than 50 feet from my business and i am very concerned that it will prevent young families with children from moving into the area and undermine my business. thank you. president olague: sn is there sni additional public comment -- is there any additional public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner miguel. commissioner miguel: much in the same manner as on the item regarding the installation of chinese hospital and the public realized how important the commission felt that informed public information is necessary, there is a question that was just raised on this one and i think we have heard hints of it before. and through the at&t representative, am i -- my

suggestion is that you get together with all of the other antenna representatives and perhaps jointly bring forth some actual statistics on land value and residential values. and i haven't heard that presented here. if this is going to be another question that's going to come p up, i like to look at facts and not done by your staff and with the independent, recognized organization that would be informative to me and the rest of the commission if we keep hearing this because it is very difficult for me anyway too to

judge the truth of claims or what can happen unless i have some factual information. i just make that suggestion to you and i am sure you know who the other representatives are of the other firms and i would welcome a study to be done. because i think it's important. and regarding the r.f. frequency, get ahold of the offices and there are san francisco offices for barbara boxer, dianne feinstein, nancy pelosi, and bring your petitions to them. thank you. president olague: commissioner antonini. commissioner antonini: well, in response to some of the comments, i don't know that you can necessarily judge the adequacy of a signal by testing your cell phones. we have a huge increase in media

transmission and that will continue and that is why we're seeing so many more installations and it is not just the number but the usage and the price you are paying is to have more antennas and most of the time you can't tell they are there unless you are educated to spot what is and what isn't an antenna and i go around and many times surprised to see that something is an antenna and unless the buyer knows it and if you are looking to be to buy a home or not have any antennas, you will be looking for a hard place to find because with the growth of the antennas, they will be close to where they

live. and those who have control over the r.f. levels and at a federal level, talk to them if you would like some other type of reporting and other type of r.f. adeszmentes that you feel immediater to more stringent. and i am impressed with the commentary and glad that people are moving into the neighborhood and are cleaning it up and getting rid of crime. that is really good. and i think you have a lot of problems and this the at least of which, but that is what is before us today. and i am in favor of this and one thing to add to the representative from at&t, while it is not a big addition, you can barely see the structures getting higher to accommodate the antennas and if there is a way to make that as close as

possible to the other adjacent buildings, that would be great. and that might be good and to work with the neighborhood to make it happy to the appearance. and that would something i would like to see with the approval there to work with the neighborhood on aesthetics. i don't have a commission for you. president olague: commissioner sugaya. commissioner sugaya: to planning staff, the current notes say it is a landromat and that doesn't mean this is owned by the city, correct? >> it is privately held. >> we are just leasing an awful space. >> sponsor tells me the department of public health is

leasing the office. >> to follow up on the comment by commissioner antonini, i think there needs to be design work done, but a blank upper portion of the building just doesn't make it, i don't think, so if the staff and neighborhood could work together with at&t to craft a better look iing disgui, that would be the direction i would like to see this go. and commissioner miguel, you weren't suggesting we held this up? commissioner miguel: not at all. not at all. commissioner antonini: i'm make to approve with conditions with the added condition staff work with at&t and perhaps the neighborhood organization on the appropriate design for the

parapet and the upper portion of the building. secretary avery: commissioners, the motion on the floor is for approval with the condition that the project sponsor work with staff and with the community and designing the upper parapet and the upper portion of the building. commissioner antonini: there was a suggestion, too, that at&t work with the community directly on other issues. related to this facility and i know they have a consultant mr. kim, and taking notes, i believe. secretary avery: and that the project sponsor at&t continue their outreach efforts with the community. on that motion, commissioner antonini. >> aye. >> commissioner fong. >> aye. >> commissioner moore. >> aye. >> commissioner sugaya. >> aye. >> commissioner miguel. >> aye. >> commissioner olague. >> thank you, commissioners. you are on item 18, case number

2011.0816c for 550 valencia street. president olague: i'm sorry, ma'am, it is not appropriate for you to be speaking at this time. >> good afternoon, president olague, commissioners, corey teague for staff. the planning commission has heard this before and they continued this project after hearing from the public and determining that the project sponsor had not conducted adequate outreach and the project sponsor has conducted that outreach and the proposal is to still establish a 3900 square foot full-service restaurant and bar. however, the project was more

upscale, southwestern food focussing on traditional native american ingredients. based on feedback from the neighborhood, it was more affordable and serve american comfort food and focus on an old west theme and there is a menu outline in the packet. since the project was continued, the sponsor did conduct additional outreach including surrounding business owners, neighborhood groups, the police department, and others. included is the outreach in the letter and led to a statement of common purpose with the mission of housing development and corporation and the vocational school to work collaboratively on employment opportunities and the associated need for affordable housing nearby if additional outreach resulted in 26 new letters of support for the project included in the packet and we also received one

additional letter of support today and the department did not receive any letters of opposition. the planning department recommends approval of the project with conditions with the motion to request a new restaurant concept. i am available for any questions you have. >> project sponsor? >> thank you, president olague, and commissioners, for allowing us this time. thank you for giving us the three months. when we first left, we were a little shaken up, but we have had a really good time meeting the members of the community. we did get quite a lot of research and i would like to turn it over to the vice president of the mission merchants association to speak about exactly what we have done.

