you put it somewhere else and you do. but that being said, i think the neighborhood has made a pretty good case that, you know, they feel there is an oversaturation and it appears looking at the map that that probably is the case. and i probably will be supportive of the motion. it's just too bad that we don't have more of an ability to get rid of those liquor licenses in those establishths that have a record of problems. mentioned, that might be able to do it, but for this one, i don't think it's going to work. >> there's a reason that conditional use approvals exist. they exist for certain areas of san francisco, they exist for certain types of businesses. and there are reasons for that. and liquor is one of those that is under that consideration. it must be necessary and desirable. the department's conclusions, i think, were very well reasoned. i would be supportive of the motion. there is a saturation, without doubt, and one of the things we have to understand is that once this body and the city ok's a conditional use or liquor license, it's out of our control. it's up to abc. state agency. in the vast majority of instances, to control what happens. it's out of our control. and that is why this body has to be very, very considerate how they deal with these. >> i agree with saff recommendation on this. whenever we look at whether or not something that isn't allowed is necessary, desirable, the issue of oversaturation is one that we look at, as is -- whether it's alcohol or something else. though i do respect the work of the noltes and mr. lewis, and the work they do to approve their neighborhood, i don't agree with them on this particular issue. i do want to encourage people, it sounds like he's an hops player, this proprietor he runs a good business, he's respected in the neighborhood, it doesn't sound as though we are going to be approving the license. i do agree with a lot of the comments of commissioner antonini, he's right. a few bad players make it difficult for them, somebody who is a decent proprietor running a good dizz, -- a good business, makes it hard for them to move ahead when these come before us. perhaps we can work with this proprietor to find ways to make his business successful in ways that may not involve the sale of alcohol. so you know, that's what i'd like moewd hopefully will be able to work with him and also the neighbors, sounds like he's an honest person, trying to run a good business, so you know, work with him to achieve those goals, you know. >> commissioner moore. commissioner moore: i'm interested in the commissioner's forward-looking comments, perhaps there is a time to see that the bad operators are weeded out so that the others can sked and do what -- can succeed and do what is part of a good neighborhood. there are liquor stores, or establishments with wine and perhaps the good stores need to come together and talk about growing support and weeding out che ones which don't. we need to make sure the bad ones don't survive. >> i don't know if it's the role of government to do that or not. if you believe one side, the market will take care of it. obviously -- that's why we have rules, i guess. that isn't what i was going to talk about. the bargain bank, i used to buy wine there, but i assume the reason they were able to exup and down is that they already had a permit or c.u. or something to sell liquor and therefore it got bigger. in terms of calla, i would imagine there's going to be some city push to try to he re-locate a grocery store there. i would think. so even though there might be a hiatus in which calla goes away, i believe the city is very strong on trying to encourage and maybe through oewd find an operator that will come in and it may even be, i would think it would be a new development. i would think that the current building and parking lot situation is totally underutilized and that there will be some kind of development proposal coming forth. that may take a while. eventually i would think that the desire of the city anyway, i can't guarantee that, would be to have some kind of mixed use development in that location, including a grocery store. >> commissioners, the motion on the floor is to disapprove the conditional use authorization. on that motion, commissioner an to nee nee. commissioner moore, commissioner segay;. commissioner miguel. thank you, commissioners, the c.u. has been disapproved. you are now on item number 13. case number 2009.1100c, 1095 market street. >> good afternoon, commissioners, i'm tim pi, representing the planning department, the request is for a conditional use authorization to convert the building at 1095 market street from a 61,000 square feet commercial office building to a hostel use with up to 94 rooms. associated uses within the hostel will include approximately 2,500 square feet related to a restaurant, approximately 3,500 square feet related to nighttime entertainment and two rooftop terraces that total approximately 8,50 0 square feet. >> since the distribution of your parkts -- packets, two letters of support have been submitted to the department and i'd like to give you those for the record. one is a letter of support from san francisco architectural heritage, the other from a nearby property owner. the subject building is a category one significant building, identified under article 11 of the planning code, the historic preservation commission hearing on october 6 last week, the h.p.c. granted a permit to alter, with conditions, for the exterior work associated with the project. this was included in your packet for your reference. the department recommends approval of the project and believes that the project is necessary and desirable for the following reasons. we believe that the project will have a positive effect on the neighborhood, the project doesn't propose any offstreet parkering o-- or loaded and is excepted from this provision of the planning code and is consistent with the city's transit first policy. the