this would be their 11th establishment. subsequent to the establishment, if we would say that you have 11 or more other establishments, you are formula retail. but at this point, it's my opinion and reading the planning code and interpreting the planning code that they are not formula retail. i would note, there are other cases, but i failed to inform the board about other items that have been before us that i have made calls on. oscar was one that was before you. the board put forward the very well reason argument that it should begin atd least the question of the birth of the retail establishment. we have applied that and as noted have submitted an affidavit, after the board issued their decision i september -- sent them your

decision because i knew this was coming up. they have acrossed that hurdle that they did not have the threshold of number of stores. looking at this i believe they have not net threshold. other examples athletea is one that was a letter of determination that was issued for generally i don't think it was property specific. they were not formula retail at the time. athletea is one that is established in 1998. the gap bought them a couple years ago and formed them into new stores. now they are a formula retail but in san francisco they were not. a store that is the most comparable here and has the most compelling argument, the appellant's argument is black flees which has been mentioned

here before. blacks flees by brooks brothers and they have come in for a store. there was no letter of determination no written letter on this item but they did go through a conditional use process because their name was black flees by brooks brothers and they did have more stores, there are more than 11 brooks brothers stores and they fell the products within those stores. i don't think it is quite comparable to this case. i went and looked at their website side by side and compared the merchandise. i understand their argument about the array argument, they are both selling the same array, they are not the same array with 50 percent of more of stock merchandise from a single distributing bearing the marking with jack spade and kate spade. if the

jack spade sold more than 50 percent merchandise of kate spade, that would be different. if kate spade saturday i have seen that as a formula use, kate spade is the name. the argument is they both share the name spade, but in my opinion given the distinction between the stores and the misdemeanor offered while the primary distinction is gender based, there is a difference and that and the trademark find that this is not formula retail. so, i'm available for any questions if the board has any. >> a question. is the threshold then the store count and if you don't cross that threshold, the rest is basically not applicable? >> that would be the first

thing and it's a good question because there is a much put on the no. 11. this is not carbon stone anywhere. it's an arbitrary number. it's the array of merchandise, the form of apparel, the criteria, there are other municipalities across california and across the u.s. that have formally retail controls and they have general criteria, but the number can be different and fairfax and cal stoeg an is doing research and they don't have a threshold, a number. >> but san francisco does and it's 11. once you determine there is not the existence of 11 stores, then you don't feel compelled to go and analyze the rest of it?

>> in this case we did because we did receive the letter of determination. once they have more than 11 of these jack spade stores, then yes, they would be. now it is the determining factor at this point is the number. some municipalities include worldwide, we do not. at their proposal, 9 proposals to make various changes. this would be formula retail if it's globally. >> i understand that, currently the criteria. >> i don't think it's formula retail. >> i have a question, your letter does not specify the features that they meet assuming we got beyond the threshold of 11 stores. which two features are you saying? >> they definitely have the

standardized ray of merchandise and trademark. i don't believe they have uniform apparel. i don't think they wear the uniform. >> so apparel refers to what employees wear but not to what is sold? >> correct. signage, they would have signage because the jack spade sign is the same with the same markings and they would use those three color scheme. from what i have seen at some of the other stores, they seem to be pretty unique like in a single family dwelling. at that point you have the standardized array of trademark.

>> thank you. >> mr. greko. >> tony greko chief building inspector. the department of building doesn't have much to add. they went through normal reviews and they were issues. if you have questions related to them, i can answer. thank you. we are going to take public comment. can i see a show of hand how many people plan to speak. >> after public comment there is rebuttal. >> i would like to ask you to do a couple of things. first if you want to speak would you be so kind to fill out a card. it's not required, but it's very helpful. i also ask if you are able to lineup on the far

side of the room to move along as quickly as possible. you can start your line there by the podium. if you want to step forward and the first person can come up and speak. how many minutes? >> 2 minutes. late hour and the number of people who want to speak is the basis for the 2 minutes. >> please begin. >> okay. good evening commissioners, thank you for this opportunity. my name is gabriel medina and speaking on behalf of the m igs development agency which is a community based organization working to sustain local business and the mission district to empower residents and to empower businesses. i'm here to oppose jack spade. jack spade i think was very clear in the presentation earlier violates not only the letter but the spirit of the formula retail ordinance and i would urge and i was very impressed with some of the gymnastics that we were

being made that it didn't violate it. one of the things i felt inconsistent was that, well, it's okay if kate spade saturday and kate spade have different trademarks but we still rule in the same. if jack spade and kate spade have different trade marks, we are going to roll them different. that's very inconsistent. there is a huge epidemic going on in the mission distribution. this would accelerate that ten fold. they actually displayed adobe books long time of local business from the business. they had entrepreneurs from the community and kept their money here. this store is a park avenue new york store with over a hundred location worldwide. i'm a san francisco native. my grandfather sold newspapers at

