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 medical

marijuana and information how to use most effectively little or no cost in a community i feel part of and board nights and jazzy think spark will be a wonderful addition i'll be proud to have it in the excelsior i love my neighborhood it's quiet and assessable to the transportation we have everything we need numerous businesses are shurld on every block and staples are having trouble i think that a new spark locates will draw people into the neighborhood and bring livelihood to the area it may make people weary but spark may encourage other similar businesses to take on similar practices their current location is not in the best of area but

inside their security guards and cameras make everyone feel welcome i felt the people were compact about the things they do over the past years they've kept the level of quality and want the best for the business and the folks in the community thank you, matthew hernandez. >> thank you. next speaker. hello, i'm here to read a mess from a neighborhood boyer huey from the dog patch neighborhood i've known spooshg from one year and in dog patch the team members from spark are pro-active neighbors we continue to have spark involved in many neighborhood projects including four street

park andnychia and the latest initiatives on 25th and pennsylvania spark a considered a valuable member engaging proactive and supports neighborhood enhancements i ask you support the obligation it spark has today. >> thank you. next speaker. . >> good afternoon. i'm al dreary a public professional and a cannabis i earned mine masters from the n y u i listened to the community asking for resources for economics and sustainable development and safety and height i see that spark is here to answer the call we want to

provide everybody with a safe place to medicate so the negative effects we'll hear about add up to resources in the long run we're a resource to the county and provide safe access to save medication we make sure that our medications is free if from pesticides and other things we hope to do this for the intensify community and provide resources for health and basically above and beyond we we thank y thank you for the opportunity. >> (calling names). >> hello i am zach i work to

sparks and it is this well behaved babying is my son it allows me to support my family i'm passionate about sparks some of the people have families it's very, very fulfilling and rare to have satisfaction around ones professionalism i was born in san francisco and proud to raise nay my family i saw marijuana in the hate and sophisticated and delivery program spark is different a responsible dispensaries so show that pharmaceutical drugs can't do they are the kind of dispensaries i support

i ask you to please approve this for my family and families like mine in san francisco thank you thank you. >> hello my name is mr. rooney a little bit more than 2 years ago i registered as a member what attracted we me wasn't only the medication but a safe location i was stunned by the detail of the interior detail i ultimately released how little i campground you medical cannabis it was that day i wanted to work for sfashg i manage their inventory and quality control is important because the two years i've been with spark we've doubled the production like many perceived

thoughts they fit the needs of our entry industry we lead test our medication to safely have folks access their medication a they've not been in touch with pesticides we practice safe and pursuits we eye hair nets and patrons working with the medications my wife works for spark we had our first baby girl we don't think the answer the question in order to raise our daughter this spark will make a great opportunity for people to be a good model and install a

comfortable place for people's needs thank you for your time. >> good afternoon. i'm march jordan i'm a homeowner in the excelsior about 5 years ago i spent my entire life saturations in the excelsior i had a lot of people for the neighborhood i thought it was on a good path and really well located on a neighborhood that had potential one of the things that attracted me to the neighborhood a lot of diverse and many schools and nurses facilities and sfoeshth love the neighborhood but i've seen a decline and much the reason is what our caption mentions to you when he spoke i actually have been involved in the neighborhood in your packets association you've got petition

with the various interests i've got 3 hundred signatures from a petition and 15 copies for you they were 2k3w5g9d online i've submitted in the passage all in opposition to another mcd opening in the neighborhood the question is not about mcds in general but not about the validity of the medical marijuana as a legitimate medication i personally building in it but the sat down ration and fairness in the neighborhood we've got 3 existing and 4 that will be existing if spark is allowed to come in and yet another application for a use permitful from lucky dragon i ask you commissioners would you want 3 mcds within one mile the other thing spark have nots been

saying a rising tide of boats if you do the same thing and except different results that's the distinction of insanity (clapping) and no interruptions please. i have a slithering different perspective a former mayor up in sonoma county i'm here to say how great that dispensaries ordinances has served our community and robert jacob the executive director of spark has done robert is an exemplar person not about making things i heard a speaker talk about wal-mart it's about being small and kwient and about community relationships and i've seen that first hand

