. >> welcome to the wednesday, april 15, 2015 meeting of san francisco board of appeals the presiding officer is commissioner president lazarus and joined economy commissioner fung and xhilz and to my right is robert bryan the deputy city attorney that will provide the board with legal joys and mr. pacheco and i'm cynthia goldstein the boards executive order and for case sitting at the front table scott sanchez representing the planning department and planning commission we'll be joined by

the senior building inspector joe duffy that will repeal the department mr. pacheco please go over the boards out in the hallway. permit holders and others have up to 7 minutes to present their case and 3 minutes for rebuttal. people affiliated with these parties must conclude their comments within 7 minutes, participants not affiliated have up to 3 minutes - no rebuttal. to assist the board in the accurate preparation of the minutes, members of the public are asked, not required to submit a speaker card or business card to the clerk. speaker cards and pens are available on the left side of the podium.

the board welcomes your comments. there are customer satisfaction forms available. we are located at 1650 mission street, suite 304. this meeting is broadcast live on sfgovtv cable channel 78. dvds are available to purchase directly from sfgovtv. thank you for your attention. we'll conduct our swearing in process. mrindz do. please note: any of the members may speak without taking the oath pursuant to the sunshine ordinance, and thank you. raise your right hand and say i do after you've been sworn in

mroud you. >> do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> i do. >> thank you thank you mr. pacheco. >> commissioners there's one housekeeping item number 9 dealing with an taeflgs permit that matter has been withdrawn and item one general public comment is there anyone here that wants to address the board on a matter not on tonight calendar item 2 commissioner questions or comments. >> not be here for the april 29th meeting i'm very sorry sorry about that

that happened before i was appointed that in preparation for tonight item 7, item 6 and item 10 items that were reviewed and in some fashion before i was appointed i did review previous actions on those items on the website. >> okay. any other commissioner comments? seeing none, any public comment no public comment item 3 the boards consideration of the april 8, 2015 minutes >> additions, deletions, or changes to the minutes if not may i have are a motion to approve. >> motion. >> okay. commissioner squiggle made that motion seeing none mr. pacheco call the roll

please. on that motion if commissioner squiggle for the april minutes commissioner fung is absent commissioner president lazarus commissioner vice president honda commissioner wilson thank you the vote is 4 to zero those minutes are adopted. >> okay. thank you then move to item 4 a special item with the presidents content the next 15 minutes for the duplicating and police department to update the tobacco owners in particular with e cigarettes and the sale of tobacco to minors and the new legislation that limits the number of sales permits in a supervisorial district we're joined by derrick smith about the department of public health tobacco free project and by lieutenant david that's correct.

>> that's probably not going to be able to make it i'll cover it on behalf of police department. >> good afternoon, commissioners mr. again and again and mr. bryan my colleague comparing with the project is going to be help with a few visuals i'll stand i never felt so tall i'll be speaking that the city and county of san francisco is addressing the sale of e cigarettes and the products are imploding in popularity among children in our community awhile state and local law makings this illegal there is a handful of stores in san francisco that are continuing to provide those products to kid in

our community mroo whether or not the salsa intentional the end result they hold an unpair business advantage for young people i'll talk about kids that seek e cigarettes know where to get if you have a teen or a neighbor or your kids friends if you asked him kwl where are stores to get e cigarettes they'll know which stores are lax and what has he as a result if from a business matter those stores get the youth and serve 0 monopoly on the backs of our young people i'd like to talk about why is it legal e cigarettes to minor are legal there is a couple of things one the board of supervisors and mayor ed lee identified e

cigarettes as a pressing public health harm because of the rapid implosion and as well as the fact many retailers are selling the products and unknown health problems just days after unanimously passed by the entire board of supervisors mayor signed is it into the san francisco health code is treats e cigarettes like cigarettes so it means that retailer are to follow local and state laws to be in compliance with their tobacco retailer license and the privilege of selling the products in san francisco this is issued by i district 2 before that in 2010 the state of california the legislator passed the bill 882 that made the

prohibition signed by schwarzenegger and what we're showing a few of the headlines they have to do with the package of the e cigarettes owners as well a tremendous amount of media attendance it is a pretty major health scorn so i'd like to talk about the outreach from the health department to merchants we want to engage all the tobacco folks during the consideration of the san francisco bell in the last 2 1/2 years that equalities cigarettes and e cigarettes i presented to the business commission with youth partners and the san francisco small business commission supported the propose that is a san francisco by the way, law it passed with the full

