as a community center than a bar. we really tried to have programming that reflects the diversity of our neighborhood. if you go there on any given day, you will see a punk rock show, drag queens melting in nthe sun. we especially thespivalue our pe as an economic engine of the city. one that can offer a space for nonprofits that are hurting in these times. for small community organizations that are losing their funding. so they can get the moneys they need to do their very important work. this year, we have raised over $30,000 for causes. the summer is just getting started. we have a beautiful patio, so i expect that number will only be growing.

thank you. [applause] president chiu: our district 10 supervisors will make the next presentation. supervisor cohen: i would like to introduce to you -- there's she is. put your hands together and welcome her, please. [applause] she is the owner, operator of a beloved independent bookstore that makes up our 18th street

corridor. she has been in business for the last 20 years. do a little bit of coaxing, i had to bring her here. she is very shy. i wanted to take a moment to publicly acknowledge her. the commitment she has made to the greater city and county of san francisco. a neighborhood bookstore is not an easy business to operate. i was first drawn up to the bookstore when i was walking along the corridor a couple of years ago. i was drawn to the store because of its inviting storefront. the owner was there and to talk to me about the operation. she invited me to come back and she was there when i came back the second time. as a former small business owner, i also know the very -- the variety of challenges it takes to operate something, anything.

i appreciate the fact that although she is here today, she has a humble heart, and eight great big heart. she is an outstanding role model for children. i does want to say thank you. you are an integral part of our community. because this is recognizing christopher books. [applause] >> thank you. i am not shy when i might -- win am i -- when i am at the bookstore. i've been there for 20 years. you should all come and visit. thank you. [no audio[applause]

president chiu: district 11 supervisor will be making the next presentation. >> i want to congratulate all of the awardees today. congratulations. thank you for your great work. moving san francisco for rich, being a focal point for job creation. thank you for opening our spaces of for the community. having said that, i want to call up our next guest. please come to the podium.

eddy has been a wonderful asset to the excelsior district. we talk about restaurants and small businesses opening of themselves for community, edie has opened up his self and his restaurants to the district and a great way. folks may know that the restaurant is occupying the form grenada cafe. it was a cultural institution for san francisco. they had a fire back in 2010. it was a number of months before we had any new replacement of a restaurant. it was wonderful that eddy came to bring his restaurant to the neighborhood.

it has been around since 1974. i am not sure how long eddy has been working with the restaurant, but a number of decades before he made the trip to the excelsior district. he is the grandson of henry chung. he opened up the first henri's restaurant back in 1974. what is fantastic about eddy's worked is that his background and front room and bar, people come together to gather about moving the excelsior far apart -- forward. we will have a family nights. it is a place where we bring people together and enjoy excellent cuisine.

i wanted thank you for your great work. revitalizing the corridor, your work in creating jobs in san francisco and creating a wonderful space for people to come together and meet and enjoy company. thank you very much. [applause] >> i feel like a million dollars. unbelievable. we opened back in 1974. i have been working downtown. the action group has been helping a lot.

i will do the best i can for the area. >> patty has a constant presence on the excelsior corridor. -- and he has a constant presence on the cells are corridor. it is wonderful how you brought yourself to be community. >> thank you very much. i appreciate your time. take care. [applause]

president chiu: is tommy from swan oyster depot in the audience? i do not see him. i will say i know that i wanted to have an opportunity to honor this family from my district. they're marking their 100th anniversary. the oysters in district 9 -- i want to give them a run for his money. we will have a competition. i want to acknowledge the tremendous historic celebration they will be happen later -- having later this year. we do have one other presentation from our mayor. to represent the mayor, we have

his legislative liaison. >> the mayor would like to recognize sunset shapers. it is a great made in san francisco company in the outer sunset. helps design and build surfboards. james is very involved in the community, revitalizing the corridor. i should also mention, this proclamation on behalf of the mayor declaring -- we are giving this to you on behalf of the mayor and on behalf of your district supervisor. congratulations. [applause] >> thank you very much. that is quite an honor. i would like to thank the mayor and his office for this honor and recognition. it is nice to be recognized for