sponsor is also collaborating with larkin street youth services to provide employment opportunities for emancipated foster youth and formerly homeless youth and the project sponsor is here and will be able to go into more detail about this collaboration if you so wish. the project sponsor also submitted as part of the requirements of the conditional use authorization a market study this market study concludes that the project would have a significant market demand in this neighborhood at this location and would further support san francisco's position as a tourist destination. finally, the project would serve to strengthen and extend the continued economic viability of an existing, historically significant building identified under article 11 of the planning code. that concludes my presentation, unless you have any questions. the project sponsor is also prepared to give you a short presentation on the project. thank you. >> thank you. project sponsor? >> good evening, my name is samuel johnson i'm the project sponsor. we've taken what we take to be the best parts of a boutique hotel and a european hostel and squished them together. it's not just a place for you to sleep, it's an environment where young travelers can meet and greet and have an exciting time together, much like a melting pot. we picked san francisco because it's a gateway city, a lot of public transportation, we picked the building because it has great bones, it needs a lot of work but it has a good look which we like. we are very committed to the community. our family has had a 10-year working relationship with the area and would like to continue that going forward with the job internship program, taking kids through the hospitality and hopefully we'll find some kids who like hospitality enough that they wish to stay with us. i'd like to lastly speak to the structure and infrastructure before passing on to our architect. we've had the building since april of 2008 and when we first investigated it, we found that the entire infrastructure was shot. it's mainly original 1905 equipment, plumbinging, electrical, elevators, and what not needs a complete redo we did a structural investigation on the project, on the building, and found that in its current state, it would probably not withstand a major earthquake. with that, i'd like to pass this over to steven lee. thank you for your time. >> my name is steven lee, i'm an architect, we've been working with simon for the last 18 months on this project. in our limited time we want to highlight the rich history and the salient architectural improvements we propose for the project. just so you can see then eprojector, this is the location site. it's on the corn over market an seventh street, adjacent to the court of appeals, across from the u.m. plaza and across from the new federal building. little bit of history about the building, the project is an existing nine stories, including a basement, steel-framed building with unreinforced masonry. it has a wonderful renaissance baroque appearance with sandstone lentles and detailed press work facade. at the time, this was a bustling corner. quite active store front, very populated, retail store front area. so the building was constructed in 1905 by a local san francisco architect who was a pretty good architect considering the building withstood the 1906 architect. but it did not come out unscathed. it sustained quite a bit of damage. on the right hand side you can see the interior was destroyed, partitions collapsed and on the left, you can the windows were blown out during the earthquake. in fact, on the stevenson side, they had to do quite a bit of repair on the facade, a lot had come apart and they had to rebuild that particular facade of the building. the building was rehabilitated shortly thereafter. unfortunately, they rebuilt it using pretty much the same materials so you still have a lot of hollow clay tile partitions there. since then, the building has

Transcripts For SFGTV2 20101015

loitering or graffiti on any of his businesses. he immediately tidies them up. there are a lot of liquor outlets in our neighborhood, but they seem to be springing up all the time. and he, who has an established relationship with all the other businesses in the neighborhood, can't seem to get that little kick, which he needs. because just the selling of cigarettes or lottery tickets or gum is just not enough to cut it. anyway, thank you. president miguel: thank you. newman, michael, shawn. >> i'm michael, but i'm on the next item, item 13. president miguel: excuse me. >> i'm shawn, i own a few properties within a block of the proposed liquor store. this is the third time i've been here over so many years. when he started -- before he opened this liquor store, it was a plant store. i don't remember what it was before. none of the neighbors were particularly thrilled about it being a liquor store and we fought it. he knew it wouldn't be a liquor store when he opened it up. there's too many liquor stores, as everybody has said before. it doesn't do any benefit to the neighborhood to have another liquor store other than to profit the owner of the liquor store himself. there's a dozen bars, as i said, nine liquor stores. and we don't need more. i understand it's not easy, but there were a lot there before he got there and we just don't need anymore. i also urge you not to fall for the ploy of 20%. once there's liquor in the store, it's a liquor store. 