hundred san franciscans with advanced aids the majority have died by increasing now we're able to bring people in at dedicates door and put wealthy on them and teach them self-care skills and decide charge them sparks has been a generous contribute and provided support to help us do we have had despite kits in federal funding no one should have to suffer and die alone specifically in the last 5 years spark has step down stepped up they're free cannabis to maintain dollars real advantages to that i want to share

hospice residents that provides relieve reduction and relies on pharmaceuticals less and it helps to control nausea and helps to allow people especially those which are wasting to put on weight and consume wealthy and typically consume the medicine to give them an appetite sparks is generous and i would encourage you to support their geographic expansion of their service. >> thank you. next speaker. good afternoon commissioner president wu and members of the commission i'm alexandra i've been a resident of san francisco

for 45 years and a member of the spark compassionate program for the last 8 years which means that i was participating in the community services as well as the products offered by spark before they were a place a building called spark and to me that means there was a mission and a commitment to the people fwg served by this organization something i value highly as someone that was worked in the nonprofit sectors in san francisco as a board member and staff member and as management consistent to nonprofit organizations i've seen too many examples of organizations that have words on paper but don't embody what this

does it makes a huge difference in my life that lives with chronic consciousness more than one and i'd be able to take advantage of the free access but also to the services that are offered to the members of spark i've participated in a woman wellness group over time meeting others like myself and supporting each other in the martin luther king of our health care i've participated in low cost and now payroll free acupuncture at a neighborhood center had this is a different organizations that sets the bar as high as it is anywhere i've that comparison shopped in places all over san francisco

thank you for your considerations. >> thank you as more folks come up i'll call nor name (calling names) >> thank you for your time i'm shawn i've been a member of the sparks community since mayor may we may 2013, the moment i gave him became a member i have sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, optimistic nerve problems and sparks goes beyond selling medication to their patients for overall well wasness i've participated in the acupuncture and a they team up with local groups i know i'm getting the quality medication and they check for the molds and pesticides i'm getting quality it's not about just patients

we're a community a member together they support that in things they do with the free use of vaporize they have other amenities the drug is not about the community but the numbers lastly i want to see i support them i have giants tickets and i'm here to support them he go to the giant game later i believe that sparks raises the bar for what the country should be and the excelsior will benefit by the sparks community thank you. thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon i was first introduced to spark while i was a resident of my free compassionate care because of sparks being able to educate

me with patients with my schedule between doctors and i was able to say i was a former resident of my tree not to take away anything in my tree has done but spark continues to support me and i receive well, my medicine i believe that the fact that you know in another location with more staff will allow them for further outreach and get to more people in need that can't get out there directly to the dispense thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hi my name is me

i am totally opposed on this event >> (speaking foreign language.) >> >> is very inconvenient for me to go in and out of the area. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> let's say if i have to go on a night shift plus my children has to be going in and out of the neighborhood. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> once i found out about this event including my son for all night we both can't fall asleep. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> it is very inconvenient for us especially we have the language barrier we don't speak

english. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i'm totally disagree i'm totally opening of the store there our neighborhood i hope that after i spoke that you know this opposition will have some sort of effect. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> let's say if this still going to pass and this store going to be in operation if something did go wrong in the future who's going to be responsible and this is to me very inconvenient and not good for me. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much.

>> thank you. next speaker. >> hello my name is daniel emerson's i'm here to speak on my personal experiences with spark i hiv positive i lost my sighted in 2013 and do you that the post trama suppress i woke up and couldn't see anything i've been to multiple dispensaries and have not come across a dispresence like spark i am able to get free medication and it is unheard of and the quality and the effects that the medicine has i am able to be here today, i have limited mobility skills

and it's nice just to be blind instead of all those other issues and even speaking in public i couldn't do that i love this organization people are talking about safety wherever i go to spark that's the only place in the city i feel comfortable working class walking that block on mission between 8 and 9 my friends said don't walk that i have no - i have a disorder called 924 it is a circulating rhythm the medicine helps i understand the safety concerns that everyone has but from patient that has anxious going to spark and this area is the safest i feel i will

go outside in that area i never feel like i'm going to get attacked. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> as the next speaker comes up i'll call for names (calling names). >> hello, i'm josh hoff man, i have a masters from the university of florida a masters in the upper used to be part of the public process now i'm here to talk about spark spark is more than just oh, - i'll talk like this i have a big voice everyone can hear me spark is a third place.

