Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Press Availability 20240713 : v

SFGTV Mayors Press Availability July 13, 2024

Pick and choose the businesses, but unfortunately, we dont get to choose what goes in. What we do is choose whether the businesses that want to do business can. There are spaces for smaller retailer and wed love to have them. There is spaces for restaurants and wed love to have them. There is a business saying can i be in this space, part of this neighborhood, and i cant see why we would say no. President melgar next speaker, please. My name is brian springfield. I live one block from the location of Sterling Bank. Ive lived there 21 years. And i live across street from a vacant commercial space zoned for restaurant use at 2175 market. Its never leased. Its sat vacant for three years now. 2175 was also the location of a Business Venture called myriad, like a food hall concept, multivendor. That struggled for a while and eventually failed. I support their application to move next door to the Current Location because im really concerned about the vacant store fronts in the castro. Ive seen the closures of chow restaurant, the original location at church and market followed by cook shop that moved in right after them. Across the street was grapevine, down the street, sushi, finntown and just recently cafe flora closed after 47 years of business at their location. Thats just the restaurants. Thats just as far down Market Street as sanchez street. So its a real problem. I keep mentioning these restaurants because i hear some people are opposing the application because they want to see a restaurant go in this space, but wishing for something doesnt make it true. These commercial spaces become a problem for the neighborhood once vacant because they make worse on the situation on the streets in that they invite first of all, they reduce foot traffic and they invite people to camp out in the doorways of the businesses and this makes it difficult for the businesses that are staill operating to be successful. I dont want to see closures at all. Sterling bank, their lease is up at the Current Location, so staying there is not an option. So the choice didnt between allowing them to move next door, or asking them to stay put, the choice is between one vacant store fronts and two vacant store fronts. I would rather see one than two. I urge you to support their application to move next door. Ill also sing steve adams praises if i have time. I was a resident of the neighborhood and he urged me to be on the board. He is actively recruiting to support and join the neighborhood organizations and i was a beneficiary of that. President melgar next speaker, please. Thank you, commissioners. Im gwen, owner of a Small Business, ace mailing, and founder and current Vice President of the northeast Mission Business association. I have been president of the Small Business commission and been a commissioner for years. And i want to say sterling wants to move next door. I think it is very, very important that we keep them exactly where they are in that location. Theyve given so much to the community. I also live on market, so i drive or walk past that every day. And i do want to say that from the holiday and Christmas Tree celebration in the castro, to supporting the sros and to being a really great lender and help to Small Businesses, i just cant imagine that were not going to support Sterling Bank moving next door. We dont need any more vacancies and we do need Sterling Bank. Thank you. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. Im stephen cornell. I am past president of the district merchants, past president of the Small Business network, past president of the Small Business commission. I have owned a business for 40 years on polk street. I am here to Say Something about Sterling Bank. Ive been around for a long time. Ive seen businesses come in. They want to be part of the neighborhood. They want to be part of the association. They want something. They need something to become part of us. And then when they dont need us, they go away. Sterling bank has been part of all of these associations i just talked about all the time. They didnt want something. They wanted just to part of our association, part of our functions. Everything we do. Theyll go and buy tickets for dinner and show up. They dont say, hey, we bought ten tickets and we have eight Tickets Available for anybody. They come with the staff. They come and theyre part of us. They are really a great business partner. If all of the rest of the community could do that, we wouldnt have any problems. We should be bending over backwards for Sterling Bank to move 100 feet away. Please approve this. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening, commissioners. My name is brian spears. So im kind of wearing two hats. Im the developer of the property and im also the owner of lucky 13 bar, which is a Small Business on the same block. Ive been a customer of Sterling Bank for over 20 years. I personally know steve and i think hes an outstanding individual and has done a lot for the community. Im sorry. Are you saying youre the developer of the property . So the owner of the property . So youre somewhat the project sponsor . Im associated with the project. President melgar your time to speak was in the beginning. I thought as a neighbor i could speak. Cory smith, im speaking as individual, resident and someone who does not bank at Sterling Bank, but ive spent a lot of time and know the folks and stephen well. And his reputation for doing good work for the city absolutely proceeds him. And it was walking before and he said were trying to move next door. Im sure hes spent a fair amount of time as president complaining about how the city gets in the way at times of businesses being able to do