this is leading to a stampede of applications for m.c.d.'s in this neighborhood. we urge the commission to use this opportunity to require that a system that is clearly yielding undesirable consequences in the form of proliferation in our neighborhood and it seems that the commission has an obligation to say enough is enough and the process is broken and until this is clarified, the commission must suspend any approval in the market area. president olague: thank you. and we will be limiting all those -- we will be hearing from the speakers in favor of the d.r. requester and be limiting it to two minutes as we have a 4:00 time around item today. at this time we would like to hear in support of the d.r. requester.

all those in opposition to the project basically. if you are in opposition to the project, you can speak at this time in support of the d.r. requester. seeing none, project sponsor. >> good afternoon, commissioners. on behalf of the grass roots medical cannabis collective, grass roots has been in operation for five years and during this time they built a large and supportive and patient base and built excellent relationships and have indicated, however, that this location is often difficult to get to because of restrictions in parking in that neighborhood. because of the requests, grass roots began looking for a second location closer to downtown and would have good parking and be accessible by public transportation and this location was identified by upper grass roots management with the lease.

and the lease expired and at the end of 2010 grass roots decided to make the commitment to expand to this location and this was based on the fact that this is a great transportation corridor and within a block is the cable car, the bart, municipal rail lines, the 14 mission bus that is right down the street on the next block over. nowhere near this location are there any sensitive youth areas. there is no parks, no schools, community centers, recreation centers, and we did an extensive search to verify this. in addition, there is not another m.c.d. within at least 1,000 feet of this location. the nearest is on fourth and howard. and after making this application, we began to discuss with the neighbors and introduce ourselves and find out what the concerns are from the project and there were two concerns that the neighbors had. they were, one, security, and two, community building. we addressed the concerns by

contracting with the patrol special to patrol mission street between fifth and sixth and to hire security guards for the plaza and went door to door for the businesses and built open line of communication and brought the special officer to know that he have to be accessible to them and would also be watching out for that interest and when we met with the friends of the plaza, we realized we had an excellent opportunity to improve our area which was one of the biggest goals that seems like a long forgotten area and a lot of boarded up businesses and has been that way for years and transformed into an agreement to sponsor events to include a farmers' market, live music and performing arts events and other

special events that take place there. this is in addition to security. and met with the central market community benefits district and requested to them to incorporate the block of mission street and tree planting, sidewalks, street cleaning sfs and would also provide community guide to that block of mission street. we have worked very hard with the neighbors to work in the project and last count it was over 25 stake holders and interested parties along fifth street and mission street. and i think this is a unique situation where we are forming a partnership with the community to see direct result from us coming in there and when we first went in, we were with an area that needed someone to take a risk and go in there and open

up the retail shop and realized that we could do a lot more to commit to the neighborhood. and we request you approve this project and thank you for the time. president olague: thank you. we have a couple of speaker cards. >> good afternoon. i am speaking on behalf of this project which, of course, my son just spoke, so you can figure that, but i want to say that i have worked with these people and that space for a number of years from before the five-year period and it wasn't until dan took it over and it really got working seriously and they have done a terrific job and they have never had any problems and is a nice place to go into and serve a large community without neon signs or any publicity and

if you didn't know where you were going, and you wouldn't even notice that as i am sure with the ones they want to set up in mission street and this is one of the top costs in terms of the community and keeping the street clean and do whatever is necessary to make ate good business. thank you. president olague: these are for speakers in support of the project sponsor. >> good afternoon. my name is jill hoffenstein and i am also the board president of friends of the plaza which is the nonprofit that manages and maintains the plaza for the public's benefit. and friends of the plaza and the board strongly support

grassroots and feel it will be a positive addition to the neighborhood. to give you background information, this is important to recognize that they did not receive any financial contributions or financial support from the department of public works and all security and maintenance relies entirely on contributions, fundraising, and baseline services provided by the c.b.d. and partial revenue generated from private events and the revenue model was created in a positive economic climate and proven to be flawed. the plaza cannot sustain itself with this model based on private events in a financially demanding climate and as a result mid plaza has been forced to reserve several services

