##VIDEO ID:1DaUocjuSvc## there she is hi hi one second yep I am here and I know sonel just contacted us that she's going to recuse herself from this hearing this um applicate yes okay I'm going to give it a minute for the waiting room to clear just a reminder when you enter to mute good afternoon this is a hearing before the Boston canvas board the BCB today is August 14th 2024 today's hearing is being conducted pursuant to a temporary amendments to the open meeting law this is what allows us to meet virtually this hearing is being recorded and will be posted to the city of Boston's website before I review some procedural matters I will introduce chairwoman Kathleen Joyce thank you look Luke good afternoon my name is Kathleen chy I'm chair of the Boston cannabis board today I'm joined by commissioner Lisa Holmes commissioner John Smith commissioner Gabriel kamacho commissioner Ramon SoDo and commissioner Sol Gandhi is here but she is recusing herself from the vote on um the first application before us today okay thank you my name is Luke San house and I am the Bost in cannabis licensing specialist for the boss Boston cannabis board I will be I will Begin by calling each item in order as they appear on the agenda we have one item on our transactional agenda today for and that is for a new license the applicant will have 10 minutes to present to the BCB followed by any questions from the board members we will then take public testimony beginning with elected officials or the representatives followed by the general public if you wish to testify please sign up via the link that will be put in the chat if you have if you haven't done so already Additionally you may also use the chat function to request to testify please wait until the matter in which you would like to speak is called do not use the chat to give testimony will not be considered please State your full name address any affiliation and testimony will be limited to two minutes at which you will be muted additional testimony may be submitted in writing to the canidates board at boston.gov there will be the record will be kept open until Tuesday August 20th at 5: p.m. the BCB does not give any more weight to spoken testimony as it does to written testimony okay first up we are calling the applicant name is Sony LLC doing business as Sony dot the proposed license premise is 1576 traymont Street in Mission Hill the license type is a recreational retail cannabis license proposed hours are Monday to Wednesday 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 P p.m. Thursday to Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. and Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. this is a non-equity applicant date of initial application was December 29 2023 and a community meeting was held on March 21st 2024 there is a buffer zone conflict with another cannabis establishment who is present on behalf of the L yeah for the record Larry darara 175 Federal Street Boston okay thank you again you will have 10 minutes to present and you may share your screen and begin thank you uh chair Joyce members uh of the commission uh the people of Boston voted in favor of both cannabis referendum questions Mission Hill was no different than most of the rest of the city signifying an interest in the legalization yet a few years later there is no cannabis facility to which a resident of Mission Hill can walk two have been proposed neither of their doors are open for business the one at 1441 tremon Street was approved by this board but did not secure the approval from the board of appeal all we know is it's not an operation today then there is an additional one at 123 Terrace Street not far from 1441 but outside of the buffer zone um this one was granted a provisional license in 2019 yet has still not opened its doors in short a resident of M Hill must go to hidde square in Jamaica plane or to Brookline Village if they want to purchase cannabis as must any other Boston resident who works in the area of which there may be more than the 24,000 who live on Mission Hill the need for this Dispensary on a Main Street on a bus rout nearby the trolley within walking distance of tens of thousands of people is clear the applicant ad Yoni will now explain the community process in which he has engaged over many months which has resulted in hundreds of residents registering their support and many individual businesses and residents writing personal letters Adia hi everyone how you doing tonight uh one second all right good afternoon Madame chair and members of the Boston cannabis board my name is AD Sony and I'm the managing partner and CEO Sony LLC is proposing a non-equity adult use cannabis establishment to be located at 1576 Treon Street in boster we're here today to ask for your approval for our project I just want to start off by introducing myself myself and our wonderful team I'm a graduate of UMass Boston I major in criminal justice with a minor in economics which led me to decide to run such a highly regulated business our team also includes ADI Sony our Chief Financial Officer she has an MBA from MIT and has extensive experience working in nonprofit organizations she also happens to be my mother who brings Focus alignment careful planning and high standards to all of her work we have a contract with citronic security integrators who have worked with numerous candidat dispensaries for security planning and implementation mark scanland from citronics is on this call as well and can take security related questions at the end of the presentation finally we have our legal team Larry darara and Quinn Heath both pay close attention to detail and will ensure our project meets every requirement of the BCB and the CCC once we open the two work closely with other cannabis retailers to find the very best fit for every neighborhood they worked in my parents Adian reesh Sony and I each hold a one-third share in this business with 100 % operational control under my name although rash NTI are shareholders and investors in this project I will make the final decisions regarding the business and its operation Larry spoke about our distance to other cannabis facilities but I want to reiterate that as the board is aware the city of Boston requests that 52 dispensaries be approved making the half mile buffer impossible to adhere to in every situation Mission Hill is a densely populated neighborhood with over 24,000 residents in a one M radius of our facility aside from this thousands of commuters Hospital workers and students come through this busy stretch of Mission Hill daily yet the closest dispensary is 08 miles away in Brooklyn having out the dispensary at this end of tremon Street towards the commercial hub of Mission Hill would help stimulate the business towards Ram Circle we have also conducted a survey to ensure that we are not near any school and the closest one Mission grammar school sits well outside the buffer at 687 ft from our facility here you can see the floor plans for the facility I want to highlight that our architect has carefully designed these layouts to reflect the best use of the space according to CCC regulation the basement is included here because we're going to be completely overhauling that space But it's going to have limited use as part of the store no cannabis products can or will be stored there I've also included a preliminary drawing of the store's Frontage in the top right hand corner this of course will change a bit over time as we receive feedback from the city of Boston the CCC and the neighbors themselves I want to take this opportunity to highlight the new generation of leadership that begins with me my father has been dedicated to Mission Hill for over 19 years and is now happily retired and that's what any son can hope for the parent I will be the new owner at 1576 tront and I'm committed to ensuring a positive change a friendlier more reliable retail experience for the missional community this is also a brand new business for our neighborhood which has been underserved for far too long residents living in a walk City like this should be able to do all of their shopping in their neighborhood and support their community members in doing so we also have a new vision for Sony dot we want this to be a completely revitalized retail space with a clean and modern design Sony do will have an entirely remodeled interior and exterior including important sidewalk improvements with an attractive design that complements the neighborhood I've published my cell phone number and you have it here too and I've been responding to anyone who's called or emailed me and I'll continue to do that once we open just