manufacturing, especially in a city known for technology and great restaurants. we are only two years old. after hearing about swan, i can only hope we can get there. there are businesses in the outer sunset. we are out there. i would also like to thank supervisor chu. she and her staff were instrumental in setting up our first block party, last october. and the launching of the merchants association. i appreciate all that you have done for us. [applause] president chiu: i know supervisor chu has a quick

comment. supervisor chu: i was so pleased when the mayor chose the business. there is a great energy and great revitalization. part of that really had to do with your energy and what you have done. you brought your passion to surfing straight into your own business. i think it is an amazing thing. for anybody in the market for a surfboard, it is an interesting thing. go to the sunset district. it is an amazing thing. thank you for pulling together the street fair and bring in new energy. i think it is terrific. [applause] president chiu: i want to acknowledge our small business administration from the federal government district director. he is in the audience. mark, thank you for being here. i would like to invite the

president of the small business commission to close out. >> thank you, supervisors. each one of you today nominated semele awesome business this which roof -- nominated some awesome businesses which reflects the diversity of the city. i want to thank each and every one of you. small business week is a national event. san francisco's small business week is the largest in the united states. what you all did here today was a part of that. i would like to thank you. that is pretty much it. i want to thank you for that. i want to thank supervisor olague.

for sponsoring the petitions on the sidewalk sales. they are a big deal in a lot of neighborhoods, especially upper market. everybody come out and shop your neighborhoods this weekend. thank you for everything that you do. thank you for honoring these great folks today. thank you. [applause] president chiu: that concludes this ceremony today. if i could ask folks would small business week if you could quietly filed out. we do have an important hearing that we're about to host. could you please call d a 4:00 special order? >> items 8-11 comprise the special order for public hearing of persons interested in the planning commission's decision dated march 22 certifying the final environmental impact report for the commercial

fitness center and public open space project at 8 washington street. item nine is the motion of from the planning commission's final environmental impact report. mr. president, would you like me to read this special order? item 12 -- item 13 is the motion approving the planning commission's decision to improve -- approved a conditional use authorization. item 14 is the motion disapproving the commission's conditional use authorization and item 15 is the motion directing the clerk to prepare findings. president chiu: i want to welcome you to the board

chambers for the extremely non- controversial project discussions. i want to say there is an overflow room in room 263. you can watch the proceedings. once you had an opportunity do that, you can feel free to stay, but we do have a lot of folks who do wish to make comments. i hope we can accommodate them quietly and efficiently. -- officially. we have to hearings associated with a commercial and open space project. first, there are two appeals of the final environmental report. there is an appeal of the planning commission's approval of the conditional use authorization. the issues on each appeal are different. the consideration of the appeal of the planning commission certification involves our analysis of the adequacy, accuracy, sufficiency, and completeness of the final eir.

this is a legislative hearing. to overturn or affirm planning, six votes of the vote -- of the board are required. this hearing is quasi-judicial in nature. to overturn planning or to authorize the city with additional conditions, eight votes of the board are required. while both hearings involved distinct analyses, they relate to the same project. in consideration of the many members of the public who wish to speak, and the consideration of the appellant, city staff and the board, i would suggest we consolidate both hearings to a single hearing. in order to ensure that the appellant, the planning department and the project sponsor each print received a full opportunity to address these appeals, i suggest that we conduct the hearing as follows.

first, at the appellants will have up to 20 minutes to present their case for the appeal of the final eir. members of the public that support either or both appeals, we do ask that speakers addressed the specific appeal. i have received dozens of comment cards. next, the planning department will have up to 20 minutes to present its analysis for certifying the final eir. and for affirming -- and for authorizing the conditional used related to the planning and development. i understand there might be also representatives from the court to answer questions as well. the real -- the project sponsor

will have up to 20 minutes -- following the project sponsor, members of the public that wish to support the certification of the final e a r and the approval of the opposition can speak for up to two minutes. we ask members of the public to identify the appeal you wish to address. finally, the appellants will have to 6 minutes for a rebuttal in support of the final eir appeal. at the conclusion of the hearing, we could first vote on whether to affirm or deny the certification of the final eir. in the event and is affirmed, we could consider the question of whether to affirm or overturn the conditional use authorization. colleagues, any questions or objections? i understand we have a couple of court transcriber said today that are tracking the comments.

