May I please finish, Mr. Chair?
Of course.
I just want to respectfully object to all these photos.
We don't know who took them and when they took them.
I will, Mr. Chair, I will have a witness who took the photos.
Come on in a moment.
Objections over.
We'll wait and see when you get your witness on.
Here are the photos in front of vehicles parked in front.
Okay. I would like to bring on Ken Weinstein, who is, oh, before I do that, here are a list of violations that are noted in the record. You'll see on March 31st that there was a violation that was failed.
We had called 311 to try to get the number of calls that have come in of complaints from the community about the blockage of the sidewalk.
I would like to bring on Mr. Ken Weinstein and have him testify to what he has personally observed and the photographs that he's taken.
I object to Mr. Weinstein's testimony. He doesn't live anywhere near this property.
He owns property at three different locations.
I understand he's trying to gentrify it, but the fact of the matter is we have near neighbors who support it.
excuse me we're speaking over each other the court reporter was not being able to get your
testimony mr anastasio does your client own this property or is he leasing it he owns he bought
everything um from what i understand i'm sorry i'm sure he says he's actually in the room uh and
he's trying to raise his hand but not being acknowledged um he but he he bought the he bought
the actual business um he does not own the property he's renting the releasing the property
correct we are from mr fam uh from whom he bought purchased the property that purchased the business
that's correct and what's his name again the owner um i'm sorry my client louvon williams
and he said his hand is up we don't see it he did it be under that germantown collusion no
i see three hands one with a number ending in 4948 so we're only looking for the person who
was named not the rco or phone caller only the person name his hand is not up would it be under
germantown collision miss sunkett maybe he punched that in the name of his business okay
thank you miss sunkett
i didn't mean to interrupt the council's testimony uh proposal yes you did i'm gonna be nice be nice
okay yes i'm here mr chairman
um why don't we continue with your witness hello yes we can continue with your witness
um i'd like to call uh ken weinstein to the to to testify i'm not sure how you
if he raises does he have to raise his hand with star nine star six
and it's raised my objections already on the record mr chair understood understood thank you
is is is he available yeah mr chairman i i am here this is ken weinstein
mr weinstein please spell your name and i swear you in k-e-n-w-e-i-n-s-t-e-i-n
you swear if i'm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do thank you miss haskins mr weinstein uh first in order to be clear about your interests
would you please state the not the addresses of the properties that you own adjacent to this
um to the site yes i own uh several properties adjacent to the site um next door 113 133 berkeley
Street, 137 Berkeley Street, 147 Berkeley Street, and also 4530 Germantown Avenue. Those are all
and also 4530 Germantown Avenue.
Those are all within the near-neighbor status.
Are those properties occupied?
137 Berkeley is occupied.
4530 Germantown Avenue is occupied.
The rest are under development.
What is the nature of the business in those two properties?
uh in 137 berkeley street we have uh three uses uh forefront um which is uh the owners with us
here today is a uh um a tech company with offices uh attic brewing is at that address and so is
Deke's Barbecue. At 4530 Germantown Avenue, we have four tenants at Pleak, which is an apparel
manufacturing company. We have a welding company. We have Philadelphia Woodworking,
and we have Merzbacher's Bakery. The owner is here today.
Thank you. Ms. Haskins?
Mr. Weinstein you heard my statement to the board testimony to the board will
you please state that you did hear it first of all I did I did hear it and
will you affirm that the facts that I've stated are true and correct I do
affirm and you accept that as your own testimony I do could you please could
Could you please tell the board your knowledge of the conditions at this site and the photographs
that you personally took at the site?
Yes, I personally took the photographs that you already shared with the board.
Those photographs were taken in early October after this application was made and after
the RCO meeting. And they represent a snapshot of what I've witnessed over several years
in front of this property. Have you witnessed vehicles being parked over two weeks in time
at this property? Yes, we have seen vehicles parked on the street, not just for two weeks,
but over several years, most of them without license plates and most of them without registration.
Can you explain to the board difficulties that you've had in navigating the site, the sidewalk?