20% can go all the way up to the ceiling. that's 12 feet. a few unsquare feet just for liquor as well as the beer cabinets. it's just not needed. thank you very much. president miguel: thank you. >> good afternoon. i live between polk and parking. i think there's entirely too much saturation of alcohol-dispensing businesses there. certainly from where i live, there's no less than six places i can go to and purchase alcohol to take home within four blocks and at least three of them sell until 2:00 in the morning. this is just totally not counting all the bars, all the restaurant bars or beer and wine bars, and as for violence, well, there is violence that is attributed to alcohol. just like night, last evening, early morning, there was a brawl on polk involving eight or nine people. the cops were called. people were arrested. and i'll tell you what, that fight didn't begin because someone was too sober. that fight began because of alcohol. i don't know that i can agree with the assertion that there's no violence on polk or violence related to alcohol. that's it. thank you for your time. president miguel: thank you. erica, paul. >> hello, i am erica byrne. i live nearby on knobb hill. both of the groups that i am a member of have been working really hard to make the sidewalks of san francisco more pedestrian friendly. one of the ways to do that is to put more eyes on the street, more pedestrians. and one of the tips and tricks of doing that is to ensure that identical businesses are at least two blocks apart. if you look at the saturation of liquor stores, nobody has to walk even one block to get their liquor. so for that reason i would like to oppose the addition of another liquor store at that location. the bargain bank was mentioned. when it started out, it was a good addition for-to-the neighborhood, but it gradually added more and more and more liquor and all of a sudden, it was a liquor store. i don't remember there being any notice given to the neighborhood that the bank was going to turn into a liquor store. so we would have opposed the bargain bank, but we didn't know it was going to turn into a liquor store. thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is paul wormer. i live on the other side of the hill on california street. this is an area i walk to regularly. i do want to note that in my neighborhood, we've seen the corner convenience store morph to the corner liquor store. still licensed as the convenience store. they had a liquor license as part of that. and it became dominant in their business. i absolutely endorse the position staff has taken in opposing this. this is a general principle issue. it's a city wide issue of having unexpected or morphing of uses in a way that are inappropriate, and i believe that liquor is one of the big areas where that happens. thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> my name is michael nulty. the owner already owns a property on -- already runs a business at knobb hill liquors. his proposed other business, which is here for you today, is here. and this market is beginning to be probably closed at the end of the year. and so there's one last liquor license. this is a letter from the police department where a decoy has gone into his existing business, and there was no problem. i'm trying to point out that he's a good business owner. he doesn't allow under 21-year-olds to come in and buy liquor. and this is dated january 25, 2010. i also want to point out that i'm one of the founding members of the north america business association, and we do support the position of authorization. not all these problems about people vomiting or pianoing or pooing that people bring up say that's all contributing. what's in frnt of you today is whether or not to allow the conditional use and that's it. i don't know if there's any representation -- person here from the police department saying that. so thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> good evening. my name is tony. i just want to let you know i echo what the previous speaker has said and i strongly support knobb hill beverages number two. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. this is the third time i've come in front of your commission about this. i keep coming back because this is what the community planned, and a lot of the people there are here weren't even planning a session just to discuss how to plan this neighborhood. i get really concerned about when people don't want to take control of their neighborhood and go to the planning processes that the city provides to deal with this neighborhood. and you see, this is where his property is right here on this map. and this is how it's zoned and everything else. my name is john nulty. this project should move forward with additional use. since it's closing nearby next year. this location will fulfill the void left by the closure. approve the conditional use for this project. thank you very much. michael vick mig thank you. -- president miguel: thank you. >> hello. i'm joyce louis. i am a longtime resident of the area, for over 40 years. i have seen a lot of changes in the neighborhood. that area that you were just talking about at 1685 sacramento, i remember it as the brownie hardware store, which moved across the street. these changes have been in the demographics and business, both good and not so good. in response to the conditional use application for the liquor license, i oppose this action. stores are selling liquor for off-premises consumption within a four block radius. in addition, there is a bar right next door. so there's always access. i personally oppose any more access to liquor, as this is related to crime and it decreases the quality of life in the neighborhood. we are trying to revive and maintain the area to make it a more safe and family-oriented area. so having another site for liquor sales goes against the core of maintaining the neighborhood's safe and family-oriented. the planning commission's consideration and denial of this application would be appreciated. thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> my name is anthony. i manage the property directly above the proposed site. i would like to support him. he's done nothing but improve the quality of that corner. he's added a lot of lighting for security. i know that the sale of alcoholic beverages can result in violence on the streets. i feel that happens at around -- between the hours of 2:00 and 4:00 in the morning when the barses