including the repairs and maintenance and most significantly, we have not had the opportunity to create the plaza and create events that are publicly accessible for the public to enjoy. graz roots -- grass roots, however, has committed to help us change this. we met with self-principles of the collective and commend them greatly on the tremendous community outreach. with that we recognize we have similar goals in improving the neighborhood and grass roots has committed to making financial contributio contributions. specifically, grass roots financial support will allow us to increase daytime security and maintenance with additional power watching and other information. >> thank you. >> and also retired washington,

d.c. police officer and a former u.s. marshal so i would like to say some positive things on behalf of this project. and from the law enforcement perspective, this place seems to be running like any other normal business. the areas located are outside the building are at times the local inhabitants of the homeless people and drunks, derelicts there a lot, but as far as the grass roots establishment from the law enforcement and there has been no trouble and they check for i.d.'s and check when they get inside and verify the i.d.'s and do not allow any smoking outside the building or people inside the premises that were not authorized and when people come out of the premises, they leave immediately and no disruptions and nothing disorderly and when

they do cause problems, it is somebody outside who is not a patient wants to get inside. from the lauchlt view, we have absolutely no problems at all and our -- from a law enforcement view, we have no problems at all and our presence, in fact, help calm the area and help keep the area peaceful and well maintenanced. do you have any questions at all? president olague: not at this time but we may afterwards. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> good afternoon, commissioners. patrick mortini. and i have been here before in the creation of mid plaza and our company was the lead developer in undertaking that project and we have redeveloped most of the building and i am here as a representative of the majority of the tenants, businesses, and the property

owners and mint plaza is a couple of hundred yards from the proposed facility and i am here in support of the project and we witnessed the existing operation and appreciate and respect what it is they are doing within their community and because of their commitment to increase the level of services as well as enhance the public programming events. and we think that our status quo has been difficult and we look to this as a good bonus to all those in the neighborhood. i am here in support. thank you. president olague: thank you. gerald hall. okay. is there any additional public comment on this item? in support of project sponsor? seeing none, and if a majority

of the people in the audience are in support, you can always stand up to show your support or come up and have your two minutes. whatever you guys before, but everyone has two minutes to speak. >> thank you. good afternoon, commissioners. my name is ernestine jenson and i live in the neighborhood and work at city hall -- i'm off today -- and i like where i live. it is close to my work, but our neighborhood has been overrun with prostitution and drugs and a lot of problem. grass roots has just been a wonderful neighbor to me and we have two family members on the street. i feel safe knowing my daughter who attends san francisco state lives two doors down and there are times i have to actually escort her when she gets off the bus and if she comes home during the hours when grass roots is still open, i feel safe. they are always at the door. they don't allow any kind of loitering. they have been great neighbors to us. and it really is so much better than having a liquor store or

another problem or another restaurant or bar in our neighborhood. i have been working with the captains from both the tenderloin and the central divisions and i have been successful in getting some of our neighbors to turn lights on at night and we're really working hard at getting people to talk the awnings down and not relying on the police to do everything for us. they have been wonderful neighbors and i just wanted to say that on their behalf. thank you. president olague: thank you. [applause] >> commissioners, i am terry from st. louis, missouri, and i moved here for medical marijuana. i'm a cancer survivor and tired of taking pharmaceuticals. being able to meet grass roots, it decided where i was going to live. i live around the corner from where they're at. their presence, the upper tenderloin, at that particular area, their presence actually stabilizes that corner.

as does the officer was saying, it does, it's the real thing. i am from a very security conscious place, st. louis, missouri, and i can tell you that grass roots is a great place. the people when they come in there, everything is proper. it's proper and they don't take crap. they don't let people stand outside and bring down the community. it's a very good thing and i am just really here in support of it and want to thank you all for considering it. president olague: thank you. are there any additional speakers in support of project sponsor? >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is kim valenti and i work with ihs in-home support services with the city and county of san francisco. i am also a cancer survivor. i live across the street from grass roots. i have been a patient of grass roots dispensary on post street since the dispensary started in mid 2000 and compared to any of the other medical outlets, they stands head and shoulders above the crowd.