i've seen how well, they reach out and give back to the community and making sure that elected officials that learn that this and policymakers have a chance to tour and discuss what's happening truly the times are changing legalization is literally around the corner in livelihood it is be legal i want to encourage to establish a model dispresence so when, in fact, it comes down we know what we need to do we're just starting to scratch the surface what was happening in cannabis and once it goes legal we'll need the models i think you guys are doing a great job listening and all the

speakers that's not easy to speak in sub especially, if you're a neighborhood i'll say that up north with robert jacobs leadership it is safer and a and cleaner and more respectable theirs openness and transparency with mac our place a better place thank you. >> thank you. >> i don't know if you hear me i have and a homeowner of the excelsior district and on the board of the residents association who've heard today about the merits of spark and i don't think this is what our objections are about it's not how well, they do their job and

on the other hand, an asset to the community but caption called it saturation we call it clustering the preponderance of a medical cannabis folks in our neighborhood perhaps if all the fault lines lie in the green zones but there's too many in this neighborhood it's not about cannabis per say i've had too close friends use cannabis one died last month unfortunately, she used it for stage four lung cancer and helped her to swallow i'm not debating the merits of ensuing cannabis another friend had breast cancer it's not about

cannabis or spark but the effect on our neighborhoods and we are getting the respiration of a pot center offering the excelsior our the pot center aren't you thought city this is not the kind of reputation we want thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please good afternoon. i'm lilly i'm a resident of the outer excelsior also an employee at alm downtown i'm here to express my he concern about the proposed project of the medical cannabis at 5420 mission street i've spoken to 35 any neighbors we feel this business is not appropriate in fitting in our neighborhood we're accidental poptdz with families and children's and local businesses and many chichz

a community that is not bend from the proposed project with two other dispensaries locked one block away our neighborhood is experiencing high crowding of traffic and alterations and crime a decreasing in local businesses medical cannabis is - it is maybe near a pharmacy or hospital is dispensaries are not allot to be located within one thousand feet of the school and it is one thousand 5 hundred foot from the local schools and it the near the parish school the two dispensaries and the proposed dispresence are on the

pathways of children going to and from school another dispensaries is needed in my community i raise the concerns for the residents especially the children the related crime it is causing increased traffic on mission street impaired drivers and effecting the property values mission organic provide the service to - >> thank you your time is up. >> thank you. >> i'm a merchant on 521 merchant street basically the community is president this it sucks it's my business on 89 i'm a merchant and a recovery addict

i choose to stop being sick i'm doing well medical cannabis club will be saturation like everyone said in front of my store is a pedestrian crosswalks every city has become a nightmare hell every single day they park one after another customer they don't care, he everything that's being said to the community it is about the money nobody has come up to me and said we're going to try to get the clients to park in the red zone people can't cross patio my mom's 92 years old she can't cross the street kids are being fed we'd outside my store i've been there and

done that tree knows their clients council meeting in and out on an hour spent five or six times one client goes in and out pushing the weed outside my store i call the police i personally have not had any response from the police station i'm still waiting for an officer to come to my store i've called 3 months ago 9-1-1 the police station not one police officer has come to my store. >> thank you. sir, your time is up. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello, i'm monica a and a half san franciscan homeowner in the outer mission area

i was raised and raising my family there 2 1/2 years ago i spoke before the commission opposing the 3 mcds that have opened standing here before you again, today asking for you to listen to the residents that live in the area about our concerns perhaps if spark would have been here two analyses years ago they would have been the first to open, however, we have a sour taste in our mouths issues that occurring everyday people are living it everyday we ask you taking into consideration the residents listen to it and realize that what happened 2 1/2 years ago could be an issue again, thank

you very much. >> thank you. next speaker, please >> hello confirmations i'm president of the outer mission merchant and societies residents and associates yes anyway we were here 2 1/2 years ago i can't believe i'm here again, i've spoken to you about the green zone to expand that it's not fair for our district to be over-burdened sparks sounds great maybe we wouldn't have the problems we have today but if the 20 other two are not going to go out of business for a fact tree just changed ownership they no longer own the club it's someone so who is is say someone

won't buy this one so i'm pleading with you please take a look at wag we're saying this is not about medical cannabis it is not about how much it helps people i see it and tabbed their stories this isn't about you it's a about a neighborhood trying to find an identity and a neighborhood trying to move away from clustering because we have two more coming in we have lucky dragon and olive collective there are about 3 mcds in the 52 hundred block alone thank you very much thank you. is there any additional public comment. >> okay. on this tactic? >> no. >> i know there's going back to be public comment later on and,