Yes, I my offices are located right around the corner at 4701 Germantown Avenue.
and I regularly walk down Berkeley Street and down Green Street and I would say more often than not
I am not able to maneuver and walk on the sidewalk in front of the shop because there are typically
cars parked on the sidewalk and sometimes cars be worked on on the sidewalk and I and other people
I am with are forced to walk down Berkeley Street, in the street, in order to get around the property.
And Berkeley Street, to you or not, would you please describe Berkeley Street during rush hour
and just during any time during the day, what is the traffic like on Berkeley Street?
Yeah, it's busy. Definitely during rush hour, which is why, as you showed in the photograph earlier, there is a parking restriction that there is to be no parking Mondays through Saturdays from 4 to 6.30 p.m.
um i have never seen that restriction uh uh complied with um there is always cars there
i've never seen no cars there um and yeah the traffic's very busy and uh uh i and the
and people that i have been with feel very unsafe uh when we walk down berkeley street
uh thank you mr weinstein mr chairman do you have any questions for mr weinstein
uh no but what may i cross mr chair i'm sorry may i cross mr chair yes please all right
hello mr weinstein how are you hi good nice to see you very very nice to see you as well sir um
Very, very nice to see you as well.
with it.
Sir, wouldn't it be an easier path to develop the rest of your block and your lots if this longstanding car repair that's been around for 30 years be removed?
I, the answer is yes.
So that is, in fact, the easiest path to gentrification, to force this black hole business.
I object, Mr. Chairman.
i i i objection sustained i don't think the word gentrification should be used here okay well it
was used by the rco in the letter oh yeah yeah so because there's a point here uh the rco was
mr weinstein uh did you not pack the rco meeting with non-immediate neighbors to vote against this
property isn't that what the rco be the one to answer that well actually the vote tally suggests
it uh and object mr chairman in the rco letter could we hear what the vote tally is mr chairman
if he's the rco's letter of opposition non-opposition states clearly that they are
the keeper of the neighborhood the rco both of them are working closely with my client who
purchased this operation that by the way has been going on for 30 years he just assumed here mr
Mr. Chairman, is there a question here? I would like to hear the vote tally. He introduced the
vote tally. Let's hear it. Mr. Anastasio, could you please share the vote tally? Sure.
I can't imagine the RCO allowing people to vote who should not have been voting.
No, they broke it down to folks, immediate neighbors and non-immediate neighbors. But I
can't share anything until ms haskins yeah well just give us the number verbally just give us
the number yes we'll get to the we'll get to the document at some point how many in support how
many opposed well a majority it was the majority of support i i don't have those numbers they're
on my screen um and i can't get to them right now because um i mean i'll be happy to pull them back
up mr chairman mr chairman people who attended that meeting have informed me that the majority
were no votes well i guess that's hearsay um yes that's no disrespect that's hearsay uh i guess
what i want let me go back maybe we can move this this hearing along uh mr anastasi you said your
your client is the tenant correct that's correct no and i asked this earlier i think
would not gotten an answer yet how long his lease is for i would like to call him so he could testify
to that he's he's on the he's on the zoom mr williams are you there yes yes can you hear me
yes mr williams please spell your name and i'll swear you in uh l-o-u-v-a-n-w-i-l-o-i-a-m-s
you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes mr williams you're leasing this property this business correct or this property correct
how long what is your lease the terms of your lease the original lease was for five years
and when would when did that lease begin 2018 so you're already three years into the lease
is that correct yes yes uh mr anastasia or miss haskins yes haskins you had the floor last so
i was cross-examining mr weinstein you were i apologize that's okay all right i'm sorry go
back to mr weinstein mr weinstein do you understand that this is a special exception and
not a variance request is that correct
Mr. Weinstein?
Sorry, somebody muted me.
That's okay.
Yes, special exception on what was on the referral.
Okay, very good.
And are you aware of the accord with the RCO leadership that my client has entered into with provisos for no painting, additional lighting, no sidewalk parking moving forward?
Are you aware of that?
I have not seen the accord, no.
I have nothing else for Mr. Weinstein.
