know exactly what that was. he showed up, and there is no dispute. he showed up without the documents, and when the inspectors said, "did you do this," he said, "yes, i did." they said, "where are the documents?" and he said, "they are not with me." no documents. that is the same as our determination. we will shut you down. the interesting thing is the inspector came back on march 14 to issue the notice it was shut down. he inspected the property because he was there. he saw the kitchen and he saw the other areas and agreed there had been a remarked change.

because of the restaurant -- a language barrier, he was not willing to change or continue the abatement hearing, any of that. the operator and the restaurant was not given the opportunity to establish the took action to keep this open. the commission also -- the board here did not hear from the community at the last hearing there is major issues in chinatown with these restaurants and the continued attempt to meet the health requirements and keep them open. there are language issues, there are economic issues, there was a major economic issue here because of the work of the tower that was going on behind the restaurant for over four years which is the city college building that destroyed a lot of the economics of this restaurant. all those -- all those would be

addressed as well as this operator's plan which is to continue with requirements to set up the continued outside vendors which he is on a schedule for of twice a month to continue the machine maintenance, to continue with his own internal inspections. the fairness issue its to be addressed by the commission, not on the merits tonight. none of these issues and the department will tell you there was a major language problem with this vendor. none of these issues are in chinese. this vendor did not understand what he needed to present at the abatement hearing. he would have presented that. the evidence that -- [inaudible] shows he had these documents and

he took this action and it is unfortunate he was not allowed to do that and therefore we would strongly ask for a rehearing on the merits of this issue. i do not know if there is questions for me or for the operator. president hwang: i do not know if it was translated. you did not stop, sir. >> i would say my presentation i have gone over with the operator. prior to this. he clearly understood, most of this was information i obtained from him. he is here if there are questions. the information i provided to you was your extensive questioning and talking with the operator over the last few days. i certainly -- he is here to answer any questions. i can certainly answer the questions i have from reviewing all this documentation.

>> i have to questions but let me disclose i did review the tape and i have read the materials on the currents of mission for the rehearing and the previous submission. i am familiar enough to be able to act on this case tonight. the pictures that you showed, when were those taken? >> i believe these pictures, i can find out specifically. these were taken after the initial inspection, after the work of the outside vendors was done. >> you need to speak into the microphone. >> you need to identify yourself. >> i am the owner of louie's

california chinese cuisine at 646 washington street. [speaking foreign language] >> that was taken on february 27. >> one last question. in the previous hearing, the department went at great length to explain they had bilingual personnel at the inspections

with a department. are you saying that the services, translation services were not provided? >> i am not saying the department did not have bilingual personnel. the department did and on different inspection dates, there was english speaking inspectors and there was bilingual speaking inspectors but they were attacked him. it was not someone who would translate both necessarily at the same time and when an abatement notice was issued, it was not issued in -- bilingually. the branches saying this is what you need to do. they gave an abatement notice in english. they did not give him a notice in english and chinese. >> any of the questions? >> i am done, thank you.

>> the abatement notice would notify your client that there is an abatement hearing scheduled. the client attended the hearing. >> correct. there were deficiencies that needed to be corrected. a hearing after that, he corrected the deficiencies, went to the abatement hearing but was not sure what it was for or why he had to be there if he actually did correct the deficiencies. at the hearing, you will hear podcast, did you fix these things and he said i did. do you have proof and he said sure. where is it? at my restaurant. could i come back? we cannot do that. this is the hearing date. we're not allowed to continue it. that is where we are. >> thank you.

>> thank you. >> anything else? >> eis there reason why you never mentioned any language barrier? >> i must say that i did not put those papers together. and i have only recently become involved in this. what it does say and i have looked at these issues and spoken to the operator and understood this issue of the language problem. there is no question that it is there. i do believe that because of economic issues, this operator was still behind him. this was suffering at a deficit. and economic deficit and a language deficit. he did the best he could to appeal and put the papers

together. i agreed to become involved. that is why we're here today. there are documentations that put together but i understood the role -- rule because it was late you could not take that so i made the presentation to you today. >> we will hear from the department now. i am finished. >> good evening. i am a senior environmental health specialist for the san francisco department of public health. i am the food safety inspector for the southwest quadrant of chinatown's district which does

