1990's is bought by s.b.c., the smallest of the seven regional operating companies because of a more favorable business climate in texas. so what we're doing here is instead of encouraging businesses and trying to get people to invest their own money and grow revenue here, we're discouraging business. i don't think we need one more business closed in that area. thank you. president miguel: thank you. daniel faxon. newman. michael. >> i'm here to support nicklas and his endeavor to acquire even a minimum of 20% or 30% access to sell alcoholic beverages. i've known him 18 years. i've seen his other stores, his customers. he keeps a clean place. it's safe. he employs locals. you never feel there's any

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