like many missional Advocates I firmly believe that our community should be able to support the needs of its residents missions waited far too long for the same Services the same stores and the same Independence that so many other neighborhoods in Boston have with the opening of Sony dot we'll come closer to the vision that we all share the Mission Hill should grow to be a place where residents can do everything they need right here in this neighborhood Sony dot just like all the other 500 Cannabis stores approved in the state we'll have local customers that come from our neighborhood we will serve our local residents and very few if any customers will travel far to get here we also have an abundance of public transportation options throughout Mission Hill although there's ample street parking on site we will encourage to we will continue to encourage the use of alternative transportation like the bus on Huntington opposite Fenway Road or the green and orange lines additionally bus route 66 and 39 are a short walk away and will address tra traffic and congestion by ensuring that no one is occupying a space that they shouldn't be our staff will be regularly engaging with customers as they come into the store and anyone who attempts to double Park block throughways or occupy delivery spots will be asked to move or will we refuse to serve them we have a contract with citronics that will ensure that not only our regulations are being met but that we can conduct business in the same and efficient manner products will be strictly monitored and controlled and we will have a zero tolerance policy to ensure customers are not using products on or around the premises this will be strictly in for through periodic scans by staff and anyone violating these regulations will be Perman banned from our facilities Sony dot will also utilize ID science technology for secure ID confirmation this is the same technology used by massport at Logan Airport for domestic and international travels employees will also have sole discretion refuse access so if there's any violations of these regulations or disrespectful behavior in our community we'll exercise our right to remove and ban individuals from the facility our trained staff and security team will ensure that there are no lines outside of the facility it's it's also important to EMP emphasize that transaction times for Canabis customers are very quick on average a customer spends only about 3 to 5 minutes inside the store browsing the menu on selfs serve iPads if they'd like a personalized sales experience they can discuss their needs with the staff member at the Cy many customers are also now choosing to order online as well which will decrease transaction times I'd like to address another Point that's been brought to my attention while I've been speaking with our community during the past several months This concerns the possibility for litter loitering and general nuisances we recognize this is a concern surrounding cannabis businesses and our trained staff will ensure that customers remain respectful of the neighborhood keeping this in mind I just want to reiterate our Zero Tolerance policy which we believe sets the standard in Massachusetts for preventing and deterring these types of situations we plan to positivly impact the community in a real and meaningful way with up to $25,000 per year for three years in community benefits we propose that a loc local Community Foundation be formed to determine the best use of these funds so they go to those who need it most I'd also like to pause here and say that we're committed to hiring local Mission Hill residents first under the our Mission Hill intership I'll speak some more about our diversity and inclusion goals on the next slide but we'll be seeking local residents to apply for son. jobs and encouraging people of color veterans and persons with disabilities to work with us I'm fully committed to this effort and excited to make this part of the culture at Sony do aside from direct sorry just a heads up have 30 seconds aside from direct funding we also want to recognize that we uh we help our community Through well-paid job opportunities we anticipate hiring 15 to 20 people with a mix of full-time and part-time employment uh our goals for diversity and inclus inclusion are listed on the screen we've also worked hard this past year to ensure the mission is heard about and supports our efforts and will continue that work for the rest of the year I've spent countless hours going to the community community and chatting with people and we've collected 543 signatures of support from the missional community 37 coming from director Butters 38 from missional businesses and 468 from community members leading up to this hearing 17 community members wrote personal letters of support and over 25 email 25 people have emailed the board in support of this project in the past week Sony dot has the neighborhood support and I thank everyone for it we've also handed out 35 almost 3500 flyers in Mission Hill and advertised the information about this in the mission Kaz this is just a map showcasing where our support's coming from as you can see we have a zoomed in version showing the three to four blocks around our store and you know the support runs deep throughout our neighborhood this is just uh showing what we posted in The missional Gazette informing the neighborhood about our efforts and here's a before and after of the proposed facility and here's a more detailed first floor plan you can see our vault here as well as our ID check in the front we will keep a staff member out there at all times to ensure that no one's double parked or causing any traffic issues for the neighborhood okay the 10 minutes is up if you want to just wrap it up real quick that would be great thank you for letting me present today you know this project means a lot to me I grew up in this community my parents have worked here for over 20 years and I'm excited to you know add my face and my business to this community thank you I'll take your questions now all right thank you um okay we will now move on to questions from the board starting with chairwoman Kathleen Joyce thank you Luke um maybe we could just stop the screen sharing for a minute sure um I do want to ask a question I don't know who the right person to answer it regarding the buffer zone conflict um the slide you presented I would say is a little misleading the buffer zone conflict applies to active hcas not open and operating um cannabis establishments so in the eyes of the board those two cannabis establishments that have been previously awarded hcas from this board um are considered active one of them did get denied at CBA as you described but we are aware that they are actively considering um appealing that so um I have to dismiss your statement as far as the closest one is is Nita um there are two buffer zone conflicts here with other places that have an HCA um so could you please address that yeah absolutely so uh just to clarify we do have a buffer zone violation with 1441 Treemont street but we did our distance measurement to 12 23 Terrace Street and we included that on the map because we actually do not have a buffer zone violation with them uh aside from that as I said Mission Hill is one of the most dense neighborhoods in Boston with over 24,000 residents in a one M radius of our facility and this along with the commuters we believe that our neighborhood would require more than one dispensary to fully serve our residents which one are you referring to is the buffer zone conflict the 1441 Treemont Street Green um I'm sorry I'm blank okay green and there's one okay so you're correct there so there's one just outside the buffer yeah so I I think that might have been a little unclear but the one at one two three teror street that one's actually outside of our buffer zone okay yeah so tell me a little bit more about this location um we we take into consideration things like where product gets delivered and picked up where does the product get delivered and picked up here I didn't see that yeah explained in your presentation if you don't mind could I put up a uh a visual of the first floor layout that might help yeah all right so uh we were planning to have our deliveries come through there's a side alley on on the right side of our facility uh that alley we are planning to put a secure entrance there and then deliveries will come through the side door so that's my question the side alley I can't figure out from the map who owns that who has access to it yeah so we uh so my father he owns that alley it's part of his property and it is shared with the subway