>> very much in favor, and i would urge the commission to approve it and the conditional use, because this started a 70 foot wide boulevard, with four car lanes and two bike lanes and hundreds of thousands in a block or two and exactly this kind of a business, a business that can accommodate that kind of a scale and. you have to think of the context, and this is market street, this is not some lane on the side of hase valley, this is major like mission avenue, and so i welcome the

proposed design and i liked that they let you hang out there, and these are all benefits that are not available at other cafes. if you sit and hang out they besinger will usher you out as soon as the coffee is over, i go to the starbucks and meet people and there th* is not a parallel business to places that are being claimed to be coffee stops. there is already one nearby, the distance is almost a mile. coffee is a hyper local business, you would not walk in a half mile to get the coffee. to me this proposal has many things about it not of which is it is a star buck, i have see a lot of retail.

thank you. >> i'm michael mog and i am a native san franciscoan, and i would urge you to propose the starbucks going in because as a second generation clear person, i think that the castro is such an important resource for the people of future and keeping it local and keeping it in the family businesses. it is culture for the future and everything that i wanted to

say has been said. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon, i'm here in support of the new starbucks, on 2201 market street. >> do you care to state your name for the record? >> miquel garcia, as a member of the community i have passioned by that corner street countless times and with friends and a lot of people just think it is unsightly, it would create jobs and i don't think that it would take away jobs. in fact we have many others operating with many coffee stops around in san francisco and they are still gaining traffic from overflow of starbucks and you have seen that on union and on chest nut street and there is in the mission. and so, i think that having the starbucks will create more

opportunities for to bring business into san francisco, and create a job and i am for starbucks and i hope that you will support it as well. >> good afternoon, commissioners, my name is terrance alan and i am here as a citizen, i would like to offer four points, the first would be a quote from the munzi letter of support for the starbucks. this confirms that the members of the merchants have voted overwhelmingly to support the request for approvals of starbucks for a change of use in formula retail. mumsi is the merchant organization serving san francisco castro upper market area and generally along upper

market street to castro to market and the 19th and the crossed streets throughout the area. it has over 250 paid members for the current year, and the property that is being considered today is within the primary service area. two. you all know, how many residential units have you approved in the neighborhood. i would imagine that there are going to be close to 10,000 new people, moving into that neighborhood. especially along market street. those people will primarily be out of towners. now nothing against out of towners, because 40 years ago i was out of towners from chicago and so i am speaking against them. but i am speaking about the evolution that an out of towner goes through. and now someone speaks to you about the night life issues and the problems around night life and restaurants. i am here to speak to you about the evolution that the folks will be going through as they come to san francisco, giving them a place, that they know,

starbucks, and then introducing them to what my favorite place, cafe star is an acceptable way to manage that neighborhood. and to balance the needs of what is going to be a very changing community. three. coffee stops do fine with pressure from starbucks. starbucks marketing gets many people interested in coffee and that is a good thing for other coffee shops. thank you. >> hello, my name is tom, andrews and i am in support of starbucks. i have a small hair salon right next door to the proposed location and it is called shag hair salon and i have been in business for 15 years in that neighborhood. and i want to read a couple of middle things, me and my partner have been in business for 15 years, 7 years in the castro and 8 years in the

triangle. i think that the starbucks would bring daytime foot traffic to the neighborhood, customers may continue on to spend money, in other places up in the castro. the building needs a lot of repair. starbucks would be a good steward of that building and also provide a meeting space for people. the space that i want to say those pictures are very accurate. what those pictures also don't show is that people crap in the street and they puke there too. there was a sign there posted that said, "please, do not shit here." it needs to be cleaned up and the location at the corner of sanchez and market and it is sort of the gateway entrance to the castro and in a few months it will be with

buildings and a fourth would already exist. people would assume that having a business in castro. so thank you. >> my name is juddth and my building is the first condo closest to that sight and i

have lived there since 19ed 94. my partner and i have grown very weary of the eye sore on that corner. we have been hope thating someone would come in and renovate that building and here is the opportunity, here is starbucks, i am not a starbucks drinker i go to beats. for us on that block, it would be wonderful to have a completing

>> my name is josh and my comments are in opposition of the application, i live in the building next door to the property under discussion and i have lived there for five years and i lived in the neighborhood since 1995.

