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Board Reduces SuperSafe Suspension to 25 Days and Upholds 25‑Day Suspension for Fog City News
Summary
On March 24, 2010 the Board of Appeals modified a 30‑day suspension for SuperSafe (4517 Third Street) to 25 days and separately upheld a 25‑day suspension for Fog City News (455 Market St. #125), after DPH presented decoy evidence that both stores sold tobacco to minors.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals on March 24 resolved two appeals of Department of Public Health (DPH) tobacco‑sales suspensions.
SuperSafe (4517 Third Street). DPH presented evidence that a minor decoy purchased cigarettes at SuperSafe during a police monitoring operation on Oct. 7, 2009; the Department had imposed a 30‑day suspension under San Francisco Health Code §1009.66 and California Penal Code §308. DPH counsel Johnson Ojo summarized the evidence and said the hearing officer had found the sale merited 30 days. Owner Abdul Salam Alaudi told the Board the sale was an honest mistake, described an ID‑check system tied to his cash register and said he had begun internal decoy testing to prevent recurrence. “This incident happened never intentionally,” Alaudi said, and asked the Board to consider the financial hardship a lengthy suspension would impose on his single store, which he said has been in operation about 12 years.
During questioning Commissioners noted Department practice and prior case precedents; Dr. Ojo said he would accept reducing the penalty to 25 days. A motion to modify the 30‑day suspension to 25 days while otherwise upholding the Department’s action passed (initially recorded 3–2, then amended on the record to 4–1 after a commissioner changed his vote).
Fog City News (455 Market St. #125). DPH presented that a 14‑year‑old decoy was sold a pack of cigarettes at Fog City News on Nov. 11, 2009. Owner Adam Smith acknowledged the sale by his clerk and urged mitigation based on the store’s character, customer base and low percentage of revenue from tobacco. Smith said Fog City News sells magazines and greeting cards and that tobacco represented a small share of sales. The Board voted 4–1 to uphold the Department’s 25‑day suspension.
Both decisions reflect the Board balancing enforcement goals and economic hardship in first‑offense cases while deferring to DPH’s enforcement record and the penal code standard that treats sales to minors as serious regardless of intent.
What happens next: the suspensions stand as modified/upheld; owners may pursue any administrative or judicial remedies available under local law.
