-- is showing that we can deal with local banks as well. >> i am with sf loma. i want to make a couple of points. one of the things that studies have shown over and over again is that while formula retail creates jobs, it also costs jobs. as you heard before, especially in urban areas. the job creation is no more and sometimes less than the job loss. one of the things i wanted to point out about what rick said is he said through attrition. he has gotten rid of six jobs. one of the things people do not think about is the domino effect. if his mission street store closed, it would impact many other stores in that area. there is a domino effect. that area has been affected by

the fact his business is down 16%. fewer people are coming to that area. lowe's is affecting cole hard work. if goes away, others will go in there is your job loss. you have heard about how much money is lost when locally owned businesses are impacted and how much they get back to the city. the one thing i wanted to mention about the economic study that was done by civic economics is that there is good is. one of the things we did is we asked what would happen if people spend 10% more of their money, switched it from a chain stores to local stores. not spend more money, just shifted. it would create 1300 jobs and

$190 million in economic input -- output in the city every year. supporting local stores is good for the economy. >> on the website for sf loma, there are a number of studies. the money -- the number you have heard and if you talk about it, to be fair, if we're talking about retail just for the time being, you spend $100, $43 is reinvested in the local economy when you spend at locally owned. when you spend that in chain stores, $28 is reinvested. in the local economy. a local store has a local account, all local lawyer, a local person who does their

windows, all that is spent by corporate chain stores elsewhere. the money is recirculated. businesses are supporting other local businesses with their money. that does not happen with chain stores. supervisor mar: it looks like sfloma.org. our next speakers. pffthank you for being here. >> i work at walmart, store number 2418. i started six years ago. supervisor kimsupervisor cohen:?

>> in richmond. my bring home was $15,000. i have a family of four. i live in a low-income apartment. with the holidays coming, i get to work more hours but it means i see my kids less. i have a 17-year-old daughter i can say goodnight to. a 5-year-old son that i tell him have a good day of school, that is it. our health care just went up. i was off work for a couple of months and i had to go to of physical therapy. to walk in the door, it cost $45. and then after the hour-long, i got build from kaiser permanente

in average of 400 -- 4 rudder $30 for the extra service. -- $430. i only bring home $15,000. excuse me. a full-time associate. this is provided. at a price. part-time associates, only the workers get the benefits. there are families and children, they have to pay. supervisor mar: much of the framing of what goes on in wal- mart stores is driven by the public-relations office of walmart from tv ads to the mainstream media. i will ask you to respond to how walmart portrays itself and

what is the real story from the workers perspective. >> walmart says they pay living wages. they do not. $13 an hour and my organization believes know. you do not. most of us do not make 13 after being there six years. we want to hold walmart accountable for the promises they make going into the community. thank you. supervisor cohen: do know how much wal-mart employees would be making inside san francisco? >supervisor mar: there is no walmart in san francisco. supervisor cohen: your story is in placerville. part of the corporate culture is it is standard for them to work for six years.

it is standard to work six years before you can get paid $13 an hour. >> i do not make 13. supervisor cohen: you come in the door, does everyone make minimum wage? how do you advance? >> every year you get a review done and depending on your work performance for the year, that is how you get a raise. condo thank yosupervisor cohen:. supervisor mar: our next speaker. >> ron phillips. i was unjustly fired. i was one of the lucky ones that got my job back. i will tell you my story which might help you out. only are they unjustly paid,

they have a tendency to fire people for any reason. fire people. i am a full-time employee. part-time and they do not have to pay benefits. the turnover rate is extremely high. like she was saying. her hair -- you get a pay raise at 40 cents a year. if you work that is wrong with that system. even if they move, a lot of people would be part-time. and on welfare. where is the benefit? >i am nervous.

that is the way you -- the hours are long and har. -- hard. we have to work those hours to pay our rent. supervisor mar: why do you f --- did you form our walmart? >> it is like benefits. we don't get good benefits. we got to pay more than normal people. if we call in today's sick we get paid for one day. most places will pay of for two days. wages are not adequate.

but you have heard. a lot of people have to work long hours or unemployment will subsidize that. we are trying to do our best to fight. supervisor mar: our next speakers. >> [speaking spanish] >> my name is alicia. i am oscar, i will be transmitting. she is a member of poder, a 20- year organization. she is a member of the committee. >> [speaking spanish]

>> one of the issues we're concerned about is about the proposed opening of fresh and easy in the mission community on 23rd. they started interviewing people in the committee. we have done over 225 service. >> [speaking spanish] >> so one of the issues that we're raising in this survey is 97% of our respondents should be full time rather than -- offer full time with them part-time. >> [speaking spanish]

