our association has worked toward approving the affordable senior housing on mission street, just down the block from the other, the improvements of the parks, working to try to address the questions of the kids who are sometimes off- campus and the improvements of this ". we have seen a continuous improvement. the idea has been to work with the different communities, many of whom are not having english as their first language. so all of this comes down to the question of what is the vision for mission street? what is the question of clustering? we're going to see more applications, more applications for those parts of mission street to that are vulnerable economically, landlords want to have somebody paying the rent, and better close to the county line so people can come into san

francisco to buy so close to the county. we already have about 20 in town? why do we need more? president hwang: next speaker, please. >> my name is lois and i live mn to our opinion. we do not think this is right to open in our neighborhood. that is why we have so many of us here, over 100. outside of city hall today, at 4:00 p.m. remember it is a work day to express our opposition to the opening of the mcd. i am not making this up. if you want evidence, we can e- mail it to you. it is during the workday and

work hours. 100 people actually represent thousands who need to work and are not able to make it here today. remember we have collected thousands of signatures to oppose the opening of the mcd. i believe we have submitted this information to you. anyway, there is a bus stop around the corner. all of these facilities are accessed by many children and all bohai is blocks away. we are concerned that the opening will affect the safety of our neighborhood. foreshore to the many children in the neighborhood. i have one question for the new guys, if you allow this to open, can you provide a valid reason?

through the appeal process, the mcd could not open. it is not right to open it. why would you allow to open in our neighborhood? are we discriminated against? if this type of business is not right for sunset, why is it right for us? balboa high is blocks away. we're not against the use of cannabis and for medical reasons. we just do not want this in our neighborhood. data from the hospital. not from our neighborhood was so many children. -- get it from the hospital. not from our neighborhood with so many children. president hwang: your time is up. >> one more thing. it does not cost too much. president hwang: next speaker, please.

>> good evening. i am here to oppose to open the marijuana shop in our neighborhood. marijuana is bad for our body. actually, it will hurt our next generation, especially the children. if you open a marijuana shop, there will be more incidents of robberies in the neighborhood. i live in a geneva. a lot of bus passed by the area.

also there are a lot of children who passed by the area and if they see the marijuana shop, i totally opposed to have the opening of the shop there. if there is a need of them taking go to the pharmacy. -- they can go to the pharmacy. i hope everybody does not agree to uphold the permit. president hwang: next speaker, please. >> my name is mrs. chang. i oppose having and marijuana shot to be open in our community. -- a marijuana shop to be open

in our community. it will affect our next generation. i wanted to review an incident four years -- for you, on the day of our protest, for the shop that was being given the permit to operate, in order to burn the marijuana and let the small, out so that the odor is very bad -- smell come out so the odor is very bad. a lot of people, including children, went there to protest. at that time everybody said the odor was pretty bad.

therefore, we definitely are opposed to having this open. even though this time, we're going to protest again. we are a going -- and we are going to appeal to the federal court level. because at the federal level, they do not believe people should take marijuana. president hwang: excuse me, it is difficult to pay attention to all of the comments tonight. there is a lot of side conversation going on and it is very distracting. i realize it is a long night but if we could please limit our conversations in the audience so

we can give all the attention to all of the speakers. next speaker, please. >> good evening, everybody. i live close by to the marijuana shot -- shop. i am definitely opposed to having it open in the area. i want to ask, san francisco is such a small district, how can we have 22 of these shops? in our neighborhood near us, there are already two of them.

is there any data to prove there is a need or that many people need to have marijuana? you said that when you have these marijuana shops open, they will create jobs but imagine if people have to take the marijuana, will they go to work? as a mother, i am very worried for my children. because you know the children are our future. if you are going to open three marijuana shops, and the

children take it, it is my children buying candy. -- like children buying candy. because everybody is curious, including myself. because you indicated it will kill the pain. everybody thought it was so easy. it will kill the pain. just across the street from this marijuana shop, there is a senior home. finally, i want everybody to think about it seriously. let's say our next generation have this habit of taking the drugs.

how would i imagine as a mother asked that all of our children are taking drugs? we still have hope in our family? also our country, as america, is there hope for our country? children are our future. is that a future for america? you had better think about it twice. as a mother you have to think of it is necessary to open up that many shops since there are already 22 of them in existence. in the neighborhood, already two

exist. so i am not objecting for people with a serious illness. i want you to consider this seriously for our children and our future and our country. it is not for money and it is not to be selfish. president hwang: next speaker. >> good evening, everybody. my name is steven.

it is not necessary for me to repeat the negative effects of marijuana. even though this is not for ourselves, we should think of our next generation. i have 11 grandchildren. i am a very old man. i have three grandchildren who live close by my neighborhood. they live in my district. i do not want my grandchildren to see all of these marijuana

shops all over our area. i want the commissioners to seriously think and to oppose having this open for the sake of the future of our next generation and the future of our country so that the marijuana shop will not open in our neighborhood. i do not oppose people who need to use marijuana.

they're welcome to use it in another neighborhood or go to the pharmacy or to the hospital taking whatever marijuana they need. i have no opposition for them to use it. i want you to think about it and then make a decision. president hwang: next speaker. >> after listening to both sides, you can see it is an emotional issue for our community. i am a resident of district 11. one of the most compelling arguments tonight was made from the gentleman by the planning commission.

