remove the crime from the street and reduce it by up to 30%. thanks. >> good afternoon, commissioners. david elliott lewis here. i am speaking on behalf of central city democrats and i am the executive vice president. i am also speaking on behalf of myself as a citizen and a resident of the area. i have been a customer of karim's grand liquors going back to the year 2000, over 11 years ago. i was impressed with how he ran his business back then. i'm impressed now. and i also submitted a letter to you which outlined my reasons why i support the transfer of a license. the license in a neighborhood that already lost enough licenses and original joes is gone, a number of other businesses that sold alcohol are gone. there is not more liquor licenses in the neighborhood and there are les than ever before.

he's run his business well and offers reasonable prices in the neighborhood and that's a rarity. he offs produce and essentially household goods in a neighborhood that doesn't have much of that. i'd like to keep him around. he contributes to our community organization and he helps keep our organization going. he's been a community benefactor and i don't think he's asking for a lot in return. this is not a new license he created. this is a license he's already possessed and managed well and asking just to keep a portion of it. he is willing to forego the most profitable element, hard liquor, malt liquor, fortified wine, willing to release all those profitable elements just to stay in business. beer and wine, 8% of the floor space, back of the store. there is a minority of prohibitionists that i heard that would like to dictate for the rest of the community who can drink alcohol or where they can drink it, but the fact is

our country experimented with prohibition for about -- for, somewhat, 1920 to 1933. it didn't work. it failed then and the fact is most adults drink alcohol. it's legal. it's our right. and to let a minority of prohibitionists today dictate what the rest of us adult cans do to me seems meddling and kind of encroaching on the banana state we're already becoming. anyway, commissioners, i hope you'll read my letter which i further articulate my reasons why you should consider this approval. and i want to thank you for your time. vice president olague: thank you. john nolte, christine daniel. >> good evening -- good

afternoon, commissioners. i am john nolte and today we're hear 18 months later to hear this conditional use. what has changed in those months? a new interim mayor, a new supervisor for the district, a new interim police chief, a new police captain for the district. in 2009 we had 47 liquor licenses and today we have 46. all the differences made by the community and the department and the grocery store and how has that helped? and the next thing, he's been at the location and has a clean store and has a selection of items for sale for the community. lastly, i ask the honorable commissioners to not grant conditional use for the planning

code for the area. thank you very much. vice president olague: thank you. >> good afternoon. i have been in san francisco since 1952 and went back east as a coal miner and came back in 1968. the 21 club and they always got in trouble and it's not pacific heights. it's not rodeo drive. you get what you see. no one is forcing anybody to buy anything. this is the american dream. you come to america, just like anyone else. he's not asking for gold and silver. he gives more than he receives.

i have seen it with my own eyes. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> hi, everyone. i was here 18 months ago. i have a residence on 64 turk street. i wanted to say i'm a little torn from where i was 18 months ago because of, excuse me my french, but s [bleep] happens and what's occurring with alcohol and drugs and they don't necessarily consider alcohol a drug, but it's d.e.a., drugs and alcohol, and i will say it's related from my humble opinion. but concerning what somebody was

saying about -- i did hear about the killing and i have a residence at 64 turk. and i used to shop across the street there where his former store was. but i want to say about the crime aspect that that killing on the fist, believe it or not, and i didn't hear about it, and i'm in the area, but a lot of the crimes, people come into my building a lot and somebody stops their toe and they call 911. some of those -- a lot of them are -- they come in my building a lot. i have been arrested there -- something i'm not proud of, but okay. and up withs again, i am -- and q1s again, i say -- and once again, i say this collaborative group and i'm going to call humbly, a lot of these people hyperch hyperchondriacs and they don't drink at all, and more power to

them, but they're from different cultures, they don't drink, anyway, and i think they're, once again, hyperchondriacs to the complexity of human nature there. and i guess that's -- i don't know much, but he's a nice merchant and once again, i think he should have the license. i guess on that, i'm out. thank you. vice president olague: thank you. mike williams, reggie meadows, richard price.