business. Its the concept of moving next door that has become complicated and burdensome than it probably needs to be. So for this item itself, wholeheartedly encourage you to move it forward and grant the cu, because we have a Good Community member who wants to stay in the community, and wants to continue doing work with the community and that should be applauded. President melgar any other Public Comment . Walter parsley. Youve already spoken, sir. Youre part of the project team. Im also a resident. President melgar sorry. Jonas youve spoken. President melgar any other Public Comment . With that, Public Comment is closed. Commissioner moore id like to ask mr. Adams to speak a little bit about the size of your new operation. And i think that is most of the problem. Mr. Adams has been forever the voice of Small Business. A number of years ago, this commission had a subcommittee which i served on together with commissioner fung, where we worked with mr. Adams and talked about the nuts and bolts of Small Business. However, now, im asking you, and as i think the department, youre moving from a small space into a significantly larger space. Yes. I think it is the frontage, including the size how it affects the public realm where a bank itself is not seen as a sidewalk, neighborhood, as much as as any other type of use. Speak about why youre enlarging to this extent . Well, its a little bit bigger than the space were in now. Twice as large i think. The space im in now goes further back. It goes almost back to 14th street, but it is larger. One of the reasons but it would be activated. A lot of people think banks are only open between 9 00 and 5 00. The reason i want to stay in that area, i do service i do a lot of Small Business lending. And i do a lot of lending period. And my lenders will be working in the evenings. So the space is going to be activated, not only during the day, but in the evenings. I have a rule, too. I dont like shades pulled down or anything like that. Well have a Community Room in the building, in the space, a Conference Room. My old space next door, when i had the room early on in the late 90s and early 2000s, that space was activated three nights a week. We had events there. Golden Gate Business Association met there. A lot of the neighborhood groups meet there. So the space will be used at night. And i know a lot of people hear that, but we proved it and did that. The Community Room at chase is about to go away so i have a lot of Community Groups saying, if i cant use this, can i use the new Conference Room . Of course. I let you use it before, ill let you use it now. There will be nighttime activity in the space. Ive been working with the cbd. If i get this, ill be installing security cameras on 14th street. And by the metro muni entrance on the other side and working with the cbd and mission station and northern station to create a sense of security there. Which you dont have now. And ive also sending a contract for steam cleaning of that corner if i get this. And i did it so, at least once a week steam cleaning on that corner, but if i need it two or three times, im the boss, i call and say, steam clean. I drive by and see a dirty sidewalk, i hate dirty sidewalks. But that space will be activated. You know, if youve been in the Bank Branches now, we have artwork, San Francisco artwork in most of the Bank Branches. We have a castro theme that is going in there with historical pictures and stuff from the neighborhood. So the space will be activated. It wont be sitting dark after hours. The reason im asking him to speak about it is, he is basically a neighborhood business person. And that still doesnt solve the dilemma of what the department and we, ourselves need to consider, but i have a ear for that, because Community Members who are his clients coming and speaking, im torn on the subject matter. I like to work by the books and support the departments findings, but im also curious what is the rest of the commissioners are thinking. Commissioner johnson i, too, appreciated you asking the question about the space and the dilemma that we are in. However, i feel like the timing of this conversation is great because of the earlier conversation we had today about the ncds and the fact that we need to find Creative Solutions and really update, i think, some of the ways weve been looking at these commercial corridors to support our thriving the thriving of our corridors and businesses. I also just recall that two hearings ago we had a project that we also considered that was formula retail. And approved that because we also felt like just given this corridor, having a thriving business there would be helpful. And that was nothing to say for all of the Community Support that has come out talking about how they actively use this space, talking about how it supports small and local businesses and how the space would be activated after hours. I see this as an invitation to take a nuanced approach. So im fully supportive of this project. Commissioner fung planning, quantitative metrics perhaps provide an indication. Theyre not always the sole answer you know, for the Planning Issues and land use issues we face. And you have to have a qualitative overlay on top of that. The logic says, youre there now, theyre moving one door, the number stays the same. You know, just the frontage, linear footage, i understand provides an indication, however, you know, the logic here is that its still the same in terms of the number of formula retail. So im supportive of the conditional use. Commissioner koppel so i work close by. Im on the first block of fillmore so im very familiar with the neighborhood, the area. And what i like most about where i work is the sense of community. Ive signed up to pass out neighborhood flyers for the dtna and i probably do it every month. And