our business, our sales have only grown, in addition, since the california store opened, my retail sales have grown, i don't do a lot of retail sales but obviously they haven't impacted my sales and i'm not feeling threatened from this either, i would like to see other businesses open because it's obviously good for business, it drives foot traffic, it will bring other pet owners to the area, that's good for me, i think that's good for lombard street. thank you. >> hello, my name is chris jones and i've been a resident of san francisco for the past 12 years. i've also served in the u.s. army for the past 22 years and a few years ago, i was deployed overseas to iraq and while i was gone, the owner and staff of catnip and bones said they

wanted to service my dog while i was gone for the year, and they took care of the medical and some of the boarding and the food and bathing and that type of stuff and that was a huge burden that was lifted off me while i was deployed for that year, and i use that kind of as an example of what small business does in the community like the marina, and i think that personal touch that they can give to their residents is what adds the value for someone like me, so i'm a big advocate and i'm a big supporter of keeping the small business pz or supporting the small businesses in the marina and other neighborhoods in san francisco. thank you. >> let me call the last batch of names. (calling speaker names.

). >> good evening, i'm mary smith, i'm been a resident of san francisco for 28 years and of the marina for the past 11 and a half, i have a little dog and we spend a lot of time at catnip and bones, part of the reason that i moved to that neighborhood is because of the community spirit and i support both catnip and bones and animal connection because in all the years that i've lived in the marina, anything that i've wanted or needed, i have been able to get right away from their stores or they have been able to get something for me and they have been moral support when i was losing my prayer dog and i do hope that we can protect that kind of sensitivity of our beautiful

marina neighborhood and i am completely against big box that will definitely not add to the community unless they want to have their parking lot be free so that the people who shop there can roam around the neighborhood and frequent all of the small stores and i haven't heard anybody support that idea on their behalf, but because this was already resolved four years ago, i'm sorry that we're having to address it again and i hope that you will stand by the law and the restricts and not permit the conditional use permit. thank you. >> hello, my name is [inaudible] and i live in the marina, i oppose pet food express because their existing store st very good, it is well located, i can get there in

minutes, as a consumer, i enjoy the diversity, we have pet food express just minutes away and it's not hard to get to and they have a great parking lot and i'm aware of the great things that pet food express does but we don't need one on lombard mainly because of so many things that were already spoken about lombard looking a bit sha*f have i because of -- shabby because of lack of businesses, if pet food express comes to the lombard location, that small business will be affected, it's not a stretch, and that as a daughter of a small business owner and of someone who always has worked for small businesses, it's hard enough as it is on chest nut street to run a business, there's a lot to keep up with a business there and it's -- they're wonderful stores and whatever i can't get there, i

will go somewhere else and it's like a big box store, if they have something there, i will go to it, and it is accessible. i do fear for the change in our neighborhood that it's a destination that people from all over the world and the city in itself come to for the diversity and we hope to have it for many years to come. thank you. >> hello, commissioners, my name is christine hom, i'm a san franciscan native and have lived here all my life, my father grew up in the marina and he attended galileo high school in the 60's and 70's where he worked as a newspaper boy in the marina district, he shared stories about all the mom and pop stores in the neighborhood when i was young and her the marina has

exchanged a lot over the past few decades but the one thing that hasn't changed is its tradition of small businesses, please preserve my city's history, sbekt and commitment to independent stores and deny pet food express's bid to open up yet another store in the city, i'm proud to be from a city that supports small businesses. thank you. >> good evening, commissioner, my name is sylvia, i work as a registered nurse here in the city, i have a cat and i have a dog, pet food express provides valuable, good services and monetary support to local animal welfare groups, many of which have been heard from today, while there is a wonderful form of outreach and

provides great marketing, it could not cloud the planning issue before the commission. pet food express's donations have increased since its denao*il in 2009, we would imagine that this good will will continue even if they are denied a conditional use perm. denying this conditional use permit is not punishing a successful local business, pet food express chose to leave san francisco for san leandro and a few years ago moved its headquarters to oakland, further denying the conditional use permit is giving other small businesses who are committed to their neighborhoods the chance to be equally successful in a difficult retail environment. the unique and diverse shopping districts rely on the individual small businesses that make their home there.

