i own the gallery on polk street, and i am the treasurer of the polk street merchants association. i just want to say that i completely agree with my colleagues. this is not the type of business that we feel would add anything to the neighborhood, and we hope that you will reject their request. thank you very much. president olague: thank you. is there any additional public comment on this item? >> good afternoon. my name is david tutor, a commercial real estate broker. i have been involved with commercial real estate in san francisco for approximately 35 years. i wanted to submit to the commissioners a list of currently published rental rates in the polk street area. starting at two dollars a square foot, which is what the current owner is asking for his party, running up to $3.33 a square foot. larger retail stores, in my experience, and the formula of retail stores do not tend to drive prices up a matter of fact, they usually draw the hardest bargains, mainly due to their credit balances, their availability of funding, and they're strong financial positions. sometimes this is no

and desirable as to formula retail, considering what is available, considering the uniqueness of polk street, is something that we have to take into very heavy consideration. and i would be leaning to the small merchants, at the local merchants. the argument that the money is kept locally when you deal with local merchants has great ability -- great validity. everything i have ever read, nationally and in california, has supported that. i see no financial information, a county information, that gives anything other than the fact that there is nearly a 10-1 differential, the reports i have seen. and that is one of the reasons, of course, i think san francisco enacted this formula retelling the first place, for such neighborhood districts. i will not make any motion at what i have. president olague: commissioner antonini? commissioner antonini: i disagree in some regards. ironically yesterday i was in hayes valley not far from here having a bite to eat, and the discussion came up about formula retell being entirely banned, and what would -- one would expect that the prices and rents are low. a

to polk street. within that section there are eight formula retail uses. they include two walgreens, subway, gnc, and and out the door sthrift store. there is another simular business with in this portion that specializes in paek sales. the gnr pay sales. there are also to hardware stores that stock paint and paint supplies as part of their larger offering of products. this includes brownie's hardware and nob hill hardware. the project will be compatible with architectural and aesthetic character of the neighborhood. furthermore, the proposed conditions of approval would require the store front remained visually open and an apparent -- transparent through unobstructed windows. in addition to the subject and is based, there are approximately 12 other vacant commercial store fronts throughout this portion of polk street. these are mapped on the exhibits in your packet. since your packet went out, the department has received three additional levellers opposition -- letters of opposition. this would allow a store front that has been vacant for the past three y

and the need to really work on issues of safety as we go through market street, as we go through polk street, how intense these streets are over utilized and the challenges that we're going to have in looking at these transit areas is not only met with the enthusiasm we have for bicycling but the very indict push that we have to have in this city because it's going to be more than enthusiasm that's going to get us there. it will be leadership, enforcement, all the things that you know we have to do to change culture. what i've been doing is talking with a lot of residents on the west side of this city who are challenged because they're so used to being in their cars and they feel that righteousness of having an expensive vehicle and having paid for it and all the insurance and all of that i used to have when i had my three cars. that we only needed one. maybe a half a car and i had three because i was in that culture myself, and to think back about what really led me to feel that way and trying to pierce that culture that we still have very much in the city, that it's my road and that those

i have to businesses on polk street. this is -- the church is a mess. the security and the vagrant situation there as well as the dilapidation, i stopped three fires in the alcoves there that vagrants were starting. it isd a real concern. my daugthter -- daughter's had when she slips is 30 feet away from this building. it is an ugly tower. thank you. president chiu: thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon, president chiu. i live on russian hill. at&t is a giant force in the telecommunications industry. their capability as far and wide. with all the technological know- how that at&t possesses, they cannot explain why they cannot meet the area supposedly needed by reconfiguring 3 micro-sites. and one macro-site. no serious attempt was made to identify less harmful side. they need to use their abilities to investigate west's interests of alternatives. the church at 240 larkin street is located within a residential area, considered a category seven area. it is the least preferred area. the church being public domain gives easy access to at&t. if the chur

they do not have to look around on polk street to find a new paint store without any question. and truthfully, i think -- i believe any way, at least in my mind, that if they were going to open on van ness avenue, this might be a different consideration. maybe not, but it could be. after all, when we turned down american apparel on valencia, we told them to look more at mission street. when we had a small pet store on neighborhood streets, we said to go to a more major commercial street. in my mind -- and it was also a little hint of something saying they were professional, and they are. i am not questioning the staff at sherman williams. but having known the reputation of brownie's and others and cole's, these are as professional as you can find in san francisco, as are their staff. so i see no problem in those arguments whatsoever. commissioner borden: i want to reiterate, there are three sherman williams stores, and the city is only seventh-by-7. it is not like you can drive to another town or, you know, even another city. for me, that is the reason that it is different. i u

