private attorney in san francisco. i want to take a moment out of my day because i see a great local business with good, local ownership that is trying to do right in the neighborhood. there was a wonderful turnout at the planning commission, which was unanimously approving the use, and the commissioners to every man and woman on the commission took a moment to acknowledge the contribution of the owners and the way the business was run. it is right for san francisco. it is a relocation, not a new permit be issued in the area. we certainly recommend and hope this committee will recommend the approval to the full board. thank you for your time. supervisor avalos: think you very much. next speaker please. -- thank you very much. >> my name is robert garcia. i have been in the neighborhood

since 1965. polk street has change, not for the better. it is getting worse, and it is dangerous. they want to know why people do not go down there, it is horrible what is going on there, and it has been a steady decline. it is a destination point. this is what has happened. they're going across the most densely populated area west of new york. . thousands of people live there and we hear it all night long people coming across our never read and 3:00 in the morning going back. we have tried to work with them. here's what is happening. i only have two copies of these the prostitution problem there

has exploded. the reason is that there are people there who are drinking and have expendable money. i am also with the first offenders program. there was an operation there by a northern station, and they made 400 arrests for prostitution, and that was in the two-week time and this operation just ended a week ago. there are problems there. the area is saturated. i think there are 13 liquor licence allowed in the particular area, and there are about 30. it is a high crime area. i do not have the exact statistics for that particular plot, but the one next to it was 5557 the last i checked. that is out of control, and that is right on polk street.

if this was a restaurant that served alcohol, we would support it and have no problem. this is the type 48 license. now the idea of serving coffee is a crunch. there are too many things wrong with this p. -- now of this idea of serving coffee is a front. we have three police stations that come together. still, we have these problems. we work really hard for the last 20 years to clean up that area. we ran the circuit, prostitution circus out of san francisco. we had as many as 125 people on street patrols. we have three different groups on polk street. and they're supporting all of the things that cause the

problems. i really recommend this not be approved or continued until we of a good group organized. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning. i have been going to koko's for a year. i do not really think of it as a bar, more like a community meeting place. they had a group of writers go in and tell stories about the area. they also supported the art crawl. they had different paintings. it is not really a bar. i understand the concerns. there are many bars there. they do have a lot of shows, but as far as i know, they are not getting a new entertainment line since. they wanted to appease the people protesting them. it is about a sense of community. i have never felt unsafe

standing outside koko's. it is not a place to hang out for fun unless you're going to a destination. the bus stop it's selself much r to stand on when there is a doorman for you know no one will try anything. during the day there will be a copy shop. there will be more people they're making it is safe as possible for foot traffic. -- during the day there will be a coffee shop. there is the presence there, the sense of community that makes you feel safer walking down the street knowing they are there. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. net speaker, please. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is melanie grossman.

i am a resident and social worker, but i am speaking more as a resident. in my opinion, we do not need more bars on polk street, but i would also look -- like to look at things from a point of view of seniors to live in the area. i am a member of the older women's league. one of our things is aging in the city. we also support healthy aging, which means getting out there in walking, interacting in the community. i see more bars just means it is harder to walk and more crowds. there are people focusing on having a good time and not necessarily looking out for who was passing by. you could be bumped into or anything like that.

the whole idea of safety is very intimidateing. many seniors to walk in the evening. my husband and i worked iwalk ie evening and it is intimidating with all of the chaos and crime in the evening. in my opinion we do not need another bar or coffee shop. i would like to see businesses of the area where people could run errands and live independently in the city and have that within their neighborhood, rather than another bar. that is pretty much what i have to say. i hope you will vote against this. i do not think it would be good for seniors, and do not forget, there are more than 400 units of senior housing very close to the site. supervisor avalos: think he very much. next speaker, please. -- thank you very much.

>> am linda chapman, and the residents are very opposed to bars. -- i am linda chapman. this is a neighborhood where there are many older people, more than average, many lower income people, more than average. the bedroom is likely over the street. it is chaos. many people will tell you that they cannot go on polk street anymore. completely unbelievable. leaving aside the prostitution, pence come in shooting some of my intersection -- leaving aside the prostitution, pimps, and shootings, one of the intersections is my intersection where ttwo pimps got into a

shootout. i would object that these protests are all scattered. when the only speak chinese, naturally they asked for standard protest. the ones that were certainly not standard, such as mine, were not included. the things that were not included were the withdrawals. these of only one he received. i do not know whether you got a chance to look at the e-mail i sent you yesterday, it was late. i would be glad to brief you on the falsification and the fact that there has been no remedy at all provided. i was this that adviser to the six army commanders. i cannot review in three minutes