while formula retail can't provide needed services to a neighborhood, it can homogenize it, making it less desirable to outside communities, we need to maintain and support diversity, it is specifically for that purpose, please deny this permit today. >> good evening, i live in the marina a block from chest nut street and i've lived there for about 20 years now. before that, i lived in mill valley so i've seen the change ins the bay area, there's a pet food express in mill valley and there's a pet food express on california street not far from the marina, i moved to the marina because of the charm and the conveniences, as a marina resident, i see no value in pet

food express on lombard street in my humble opinion and the supply and demand is currently being met not only in the marina but also in the pacific heights area. planning commission, please help preserve our community and vote no to pet food express. if not, i fear animal connection, catnip and bones will fold as studies have proven time and time again, they are so much more than pet stores to me and the marina residents alike, they are socializing places which essentially help the community stay vibrant, connected and informed, it's what makes the marina so special and unique and let me tell you, i have a 7 pound shocker shearer terrier, i have a special needs dog and not only is my dog special needs, he thinks he's a rot

wiler, i provide information of what to do in the city, i'm the neighborhood watch city, i know and watch out for my neighbor, i won't get that kind of feeling and vibe in a pet food express store, so it means a lot to me and it means a lot to my dog and i know that might be irrelevant to some people but it's relevant to me. thank you. >> good evening, any name is eric ceg, i was born at ucsf, i had the privilege of going all through public schools in san francisco, i went to lowell high school, berkeley, i practiced for the federal public defender giving back my time and trying to give back to this community. i've had the privilege o*f having several rescue animals, most of whom have quom from san

francisco animal care and control, a cat, a dog, another cat, another dog, i have a rescued animal now, owned property in the marina, i've been to pet food express, i've been to catnip and bones, i know this area, i know it well. this area is well served by the current status of the pet stores that are currently there. pet food express has a location 1.1 miles away, it's a perfectly great location, people can choose to go there, the issue here is simple and direct and concrete, it's formula retail, no matter how we slice it, pet food express is formula retail, i know they started off small, i applaud them for growing big, the issue is one particular location, the location that this commission dealt with, what is it, four

years, i can't even keep track. >> thank you. >> hello, commissioners, my name is megan johnson, i'm a native san franciscan, i own one of the pet stores on market street, i would call myself more of a hobbyist than a business person because i don't really get paid because i don't make enough money because i'm close to pet food express, that's some personal information for me to share but i think it's important for you to make a decision on the small businesses that are in the marina, you guys have a big, important job to keep the face of san francisco from looking the same in every neighborhood. i drive through oakland, i see

pet food express on every -- in every block, every strip mall, pet food express is one of the top ten chains in the united states, they have many stores, as many of the top 10, to have that in san francisco and be able to have just that same cookie cutter throughout, it's boring, i went to london a few weeks ago, there's a star bucks, a pier 1, why should people come to san francisco if it's the same as sacramento, please keep san francisco unique and help support our small businesses, we need your help. thank you. >> at this time, if there's any other public comment, if you want to step up. >> patricia voi. a few weeks ago, i found out

that the marina merchants, somebody went to lombard street with a piece of paper saying sign this, our association wants pet food express. we had to get a vote and try to figure out what to do. we found a girl by the name of diana smith who doesn't even know us who worked on the obama campaign and brook safrp son who's an ex-president of kalt ham association to come down the street with us to make sure we had a fair, safe vote on what the merchants really wanted, and in four or five days just so find the legitimate owners and the legitimate managers, the vote came out 57 no, 8 yes and no abstention, here is a copy of all of it, also at the same time, we did the study of the vacancies, we found 12 vacancy,

two of them work is being done, one for an office but we don't know who the office is, so we included it, another one is work being done and they would not tell us and harold hugatiana that has been vacant. no one has discussed the real issue that's in front of you. it is called if you overturn this legislation that you voted on a few years ago, you are opening up the barn door. where developers can come in with lots of money and get turned down and then they wait around, leave their businesses in shams and then come back and try again, once again wasting taxpayer's money. the question is, nothing's changed, for your years, the place has been an absolute

