higher cost, it's completely uncharacteristic of the shadows, it's a pretty sunny comfortable part of the city and this will be a huge, ugly shadow. i also, i feel the architecture is just kind of ugly and just doesn't really look very pleasant and i'm also a little bit worried that this won't be very affordable. i'm disappoint hated the arts and culture that brought me to valencia street are being crowded by these profit maximizing sorts of developments. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners, my name is fran and i'm as a resident and a business owner on valencia street, and i am here to ask you to consider dr

for this project. i think you've seen this map that's up here, so basically, we've put the map together to show you that there's strong opposition from business owners on valencia street on this black of valencia street, and also residents on valencia street and the surrounding neighborhood. this just shows you a few of the people who are objecting to what's going on here, we have a petition that has been put in, different stores and residents and neighbors in the area have signed over 407 people have concerns about what's going on here. basically, the overriding objection or concern that people have is the height and

the bulk in this tiny little space, and it is a small space. this is a one block long street of hill street which really isn't being talked about. the project itself seems to be on valencia street, that's what they talk about, but hill street is one block long, it is not through, it is 32 feet wide, so it seems reasonable to me that the project should consider both the width of the transit area to valencia and also the width and the historic nature of hill street. it's hard to balance both those things but it seems to me the developer has emphasized that he's on valencia street, but in fact, it's like being in a restaurant in a smoking section or something, you're going to be affected by what is around you. this is part of the

neighborhood that he's come into. so, we're basically asking that you take consideration of the fact that this building is in very, very close proximity to the historic neighborhood, that it is the development that will be on valencia street and maybe strike a compromise somehow that there could be a reasonable solution bringing down that hiekt, lowering the mass and making it work for everybody in the neighborhood. thank you. >> can i have the projector again, please. good evening, my name is elizabeth, i live on hill street in the liberty hill historic district, i lived in the mission for over 30 years, i'm a little embarrassed at how old i am, we have invited the

developers many time tos come and speak with us and sometimes they come even though they don't seem to hear us, they've told us that this first ever experiment with 0 parking building in san francisco, that they want to build here is because they really believe in the importance and richness of our public transit and the importance and richness of our bicycle friendliness and every time they come, they drive their own automobiles and sometimes they park illegally on the sidewalk, but never have they taken public transit to our neighborhood, never have they walked or ridden bicycles. the idea that little hill street, this fragile margin of liberty hill historic district is what was envisioned as the commercial corridor of the eastern neighborhoods which is

really the mission district commercial corridor, we're told that we're a transit-rich neighborhood and that's what we're relying on, we're served well with transit, muni as you know has failed ever to meet its own guideline, we are now below 70% and on time performance, we are at 50% in terms of headway, the time between buses and streetcars that they're supposed to hit, that is not well served by anybody's standards and our neighborhood is not well served. there's nothing between mission and the jay, there's nothing between 24th street and 18th street, we are not a well served by transit neighborhood. the parking situation as you've heard also, the neg deck, it

was done for this project indicated there would be an additional 24 automobiles for which it indicated there was no available street parking and no parking on the site in a place where we do not have transit, where we have elderly people, people with families, disabled people on our little block, our little residential neighborhood where the developer said he believed he would not be eligible for residential parking permits, he said he would not apply for residential parking permits, has in fact now applied, he's received that permission and he's changed his address to hill street. that will allow the single parcel to take every parking space on hill street and leave 32 other parcels without any available. i hope you'll take dr, thank you very much. >> thank you, next speaker, please.

>> good evening, commissioners, my name is rick west, i live on hill street directly across from the new proposed project, i've lived there for 12 years. my neighbors and i hope for a building that will benefit add to the area and fit in with this vibrant and beautiful historic district. we have worked in good faith with the architect and developer for the past 3 year tos reach a compromise, we do want something built there, the loss of the kentucky fried chicken franchise building will be beneficial to the whole neighborhood, over these past three years, we have had several meet witching the architect and developer, we have been told many things, we have expressed our concerns and listened to their plans. here is our problem over and over again, we have been told one thing only to find out that they were telling us, what they

were telling us was deprive -- deceptive and false, they're seeking condos, they never intended to build rental units there, 17 units in that little building, it was a red herring to distract us to what they really wanted. they told us the residents would be uneligible for residential parking and that they wouldn't apply for it just like was just mentioned, they will and they can. they told us -- they claimed to have made design changes on input from their neighbors, what changes they have made have been from planning department comments or city building codes, the one change i heard them make, we were complaining about a five storey building, and the architect came and put a tower on top of

it and his compromise to us was to take this tower off, we were told it was going to be on valencia street, now they plan to place it on hill street and call it 1 hill street. even -- that gives you an idea what we're dealing with. even at our last community meeting, we were expressing very valid concerns about the effect of traffic, congestion and parking and i asked point blank, how did you get here? their answer was by bus. the truth is they parked illegally on the sidewalk because an already stressed neighborhood has very little available parking and they could not find legal parking so they parked on the sidewalk. what we are going to get from this project is double parked cars and cars parked on sidewalks creating real hazards, ped raoe cyans and cyclist alike, we are here out