sir you've already spoken you haven't spoken at all you're not part of the project sponsors team they've been afforded that's fine submit that. >> good evening. i'm teresa alvarez i live close to tree medicaid i'm here to speak for myself and my mom who leaves in the 0 block behind tree medicaid i want to give you the message that we have been hurt by a prior decision that was made by letting 3 mcds open in our neighborhood there's no argument about does the product help people or should it beleaguer listed that's not the issue the decision was made here those

clubs opened and our neighborhood our blocks are hurting my mom's elderly i pick her he up and take her shopping when i come back cars parked on the block with people in them smoking if we go to get the drivers place they drive away maybe someone what drive and smoke that's not for me to say our block our neighborhood the people are hurt by something that was put in that we don't use it's okay for other people to use it but request if we get another one, if they might be a good business but we're full my question why can't they be put in another neighborhood it's hard to speak and maybe some of

the people can go into our neighborhood and use some of our businesses and tell those people to stop smoking on the corners and disrupting and making it hard for people that live there. >> any other speakers that haven't spoken yet oak seeing none, public comment is closed opening up to commissioners commissioner hillis. >> i have questions for the project sponsor just i guess first you've heard i'm sure eave researched before you selected this site kind of about the issues the neighbors/have about clustering this has a disproportionate number of clubs dispensaries in other neighborhoods we've been down this path green before why

did you select that site. >> first finding a site t is hard in san francisco the zoning laws create if you places for medical cannabis and it has the largest complication over 71 hundred spark members living in the 91192 or adjudicate zip codes. >> but the adjacent zip codes is it because of the green zone it's difficult to find other spots that's a large area i can look at other districts is it the green zone it limits where you go. >> green zone is by law the only place. >> we've tried to increase the area where you can locate but it

doesn't seem to have much of on impact. >> i don't think the laws have been changed. >> we recommended changes. >> yeah. there were changes recommended but the board of supervisors didn't preempt those changes. >> so how do you respond to neighbors saying there's two many whether you're a bank or cell phone store i don't have a problem with mcds i live two blocks from one it operates well there's no traffic issues but there's not enormous issues that make me oppose the business but yourself the third we've heard about clustering how do you respond to neighbors that are concerned and what your impact obey to the neighborhood by adding another mcd. >> i hope i can meet each neighbor that spoke will the concerns of the medical cannabis dispensaries my goal to spend

time with each of the individuals and find out the issues and gave me head on with the issues and solve them i don't believe they've experienced an organization that is dedicated to building cultural within our region we're going to be different and really improve the neighborhood and improve the cannabis. >> you have a different approach to this than some of the other mcds have you met with the neighbors. >> the chart we've put up and in your packets we've reached out to 14 organizations and small mail and e-mail and left three or four voices mail messages and invited them with 80 an open house and paid for the shuttle busing buses to pick up people and closed the store

early we've been available for private tours one-on-one and done everything possible to reach out over and over again there how's has to be 5 contacts to each of the 14 neighborhood organizations. >> people have not take advantage and so organizations invited us in to speak and other organizations posted a newsletter there was only one organizations that is opposing this project i believe that 2 1/2 years ago there were many organizations i know that is a direct effort from our education. >> what happens to the mcd market in the excelsior as a result if you operate there could someone raise this notion

it's not a choice between you the good operator and you and your supporters readily admit there's problems and the police by saying i do things better and you're a different operator what's your sense of what happens to the market do you increase for the people going to this neighborhood you know to patron the businesses there and the mcds what's our prediction on what upstairs to the landscape of the mcds in the queer it's hard to predict. >> my prediction we're going to come in as a happy healthy organization serving medical cannabis residents and how the other dispensaries with whether they choose to step up or not i can't control but i know a

they're to have to compete with our organization we will raise the bar in the neighborhood. >> thank you thank you. >> commissioner richards that i i guess if mr. jacobs if you can stay i want to say you have the customers that come they're not really caring about the neighborhood they trash and put the pot on the marijuana if those customers came in our place would would you do. >> if the customers create a negative impact on the neighborhood we band them from the dispresence but we have on site medicating the reason people are rolling joint in coffee shops. >> one of the fears w