>> good morning, everyone and welcome to the thursday, march 21st, 2013, meeting of the board of supervisors neighborhood services and safety committee, my name is david campos and i am the chair of the committee. on my left is norman yee and in

route is the committee vice chair supervisor eric mar. we at 57 new montgomery street.

welcome to the meeting of this committee and if i may begin by asking the applicant to come forward and i apologize if i mispronounce the name. is the applicant here. unless there is an objection let's continue this item for later in the meeting and go to item number two >> to consider the issuance of a type 42 on-sale beer and wine license to mark e. rennie for good oel ink, at the beer cafe located in 34 mason street. >> this is another application in district six, if i could ask the applicant and charles (inaudible) and so if you could come forward and welcome to the

committee, if you could briefly tell us about what you are trying to do and sort of why this should be approved. >> all right. >> thanks mr. chair. supervisors my name is mark, and i am here with chuck (inaudible) who is the pry pry tore of not just 34 mason but has two world renowned beer cafes in both walnut creek and oakland. this particular location is a historic 1907 building, beautiful building, right on the edge of union square about a half a block from bart. and about a half a block from market and the new show place that is going in at market and mason. we are opening basically what we hope will be a world class beer cafe with a type 42

license and there will be 40 rotating of the world's finest beer and 500 labels of the world's finest beers from 20 countries. it will have three zones of temperatures to make sure that each of these beers is given to the customer at the exact perfect temperature to enhance the flavor. this project will create between 25 and 30 jobs. the building itself was the old polos hof brow since 1907 was a san francisco institution. that particular place closed almost 20 years ago and there was a period for about two or three years where there was a nightclub in that particular location, which failed. but, it has been basically a 75-foot black hole on mason street and this this owner is not -- he is in for the long haul. he is a partner in the building.

they own the property he is not going anywhere. and the police, we met with the community, we have over 16 letters of support, which i think have been handed out to the supervisors and it is very wide ranging from the tnbc to the tender loin clinic to most of the neighbors and community groups in that particular location, and we would request that this be sent to the full board with the determination that the public need and convenience would be served by this type 42 beer and wine license. the food i did not talk about it, it is smoke house cuisine and sausages and things that go along with beer. he is here to answer your questions as well as the

general trapist who is coming over here to run this location. >> i appreciate your presentation. do you want to say anything else? >> he pretty much covered it. i just like to add, you know, we are looking forward to getting in there and trying to help to turn that neighborhood and a couple of businesses there as well. and i think that what we bring, what we are going to bring over there should bring a lot of positive foot traffic if we can create a world class beer destination. >> thank you very much sir and i know that you talked about your community engagement and i know for the record that you have been working with the district supervisor, which is important consideration for us here. so thank you very much for the presentation. and unless there are any comments or questions, why don't we now ask our representatives from the police department, inspectors, rich van cal. good morning. >> good morning, supervisors, rich van cal, representing the san francisco police department.

charles (inaudible) on behalf of good oel has filed a application seeking to add a type 42 on-sale beer and wine license for 34 mason. from the calendar year, december, 2011, to december 2012 there were 28 calls for service, which generated three police reports. this premise is located in plot 178. the premise is located in a high-crime area. it is located in the census track 125.01. and the premises is located in a due concentration area. there were one letter of protest with the california department of alcohol beverage control and 16 letters of support with the california department of alcohol beverage control. there is no opposition from the police station if agrees to the

recommended conditions. the licensing recommends approval of the below conditions, number one, sales of alcoholic beverages shall be permitted between 11 a.m. and 12 a.m. midnight, sunday through wednesday. and eleven a.m. until 2 a.m. on thursday, through saturday. and the following national holidays, new year's eve, christmas eve, thanksgiving eve, the fourth of july and the sunday before labor day and memorial day. >> number two, there should be no live entertainment or dancing or djs or third parties promoters allowed on the premises. it should not be exchanged for an on sale general alcohol license. >> no noise should be audible under the control of the license. number five, lotering, it is defined as to stand idly about and linger without lawful business and prohibts to the sidewalkses adjacent to the business as depicted on form

