Supervisor moves to restrict chain stores

It's nice that a government bureaucrat can tell you what to do with your property?

San Francisco officials are again rolling up the welcome mat for Starbucks, the Gap and other large retailers along neighborhood merchant strips -- this time with a proposal to keep chain stores out along lower Divisadero Street.

A key supervisors committee recommended passage Wednesday of an ordinance governing a stretch of Divisadero between Haight and Turk streets that would require a special permit from the Planning Commission to operate formula retail businesses, which are defined as having 11 or more locations nationwide that share a standard merchandise, trademark or uniform.

Why even have anti-trust laws if they don't apply to the real restrainers of trade?Blue America in action.SFGate