negative, and start with a positive and move guard from there. we know -- i think you made reference to it in your opening statements that there is a study that says that crime is reduced around dispensaries so that just helps all of our neighborhoods, particularly the ones that are blighted at the moment. i want to thank you for your continued support. you've always been there for us. i want to point some of the good operators in our city that we need more of. people like basa, people like the green cross. we need more dispensaries like that. they're great businesses great if any location regardless of where they are. thank you for your time. >> thank you. next speaker please. i'll call more cards. tony bowls, shawn ingram,

nicole young, nicholas -- i already called your name, tony i called, gary s. >> hi, my name is laura, i'm a long time residence of is excelsior district of 25 years and i'd like supervisor avalos saying so beautiful about what's going on in our neighborhood. i'm a compassionate person. i have a relative who suffered from cancer who was helped from medical marijuana. i think that things in our district have been so did fficult and it's such a dell kate time in regards to business and whatnot, that while we support having these dispensaries, two or three is plenty and i don't know how many of you live in the neighborhood we're speaking of. i have heard very few people identify with living in our area. we're trying to do right for all who live in our neighborhood so diversity is very important to us on a

personal and business standpoint. i want to thank you again for putting this forth. thank you. >> good afternoon gentlemen, my name is nancy. i think what laura said pretty much hit the nail on the head. i have been a resident of the excelsior for ten years. i too have [inaudible] need medical marijuana. i don't think it needs to be in my backyard. there are three dispensaries already in the excelsior district and we certainly don't need a fourth one which is a block away from one that is already existing. i went around to have a petition signed by the residents of the excelsior who have been there over 30, 40 years who are not able to get to this hearing today and most of them -- all of them were completely shocked that a second dispensary was even thought about being opened so close to one that was already opened.

i wish that -- this needs to be looked at. we don't need all this in our backyard and they need to be distributed equally in san francisco. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> my name is henry. i'm 15 years old and i live in the excelsior neighborhood. i'm not against medical marijuana, i'm just against clustering. i don't feel it is something positive to have all of those marijuana stores next to each other. a lot of people are comparing it to walgreen's, but last time i checked walgreen's sells a lot more things and anybody can go to walgreen's. i think that these need to be spread out and be available to everyone everywhere, but not -- i'm looking at this from a point of view, /spwhob somebody who lives in the neighborhood, and it's not right for people who grow up to

grow up around that. i think medical marijuana should be /khroeszer to hospitals than residential areas, but i -- please don't allow a second marijuana store so close to my home. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> my name is patricia, i'm the block captain for [inaudible] neighborhood watch. we have over 130 members. about nine block area. i've been resident of the excelsior since 2008 and i've been very involved in my community since 2010. the commercial area is only three blocks long in my neighborhood. it goes from [inaudible] to silver. what we have there is a church, with not a lot of activity except on sundays, we have the green cross cannabis dispensary, which seems to be a great neighbor, but when you walk by you can't see in the

windows. it's odd to walk past because you can't see what's going on. we have an internet gambling place. the blinds are closed. if you walk along these three blocks there's nothing inviting. we'll never get a bike shop, cafe, a bookstore, if we get another pot club. it's just one more blacked out store front. nancy, my neighbor mentioned a me petition. i have copies of signatures and also have a printout from change.organize.we have 75 handwritten signatures on the petition. that only represents about 15 percent of the homes we've been able to get to since we heard about this hearing and were able to come up with something. we're not against pot clubs, not asking for more pot clubs,

we're asking for moratorium for accepting a lucky dragons application for a pot club until the board of supervisors can figure out what a true workable green zone in san francisco is. if lucky dragon opens, it's there, we have to live with it forever. we don't want to live with it forever. we want the studies completed and then we can see what happens. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello, my name is kevin brown. my waif and i both live and work in your district and very much support the medical cannabis access that's grown since we moved in. since we got there there was only one dispensary and luckily for me they had some medicine i liked but all the dispensaries are different, the medicine they provide is different the healing they provide is different every patient has