next door currently they use it for trash and putting their bins there we would uh reconstruct the alley in a way where Subway would be able to have access to their trash but not have access to our store okay and so is that the same landlord that own your father that owns the subway he owns that building as well yeah I need to see a picture of the outside not so much the layout inside sure I think maybe uh yeah it's hard to see right here in this first one but you can see that gate that's in between the two properties so you're saying a truck can fit down there what was that a truck can fit down there oh no the the truck wouldn't go down the alley that's that's a pedestrian alley okay so you'd park in front um so on the street there I'm looking at the street signs um there's 2our meter parking out front or not metered I'm sorry the 2hour parking is out front and across the street we have meter parking so explain to me again that your deliveries would be they would park in front park in front and then right at that gate we're planning to put a uh a camera system so they can communicate with the people in the vault at the time and then they would verify that the delivery is coming in and then they would unlock that gate allowing them into the Vault or into the side door which will take them to the Vault so you're stating on the record that your father owns the building where Subway is yeah he owns that property okay right sorry could I just add to it um this is Aditi son CFO of dentity um Rakesh son husband he owns only the ground floor Subway of um that building not the whole building just want to make that correction okay cuz that was not clear yeah thank okay I may have other questions I will um let the other Commissioners ask their questions as I continue to process the presentation okay uh commissioner Holmes do you have any questions yes I do um the only School you mention is mish but there's also the Tobin Elementary School on Smith Street as well as a Tobin Community Center which is diagonally across the street from so how many feet you haven't measured how many feet you are from either of those um establishments uh yeah so I maybe I was a bit unclear I'm sorry let me just go back to the map real quick so um yeah so 1576 Freemon street is over here our closest school to our facility was the mission grammar school I believe the toin Community Center is uh a bit toward it's it's towards 1441 their facility so they are about3 miles away their facility and the toin Community Center even further we measured from the closest school just to ensure that there were no buffer zone violations and the closest school which is the mission grammar school is about 687 ft almost but the community center is diagonally across from you across the street you're 1571 and the community center is 14 something so that's only a block right no that's actually a couple blocks so it's uh I'm sorry can you see my cursor on the screen I can I can yeah so it's it's somewhere towards here that's where the Tobin community center is right now that's a sh line from you right so that so uh the way we measured I don't know if this was correct or not but we did our closest school because the Tobin Community Center is almost twice the distance you know they're clearly outside of our our buffer zone we're not within 500 feet of I I I don't know I disagree I don't know if I'm right I disagree I think that needs to be measured as well as the elementary school on Smith Street okay I mean if I'm wrong the chairwoman can correct me but I think those would be included as well I just asked um Danny to confirm that as well where the measurement supposed to be taken from and um actually that that was really my concern I read over your security um plans and they were were very good um the only thing I I noticed and you mentioned International um licenses and IDs and as we all know Mion Hill is a really big college area course so um what are you going what other avenues are you going to use to mitigate some of those false IDs and things that we see sometimes in college communities so as I said before we will be utilizing the ID science scanners the same ones at massport uh in terms of international IDs so we will be able to accept US passports and US driver's license and things like that but in terms of international passports and international IDs won't actually be able to accept them because not all of them can be verified and we don't want to take our chances there okay all right um thank you my concern was those two the the two Tob and things so once we get a better grip on that we'll be all right thank you very much of course commissioner Lisa if I may um um just jump in to clarify so the um the nearest for the mapping is taken from Mission grammar as adya pointed out and that is 687 7 ft and I believe toin we can make those measurement and get back to the board they are more than th000 ft but um we will get back to you I don't want to speak um a you know particular distance without measuring it but oh no no I no I don't want you to make a guess no I want you to have they further away they are further away yes thank you so much yeah that's it um Luke thank okay uh next up we have commissioner kamacha yes um you said you're going to hire 15 to 20 employees um both full-time and parttime correct yes about how many full-time employees full-time uh I mean to be honest it really depends on the needs of our staff you know we we believe that we have to support our neighborhood and Mission Hill if some uh employees require full-time employment but they started L as part-time we will of course look into that but for now we don't have any any goals on full-time versus part-time it's more what the employees need you know okay what um will be your starting wage we're starting at $20 an hour okay um you said that um you're going to start a foundation to uh disperse the 25,000 uh and Community funds what who's going to comprise of this Foundation who's going to be part of it how are you're going about soliciting neighbors and Community organizations to be part of that Foundation right we would actually so we reach out to community members uh this goes as well as the community groups and any members who are interested in joining the the board of this foundation so they can determine where these funds go we would uh not election but we would basically just take people's applications in and whoever we feel you know fits best and represents the community and their interest we would elect them to head this thank you that's all for now okay uh commissioner stto do you have any questions hi uh just in your um in the effort to recruit those workers uh you know you specifically uh cited um listing in the Mission Hill Gazette it would would that be the only place you would uh be posting I I I just wanted to get a better sense of how would you be posting and looking for uh workers right so uh as I as IID said so the Mission Hill Gazette that was actually our posting of our flyer that we had to post a couple months ago that wasn't actually for the jobs themselves but in terms of hiring you know Mission Hill is a very very diverse neighborhood and as I said we we focus on hiring first and if we believe that we can't fit our diversity and inclusion goals through this we are willing to work with programs of the city and uh could probably speak a bit more about that as she's heading up our dni absolutely um thank you for the question uh commissioner sto so we plan to um utilize few Avenues um as adya said Mission Hill Gazette is um widely distributed in there and we are committed to hire more than 85% of the work force from Boston we will also reach out to local job fairs um utilize Mass hire. goov services as well as uh mayor's service office of returning citizens so uh with these and with the diversity of Mission Hill uh population itself we feel like we have the opportunity to meet our diversity goal as ad stated is in presentation which is um at least 50% women 70% um minorities having representation from lgbtq veterans and Corey background so that's very helpful because I hadn't when I that was going to be my next question I'm not sure that I saw that breakdown within the memo presentation of the actual goal numbers and and please uh luk or anybody else correct me if I if I just missed that but that that was something that I um was going to ask at you know and if it's not in there I would hope that you would be able to sort of add that as an addendum but um and if it is in there just then point it out to me so that for for the next hearing I'll be able to weigh that in my um decision making process absolutely it's part