we have not gotten direction from the planning department and from the board of supervisors. it sounds like they are prepared to make a new decision. i would urge you to keep continue this item until there is a final decision from the board of supervisors. they are in the process of crafting legislation. it seems to be the most compelling argument this evening because there is not going to be resolution on either side and the direction will be given on the direction of clustering. that is the strongest argument. i have a lot of respect for our brothers and sisters from the united food and commercial workers. it is phenomenal that -- i just found that out tonight that they have signed a collective bargaining agreement with them. i know dan rush is probably already doing that. organizing those that are already in the city.

this is not about workers or the particular owners of this the dick -- particular medical marijuana club. it is about clustering. i think this board does not have the right direction from the board of supervisors and because you know theyi urge you to posta decision tonight and continued to fight them until the board of supervisors has given us full direction. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> good evening. thank you for your time. by anna union representative. i had to look my watch and make sure it was not 1995. everything i have heard is i do not like medical cannabis. it is the law of the land. sb 4.20, which was enshrined

into a dozen free. -- in 2003. this applicant has met all of the guidelines. i personally do not drink. i do not like bars. i do not go in them. they do not affect my life. i have heard several times that if only these patients would go to hospitals and get medical canada's, it would be ok. medical cannabis cannot access it at hospitals. that is a failure on our part. medical cannabis is not available at pharmacies or hospitals. i would also like to mention that doug drew -- drug dealers did not card. -- do not card. i would quickly like to mention that this is the collective

bargaining agreement. there is a code of conduct on the last page that says they pledged to honor california state law. it goes on with 10 more bullet points. i would be happy to provide them to you. if these people did not abide by the guidelines, i will make every effort to close them down. these are excellent operators. please do not bosch denied his appeal. support mission organic center. >> next speaker please. >> it is a long evening. i am in native of san francisco who lived in the area that is being discussed all my life. i have seen lots of changes, a good, bad, and indifferent. i am here to support the

speakers who have come up to a 0 -- oppose the opening of the mcd. the people speaking in favor it cannot live in the committee. they did not have time is that people such as myself have. i want to speak for the committee that lives in the neighborhood that has reached out -- community that lives in the neighborhood that has reached out. that continue to reject. i hope our voices are heard. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello. i am a second vice-president. i am also a native san are an oe appellant? >> i am part of the

organization. >> you are not allowed to speak. >> you can speak under a bottle. we did not allow -- under rebuttal. we do not allow officers to speak under public comment. >> good evening. i am currently the elected spokesperson of the medical cannabis task force. i am one of the lead organizers of the san francisco united coalition for safe access which has 18 of the 22 mcd's that participate. i am here today. i want to say a few things. i am sad to see so much fear. i am happy to have listened to the concern.

i want to address a couple of the things i kept hearing. those are run safety and crime. i want to remind all of the neighbors that we have proven that crime decreases when we have mcd's in the neighborhood. we have proven this in the lower haight. the police commission have statistics available. because they have such expensive security plans, increased lighting, increased security, crime dissipates. i would also like to point out that every single neighbor in the district is completely and pallid. -- empowered. these are going to be people that they will hold accountable. they will hold accountable through committee partnership. it is important that this communication takes place.

it is also important to note that our ordinance requires a community liaison. what i would suggest is that they find a community liaison who is bilingual and they hold an open house where they can invite all of the neighbors in and show them what the process is. i think it would be very impressed to see that people have to come in with the california id, a doctor's recommendation, they have to be verified. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker please. >> i urge the commission upholde appellants to deny it the opening the mcd.

we have 22. i just learned that night. this is a small city. there are 22 of these mcd's. that is enough. the community does not like. i ask the commission to respect the desire of the community and the neighborhood. i was there when the planning commission had a hearing issue in these licenses. lots of people, even more than tonight, showing up against issuing these licenses. i was there to take part in the mission street, the street

rallies. there were hundreds of people with families and kids. they do not like these shops. they are going to protest against them. there will be more people. i hope that he will deny opening anymore. thank you. >> thank you. is there any other public comment? seeing none, we will move into rebuttal. you have three minutes of rebuttals. >> thank you. i want to go back to the testimony of the planning department. our following -- we are

following the appeal of the location. what is but a look that was -- this body looked at was not only the church that was next door, but also dianne feinstein. this goal we are looking at is -- the school we are looking at is longfellow elementary. they walked up mission street. in the afternoon from 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.. i would not let my children walked on mission street to school. that is the way it is. they go to the park. they are building a new park. i hope you will keep that in consideration. the other thing said that the

day care centers were not licensed. they are. i have contacted all 11 of them. one has a senior center. 5199, also has a senior center and a senior committee day care centers. i hope it will take that into consideration. the one other issue, i know it was mentioned that the police department is not opposing this. i am the new co-chair of the community police advisory board. i spoke to the captain. he says, we are not going to oppose it. they stated at the planning commission. what the captain said is that we are concerned.

we are concerned about three mcd's. we have been told there are two more of plan. -- applying. this is a snowball effect we have to deal with. i hope that you will support our appeal in this matter. thank you. >> thank you. we can hear from the permit holder now. >> hello. i am a faculty member and work with the spencer is all over california. i would like to address a lot of the fears raised by committee members who are worried. they said people should go to pharmacies. pharmacies are not an option. crime has been repeatedly shown

to goad them in study after study after study. a ucla study showed that. they are unable to prove crime goes up. this is across the board, across the country. i have been working with this group for quite some time. i have been very impressed. one of the first things i did was talk to the out commission merchants and residents association. i was told there was no support for this project. i was prepared to say, maybe you should consider another location. i went to confirm that independently. what i found was a different story. i found a lot of support. as evidenced by the petitions. i