the scores of positive reviews on a dozen different online sites attest to this support. the grass roots policy has always been one of compassion, integrity, fairness, high standards, and a benchmark of business practices in this industry. they were one of the earliest and have always been in my humble opinion the very best. and if any dispensary deserves to have a new location granted, it is definitely grass roots. the proposed outlet could benefit many patients, including me. otherwise, i would have to make my way trying to find something. i don't want what my doctor wants to give me. i have bone degeneration from leukemia. he wants to give me opiates. i don't want to. i work for the city. i would much rather go to grass roots. i even brought one of my clients who is a ph.d. and he would like to explain hemp, too. thank you very much. i really appreciate it. president olague: thank you. are there any additional

speakers in support of project sponsor? if you could line up over here then because this is taking a lot more time than it should. or if you would all like to stand up and show your support. >> if everyone who is supporting our project please stand up and show support. [applause] >> thank you. president olague: thank you. and if there are any other folks who would like to speak, certainly you can. okay. please come to the mike. >> good afternoon. my name is thomas sparks. i live across from grass roots. i am also one of the customers. and i have reflex dystrophy syndrome. it is estimated between 1.5 and 6 million americans suffer from chronic devastating pain disease. that's more than those with breast cancer, h.i.v. aids and multiple sclerosis combined, yet

today it remains unheard of and is curable if treated early and yet they have difficulty in tiending a finally and -- in finding a timely and proper diagnosis and a lifetime of pain, burning disability, financial ruin and isolation and depression that often leads to the ultimate painkiller, suicide. i tell you today if it wasn't for for dispensaries like grass roots and other organizations that help chronic pain patients acquire compassionate options, and it's best to find compassionate options through legal channels like going through an organization like grass roots instead of quote, unquote, going to the streets. i can't go to the streets for my medication. i depend on pain dispensaries

like grass roots. and any chance to put another dispensary into the city that's going to deliver a compassionate option for chronic pain patients and survivors, yes, let it be. thank you. president olague: thank you. next speaker please. save your applause. >> good afternoon. my name is jimmy bullar -- president olague: speak into the mike, sir. they will pick you up. >> yes. i am a patient and art director in life. i take cannabis because i have prostate problems that doctors cannot solve and i am here to say that grass roots is an amazing place for patients to start with. we are not drug addicts. we are not drug dealers. we are not crackheads. you look at me and i am a normal person and most people who goss

go to grass roots are like me, normal people, who need their medication. and i used to live close to grass roots -- >> you're going to turn that off, right? or you're going to go out. one of the two. thank you. >> i used to live close to grass roots nine years ago and i would have never even gone close to that location and i have to say that since i have been going there the last couple of years, i have never felt threatened and if anything, i can testify that they care about the people on their block. when they see homeless people getting hurt, there are the first people calling for help. and i have personally seen them help out people on the street. last thing, they have a drive every year and there is a fire station that is right next to their location. and they raise about 20 times more food and money than the fire station it. and everybody in the neighborhood knows it and

everybody who goes to that dispensary helps out kids and all the charities they stand for. that is all i have to say. thank you so much. president olague: thank you. is there any additional speakers in support of project sponsor? seeing none, d.r. requester, you get two-minute rebuttal time. you have two minutes of rebuttal time. okay. project sponsor, you have two minutes. okay. that is the end of the hearing. now we take it to the commissioners. commissioner moore? commissioner moore: i am not speaking to the application in front of us but i want to pullback to engage the commissioners in a discussion which we had repeatedly over the years and with particular more spencety in the last year and

