over the past 50 year, i have seen the many, many evolutions and iterations of the marina. there was a time when there was four grocery stores on chest nut street and all four stores thrived and supported each other. it was high rents which drove them out of the community. there were three florists and multiple clothing stores. all this to say is that this gives me a unique perspective and i've seen this iteration of chest nut street. i cannot see the argument by pet connection nor by catnip and bones that three pet food stores cannot co-exist. the three stores are distinctly different, pet food express will not cannibalize the sales from the other two businesses. catnip and bones is a unique high end boutique and not every resident in the marina can afford her merchandise, nor does she sell the type of pet food that i need for my dog. as for pet connection, their inventory is not always reliable and i find their argument against pet food express disengeneral wows due to bird and game, while they will come in and distinguish theses if they become a community connector, if e

. >> good evening, commissioners, i'm eric messier smith, i live in the marina for over 23 years, i'll go down to cal fawner ya store or drive my truck down to market and that's a distance and i live in the marina, this location is closer, it's more convenient, i'm also very familiar with lombard street, all of you i know are too. it is vacancy after vacancy after vacancy and it looks just terrible and that location has people sleeping there in the evenings, there's crime at that location and this particular business, it looks like it would be a perfect fit for -- it would be certainly convenient to me, i would urge you to go ahead and grant their petition. thank you very much. >> good evening, my name is gail mametska, last weekend, we celebrated our 40th anniversary and for the past two year, we had a doggy pageant and parade, i reached out to many small businesses, even franchises to help support this event, the only organization who ever responded was pet express. pet express donated prizes, pet food, pretty much anything we asked, they were able to give to the event. i'm here in s

, i moved to the marina because of the charm and the conveniences, as a marina resident, i see no value in pet food express on lombard street in my humble opinion and the supply and demand is currently being met not only in the marina but also in the pacific heights area. planning commission, please help preserve our community and vote no to pet food express. if not, i fear animal connection, catnip and bones will fold as studies have proven time and time again, they are so much more than pet stores to me and the marina residents alike, they are socializing places which essentially help the community stay vibrant, connected and informed, it's what makes the marina so special and unique and let me tell you, i have a 7 pound shocker shearer terrier, i have a special needs dog and not only is my dog special needs, he thinks he's a rot wiler, i provide information of what to do in the city, i'm the neighborhood watch city, i know and watch out for my neighbor, i won't get that kind of feeling and vibe in a pet food express store, so it means a lot to me and it means a lot to my dog and i kn

my name's jonathan parsons, i live in the marina neighborhood and i'm disabled, i had to cut in line, i'm sorry, because i really have to leave, i'm very much against pfe coming to lombard street as well as all my neighbors around me are who couldn't come because they're on vacation, and they already have three stores here, there on california, you heard the story over and over again, there's been a decision made in 2009 and i'm not going to waste anymore of your time, thank you very much. >> my name is yvonne valencia, i have a catering business in san francisco, i sponsor small businesses and pet food express sponsored my business since 2006. we serve breakfast for the managers and its employees, they *f this time they open a small business, so i sponsor them too. so, thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioner, my name is andre, i'm a general manager of i print and e-mail, we're a print and e-mail company based here in san francisco. we are a certified small business and minority owned business through the city's owned human rights commission. our owners are long-time residents of s

retail synergy is the key consideration in selecting oh occasions, a pet specialty store in the marina that hoped at third store just around the corner, we welcome them as neighbors. in close, i would like to quote a statement in the city's website in the invest in neighborhood program, every neighborhood economizerabler district is different, the lombard district has its unique challenge, we hope you will support the staff recommendation to move forward with this project so that the lombard district has an opportunity to thrive like the streets and surrounding neighborhood. thank you. >> thank you. >> i would like the take this opportunity to remind people who came in to the chambers just recently, there is an overflow room number 416, where you can watch these proceedings, if you can't find a seat, you will have to leave these chambers and watch the proceedings in room 416, when your name is kauld, you'll have ample opportunity to submit your public testimony. so, that means those people standing in front of the doors need to actually move. >> the project sponsor has 42 seconds remai

conditions, one, pet food express has since opened a store just one mile away on california street so any marina resident can access a pet food express store, it has been an absentee tenant for the last four years, since 2009, many neighbors have grown increasingly frustrated by the graffiti, litter and homeless chaserbacker camping taking place aon a regular basis on lombard street, we filed complaints with various city agencies but the problems were never addressed and only seemed to get worse, for three year, neighbors assumed it was vai can't or no one would lease it, but there was a tenant that had a lease, pet food express, i was contacted wi jim moore and tom sing v*its, they asked to meet with the mca board and pet food expresses along with jim moore presented to our board last september, we heard presentations from two local pet store owners, based on their, our board of directors voted 7-1 to deny pet food express's conditional use permit for this location, we are against locating a pet food express at this particular location on lombard street but not against pet food express, not for

continued support of our neighborhood and your ongoing [inaudible] of the marina, by a vote by the mma general membership, we are asking for your support in denying a conditional use permit of pet food express in the marina, after attending many meet, speaking directly to the pet food express own e we have concluded this business is not something that the maer chant's agreement can agree with, we feel the merchants have spoken and we are asking support from you on this issue. sincerely, mike [inaudible], the secretary of the mma, myself, nick david son of the mma and alex, our past president from the marina merchant's association. >> good afternoon, commissioner, my name is keith jerdano and i have resigned? the marina far years, in our planning code regarding formula retail state, the formula retail in the commercial business areas if not monitored and regulated will have a diverse retail base with distinct retail and personalities compromised with a mix of businesses, pet food express's conditional use application would be a complete disregard of the section, pet food express has att