i want to comment that cafe floor has done a good job and i agree that the current condition of the property is not desirable and i would like to see it improved but as has been mentioned and as you are well aware, there are three new large developments going in at that intersection in the next year, and there are going to be a lot of people and that is going to be an extremely valuable business location and i have no doubt that anybody who puts in a good business will be able to prosper and do

with the property what should be done and what needs to be done to improve that intersection. >> my name is mark leach and why are we here? because we believe that our city is on a wave of growth, it is growing economy and culturally and has experienced the need for opportunities, in fact, seeking out countries in places to relax and gain nourishment, places to communicate with each other as well as the whole world digitally, places that will provide, its employees the benefits that they require without placing an undo burden on the city and the taxpayers, just this morning, the city attorneys office had to negotiate the agreement with a large number of businesses, still, 835,000 dollars to maintain healthy san francisco.

anyone over 20 hours they are giving them medical benefit and the city does not have to reimburse, starbucks is as good of a corporate citizen within the community and seeks to provide these opportunities in the market street corridor. between castro and church is a vital, thriving and growing diverse community, the bay area has the population of over 7 million that looks like it is going to grow to 9 million within the next two years. the 18th street is over, locations is over flown and the need for another location. we will need more diverse and more corporate, and good citizens like starbucks in the neighborhood and in our city.

thank you. >> good afternoon and i would like to say that per the request of the president of the planning commission, we limited the number of folks who came in and trying not to repeat ourself too much. but on behalf of the 5200 signatures that i have, i would like to point out that the people spending time away from our homes and businesses, really feel very strongly that this does not it seems like a good company, in so many ways, this is not questioning if they are a good company, it is not about this building, it is the shape of this building has nothing to do with its current

tenant, it has to do with the landlord and how it maintains the property and i agree, and something should be done but the facts that it has paid for the renovation and make it pretty has allowed this landlord to sit down and do nothing but put up a horrible fence, he has denied the current tenant the opportunity to spend $50,000 of his own money to clean up the property. it is not enough to save us from the current tenant. thank you so much for your time. next speaker, please? >> my name is jd petrus and i have lived in the area since i was 18 and i just want to say that i do not think that starbucks is a good fit there. i feel that that the landlord would lower the rent or a reasonable way of rent. and it will be a much better fit for the neighborhood.

thank you. >> i want to voice my opposition to starbucks, thank you. >> thank you. >> i live and work in the castro. in the back bakery and i am close to bring it to the neighborhood because every starbucks has a environment, and you know exactly what you are going to get. where the local place and they offer unique serves and one of the things that they do is they let the local artist comes in and put their pieces up because they can put them on display and also offer them the opportunity and they don't pocket any money from it. and really just to support. and thank you for your time.

>> come on up. i am going to call a couple of names. >> david troop, and elizabeth hardenin hank, line, and richard shafer and andria, and david petras and courtney, shasla. >> the heart save the triangle is a organization representing the market and do both triangle neighbors. the san francisco examiner featured one of our attended community meetings highlighting our concerns with the over night camping and vandalism and crimes and trash in our neighborhood. our neighborhood groups support the proposed starbucks coffee at 2201 market street. here is why we care enough to support another star buck to

the upper market area. because, proposed location at the corner of market and sanchez, suffers from an excess of vacant storefront properties and because it suffers from the over night camping trash and graffiti and because the neighbors should not have to walk through the human waste and others every day, we know that starbucks will clean up this dorner, it does not. many ex-members of dtna has joined our neighborhood group because they seemed more interested in a political for the agenda, they do not care about the day-to-day quality issues that negatively impact in the area. >> we support the local merchants and want to see the business district improved. the starbucks project is good for our neighborhood and adds vitality to our block and reno

vaits buildings and benefits merchants by driving and creates jobs for san francisco residents, thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is denise greenbeger and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you, and i live in the, i have no financial stake in this and i don't have anything to do with coffee business and i just live in the neighborhood. and i am a sole propry [t-er/] as opposed to the cookie cutter, that everything looks the same as you see in other cities. and you know as many other people i have nothing against

starbucks, i just don't want it in our neighborhood. one of the speakers in favor of starbucks was talking about the impact that starbucks had in all of those other neighborhoods and that is an example of what makes a lot of neighborhoods look just the same. all of the same businesses. i don't want that to happen to our neighborhood. another starbucks speaker or two, and talking about the need for meeting places. cafes as meeting places. there are, you know, dozens of places where people can go and you know, some that have been named and some that haven't, in addition to sweet inspiration, there is church street cafe, the owner who was here for a long time expended up having to leave before it came up to the agenda, and there is the cafe and bakery. but there are plenty of places to me that have coffee. and i also would just like to comment that just because starbucks was in that corner

