i can and it would really be a shame to see it go for me personally. thank you. >> thank you. thank you. hi, commissioners. my name is dan glazer. i am a board member of muncie and i'm also a business owner in the neighborhood. the muncie board voted unanimously to support j.d. petras in this new permit endeavor. also, as we know, the forefront of the space is -- we are still keeping a retail in the front. so, the storage room is behind that. he is definitely very supportive community member. i hear a lot of hatred and anger from some of the community groups who have never supported j.d.. i'd like you to take that into consideration when you make your decision and please know that the muncie board is completely behind this permit. thank you. >> thank you.

hi, i'm dina plotkin. i just moved back to san francisco after being gone for 11 years, and i've been here for a couple decades before that. and a lot of change in 11 years coming home. and i moved back into the duboce area so we go to cafe floor. and there has been a lot of, like a lot of places that were here for a long time when i moved here are not here any more. so seeing cafe floor there when i got back was really nice and seeing how they've worked and been a part of the community is really nice. so, i think they have to be away to recognize that their growth is good for the larger community because it helped -- they put it back into the community. so, 1850sing away to allow them to grow and give back to the community and be there would be great. >> thank you. a couple more speakers.

kyle devrios, michael phillips, j.d. petras. hi, high name is dianne amos. thank you for your time today. i'm one of those people that started in my late teens. i've done my four years at floor. when mr. petras took it over, i'm not mad at anybody [speaker not understood]. my 15 year old said she wanted her birthday party at cafe floor. [speaker not understood]. what mr. petras ha done, how much he's into farmers market, everything he called and asked me to help on, its was something i was so completely behind. there is no way i wouldn't show up for him because that community to me and what cafe floor represents is so much a part of my life. and when i go in there and i see the rainbow that's in there, and for us me and my husband and my kids to be there and feel welcome, it's more than i can say. mostly, when i hear and talk to

the merchants of the neighborhood which i do because i have that kind of mouth, i hear support. so, i'm a little confused at who is so angry. to me it sounds a little bill like you thought about this before us and actually have the space. so, i'm wanting you to realize i'm in support of whatever it take to get that building in compliance so we can still have that amazing food. i don't mind if my food walks across the street when it's that good. thank you. >> thank you. : good afternoon, commissioners. i'm jeremy paul. i've raised two boys in that neighborhood and i want to tell you a little bit about the restaurant there and what's available for kids and what's available for families. if you've got 30 or 40 or 50 bucks to spend on dinner, there are lots of great optionses to eat in that area. if you've got 12 or 15 or 10 bucks in that neighborhood, you've got pizza, you've got a lot of burgers, but you don't

have a will the of good options. it provides a lot of peace of mind for me to know, when i do a lot of work at night meeting with neighborhoods, being at the planning commission or board of appeals, it provides comfort for me to know my kid coming home from a sports commitment at willow, he can take the muni into castro, he can stop and sit down someplace comfortable where he can have a piece of chicken, a salad, vegetable, something healthy, it will serve him well. it's a comfortable environment in the city or in the world where a teenager can sit down and have that kind of meal and maybe get some help from the divas at the next table with his calculus homework. [laughter] i want to speak strong little for this as a neighborhood institution. and the economics of having that storage room for this odd space are very important. when you stop and think about what kind of uses could go in

there, what they could serve in that kitchen if they didn't have that storeroom. it really makes me wonder how long it could be before another sliderses or burger joint opens up. please do what you can and let j.d. keep that storage unit. thank you. >> thank you. hi, my name is call devries and i'm with the [speaker not understood] arts collective. i remember my first night in san francisco, my friends told me to go to cafe floor for dinner. and sitting there watching the crowds pass by out on virginia invaluable patio was when i really fell in love with the castro as a neighborhood and with the city. and i lived in the castro for a year and i spent most of my dinner at cafe floor. [speaker not understood], and it is an invaluable space just being able to interact and really provide a true

neighborhood experience, something that is really dwindling in the united states, all across these cities. in addition, i think cafe floor has really earned. -- incredible [speaker not understood]. they hold plenty of fund-raisers. i've been with them on different fund-raisers for the lgbt community and other causes. they are always invaluable in providing support. and specifically j.d. petras can be amazing. we've worked with him on several big projects in the city, including fatopia [speaker not understood]. cafe floor was a huge sponsor of that event. j.d. goes above and beyond in term of making projects in san francisco unique continue. and as it goes for health, it

