law, not only are we talking about the businesses within the district, within 1,000 feet, lincoln high school, edgewood, which is a residential use the facility located just outside of that 1000-foot area. commissioner hwang: not to interrupt, but what code section are you contending applies? >> if you look at the planning department's report, it is a commission report that was provided for which they actually made the basis. at the consistently referred to on all of those pages that the planning code section 798.50f would explain why the committee and recreational facilities that were cited did not meet the definition of a recreational center. but if you look at that code, it does not exist in the document. there is not administered a bulletin to clarify how that would be applied.

not only that, if you just think about what some of these businesses provide, day camps, summer camps, winter camps, recreational and community use. president peterson: thank you. >> think it. -- thank you. we have a list of the petition. president peterson: next speaker? >> good evening. i have been living in san francisco 25 years. i graduated from ucsf and pharmaceuticals. i have a back problem, too. i had back surgery last year. i'm very passionate about pain management. i have a lot of patients traveling from chico, and

manchester to my pharmacy to get medicine. i live in the sunset district. taraval street is not inappropriate place for this business, for this establishment. if you drive on taraval street in the afternoon, you understand there are too many youth, walking down the street, hanging out. even driving in that neighborhood in the afternoon. i just think culturally and socially this business is not compatible with the neighborhood. thank you very much. president peterson: thank you. next speaker, please? >> i am the ceo of traditional family corporation, and i am speaking for many patients in

the district. i have been living in the area from 1988, and the 7-11 it is diagonally across from the mcd site. those places are parking lots where a lot of teenagers gathered. they hang around and fix their cars, and therend and fix their cars, and there are mothers bringing their kids to the laundromat. there is a parking lot. we all understand that parking lots are the places where drug dealings. the mcd, whoever purchases the marijuana and gives the resale of the parking lot, that is going to be the best place for them. so i urge you not to approve this because you will be affecting future generations. president peterson: thank you. next speaker, please? >> hello, my name is mitchell.

i played ball all the time at sunset. there are fights everywhere. i live in sunset. it is the park by vincente, there are all kinds of parks. ithey're fighting for it, gangs, everybody. i cannot go there anymore because there are fights. there are a whole bunch of drug dealers and everything. i just mind my own thing. i just mind my own business, but there are a lot of things going on. thank you, commissioners. president peterson: thank you. ext. speaker, please? >> my name is daniel smith. i'm here to read a letter on

behalf of the edgewood center, located just 50 feet outside of the perimeter. we are for educational purposes. on behalf of the center for children and families located on vincente street, i urge you to consider revoking the permit for medicinal cannabis dispensary at 2139 taraval street at 38 avenue. many schools are situated very close to the proposed site. it serves as a thoroughfare for students on their way to and from students and is also a popular destination for students for lunch. surely a site not in such close proximity could be found as a dispensary. please reconsider issuing the permit for the mcd at the taraval street location. thank you. it president peterson: thank you. next speaker, please? >> hello, i have been living in

sunset my whole life. i have graduated from the public schools and am currently a junior at sf state. i have worked at the beacon center and with park and wreck, both egms to -- both gems to our district. i live with my mother and two brothers. i love this neighborhood with a great passion. i have come here to ask that you did not discriminate against sunset residents who want to stay in their own districts without having to drive. i find it " cannot allow medicine within a decent destination. not allowing this disparity open because of fear of crime increase is not only false by proven data but gives crack power -- but gives power to the criminals by allowing them to dictate how we function. president peterson: 90. next speaker, please? -- thank you.

>> good evening. my name is susan. i conducted out reache. residents shared literally hundreds of personal stories with me. >> are you a paid representative? >> i am no longer affiliated with that center and i hope that you allow me to continue. as a cancer survivor myself, the stories people shared with me are particularly moving. this letter came to me a bit late. i was not able to get it to you in a timely manner. i like to enter it into the record. dearborn, i am a 61-year-old woman. i am not a recreational pot smoker. i have worked in a professional office environment for 40 years. this is the second time i have had to defend my rights to better health. several years ago i had a sleeping disorder, insomnia, for

needed desk, and our steel arthritis -- and osteoarthritis. i also suffered from chronic stress from working in a fast- paced environment. i received my medical marijuana card in 2009, was seeking medical marijuana. i sleep all night long, my lower back pain is completely gone. i used to think marijuana was addictive and a gateway drug. i now think that used properly as a medicine, it has worked wonders for me. please consider the permit issuance. there are others in my neighborhood cannot get around to other places and you will of thousands of people like me in sunset park side." president peterson: thank you. the next speaker, please? >> good evening. i have lived in san francisco for 60 years.