on polk street, there are many incidences of drug dealing and prostitution. in some of the entertainment quarters, we of shootings that happened. these are perennial issues that the police department needs to continually tackle. i am a big fan of the concept of community policing. that is the idea that our local police officers need to establish a better relationship with members of the community, residents, and merchants. through that community partnership, we have seen true successes in being able to combat crime. you have eyes and ears on the street cooperating with the men and women in blue. that helps to reduce crime. i have been pushing our police department to implement that. >> your district is a well-known nightlife destination. how do you balance the needs of the residents with the needs of the restaurants and bars? >> i moved into my neighborhood in part because we have such a wonderful vibrant nightlife. san francisco is famous for our restaurant scene, are seen, club scene. -- are sbar scene. we have had too much violence around these nighttime v

after that, it will only be 11:30 and they will go down to polk street. don't go to the mission. polk is the place. what happened is that the firemen had to take control. the police do not even try. the captain says there is nothing that he can do. he only has five officers. the sergeant says that there is nothing they can do. then they describe how somebody tried to get taken away because of the complaint from the bar owner. and all of their friends came and stopped the policemen from taking her away, and then the have to call and five more police. this time, the brief fire man stepped forward, without anybody even calling them, trying to take control of the street and cleared it. it is very dangerous. we had a meeting with the city attorney this week about shutting down these places as a public nuisance, about how people came out of the bars on another occasion, lit fire to cloth, then threw it at a car. propane tanks are used under the senior housing, under their windows. this situation is horrible. last weekend, i had to go to abc for a hearing to try to. -- to try to prevent

after that, it will only be 11:30 and they will go down to polk street. don't go to the mission. polk is the place. what happened is that the firemen had to take control. the police do not even try. the captain says there is nothing that he can do. he only has five officers. the sergeant says that there is nothing they can do. then they describe how somebody tried to get taken away because of the complaint from the bar owner. and allo

polk street merchants have been going to some of the meetings. trader joe's has been to every one of the meetings, has had a representative employee. cvs -- we have never seen an employee at any of the meetings. we have never heard from them. we have actually written, and all we have gotten our e-mails was just cannot in the last three or four days from the consultants on the project. cvs does not want to seem to do anything with this except for use a consultant. this is not part of our neighborhood. the polk street merchants does not have a problem with trader joe's, looks forward to having it. having cvs is a problem. we urge you to split this up as it should be. and consider each one of them. how many drug stores are there? how many grocery stores are there? these are two separate companies. they do not have any ownership altogether. i appreciate your time. >> afternoon, commissioners. i have lived in the neighborhood since 1997. my wife and i enjoy shopping at trader joe's. we think it is a very good store. we personally welcome their locatio

use polk street and is not part of our district. there is a million for miller wait till there. the q4 time. braxton afternoon. -- good afternoon. just to speak in favor of of with the results of this hearing. the very first big issue that our city worked on was the chain's store ordinance. and the follow-up. it is crucial. i want to highlight something that was touched on in the presentations and make it bigger. every one of those green check boxes you saw of a big box or a chain store that has its headquarters outside of the city, 40% or more of that money goes out of the city and is not combat. 40% is huge. it is penny wise and pound foolish to open a store to get tax revenue and hire workers that are at low wages. at the same time you are throwing at 40% of revenues of those businesses that would stay here in the city if they were local businesses instead. finally i would like to point out that -- you have seen me on any -- many occasions fight a big box or a chain store. there are a lot more of them that i would have helped fight. some of which got through. had i been able

come up with exciting and doable, that's important, implementable plans for mid market street, for polk street and the wiggle route through the lower haight. they'll be coming back miraculously tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. to share their design ideas with all of us. this is open to the public. 6:00 p.m. tomorrow night at the war memorial building in the green room just across the street, across van ness avenue. please come, and you will learn what the dutch experts and what our local experts and stakeholders think we need to make san francisco a truly great bicycling city, which i am sure we can do. thank you so much for coming today. we appreciate your enthusiasm and hope to see you tomorrow night. [applause]

should have been communicating with people about a different project but was overcome by events on polk street. twice, recently, you have approved more alcohol licenses, one of them which stated that the termination time, and the the termination time, and the other, you gave off -- with a