blight and i suggest that you oppose this. i think i as president and coordinator -- >> thank you, your time is up. >> okay, thank you. >> hello, my name is seal ya shoe man and i'm a 25 year resident of san francis and a life long animal lover, i'm here to lend my support to pet food express. i've served as the cat volunteer trainer training volunteers who want to work with our shelter cats, i f*irts came to volunteer at san francisco care and animal control because i loved cats, one of the amazing side benefits of this whole experience is to have met some of the most amazing people, people share a passion to do what we can for animal, our animal care and control staff,

our rescue partners and community contributors. with a marketing budget, i believe it's 0 dollars, the san francisco animal care and control does not have the resources to get the word out about our shelter, so when individuals like mike murray and pet food express come forward to lift us up by their generous offer of sharing their resources to provide community based solutions for those animals, this goes a long, long way. you've already heard in detail from jane tobin of friends of animal control about our cat adoption center, through this adoption sent e pet food express has shown an amazing example of what can be done when our citizens inspired by their love of animals and a desire to put their resources out there and make it happen. as a member of the small business community, i fully understand all the struggles and frustrations but for the city and county of san

francisco, when a company like pet food express to reach out your own department and help them find a home for our homeless animals, we need to pay attention and i hope that you consider this with this measure. thank you very much. >> good afternoon, my name is cheryl lan, i am a marina resident, i have an 11 and a half big yorkie, he couldn't make it today. i was moved to come here because of the reports of people being intimidated and people were threatened and some people were afraid to come and speak out because of anonymous calls, threatening extreme violence, that's not right. i don't know why this has become such a contentious issue, there's plenty of room

for small businesses, as it is now, i won't walk my dog on lombard because it's filthy and it seems dangerous, i don't want to get his little paws dirty. i'm troubled with the representation that the marina community made that it speaks for the marina community, you have to pay them 25 dollars a year and they can't verify that their members live in the marina, they require an e-mail address and 50 buck, i've written them and let them know how they determine what *f whether the members even live near the marina and they have not responded to that. i'm here to urge you to approve the application for the permit. thank you.

>> hello, i'm here to speak in support of pet food express on lombard street. my name is arlene scene, i've lived in san francisco 32 year, i'm the daughter of a small business owner laundry and i'm an sbrep near, i live and shop at the marina. i now live a few blocks from another pet food express and a small pet food store, they are both doing very well, the pet food store, there's always been a pet food store there and they do a good job, and so it's fine, pet food express has not stopped their business at all. my primary support of pet food express is thousands of animals lives have been saved by pet food express and i love animals, i hope you do too, compassion is an important value in our society and in our

world, i support pet food express. >> good evening, my name is stephen cornell and i've owned a business in san francisco for 37 years and it's been in san francisco for 108 years and i've been a member and president of certain merchant groups in san francisco. from the planning department's website, under formula use, it says "in an evident to protect san francisco vibrant small business sector and provide an environment for business innovations, it mandates specific controls of formula use". the pet food supply is already oversaturated, there is no benefit for allowing this to occur, pet food express is one of the major causes of major saturation in the market. they already have three mega stores already, and there are 50 locations in the immediate

san francisco bay area. the primary impact of allowing pet food express to have this conditional use permit would put small businesses out of business by dismantling small competitor, it would not enhance pet food supplies in san francisco, it would not create job, it would steal them from one small local san francisco business, it would not create new sales tax revenues, it would severally move the sales from one local neighborhood business to another. there would be no benefit to the city and there would be a great loss of small local neighborhood businesses, thank you. >> good evening, commissioners, from one san franciscan to

another, i want to thank you for hearing this and bearing in there and hanging in there for a long process, and i wanted to take the opportunity to thank the veteran that's here tonight that gives us the freedom to hear these debates, putting his life on the line for that, that's the frame you've given me and i want to thank the family that took care of your dog and the people that are here with the vested interest and taking care of his dog, i want to recognize and applaud you for that. my position is no modus operandi to what might be done right and the right way forward, i was struck by a couple of words that was put forward by the planning department presentation which was on balance, and it's very obvious that you're going to