>> another thing we found out is 90% also said that fresh and easy should be required to pay a living wage. a wage of dignity to its workers. we found out they pay $10 but community members are saying they should pay a living wage. >> [speaking spanish] >> people are saying that living wage should be $14.30 in san francisco. >> [speaking spanish] >> that is it for my part.

i wanted to say for you to support our community and support our efforts. to make sure that fresh and easy offers wages, dignified wages, living wages, especially in our neighborhood which is predominantly latino, low-income neighborhood. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you next speake. next speaker. >> i am a member of the committee and also with poder. we did 225 service.

this was to educate anthe community about the fresh and easy store. this was mostly done in spanish. some of the preliminary results as alicia mentioned. 98% of the people said fresh and easy should be ruired to hire a high proportion of residents from the mission, because residents are worried that because of the high unemployment in the area for, they are worried about that. they're worried that -- they want to be hired as well. on average, they said at least 64% of the workers from fresh and easy should be mission residents. supervisor cohen: how many? >> 64%. the stores do not hire cashiers to work at the store. instead, they are at self

checkout machines. employment opportunities at the store are very low. 87% of the people we surveyed said that fresh and easy should provide as many jobs as possible, and not be allowed to replace workers for machines. [bell] thank you. supervisor mar: we have some questions. supervisor cohen: how many stores are there? how many san franciscans are hired? >> they actually promised they would hire at least 50% residents from the neighborhood. they hired only 15%. supervisor cohen: where are you basing these numbers? >> i do not have that information. that is what we were told in meetings. there was a survey done. supervisor cohen: there were

meetings that were conducted in poder. supervisor mar: we should ask for some of that data. my understanding for the richmond district where there is one of the fresh and easy stores, the number was similar to what you said about your district or the other areas. it was much lower than that 50%, around those said koets. i am hoping they can provide the data so we can talk more with fresh and easy about that. supervisor cohen: just for a moment of clarity. i imagine the issue would come before us anyway. but -- based on the surveys, what is the total population in the mission? >> i am not sure right now. i do not know. we went to different -- we went around the lot. we went door knocking in the area. the park nearby which is a block

away. supervisor cohen: how many grocery stores exist already in the mission? >> in the area? close to the store, there are seven or eight grocery stores. they serve small-business is. >supervisor cohen: like mom and pop stores. supervisor mar: sometimes workers have to be at a certain educational requirement. sometimes it is not as easy to hire the 50% goal they said based on the educational level or the experience of some people from around the neighborhood but we should urge them to meet the different numbers they said. if they are far off from the 50% they have set, we have to work more closely with them. it is the office of economic and workforce development that will

-- is supposed to be recruiting around these it codes on those -- around this different stores. >> good afternoon. i am an organizer with people organizing to demand economic rights. our nation -- we are based in the mission district. i was digging through some family stuff and i came upon my mother's old united garment workers of america constitution. it dawned on me like the big debate over the past years has been about family flight. and hal lot of our families are being forced out of the city. we were born and raised here. and this embodies below what it is to -- my parents came to this country from al salvador.

with a union gender's salary you cannot afford to buy something in the mission district. i feel we have here, this is important. we're trying to chase something new. we're trying to chase the silver bullet or give [no audio] or winning over these corporations that do not give their share back. i think what this hearing is important to think about, what is it that prevents family flight? what does create community stability and economic resiliency? it is important that we began to think about how do we mitigate and shift away from the decline in wages, the decline in community health and the declining community power. if you are interested about conditional use, it is the only leverage we have. it is the only leverage we can

strengthen and deepened the influence of communities. these are multi-billion dollar global corporations that can afford this process. where do we go as community to address and mitigate the decline and a lowering of these thresholds in wages and benefits, community stability, but public health? it is the conditional use process. where do we go to give government action -- get government action to prevent the siphoning of up to $250,000 a week that fresh and easy would do? that is $250,000 in weekly sales that -- the money they would be making, that is a few cents within a seven block radius within casa marias and casa lucas. those are generations of

families that have created the mission what is and what it continues to be. it is that stability that sometimes gets lost in the talk of these different numbers. we really strongly feel that our job as community, is to go beyond a silver bullet. the america's cup, to go beyond the tax cuts and public subsidies. also competing stealing the [unintelligible] we need to think about how do we prevent family flight? it is not just about the services that are being offered but it is also about a living wage, dignity. it is about conditional use process. those are things it wanted to share with you. supervisor mar: thank you. peter cohen is a housing development for some --coordinae