that would not necessarily cause people to remain from graffiti. and other misbehavior that people have described. please vote against this. >> i'm michael colton. and a lot of people have said a lot of stuff, i oppose this and i am hoping that you will as well. we have homeless and graffiti all up and down the street. it would be attractive if the landlord was held accountable. >> that is why, that is why i don't understand why the owner of that building does not have to fix it. we have a landlord lease if anybody goes along our building we get it fix and we paint it. i don't understand why this guy

can let this property go so long as it is. there are a lot of coffee shots, eateries and all of this kind of thing in that area, including three starbucks already. please, disapprove this. thank you. >> i am going to call a few more names, come on up. >> emily, crafilsa, manny torez and samar and chris holmes and alan, harnet. and karin lee. and andy new, and david pridwell. like a couple of other people, i'm david troop. and there is no question that this proposal does not represent something that is necessary for the neighborhood

with the other starbucks and numerous other coffee shops nearby. the neighborhood is under attack for removing that commercial uniqueness that is really the vitality of the neighborhood that brings the visitors, you know, when so much of the neighborhood becomes cookie cutter and homogonous to any other place in america, what reason is there for them to come and visit the castro? putting other neighborhood businesses that are unique, out of business, because starbucks is a very effective competitor, that definitely, makes this an undesirable project. should you be inclined to support it and then i would really like you to think about

the process issue that the preapplication meeting for this project had anything of you happen to have wondered in i think that you would have been shocked at how the starbucks used the abeguity and stifled for the local residents to learn of me concerns that might exist it was really offensive to me the way that they subverted a process intended to provide public benefit and turn it into something that actually did the opposite of that. so, thank you. >> i'm courtney, and terry bennett asked me to come for her and speak today.

instead of reading the letter that you all have already heard, i wanted to say that, we overwhelmingly supported this new store, and she wishes that she could be here to say the same, thank you. >> good afternoon, i am a resident and a proud supporter of this project to move forward with the starbucks renovation, i manage an after school program called america scores the area, it is all literacy for public school use, first through 8th grade and we have been so blessed with the support that starbucks has provided for us, in so many ways, we had a previous speaker talk about community and that is what my program is about, i have a quick story and we recently had a poetry presentation at one of the starbucks nearby, believe it or not, it was the neighborhood right here, we are talking about off of market.

at first i was skeptical, but believe it or not, more of the community was receptive to the children reciting their poetry and looking at the art that we had hanging up on the wall, just know that one starbucks and all of the community is what this project will support, hundreds of families, who may not come out to this side of town. i support please move forward, thank you for your support. >> commissioners, good afternoon, my name is tina and i am a long time resident of san francisco. as my friends and colleagues visit various neighborhoods in our city to support our local merchants, i find myself being friends with a local merchant on 18th street, namely brandy hose. lamb who is the owner of that business and a neighbor of starbucks in the same block asked me to read this letter, which i believe was forwarded to you just this morning and so

bear with me. it was addressed to supervisor weiner. as the owner of the brandy hose restaurant on 18th and castro i am writing to say that i am in favor for the starbucks to be located on market and sanchez. good businesses benefit the community, it is going to provide jobs and also put more eyes and ears on the corner that is currently an invitation to over night camping and trash and it will help to clean up this corner which has many vacant buildings, additionally, more people walking to starbucks, are a plus for local merchants in the castro and further up market, it is just good for business, the new coffee shop can restore a important block that is the gateway to the neighborhood. please support the proposed starbucks, we welcome the investment and look forward to the increase prosperity for the community, sincerely jimmy lamb.

>> on a personal note, i love to shop, and eat, and visit with my friends in all of our various neighborhoods. and i firmly believe that through the merchants of this room those local regional and national, i wanted to choose who i support and if you treat me right as a customer, you have me, i support you with my pocket. thank you for your consideration. please support this. >> good afternoon, commissioners, my name is ganum, born and raised and i work in the city currently, my family owns the berger meister around the corner in the castro and we do support this project. the corner has been vacant for two years now. there are multiple other vacantcies in the area. and we feel that starbucks can really rejuvenate this corner and encourage other small businesses to come in the

neighborhood with foot traffic that starbucks would bring. when we took over our location, market was a similar thing and it was an eye sore to the block, we came in, we invested, the way that starbucks is willing to invest in this location and we have made it a nice business there. and since, then, it has been over 12 years since we have been in business and multiple other small businesses have come into the neighborhood. so we believe that this will be the similar effect and we would love to see starbucks come in and rejuvenate this which is right now an eye sore, thank you. >> good afternoon, i'm (inaudible) and i support this project. i think that either small or big businesses both help the community. and in the city