let out. he's proposing staying open until 9:00. i think that's a good idea because he wouldn't be connected with the violence on the street. it has been happening, but i think that that's a result of people getting drunk and coming over to the doughnut shop we have right across the street, which is wonderful. in terms of over-saturation of businesses, liquor-wise, i think people should be given the option of shopping there. he's given local jobs to local people. he's been very friendly. he keeps the place very clean. and i just think he should be given the opportunity at this point. i know he's been denied before, but i think it's about time that he be given the chance to prosper. and i think the people who oppose him are a little afraid of the competition. so i do support him. president miguel: thank you. michael, anthony, wiley, rebecca. >> commissioners, i live on clay for the past 13 years. i have a lifestyle-based business, meaning i work at home. i walk my dogs three times a day. so i know the neighborhood pretty well, ok? if you can take a look at this map, everybody has been referencing the eight liquor stores that are around the proposed knobb hill beverages. these stores are open anywhere from 8:00 in the morning -- basically you can get liquor in my neighborhood 24 hours a day, seven days a week. if you can't get liquor after 2:00 a.m., you got a problem. russian hill neighbors, lower polk neighborhoods, they have all submitted neighborhoods. pana's board, 27 people unanimous. tina boylan said that's the first time it's ever happened. we take pride in our neighborhood. we have monthly meetings, monthly cleanups. this is about pride. it's not personal. we believe that there's just too much liquor in our neighborhood. and we've got to draw the line. so i ask you to please deny this conditional use. thank you very much. president miguel: thank you. >> good evening. my name is wiley adams. i live one block away. i live in the neighborhood for 11 years. i am also the building manager of a 20-point building at the corner of sacramento and larken, and i'm a member of the middle polk neighborhood association. i am opposed to another liquor store. while this issue is very emotional and there's a lot of varied interests, i'd like to take this opportunity to share an article. i also have copies for all the commissioners. this article entitled neighborhoods, alcohol, outlets discusses the link between high concentration of alcohol outlets like the store being proposed here and partner violence. while it's clear that alcohol is an aggravating factor in violence, this article actually analyzes the importance of environmental strategies aimed at violence prevention such as changes in zoning, community activism, and policing. simply put, as physical availability of alcohol increases, so too will actual alcohol use and the increase of violence. the conclusion is that restricting the availability of alcohol is an effective measure to prevent the attribute to violence. we have an opportunity today to recognize an acknowledge the obvious link between alcohol, the availability of alcohol, and violence, not to mention the multitude of other environmental and societal factors that have already been mentioned here in the testimony. the polk street corridor and the surrounding area is over-saturated with liquor licenses. there are real effects and consequence of this. and it's not just a quality of life issue, but a really critical concern that affects our community. a conditional use for a liquor store is not necessary or desirable. we asked that you deny this. thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> my name is anthony. i've been living in the area for my entire life. i just wanted to reiterate the point of oversaturation. i mean, really, if i wanted alcohol, i can just walk or or two blocks in any direction and there would be one or two stores that i could buy it from. about caly foods closing, there's seven or so if areas if the open for consumers to buy from. when it closes, there's going to be a store right across the street, knobb hill liquors one. also, i wanted to say that the standard of living has gone down a lot. i think a big part of it is due to alcohol itself, and i think that just having another store in the area is not going to do us any good at all. and that's it. president miguel: thank you. rebecca, rowenna, linda, james. >> i'm lynn ca -- lynn ca chapman. -- linda chapman. a lot has to do with the oversaturation of alcohol licenses, not just the off-sale, but the on-sale as well. totally changed the character of the neighborhood. it was the most attractive residential commercial street if the city because it had a wonderful array of services and not an oversaturation of decorator stores or clothing stores or something like that. now the area is awash in prostitutes and pimps shooting it out at my corner, 48 rounds exchanged, the police said, just before i moved there. i had moved over to south knobb hill when i moved back to west knobb hill completely different. since that time, another shooting at my corner, two doors from me, i understand. now, when we were submitting a protest to abc about a different alcohol license that won't come before you, because somebody gave it a conditional use before, i counted six store fronts proposed for either bar or off sale, one or the other. now that we're aware of, and we are going to have to fight these one by one. i would like to give you these. this is an ad for a pub crawl on sale, they say the people go and buy at the off-sale and drink in the lines that form outside these. these places were restaurants. some are still licensed as restaurants but they have a conditional use for alcohol. and your enforcement person will not deal with it because she says, well, they have conditional uses. two of these were important license. two of them were certainly retail spaces. you know, when i go out on the street at 6:15 in the morning on sunday, i