the grocery store is not. the wine sales has exceeded the area that is permitted and the grocery part, -- the 2007 action was in part to preserve that grocery store. if we do this and this we can still sell the groceries. but they didn't. they went on and put in the restaurant and the wine sales but they did not really develop the grocery portion. the other concern is the facade and i realize that a lot of people like the facade the way it is now however the building is a historic resource and has been determined to be that by the department. and to change the facade in the way they have really takes away the historic character of that building. it had a very distinctive facade of its period and the improvements that they made, granted they were extensive and expensive went in the opposite direction of what the commission asked them to do. >> don't they have to get plans approved as they go forward through the permitting process? >> yeah. >> somebody signed off on it. >> yeah. >> it is not entirely their fault

so, it is possible but unlikely that a stand alone grocery store being a strirkt definition of grocery will survive at that location. they spent $ million in upgrades. i think that i would be very happy to allow them to continue on in the form they are in. so i am not supportive of the motion. we will see what the other commissioners have to say. >> yes, i second that. because i would like to support the staff on this one. the original approval and condition of approval all referenced either the wine or the restaurant type use to be subordinate to the grocery store. those were never the primary uses of this building. if you look at the plans that were given to us in this packet, the one labeled existing floor plan, it is ludicrous to me to think you can sell groceries on 10 shelves. the fountain in this middle of the space takes up as much as the shelving for groceries as there is. there were choices made early on somewhere. i don't think it was ever intended that groceries be sold as the primary use with the others being secondary. and that was the reason i voted for this was that the

we took about 80% of the groceries out, we did. it was not done because of greed because if you do thing for greed it's because you want to make more money. we never made any money. greed had nothing to do with that. wasn't done to spite anybody. it wasn't. we were the ones working there every day and losing must be. we never laid off anyone of our employees. all the losses were accrued because of groceries? absolutely not. we have is t same amount of employees we had when we open regardless of the losses. couple of things happen in 2010. due to the changes that we made, we have minimized the losses. which is able enough to stay in business. also triggered another thing, they complain two different departments from the planning department because we are in breach of a use permit, rightfully so. that's why we're here today. we're asking you for an adjustment in the use permit for a change in the use permit so allow us to operate. if you do grant us that permit, we may have a chance. if you don't, and we will thank you very much for

the fact that it doesn't have grocery stores convenient grocery stores, that it does not have convenient. i -- i mean -- >> can i make a correction to that. it does. saveway is right in the area. >> three blocks. >> three blocks away. >> because -- for me public transportation, i mean i can just imagine what it is for an elder person relying on public transportation to take them back and for the across town and something that is within walking distance. >> that will be different, though, once the legislation is enacted in terms of -- of access to -- to a -- you know a pharmaceutical because -- if this legislation is enacted then saferway will no longer be able to sell pharmaceuticals. it would be back to a --, a walgreen's or a -- or a independent drugstore. >> okay, thank you. >> what about -- what about some kind of financial ceiling on gross receipts? like -- stores that are not under a certain amount of money could be exempt. trying to think of something that is more general, no the just you. i don't know if that is possible. >> director -- do you have any -- >> well, chris did resea

>> we're more of a grocery store. if you wanted to go to the store and pick up a pack of cigarettes, a bottle of wine, groceries, you're not going to buy the cigarettes somewhere else and then come to me, you're going to go to the one place you can get everything. right now, cigarettes make up about 8% of my business in the store. that seems high, but the cost of cigarettes are pretty high. you can buy a loaf of bread, half gallon of milk and box of cereal for the same price as a pack of cigarettes. it does sound high, but if you factor in what people are buying when they do buy the tobacco, it's huge. and ever since we got our exemption, you know, we've taken down almost all the cigarette advertising in the store. i mean, i do have at the front counter a few shelves where you can see. my other register, you can't even see the cigarettes unless you ask for them. i'm even open to keeping cigarettes under the counter where no one sees them. i'm open for anything. my pharmacy pretty much is running as a non-profitable ph

pick some up where you buy groceries. america runs on dunkin'. >>> a late-night vote saves three schools in contra costra county. coming up, we'll tell you where the money might come from and why one council member has some concerns about the whole thing. that story, straight ahead. >>> plus, new details just out this morning on the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history. we'll show you who bp says is to blame. >>> and an early on for the metering lights at the bay bridge causes ripple effects around the bay as i follow yet another cig alert, also in the east bay. i'll show you what to avoid and where to go, coming up. >>> good morning. thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and i'm garvin thomas, in for brent cannon. rob's got a look at today's cool forecast. and by cool, i mean, not warm. >> november-like outside. right now, our main concern this morning, drizzle, which is enough to wet the roads in spots. mike's keeping an eye on that right now. 63 in san jose. notice, hour by hour, temperatur