hear compelling arguments from both sides for every side that's against it, the other side will produce so many that's for it, the ups games will balance so i'm left wondering how do you make that decision and again it comes back to hearing those words where they say unbalanced, i'm not not a formula retail advocate, i'm not a formula retail foe, diversity has all businesses big and small, a lot of negative statements made about good people tonight on both sides which i'm ashamed to say it, you can have bad people in a small, business and large business and you can have good people in all three. i think pet food express are from the heart good people and i think that on balance, it will be the right way forward and we need to do this, thank you. >> is there any additional

public comment? okay, seeing none, there's no additional public comment, it is lied and opening up to commissioner, commissioner antonini. >> thank you all for testifying, very interesting and certainly a lot of good things being done by the small pet stores as well as pet food express, i'm interested in hearing those comments, but i think in my opinion, that the perception of many of you as to the competitive dangers of pet food express are misplaced because as our families were growing, our children were growing, we had a series of dog, they were all big dogs, labs, retrievers, shepherds, and i don't think i went to a small pet food store to buy bags because they were big bags

so we went to places like costco orbecause these are 50 pound bag and is you're going to search around for parking on chest nut street and you find a few blocks away and you have to lug that thing in the car and it's not really practical, but what i think is, you know, the competition, it's a different kind of product and if there is a store that has parking and is going to make it easier for that customer who needs this particular supply, in fact, the man who was a pet food wholesaler made it clear that some of the smaller pet stores carried products that weren't in pet food express or any of the larger stores. it's a different market and they can co-exist, and like anyone else for all kinds of products all shop in a neighborhood hardware store and once in a while, i'll go to a big box store where you have to

get a huge quantity of something, but most of the time, it's not worth making the drive to try to do that. as far as the particular site in mind here, in an ideal world, this is -- it has always been a formula retail site, and if we really could dictate exactly what should happen, the building should be demolished, it should be built with parking underneath and we should put a couple of floors of housing on the top and put retail on the first couple of floors but that's a big project and i don't think that's not what we're talking about today, that's something in the ideal world that could sometime happen and if we were building a new facility today, even a pet food express that needed parking, we would have them put the parking below and the store above, that's just how we do things but things were done differently nr the 60's i think when that was first built or

the earl 07's, it was originally a bank of america and then it was a blockbuster, and so i would hope that pet food express will see it in their best interest to increase their presence in san francisco, perhaps bring executive offices back here, perhaps another distribution center, i can understand where many of your stores are outside san francisco, it would be good to not have to go over the bridges to distribute, but it wouldn't hurt to have more of a presence here and perhaps also think about the map that showed the pet stores showed nothing out on ocean avenue, nothing on the outer mission, nothing on geneva, those would be good locations to have an additional store to service that part of the city, that doesn't take away from what we have before us today, i think this is a gad

project, there's an argument about the number of vacancies but supervisor ferrel's office counted 24, somebody else counted 17, my dental office is on the other end of lombard and there are a lot of places that should be vacant that are establishments that businesses are not what they purport to be and there's a lot of illegal activities going on, so if you count those also, there's a lot of problems there, but it's highway 101, it's a lot different from chest nut or union street. nobody's going to be sitting out there having cappuccinos outside in front of lombard street, it is a u.s. highway and people were talking about how we weren't going to gain anything, i think we will gain things by having pet food express because one of the speakers spoke about going to marine to get the pet food and i think people from the marina, people from the richmond district will quickly hop over

the golden gate bridge when they have a big purchase to make and get big bags of food and we may bring some of those back into san francisco by having that kind of facility, again, you're comparing apples to oranges, they serve different kinds of foods and serve different market, there was the market study, and you can always find a study that will say anything, this particular study did not show that it was detrimental to the other stores and there was one speaker who came up and talked about the fact that he does well having a pet food express near where his thing is and the animal store connection who put a store in burlingane, if they're that big a threat, these people would have trouble surviving or not locate near them. a lot of recommendations from group that is are supportive, of course the