Mr. Chairman, we have two other businesses who are operating
available to testify if there's any need for questions from
uh available to testify if there's any need for questions from those businesses
will the testimony be any different than what has been presented by mr weiss it would not be any
different and that's why i'm i'm respecting the the chair's and we appreciate that we have uh
different hello um we would like and we we are proposing and and i think it's especially um
relevant to the fact that this is the least property the owner while we are
empathetic with his growing business we are also very concerned that he is
failing to conform with the requirements of a special exception even though Mr.
Anastasia has said there will be no painting there has been painting
illegally in this site um we also unbeknownst to him unbeknownst to him excuse me sir excuse me
my apologies excuse me sir my apologies okay um the the property is totally unsuitable for the
amount of business and the type of business that is being conducted there motors are being washed
on the sidewalk. Cars are being parked illegally. There is no place. There's no vacant lot. There's
no place other than inside that building to park his customers' cars. I'm not certain whether the
cars that have been parked there for years, such as there was a hearse that's been parked there
for years. I'm not certain if those are even customers anymore because they have no license
plate shown on the cars and so under the code it would appear that they might be abandoned
we are asking that the board assure the community of the safety and the curing of these unsafe
conditions we are asking that the board provide a temporary special exception that will give the
community and the owner the vow that the balance that we're asking for where he gets a chance to
show that he will do the things that mr anastacio had said or not and if he won't he has the
opportunity to lease another property this is it is not as if he owns this property and would
therefore forfeit the the use of his own property therefore we are asking that you provide a
temporary special exception to this um to this applicant thank you very much thank you i just
actually was having a conversation with our attorney about the terms of that uh mr williams
what is and we're also asking that it be for only a year excuse me mr chair a year hello let me ask
mr mr mr williams when does your uh lease expire our lease would be up 2023 what date in 2023
uh i think august august of 2023 yes
mr mr williams do you intend to renew yes we already made uh plans to renew and i would like
to speak is it possible i can speak on my behalf because i was unable to talk and those pictures
of course yeah and those pictures that she showed if you would allow me to explain those pictures
that he took at the time uh that blue vehicle that was parked on the sidewalk if you look at
it the tailgate of that side that vehicle was up they were unloading uh materials from that vehicle
if you look at the traffic in that situation if the only options were to block up the traffic
or to pull up on the sidewalk unload and then move the vehicle and that's what we did
i've kept the sidewalks clear uh if you notice i mean the rcos can speak on my behalf and tell you
and they sent an email out the other day
that there's an issue going on around in Germantown
where everybody's parking on the sidewalk.
I put up signs for no parking.
I've kept the sidewalks clear.
We do not wash engines or anything like that.
The cars that you see in front of the shop,
a car that we move out to work,
that are actually being worked on,
that blue Corvette that was all torn apart,
that car would not sit outside like that.
That hurts, that they're complaining about,
has been removed by the owner.
We've cleared everything that we met,
order the order uh requests the only thing we haven't done yet and we're in the process of
doing is adding the lighting to the front there's no longer an issue with i mean we kept the cars
on the sidewalk at a time that is accurate because of the cars being parts being stolen off the
vehicle so we parked them in the sidewalk in front of the shops in front of the camera so we could
keep an eye on them but once we found once we heard from the community that it was an issue
we moved everything all those cars that were on the sidewalk which he was correct it was on there
four years we removed and and with the help of kit uh across the street actually uh we were allowed
with the help of Kit across the street actually we were allowed to rent some space to park our
to rent some space
cars that we're not working on at the time so we've met all of those arrangements I don't think
that you could like anybody can sit here and say all right well he's not parking on the car and
then park the car on the sidewalk and take a picture and then blame it on us that's not the
option I don't want to cause any problems I'm trying to be a citizen in this in this neighborhood
I've met with people who are showing support and they're all speaking on my behalf and saying that
we're not doing anything wrong. Parking on the sidewalk is an issue in the whole neighborhood
and I don't think that should be depending on whether or not we should be allowed to do business
but like I said I will keep the sidewalks clearing. There has not been an issue in those cars.
Mr. Williams? Mr. Williams? Yes. Okay let's just focus a little bit for the sake of time.
You've agreed to exterior lighting installation is that correct? Yes correct. You've agreed to
cease and desist any work on sidewalks is that correct correct you you agreed to continue to