the way i would have done them, but i certainly know how to conduct an investigation. this is the list of residents in the area, over 1700, not counting residential hotel units. none of them seem to have received notices. i contacted hundreds through managers and not one notice. then in addition, they altered the mailing list. laurie martin's is an officer of the membership chair that refuse to take my membership for a long time so i cannot vote against her. the secretary has the addresses left off the opponent directly across the street where abc contacts them. it is not on the list they gave to abc. there were other falsifications provided to abc under penalty of perjury. abc by law, and this is a country of loss, is required to

have a mailing sent out to the 500 foot area. they said each individual did not get a notice could walk down to abc and file -- supervisor avalos: think you very much. -- thank you very much. >> good morning. my name is walnut paiilma payne. i was called by the non-english and limited english speakers senior housing. they are really scared. they told me they are scared to go out at night. hopefully they will not be so scared if there is assistance for them. right now it is inundated with

undesirables. so what happens at night is something for seniors that is hard to think and go out and enjoy it, so i hope you will really consider helping the seniors. i am not talking about even abc, because the seniors really need help, and the language is a barrier. i would like to help them, but i am so stretched out having so many seniors talking to me about it. i would like you to really pay attention to them and see what you can do to elevate -- help them to not be so fearful of what is going on. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please.

>> my name is [inaudible] . i am a patron of koko's and also a friend. i want to address the notion that having a bar in the area brings the bad element, because i do not think it is true. i do not have a car, so i walk everywhere. i walk around the streets and nob hill several times a week, in the areas that i avoid are the areas that do not have any kind of business that is open at night. those are the streets that are the scariest. if i am walking home, i am going to walk past the area where bars like the mark are or where book but is because that feels safer to me.

i have seen street people sleeping in empty storefronts on a daily basis. etching keeping stores in the area will improve the area and not make it worse. i think it is a totally erroneous notion that bars bring a bad element to the area. i also thinking will losing ko's and the people there will be a total loss for the area. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i have been a resident of the lower polk neighborhood for five years. i have been a customer since they opened. as you all have seen, the people speaking against this are people speaking in general about the

bar scenes or the bark concentration of the corridor, but the people familiar with the business are -- are all extremely positive about the positive impact of koko in the neighborhood and how it has been key to the community. it has granted me the opportunity to know about community event come and eat my neighbors and get involved with the lower neighborhood association. my next-door neighbor used to go to koko's until she passed away everybody the chance this will be a positive force in the neighborhood instead of a negative one. there is my saying in my home town that the just should not be for the seniors -- centers. thank you. -- not just for the sinners. thanks you. >> good morning.

i am james moran. i was formerly employed with the koko cocktails' until a lease was given up for a gigantic corporation or hospital that is 75 feet from my house. the move to the upper area for this business would be an incredible opportunity for the neighborhood to gain a community that does not seem to have a spot yet up there that we can all congregate in. the owners here are all residents of this wonderful city for many years. i have had the incredible opportunity to work with them and see the way they run business from the inside and outside. i was going there before i got the opportunity to work there. they run an incredibly good

business. i have been in this industry since i was eight or nine years old. i can tell you right now i have never seen anyone run a business as well as they do. it is a credit -- we cannot tell you as a community how much they have turned around that law. i have been to the block before they took over and after, and it has been a 180. to have of this and that that actually has a model for keeping the community together and not just an outside presence, which i think a lot of my fellow committee members seemed so concerned, is something that they can all really get. if you see the way to run the business themselves, there is no doubt this is the biggest piece of the community that i have ever been a part of. i cannot tell you how much i support, and i would also like

to have a job in this hard time. if i could please my own employment tired times, that would be great. >> thinksupervisor avalos: thak you. any other members of the public that would like to comment? you have already spoken, sir. sir, we have heard your comments before. thank you very much. if there are no other members of the public that would like to comment, we can close public comment. aactually my impression of koko's is a really strong neighborhood-serving business. looking at the changes that have happened because of the new development and displacement that is occurring for this establishment, as well as it --

which creates an exception for this one business to remain in the neighborhood, and as well as the business doing a lot of really strong community work as well and supporting neighborhood artists in neighborhood youth, providing a lot of work -- organizing with merchants in the area to help finalize the corridor, to me it makes a lot of sense that we can approve this license. i would like to, if you are ok to move it forward rec recommendation. the committee report at the next board meeting. we can take that without objection. ok. thank you for your work. we will see you soon. if you could please call item no. 3. >> item 3, resolution

authorizing the department of public health to submit a one- application for calendar year 2012 to continue to receive funding for the comprehensive hiv prevention programs grant from the centers for disease -- disease control and prevention program. requesting $8 million in hiv prevention funding for san francisco from january 1, 2012, through december 31, 2012. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. >> i am the deputy director of hiv prevention for the sentences go department of public health, and we would like your approval on this resolution. this is our annual application to the centers for is disease control and prevention. it represents $8 million with which we supplement with general funds. this is to put the programs on the ground through community- based organizations.