board of supervisors support retailers can perhaps use important goinsz how to comply with the local and state law apartments are sent from our department they were sent most recently in 2015 a couple packages of the tobacco laws so march 2015 and april 14th the mail highlights the sales of tobacco products including a fact sheet on e cigarettes and the recollections they were sent to the physical addresses of the stores and owners addresses in the material in the packet as you can see are trarmentd into arabic and chinese and spanish in addition to english to make sure if the rarpt is not they're first language it is because

we're finding retailers have staff with different language nodes that might be selling the products in their stores dpw sent a special update to various sectors to talk about how the it is not allowed needs a license is applicable to the law those with mailed in june 2014 to various businesses like 46 letters to the business associations of san francisco as well as the human resources and the entertainment sector, etc. it is really important this maybe a newer issue as it was to me there was zero retailer of e cigarettes in 2008, none now they're available in almost every neighborhood in san

francisco over 5 hundred known transparency is very, very rapidly there's a tremendous 1r5ib89 of the products, however, of 5 hundred e cigarettes retailers 898 percent had a tobacco license they've alp awareness of the accepting e selling of tobacco and know to card someone as 27 years old this is one hundred and 20 years for the tobacco law no california that requires you to not sell to minors from the $18.90s beyond the monitoring and e cigarette education there is inspections and the hluet of stores on a regular basis that is a targeted 101 time to talk about to the inspector beyond

that accident department of public health engages in a health caption seen here to battle misinformation as well as members of the public we have education for the products and the website tobacco free dooming talked about the information about e cigarettes as well as the laws irregularity the sale and use of tobacco products there is a state caption in the lower left hand corner it is all over the airways to educate people their addictive and owned by the tobacco entry let's talk about why this matter it is about protecting the kids there are many reasons beyond the fact it is the law in san francisco and the law in the state of california i'd like to talk about why we care in the last 3 years twice the national use

rate has doubled among young people so young people are increasing so cigarettes not apple implosion san francisco has turned the corner in many of you are familiar with the deploy operations i spoke to the commissioner president lazarus and some of the others were here about two years ago on the matter how he work with the police department to reduce the sales and for that matter in that matter from 200328 reduction in sales in 2013 we've seen a dlan we know that the police department and the health department is holding people accountability for checking ids

and this is the decoy in aspirin with the san francisco police department 5 in so many retailers are selling those products compared to tobacco traditional tobacco cigarettes we found those to contain nicotine levels it is broadly in the research of the products and no safety of the products despite this larger captions by the manufacturers let's talk about the to industry they thought those e cigarettes would be a exert but they changed their strategy and begin to acquire e cigarettes so manufacturers are responsible for the heavy martha so they're

connected industry we've worked on and now a new face to the tobacco industry 2014 a quarter of million kids used the e cigarettes 2 hundred and 50 thousand kids invading never smoked by but used a e cigarettes this is the presmoking product we want to make sure it keep it out of the hands of kids they call the cigarettes on training wheels they come in frustrate i didn't will likes banana and schedules candy in favor so this is often much less harsh four kids you know there's a whole story about how people start smoking and hacking and they're under to

serve up nicotine their flavorable and many kids don't royals this the awe disc chemical found in cigarettes this is more addictive than heroin and kids are trying the new product they think all the friends are doing it it leads to a lifetime of addiction that is a home run for the tobacco industry but i would talk about the devises is it the nick 10 in the product to be clear both the state and local law regulates the e cigarettes and other types of electronic devices for this it didn't matter according to the drug paraphernalia laws you can't furnish those products to

0 minor even though no nick 10 those products are forbidden as sews for people underage $18 million. >> additional i want to talk about the decoy process we call it the youth decoy it is much like the police department does a good job with other investigative process they witness as a police officer an purpose by a person of 15 or 16 the young person attempts to purchase the products those are real kids and local kids to see if a retailer will sell to them most of the time they won't sell to those to those some instances they are and the did you want is

working to hold those folks accountable i want to show you a copy of an id you or i i'm going to presume on page 21 it is fairly reasonable to conclude we have horizon driver's license if you're under 21 you have a vertical driver's license it is turned sideways and clearly states the year that person will turn age 18 if you check that id it should trigger that that is verizon under 21 and if you actually look at theoblast blue line the person turns 18 in 2016 if you know what year no calculation required it is not

great it so moved sometimes we hear it is difficult but card anyone that appears to be under the age ever 27 wherever there's a question retailers must ask for identification the youth will always be 15 or 16 kids in our community because they're our kids in the retailers is choosing to sell those products retailers must insure hair not selling to children that is unjust judge a handful of retailers are selling illegal to minors awhile retailer are following the laws and checking the ids e cigarettes are reintroducing nicotine to kids month is of royals the harm of a 4r50i6789