city. >> i wanted to offer to you. i was involved in the crafting of the 2004 formula retail legislation. i have -- a little bit of history. if there is anything in particular. i heard earlier stephen cornell, we work with these folks intensively to think this through. there has been some troubleshooting in the years since then but there were three big issues that framed the concerns. one was mentioned earlier. the first is a non competitive playing field between local independents and corporate chain stores. the inability to be a strong negotiator on lease terms and

what ever it is, it needed to be counterbalanced through the process of entitlement. the second is where the money goes. this idea that small independents, up more money bounces through the local economy. it has been critical in a working-class and poor neighborhoods where you could get value through economic investment. the third is this idea of neighborhood character which is more abstract. we know when we see it. there was a lot of concern that it be done+ we did not have is deeper analytical work. it was extremely politically difficult to get that ordinance passed and there was not much assistance from the city departments at the time. they're much more interested. we have the benefit of a lot of the economic analysies, the vacancy studies that have been out there. i would suggest this needs to be done now.

looking at the next generation. how do we analyze this more deeply and inform ourselves about how the policy is working? >supervisor mar: you mentioned three areas where property was being developed. what areas would benefit us in understanding how formula retail impacts our city? >> the three typical things i hear when their arguments being given for a formula retailer is that it provides economic investment in the city as a whole or the neighborhood. the scale of the store makes a huge difference. if it is a small coffee shop, it is different than a large box. i do not think we know. the counter argument is that takes away from economic activity. you heard that here today. i do not think we know. there are some metrics out there and studies that have been -- been done in austin and boulder which can tell us that. the second is work force is often a claim, there are new

jobs with better wages than the local independence. sometimes that is true, sometimes it is not. we do not know if they are jobs that have shifted away from existing jobs because some businesses are at competed. we do not know what the net gain is either in numbers or types of jobs. that again is a kind of analytical question we typically answer more empirically or rhetorically. the third argument i often hear, increasingly in the last couple years is we have a vacant space and we need to fill space. we need to build on that lot or we have a vacant storefront. it is true. it raises the question of why are the space is vacant? in san francisco, there is a tremendous amount of commercial real estate owned not by the merchants and not even by locals but by folks who do not live in san francisco. there is a disincentive to

reduce prices to fill space, and you will find that prices are held high and the leasing market so they are inaccessible until formula retail comes along which has that creek -- credit-tenet value added. there is a lot of question about why space is vacant. is it being held of the market? is there a stagnant economy in which case the argument could be made for formula retail as a -- a way to jump-start it. i have seen this for years, both ways and we often end up in a political process to answer them as opposed to having analysis to inform us. those are my ideas. supervisor mar: a number of different studies were sighted on the website as well. our next speaker, the vice- president of san francisco's labor council. thank you. >> think you for calling this very critical hearing -- thank you for calling this very

critical hearing. this is a coalition of 15 community groups and 10 labor unions that have come together over the past couple of years to try to enhance, broughton, and create the city of san francisco that we care about. that is -- it is difficult now. there is all lot of competing issues. we have members out of work. we have a lot of our members who are looking for the cheapest way to go, because they cannot make ends meet and cannot afford to buy things at certain stores. where are all about trying to balance the needs of every community and every community as you know is different and its needs are different. when we look about formula retail stores, we have studied this over the past several months and we agree with a lot of things people have said. it is important to know that

formula retail stores need to be thought about in the greater context of living in san francisco. we agree for instance, with the planning commission's comments about strengthening the formula retail legislation. it needs to be tighter. it needs to be -- closed loopholes so when stores come in they are good neighbors to our friends and housing partners and ourselves. they have to be good partners and what does it mean to be a good partner? they bring their services, yes, they bring their goods, but they create a workp of workers. they create a workplace that is -- has a living wage ordinance and has health care. as you have heard, it is not an extra burden on the city and the government in terms of supplying things like food stamps and other kinds of social services that many of these large retail formula businesses lack as they

come in. one thing in terms of policy, of strengthening the formula retail legislation, another is as the planning commission and the small business people say, the economic impact study. that study them on a business by business to make sure that as they are coming in, what are the effects they are having? are they bringing the revenue promised historically? look at what is happening in the other cities? are they bringing the kinds of jobs, are their burden to our city, or the adding something that can be done through the economic impact. the living wage ordinance is an important one. living wage ordinance, many of us were around for the beginning. it keeps growing, it keeps being amended, it keeps being better and why cannot be to the formula retail stores? why can it not be included so people will have a living wage? people will have health care, people will have