i don't believe that pet food express is a good fit for the marina district. we already have enough mom and pop stores to take care of our needs as we did four years ago. san francisco is a world class tourist destination and when they visit our beautiful city, they want to shop in a unique, eclectic stores with merchandise that's fitting. i just feel that any shop that would pay rent on a blighted store for four years and kind of hide behind that, i'm not aware of politics or anything as far as an activist, but when i heard that, i just -- they could have used that money, i do not know how much the rent is per month, but four years, that money could have been well spent in other ways such as their adoption and such as their helping out the community. i never heard anything in all the years of them renting this as being a benefit to the marina district and this really upsets me. thank you for allowing me to speak. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is sharon hefsky and i have lived in the marina for 36 year, i am in support of my ne

i don't believe that pet food express is a good fit for the marina district. we already have enough mom and pop stores to take care of our needs as we did four years ago. san francisco is a world class tourist destination and when they visit our beautiful city, they want to shop in a unique, eclectic stores with merchandise that's fitting. i

the marina far years, in our planning code regarding formula retail state, the formula retail in the commercial business areas if not monitored and regulated will have a diverse retail base with distinct retail and personalities compromised with a mix of businesses, pet food express's conditional use application would be a complete disregard of the section, pet food express has attempted to paint a picture of a general local business merely trying to serve the community and serve animal welfare, pet food express purposefully utilizing their because. at the same time, they have whether intended or not created an extremely decisive caustic at mot fear and employed questionable tactics of this project. first, pet food express recruited pets unlimited to be a partner in this application, but pets unlimited -- but the pets unlimited portion of this partnership will consist of 4.6% of the available square footage, i ask you to consider when does charity when achieved to ceasing *f seize self-interest goals have a desired function, their first application in 2009 for a conditional use permi

the marina far years, in our planning code

i'm troubled with the representation that the marina community made that it speaks for the marina community, you have to pay them 25 dollars a year and they can't verify that their members live in the marina, they require an e-mail address and 50 buck, i've written them and let them know how they determine what *f whether the members even live near the marina and they have not responded to that. i'm here to urge you to approve the application for the permit. thank you. >> hello, i'm here to speak in support of pet food express on lombard street. my name is arlene scene, i've lived in san francisco 32 year, i'm the daughter of a small business owner laundry and i'm an sbrep near, i live and shop at the marina. i now live a few blocks from another pet food express and a small pet food store, they are both doing very well, the pet food store, there's always been a pet food store there and they do a good job, and so it's fine, pet food express has not stopped their business at all. my primary support of pet food express is thousands of animals lives have been saved by pet food express and i lov

the marina far years, in our planning code regarding formula retail state, the formula retail in the commercial business areas if not monitored and regulated will have a diverse retail base with distinct retail and personalities compromised with a mix of businesses, pet food express's conditional use application would be a complete disregard of the section, pet food express has attempted to paint a picture of a general local business merely trying to serve the community and

but the minute marina came in, he caved. marina, look.'t think hank is making this very clear. and it's hard for him, because he has a longtime relationship with you. for me, this is business. and from my perspective, you're being demoted. you are no longer the general manager. >> why is that? >> i don't know if you're qualified. >> what makes you feel that way? >> quite frankly, i don't think that the people that work here have any discipline or any structure. and am i supposed to blame hank, or am i supposed to blame you? you're the general manager. who do you want me to blame? >> the blame would be on me. >> well, then that's why you're being demoted. >> i don't know where marcus is coming from. he doesn't know everything that i do in the store. i work hard everywhere that i've been. and that's how i've been taught. that's how i've been raised. but hank just doesn't take action. and that adds a lot of pressure. [sobs] >> i just want to make sure we're clear, okay? >> all right. >> coming up... the new van, check it out. >> unbelievable

i never heard anything in all the years of them renting this as being a benefit to the marina district and this really upsets me. thank you for allowing me to speak. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is sharon hefsky and i have lived in the marina for 36 year, i am in support of my neighborhood small pet stores whose expert and personalized service i have enjoyed and which i find invaluable, and so i'm here to see that they are afforded protection. thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioner, michael william s, 40 year resident, i have a fair amount of experience now in doing assessments on things like the relationships of formula retail use. two small business in close proximity, i just finished 400 hours on lombard street and i conducted 234 discussions with business and property owners and as some of you know, i do that very well, it takes me a long time. along with that, i did 13 hours of traffic studies on lombard and i found 2600 cars per hour plus going by every hour and i went down to chest nut or to webster and buchanan and the other s

but the minute marina came in, he caved. marina, look.'t think hank is making this very clear. and it's hard for him, because he has a longtime relationship with you. for me, this is business. and from my perspective, you're being demoted. you are no longer the general manager. >> why is that? >> i don't know if you're qualified. >> what makes you feel that way? >> quite frankly, i don't think that the people that work here have any discipline or any structure. and am i supposed to blame hank, or am i supposed to blame you? you're the general manager. who do you want me to blame? >> the blame would be on me. >> well, then that's why you're being demoted. >> i don't know where marcus is coming from. he doesn't know everything that i do in the store. i work hard everywhere that i've been. and that's how i've been taught. that's how i've been raised. but hank just doesn't take action. and that adds a lot of pressure. [sobs] >> i just want to make sure we're clear, okay? >> all right. >> coming up... the new van, check it out. >> unbelievable

. >> marina. ♪. >> ¿la señorita marina conocida como. ... ser, ninguno de los dos nos hemos reconociodos . >> eran muy niños y se vieron