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 that this board, in reference to her view on how they looked at asians. >> good evening. i am a resident of san

francisco. i am concerned that with the planning commission approving this, a lot of the assurances that were made earlier about 21 years and older, nobody else would be allowed in there, the limited hours of operation, i don't know if any of those restrictions and conditions of use are really in there. i hope you will correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't feel the assurances that were made to address the community's concerns are included in the permit approval. i am asking you to reconsider that and send it back. and my other question is the notice of violation of those restrictions and the intent of the law. it was completist -- who is policing that? i don't think there is enough to allow it to continue. thank you for your time. president peterson: 90. next speaker, please?

>> hello. i am a 45-year resident of san francisco and also a pastor, but not of this chinese gospel church. president peterson: are you a pastor now? >> not of the chinese gospel church. i want to ask that this board revoked the permit, taking into account the 1,000 ft ordinance, the spirit of the law, if not the letter of the law. churches should be counted as a part of our community, and this particular location is right next door to the chinese gospel church. it is not 95 feet, it is right next door. being a pastor in knowing the different types of activities and organizations that we host throughout the year, there will be a multitude of children and youth during all business hours. i would encourage the board to

revoke that, not just on that issue. it is not a given just because an mcd applies they are granted permission. i would say as an example there are many businesses, for example like home depot and wal-mart, that would love to get in the city, but it is not a given. president peterson: next speaker? step forward to the podium. >> hello. my name is gregory. at my home is 1.5 blocks from the proposed site. i was one of the people there until 3:00 in the morning. i think this is our first bite at the apple. i was simultaneously swelled with pride at the neighbors who came out and appalled by the way the chinese community was treated by the lack of translation and the comments that they were less than intelligent because they did not understand english language. i would thank you for

considering what is here and ask you to overturn the mcd. president peterson: thank you. next speaker, please? >> hello, commissioners. and a commentator on a chinese radio station. for several days, we have received several calls. a lot of the chinese people call and and are concerned about the mcd and the sunset area. not even one caller said i needed because i have pain. a lot of the people say they are suffering, but they have no problem traveling from sunset to other areas. transportation is not a big issue. other speakers say they have free delivery. this problem is solved. how about our problem?

most of the people, not the sunset residents, they are not angry people. they're concerned about the next generation, con just concerned e next generation, the community. the other side is different. the trek to indoctrinate the next generation, saying marijuana is ok. "it is just a pain killer. it is good to try." president peterson: thank you. next speaker, please step forward. >> my name is andrew happened. i support the cannabis dispensary and what greg is trying to do. president peterson: you can bring this up if that helps. sorry. >> i studied psychology for about 10 years, and i first met paul and susan when susan was

doing outreach, and later greg. they may have seemed irrational or irresponsible. i will secure the neighborhood. i walked by all the time. if anything is going by, i will report that. i am not going to want dangerous things happening around children either. i see a lot of children in the area. i think it would be safe. i do not see any reason why this legitimate establish one should not be able to move forward. we should stop wasting time and taxpayer money on this issue. president peterson: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is theresa, with the apa association center. today i want to urge you to revoke the license. and i really feel that you should listen to people. today, california recognized that legalizing marijuana would not make our citizens healthier.

there was a deal struck in the city and state. i would urge you to please listen to the people, because to legalize would lead to more addiction, and especially driving accidents and emergency room submissions. i urge you to really revoke the license for this. thank you so much. president peterson: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is terry fong. i am the owner of the 711 500 feet from the proposed site of the mcd. there is something we call trust. the sponsors claimed that i support their cause, which i do not. how can we trust them in running a good operation and a safe operation for our neighborhood? remember in the 1990's, i tried to get a beer and wine license

for a convenience store, a food mart. i had one complaint. that cost me six months in getting my license. now we have over 200 people staying until 3:00 in the morning that do not want this mcd there, and we have 4000 petitions. our voices are being heard. there is a unanimous fight against the decision to allow the mcd to operate. i do not understand it. are we falling on deaf ears? i am -- secondhand dealings. they buy from mthe mcd and go to the 7-eleven to try to sell to the kids that hang around the parking lot. [applause] president peterson: no applause, please. next speaker, please step

forward. >> hello, i live in the sense that area. i do not speak english. [speaking chinese] >> we live on 31st street. i have three children. >> [speaking chinese] >> my house is very close to the proposed mcd. the police said it will be ok, but i am not sure about that.

>> [speaking chinese] >> and nobody can guarantee our three children can grow up in a good way and do well in the sunset district. >> [speaking chinese] >> it will waste lots of money for police and government to manage this district. president peterson: thank you.

next speaker, please. >> hello, commissioners. my name is dan ryan. i am a 40-year resident. i am currently the council president of grace church. we have sponsored the grace infant care center since 1983. to answer your question, there are 15 families involved. we are restricted by state law because of the size of the facility as to how many children we can have in an infant care center. so we are restricted to 15. we are within the 1,000 feet. i am kind of disturbed that because we are called a day care center we were not considered part of the thousand ft thing, according to the planning commission. however, because we have infants

and very young children there, i would question why that does not pertain to us. so i am just here to tell you that we do exist. we are very active in the stability. and we are concerned that we be recognized as existing at that location. thank you. president peterson: i missed it when it was established. >> the center has been there since 1983, a state license to center, required to be licensed by the state. president peterson: thank you. >> good evening. my name is an wong. i live in the sunset district. >> she just moved to sunset. >> [speaking chinese]

>> she likes the location of sunset, especially the schools. >> [speaking chinese] >> they have been working very hard to save money to move to sunset. they wanted to live in a better environment. >> [speaking chinese] >> she says the mcd will affect her a lot. >> [speaking chinese] >> a lot of -- they do not like the smell. they smell, those kind of plants. >> [speaking chinese]