seems really silly to make this not an officially sanctioned use so we can have real regulation and oversight in the space. i always felt perfectly safe and trusting in cafe floor's food. they never served me wrong. it's been wonderful. thank you for your support. >> thank you. good afternoon, commissioners. my name is michael phillips and i'm in support of the legislation being proposed by supervisor wiener. i have taken part in many fund-raisers, many party events . i have taken part at cafe floor as a consumer. i love -- it's become -- in the community it's become a hub for people to go to, to meet, do job interviews, have meetings about events, just to meet and

greet, people watch. i've watched since j.d. bought the place, i watched it grow and flourish for and with our community. i watched when he i am poed the outdoor, what do you call? it? the tables and umbrellas and all that kind of good stuff. j.d. petras is and has been a important part of the community and j.d. petras is cafe floor. the staff of cafe floor is amazing. they're very friendly, they're very often it's one of the most viable pieces of property in the castro. i go to the castro every day on a daily basis and i shop and i eat. i go to the cafes and the coffee shops and all that kind of good stuff and i've watched restaurants doe one by one by one by one. i watched store fronts close one by one by one over the last several years. one more thing. just yesterday, i just want to

piggyback on what scott wiener said and also what everybody else has said. such a community hub, such a supporter of the community. it would be a shame to see it go away. just last night i was talking to j.d. p/e -- petras. me being on a community panel. there's been a rise in suicide. i spoke with j.d. last night about helping out with a space. he didn't bat an e-i-r. he said, no problem, we'll work something out. * eye. i hope you'll support legislation to keep cafe floor food viable, food part of the location. thank you. hi, my name is j.d. petras, i'm the owner of cafe floor. i want to tell you how extremely vital this is to the

survival of cafe floor. we have approximately 35, 40 employees there. the entire kitchen staff has been there close to 18, 20 years. the morning of our staff and other employees have been there 18, 20 years. my general manager has been there 32 years. it's very much a family as far as -- as well as a business and it's extremely important that we -- the cafe floor is a very small -- it's only 900 square feet. it's a greenhouse. there are no storage, there is no self-ing. when you walk in everything you see is exactly what we have there. and there is no sporectiontionv to put in the products. the kitchen we use across the street is mainly for making soup stockses and cleaning lettuce and vegetables and stuff like that so we don't have any cross contamination of

pro scenes. it's very important. * proteins i do want to say something about cafe floor. our taxes are current. i don't understand why this was brought up when everything is just fine with us tax wise. and thank you very much. >> thank you. ken bunch, deborah aiano, gerald -- i'm sorry, can't read that last name. john kodera. sister honey bee, ron schmidt. hello, my name is kenneth bunch. i'm the founder of the sisters of perpetual indulgence. cafe floor is like any other business in the castro, any other business or cafe. it's a community center. over the last couple of

decades, people meet there to talk about issues and to make plans and form organizations, [speaker not understood] the sister. we've all at various times met there to plan our activities. as well, cafe floor has donated thousands of dollars to charity, to our charities over the years. and you really have to understand, cafe floor, the kitchen is more like a walk-in closet. it really needs -- for the tremendous number of people that want to eat there and there are, as has been said, especially on the weekends, a line of people out the door to eat there, so socialize, to connect, and to eat the great food. in order to provide that service, they really need an off-site kitchen. and i understand that they've had one for a long time.

and, so, this proposeses just to legalize that. it's a very unique institution, as i said in the castro. it really needs this off-site kitchen to support its services. i hope you support it. >> thank you. hello, my name is deborah [speaker not understood]. i've been going to cafe floor since the early '70s. i've always eaten there, socialized there, i consider it a community center. and i'd just like you to support the legislation to legitimatize the work around that business has created to provide food and a place for people to get together in san francisco. thank you. good afternoon, president fong and members of the planning commission. my name is john caldera and i'm a 26 year resident of san

francisco and i'm a board appointed member of the veterans affairs commission. we meet right just down the hall in room 416 on the second tuesday of the month. i'm also the executive director of the san francisco chapter of veterans for peace here and we help host the grand stands for san francisco pride. so, i'm involved with the community and echo the thoughts that many business he have come and gone. and i'm here to speak in favor of cafe floor. the fact that the legislation before you is really more to grandfather what already exists. the food that comes from cafe floor is healthy food. it's not processed food. as someone who has lived with hiv for over 17 years, that's what i'm looking for to put in my body. when i eat there, i feel like i'm doing something good for my health. it's not something that's come frozen out of a patty. and that type of food takes time, takes preparation. so, i ask your indulgence to