i would ask all members of the public to please speak into the microphones. with that, why don't we start the hearing? i would like to ask up representatives of the appellant. i understand the first presenter for the appellants will be our former city attorney will be the former city attorney, and it is good to see you. you may begin. >> thank you, president chu. in san francisco resident. we thank you for hearing these appeals. we believe that pahang -- we believe that the waterfront is at stake. we will show you with this appeal is all about.

>> what you are about to see is professional video, prepared for the planning department to show what the project would actually look like, from the waterfront. it was included in the final comment responses. here we are, in front of the building, walking along the embarcadero. the tower is the golden gate with apartments. 70 feet in the fraud -- in the front, and it requires extraordinary bonuses. a 200% increase in the bulk of the building. a football field across.

so developers can build 134 luxury condominiums, and this tower in the back would be 80 feet higher than the old embarcadero. this is what it looks like without the old, a double decker freeway. this is a foot narrower than the current sidewalk, shadowed by the big buildings. the stunning rendering, as you have seen before. up next, the green wall, a certified i of the wall, and this is a lot like be a lovely green that is there now. this is what it would look like to the right.

this is the new athletic facility. so now, we're walking north along the embarcadero. the green fence is about 12 feet high. this is about 10 feet higher. this is a video that is done for the planning department that was included in the back of the appendices, with the comments for the eir. it was not done by supporters or opponents of the project, it was meant to provide representation for the project. >> this is what it is all about. with the testimony, this is why a conditional use should not be prevented.

this is dramatically raising the waterfront height limits. this raises the limits by more than half and bubbling the allowable limits to the size of a football field. this is the first time in 50 years that these kinds of changes have been made. they have been rejected four times in the past. you find very little, if any discussions on why serious and considerable fought in the past with these proposals -- and you can talk about the precedent that this will said. waiting in the wings is 75 howard. this would be proposed with the

possibility of the same kind of project, with the embarcadero and broadway. the waterfront will look like miami beach. you'll also hear how they have failed to discuss in any accurate fact, the cumulative impact with secondary parking, that this project will have. being in such close proximity with the exploratory cruise ship terminal and the known projects of 75 howard. this is being proposed now for at least a part, of broadway and the embarcadero. there is an issue regarding the public trust.

i have been advised by the city attorney that the state lands commission takes the position that the statute i have relied on is not this statute but there is a different, 1987 statute that is referred to at the environmental impact report that applies. this public trust -- rather than getting into an arcane dispute, about the public trust law, i would say we should put this issue aside. this will be decided at a later date. this is public trust land that by its nature should not be used for residential use, or what is now open space and an exchange.

these are the issues that you will hear a great deal about. other than one final thing that i would like to say. that is when you consider the fact that when you are giving and granting conditional use permits, you are giving substantial value to a sponsor, particularly in this case, where you have a 3.2 acre site. located on unique waterfront property. it would certainly be advertised as such. with very spacious condos and low -- multiple penthouses, very valuable property. this is not part of the appeal, but he should, as part of the

due diligence, with part of the use. at the present time, neither you nor we have the full financial details of this project. is this a good deal for the city? what we do know racist very troubling questions, and it gives pause to an affirmative answer to that question. i will turn the podium over to others who will follow me, keeping in mind the issues of height, president, cumulative impact, the value, if any, of a substantial nature, to the port into the public. -- and to the public. >> mr. president and members of the board, --

>> as we know, we have a role for people not to express their support or opposition to comments that allows us to proceed forward. if i could ask you to refrain from that, if you can give a silent and wav, that would be appropriate. mr. paul. >> if we graded the e.i.r. on math, it would fail. we talk about excavating the dirt for the underwater garage. we question is using math. if you can see this on the chart, we can get this up on the overhead projector. they crossed out 20 and put 94 the average number of trips. they crossed out 100 and put 200.