of slide deck but let us double check and get back to you on that thank you okay and uh commissioner Smith do you have any questions thank you Luke um yeah I was actually thinking very much commissioner sto but going back to the question that commissioner kamacho asked detail yeah so you're saying that you have no goals for full-time or part-time employees like there's no sense of how that's going to break down well so of course we expect that we're have more part-time employees than full-time as these businesses are but we also don't want to have set goals because if some employees start with us part-time we don't want them to be like oh you can only work part-time you know some people they require more hours or less hours so we want to be able to flexible with our team in terms of full and part-time I mean all the the butt tenders and the the people like that they would generally be parttime and then full-time employees would be management as well as a few people who would work as blood tenders as well just cuz is you know as I said we don't know who needs what so in terms of your wages you said minimum is $20 an hour so everybody's getting that full and part-time yeah at least and are you giving are you what at least also offering some Management workers may get more than 20 more than 20 are you also offering all the other benefits to part-time workers to S leave and the healthcare options and the pay time off yeah they're getting that as well dependent on their hours it will be it'll be dependent on their hour say that louder yeah dependent on their hours it'll be dependent on their their working hours okay so it's not like it's guaranteed they're starting off part-time but they're getting these benefits okay right I mean so we don't want it that they they start abusing the benefits right at the beginning of of working and then stop working with us you know so we want it to be in unison with their work okay so you're not guaranteeing part-time workers the benefits is what I'm hearing no we we are but we for example like if someone starts with us part-time in the first week we probably wouldn't give them understood makes total sense yeah yeah could I to um ad's Point as I'm putting together employment plan here um um commissioner John Smith uh we are hoping to provide with SE leave um health benefits and pay time off and um as adya mentioned depending on number of hours so you know 20 and more will qualify for that we definitely want to have full-time employees but we could also Imagine in that neighborhood people may have second job so we want to accommodate that we also believe full-time employees are more invested in the um in the organization so we would prefer to have full-time if we can we don't want to have lot of part-time employees but it depends like you know um how the respond is from the local um people who are seeking employment but we definitely want to give them benefits um as applicable for full-time employees or more than 20 hours of working I hope I answered your question yeah I'm just a little surprised that you you don't have a sense of since you want full-time employees how many do you actually need or want in that sense you you didn't AR Tak any calls around that um I I strongly believe full-time employees are more invested in the company um as compared to part time if they're coming five or 10 hours right so it's win-win for both side we also want people who are part of Sony dot they really feel like you know they belong to this place so we will definitely prefer that at this point we don't have defined goal that it has to be 5050 or 7020 we will try to maximize our full-time employees but we will accommodate part-time also if you know we're not getting folks who can work there full-time and whatnot I appreciate the the the answer you said that commun Community benefits distribution will begin upon positive cash flow which you're projecting six to 12 months and it's lasting up to three years which means that you're only going to offer the community benefits for three years that's it that I'm sorry um we are saying at least for now we are committing to three years it does not mean after three years we will not care about the community but this is our commitment at this point that up to 3 years we will um you know put 25,000 towards Community benefit in Mission Hill work working with this Community Foundation that you're going to form that you're going to so uh we have preliminary conversation with um our attorney um attorney um Larry about it and uh you know we have not put the paperwork in place and as you know we progress through this we will put the paperwork in place we will hire all the uh nominees or uh advisers where these funds should be put from the local mission in community and they will recommend us um you know where this money should go towards and they will help make the decision we are not committing to one specific or particular fund here okay so you're going to thank you for that so you're going to encourage online ordering and wait times and all that because there's no there's not a lot of parking right but you don't perceive any issues with any of that no not a lot of parking ad you're on mute can you speak to that sorry I didn't even realize I was on mute but um yeah in terms of parking we have a good amount of parking in front of our street you know this is a very large commercial zone of Mission Hill there's plenty of 2hour meter Park paring as well as 2hour parking right in front of our facility but our goal is really to serve local customers you know we don't plan to advertise Billboards on the highway or any of that and we really aren't we're not aiming at trying to get people from Brooklyn and other neighborhoods in Boston to come and visit our facility we want to serve the local missional neighborhood so we will be uh encouraging online orders because honestly most people I've seen that do use cannabis facilities they they order online just to make it easier for them you know but even without it we think transaction times will be about 3 to 5 minutes and should any problems arise in terms of double parking or there's a fire hydrant right off front if someone parks there and wants to come in and buy something we just won't allow that you know thank you sir um last question how have you really addressed the issue it's come up that most of because there many students we know in that area and most of the support you know maybe from folks who are just they transitionally and not staying um how did you address that that they're not permanent residents there right although some of our support may have come from students a good amount of support has also come from local businesses and residents who've lived there for very long time I think it's important to not dismiss the student population you know Mission Hill is surrounded by some of the best colleges in the world students come in and out of here every year and their voice although it's for a short period of time they're usually replaced by other students so I believe their voice is valid yeah not invalidating I'm just but I appreciate your answer I think commissioner Choice has followup questions thank you thank you I do I you know it makes me pause that the community benefits don't seem to be very well thought out maybe they are but it hasn't I haven't been persuaded that they are and it also makes me pause that the employment plan seems to be you know waiting to see if we make a lot of money and if we can hire more people um a lot of the support I'm guessing if you own the Subway or you own that that unit whe they your employees but my question to you is why do you want to get into cannabis yeah uh as I said before I uh I majored in criminology with a minor in econom ICS from UMass Boston and in doing so you know I've realized that the future of Mission Hill at least for this property is a highly regulated business my father has run his store missional for about 19 years now and I've watched him do it growing up and I realized that I don't think that me myself I could handle such an unregulated business you know I want something that's that's properly run you know what I mean and I believe this project will give our community not only the service it deserves but it will help renovate this property and and bring it up to the standard which uh which I hold okay um that's that's all I have right now thank you thank you okay do we have any other questions from members of the board all right with that oh sorry sorry no I was just one that PO in my head was there any um or what what was the thought process around the hours of operation yeah so the thought process