between then and now and in 2005 that san francisco adopted the first regulations on marijuana dispensaries and when many of us joined the commission, we actively pursued sorting out the initially difficult issues that came with approving it. and i think as a commission we worked really well to get the way of discussing with each other how to support what is basically law in the city and in the state of california. how far, it is now for quite a while that we are starting to see that the regulations in place are creating a problem and that is call ed oversaturation and limiting the narrow area within san francisco for m.c.d. stores which from my perspective starts to defeat the purpose with health-supported views with

the population as large. and it is actually in march and i was cleatly unaware of this application coming forward and there is nothing against the applicant to speak against them in any form or shape and there was an argue in the paper that was called medical marijuana, san francisco must rethink rules. and i thought to myself, i'm going to xerox that article for myself and share it when we start talking about this again and some of the rules from restrict us at looking at other neighborhoods by which we overconcentrate in the areas of where it is allowed. that is here on this map as you all know and primary this corridor which is south of market and lower tenderloin and lower north hill. and i think when i look at this

map and saying within a quarter mile there is only one and looking accumulaticumulatively the red area identified by zoning where it occurs. with all m.c.d.'s south of market and an additional nine 1/2 a mile. that is quite a large facility all clustered together. as the rebuttal to our attempt and with the board of appeals who came back and wanting to support what is more our intent of changing policy and we were

rebutted because there was youth serving uses within the thousand feet, things that with respect properly identified or perhaps the definition of youth serving uses as kind of unclear. but there are when you look at the record of the appeal, there were indeed three groups that had enough voice and credibility by defieping youth oriented sfs and from kids under 18, 18 or below. and our support for m.c.d.'s will return. and i think in this particular case and i did the little search and partially google tools and a couple of other websites that identify what could potentially be youth serving youth and there are quite a few institutions and

could file an appeal and i think there is on 965 if i have the number correct, something called chalk that is communities in harmony advocating for learning and kids. and that is a group which is staffed with youth counselors helping young people with transformative development and employment and i think that could potentially fall within the category. we have the asian american and aars, who are providing youth programs on 1010 mission. and lastly we have the temple which also has arabic education class for young people together

with youth-related services which come out of that particular mosque. and then i think there's also the john scott vocal school that provides vocal training and coaching services also on 965 mission. and i am asking myself as to whether or not this particular clustering of potential youth-related services shouldn't be addressed first. and supervisor kim and have both picked up the issue of overconcentration as it starts to become almost like an unabling element in the south of market community and i am quoting here supervisor macarini

who says that the regulations have worked well but amendments may be necessary to offset any disproportionate impact and is getting what we have talked about in policy. and supervisor kim put out a note saying it's not to say we do not support medical marijuana, which we obviously all do, but we are talking about a large swath in a neighborhood where we want to prevent clustering. i have enough policy issues and i encourage us not in tonight but to not really rush to approving this and really take a second look at the distribution of youth-related facilities nearby and al talk with the supervisors to resolve the issue of overclustering which has been an issue for all of us for quite some time. i am making a motion to continue until such policy discussions

including staff investigation on the youth serving facilities has been clairefied. >> second. president olague: commissioner miguel? migu commissioner miguel: yes, a couple of other questions. first of all, i would like to ask the project sponsor what this information is and the information that's coming to me and doesn't necessarily have the best reputation in the neighborhood. >> it is a landmark-tenant relationship and i think the added security and a staff security person at the door all the time and obviously loitering is not permitted because it crow yates confusion -- it creates confusion for law enforcement driving by and people are standing in front. if anything, we will keep traffic moving in front of that location which should have a

positive impact and the patrol special will also be parked on that block. so it's a good working relationship and the landlord is very supportive of us and wants it to be supported. commissioner miguel: thank you. as to commissioner moore's comments, i understand what the supervisors first did when they drafted the legislation. they were very cautious, let us say, in geographic locations allowed and put in the youth provisions. they didn't do the same thing with liquor stores in the same manner and liquor kills a lot more people and causes a lot p