>> try again. >> spark is a place that builds community and people come and share stories casually over a game of connect 4 or trumpets over and over defeating or getting over a life-threatening ills spark you understand and it's in the display of the community and spark understand that decisions are part of the public trust and it provides a safe place for people to medicate we have restrictions on what we can do and spark provides that place to be healthy amend have a safe experience thank you for

your time. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i'm keith be freeman man a consumerism i have mobility issues what helps me to find the medicine i need is the ability to have a choice and the conversation about clustering is actually for my benefit and the consumers benefits when the consumer has more choices you get a better product at a better prices i believe that allowing spark to open excuse me. in the area they're proposing would giving me give me more choices and the police department can focus their resources on enforcing the regulations and they should be i understand that some people don't like cannabis it isn't for

everybody it works for some people and no one is trying to convert people to using it or to spark is not or any of the dispresence is not trying to get kids in but for me to have three or four places win t a geographic location helps me with a better prices and quality. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello, everyone i'm jessica i am a resident of outer mission excelsior neighborhood per it's my childhood neighborhood i was contacted by sparks community liaison joe and he informed us of the mission that spark has a

nonprofit oxygen and pro tem's health and safety and wellness and my family and i appreciate they've reached out to us we support sparks and their mission to open the disperformance in our neighborhood the negative behaviors grouping in the neighborhoods have existed and the hope that my family and i have is that spark and their organization will actually raise the bar in how a dispensaries will be operated. >> next speaker i'll call more names (calling names). >> good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, i'm susan i come from the

excelsior home of my husband who suffers with p t s d and my father-in-law on london street as a punishment caregiver for mire 94-year-old faurnl i've become a member of several ms. curls i've let my membership lapse and sad to say many collectives are more like head shops spark is oppose it is patient and medicine driven the staff is knowledgeable and sparks has acupuncture and support groups this past tuesday the new york times highlighted the toil of the catastrophic

obtaining medicine for one of my patient a benchmark dispretty soon is one that is well-staffed and clean and come impartiality it experience is what the medical cannabis people deserve that's spark they've set the highest standard and mites sincere hope and my patients hope you'll approve this in a neighborhood that is lacking in a reputable resources thank you very much. >> good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, i'm paul handsburg when i was raised i was taught the difference between right and wrong raised to see what i could achieve in life a few decades ago i sue it wasn't about right

and wrong but legal it of matter what you achieved but what you could get away with it is cynical but it is true by and large we have in san francisco probably it's not perfect but the best set of regulations for mcds in the state there are things that slip through the cracks there are people that come up that have applied for mcds talking the talk until after they get the permit but now, it's about the money like the previous speaker i've let it lapse spark is about the medicine it also cvs hearsay been former supervisor investment it and it set the bar for what a medical cannabis

should be i know that expanding to the excelsior would benefit the entire medical cannabis community with the densely populated city thank you very much. >> thank you. >> hi there i'm anna i'm a current card member i live in the outer mission and also have and born i think it is a great benefit it is better to have it be close and be thirty or 40 minutes away to deal with a long road that is not only safe. >> a really clean and they're really friendly and i feel safe in their environment a lot of the other disperformance it will help them to be at the level of the sparks community i welcome them

with open armors like i said i've lived there forever i've never felt threatened i care about it such as a they do and hopefully sparks comes into the neighborhood it will change yes. i have well, that's about it so i'm all for this and i feel like only good things can come i agree it is a lot but they really set the bar high and they have so much to offer i'd like to see this in the community. >> hi, i'm diana sands i want to start by recruiting that the

