>> good morning ing and welcome to march 11, 2024 rules committee meeting. i'm supervisor walter and joined by supervisors safai and supervisor preston subing for chair ronan. our chair is victor young and like to thank sfgovtv. >> public comment will be taken on each item. when your item comes up and public comment is called, please line up to speak on your right. you may submit public comment in writing e-mail them to myself the rules committee

clerk at victor.young@sfgov.org. if you submit via e-mail it will be forwarded to the supervisor jz part of the file. you may send comments to u.s. mail in city hall, 1 dr. carlton b goodlett place, room 244, san francisco california 94102. please silence cell phones and electronic devices. documents to be included should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today are expected to appear on beard board of- >> thank you, i like to make a motion to excuse supervisor ronan from today 's meeting? >> on the motion to excuse supervisor ronan from today's meeting, on the motion, supervisor preston, aye.

supervisor safai, aye. vice chair walton, aye. the motion passes without objection. >> thank you. please call item 1. >> item 1, motion approving/rejecting the president of the board of supervisors aaron peskin's nomination of gilbert williams to the planning commission, term ending july 1, 2026. (clerk of the board) (charter, section 4.105, provides that this nomination is subject to approval by the board of supervisors and shall be the subject of a public hearing and vote within 60 days from the date the nomination is transmitted to the clerk of the board. if the board fails to act on the nomination within 60 days from the date the nomination is transmitted to the clerk, then the nominee shall be deemed approved. transmittal date: february 27, 2024 y like to note the intent to schedule as a committee report for tomorrow board of supervisor meeting. >> thank you mr. clerk. now we'll hear from nominee for appointment, mr. gilbert williams and you have two minutes. >> thank you. good morning rules committee, vice chair walton, supervisor preston and my district supervisor safai. my name is gilbert williams and appoint today the san francisco planning commission seat number 3 to complete the term of

commissioner gabriela ruiz. i would like to public thank commissioner ruiz for service to our city and recognize her commitment to community. we both share a love of our city and understand the value of listening and lifting up marginalized voices. it would be a honor to continue her work. i understand that the beauty of our city is in a diversity of our residents and protecting and enhancing the cultural richness is something all san franciscans should work towards. i like to thank supervisor aaron peskin for nominating me and values and honoring community voices that put my name forward to enhance diversity and commune tee voice on the san francisco planning commission. also would like to thank all those who are here today to support my appointment. little about myself and why my appointment to the planning commission will be a positive addition and strengthen a

diversity and viewpoint of this very important deciding body. i was born and raised in san francisco. i attended public school, k-12. i had the adventurous experience of being part of the busing program to integrate the public schools attending schools in china town, putrara hill, mission and potrero and acselsier district. i found a career path in the building trade. i enrolled in the apprenticeship program and worked all over the city in commercial and residential construction. just a few projects i worked on as a union carpenter. because of my entrepreneurial spirit i enrolled in san francisco renaissance, graduated and earned the general building contractor license. for two decades i worked as a

contractor working with projeths renovation, repair work, new construction for the past 4 years i have been a carpenter with our city and department of public works. in 2010, i was one of the 1.5 million californian who lost their home to for closure. eviction as a home owner or tenant is a devastating personal experience. i was fortunate to have the support of family and community to help me through this period. i found a few purpose in healing working with city wide community of neighbors who lost their homes or in danger of losing home. through this experience i educated myself on the issue that caused the wave of for e closures and thousands of evictions that impact our communities all over the city. through the education i began working voluntarily to keep my neighbors in their homes through direct action advocating at the city and state levels. in addition to helping my displaced neighbors i began working with community members, non profit housing developers

and the planning department to plan is and advocate for hundred percent affordable housing projects in district 11 beginning to 2015 to the present and happy to report the fist two hundred percent affordable housing projects in district 11 in 20 years are completed this year. these projeths will be the home for hundreds of families and insure affordable renlts and dignified stable housing that our city desperately needs. als participating in the excelsior outer mission neighborhood strategy as a leader and advovocat under the san francisco planning department in 2018. confirming my appointsment to the san francisco planning commission, you will be confirming a community leader, union carpenter, resident who experienced displacement, a native san franciscans and maybe the first appointment to the planning commission from district 11. so many call the forgotten

district which encompass the most children in san francisco unified school district and most diverse communities of the city. if confirmed i will work to find common ground with fellow commissioners, adhering to city general plan, always working towards equity and common good. bringing with me a value system that centers around people and communities that make up our vibrant city. thank you for your consideration and for your service to our city. >> thank you mr. williams. colleagues, do you have any questions or statements? supervisor preston. >> thank you chair walton. i just wanted to first off, great to be here in the rules committee sitting in for chair ronan and just thrilled to see this nomination. i just want to say in addition to all the things that mr. williams has talked about, not sure if you remember, but i think we met during the-when i