different needs and the more variety of providers that are variable to patients, the more chances of patients getting their specific needs. you can't lump in one or two dispensaries and say that's enough. there's never enough. there's always an option 'cause there's tons of medicine available and the wider the variety the better. the /*r it's a very diverse town and the diversity of needs is huge and there shouldn't be a limit on any district, especially not without opening up the green zones. that should happen first 100 percent. if you're going to ban anything, it should be with stipulation you're giving expansion to the rest of the city. that would be the only reason to restrict anywhere else. thanks. >> thank you. next speaker. >> you want to use the

overhead? >> no. i want to thank you first for this opportunity. i want to say that i'm with american's first safe access, nation's largest organization that works on medical cannabis issues and i want to say first off that we strongly oppose the recommendations to institute a 500 foot buffer between mcd's, but i would also like to say i agree with supervisor avalos we need to open up the green zone. this sets a dangerous precedent in our city. if we're going to restrict it in addition -- if we're going to face additional restrictions then we need to open space in other areas. this action is premature. it could undermind the entire regulatory system. it's time the city allows

dispensaries to open in more areas. article 33 requires new mcd's to obtain a land use permit before the juaning commission for bad acting medical care dispensaries. if a licensed mcd become a nuisance they can be penalized and their licenses revoked. this action is reactionary. the worry of residents not used to having medical cannabis dispensaries in their neighborhoods, but the reality is much different than their fears. research shows conclude regulated dispensaries make wonderful neighbors because they reduce crime and improve public safety. on top of that, the middle

elders and working class deserve safe access and in fact, i'd argue need it more. a majority of americans choose some form of complementary medicine that's more affordable and has less side effects than pharmaceuticals. cannabis is a safe and effective medicine. dispensaries reduce crime and increase public safety. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon. my name's barbara, i represent approximately 500 to 600 people. our association is in support of /saoupber visor's legislation. we are always in support of safe access. we leave mcd's and we believe it is a good thing for all of us.

thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hi, my name is shawn, i own a business around the corner from tree med and mission organic. we've been open for about two years. innocent last year or so we've seen an increase in dealing on the streets, they've had to hire extra security guards for surrounding businesses. there is a lot of kids that live in that area. 40 percent of the families have kids. i think two more is really not needed -- the clustering there. no new businesses are coming in, business vacancy rate has

gone up, people are moving out there and want places to go. it's not going to attract new businesses if there's five pot clubs, internet gambling and all that stuff. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> my name's andrea and i'm actually shawn's partner. we own a small business and as small business owners on geneva and mission we're not trying to wage any type of war on medical marijuana, we're just trying to do what's best for a struggling business border. we've seen an influx of families in the neighborhood and alarmed by the general consensus from them that they do on the mission corridor. we need businesses on our corridor, but more mcd's are not the businesses we need. we already have three on the main stretch, which is plenty to serve the needs of the area, especially since two of them deliver all over the city. our

corridor is already struck /-lg to attract new businesses that will serve the needs of families and other residents. it's harder to attract these businesses when what's seen outside these businesses include traffic congestion largely from people coming from other areas, double parking, only to access the mcd's and leave the area. we've we're not asking anybody to remove existing access to any medical marijuana. we're just saying that three mcd's in our area is enough for an area that's lacking so many other services for its residents. >> thank you very much. next speaker please. >> good evening. my name's nicole and i'm the corridor manager at the excelsior that works to

revitalize the corridor of mission street in the excelsior. on behalf of the excelsior action group i'd like to express my strong support for establishing the excelsior outer condition use restrictions it would impose on the clustering of medical cannabis dispensaries. one of the primary areas is business attraction and support. there are two goals to our work in this area. first we aim to promote economic vitality through a healthy and balanced business mix. second, we try to attract and support community businesses that cater to the large population of /kpwro*ut, seniors and families that reside in the excelsior neighborhood. too many of any business type can hurt the business mix of an a corridor. it's my firm belief that the excelsior corridor has enough