we spoke to Mission grammar school and they had a uh they had a concern about um pickup drop off times so we decided to open uh after school drop off just so there's no overlap with that and then the way it changes how on Saturday we have different hours and Sunday different hours it's just you know due to how we see traffic going in Mission Hill of course on Sunday nights we don't expect many customers so we won't open as late but during the week we would be open later not only for us but to help stimulate businesses around us you know a lot of the businesses that I've spoken to they support us and they support us because they they hope that our business will bring them more customers we'll bring in more foot traffic and that's why we want to stay open to that time great thank you all right any additional questions okay with that we will move on to public testimony beginning with elected officials or their representatives Madam chair members of the board Conor Newman with the mayor's office of neighborhood services at this time the mayor's office like to defer to the Judgment of this board as you heard from uh the applicant on hosted a community meeting on March 21st uh was very well attended roughly 70 community members in attendance um with a number in support and a number in opposition uh those in support cited the families uh long-standing presence uh in the community as well as an option for job creation uh those in opposition uh stated that they were an opposition uh due to the proximity to the Mission Hill Grammar School uh which of you heard is is potentially outside of the 500 foot barrier but there's still concerns remaining that it's still close uh to where children frequent um also concerns were raised um members of the community assert that the the family owns a number of other properties in the neighborhood that are in poor condition and reportedly have a number of code violations uh and they feel they would not be good operators we received opposition letters from uh the Community Alliance of Mission Hill as well as the Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services um with that information will defer to the board at this time thank you okay thank you uh Tony I see you have your yes thank you all right um hi um members of the board my name is Tony I'm the um Mission Hill liaison for City councelor Sharon gin um I'll be reading a letter into the record um Madame chair and members of the board as District counselor for Mission Hill I am writing a letter of opposition to the proposal at 1576 tremin Street while I believe that businesses should be allowed to operate provided that they meet the rules and regulations in regards to opening a business the Mission Hill Neighborhood has raised concerns to be aware of when considering this application namely compliance with City Health codes and proximity to a School in my year on the city council I've been an active part uh active supporter of all types of businesses including cannabis and while I commend the proponent for participating in a thorough process in which they engaged with Mission Hill neighbors I am in opposition to their proposal today despite the proponent efforts to build public trust throughout the process the situation on the ground at 1576 Tremont unfortunately tells a different story there are currently 130 city code violations associated with the property including 10 issued in June alone many neighbors have cited that the previous business which is being proposed by the same family was a blight on the main business Street of Mission Hill for over 20 years I hope to get to a place where I could support or be at least not opposed to this proposal but the way the proponent has not taken responsibility for the property's current violations means I cannot be assured if problems arise that they will be dealt with in a way that befits the neighborhood moreover although the property falls outside the school buffer zone the proximity of the site to the nearby Mission grammar school which serves students three months through 6th grade is concerning to Residents who gain uplift concerns about a business owned by an operator with a history of neglect around basic quality of life standards a responsibly owned and operated retail use in this location would be a huge benefit to the neighborhood and I look forward to supporting a future proposal that respects the quality of life needs of the neighborhood unfortunately I do not have trust that the operator can meet these standards echoing the opposition of neighborhood groups and constituents I would like to go on record opposing this application thank you thank you okay are there any other elected officials or their representatives that would like to testify all right seeing that um we will move on to public testimony and a reminder you have two minutes to provide your testimony um first we have Julian Gordon okay um next we have Mike spani okay moving on to Eric Alden good afternoon can you hear me okay yep perfect thank you my name is Eric Alden I'm current president of Mion Hill Main Street I have a business here I I am not speaking on behalf of Main Streets but I but I am the President of the board there um I want to just discuss a few items um about this proposal and um a couple things that that sort of surprised me through this this process with this team first thing I noticed today it appears that the the team has changed U the management team or or the um the team putting this whole process again not not the owners but the team itself this group um has used words today like standards our neighborhood our community it's it's a it's a great opportunity for this commission a lot of times you don't you don't know the operators are coming in but in this case we have a 20-year track record to look back at on this group and it's not a good track record this ownership group has no standards they have no Community involvement this is not their Community they do not grow up here they don't live here they operated a a poorly run business in this neighborhood and took from this neighborhood and they've shown for 20 years that they have no regard for this neighborhood or its neighbors or even their own customers for for that matter this property of 1576 under the same ownership group uh has been a blight in the business district it is the highest ticketed property in our business district I have no confidence that this group would run a business differently than they did than the business that they own they could have shown that for the past 20 years the alley uh just a quick division the alley between the building I believe cannot be closed off that serves as a second means of egress for the property located next door at 1578 the applicant tried to lead you to believe that they own the property next door they own one of four condo there maybe one or five condos so that alley is a second means of eess that cannot be blocked off as part of their plan for for delivery um so i' I'd really like this this commission to to think about this team and their track record of not being good neighbors and and that's about all I have to say thank you I appreciate the time okay next is ativa aana sorry if I'm mispronouncing that that's correct that would be me um so yeah I've just been a student at North Eastern but I've been living there for a while now um you know I've grown up with a lot of people around the area who've been living in Mission Hill and then I got to know some people who are also joining from an international perspective as was brought up earlier in the meeting and I'll like to vouch for the fact that there are no other recreational Cannabis facilities around the area and as Adia has mentioned over and over I think that Mission Hill is a very busy area with a lot of uh traffic through the Ruggles bus station area so to address the parking concerns and all that I think um the bus station is a great way where commuters have been coming in from all over Boston and it's right next to the Mission Hill area and I think that they would not need parking at all as they're using public transit and being as mayor Wu's initiatives have been shifting towards using public transit and um allowing for a more walkable City I think this is the more ideal way to go and utilize The Meters that are already there um but yet again as a resident I think that one closer to the area um servicing the local neighborhood would be more beneficial to the city thank you all right thank you um next up is Rakesh Sony okay moving on to Alec Prefontaine okay um shakim Ned right um Nishi Fahy okay uh AIT bti yes please um um um my name is Ajit bti and U I'm a cancer