this area is in dire need of filled store fronts. Although we might not have agreed with mr. Spears housing policies, were not talking about that today. He ace local developer. He is a San Francisco guy. Hes got a couple of Different Properties going on. And we should help him fill his ground floor retail spaces. I make a motion to approve. Commissioner diamond i thought project proponent and the supporters made very persuasive arguments and i am supportive of this, but it also strikes me seconding commissioner johnsons and fungs comments, this may be an opportunity to rethink some of the rules that we use for formula retail. Id be happy to second the motion. Very quickly, with all due respect, unfortunately, your packet did not include so you have it make a motion. I think they can create some findings. I was just going to speak to that. A couple of things. The oral of retail is work world of retail is changing quickly. It wasnt long ago we were in the neighborhood to put this provision in the code that said we would recommend denial if it was above 20 . It was not that long ago. So its changed fast. I appreciate that. And i respectfully disagree with the speaker who says this doesnt apply. Whether its 20, 21, 22, if its above 20, thats the way it works. Having said that, the notion was to do with what commissioner fung said. Thats our recommendation. It doesnt bind the condition and there is a qualitative judgment you have to make with the recommendation in either direction. But it does speak to the point that the nature of retail is changing really quickly. And we its the process of changing the code doesnt happen as quickly as you all know. And so this is one of on that bucket list of things we have to look at with retail, this issue of formula retail and where it applies. When we did the formula retail changes about three, four years ago . Im maybe dating myself. We looked at this idea of increasing the number from 10 to 25 or 30. And we unfortunately did not get support for that. I think it may be worth looking at that again. Clearly, there is a big difference between a bank like sterling and a bank like wells fargo or chase. And the formula controls dont acknowledge that difference. Those are the kinds of things we need to look at in change of in light of the changing conditions in retail. President melgar yes to all of the above. When we changed that a few years ago, it doesnt seem like it was that long ago, but it actually was long ago. In terms of what has happened in the world and the rise of amazon and a bunch of things that have happened. So i lived in the neighborhood and the neighborhood i no longer do, i live somewhere else, but its completely transformed. In the neighborhoods where we have implemented those tight controls, and especially around formula retail, we have seen vacancies raise. So you know, 24th street, this neighborhood, north beach. So i really want us it look at that with evidence, empirically to see, is it just that the world has changed or is there cause and effect in terms of what we have done . This morning we had started this conversation based on commissioner fungs right on comments but i want to take seriously the neighborhood by neighborhood approach, because you know, geary street, commercial corridor is very different from castro, from 24th street. And there is different needs, different socioeconomic customers in these corridors, but the neighborhoods are very different from destination retail for example. And you know, we kind of treat it all the same. And then i think a more knew nuanced view is overdue. Those are my comments. Im totally in support of the project and i wish you luck. Commissioner moore i still would differentiate if chase was asking me the question, i would support the department of saying no, because the effect of big banks like chase and wells fargo are devastating. Theyre basically freeze an area into motionlessness. Perhaps we at some point can work on requirements of what part of the operation is near the window. What is it we want to see at night near the window . I dont know. Im not going to design it for you. But it could animate what is happening in the space without looking at static and dead staring into a. T. M. S or moving neon signs, et cetera. That is where the rubber hits the road. It needs to be said that a bank that is a local grown bank is the type of fellowship it has, would still have my support and chase would not. When the commission is ready, i in order to take action, i have made a list of potential findings to read into the record that summarize what the discussion has been so far. Thank you. So the findings would be that this particular use would fill a vacant space and given the nature of the corridor, that is necessary and desirable. It also would support a local business. And additionally, the space would be activated after hours. And overall, the number of formula Retail Businesses would stay the same along this corridor. President melgar thank you. Commissioner moore one element which i would like to see. That is a social component to the work which i found interesting. And that deals with lending to sro. I found that very important, particularly when we talk about the corridor and the overlap in castro. If there is nothing further, commissioners, there is a motion that has been seconded to approve this project with standard conditions of approval and findings read into the record on that motion. Diamond aye. Fung aye. Johnson aye. Moore aye. Koppel aye. Melgar aye. So moved, the motion passes unanimously, 60. [please stand by] [please stand by] were going take a small little break. Clerk for thursday, january 9, 2020. I would like to remind the public to please silence your cell phones that may sound off during

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