>> thank you. >> i am a teacher who has lived in noe valley 40 years. i raised my children there. commissioner antonini spoke positively about the variety of retail uses in the outer sunset. like stationary stores. i would like to urge you think of the rich variety that serves the neighborhood and keeps it vibrant as our shops arand our hardware stores become banks and real estate offices. we lose that vibrance. when my children talk about

growing up in noe valley, they don't mention the banks and the times they went into the rela al estate. i lived there. what they mention are the variety of stores and restuarants and shopkeepers who catered to them and were part of the community that raised them. thank you. >> i am blair moser. i was in baja valley, a six- block walk to 24th street, where i shop, and where my children shopped. i can say ditto to the testimonies you just heard.

over the years i shopped on 21st street, we lost variety shops, craft shops, corner groceries. may shopny shops are vacant. a natural food store is boarded up. we don't need more bankers. it changes the character of the neighborhood. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> i am pablo and i work in noe valley. we've been there 25 years. my kids went to school there. i hvaave lunch there every day. i can walk to this. i bank with them now and drive twice, three times a week. the previous people said, my

kids, we don't talk about the bank. they like when i take them to first republic for ice cream. it is a great idea we have the bank in the valley. >> thank you. >> it's ai live on sanchez stre. i would like to add my voice to the people to say that we have five banks in three blocks, more than one for each block. three of them are too big to fail. this is the first republic. we did get rid of a few of

those, this would be cool, but this should not happen. we don't need another bank. -- >> let me call few more names. mahmoud esses, david guimens -- susan mcdunnah. >> i am at 223 22nd street. what wasn't stated was this would -- this has been mentioned by other speakers. this is the sixth bank in five blocks. it won't serve the vibrancy and needs of the neighborhood to have another financial institution. it sounds like a good idea.

i would prefer them over wells fargo and bank of america. i urge you not to rubber-stamp the proposal, but consider the economic vitality of the neighborhood. thank you. >> afternoon, commissioners. i went to james lick jr. high. i am david -- and i am familiar with noe valley. i lived in diamond heights, and now i live in twin peaks. i banked at first republic for 18 years. i understand the concerns. when i drive there -- when i went to first republic, they

donated $1000 without hesitation. they are community based. my daughter loves going for those cookies. i don't think they're the best but she likes them. my daughter wasn't invited to the ice cream social. first republic gives back to the community. they're not one of the big guys. people will come there because first republic bank is there. if there is a branch i nglen gln park, i missed it. there is not another one near where i live. i already go there and i love hanging out at marthas. i am familair with what the area

has. this space that they want has been vacant more than occupied the last 15 years. there was a jamba juciice there. so many places open and close there. having a community bank is better than staying vacant. i know you have five banks. first republic is a great game. regarding the giants -- i am interested in the u.s. open. can we change the channel? >> jessie fowler and craig darling. > my name is jessie folwerwla

noe valley native. his generation -- i grew up on 24th street. i was supported by the financial organizations and i bank with first republic. my best friend managed juice it, which closed 9 years ago. more businesses have been in and out. no business can make it . . first republic will neighbors like to see such -- local businesses but we need sustainability. i went to james lick junior

high-school. i am familiar with that street and i do not think that this is lost. i think this is changing. the neighborhood is still there for myself. i think that they are great candidate to the space. thank you very much. >> i am s second generation san francisco resident. there is the financial service that they provide their customers. it's a testament to other people have said before.

the acid -- community support that they have provided enabled me to go out, the community to bank. i have a young son who is 11 months old, we have a lot of activities there and being able to bank with the first republic branch will allow us to expend more time on the weekends and spend more of our dollars on 24th street. being asked to represent -- this has been on and off the last nine years. this was occupied last by a juice stand.