supervisor avalos: the availability seems to be a little bit less than previous. >> it does. the national hiv strategy has looked at realigning funds for the united states, and fortunately and unfortunately san francisco has done a great job with hiv prevention in the past 30 years, so we are experiencing a reduction in funds while funds will be reallocated more in the southern areas of the united states. we will expect a decrease in funds for the next five years. we think we are in good shape to get that, because we have such a strong program in san francisco. supervisor avalos: thank you. very good. if there are no other questions, we can go on to public comment. >> good morning.

i have lived in san francisco for 59 years. i would like to speak in support of this resolution. the reason being is that i fully support the new administration of barbara perseus. i feel the department of public health needs all the help and money it can get. -- the reason being is that i fully support the new administration of barbara garcia. i feel that this money is well used, and obviously it will address all -- the ending problem. -- long-standing problem. as long as they do what they do, then this problem in a certain sense will never be solved.

according to my interpretation of what is going on and the department of public health, it seems like every penny is necessary. one of the reasons why i feel this way -- in fact there was a recent announcement that the cfo would be retiring, so that is another instance where they have to bring in new talent, and obviously there is always a problem of trying to blend everyone to work together. also, i would like to mention as an example of department of public health needing help, the reason -- the recent examiner of the examiner, the help lieade says "broken system." inside, the article is titled long waits keep therapy patients

hurting for care. that is the latest front page article for the department of public health. i think this measure would really come in handy, at least to help the hiv section of the department, and then hopefully they can devote more time and resources toward san francisco general hospital and laguna hospital. it has taken me five years to advocate for improvements to the department of public health, one of them being certain audit for san francisco general hospital. supervisor avalos: this item is referring to an application to the center for disease control. if you could keep your items to that, that would be great. >> i feel like any help the department could good, especially hiv, it will help avert a series that and funds to

problem areas and the department. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. if there are no other comments by members of the public, we will close public comment. we will take that without objection. madam clerk, no other items? >> no, mr. chairman. we are adjourned. thank you very much. >> welcome.

i am the senior vice president of human resources and corporate real-estate, and i am really delighted to welcome the honorable edwin lee, mayor of san francisco. we have a number of employees who work here. everybody, welcome. we are delighted that you have come to see our office space, and we also have some good news to announce. with that, i would like to give callback the microphone to share some of that good news. [applause] >> good morning, everybody. thanks so much for being here. i, too, would like to extend my gratitude to the honorable edwin lee. thanks so much for coming. hopefully, you got a small chance to look around.

the gallery was really built for to the we will purposes. one was to showcase the work of the customers, which is the best way [inaudible] secondly, to show off new technology and how you can use it to sell technology challenges. if you look around, you can see interesting things. i just had the experience of bringing my nephews. we eventually printed things out. that was very exciting. one thing that was particularly exciting was the announcement of

our presence in san francisco. it has been a great location for us. we have continually expanded over the last half-dozen years. we love to meet here in the city. this has turned out to be a fantastic place to host and guests. it has been a fantastic place to attract employees, to tap into the creativity and imagination of the city and all the support it provides. we are thrilled to be here, and we will continue to expand our presence here. this morning, we are announcing that we are building another 36,000 square feet of space. this one is in the adjacent our and will be connecting the two buildings. just like they are connected on the ground floor, this will be connecting the high rise of the building. this will continue our expansion of our presence in san

francisco, which has just been incredible. there is nothing like to bring a guest to san francisco and not only being able to show off what the guest does, but to show off the city itself. the combination of using it as a showcase for us as well as a place to expand our employee base is very exciting for us. now, i would like to introduce the honorable edwin lee. [applause] mayor lee: good morning. welcome to the city of innovation, san francisco. we continue to be really strong. i want you to feel comfortable, all of you here. it sounds like every six months we will be coming back to make another announcement. i was here in march when we talk about the first major expansion