>> good afternoon, commissioners. i am mike williams and i live around the corner from mr. rantsi's store on the next block and i can honestly tell you i was peer back when the previous issue to grant liquor and i was here along with a large turnout of the neighborhood that did not want the trf from grant -- did not want the transfer over to the existing establishment at 90 turk or tiptop market. i can honestly say with my own two eyes of what i see and i see it every day, 365 days a year because i live in the neighborhood. and as a resident, hopefully residents still have standing in san francisco, i see nothing but trouble. the same way as it was when the previous business was -- when he was located at grand liquor. it is amazing what a difference it has made since grand liquor

closed. all of a sudden no one is hanging out. clear as a bell you feel a lot safer walking through there. it has improved dramatically. however, and as i suspected that might happen, is a lot of the elements, the bad elements, that were at the grand liquor location are now in front of his store. that does not surprise me that that is happening. and even today if you go by there any time and you will go through a gauntlet the same way you did across the street at the previous location. so what i'm saying is as far as the neighborhood goes, the neighborhood turned out before with regard to this issue and transfer of liquor license and the neighborhood i can say because i talked to a lot of resident who are very involved in the neighborhood and neighborhood issues is that we still don't want and we feel the same way as residents that we do not want a liquor transfer to take place at this site to tiptop market. my advice at this point would be for mr. rantsi to try a different location, perhaps in

another neighborhood. so once again, i ask you not to grant this liquor license transfer to a beer and wine license even. thank you very much. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am here because i want to see for myself the change in the way alcohol is sold in the tenderloin community. they want to lead the way on turk street and to go through on a day i wills basis and to see the shop sold there and taking stuff back home and so on.

i can say that the alcohol sales and stuff that has gone on in our community has not helped it at all. and i went out last night and i counted a total of 18 businesses in the community of a four-block radius, which 17 of them sold alcohol. and many of them were stores that sold alcohol. i am proposing that prap you consider that this should be under this stipulation as your commission you have the power to take and cephalthe same license put out that all stores in the tenderloin be changed by the same code of conduct you would hold him to in regards to this and no more fortified wipe or liquor stores and all in the

tenderloin as it has been a plight on the poor, homeless, and other people who live here and drug dealers, and they do buy drink. yes, they do, and they leave the cans and bottles in the street and trash the neighborhood as they go out. so they do do that and i feel we need to change this to the way things were. and things were place there had and doesn't seem to care including supervisors and doesn't seem to be changing anything and if you are in a position to help better the community, you should do it. and the senior citizens will feel better and safer and children can walk the streets at night. on the street he deals with.

i think that would be all around good for the community. then i feel that may thai might consider mr. rantsi's proposal and all the stores would be in compliance and if you fine any of -- if you find any of those persons not complying -- [bell rippi ringing] vice president olague: thank you. walter thompson, rodney crawford, sylvester gar jr. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am richard price and i am a resident at 54 turk. vice president olague: it's fine. don't worry. awe >> okay.

the store we're talking about is a new store with a lot of security gadgets and very involved in the neighborhood. the store that was under there and you can't get through the aisles with liquor $54 a bottle and how do you afford that? that is high for liquor. i don't want hard liquor. i don't see how these people going across the street should have lost their license for doing better and improve their own lives and helping the community by being who they are and what they do. i'm opposed to anybody taking something from somebody. this is america. we came over here and this should be competition. there are stores and they can fight it out.

he is not selling what he's selling and they're not selling what he's selling. i would like to keep that good competition in the make theed -- in the neighborhood. thank you. vice president olague: thank you. i go to that store. ♪ i hope it works at the store on turk. ♪ i hope it works with the store on turk. ♪ and i know there's some that may lurk. ♪ i love your store on turk street and that's all i know. ♪ i love that street. ♪ and i love the store on turk. ♪ i love the store and i love it

on the street. ♪ i love that store on turk street and that's all that i know. ♪ on the item. thank you. vice president olague: thank you. >> tiptop market is the largest grocery store in the tenderloin. vice president olague: i can hardly hear you. can you lower the mike so we can hear you, ma'am. >> tiptop market is the largest grocery store in the tenderloin. we need to keep the store open. this is a community and people live in the area. and this store is in the event of this store's income and we need to support him to give him

the lie accep license and wine. we don't knee liquor, just beer and wine. thank you. vice president olague: thank you. it's okay. >> good afternoon. i am sylvester gar. and i oppose the liquor license. i feel we have way too many liquor licenses. we have way too many liquor stores and i am right down the street and i walk past it every day on my way to school. the kids don't come outside to play because there is no safe area for them to go because there is always the crowd in the street, you know, and my personal experience basically is, like, i feel nervous walking around, you know, the neighborhood and always got to watch your back. there's way too much violence just walking here today and we have to walk past several drunks