with the stability they can bring, this would be well served by the community. i want to stress one thing. this is a different type of bank. you do not feel that you are a number. thank you very much for your time. >> is there additional public comment? seeing none, commissioner? commissioner antonini? public comment is closed. commissioner antonini: i give you my views on this. i have experience with first republic. they are san francisco based. they have to do that. they were connected with bank

of america and separated themselves. we give preference to local businesses that do a good job. there is a big difference. i have a relationship with a number of banks and i can tell you, i think it is important they are in neighborhoods with lots of customers. they have 3500 customers there, and people are loyal to first republic and they will get in their cars, and they will waste a lot of their day going to take care of their banking business

in another neighborhood. this makes a lot of sense. of course it has been pointed out that the incidence of formula retail in noe valley is small, 3.2%. even if you consider including banks in there, which are not currently included but there is -- it is up to less than 7% if banks are formula retail. formula retail and individual stores can coexist and they tend to support each other. people come in with a formula of retail business and they will end up doing other business there, in a small neighborhood place. another important factor is the size.

this is 585 square feet of frontage, and the use of a business that has been empty and a variety of different things and has been a trouble spot, and some businesses are not always driven out by someone else. they're driven out by themselves if they don't do a good job. some businesses are not well- maintained. i think someone misinterpreted, i talked about what was needed with the variety -- and i said there used to be more variety, but there is less for right now. this is not from formula retail. this is not always the case. a couple of other things,

neighborhoods to change. this has become desirable. this is clean and safe and many of our best streets in san francisco, 24th, filmore, chestnut, we could throw a few others in that category. they are successful because there are a nice blend of neighborhood businesses and eating establishments and the financial services. we are going to have to use banks. that probably is necessary. the banks -- they need to be regulated, but there is a purpose. i would be supportive of this conditional use. >commissioner miguel: i would be

supportive of a relatively small space. the atm in the lobby and the entry into the small banking floor. if we can call it that. over the years i have had a small business in a neighborhood commercial district. for many years i owend property in neighborhood commercial districts. i understand that matter both from a business operator, and from a building owner. we often get comments about the lack of diversity of small businesses and neighborhood commercial districts. eyedropper -- i grew up where

every neighborhood commercial the injured had three or four repair shops. i do not know how many of you senior have had your shoes resoled. right, one person. exactly. a couple of us old-timers. they either where more because they are better quality or they get thrown away. as you mentioned that to your teenager, but they would not know what you're talking about. certain businesses go by the wayside. if you can find one shoe repair shop along a major commercial strip today, it is a lot. it is a mix of what goes in to a commercial district that changes over the years. we all like to look back of what it was like when we grew up in various neighborhoods in san francisco. they are not the same and will not be the same and will not be

the same for my kids as my grandkids. that is just the way it is. this is a relatively small footprint. it is a local business. it is interesting, even though the code is in effect on financial institutions being under commercial formula retail, but we are now thinking of it in that manner. it is interesting this would be the first incident of it coming before -- coming to machination in any manner. i think it works. i think it will fit in. i think the fact that several businesses have tried to go into that space, including one major firm. i mean, jamba juice is no small entity. it shows it is a good fit for the neighborhood. and in case any of you were

wondering, i just got it on my blackberry. bartley east bay should be open about now. >> thank you. >> commissioner borden. >> i share my fellow commissioners thought. i wanted to do more investigation because i do believe we do not want commercial strips that are all financial institutions or retail institutions that we have controversy about retail spaces. people as said that they -- they even sound like they would love this thing. there is no way for them to do that, unless there was a code violation to shut them down. it seems hard to penalize a bank

that is admittedly a good local bank and that people like and sounds like the kind that we want to encourage. maybe if they would choose to bank at the local banks, maybe they would shop more in their neighborhood. just that street has a lot of retailers. at the same time -- it has flower shops, a lot of people with the breakfast places that are cash only. it is interesting, because that street is filled with this balance of how you have things like an apple store and then you have -- how do you go to things like the dry cleaner in your neighborhood. they have two of them.