of nicotine addiction we know the amount of money they spent and the outcomes that come from a lifetime of smoking and that's why getting kids hooked on e cigarettes is a step background my colleague from the san francisco police department wanted me to express he personally was working in the decoy operation since the board of supervisors trod the tobacco retail licensing requirement that made all retailers apply for a license especially the sales to minors so wanted me to express that that's all i'll say about e cigarettes i wanted to belief mention a new issue that will be porcelain something you'll hear about side brown's board of

supervisors unanimous signed by the mayor opted changes to the retail licensing around the density sorry the density of tobacco retailers many part of san francisco have many, many retailers that sell tobacco did tenderloin and chinatown so in partnership as well as community partners an ordinance was crafted that sets a cap or limit for future tobacco retailers in communities so no tobacco licenses are removed if the community or from grocery absorption it was vested to this small business commission there's a limit like alcohol licenses a limit not an unlimited supply of tobacco licenses it is something to be aware in previous times those

were given out fairly libly so awhile some had quite a few less you know areas in the richmond like 37 tobacco arrangements whoik while the tenderloin is one hundred and 80 there is some districts that have tobacco more tobacco transparency so this is the lead on this issue i wanted to make sure we give you more information and there maybe questions in future appeals that come before this board about the non-issuance of licenses because of the district is setting a cap for the licenses signed by the mayor and introduced by accident board i know it is new information if you have questions i'll be happy to answer any questions. >> so how frequent are the

decoys sent out. >> it is ongoing so there is currently two year plan with the sfpd but since 2004 since the tobacco licensed has been trod liquor. >> how many. >> they end up going to maybe on the best month it is 16 or 20 per month they end up the best month every year we get one hundred or one hundred and 50 store range. >> i notice lows appeals from stores over the year in selling tobacco to minors. >> yeah. that maybe the appeals process is different if the directors process to the suspension at the directors level so the health director of the san francisco ethics commission is the one who hears

those finding first so he issues a suspension if someone is found to sell to a minor and when those that retailer appeals that this is when we come to the board so in smoudz up and down totally unrelated depends on who choose to appeal. >> aside that the lovely of retailers the same that are getting into trouble. >> no as i mentioned the violation recite has dropped we were at 11 percentage last year is the attempted sale of e cigarettes but is it went down we've done a lot of education with those kinds they still come and only a couple of retailers

unfortunately, the retailers that are known we work with them i'm sure your familiar the youth you know those are young people that pretend to want this product but youth are president sects and alcohol they're very resource full and maybe it maybe worth it but to get all it is one business maybe. >> what's that. >> as were we when we were young. >> yes. young people we really expect did seem application we try to be tom as is fairly consistent i licenses to the case and every case has a

suspension the police officer witnesses the sale have to be to a youth an officer witnessed that we're trained to be somewhat consistent you know argument or questions raushldz for that why that considers they think the victim is keeping with the practice it was that one time unfortunately we don't have the resources to be watching two times a week. >> i'm sorry. >> do you know if there are suspension directly recommended to e cigarettes. >> yes. there's been several suspensions because we know that 19 sales rate of e cigarettes from september to preservation we've been working with sfpd to ask for e cigarettes sales tyler

or there has been several maybe appeals. >> right. >> that's part of reason to give you an update those are new laws it is actually old this is the e cigarettes beulah's have been on the books in the last 5 years it is the sting operations not for e cigarettes but all the tobacco retailers have been selling cigarettes for years and being techt to see if they sell e cigarettes and there's continued to see if in they're in coincidence. >> you spoke about the sate stated to and local what about the federal. >> that's a very good question it is very slowly a series of progress the food and drug affirmation could a regulate e cigarettes additional they it

has been a slow regulatory process so there's a possibility it is really a great question that speaks to why i know that mayor ed lee was concerned about this issue as well as supervisor mar and other leaders at the board that wants to tackle that for regulation and much talk about state legislation before the senate and the assembly right now that would regulate e cigarettes in an alleged way or perhaps tax. >> thank you. >> so it is selling south side lose our license. >> superintendant your license not permanent. >> can you describe the penalties please. the penalties for the sale of e cigarette are the same essentially around 3 week suspension the owners that regulate the

retailer licensing the officer has did opportunity to give up to a 90 day suspension on the first there's a period of a first and second suspension in most cases the resources there are almost a thousand over 9 hundred tobacco retailers in san francisco we're not visiting every other store but a random sample to visit as many supposing stores as possible to the chance of a retailer being inspected year after year is not probably and like the baseball series caught if you are caught once or twice the third time in trouble. >> cumulative the idea it has been effective we believe with the sales rates dropped we think