researcher I lived in the neighborhood for 15 years I lived at 1575 tront Street for 15 years I know the neighborhood very well and I believe that uh this uh Sony dot dispensary will be very important and uh important part of that community life um this I understand this is a recreational marijana recreational Cannabis facility but there are other ways the community will benefit from uh this distribution center or this dispensary is uh the Cannabis is now being used as medicine in many situations particularly in in pain medication and um uh the cancer patients also get uh medical marijuana um during during the C of therapy so I I believe the community will be benefited not only for the recreation of Marana or recreational Cannabis facility but uh that that will help uh the community in a much better way in uh getting some kind of medicinal benefits from this this dispensary or this uh this distribution center for uh cannabis um I I know the um and the the family the Sony family and they are excellent business people and they have served that Community very well I was one of their customers uh so I will I will strongly support um this uh facility in Treon Street one one and miss areia and this will be an very good addition in the in the business um around W Hill and I would like to provide an kind of uh information that more and more people have started using alternative medicines these days and this will help those people to decide what will help them in overcoming some of their elements like pain arthritis is a major problem health problem in this country and uh this will be helpful for the community in general and particularly some paent population in particular uh thanks for your time and U um thanks for the giving me the time for the for speaking up all right thank you um next up is Dave Greenup hi can everybody hear me yep great okay I'm a longtime resident of Mission Hill about 35 years um I I want to ask a question of adti AD you've been made aware of of the violations on the properties that you own on Mission Hill do you intend to pay them should I answer this question I asked um so we're not going to let the members of the public directly ask questions the applicant but should the applicant like to answer this on the record feel free to um I'm happy to add um thank you for your concern Dave I have been to community meetings along with Aditya and with repeated request no one had reached out to Rakesh Sony who manages this property and I believe emails are um being sent all around regardless I would like to add we have hired a new trash uh picking um company or guy who has been working in Mission Hill for last 19 years for last 30 days there is no new ticket given and as adya said this project itself it involves at least 400k for the renovation of the property and up to 1 million in opening this business we will not be granted any license to operate this business if we do not meet CCC guidelines so I would request all these you know um Community organization representative here which we have done during the meetings also we want to work with you but you have to support us reaching out to just officials and not keeping Rakesh Sony in Loop is not helping anyone um I made my point but we are here to work with you thank you so much okay so um I'm not going to ask you any more questions I didn't know I could uh ask or could shouldn't that's generally a public meeting this is a regulatory hearing okay oh great uh I just stated my case and I'd like the Commissioners to be aware of that that Mission Hill residents do not approve of this family and the properties that they own on Mission Hill thank you okay next up is a tool takar all right next up is J fer Singh all right uh SW po hey good good afternoon everyone my name is farar I am a neurologist by profession I know the Sony family for about 20 years now I lived in Mission Hill between 2003 2006 and I now own five Station Street which is a property in Mission Hill um I'd like to give some perspective about the Sony family uh I came here as a foreign international student and along with me there were about 15 20 people and this happens perpetually every year since I've known I I come to Boston every year the family is very very involved in the students especially the International Community that comes to Mission Hill uh not only are they morally available but I have had extensive resourceful interactions with people day now as well as Community engagement so for somebody who comes from an international stature to be associated with such a family really gives you that found Foundation that you don't have when you come in so I'm very grateful and so are a lot of colleagues of mine they've stood by us and I'm now a practicing neurologist at du University Hospital and it wouldn't have been possible without the help so I know Mr Sony for the last 20 years I've known and seen ad grow up and I think he's fully capable of running such a regulated business and of the stature so I fully endorse my support for this all right thank you um next is shalandra Kumar hi this is shalandra Kumar thank you good afternoon to everyone um my name is shalindra Kumar I said I I lived in that Mission Hill area just across the street at 1575 PR Street for around 10 years and I know uh son family Aditya um from last almost 20 years or so now they are very responsible people and uh they love Miss Miss Hill area and they have done a lot for the Mission Hill area in the past they were I believe very well known business people in the area and I fully support their effort and I know there is no cannabis dispensary around um and they will do a fantastic job I as far as I know and I fully support their efforts and and their efforts to open up Sony uh.com dispensary thank you okay thank you um next is Rakesh daada hello hi my name is Rakesh data and I've also known Sony family for 20 plus years um I'm a scientist by profession and worked at uh Dana Farber Cancer Institute for 12 plus years and I'm quite uh uh familiar with the Mission Hill area um uh Sony family in general has been in you're very actively involved in like several you nonprofit organizations and uh they have been involved in like several Community uh Services uh your project the the family as such is very well respected and I believe uh I've seen you know grown up as a uh very smart entrepreneur and I believe ad and the group can effectively manage U uh this kind of regul uh you regulated you business I fully uh support the opening opening of uh Sun Dot project uh under their name all right thank you um next is Abdul no excuse me if you're going to testify could you just please tell us where you live as you introduce yourself thank you sorry Luke it's okay um Abdul yes um my name is Abdul no uh I live in Mission Hill and I knew uh U 1576 Tron Street business I for n years or 10 years the service we get is excellent uh they open to everybody as a senior a retired senior with medical issues I cannot travel any distance in a public or driving it's very convenient that's location it's safe for us and I will appreciate if we get a dispensary there thank you very much okay thank you um next is anash zavari hi everyone can you guys hear me yes my name is anosha zi I am one of the owners of 70 Hillside um on on 70 Hillside Street in Mission Hill and I am in favor of the cannabis dispensary um as you all know it is a regulated business um there are many other towns that have a cannabis dispensary for example many strict towns like the Town of Arlington that has a cannabis dispensary um I own a house in the town of Arlington as well and I've never heard of any complaints coming from that dispensary so why not in the city of Roxbury uh I also believe that it's a great source of Revenue as well as um it it'll create a lot more jobs in that in the city um and last but not least uh it gives a young entrepreneur the opportunity to start a new business and make his Mark so I'd like to conclude by saying that I am in favor of this business and I don't think it'll be a hindrance in the city of Roxbury thank you okay thank you uh next is mesh Sagal uh hi everyone you can hear me yes yes we can hello yes we can hear you yes uh my name is mukes Seal I live in town of Arlington but I own a part part of the property in 70 Hill in Mission Hill and uh I know this Sony family for past 22 23 years approximately and uh had a great relationship with them and they had done a very good Community job I know past few years and uh as the owner I am very familiar with the neighborhood and have spent lot of time in Mission Hill property and uh I'm in agreement to have Sony cannabis dispensary open as it is in