supervisor avalos: good morning. open to the city operations neighborhood services committee. we are joined by supervisor elsbernd and supervisor mar.

madam clerk, please share with us your announcement. >> please turn off all cell phones and pagers. if you move to submit speaker cards, please place them in the container to your left. if you do not have a seat, please proceed to the north court on the first floor, where we set up and overflow room. if you submitted materials to the committee, please place them next to the file. >> thank you, madam clerk. we want to keep the aisles and entrance doors clear. we will line up on either side. i appreciate the people's cooperation with that. >> item #one. andhearing to consider that the transfer of a type 21 off-sale

general license from 6333 geary boulevard to 3950-24th street to roberta l. lang for whole foods market, california, inc. dba whole foods market, will serve the convenience of the people of the city and county of san francisco. supervisor avalos: thank you, madam clerk. >> good morning, supervisors. the associate team leader has filed an application with the california department of control of optional general license, located in the middle of the block. hours of operation daily are 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.. this business is currently operating within action 20 this

will allow the applicant to sell beer and spirits at this location. there are more than 50 letters of protest or support. this calls for service from september of 2010 to september of 2033. and the a l u represents -- recommends approval of the conditions. subject to the permission of the hours between at o'clock a.m. and 10:00 p.m. daily. the sale of this bill that spirits showery limited to one area with a shelf space not larger than 4 feet by 6 feet.

supervisor avalos: there is a low murmur in the hall that is distracting. if you could keep your conversation to a whisper that is imperceptible to the panel, that would be great. anyone who would like to comment on item number one, please come forward. >> good morning, supervisors. i have been a merchant in the area of the whole foods for 20 years. i am against the whole foods liquor license.

and the whole neighborhood in general. san francisco residential and commercial neighborhoods have many businesses that serve the region with clothing, snacks, and many more. and they also host wholefoods, and have done so for many years. whole foods came in at the offering of fresh, organic foods. however, competition with wholefoods has led to struggling. the 24th street company has more

witnesses. they are specifically served when a business provides a new benefit to the community. wholefoods, selling liquor or providing services this area is highly concentrated. and whole foods will not provide a community with new benefits or services if they get a liquor license. the whole foods parking lot is also small.

they have a few thousand -- [beep] supervisor avalos: there is a clock right there. the parking -- >> the parking lot as always fall. when the parking lot is full, cars are always overflowing into the street, causing congestion. i also want to say that there are many concerns in the neighborhood that are threatened by wholefoods selling liquor. like this one here.

>> thank you. supervisor avalos: a question for you, or the inspector, what was the liquor license of the store that was there before? >> i believe that i have records to show that previously it was a 20, and prior to that it was a 21 at one time. supervisor avalos: which is what we are approving today? >> which is what you are approving today. supervisor avalos: when it closed, it was 20? >> beer and wine. type 20 is beer, wine, and distilled spirits. supervisor avalos: do you know how long ago that change was made? >> i would have to look through the records. supervisor avalos: can i comment on that a little bit? -- >> can i comment on that a

little bit? >supervisor avalos: no, thank you. any other members of the public that would like to comment? >> good morning. i am a sourcing leader from whole foods market. i am not sure that i think that the previous store with a rigid closed with a 21 license. the previous manager and now works for wholefoods and he told me they serve spirits until the time of closing. when that we applied for this license, we were doing it -- when we applied for this license, we were doing it purely on what customers were requesting. i have 100 signatures of support from our customers. i can put that up here. before, cal foods had a much larger section. we are looking for four feet. the style of alcohol that we are going to be bringing in, we will

not be price competitive at all. we are a higher and brush restorer -- end grocery store. featuring local partisan products. -- bartizan products. i wish that that parking lot was bigger. that is the bane of our existence. we have ordered traffic studies. but i do not believe that adding high alcohol will be driving by an additional car traffic. there are already a lot of great stores in the neighborhood that people are going to, if they are shopping for hard alcohol. they will be going to st. clare's. or up the street. like us said, this is purely for public convenience, this is something that are customers ask us for. if this is something that people do not approve of, we will drop it.

and i have the sheets. they are showing the signatures of folks getting these requests. we get about five requests every day for it. that is what we would like to bring in. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. supervisor elsbernd: -- supervisor mar: quite a few of the small businesses in the neighborhood have raised the notion that this may impact public health concerns in the neighborhood, as well as the vibrancy and success and vitality of the small business sector there. that is one question. i always try to benefit to the community bourses potential health concerns. i think the benefits to the community are really helping the

small business sector at this time, when they are suffering. can you address what they think about those concerns that were raised? it was way more than 50 letters of concern in complaint. quite a bit more, as i see in our packet. could you address that? >> if it is found that we should not have this licence issued, we will definitely drop it. we were doing it by customer request and for the vitality of the business. seeing the stuff that we will be bringing in, it is really small. this is about four feet. we did not think that this would put at risk any of the local businesses. because the previous store that was there sold about 16 feet of hard alcohol, we drastically scale that down. we look at stuff that would not be a threat to our local

businesses. thank you. any further questions? supervisor avalos: thank you very much. it was one of the conditions of approval, the 4 foot by 6 ft. space for sales. ok. thank you very much. if there are no other members of the public? >> good morning, supervisors. carl kramer, the san francisco living wage coalition. speaking to the issue, wholefoods might be in store, but it is on the low end of wages and benefits. it is the wal-mart standard of wages for workers. we have an example here of an owner of a neighborhood store who is coming in, asking for saving those stores that are paying families supporting wages.

our owner is obviously supporting his family. the big difference, and i met with the ceo, he was a firm believer in unions and of paying a living wage at cal foods. the ceo of whole foods has written a book against labor relations. helping to keep the neighborhood businesses open that are paying decent wages and not allowing them to move into a neighborhood in close them down. thank you. -- and close them down. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. >> good morning, supervisors. i have lived in san francisco for 29 years. in taking exception to the

comments made by the supervisor in regards to the so-called public benefit -- i am taking exception to the comments made by the supervisor in regards to the so-called public benefit. public benefit is such a nebulous concept, we will all disagree as to what it means in this instance. i find that in a city like san francisco, which is supposed to be somewhat tolerant, why we are putting so many restrictions on a business trying to open up? let's be realistic. maybe the best use for that space would be a homeless shelter. i do not see anyone proposing that. i do not see anyone proposing the best use for treasure island is tfor the occupy san francisco people to go there. you should let wholefoods opened the store with the liquor

license. and if this license is such a big deal, it will attract demonstrators, etc. that is the best way. let the supporters and detractors either support or don't support the business. that is the way of doing it, rather than having us all standing here, trying to decide for the owner of whether they want to sell liquor or not. it is obvious that any business survives, whether it gets support or not. i say, let's do it that way. if enough people do not want liquor sold there, they will not shop there or demonstrate against the concept. if people want liquor to be sold there, they will support the store. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. if there are no other members of the public who would wish to

comment, i will close public comment on item number one. recommendation, seconded, moving forward. madam clerk, can we have a roll call under these conditions, on the item? >> on the motion to accept conditions approved by the police and forwarded to the board with recommendation, supervisor mar? no. supervisor elsbernd? aye. supervisor avalos? aye. supervisor avalos: the motion passes. please call item no. 2. and >> item #two. hearing to consider that the issuance of a type 48 on-sale general public premises