16th and mission. it's very clear. this is not a san francisco mission. this hurts us at mission and local businesses because it will raise rents and it hurts the spirit of local community businesses. if you want to buy a pair of jeans there is over $300. latinos are not going to be able to shop there. please vote against jack spade. >> good evening, i'm paul stole. owner of the piercing studio. my business is 24 years old and located here for the past 19 years. i'm thrilled with the prospect of jack spade coming to my neighborhood. i'm shocking my neighbors but it's true. i don't feel it's a

formula retail. the opposition from the jack spade campaign submitted to you a list of sponsors in support of their cause. i'm on it. i never supported it. i don't know how i got on it. please make that correction. now as a small business owner i feel the rise in rent in property value. my landlord allows me a raise in rent every 3 years. if anything, i see very clearly that the presence of a more substantial business and will drastically help my neighborhood. many of this comes from valencia street. the sidewalks literally sparkle and clearly benefit from all the highly polished businesses called the valencia corridor. we call ourselves 16th street b. i have been waiting for the

green machine company come back and repair our broken sidewalks. we have graffiti, garbage dumps. it's a home to many boutiques and i feel jack spade will fit pretty well. if we had like walmart moving in, it would kill all businesses. i went to see their store in new york and was completely charmed. made in the u.s.. this is exactly the kind of business that i want next door to inspire me to renovate and innovate. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good evening, thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you tonight. i spoke with you last week and i want to reiterate with what i said

last week. my name is a michael gardener. i have been in business for 36 years. between 19 and 20th on mission street. between my block alone there are 9 empty stores. there are 3 stores to the left if you look at my store from across the street that have been empty over 10 years. there is a store directly across from me empty for 3 years. there is a restaurant across from me empty for 3 years. i can just go on and on. i am totally invested in the mission district in san francisco in my 36 years in the mission, myself and staff have donated time and to organizations. i have bought uniforms for the baseball team. whenever anybody has come to me for a donations eye # -- i

have given it to them. when i came to the mission district in san francisco, i learned it was the shopping state in the united states. between 16 and 24 street it was 1 mile. it was called the mission mile. we had national shops, okay. 1 minute, please. all i would like to say is that when i read the ordinance, and i looked at all of those things, i'm not a lawyer. i'm a businessman. jack spade is not a formula retail. i have been to their store on venice beach, it's inside of a house. it's going to look totally different and we need a business with that price point of that merchandise in our neighborhood. thank you very much for the opportunity.

>> thank you. next speaker. >> my name is kyle sweeley. i'm a mission resident. i would like the board for the time tonight. i would like to elaborate or a point tonight. the point is we are not asking you for who cab -- can be in it mission. we are asking for a conditional use hearing and asking whether officials decide. by way of background this public hearing process has voted an approved ballot. 58 percent of voters city wide. jack spade would be falling behind the property line. that's the near super majority of voters saying that having a voice in the future of it community is of paramount importance. supervisor is

supporter of the proposition. what that changes is stores of america is marrick sure you have community support before you move to san francisco. a recent opinion piece noted in the seven 7 years since these controls are put into place, a broad range of observers agreed they have worked in striking a balance. the evidence backs up. some 70 of 90 chains have been approved. jack spade has said repeatedly they have the support of the community. instead they seem intend on avoiding it. this is despite months of attempting to contact them they have radio silence. they have reached out to executives, pr firms and were completely shut out. it was this that made them lastly file their appeal. they do not give their time of day. we have

showed why it is a big business owned and operated by kate spade. it should be considered one in the same. we are asking you to reach beyond the scope to let the community to decide for themselves. >> next speaker. i'm going to have him turn the computer back on for a second. i want to reiterate a few things from last week's appeal that we submitted more than 2,000 signatures in support of this appeal. we have supervisor campos and avalos in this appeal and in the direct vicinity of the storefront in question including -- just cause, poder, center for political education, shaping san francisco, the western regional advocacy project, poor magazine and these are all in

the immediate vicinity of the storefront. another thing i wanted to highlight was these points from the findings section of section 703.3. i read these partly for the benefit of the representative of kate spade because i don't think they would want to violate these principles in the findings of the ordinance. formula retail businesses are increasing in number in san francisco as they are in cities across the country. money earned by independence business is more than likely to circulate in the city economy than the money erpd by formula retail businesses that has offices located in san francisco. of course their located on park avenue in new york city. they are better capitalized and can absorb the larger start up cost. this can

put pressure on existing businesses and potentially price out new start up independent bitsz. of course all of these apply to this businesses. it not monitored and regulated will hamper the goal of the retail base with retailing personality comprised. the establishment of additional formula retail. i'm not going to read the rest of it. clearly everyone knows that these principles within the finding section of the ordinance in question here relate directly to this business. that should be considered tonight. thank you for your time. hi. i'm neale marcason i'm on the board of directors for

