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ALAMEDA: You know, we were joking at lunch; kind of like a question I asked was
<br />which agenda item has been in our file the longest. And this agenda item has come up as at least
<br />the top two. So as much as everybody else on the Commission is willing to, you know, wanting
<br />to probably disregard this file finally -. I don’t know, you know, when it came out, I don’t know,
<br />maybe about three years ago, I was – or two years ago, maybe – I was very uncomfortable with
<br />the application simply because of the, you know, what Commissioner Domingo mentioned and
<br />what Commissioner Siracusa has mentioned. And it is true that the letter of the law, we could
<br />argue the letter of the law. But this is I think beyond the letter of the law; this is kind of getting
<br />into the spirit and, you know, kind of like the moral issue of it all. And this is where
<br />Commissioners’ diversity plays a part, in all of this. So you know, I mean, and they are still
<br />pending whether or not this is a proper use of the property, this bed and breakfast. So for me,
<br />I’m still uncomfortable, and because of that, I’m still leaning to vote against the motion.
<br />GRAHAM: Thank you, Commissioner Alameda. I might just say, from my own
<br />personal perspective, I started off with the same kind of feelings I think that we’ve heard from,
<br />certainly from Commissioner Siracusa and Commissioner Alameda about, and as Commissioner
<br />Domingo said, the sort of sacredness of the cemetery sites and all. And as Commissioner
<br />Siracusa says about, maybe a commercial use doesn’t really mix too well with that. And so
<br />through the whole initial session where we actually conducted the contested case hearing and had
<br />all the witnesses and all, I kind of had in mind that I was going to hear how commercial uses of a
<br />bed and breakfast was really going to diminish the sacredness of the site. And I kept being
<br />frustrated through the hearing because I never heard anybody really address that directly. There
<br />were all kinds of other issues being addressed.And then when I thought the past history of how
<br />Mr. Ibbetson had handled the site, it seemed like everyone had always had proper access
<br />whenever they wanted it. There had been no disregard or, you know, rubbish or anything like
<br />that around the cemetery. He had even done some more maintenance of the grounds near them
<br />to sort of keep them sort of accessible and, you know, reasonably attractive looking. So I just
<br />found myself wanting through the whole process of finding any reason why I thought
<br />specifically the bed and breakfast would be harmful to the exercise of the visitation rights by
<br />those with connections to those in the cemetery. And we did have one testifier come speak, a
<br />woman who spoke very well, and she again felt it was a bit out of character, you know, to have
<br />that kind of commercial use, as Commissioner Siracusa says. But to me, there was never any
<br />flesh on that argument; there was nobody saying, well, this is going to happen or that’s going to
<br />happen and that’s why it’s not good. And I could envision in my mind, well, maybe there would
<br />be some drunken bed-and-b type hanging around the pool at night, making a lot of noise when
<br />somebody wants to come visit the grave. But it’s only because I could conjure that up as a
<br />remote possibility; it’s never like I really saw any evidence to that fact nor have any reason to
<br />believe that would be what happens. So it’s almost like in my case, I have supported the
<br />application just because my initial sense that I kind of didn’t like it, never got anything hung on
<br />it to confirm it; and so I just walk away with the feeling that even thought the basic idea doesn’t
<br />sound very good to me, I don’t see that it’s going to be harmful to the use of the cemetery as a
<br />cemetery. And being as that’s the case, I feel like I need to support it.
<br />Okay. Well, should we move onto a vote now since we’ve all had a say? Jeff, you want to carry
<br />on?
<br />DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If you can bear with me for a moment, the
<br />motion before us is to adopt the Planning Director’s, or the Planning Department’s proposed
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