257. no person under the age of 21 shall sell or deliver alcoholic beverages. number seven, all sales and service staff within 90 days of hire shall complete the abc lead class and responsible service. the copy of the certificate should be kept to the premises and be given on request. this business shall be conducted at all times in a manner that will allow them to be easily identifiable as employees by law enforcement. employee clothing shall feature the name of the business. the sales of alcoholic beverages for off-sale conception is strictly prohibited. the licensee should provide one security personnel on the exterior of the premises. the interior should be staffed appropriately to control the patrons and stop the disturbances. the special events should be staffed at one security guard

per 75 patrons. further licensee agrees to honor the request of law enforcement if additional security becomes necessary. number eleven, there shad be no advertising signs on or from the visible exterior or indicating the availability of alcoholic beverages. and 12, the petitioner shall utilize a electronic surveillance that is able to view all outside, including all entrances and exits and actively monitored and recorded. this shall be utilized during operating hours. said electronic recording shall be kept at least 30 days and be made available to the police department upon demand. i met with the applicant and his consultant and they discussed and agreed to the above conditions. thank you. >> thank you very much inspector, why don't we open it up to public comment. and actually i have cards here on item number two.

we have here randy shaw, mr. shaw it is good to see you. alex clements, david ading tonight, and edith st. john and squaun, but any member of the public that would like to speak, you each have three minutes >> randy shaw, i can't tell you how happy i am and honored that i am that the tender loin after a very difficult several decades is able to attract a world class beer operator because on that site historically that block used to be the world class, from really 1907 to 1930 that was the place to be in san francisco and we have had a difficult time particularly since the 1960s, and you know it sends a message when we have something like this open up in the tender loin. i spend every day to try to attract businesses, and we read the stories in the paper, everything is booming and we

can't get the office space, they are fighting for every square inch of the street and we are not doing well. we are having problems and working with the mayor's office and we are not getting business because they don't think of doing it and it is out of their wind set and they are so obsessed with the street or the successful areas that we are unable to attract and bars is restaurants what it is about. that is what our economic role in san francisco was in addition to gambling, which we cannot bring back. but giving the return of legal gambling is not an option. we have bars and restaurant. and so i urge you to support this, i know that don faulk wanted to be here and he could not make it and he asked me to echo that and i will say that mason street is a critical

block. when i came it had polos and sandwich stops and the area was different and along with the other parts it got worse and now with the (inaudible) coast investing in the area and with the shopping area that will start the project we can start to return that area to its former glory thank you. >> i was actually watching a movie where there was a negative reference to the tender loin. we need to change that. >> there are many movies like tha. we can talk about that off line. but it is a problem and there is also dave japel does a widespread comedy of drug trading at burger king and we don't even have a burger king. >> and i know that michael malty want to speak on this item. mr. clements. supervisors, this is some what extraordinary for me and you know me as a advocate in these halls and it is the first time that i have testified not in

response to a direct question from the board in 23 years. but i am here today not with a client but i am here with a friend and a co-owner in the building as his neighbor and as a fellow chuck stilson. as a pioneer and a fan of the mid market area. lower mason street today is not a happy place, when the peaceful people who live in the hotels leave their homes they are confronted with drug deal and hopelessness, it contains blocks that are not well trafficked by outsiders until 5:00 p.m. when the people start to alive seeking soul food or to hear the operators, but for most of the day every day, the unit block of mason is a negativity magnet. the sfpd, does a fantastic job of keeping the peace. but what the neighborhood needs the most is an investment of

hope. and the best way to bring that about is to attract a mass of people who seek out the block not to meet their drug dealer but for commerce and to socialize with friends and to go to work and spend the money in legitimate businesses. when it opens the patrons will begin to arrive for coffee or lunch around 11 a.m. bringing a earlier jump start encouraging those engaging in the illegal street activity to apply their trade elsewhere. and to make it safer to residents and employees and local sros alike, seven days a week. >> and the team has a tremendous product. if you have not been over to old oakland to the travis, i encourage you to get over there, i will buy you a beer if it is legal. >> if you have visited you know that this is an extraordinary place and it is a quiet gathering place for people who care about people. not there to seek entertainment or loud music. we are there to socialize, and we are there to experience