include the restaurant, louie's chinese california cuisine. it is the department's position that he has not presented any information that contradicts the documented evidence prevent -- presented to this board. that evidence included three years of stark photographic evidence of the most negligent and agreed to a sanitary conditions i have personally encouraseen. a documented recidivism which returned in intensity and surpass the original violation. the department of public health has gone out of its way to provide assistance. the department from the beginning has always assigned bilingual inspectors to inspect his restaurant. the bertran has provided ongoing

education and food safety training. the department contacted pest control operators on his behalf and took the unusual step of convincing his landlord to provide him improved repairs at no cost to him. the department chose not to issue him a citation to the director of public health hearing that would have initiated the permit of revocation process in order to give him more time to come into compliance. the mayor's office of small business contacted -- was contacted on how to pay his face that were in arrears. time and time again, mr. lei is -- has proven he is incapable of sustaining a level of sanitation that the public deserves and demands. the department of public health, the stores of public safety, revoke his permit -- revoked his permit. that was upheld by this board on

april 25. the department of public health maintains both those decisions were correct and we respectfully ask that this board denied the appellant's request a -- for a rehearing. >> to questions. what is -- two questions. one is the photos you had in your brief. when were those taken? >> february of this year. >> of this year. the voters that the appellant has was taken approximately toward the end of three. >> i do not have knowledge. >> the last inspection at your department made was early february? >> february, correct. in february.

>> one of the other comments made i believe i knew toward the end of the last hearing related to what options did this operator have in terms of replying -- re-applying and your comment was they did have no options for re-apply. did i hear that correctly or not? >> that was not the response from the department. >> ok. what are their options? >> the options are anyone who would apply, this would be open to anyone who would cry -- applied. anyone can apply again and the department would accept the application. the approval process would be the same for anyone, whether it is new or someone who is returning for new permit. that is an option. that was always -- had always

been and will always be open to the appellant. >> that would require an inspection. >> in terms of what kind of partners -- we can get into the specifics of what we're looking for. >> not necessarily right now. there is no time limit their like it would be for building permit if one was to come back with the same project, they would be prohibited from applying within the 1-year time frame? >> not that i'm aware of. >> ok. president hwang: thank you. we will take public comment. is there any member of the public would like to speak? employes and others who are affiliated with the parties should not speak at this time. >> commissioner, i am chairman of the [inaudible] association. former police and park commissioner.

asking you today to consider to grant a rehearing. there are enough evidence to prove that mr. lei has completed the violation. he did try to call the inspector to come down to meet inspection but could not get him. but left a message in chinese. mr. lei because of a language problem when down to the abatement conference on february 10 -- kory 28. -- february 28. bringing documents and photos to prove that the work had been done. while i think it is better -- inspector tong give him the notice of abatement, this is the record on february 27. together with the notice for

closing the restaurant on that day. really, mr. lei does not understand what his abatement contract is. that is the only chance he could come down to prove you have finished our work. the [unintelligible] i would remind the commission that based on the hearing, he -- [unintelligible] pest control of something. he will prove to you [unintelligible] and i hope the department will come down and make an inspection. if he does not do the work, he is entitled to close it down. but the the dead, the department -- if he did, the department will report to you. i ask you give him a fair

chance before you close it down, before [unintelligible] will be in chinatown again. i am asking you to give him a chance for a rehearing and he can present evidence at all the document, proof. he hired pest control and [unintelligible] before they did. i am happy that the department is doing a good job to make sure that the food is safe. we all appreciate that. i hope that you can give him a chance to prove that he did finish this work. thank you very much. i hope you consider the re- hearing. president hwang: thank you. next speaker.

>> i am a community supporter along with many who also were at the hearing. i also remember about [inaudible] being closed down. i remember being invited to louie's for many parties. wilma pang has had many dinnfers. and ling wang has been hanging in with him. i think we have compassion fatigue. i had a good long phone conversation with terrance hong. what i was called in because another lawyer that ling chi had had, we are playing musical

chairs and walking in and out of the room. so many people try to help that we're not all on the same page, reading the same script at the same time. richard asked me to write in english letter 10 days or so before the to-february 25 hearing. i had a night's -- a nice conversation with cynthia on the phone getting up to speed. i could not be that at the hearing, i was out of town. i picked up the focus from the history of violation and i sympathize with terence. there has been a long period of stress on both sides with trying to help with the violations, trying to survive the chinatown campus construction, so here we come at the end of this for years or so. i would -- it would be ashamed when mr. louie is finally able to deal with the conditions.