find three streetwalkers on pole exstreet in two blocks. president miguel: thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. i live two blocks from the property. i'm an apartment manager of a 12-unit building. i'm against another liquor license in the neighborhood because it encourages bad behavior, and there's already a lot of it going on. i was born and raised in the neighborhood, have seen a lot and had to see a lot of exchanges. things have gotten much worse. there are many more homeless on the street and all kinds of navy people panhandling and roaming around the neighborhoods. last saturday, someone tried to break in my garage from my lobby. they did a lot of property damage to my door. last year i spent over $500 just in hardware for one door, but this one may need to be replaced because of damage from multiple attempts. when people are inebriated, their judgment is off and they become much bolder. why would someone keep gouging a crowbar above and below a double latch guard where there is nothing to unlatch? i also have had break-ins into garages from streets and cars were broken into and bikes were stolen. about two years ago, my senior neighborhood was blinded in one eye when a thug followed him home from the bank after hearing $200 being counted out outloud and beat him over the glasses with a blunt object. the following week i found tools and bags in my lobby that i removed before someone could do a heist. we don't need any more trespassing, assault, theft, and vandalism. regarding the noise, usually on friday nights, we get a lot of traffic and noise on our block because it's close to the entertainment district. sometimes it wakes me up in the middle of the night. president miguel: thank you. >> please deny this conditional use. >> good evening, commissioners. i live on polk street at washington. i have lived there the last seven years. and the night crowd is getting very intense. there's a big pub crawl going from one end of polk to the other. it's ok. it's very lively. but i think the issuance of a new liquor license wouldn't be in the interest of the neighborhood. just one insdant -- there seems to be a nightly soccer game at the corner of polk and washington after the bars close, and i guess the guys play chicken with the cars that are coming by. it's for about 20 minutes or so, but the more liquor that's available, the more sorts of incidents like that there are. so i ask you to disapprove this application. thank you. president miguel: thank you. tony, david, chris. >> tony spoke. president miguel: oh, that's right. some of these have two cards. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is david elliot lewis. i'm here to speak in favor of the conditional use authorization. i've lived and worked and shopped in this district for the last 26 years. i'm also a vice president of central city democrats and i'm representing them as well. i'm not a customer of this store. and i don't buy liquor from liquor stores, but still, i don't see the problem. i don't see the deterioration that's been spoken of in the neighborhood. if anything, i see polk as improved over the last few decades, not gotten worse. i think the customer should decide. i think the community should decide by either shopping and patronizing this store, or not. rather than any authoritative body deciding what stores they can shop in or not shop in. so i hope you allow the community to decide, not the community of a few vested interest here or competing liquor stores, but the actual people who want to shop and peytonize the store. if they don't patronize it, the store will fail. let the community decide. thank you. president miguel: thank you. is there additional public comment on this item? >> good evening, president miguel, commissioners, i'm gerry -- jeri crowley. our position is to oppose the conditional use permit. the reasons have all been stated by other people. secondly, on a personal level, i recall earlier this year attending a press conference at northern station. it featured chief gascon and neighborhood oh,s. the theme of the press conference was the neighborhoods wanted to take back their neighborhood. crime, alcohol, all of those things were in a very bad mix. and so these neighborhood groups work very, very hard to clean up the neighborhood, and i think if you approve a conditional use permit tonight, it undermines what the neighbors are doing and what they've been doing for the last two years together. thank you. president miguel: thank you. >> my name is chris schulman. i'm here today as a representative of the lower pole ex-- polk neighbors, joining several other nearby neighborhood associations in opposition of this project proposed to you. you've received the official response. thank you for taking our position into consideration. both myself and other members of lower polic -- polk neighbors consider all requests. this is the third time we've considered a liquor store at this location and our position has been consistent. lower polk neighborhoods agrees with others that the concentration of alcohol retailers in this neighborhood is very high and that additional liquor store is not necessary or desirable. i did want to note, cala has come up several times. i personally believe the void will be a true opportunity for this proprietor. however, these will be in the form of grocery, deli, meats, and other staples. president miguel: is there additional public comment on this item? if not, public comment is closed. commissioner moore? commissioner moore: i see the neighborhoods making a very clear case of what we have had here many times, many hours discussing over and over again. i do believe that the surrounding neighborhoods have a very clearly delineated position of what does or doesn't work for them. i do believe they have pulled themselves up on their shoe strings to create a diversity. i do not believe this is an authoritative body. i take strong opposition to that comment and i do have to