cannabis dispensaries. >> we were restricted from neighborhoods because people thought we were going to bring property values down. i worked in the south for civil rights, you name the minority now, medical cannabis patients

i've represented them. it always makes me startled when i hear the buzz words that are used to discriminate against a minority group such as medical cannabis patients. the last speaker talked about a healthy mix of businesses. you know, economists talk about a clustering /e effect as an efficient way to increase business. why are there four gas stations around a corner. turns out that's an economic effect because it brings more vitality service and competition. so all of the arguments about a healthy mix -- just sophisticated buzz words that seems to me to undermind the basic principal we're bound to protect here in san francisco which is that if we're /tpwoeupbg to discriminate against people or businesses we have to have a good reason. we can't throw out buzz words, we need statistics.

what i would urge you to do, since i believe notice of this meeting was put out incorrectly by this committee. let's dispel some of the spirit can actually help attract more businesses. we're seeing revitalization of cars in san francisco, let's not give into fear and anxiety, thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon, my name is gary. i'm a 15 year resident of san francisco. i live in district 11. i am the president of lucky dragon which is the new application at 3140 mission street. it took over a year for us to find a home at 2130 mission street due to very, very strict zoning laws to find the right property and landlord and it's a bunch of combinations of

different things that have to go right in order for that to happen. we at lucky dragon have spent a /pwupbdz /-l of money getting to this point -- lawyer fees, architect fees, health department fees, grants in social security is a burden, not operating. we feel that it 's unfair for us to be changed the rules on this late in the process of application. what we'd like to say is that if nothing else works, if all else fails, we'd like the supervisors to put in an a grandfather clause for those application that are in already. i have 500 petitions in support of lucky dragon at 4130 mission street. i'd like to pass those along. >> [inaudible] question for you. you had no idea that we were

looking at this legislation all these months? because this was in planning commission about four months ago and certainly was discussed before that so... >> well... >>... you were in the process during permitting, you knew this was coming forward and so tell me right now where do you work? >> i don't work anywhere right now. i used to work for mission organic, i don't work there anymore. in fact, we did receive a determination letter from the city of san francisco, which was a positive letter of determination acknowledging our efforts to open a new mcd and allowing us to go forward with the process and no, i did not know about this legislation at the time of applying for the permit. >> i'm very surprised by that. also, you will be before planning commission when? >> well, that's another thing that's upsetting is that we thought we had ha november 7

date for or dr and somehow it has been moved and cancelled. also, 4130 block of mission street did not fall under the ordinance when it first came out and somehow the next two blocks all the way down to alemany were swept under the rug and put on to it as well. >> i'm not sure what that means. >> well, it used to mean that the ordinance was going to run from mission and silver, south. now application 4130 is north of silver. >> we wanted to make sure we got the whole commercial corridor. >> right. that was after i already applied. >> then you new about the ordinance? >> after i applied. >> i don't -- okay, sure, all right. thanks. >> hello, my name is joelle

and i support item /thaoe three and four. we need a mix of businesses and we have three mcd's. we don't need anymore. as a as a matter of fact, if if the 5201 club goes in, plus a club at 15 leeland avenue it means the i there will be 6 mcd's within the police department's district. we are bearing the burden because we're so close to the san mateo county border and san mateo does not allow medical dispensaries store fronts or delivery services so people are coming into our neighborhood to utilize our pot clubs. i want to see a mix of businesses on our street around and we do not have that.