the -- i heard the rent was going to be doubled and i couldn't stand the thought that san francisco would do that to a place like doll bebooks. we figured out that at certain point we needed to make a certain amount of money to transform the rent and diversify at revenue models. we did a lot of research and found that the landlord was going to triple the rent and wasn't going to consider our proposal and we learned about jack spade. i can't really speak to the legality of it. it's not my specialty. it extremely depressing to me that mission is gradually becoming overrun with these boring generic stores. i think it's very tell that the potential manager of this store expressed here in

the court, i noticed the writing on the computer seemed is to stutter at that point when she expressed a real sympathy for the gentrification happening in the mission. thank you. >> next speaker, please. my name is jeff ray, president of the boards for the adobe books cooperative. i heard that last week that jack spade representative said that andrew had retired, the owner of adobe books and gave his blessing to jack spade. there is nothing more from the truth. andrew and a group of us worked on creating a worker owned cooperative. we had tut put

together a business model. we thought we could be successful. we that had backing of my other business rainbow grocery, we had the backing of the communicate. -- community. the community wanted us to stay. with jack spade coming along, we could not compete with a chain. obviously they share the same office in new york. baby gap, regular gap. and to compare, there is kate spade and say that the mission is very important to us and to have a park avenue store plop down where andrew and adobe books were there for 25 years is a desecration. it's

horrible. i don't understand why there is any support from local businesses. the local businesses could have a cooperative there. we had ideas for having pop uks who would have some of the other businesses there and little corners of the store. so vote against this, please. thank you. >> next speaker. >> hi, my name is brees culver ton. i live in san francisco for 20 years. i have seen many changes. the reason i initially moved here is because of the uniqueness. north beach is independent still and chinatown is independent. people don't come here to go to jack spade. people don't come here to go to

another mall. and the mission has always been unique and you need to retain it's uniqueness in order to retain it's viability. as for the jack spade and mission, i don't know what kind of research they did. i don't think it's a good fit. i don't understand who is going to buy their stuff. maybe they think rich techies are going to buy their stuff. as for their branding and merchandising, of course no stores are going to look the same. it stupid to have the same formula. the idea that a store is always going to look the same like a mcdonald's is outdated branding and merchandising. the idea that every kate spade store is going to look difference is absurd. i think you should consider the fact that they are the same. it

doesn't matter what they have on the walls and what color of uniforms they wear. they are the same company and coming to the mission and destroy the character of the mission. i want to maintain my business forever. my niece is going to speak and one 1 day i would love to have her in the store. my business helps me support my family. it a shame that if you will it this pass, that another corporation might take out my business as well. >> next speaker. >> hi. i'm from the mission. and i'm actually thinking of opening up my own business. how am i going to open up my business if i have jack spade. they are a big corporation.

>> next speaker please. >> my name is savannah koebt son. i live in the mission. i like the mission because of it's uniqueness. i'm afraid if a corporation moves in, it might ruin the culture of the businesses. if i want to open up a business, they are a multibillion dollar corporation and they can out bid me for a place in san francisco if i in the future wish to open my own independent business.

>> next speaker. >> thank you for your patience. i know this is long. my name is allen. for 15 years i have owned a bookstore. i did a conditional use hearing to open a cafe. so there was a change of use. that is as far as i understand what we are discussing is whether or not a conditional use hearing will be necessary. i know from my own experience, it's no the the end of the world and it's not going to prevent a business opening. i had no problem with mine. i got a lot of letters of support, i talked to my neighbors and it was a piece of cake. i think that there have been a lot of very compelling arguments made today by party on both sides. so we did seems

ambiguous, why not have a discussion, ask for a conditional use hearing and we can talk about it which doesn't seem to be a bad outcome or inconsistent with the way we do things in san francisco. thank you for your time. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> hi, my name is hailey lynn. the reason i think they are the same entity is because they are. last week they kept using the word entity and i looked it up. if you look in the website you can see that jack spade has an individual entity which is dissolved in 1999. not only that but jack spade has access to the kate spade pocketbook which gives us an unfair advantage in the retail market.

adobe books which we have heard a lot of about was pushed out after rent increases and after they raised $60,000 through community fundraisers to pay for their rent in -- increases, they were still asked to move out by their landlord. once jack spade came into the picture, the landlord raised her rent and told her to expect more rent increases. now it breaks down to more than double for paying in less than 6 months. another shop already suffered. they have been forced

out on their 1 year anniversary when the represent was doubled. on top of that having a detrimental effect on the local businesses. all the high paying jobs are in new york. they even a hired a contractor from new mexico. now we shouldn't just let them change the spirit of our neighborhood. >> next speaker, please. >> i own a store across from the space for jack spade. i have been on the fence about this issue from the very beginning. but, after being on 15th street for 6 years now and seen a decline of my street. i have lived there for