of extreme frustration, we need your help, thank you very much. . inger good evening, commissioner, i initially came here to support the marsh because that's a theatre that has broukt me to the mission district and i'm very supportive of it and i wanted to make sure that it is sustained. from hearing the comments of the other people here and the neighbors, it's totally besides ruining culture, it's totally out of character with the neighborhood and i urge you very sincerely to deny it or at least do the discretionary review -- excuse me, my name is susan petro, i live in the outer mission. thank you, bye. >> thank you. >> good evening, commissioners, i live on liberty street and i

have for almost 30 years, when i got there, valencia was like a boarded up al camino rial, i remember the first restaurant, the first whole food store that came along and suddenly there were lots and lots of people, people have been buying up buildings because they were less expensive, after that, there was a restaurant that was flowered and it's been a wonderful thing to experience, it's a really vibrant, diverse, wonderful place to live. i was listening to president clinton on the television last night and he mentioned president obama who still believes despite everything in constructive cooperation i think is the phrase that he used and it came to my mind that that's exactly what we need here because of the developer, this is the kind of

either/or thing, it's like transit is either bicycles or cars but actually i ride my bike, i use public transit when i can, there isn't very much, i walked here, so it sort of varied, i do what i can and i use my car, if i'm having a late dinner in the richmond, that's how life is, you can't really live where we live if you're going to go anywhere and not have a car but you don't have to do everything in the car, so it's not an either/or thing and to lose 32 spots on hill street, i can't imagine that, that's where our audience is. the other thing is we're a mixed use diverse maybe and it's not either/or, it's not if just for young hip sters who

can buy condos, we have all kinds of people and i for example couldn't buy a condo in this building because i need a car, so it's not an either/or that needs some balance here and since i'm the publicist for the marsh, please do whatever you can to build what needs to be there. >> i'm the director of the marsh's youth education center, also known as myt, i started myt with stephanie weizmann years ago, we annually bring 250 students and we serve an additional 450 students in san francisco schools, all our programs are on a sliding scale, we can offer this

amazing arts opportunity thanks for public funders including the rna, the california arts council and six years of operational funding from dcyf, so this is san francisco's program as well as the marsh's, i'm a little late today because i was rehearsing our new show, in and out of shadows about indocumented teenagers, this kind of show typifies myt and the mashing general, they directly affect our young performers, the marsh is a community anchor for low income artist youth, a place where they hang out after school during the summer, make friends, make art and are mentored by our faculty, the

marsh is an amazing facility but as an older building will be severely impacted by the proposed development. most concerning is the upstairs ventilation where myt classes and performances take place, a large neighboring building cutting off air flow to the windows in our drama classrooms and backstage room will threaten to make it unusable to our summer months, they will greatly compromise the downstairs and upstairs performing spaces f the building goes forward unmitigated, the marsh has its ability to produce its unique theatre and ultimately the youth program and our ability to offer this free and low cost programming. myt is not only about developing young artists, its's also about developing community members, at myt, we talk a lot about what it means to be a part of an ensemble, the french word for tokt. myt students know if they don't

work tokt, their show will not be great, the marsh needs the developer of our adjacent property to be part of our ensemble, part of the community's ensemble, to work with us and all our neighbors so the cultural richness of our neighborhood is great, we ask that the commission and the developer should consider this. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good evening, my name is john barbie and elizabeth sitron is helping me with the powerpoint portion of my presentation because i'm 67 years now and i'm technically challenged. i've lived in liberty hill since 1979, i was in my early 30's then and i am one of the

founders of the liberty hill historic district. i live at 325 st. carlos then. we wanted to say -- >> you can't hold the microphone. >> just like that and it works. again, technically challenged. this is almost a fully in tact segment of very old pre1906 san francisco, we knew it was fragile and vulnerable because demolitions had started and we wanted to slow this whole thing down, and also when you take on one of these old houses, it's a very serious challenge because of the age of the house, even window blast becomes fr*ifl and shadows, all the piping has to be renewed, the piping, all the electric has to be renewed and it has to be made more seismic

in spite of the fact that these buildings survived 1906, we have new codes and it is advisable. so, it's a very serious undertaking, you have to build the house from the inside out, at last we see, and you can see the street gates are two low, usually they were over a basement many of which have been converted to garage spacing, here we are, this is again hill street, change. >> i'm trying. >> okay, sorry, and again on hill street, you can see the very small scale. it's important to bear that in mind. it's fully in tact street, these are -- my house on st.

carlos was 1876, these tend to be about that age or later on in the 1880s. again, hill street, and yes, we're still going. god, there's so much. it's very important, it's a matter of compatibility and the compatibility really hasn't been respected in this case, and i would contest the staff comment that this block of valencia is not eligible because when we made liberty hill, we deliberately chopped off most of this block to expedite the formation of the historic district. there were absentee landlords who didn't respond and they cut off big districts in buena vista in the western addition. >> time's up, thank you.