uh would be great addition to the neighborhood it will support local businesses as well as provide job well everybody knows that and uh I also like that Sony cannabis will also help the community with local and uh local whatever you say is a community local donations give back to the community as well as I know in past they had helped lot of universities in dinners and lunches programs which one I myself had delivered some of the stuff with them at long time ago and uh I hope that the committee will approve this request to move forward with dispensary in the Mission Hill Neighborhood and uh it will help the community as well thank you okay thank you uh next is vesi Zari everyone can you all hear me okay yep okay I would like to express my full support for Sony dot um I am a landlord over at Hillside Street and I've known Aditi Sony and the Sony family for 20 plus years I actually grew up with Adia I strongly believe that giving a new business owner a chance to demonstrate their abilities is very very strong starting a cannabis business is undun is a very very challenging task um it has lots of benefits such as increased tax revenues for local and state levels it focuses more on health and wellness like we've heard from previous speakers um a lot of it has medical benefits um it alleviates pain anxiety stress um for a lot of its users um it also creates job opportunities which we all know is very very important um there's also a lot of educational benefits which I don't think we kind of touched on but it does help consumers um with safe usage of this product um and it also helps regulate um illegal sales of the product as well so um I strongly believe in this um and I really hope that the community and this and um everyone agrees to giveing us the opportunity to give them the opportunity to do this thank you okay thank you um next is Dees dadul okay um next is reandra sunir okay okay uh is there hard jender core next is am meit Gupta paru Maur okay uh Anish ramdev um I uh sorry this is I was on mute okay uh you can go ahead yeah hi uh this is parl matur here uh I'm a student at North Eastern University and I shop at Mission Hill um I have met adya and I am very confident that he'll be able to pull off this project considering all the regulatory requirements and uh he'll be successful I'm sure and you know I totally uh support this project uh of Sony dot at Mission Hill thank you okay thank you um and that was uh next is uh Anish rev hi my name is Anish rev I have been um working with the Sony family for about uh again you know uh more than more in two decades I am a part of Sony's uh real estate uh agent I live in Jamaica plane sorry I didn't introduce myself I live in Jamaica plane I have uh worked in the back Bas South End and now I work in the uh Alon area and I rent all of uh Mrs Sony's U apartments and I've been very close to the family and I've known them for a long time and uh whatever comes out at the end of the the meeting uh whether the commission approves it or not but my uh thing that I would like to add is that uh as far as the family is concerned um I'm not aware of the violations or anything but as far as the family I can speak uh for them uh being uh an owner of a few buildings in and around uh Mission Hill uh Mr Sony and his family has actually helped a lot of uh kids from uh India uh for that matter U and and has uh helped them in finding places and helping them um stay at uh the places even without uh charging them at times so you know as far as the family's concerned I think they they are going to be a good plus uh for the neighborhood thank you for your time and thank you okay thank you uh next is Eric Alden I spoke earlier thank you okay sorry um Maryanne Nelson hi um Maryann Nelson long-term resident of Mission Hill I own a house on Gore Street um I'm against this development uh it's still not clear to me this is my third meeting I don't know if you can hear me somebody else is talking this is my third meeting and every time I go to a meeting the ownership seems to have changed um so as I said it's I hav the faintest idea if the people who presented themselves as the owners really are the owners still or some other group is or some others I'm found I'm surprised to hear that that the applicant majored in criminal justice because he was totally unaware of the impact of the unequal law enforcement of drugs laws on the Mission Hill Community when I talked to him in April maybe he knows more now but I'm quite surprised he had no plan really to address how his facility was going to address the terrible impact of Drug law enforcement on the Mission Hill Community and it appears that he has no plan still um I was really surprised after he came to a community meeting and everyone complained about the garbage at his at this location that I walked by the end of June and saw tickets on the building for garbage even if he does not own the building if he wanted to put in a highly regulated business I would have been there every day making sure I didn't get any more tickets if he can't help us with the rat and Rod it problem we're currently experiencing in Boston I don't think he's capable of handling a cannabis business which is even more highly regulated than trash so um uh I think that their commitment to hey I haven't I missed a part of the how much the're planning to give for Community benefits but the last amount aood was Tiny and for a short period of time he needs to make a permanent commitment for as long as long as this business is operating in Mission Hill to pay for the Mission Hill Community this impact of the okay that was your two minutes um next we have Adam sarbo good afternoon uh Madam chair members of the board um we we've heard a lot since I get to go towards the end on the personal references and characters of The Establishment team and I think that's wonderful stuff the business character and reference is really what we should be looking at and the community has spoken on that in opposition of their followup and their um just sense of care in a business sense they might be wonderful people in a Prof in a personal sense which we have heard and I I applaud him for all of that stuff um but this the whole process has been um you know the go posts have continually being moved Eric pointed it out as well at at one point the entire team here has changed since they've gone through the community process they had two other Consultants that were supposed to actually be part of the team and working in the establishment with long records to try to sway some of this this concern um come to find out with no notice or or Community reaching right they didn't reach out that it's an entire new team that presented to you here today minus the uh the Sony's um you know we we hear about all of this and I think and I think the Sony are very um charismatic and I think they're very articulate people when they're speaking and their presentation comes through here but a lot of it is just words without details and without any written commitment or written followup with any of the community groups or their neighbors in terms of what's Happening we haven't gotten any written um Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing service's letter of opposition to you stated that there's no written enforcement of any local um employment they've since talked about the written Community benefits they don't have their plan of who it is how are you coming to this board and not have a fixed plan of a minimum number of people that you're that you're going to employ everything's so I just point that out that that this is way too premature and they are speaking just to pass muster and get through this board as fast as they can with no substance details or written commitments to the longterm of the community thank you okay thank you uh next is Alp canar uh hi everyone um my name is Alp can everyone hear me uh yes anyway so uh I'm the direct B at 15703 mon Street and um own three units there and also manage the condo station the alleyway is basically uh Second erress and it's not just you know their their plan says that you know they own that but it's it's shared and condation 1573 month which is above subway we're opposed to that um Adam I agree with Adam um as far as the business character uh this person is definitely I'm I'm not supporting we actually had to sue him he hasn't paid counter fees for the last four years and I had to get an attorney to sue in you know on behalf of the condation to get $177,000 back for the last four years um so it's very hard to deal with I'm definitely opposing it I don't want my tenants to block the uh second gr um that's all I