they take customers away from the grocery stores. so within those confines, if they're using their market par to shift people away from the grocery store competition, it can benefit the small boutique industrials who are also trying to find that niche. but the point is, no one knows for sure whether pet food express will impact a store on geary street or, you know, on sacramento street. it takes a lot of money do that kind of economic analysis and we haven't done that. i'd like to introduce someone whom i don't think the formula retail contemplates, the bank of america, the gap. michael levy founded this company in san francisco, he gives back to this community. he knows how to run a small business and runs 34 small businesses. we give back to the community and he can speak to that better than i. >> good afternoon, supervisors, thank you for your time. my name is michael levy and i am the founder and co-owner of pet food express. we are not a publicly traded company and we do not have investors. i opened my first small pet supply sto

and a grocery and liquor stores. in terms of the impact of the revised feet in kofi revenue, this is capable of expression in gallons. as i said last week, this is an uncertain figure because of our uncertainty over the overall level lot alcohol consumption in san francisco, as well as the effect of a fee and compliance in the first year, but this is our best estimate of what we might expect to see. the ft also affects our estimate of what will happen with consumers spending and our review with outside economists found an error in calculation where last week we rectified here. the fee will actually read -- result in a decrease of spending at bars and restaurants, for a total net spending decline of establishments that sell alcohol of 13.6 million. double what we reported last time, despite the fact that the fee has gone down. however, the net economic impact is not greatly affected by this. the reason for that is that what we reported last time is a fee revenue in the neighborhood of $20 million, declining by about $

>> i'd like to say that right now there is a grocery store. it's inadequate in its current capacity. the redevelopment agency, in conjunction with our current sitting supervisor sophie maxwell, have worked out a deal to expand that footprint and turn it into a kroger. that's going to be a major impact on on what goes on in our district because we will have a full service grocery store. fresh and easy is going to be a wonderful complement to that store because it will give us those fresh fruits and vegetables that we're looking for, but in addition, the community gardens are going on right now all overbay view hunter's point, are providing a lot of what we see in some of our schools right now, because even the food bank that's located in district 10 draws from those. so what i'm saying is that we have some of these resources available. all we need to do now is correct the way they're configured. and that's going to happen with the expansion of food co. >> ms. smith? >> thank you. diane wesley smith. we don't have enough. we don't have enough in

i'm executive director of groceries for seniors and also one of the founders of groceries for seniors which was started in 1999 at sacred heart church in the western addition. after five years of being at sacred heart church, they were not able to come up with the renovation money to -- because they had also been affected by the 1989 earthquake. the city gave them three five-year extensions, and still the congregation, which was a very small congregation could not come up with the money. and at that point, one of the co-founders of the program, father and brother jack from u.s.f. was a brother in the jesuit ministry. he was the co-founder of the program. he is since deceased. so i wrote to all of the catholic churches in san francisco asking them if we could find a home with them and father charles was the only one that responded and came and had lunch with us at sacred heart and now for the past five years, we have been at old st. mary's and we're providing on a weekly basis over 900 households of very poor seniors with free groceries. those households contain about 1,200 people. so

. >> ordinance amending the san francisco health code by amending sections to eliminate grocery stores and big box the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies. supervisor maxwell: our director of health, are you here for this item? sorry, erik? supervisor chiu: i think that dr. katz will testify the san francisco has been a leader in limiting the harm of smoking to the public. in 2008 the tobacco free coalition and the department of public health passed a measure that limited the selling of tobacco products in a number of types of stores. this ordinance eliminates an exemption that was made a bad time for big box stores and general grocery stores. this will prevent all pharmacies from across the board, in an even-handed way, and prohibit them from selling tobacco products. in the tobacco free coalition literature and advocacy, we always say that cigarettes and pharmacies do not mix. we are not trying to bar cigarettes, but we are trying to change social norms and to be even-handed in that as well. pharmacies should be about promoting healing. people go there to purchase products that ki

we allow trader joe's to open every few months yet the small grocery stores are doing fine. if pam goes out of business, it won't be because of another store, it will be because she has a poor business model, sells boutique items that are way overpriced. every time i walk by her shop on chestnut it is empty, and that hasn't changed since he stopped pet food express opening from another location. since pet food express was halted, there have been dead bodies found in the motel parking lots and more drugs and prostitution pop up in the reports every month. the block blockbuster which -- s gone to pot literally, another empty building where drugs and sex are sold day and night in the parking lot. pet food express is a local success story. michael levy opened one store, no different than pam, and grew business slowly and steadily and support the local rescue groups and animal control, organizations that in this economy probably could not survive without the help of pet food express. [bell] president chiu: are there any other members of the public that wish to speak? >> my name i

it's not what you expect. >>> grocery wars.l tell you what a slew of new stores could mean for your next shopping bill. >>> while you were sleeping, the richmond city council made a