thank you. >> thank you very much. president olague and good afternoon, commissioners. and basically it was the mission merchants that had shown up at the original meeting and said more time was needed. you may recall our president was here. and our long-standing member also who owns the business and property next door to 550 valencia street. so as a result, these gentlemen came and consulted with the mission merchants and i have taken them under my wing and in so doing we went and spoke to lots of members of the mission merchants including the others and we thank commissioner sugaya for conducting the first meeting and there were subsequent meetings after that. we have a number of the board members who actually live and/or work on the 500 block of valencia. blonddy's bar and she and her

daughter were one of the first along on that block to create the resurgence of what we have been seeing and when they showed up, you couldn't get a cab to drop you off on that block. we have don allen across the street on the board, the owner of the casanova lounge. and fiona o'connor at harrington's and so we have quite a few merchant members on the block and we got involved firsthand. the mission merchants now endorse this project have been gone through the full consideration. and the restaurateurs who won the coveted best sea food restaurant from the san francisco garden as well as they happen to be contractors. and this building is in horrible disapray and was red tagged and

they had to leave and is not fit for occupancy. when you walk n you can see -- you can actually see sunlight coming in through the side panels. and it is just a horrific situation. and the roof had caved in. so we see this block coming around. we see an extremely dangerous building that needs to be improved. we see some outstanding operators who are going to come in and take it over who are neighborhood operators. they currently are on fillmore street and have residents all around them and they're operating just on the edge of castro on market street across from the safeway and they know about operating within a neighborhood, and that is what we're all about. we're neighborhood merchants if mission merchants gives its endorsement. and the business improvement district also had a presentation by this group and they gave their endorsement.

and you have that letter in your file. and to go to the greater rotary club to meet the captain there and who also, as you may recall, was captain of the mission station. and their operations are well known to them and they also endorse this project. and happen to meet the mayor, must be an election year, he was at the rotary, and when he said, do you immediate need more restaurants in san francisco? he said, i love to eat, yes, we do. and the greater rotary commission also sent letters of endorsement. we met with the valencia merchants association and we have a memorandum of understanding and a long m.o.u. with the vocational school which

both of these organizations are about 40 years of age. and the m.o.u. is to provide people who are looking for a gateway to employment and citizenship and affordable housing and we have now entered into a three-party agreement with the mcnivens and you also have that in your file and this collaboration has them providing employment through mlvs that would be here and the executive director from the redevelopment agency is in washington, d.c. today, but she is the one who sent in the letter to cory that is circulated today as well. and so we took them around and a whole lot of people they didn't know three months ago and everybody that they met has endorsed them and in my presence. and again, we're available for any additional questions which i believe mr. mcniven wants to

speak to you now as part of the team. >> hello. i am the designer of 5050 valencia -- >> your name is? >> my name is cristo. sorry. just wanted to speak really quickly about the condition of the building as i don't know if you can -- i don't know if this is working. but it's structurally unsound due to extensive water damage and that is going to be fixed and a partial new roof will be installed and there will be full sprinklers throughout the building. and also we are bringing the building up to full size code as well as the brand-new store front that's going to mesh in with the context and fabric of valencia street. i wanted to say that quickly. >> thank you. i am the dad, and i have been in business for a long type in the

restaurant business and thrilled to come and present to you today. the planning commission did us a big favor by giving us more time. we have re-evaluate who had we were and we were going to do a fancier place and now we have lowered the price point and is a lot more fun. the western pecos contest now is very different than the restaurant next door because we met with emparo next door at the best restaurant in san francisco in the mexican category and we're proud to share that with them. we have heard her concern that southwest is very close to mexican and we said, well, it's at the early stage and we can reformulate and we did. and we also voluntarily did some things such as lowering our request to stay open until 1:00 instead of 2:00 and decided not to propose seating in the backyard because of the noise consideration and we had looked at initially the open beam ceiling but decided to house

that to suppress noise. and we have endeavored to be a good neighbor. and another important aspect is that we are creating jobs. our restaurant will directly create 30 jobs. we're not bringing them from somewhere else. we're making them out of nothing. and that is just the jobs where people work at the restaurant. there are a great many other ancillary support people from our delivery people to everybody. so we also have worked with the mission language and vocational school and they have a culinary training academy right within walking distance of our restaurant and we're looking forward to drawing their people because we're a neighborhood jointed. my kids live in the neighborhood and we look forward to many years of a successful business and thank you very much. president olague: thank you. like to open it up for public comment at this time. we have one speaker card.