his 20 workers or so who are all old back wages. the landlord who has had rent arrearages. i have had two long conversation with the landlord's attorney who is not here. they do not see a viable option because it would rather have mr. lei or louis stay and pay and work that out with whatever new financial are that -- or other partners can exist. it would be ashamed to close him down when finally, he would like to get the restaurant back up to speed and show inspector hong that it can be done. he has become a cause celebre in the chinatown papers.

this strikes a note of fear. they're watching to see what is happening. president hwang: thank you. next speaker. >> i am in labor union in chinatown. i am often at louie's restaurant. i am here to ask you to consider granting a red-herring. there is a lot -- i am here to ask you to consider granting a rehearing. he did call to inspector tong, come for the inspection.

mr. tong, he did come down to inspect. please consider and grant a rehearing for louie's restaurant. thank you for your consideration. president hwang: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi, i teach at the university of california, berkeley. my connection with this restaurant has come mostly from my connection with a construction of the city college campus. for more than 30 years, i have advocated for the campus to be built in chinatown for a 6000 or 7000 immigrants and working class people, most of whom are

taking esl classes and citizenship classes. finally, we have that. i have taken an active role in this. this turned out to be a complete financial disaster. if you drive by, you see right next door to him, on several occasions, because the pipeline bragging or the foundation of work for shoring up the wall, his restaurant has been totally adversely affected and for three years now, more than that, his front door is totally blocked because of this light of construction. i became -- alliance of inceslif construction. the communication has been the

one major problem. i have been on the road since march so i have not been keeping up with this public health issue. there are issues with the irs and city college and even permits to operate a business repeatedly. i found all the communication had been done exclusively in english only. i oftentimes have to play the role of translating for him as well. i think what i am here to emphasize the point that we need to give him another chance and i think he has been completely and -- financially ruined. i could go into a lot of details beyond that but i do not have time. he is very much paralyzed because of what has been happening to his business. he has been there for 13 years. during those 13 years, he could not be violating all those health codes.

but i think is important for this commission to give him a red-herring so we can better present his case before you. -- a rehearing so we can better present his case before you. president hwang: thank you. next speaker. >> i have an overhead. can you turn that on? i am richard [inaudible] his restaurant being open for 13 years, often i went there to eat. lunch, dinners quite often. i never get sick from it. i do not go in there myself. i always go with a bunch of friends. sometimes to tables, sometimes three tables. -- two tables, sometimes three

tables and no one ever got sick from eating from the restaurant. business was good at the beginning. there was lots of fund-raisers for politicians, leland yee, willy brown was there quite often to, at the beginning. -- too, at the beginning. if anyone got sick or their friends, we would know about it. there would keep going back. and then, what happened? construction of the community college right next door. not even right next door. wall-to-wall. kicking up the dirt and the noises of putting the pilings and hundreds of thousands of

cement trucks go in front of it. they line up in front of his restaurant. so business went down. as morale went down, too. you nkow, -- know, he did get lots of notice, complaints from the health inspectors. he did not really take care of it. since it was closed and from time to time, i go in there for a cup of tea, he hire people, lots of his friends, trying to clean up for him. i am very reluctant but he insists tuesday we down to his basement and show me how much

more he has done. and how many refrigerators he cleaned up. there was really an effort even though after the restaurant closed, he tried to continue for the business. his whole life is life savings and all his friends were based on the restaurant. i hope that you will give them a rehearing and ask the inspector to inspect one more time. thank you for your consideration. president hwang: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good evening. i teach at city college. for the past year, i tried very hard to organize teachers and

staff of city college to help this restaurant. it is a shame that during these economic times, so many restaurants are closed in chinatown. give them a chance, give him a chance. i am willing to help him translate because i am fully bilingual. i would like to say please consider the economic climate in chinatown. if you close another restaurant, another one at another one, what is going to happen? i am the founder of an organization called a better chinatown tomorrow. which has nothing to do with restaurants but hopefully, by promoting traditions and art, culture to bring in visitors to visit chinatown. i had an idea of how to really promote this culture through the eatery outfit.