for three years, i have been bringing my birds to the bay area bird hospital directly next door to the proposed center. the staff and doctors of this hospital have told me they are in favor of this center placed next door to them. i recently lost both of my brothers to cancer, and they suffered terribly. i believe they would have greatly benefited from a medical cannabis center like this in a safe neighborhood like ours. thank you. president peterson: thank you. next speaker, please? >> thank you for the opportunity to speak. i am here to speak in favor of the permit. i only want to say two things. the first is there is a very simple argument against every single argument against the

permit. you don't like the permit, here is my rebuttal. that is substitute the word walgreens for medical cannabis dispensary. there are terrible on safe drugs as well. the same at walgreens. people can shop elsewhere. sam at walgreens. that is not an argument. you could use that argument to force every business out of the sunset. the kids are walking by, we don't want them to get their hands on drugs. it said matt walgreens. you do that in a way that the kids to their hands on the drugs. id matt walgreens. you do that in a way that the kids to their hands on the drugs. -- same at walgreens. my second point is about kids. i am sure that most of the people who oppose the dispensary are worried about kids and it is an emotional issue. i am sympathetic to their emotions. i really think they're looking the wrong place. kids get their drugs and their parents' bathrooms, the medicine

cabinet. they get their drugs in school from friends. they get their drugs in the park. they will go through all of the hassle of getting a permit to go to dispensary. it is the real danger is elsewhere. i would urge people worried about kids to find something to do to get the drugs out of the high school. president peterson: thank you. next speaker, please? go ahead. >> my name is nancy. i urge you to revoke this permit. i have lived in the park side district 30 years and my community matters to make. i worked for years with my neighbors to rebuild the park side elementary school. i worked with park side library and to locate the city's first ada- accessible playground at 28th avenue. i do not have any children. why have i spent so much of my

life advocating for many of these children, for other people's families? it is because i care about society and how about growing the next generation. i ask that you respect what we in the park side are doing to keep families in san francisco. we need your support today to allow park side district to offer people a safe place to call home. i like to also enter into evidence from the bay area guardian today a full-page ad advertising free delivery. this is critical to meet the needs of those individuals who need medical cannabis. i support medical cannabis. i do not think my neighborhood has to have an endangering institution when you can get it free. here is the ad. thank you. i don't even know these people, but i think that is right. >> if we could have the

overhead, please? president peterson: thank you. next speaker? >> good evening. and i'm here to speak on behalf of chinese gospel church. the people involved with the mcd in this case have asked that you apply a discretion standard. the definition of abuse of discretion in legal terms is if it exceeds the bounds of reason and results in a miscarriage of justice. when a police officer says that an mcd will attract filing criminals to a neighborhood, to a business that has large amount of drugs and cash on hand, and when one of the council members readily admits there is no place within the city of san francisco that control on a map and not put in mcd within 1,000 feet of a place that serves children in some way, then a completely

defies the bounds of reason. their reasoning is an mcd has to go somewhere. safety to children be darned. it exceeds the bounds of reason. apply that standard to the mcd in this case. president peterson: thank you. next speaker, please? >> hello. i have lived in the sunset 16 years. thank you for allowing me to speak. i feel the residents of my neighborhood are not being heard. we're very frustrated. it is a waste of time if the city is going to do as it pleases regardless of what we think. i think marijuana as a comfort ing role for individuals with serious illness, but think the city is allowing it to be too easily maintained. doctors' notes are easy to

obtain and that allows those who may not need it medically to seek out for medical projects for recreational use. here are some advertisements and how easy it is to get a doctor's note. home delivery is available. if we are to ensure safe and affordable distribution of section c of the law states, why can't they get through their hmo or walgreens? i think the owners are deceiving the public and make this claim because of the medical aspect of the law, not requiring them to disclose how many clients they serve or how much sales are down at these places. thank you. president peterson: thank you. it next speaker, please? >> bin evening. i am from the school district. i am here on behalf of superintendent carlos garcia, and i like to read a letter that he submitted to the board. hear hon. commissioners, i am

asking the board of appeals to reconsider and overturn the planning commission's may 2010 decision, appeal number 10-105, to approve a permit for a medical cannabis dispensary located at 2139 taraval street. our own internal review indicates the potential location for this dispensary sits in a densely populated hortons corridor. this is a popular draw for the students of like a high-school, many who are over the age of 18 and could have potential access to this facility. it furthermore, given this access, it could serve as a resource for providing cannabis to the broader student population, considering the type of products made available, for example at edible products. medical cannabis dispensary is are restricted from proximity to schools because of legitimate community needs to provide for children's safety and limit access to drugs for a vulnerable population. while the facility may be

technically within the describe zoning limits and meet the letter of the law, the traffic patterns and access to a teenage population are unique to this location. placing it at this location is in clear violation of the spirit and intent of those restrictions. thank you for your consideration. president peterson: thank you. vice president goh: i have a question. how far away as lincoln high school? it has been mentioned several times. >> it is located on 25th. commissioner hwang: thank you. president peterson: next speaker, please? >> good evening. i am representing the center three blocks away from the proposed mcd. pawlenty to root approve the appeal to -- i want you to approve the appeal to overturn

this permit. we offer classes after school and on the weekends. we also helps to prepare for college, provide intensive counseling to distance on how to successfully applied to the college of their choice. our business caters exclusively to done people and we chose this location because the proximity to so many schools. up all of them are extremely close to the taraval corridor and supply many of our students. we are concerned the planning commission failed to consider the request that the permit be issued. president peterson: okay, thank you. next speaker, please? >> and the president of the taraval parks association. my family has been here since 1947. i have seen a lot of changes.