need to say also I manage and own the building on the left side 1574 and 72 manage that property two buildings on the left side and we're pausing on that as well okay thank you um Tony CST okay um I see that Nishi has her hand raised ask her you to unmute no you just did you just call on Tony oh Tony sorry yep yeah thank you uh again my name is Tony comps I grew up in Mission Hill I live in Mission Hill I want to thank commissioner Holmes and chairwoman Joyce for doing their homework I appreciate that and the rest of you Commissioners also um I was a board member on Mission Hill main streets for 15 years I just resigned I'm currently a board member on community Lance of Mission Hill and as you know we oppose this tremendously we've tried for 15 years and Main Streets is still trying um to uh better that um business which is now closed as I said it was a blight on our community they refused all of main Street's help um and I agree that Eric Alden said so I don't want to repeat everything Eric Alden said um this family has not been honest with you there is no good parking in Mission Hill all never mind around this proposed business across the street a half a block down there's a couple of residential parking spaces I can't even find residential parking spaces to to put my car in when I want to visit a local business over there so there's no place this truck that's delivering cannabis is going to be able to park secondly uh we used to deliver flowers out front on behalf of Main Streets to all our businesses we even put some in front of this uh when it was the grocery store whatever they wanted to call it they wouldn't even water the flowers the business was a blight in the community I don't think it's going to be any different just because the sun has taken over because the father and mother are still involved um the other issue is that uh they still have unpaid fines the condo owner just mentioned he doesn't even pay the condo fees both AB butters on both the left and the right side don't even support this uh the other issue is um as far as cleaning up the property we used to have to ask him to sweep up in front of his business like the rest of the business owners do in Mission Hill he they wouldn't even do that um as you can see there is still violations posted as of this week outside the building there's still violations posted outside the building um the other issue is um uh not only the parking but they never even initially went to the the Mission School down on St Alonso Street a half a block down until we confronted them uh about not talking to the Mission Hill school there's a daycare center directly across the street in the in the ground level of the apartment building across the street and if I were the commissioner and sorry that was your two minutes um I see Mishi has her hand raised um if you'd like to provide your testimony I'll ask you to unmute hello can you hear me yes we can hear you yeah respective chairperson my name is mish I live 95 Cent Alo Street I have known Sony family and CEO of this project for many years and fully support this project since this family is very helpful to the people who are in need so I am fly supping it thank you so much okay thank you and um oh I see uh lucky with his hand rais so I will ask to unmute hi this is Lucky from 739 Parker Street um I know Sony since a few years and we have been shopping at the place it's always helpful and the new generation is the one of the topic that I would like to mention like people are talking about Rakesh Sony but this is his son who's going to taking over and the laws of protecting selling the cabines is something they have to do it that are lot of things they are not able to even go through any camera system each person coming inside has to scan there otherwise they're not allowed into there there are two doors if you have gone in one of the any one of the cannabis store you would know like these are the regulations without this um the government is not going to even allow them to open the store even the camera system has to be fully recorded through the um certified company and there is no way anybody can go and do anything wrong in this location which uh is an issue about not handling properly which is going to be the professional where the managers are going to be there and um that's fully restricted even the 1 ounce of the product has to be notified who they sold it to and that has to be recorded and given to the government so any time of the day if something happens they have full record it's nothing like a convenience store um selling like or beer wine it's more like 10 times regulated than any store else thank you okay thank you um seeing no more requests oh um J you have two minutes Jam I sent you a request to unmute if you would like to give your testimony I did unmute okay we can hear you we can hear you J if you want to give your testimony okay moving on uh we have harender cor hi hi everyone this is harjinder car and we own a property in Mission Hill and we know Sony family very well they are very helpful and I fully support Sony do project to have the dispensary in the Mission Hill thank you okay thank you uh Harry Patel hi my name is the har Patel I'm a local business owner at 82 Hillside Street I'm in a full support for Sony dot okay thank you and Martin briburn thank you my name is Martin bbor I live at edig Street in Mission Hill and I am the current president of the Community Alliance of Mission Hill our members overwhelmingly voted to oppose this proposal there were three main reasons we heard which are as follows one the business location and the the applicants fam's prior business there have a history of unsatisfactory cleanliness and of of up upkeep citations which were not paid second the applicant's father who will continue to own the Business site also has multiple rented properties in our neighborhood again from the city uh we have heard that many uh fines have accumulated and there were uh many there was poor upkeep of these properties and lastly we are very concerned about the proximity to the highly appreciated Mission grammar school which is registered with has registered its opposition even if if proximity of this school and of a daycare SL playground across the street may just fall outside the Criterion of of posing a violation we are concerned about negative impacts and lastly I may add I understand like medical marijuana will not be offered at the at the facility and I think that was cited as one of the reasons why the the property was The Proposal was supported by one of the speakers I hope I got this right thank you all right uh Jam uh if you would like to speak yeah my audio should be working can you guys hear me fine yes we can hear you okay perfect so a number of the complaints I've been here oh well let me let me just address I am a long-term resident of Mission Hill I just moved out to East Boston but I did attend mission grammar as well as the toin after school program and I got baptized as our baptized in Our Lady of Perpetual Help so I'm pretty familiar with the area I heard a lot of complaints about it being a light to the neighborhood and it attracting rodents because of the health con health problems though I am a little bit confused because it seems that the board members allows the gas station that serves bried chicken to continue operating when I constantly see mice over in that area that obviously draw does draw mice to that neighborhood that part of the neighborhood so I don't really see why all the blame is fall falling on adidi shoulders um only um as for number two of the fact as to why it could be applied to the neighborhood there is a lot of vacant retail space that has been vacant for over 10 plus years all owned by one or two landlords that complet seem to completely abandon the property there's you know multiple constructions that supposed to be going most a lot of constructions that's supposed to be going on around the neighborhood that hasn't exactly been finished um at least you know the Sony family is at least trying to keep the neighborhood looking Alive by establishing another business in that spot instead of just letting it go completely in disrepair um you guys talk a lot about employment status um it is a it is a dis okay that was your two minutes and seeing no more requests to speak the board will take this matter under advisement uh those were all the transactional matters before the board today the board's voting meeting will take place Wednesday August 21st at 1M again the record will be kept open until next Tuesday August 20th at 5: pm and that concludes this hearing and everyone have a good afternoon St