a lot of neighborhood do not have that makes. it is interesting because what we might kick -- might think of that makes the perfect combination, it is all of those things. if you have a farmer's market, then people have to have cash. the vendors along the farmers' market always want to have cash providers. if you do not have a bank, it can be a deterrent to shopping at the farmers' market. and the issue around turnover of spaces, every neighborhood has the spaces that are cursed spaces. there are multiple restaurants or businesses that go into them. it sometimes sounds like if they

are not of a certain caliber, and businesses will cycle in and cycle out. the space -- the face of retail is changing. it is changing because of the internet. a lot of people buy things on amazon. people go to a local shop and then will find it cheaper elsewhere. where we see it most often, even within the retail space within san francisco, you see more high-end local retailers. uc local boutiques, but it is all two hundred dollars pair of jeans and $50 tops. those are the things that we are starting to see a drop the city, not so much the shoe repair or the dry cleaners that you would see of yesteryear. i do not know the answer to that question, but it is something of great concern. at the end of the day, you want to be able to go on one street in your neighborhood and by rush

rhees, stop by the bank, have lunch, go to the -- and by your groceries, stop by the bank, have lunch, go to the coffee shop. there is no one recipe as to how those things come together on one particular street because we do not control who gets to do business on a particular street. i would hope that people will support the local banks. and then the space that is turning over will be the banks that we do not like. >> commissioner sugaya. >> a question for staff. do you know what exists the next to this particular space that the conditional use it on? >> i beg your pardon? >> i would like to know what is next to this space. >> there are two stores.

one is vacant and the second is a flower shop. >> and on sanchez street? >> sanchez street -- i think 24 mail and at the corner. it does not go roundup corner. >> the zoning and there? gregg's the zoning district and behind the building. -- >> the zoning district and the behind the building. >> i asked the question because this is being touted as a fairly small space. but if -- there is the reason that if they are not successful, or whatever term you want to use, that they could not pass for expansion later on. they could come back for another cu, i suppose. and for all of the people that are saying that we are issuing a conditional use, that is not

true. we are wea cu that runs with the land. -- we are issuing a cu with the land. bankamerica could come and take over that space. >> i think it was your testimony, or testimony has been presented that you have approximately 3500 customers in the local area. >> that is correct. >> and how many are personal bankers -- that is not the right term. someone like me verses merchants. >> i do not have that number. >> of them, those that are personal bank accounts and that type of staff, could you estimate how many come in during a typical week? >> some clients come in once a

day and others once a week. it depends on how much business they have to do. >> ok, thank you. it is interesting because i have not set foot in a branch in over a year. it seems the will push for branch banking, if there is such a boat -- such a push, must because -- must be because we have chased and these other banks coming in. it seems all of the advertising is trying to get us to do on- line banking. that is what i have been doing. and if i do not combine using an atm. i just do not understand the banking business. to figure out why banks need branches in areas when they are trying to push everybody not to come into the branches in the first place. that is neither here, nor there,

i guess. necessary and desirable is a condition of the use. criteria is another. i'm not sure i'm going to vote on this quite yet. >> i have a question for the representative from the bank. 3500 people in the area, i wonder if you have a definition of the area. >> matter standing is it is the valley and the mission and the castro. >> -- my understanding is it is the valley and the mission and the castro. >> it is a medium quality, you know. it does not create traffic in the same way a restaurant or a copy shop would, but it creates more traffic than some of the other businesses mentioned, maybe like a real estate firm or something more purely office.

i do understand the concern of the neighbors that want to see something that is more bustling, more serving the everyday needs of the family. but i wonder if this cu is the right mechanism to look at stopping all of these banks. there are moratoriums on other banks in other neighborhoods in the city. also, i am impressed that this bank is a good neighbor. i think it is important to think about that. even though the formula retail legislation is not in existence yet, i think the intent of that legislation is around chase, bank of america, are around trying to keep businesses that are not good neighbors out of our neighborhoods. hearing about first republic's connection to the neighborhood it makes me feel that this cu

may be more appropriate. although, that is an interesting point around the land. i am leaning toward voting for the project, but i'm interested to hear what the commissioners have to say. >> of the larger scale of neighborhoods and commercial district planning, i am concerned about those that start to build down the neighborhood districts. -- dole down the neighboring districts. -- dull down the neighborhood districts. on the weekends, people basically scare into empty space basically scare into empty space with some lighting and sunlamps