i have seen a lot of asians moving into our community. they reach out to us. we're trying to reach out to them to bring us closer to gather. what happened the other night when this permit got approved, it tore us apart. as a merchant and president of our association, i'm trying to keep us together. they came out and reached out to us. it to a certain extent, i really felt we let them down. if you go out on chinese new year's, it is a ghost town. athe still mean a lot to the ciy and a lot to me. pinky. -- thank you. president peterson: thank you. next speaker? >> i work at the beacon center, and i want to tell you a little about my job function. that is to implement the taraval community action plan.

we get a lot of committee input from that committee and merchants. basically the strategy is to define taraval as a family destination to support businesses and create foot traffic on taraval street by promoting the neighborhood is a family friendly destination. there is a rare opportunity for taraval street to be known as a premier destination for families. i believe allowed the mcd and his corridor is in direct opposition to this because of the associated negative impacts of the mcd, possibly including a nine families guarded storefront, not from the twiggs family, and the possibility -- including and on friendly guarded storefront cannot exclude the possibility of resale. president peterson: thank you.

>> i am representing mercy high school. i am the current president of the parent killed association. i represent the faculty, staff, parents, and students from mercy high school. many of our students use the taraval line to go home, food establishments, and school. we feel it would be a great misuse of the community to have an mcd there. what guarantees to the residents of this area have that the facility will not bring other individual seeking this drug in an illegal way and what would prevent them from selling their drugs in our neighborhood? the park side district and the sunset district are very tight communities. everybody knows somebody and everybody knows each other. we are a tight-knit community and we want to stay that way. thank you. >> excuse me.

could you tell me the same question, how close it it is mercy? >> less than a mile. >> thank you. president peterson: next speaker, please? >> my name is marina. i live on 28th and taraval. i have four children. i know that st. ignatius is not within i don't know how many feet, but my children pass this particular shop every day. not necessarily on the taraval. they walk past it. my kids always go to the 7-11, and the doughnut shop next door. i have a daughter who just graduated from a school in l.a., and when she heard about this she said this is a joke. anybody could get a prescription to get marijuana. i am not against it. i have a father in a father ino

suffers from cancer. i have a father in law who suffers from cancer. he gets his drugs delivered to his home because he cannot travel out. we already have a problem with the liquor store on taraval street. our children are purchasing liquor, under age, 15 years old, liquor, under age, 15 years old, my own children included. the last thing i need for them is to try to buy marijuana. president peterson: thank you. ext. speaker? >> my name is peter. i live on 32nd ave. i get to watch the traffic and all the kids going to the 7- eleven or go to the sandwich shop. there was a question of how close are the schools. maybe the previous board really did not consider that. lincoln is about seven blocks, but when you take the bus, it is only three stops. bacon stop by anywhere along that.

they can stop by anywhere along that. who knows what they bring back. same thing with sunset boulevard. but it is not handicapped accessible. two stops off taraval in front of this mcd have no ramp for wheelchair's. even that mcd was cited for a.d.a.-compliance after the permit is granted. they picked the best location to fit on the map, but maybe the map did not put all these other things into consideration. the previous board did not ask how much it will cost the city to make it truly a.d.a. compliant for the muni stop. that will cost the city money as well. they need to reconsider. there are a lot of reasons, the type of, and a misrepresentation of the church.

those are already enough to reconsider. please send it back and reopen this issue. president peterson: thank you. next speaker? >> hello. she has been living and sunset 32 years. the reason for her coming here. most of the issues regarding the kids. she is worried about it.

the main concern for her is about the safety. the mcd patients say they need a safe place. it might be safe for the mcd

patients, but it is not safe for the residents. what she is saying is that you guys don't like the chinese. because of the language barrier, a lot of things being put forward are not coming to light. thank you for your time. president peterson: thank you. ext. speaker, please?

-- next speaker, please? >> thank you for being here and listening to us. i have lived in the sunset district 20 years. last may, and came for a meeting. one of the commissioners, they're closing statement, they told us they have to give the permission, the permit to the mcd honor to open on taraval street because they followed the rules. it reminded me of one of my friends that wanted to open a penthouse on their residents. that followed the recreation and all the rules and paid for whatever the cost, but they need the approval from the neighborhood. if the neighbors say no, the

permit is denied. the last time, the last meeting, it seemed like the commissioners already made up their mind before they listen to us. we had so many people come here, until 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. our voices are not being listened to. you are telling me that you care about a penthouse more than the committee. -- more than the community. i just wonder. thank you. president peterson: for those of you who have testified, if he could move away from the fire doors. >> the prior speaker, the translator just came to me, was referring to the planning commission and tht