rising tides desires all boats spark is bringing the mcds to the excelsior my experience with spark my mother who is the center of my word and closest friend i've seen her suffer with cancer sometimes, it's not even here tumor but the medical treatments that make her sick this i never thought to consider medical cannabis as a resources as we made a decision to give medical cannabis the try we went to spark at first my mom was a.d. meant may not she explicit know how to smoke anything it was completely understood they offered tactical containments

and give us clear instructions this was what sets spark approved or disapproved they actually work the harder to help people mom has enjoyed the critical improvements in here appetite my mom who enforces the highest standards in all she does can get the medicine she needs to feel better that's why i'm here when i think of the people in and around the neighborhood that will soon have access to this disperformance monk others in the community spark will help sick moms and to the people that love them. >> thank you. next speaker. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> yes, i'm deli moved here in

1969 about ten years ago, i had complications i was put in my tree and spark really saved my life i had to go to hospice and they delivered my medication and still deliver to me now, when i was there i weighed 87 pound now 86 so anyone that needs the medication should be able to get it i hope you all can help us. >> thank you. next speaker, please and i'll call nor names (calling names) if the next speaker is ready approach the podium

(calling names). >> thank you for your time commissioners i'm ian i'm a california licenses acupuncture person i treat the people at spark i was born and raised in san francisco and i'm i was a little bit dubious when i was approached like bringing acupuncture back to spark but when i walked in i was amazed the place like people said it's e make last night and beautiful and it is friendly i'm honored to be part find an organization that actually provides healing services to the community free of charge there are many integrated and healing centers in name but i am

amazed at sparks ability to actually provide those services instead of talk about them since the beginning of this year i've personally motivator over 6 hundred acupuncture treatments if you combine that with massage over 2 thousand individual treatments given serving over seven hundred and 50 different people spark is an educate to the sf community and allowing the second location the proposed location will allow us to serve more people in the san francisco community i said the concerns and the emotion along with the people in the neighborhood and i find it basically spark is a what you

need those other places are ruining the name for cannabis disperformance. >> thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> i'm happy to talk about the training as well as the people that work with with us truly set spark apart we currently employ folks our minimum wage is $15 an hour we provide every full-time employee with outstanding benefits spark on asks folks to contribute 10 percent and spark covers one hundred percent of

the dental and vision we'll create 40 plus jobs in the excelsior and the community and the employees will have those terrific benefits our hiring process we want to recruit the best of the best and want to discuss some of the expensive training but i'll skip that we're professionals another spark you've heard several times we raise the bar for dispensaries that's try we hold ourselves to the professionalism and we expect nothing less from our employees we excited to change the communities that he seismic of the mcd and he look forward to working with with sharp professionals and i know the excelsior community will be

excited by the benefits and the community itself. >> thanks. >> next speaker. >> and hello, i'm mr. daniels i've never worked in an organization that is committed to its organization like spark today, i oversee a policy that qualifies and unholds he distract of indicates safety codes to the medical cannabis is very important to me additionally i manage the one and off site sites with dpildz and work with michael oswald depreciate delivering the medication this is very important to me on a daily basis

and the people i work with are grateful spark is condominium to providing medication regardless of diagnoses and the district i can thrill personally the demonstrations we've made i'm going to read a letter on michael's on behalf of dear san francisco planning commission i'm a co-owner of the spark i'm writing to urge tour approval on mgsz spark offices a clean facility which one a new york times award we have a spectacular service not currently in the neighborhood not to compete with the neighborhoods but to augment them my job to deliver free drugs and help with the monitoring problems for folks it

is our services serving 80 patients please participation to my comments and mary the program director at my tree thank you very much fewer consideration i appreciate it. >> thank you i'll call more names (calling names). >> members of the planning commission i'm michael a member of spark i am here to deliver a message on behalf of of matthew hernandez the member that lives in the neighborhood 49 ocean avenue dear san francisco mraegs i've lived here for seven years in my time spark is one of the most welcoming businesses i've within a consumer since their location opened up they've provided me with