allow what already is. thank you very much. hi, my name is gerald childerses. i'd like to speak in favor of the legislation for cafe floor. * i have heard a lot of people speak. some opposed, some in favor. it seemed like a lot of people opposed wanted to be punitive against the person. that could certainly happen here. but that would also be punitive against the community and i hope we don't do that. i think the cafe floor has been a great member of the community. i think this is a way for us to get everything above and beyond and aboveboard, legalize it, make sure everything is right for the future. once that's done, everything seems like it would be a go. there's no problems after that. [speaker not understood] health considerations or anything along those lines at this point. and frankly, i think that we should just do this. i hope you guys agree with me.

thank you very much for your time. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is ron schmidt. i wrote this letter to supervisor wiener and expecting that it be shared with you as well. i'm going to leave a copy here for you to take home. dear supervisor wiener, san francisco has been my home for the last 16 years. the castro my neighborhood, and cafe floor the soul of the castro. i can't imagine the loss of this venue. whether my mood is fair to midland and down, i find [speaker not understood] in this remarkable place. the barista know my order before i reach the register.

[speaker not understood], delicious vegetarian soups, oil instead of wine on my avocado or meat salads, warm greetings and equally warm smiles all around even fromth village of cooks as they glance up from the splendors they place on the plates. cafe floor staff are extended family whether cooking, serving or busing the tables. but that's only part of the picture. invariably i have a friend or two or more stop and share my table and catch up on each other's lives. often these are friends i met first at cafe floor as i write in my journal or catch up on my reading. often in fact i am caught up with the conversations with visitors from montreal, pares, florence, hong kong, cafe floor brings people together from all over the world and i am still in touch with many of them. as i sat sipping cappuccino

with friends, they chatted as they came through the gate [speaker not understood]. i turned 76 on my last birthday and was nearly 40 when i came out. it is still thrilling to me. it is still thrilling to me to live in a community where people feel free and safe to be who they are. i get an actual rush when i see two men holding each other's hands across the table or women burst into laughter as they embrace, or families straight or gay sharing the space comfortably with one another. george carlin once said, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away, and that's what cafe floor does for me, provides me with moments that take my breath away and thrills my soul with warmth. thank you.

>> sister honey bee. i actually wanted to say that name twice. [laughter] >> gary virginia, alan nelson, [speaker not understood]. >> if your name has been called, come on up to the podium. >> [speaker not understood], lynn williams, and james estrano. my name is sister honey bee, and you may think that i am biased, and i am. so, i am going to appeal to your bias. imagine having a place like this that you go to and the way that it was described by all of us here. and suddenly it's taken away. that's like snatching food from you when you're hungry. cafe floor feeds us as your

place would feed you. [speaker not understood] in the community, they park their car and pay muni. they shop. we are all nourished in one big beautiful context. mr. president and commissioners, my name is paul page. i own property, residential property up the street on market street and i just want to say when i first moved to san francisco 20 years ago, i stood at the corner of castro and market and asked, where is it? in other words, when you look at the castro, there's really nothing there in a sense until you happen to stumble upon cafe floor. and then you realize that's essentially the community center. everything else in the castro, even to the present day, are either chain stores or things that are totally unrelated to the community other than to take money from the residents there.

so, cafe floor is the only institution, really, in the castro that gives money back and give a place for the residents to live. i wanted to point out something i've heard, too. some of the early speakers talked about the oddity of having food shuttled between kitchens a couple of feet, distance between doors. when you think about that, that argument would mean that starbucks would have to be closed down because all their food is trucked in. pete's would be closed down. perhaps even your own kitchen here in city hall would have to be closed down because they're moving food across courts and across hallways. so, the argument that it's somehow offensive to move food between places would mean a whole range of businesses and the city would have to close down because they're all operating on the principal of cooking somewhere and moving the food somewhere else. so, i think what we need to do is preserve the ability of cafe floor to exist and to meet the demand which means they need

more kitchen space to reject that, they would call for the closure of cafe floor. you may as well just close down the castro as well. thank you. hello, my name is lynn williams. i'm here to speak on behalf of j.d. and cafe floor and legalizing the kitchen for him. i am co-founder of a benefit corporation here in san francisco. i'm very purpose driven and that's one thing j.d. and i have in common and i'm here to support him and his purpose to bring positive change to the community, support community, support each other. so, i'm here to just say what can we do to help him? he's such a strong, valuable resource in the community. so, i just want to speak on behalf of his character and purpose and how we can help him to help the community and help each other. so, thank you.