colleen mahari. i might have destroyed the last name. >> that is correct. and i own property in the mission district and the building perform cinema act with a restaurant for 25 years called miss brown's and i just have to say that these gentlemen have done a tremendous job of integrating into the community and working with the people in the community and they are begging to come in and i listen to what they are saying and it wasn't like that before and they have integrated and i represent the mission miracle mile and we were the first to put in a business improvement district and we are really proud of it. and they are going to be a true asset to our community and i welcome them and as far as competition is a good thing. it brings in more people and i don't think that any other restaurants have to worry and if they are going to bring in a lot of people to their restaurants, they will look around and go to

other restaurants and frequent those restaurants, too. the mission miracle mile and all the members of that community or that organization and the business improvement district is 100% in favor of this organization coming into our community. thank you. president olague: is there any additional public comment? >> good afternoon, commissionerses. my name is oscar grande, with the organization of people organizing for the environment. and first, it's heartening to hear some of the changes and concessions that the project sponsor has made. and the changes came because of direct organizing by emparo and merchants th merchants that hadn't been heard from came and presented their issues. i am proud to be part of that

effort. i am also proud to be part of investments and jobs being created. i can stand proud and say we are building 17th and fullsome and proud to stand by that and might be able to take 1950 mission and affordable housing and look at those investments as well. and we're hearing from two family merchants with two compelling stories. i am not hear to tarriargue the merits of the project, but i have two point. one, are we rewarding irresponsible landlords? planning department staff are rewarding negligent landlords like the owners at 5050 valencia for letting the property go to december disrepair and passing on the costs to the small-based merchants. the hyper speculative market on

commercial corridor are making it difficult for responsible, local-serving mom and pop businesses to serve 550 valencia which is another case where a long time local serving immigrant business was displaced because they could not afford the thousands of dollars and structural and capital repairs. second point i want to bring up is are we seeing an oversaturation of a certain use on the commercial corridor. we see an over saturation of destination-type restaurants that depend on high volume of alcohol sale as part of the bottom line. this trend was captured in a recent article on june 16 in mission local which was entitled the latest valencia food trend is lick kwid, cocktail -- which is liquid, cocktails. on the 16th and 17th block of valencia, 22 of the 33 store fronts serve some kind of alcoholic beverage. this over saturation of views has public health impacts on the

hardworking families that live on valencia and 16th street corridors. there's lots of families that live there. lots of families and undignified housing and the four major housing and not to mention the alleys and a lot of families that aren't feeling welcomed in the community any longer. [bell ringing] president olague: is there any additional public comment? >> hi. my name is mario and i am working for almost three years and i like working with my boss and he respect me and all my family working with him. and he is so nice. and also when he opened another restaurant not too far from my house, and i think it's very

easy for me to walk. and i got a lot of friends looking for work. and i -- i can bring my friends to work with him. and he will give them a chance to open the restaurant because he wants to work with the community. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i have been here before. and i was born and raised in san francisco and me along with my siblings who will be up in a couple of seconds and early on my dad together with his brothers decided to open a

restaurant and we all grew up with and around family. and we all grew up working in a restaurant. currently i am a businesswoman of color lead mig family with our restaurant on valencia street, where we grew up, where we live, and where we have been for the past 40 years serving our family and our community. together we have learned lots about business. neither one of us ever received a formal college education and we went to work and that is where we are. we're blessed to have pretty much and right now we're blessed that pretty much every night of the week we have poem that want to come in and dine at our restaurant. we have customers that come from all over the bay area but the commitment is for local community. being in business for as long as we have, we have been able to employ many people throughout the years and most continue to live in the commission. and some who we grew up with and are still with us today. and we have seen each other grow and children grow and watching

our grandchildren grow and we are family and we baptized our children and they baptized our children and we are there in community. and we purchase from the local community and the vegetables come from a produce market and from someone who grew up in the community as well. and to the -- we give out at least 200 gift certificates to schools, churches, nonprofit organizations within the community. and we also the past four years have started a tradition where we go out and fund what you call late to the different events and gone out and given away items in early mornings to greet our people. and last couple of years we have also partnered with dear friends of ours and also a long-time mission resident burt levy who to put community art at our restaurant. and the last couple of years we

have had several exhibits from the community. and we have shown local artists. and they all grew up and went through the mission. and attended the mission coastal center. and we have also shown art from others as well. and commissioner, we live in the mission and my brothers along with my mother lives upstairs in the restaurant and have seen the mission go through many changes. but we have decided to live our lives here and raise our children here. and we are asking, let's see, we are asking that you be responsible as a planning commission and the small businesses are not overlooked here -- [bell ringing] president olague: thank you. >> thank you. i am available for questions later. president olague: thank you. is there additional public comment?

>> good afternoon. i am patricia vigil. and we have been there for -- our restaurant has been there for 40-plus years. and we've seen a lot of change in maybe the last year or so that i am sure you guys are aware of just on valencia, the corridor itself. and a lot of it has been coming really fast. and we have our children there. and our small business. and we're hoping that small businesses don't get pushed out because of the larger businesses that are coming in, businesses that have more money and are able to do the restructuring of buildings that are already there and repairs that need to be done that will soon start to feel

like the smaller ones are being pushed out. so i am hoping that you guys look into that. and it is a big change and change is good, but we're hoping that you can also see it from our perspective. and we raise children there. president olague: thank you. is there additional comment? >> and i am one of the siblings, too, and basically pretty much what they said is similar to some of the things that i will say, but kind of say basically that we have been living here for so long a time and work there and are above the building and the restaurant and schooled there and in the actual