thank you. >> thank you. >> i'm an attorney and represent lucky dragon. i wanted to make a couple of points. i /ae agree there were problems with process here. the notice for this hearing did not make the green zone in district 11 along this corridor. the second issue i have is really on the substance of the item number three which is that mcd's and patients alone are going to be subject parking restrictions, or requirements for a parking plan and transportation plan, whereas no other business is subject to those requirements. question is, why is the different treatment? why the unequal treatment when a patient's vehicle takes up no more room than that of a patron of a nail salon, bicycle shop, any other time of business. the third problem that i have

with this, supervisor avalos, is that in fact, two public meetings you indicated you had contacted planning commissioners and staff with respect to these pending applications in order to /pr*efpt them from going forward and we don't think that is proper. that's interference with the department's administration of the law as it exists now, not as you would like it to be at some point in the future. and that is why these applications have been delayed and in fact, they were submitted prior to your legislation and the legislation was expanded. the corridor was expended in order to pick up lucky dragon and those are some of the concerns. there are some others, but there is no need to rush this forward. people should have a meaningful opportunity to participate in this process and this attempt

to hush and rush this legislation through is not right and -- >> thank you. next speaker please. >> hello gentlemen, supervisors, my name is john stone. i've been a registered voter in san francisco for a few years now. as well, i was born very close to here. my mother was born in the city and my grandmother before her. now, i wish to tell you why the -- >> can you speak into the microphone. >> i wanted to tell you how this would directly affect me. i am a cannabis patient, but i also work to the best of my ability and often i work in the area that you are referring to

as the so called green zone. one of the problems i' i've had, even though i don't live in that neighborhood, but i do a lot of work out there, but often time i don't have a lot of time maybe grab some food some place and i go back to where i go, but it makes it much harder for me to have to go to other parts of town. further more i'm sure i'm not the only one in this position, so other people are going to start looking elsewhere for not just your medicine, but their dinner and groceries an things they need after work before they go home and again, you might want to consider that as well. i mean, the [inaudible] could be dealt with and other

concerns, you know. i mean, there's obviously the crime is not as much of an element around, you know, such establishments and time has proven that. for goodness sakes, if anything, you know, it's been limited already. let's not make it worse. thank you. >> okay. are there any other members of the public who'd like to comment? if so, please come forward. right over here. anyone else who would like to comment, please come to the podium. >> good afternoon. my name is gwynn and i'm [inaudible] supervisor avalos's legislation. i live near mrd and i've witnessed increase in foot traffic since it /oefped which i feel is a good thing along commercial corridor, over

many residents and merchants feel these businesses are an intrusion into family neighborhood and they increase loitering, public smoking and other quality of life problems we are dealing with. marijuana smokes contains many of the chemicals as tobacco smoke including cyanide. i don't believe the public was sufficiently warned about these risks or current anti smoking laws are being enforced. we have a large number of schoolings and senior centers and these populations should be considered when determining what types of businesses are good for the area. i think it's good to diss distribute mcd's throughout the cities i am in favor of the legislation. thank you.

>> thank you. next speaker please. >> hi, thank you. i'm brian webster. i am the chief of staff at the institute of workers center. i'm here as the spur union representative for local five, united food workers division, medical cannabis division. we have 32,000 members in the bay area and here in san francisco mission organic center in district 11. we had spoken earlier before the meeting, supervisor avalos, and pretty much agreed to disagree on this, buff but i did not realize we have 25 union jobs at mission organics around we want 25 more union ufcw jobs at the lucky dragon

at 4130 mission street. per ufcw it's about the jobs and economic development. we're also for human rights and patient rights, but we take jobs and policy and politics very seriously, especially our union member jobs so we definitely do make endorsements, we count votes and we definitely keep report cards. i ask you to not further restrict the permitting process and wait for the planning department to do its study on expanding the green zone. there's consensus on there and there's a big split where i believe most people against this conditional use, less than 500 feet system. i don't think our union shops should be treated any more

different than our safeway union shops or our walgreen's union shops so i am here to support the workers at mission organics and the future workers at lucky dragon. thank you. >> thank you very much. i'm excited there are unionized medical cannabis workers in the district and actually there's a place that could really use union support and that is the manila oriental market street. it's a great place to organize new workers as well. probably about 25 workers there as well and the neighborhood has a great deal of difficulty with this store because there are deliveries that come all hours of the day, all kind of