hello, my name is james strano. i'd just like to support j.d. and support this legislation by supervisor wiener. i have been in the community since 1988. i do a lot of charity work for different organizations. and my background is in food and service industry. i've been in catering for over 20 years and i've seen that off-site kitchen across the street. and in all the time that i've done catering, i've jet to see anyplace as clean as that off-site kitchen. he's done everything he can to comply with every ordinance and every law law. heasked many friends who all pitch in and help. this is a community resource and it's also a business that provides almost 40 people with a job. and all he would like to do is help this business grow so the community can get more out of it. thank you.

good afternoon, commissioners. my name is alan beach nelson. i'm president of castro eureka valley neighborhood association and have been for three years, i'm in my fourth year since scott wiener vacated the position to become supervisor. first of all, i'll say the board voted on this legislation and it was not unanimous. we are supportive in general of the legislation. in fact, i met several times with john ram to talk about including the orphan block grant in the neighborhood plan, and the height extension [speaker not understood] density deep control. but we do take -- the board takes issue with the fact that the height increase is only being applied to one person. it sounds to me like that legislation is being changed a

little bit, but if that were the case, we would be supportive of it. there's been a lot of conversation about how fabulous cafe floor is. you're right, it's fabulous. i love the place. it was one of the first places i went to when i moved to san francisco in 1993. i've been here for 20 years. the issue for me on a personal level and for the board is exceptionalism and rewarding that behavior. and that's essentially what this legislation does. i found it interesting that scott's a little hesitant about applying off-site legislation across the board. i find it interesting scott says we need to think about that, but he wants to apply it to this one place and that's really our issue, why this one business get exceptional rules and everybody else doesn't have to play by them? that's not fair. thises the end that's based on

quality, everybody being treated equally. the fact of the matter is this legislation, that component of it, would be treating j.d. petras cafe floor -- it's not j.d., i like j.d., would be treating cafe floor differently than everybody else and that's what i have a problem with. now, if you guys work on legislation that would actually apply across the city or even on the entire upper market corridor, i'd be all for it and i think the voters would be for it. but it's not fair giving somebody an unfair advantage. the fact of the matter is also cafe floor was a thriving by for 30 years before j.d. took over and some of that time before hand apparently there was an off-site kitchen. but a lot of time it was president. it can continue to thrive without this off-site kitchen. eventually i'd like to see that happen, but for everybody. thank you. good afternoon, commissioners. my name is gary virginia.

i'm a community activist, grand marshal at the pride parade. live in the castro since 1987 and i've done a lot of fund-raising, the annual pride [speaker not understood], i raised $40,000 in one day for an aids charity. i've done benefits in bars and restaurants all over san francisco. and cafe floor has been nothing but exceptional hosting events. the comments about it's existed a long time. if a place it busy it doesn't mean it's po lard. the last several years within a block of cal state flora, [speaker not understood], baghdad cafe which has been there for decades, [speaker not understood], 2223 restaurant, eich's sandwich shop, jake's restaurant and blue restaurant and that's just what i could think of while sitting here.

that's what's in a [speaker not understood]. some have been independent restaurants for 25 years. when minimum wage goes up, when the health ordinance required goes into effect, it can affect a business by $10,000 or more a month. this extra revenue for sales tax or when gasoline goes up, the products go up in cost just because a place is busy doesn't mean it's profitable. regarding the comments on the health and cleanliness, yesterday happened to be a random check. it scored a 92. as you know, when they come in, they don't give you any warning. the question, going from aydin jai alley is kind of [speaker not understood]. cafe floor doesn't charge anybody. we've been having events there, my mardi gras club has benefits there. there is a monthly get queer

social there years now. a monthly bisexual gathering. monthly ladies night social there. weddings, celebrations, memorials, birthdays, it truly is a community center. there were a hundred kids there from the school of the arts having a published reading a couple months ago. in addition to that the owner gives food donations even to the city hall tree [speaker not understood] consistently for 10 years. so, this is why the planning code exists, to make exceptions where needed. it is not a concrete document. and i want to thank supervisor wiener and his staff for outlining it for you. [speaker not understood]. thank you. >> thank you. is there any additional public comment? if you haven't spoken already. hi, my name is sara [ser