on that block, you know, and basically what we need is i'm not, like, against mr. rantsi operating a decent grocery store because that's what we need in our community. we need safer places and a safe place to buy produce, groceries, you know, things that we can use, and i think another liquor store isn't what we need and not what we could use. and it's just too much and oversaturated. it's too much. i thank you for your time. have a nice day. vice president olague: thank you. awe i am rodney crawford and we have a bigger problem than beer and wine on turk street. we already have a liquor store

and if they want beer or wine or liquor, they can go to the other liquor store. we have dope dealers out there standing in front of his store and it's just with more beer and wine is making things worser and worser and if he's granted that, we going to see more killings. i'm opposed of them not getting it. thank you. olague thank you. vice president olague: thank you. next speakers. >> i am a resident -- olague sir, if you could speak a little louder, we can't hear

you. thank you. olag >> i am living in the tenderloin and have been since the last eight years and participating in tenderloin community programs in so many different ways. that helps me and all of us in the community in developing our go goodwill and improve our living for the crime-free neighborhood of tenderloin. tiptop market is a grocery including myself and we enjoy the grocery marketing experience for our neighborhood. the business owner, the rantsi family operating the tiptop market business efficiently and professionally. they give to their customers including me and supporting the

entire community and in order for their concern for all of us is our attraction to them. currently they are applying for beer and wine wholesale license for the tiptop market. the grocery is full service and that have been serving us very well. i support the residents of the tenderloin community support the application for type 20 beer and wine only. i know the rantsi family and the neighborhood knows them operating business for the last eight years. and they made a positive impact in the tenderloin neighborhood. and i and all of us in the tenderloin know them very well. so i support the application for

the type 20 beer and wine only. vice president olague: thank you. >> hello, commissioners. i am joseph brown, a resident on jones street. i oppose of this liquor license. the guy is a nice guy, but we already have a liquor store right next to him and a bar right up on the corner. i go up turk street daily for help through another agency and stuff and i have to go and walk through the street to get to where i'm going. and in front of the liquor and grocery store and i think we really need more groceries in

the store and we don't need beer and wine. they got enough on the street for beer and wine. we have enough beer and wine in the community. we need more grocery stores, more fruit and vegetables and stuff, so thank you. vice president olague: thank you. >> hello. i am in support of reissuing a beer and wines license for the tiptop market. i have been a customer of theirs for about 15 years and i have known them to always be a member of the community and they always give free lunches and dinners during the holidays and they help out as much as they can. i was hear in 2009 when the issue was debated before.

one of the issues is the store looked like a fortress. if you look at the new store, it is very -- it's very pleasant to look at. another complaint was that there were drug dealers going into the store and transacting. that doesn't happen anymore. yes, there are people in the street, but there has always been people on the street on that corner between mason and taylor. it's just the type of life. vice president olague: thank you. mary beth rousa and shannon rose. is there any additional public comment?

>> hello. i am shannon rose and my friends called me brooklyn. i just moved into the tenderloin on the 19th of november. anyway, anyway, i feel that the way that the tenderloin is right now is not going to be very good for when the america cup gets there. my great aunt lived here and her husband until he passed away and her son moved up here, moved her back up to oregon. and she lived here for 60 years, loved the place. so do i. the spirit of it. i lived -- i'm sorry, my speech is a little messed up right now

because of the second of the new year i received a concussion in the place that i now call home. i feel that if you have allow more liquor licenses in the tenderloin district, it's just going to make this place fall apart, you know, and it's time to clean it up. it's time to he it is time to clean it off. it is time to put a good spirit in the place, and bring it back to what it was when our forefathers settled here. in closing, i would like to wish my neighbors the best of luck

when everything comes iraq during your -- when everything comes back. thank you. goo>> thank you superior -- thak you. >> good afternoon, commissioners are your -- commissioners. are was serving the community -- i was serving the community in the tenderloin for 20 years. when i stopped my business, it was the same people you see now. we tried to improve it with the community and with the police

said meeting. we discussed the issue on the block and the tenderloin. too many things have changed. we have a better improvement yhuri your -- a better improvement. we stand who keep it for the neighbor. i treat my customers with respect.

and we have seven liquor licenses in to box in the area. -- in two blocks in the area. our businesses going to be our grocery store. we have so many, but the expenses in the half, it does not cover the expenses we have, so if we have a chance to support our business, we need your support to continue our business serving the community and neighbor's stereo