something akin to what a fine winerry would provide but in the world of beer which is quite up and coming. the team will recreate that kind of an establishment, that feel on lower mason which is alien to that neighborhood right now and lower mason will be better for it. i offer my gratitude to the san francisco department captain and inspector to work with the team to create a good set of conditions that serve the community and neighborhood and business. i am grateful for all of the people who chosen to support this business and my pioneering neighbors of the social house and to the entire team for blazing the trail where businesses like barbry coast and keller can join in and thanks to chuck for his vision about what an appropriate gathering place should be like, and it is going to bring chance that these neighbors so desperately need. >> thank you. >> i also want to call on mr. monet.

>> next speaker please? >> my name is david addinton and i have a business down at 6 and market. and that helps show dogs and we also have a similar license and we certain both beer and wine and fancy sausages i am glad to see that it is catching on as an idea in the neighborhood. we think that it is going to be a great thing for the tender loin and we think that kind of positive energy and the people that this attracts will be good for the people in the neighborhood. as a part owner in the work field i am kind of for loud music, i realize that it can't happen here. lastly i would like to say a happy birthday to my daughter who turned five today. happy birthday may. >> happy birthday may. >> next speaker? >> i am edith st. john and i

have lived at 30 mason street since 2009 it is a condo and we own our apartment and so we are not going anywhere either. this would be a huge help. >> if you could speak into the mic. >> okay. this would be a huge help for the neighborhood. just having a full storefront instead of a blank wall where loitering loiter. having people making it illegal to loiter in front of that storefront would help the neighborhood. i hope that you approve this, thank you. >> thank you, ma'am. >> next speaker? >> hi, i'm quan sxim also a resident and i am also a urban planner and so i invested in the neighborhood knowing about the issues, but thinking about the potential. and knowing that mid market, efforts that the city is going through. and i wonder, you know, if you really as a city want to push this, this is the beginning. you know, you are starting to

get residents, but you also need the businesses. and you know, and right now it is an empty space. there is no tax benefits that the city is getting and the littering. and there are children in our business and you know, i just wonder what do these children see? you know? this is not an environment that we want to raise the children in. you know? the drug dealers, the constant drunkenness, the public defication. every time that i walk down the walk i have to look down to make sure that i am not stepping in anything. it is not a good quality of life other than, you know, it being an exciting neighborhood. but you know, these every-day little things just walking down the street and dodging you know, ex-cra meant piles is not how i want to live and i am investing in the neighborhood. i have bought there. but, you know, this is just the beginning. and i really, really support

this. i also work in oakland and i go to the travis and i have seen the change in old oakland when the travis first came and there was not much. but now if you go down there, in old oakland, there are all of these small shops and it just creates a small vibrant neighborhood that people actually frequent. so, i do support this as a resident and as a planner. thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker? >> good morning, supervisors. my name is (inaudible) day and i came to support this because i lived in the tender loin 22, around 23 years, and i used to run rampant through there and have fun. and when i was younger. and one of the reasons i support it is because i think when i first came to mason, when i first came on mason street, it was real vibrant. it was, they even had a little

buritto store right there and a bunch of other things there. but, i want to support this, but i also to make a neighborhood better. sometimes you have to put a lot of effort into it and so what i started doing is i got into this with the people that do graffiti removal and i adopted a (inaudible) and the second (inaudible) and so i would go out like once a week or twice a week and make a difference. because i think that if they see neighbors actually living in the neighborhood doing things on those blocks. you know, just cleaning some things, or whatever, you don't have to confront them or anything like that. just, sometimes you have to just take back a street. and then because the police presence there it really works on the corner there because i live at 12 turk and i think that the presence of the neighbors would really move