>> good evening, commissioners, my name is ro*t mill, i'm a former commission on the building inspection commission and the board of appeal, i've lived in san francisco since 1985, i currently live on valencia street a few blocks away, i think the developers to be commended for propose lg a car-free building and if i thought what was at issue if fundamentally there were car-free buildings, i would not be here urging you to take discretionary review, but i don't think that's the only issue with this building, this building is too big, too tault, too passive, out of scale with its surroundings, a particularly smaum site that it is next to a historic district, that it is on a thriving area of valencia that is not characterized by particularly

tall buildings currently and it is next door to a critically important cultural resource for all of san francisco. this building might be appropriate in other parts of eastern neighborhoods, it is certainly important for portions of soma and mission, but it is not appropriate where it is being proposed. now, the developer is not bb -- to be blame today maximize square footage and i think it is up to you to help these neighbors, they are in the unreasonable people, they understand a building is going to go there that is taller and bigger and more massive than what is there now but i think they are justifiable concerned and worried about what is being proposed and i think they're

justifiable worried, they have not seen a response from the developer, i urge you to grant discretionary review and urge you to continue to urge the developer to work on making a project that works and sits with the neighboring great community. thank you. >> thank you. >> hi, my name is sue labec and me and my husband are stewards of one of the beautiful victorians that was shown, i sent you a letter, i just want to underscore what you heard and what the bottom line of that letter which is three points, the building design for 1050 valencia is important in form and scale to its location, a hill street address in particular must be built to a hill street density, and the process taken by this development team in working with the neighborhood has been

totally unacceptable. thank you so much for listening and i hope that you will grant our request. thank you. >> good evening, and good evening, neighbors. my name is barbara russell, i own property i bought in 1962 on hill street. i'm a native san franciscan, i was born 71 years ago and i lived in hunter's point in valencia projects, i lived in the projects. my first home, i was trying to get pregnant actually and couldn't until i moved into hill street, 9 months later, my son was born so i always know how long i've had this property.

i still have it, i have it as rentals now because i live across the street on garero, so i own a bigger victorian because i love victorians and this is my whole motivation to live in this great victorian neighborhood and i live at 906, i also own a piece of property at 22nd of fair oaks which is 8 units, i have 8 garages, i have [inaudible] on the top floor, i have a backyard for people when they want to go and barbecue and it's taken care of. i really pry myself in ownership. i took my family home on douglas street, i have 25% of my lung capacity, it's hard for me, but i'm a fighter, i made it from five units to 8 units

and with the neighbor's help and they took tours, one of my neighbors could not afford a new fence, so i bought the fence for her, and i worked with my neighbors and we did it together. and when i finished the project and sold the house, i met one of the neighbors at one of my favorite handouts, discount builders and she said, you did a great job and we appreciate the input you had and working with us and you did a great job, even the building inspector said what a great job at final, so i just appreciate the fact that you work with a neighborhood, you work in the community, you do the best you can and you don't go in and push yourself in and say i'm going to do it my way and ignore everybody. now, we all have to work together. thank you. >> thank you.

>> good evening, commissioners, i'm john and i'm a resident of valencia street. i rented my first mission district apartment in 1966, i had hardly unpacked when i learned i was going to be evicted to make way of a master plan in san francisco, they called for the tearing down of high rise apartments for office workers who would unveil themselves tos a newly constructed bart, i join ted mission coalition and we fought and fought and stopped it. the state needs victorian houses and apartment buildings remained and so did i. 46 years later, the building that we fought then is now

being proposed for the corner of my block where myself and my family has lived for 20 years. today, our community is merchants, families, senior citizens and disabled have voiced their opposition to the design of this building. we are here because of the developer, because despite of numerous meeting where we have voiced our concerns have not modified his plans in a significant way, the modifications they have made, the elimination of all vehicle parking, the placing of building entrance on hill street and the addition of shared party decks have made their proposed building even more incompatible with our block and our neighborhood, it is out of scale, twice the height of the marsh building, the historical buildings across from it and the residential buildings of two to four apartment buildings on hill

street, it's designed in density neither reflects or compliments the architecture of the historical buildings along hill or valencia streets. in 1906, the earthquake fire was stopped a block from our liberty hill historic district by a single [inaudible] leaving in tact which is one of the most architectural sound neighborhoods, san francisco, in your wisdom, i hope you determine has the modifications proposed -- modification tos the proposed project are necessary to protect the interest of our neighborhood and community. please be that resource, commissioners, that loan sister that stands up to this developer and says make this building work for this

community, not denigrate it, don't let this developer trust its life into ours, thank you. >> thank you, are there any other speakers in favor of the dr? seeing none, project sponsor, you have five minutes. >> good evening, commissioners, stephen [inaudible], the project architect. well, i'm impressed with the degree of misrepresentation that the neighbors have exhibited tonight and i don't think i have the time or the energy to rebut all of it, but let me say that what i think is before the commission now is whether the work of the 8 years of reexamining and the eastern neighborhoods