them along because we are seeing that we are taking black those blocks. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker, please? >> hello, my name is robert demosi and i am the manager for the beer cafe and i worked for four years at the travis in oakland and almost the time that it opened in 2008, end of 2007. when they opened in the downtown oakland, the area down there was not very clean either. the weekends there were a lot of people partying in the streets and their cars. and we have seen a lot of change there. and we feel like it has been a positive effect on the neighborhood there. we don't serve drunks in our bar and we don't encourage drinking to excess. we run a clean bar and we serve some of the best beer in the world. and we would like to do that in

san francisco. i think that you should support this license, thank you. >> thank you, sir, next speaker? good morning, supervisors. my name is steve shapiro. i am here today in my role as i am an associate editor of the celebrater beer news which is an association that follows the craft beer movement throughout san francisco and belgium and also in denmark. in addition to my past work in housing and working in neighborhoods like tender loin and seeing all kinds of people who pretend to invest in a neighborhood and are trying to exploit it. i want to speak very highly of them and their project where this is the real deal. they are in it for the long haul. they understood where they were putting their bar and restaurant. and they are committed to it, they are not running away from

it. they are not just dilataunts looking to make a buck, off of one of our neighborhoods and communities. the other perspective on this is this is going to be a world class bar. the name mckeller and the way that they will serve their beer already has a buzz from people all around the country who talk about really mckeller is doing a bar in san francisco. this is going to attract people both locals who really look for this kind of culinary excitement as well as travelers and visitors to the city. we just finished san francisco beer week in february where thousands of people came to the city simply to try what we have to offer along these lines and this bar with the manager who has proven himself to one the

finest establishments in oakland in walnut creek i think is really going to be a large step to putting this neighborhood and this city on the map for people who may never really think about, you know, san francisco and this way and it is another way to attract people to talking about us and keeping us on the cutting edge of being a world class city. so thank you very much. thank you, mr. shapiro. next speaker please? >> any member of the public who would like to speak, if you could please come up. >> good morning, supervisors my name is (inaudible) and i have lived in san francisco for 61 years and i would like to remind everybody that this used to be a family neighborhood i wonder how many of you remember the downtown bowl and used to be there and go there all of the time. this is not just all liquor and

drinking. i find it an interesting contradiction that the city and county of san francisco with the plastic bag ban and went out on cigarettes and the only three items that we have are for three new liquor licenses. i am kind of wondering is that some sort of a sign to the rest of us common folk about so-called influence. but any way, if you want to make better use of that location, first why has not anyone started a drop in center for vets or seniors and if you don't like that suggestion, how about inviting the guardian angels into town and setting up shop at that location? and if you don't like that idea, i suggest maybe you talk with mayor ed lee and maybe he

will come up with a imaginative solution, >> thank you. >> next speaker? >> my name is michael nolty and i am here to read a statement from our land use chair phillips. and i also want to point out that i gave you a hand out to refer to. the reference to the formal license at this location refers to a type 47 on-sale general restaurant which was the license for the former polo lounge and grill an italian restaurant and later the blue could cube music. this is a type of 42 on sale ta vern not a full service restaurant with a cocktail lounge like polos was so comparing them is moot.

in your packet is the protest file for the better district six chair. and even though we send the alu unit and the tender loin police station permit officer a copy of the a. bc protest we send to abc. see the letter from the abc dated december the 21st 2012. our request conditions have not been met, so, our protest is still valid. so, there is no excuse why the alu should not have had a copy of our protest. we look forward in continuing our conversation with 34 mason. thank you. >> thank you. >> is there any other member of the public that would like to speak on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues we have an application before us and we have a number of conditions,

that have been outlined by the san francisco police department, 12 conditions to be specific. is there a motion on this item? >> quick comment here. i am going to thank the public for coming out for this, mostly in support of this application. and i see that the applicant and his home was reaching out to the community as evidenced today with the arrival of people from the community and also reaching out to the supervisors. i would like to make a motion to pass this recommendation. >> with the conditions that have been outlined? >> exactly. >> okay >> supervisor mar? >> i definitely second that motion and really appreciate the residents from the area that have come out, and the craft beer enthusiasts and what amazing amount of support that has been built not just on paper here but even just the testimony as well. i