was head of tenants together and we were working to prevent displacement from foreclosure back some 15 years ago and your leadership mr. williams on not only talking about your personal experience in terms of foreclosure, but channeling that personal experience into incredibly powerful advocacy that i think made a huge difference in neighborhoods in san francisco and also across the state, so i want to thank you for all of your affordable housing work and sometimes it is not necessarily the biggest thing on our resume, but it is something we do as volunteers in our community that has really a outside impact and i want to recognize that part of your work. thrilled to be supporting you and hopefully the whole board is and looking forward to you being on our planning

commission. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you supervisor preston. supervisor safai. >> thank you. thank you mr. williams for your activism in san francisco over the last number of years. definitely have been thoroughly engaged in a lot of conversation around planning. just wanted to give you a opportunity to say a few words what you think some of the key goals and roadmap are to achieve the housing element of 82 thousand units over the next few years and what you think your role is in that on the planning commission. >> thank you for the question supervisor safai. yeah, it seems like a monumental task. i'm not sure how realistic that number is, given the history of housing development in our city. i think the fact that we

haven't succeeded in building our affordable housing requirements is something that is concerning. yeah, i think it is a huge challenge and will be interesting to find out more as a commissioner. >> in terms of the goal of 46 thousand units of affordable housing, out of the 82, do you see what kind of roadmap to get there and achieve that? >> well, we need funding. we need funding from the state, the federal government and a permanent source of funding to achieve that goal. not only for now, but for future affordable housing. i think that's pretty much the

bottom line with affordable housing. >> we just passed the housing bonds, so hopefully that will be a good benefit. i know supervisor preston a number of years ago ran, i think proposition i, is that right? unfortunately this mayor has not dedicated the funding to doing acquisition. we have tremendous opportunities over the last couple years, but particularly this year with many of the largest property owners going into foreclosure, so those funds would have been funominally important to achieve that and acquire those properties. some that will come in front of you. i think that not many affordable projects are going to come in front of you, compared to the market rate projects, so i just want to give you a opportunity to see how you approach that and balance that out with the goals of affordable house. >> i think each project i look at individually to make sure that our small businesses and

our neighborhoods are not impacted negatively. i think that's important. someone has experienced displacement and understands that sometimes those impacts aren't seen right away. they happen over time, and so yeah, i have to take each project individually. but i'm very concerned about displacement for our small business community and also for our residents. i think that should be priority number one to protect our existing residents in their homes and make sure we don't set up a situation where we create more homelessness. >> what do you think about the upcoming-we are going through the process of upzoning and adding density decontrol, planning department in particular who you will be overseeing and interacting with

has made some recommendations to add significant height all over san francisco as well as removing density to achieve a significant number of units, which in many cases can be additional affordable units, depending upon the size of the project and requirement of inclusionary and which density bonus programs are used. just want to give you a opportunity to talk about that. >> yeah. thank you. yeah, i think again, i'm concerned. i'm concerned about the impacts to small business. we just came out of-we lost hundreds or thousands of businesses across the city and i think a lot of business owners just like getting back on their feet seems like to me. and so i would just be really

concerned about negatively impacting our small business community. outside that, i have to look more into-i don't know all the parameters around the upzoning and so, i have to look into it more. >> a lot of the upzoning is along commercial corridors where in some places there are not small businesses. one areas come into our district is on-starts on 19th avenue and goes all the way down and some cases they are talking about 65 feet to create the opportunity to build some apartment buildings with higher density, so that is happening all over san francisco, so that conversation is really being pushed. particularly, that is something you will be taking on as a planning commission, so the idea is more about how adding height and density impacts, our goal to achieve the 82 thousand

units and the impact on the neighborhood and neighborhood character so that is what the question is about. >> yeah. it is a huge question. it seems like all this upzoning talk and-there is a lot of-what i found is there a lot of communities that haven't really been informed about all these changes. i was at a planning commission meeting last month where a lot of residents from all over the city were surprised about the scope and of all the changes that are being brought forward, and so again, i think the community should have a say. i think the people in our city should have a say on those huge

type of changes that impact their own neighborhoods, and so i would listen to those voices in order to make my decisions. >> okay. thank you. appreciate it. >> no problem. >> thank you supervisor safai. i don't see anymore questions or statements from board members. can we have public comment, mr. clerk? >> yes. members of the public who wish to speak on the item should line up to speak at this time. each speaker will be allowed two minutes thrmpt is a soft chime with 30 seconds left and louder chime when your time expired. >> hello board. my name is [indiscernible] i have been doing community organizing in san francisco for over 25 years, and i am here in support of gilbert, because i feel like working with gilbert

over the last i don't know how many years, last count, gilbert always has a open ear to the community and always about problem solving with the community. i think that is what the planning commission needs. someone who isn't just thinking about themselves, but someone who has not only the experience, but also the record, the track record of engaging all our san francisco community to be a part of this important development within our city. especially during these times where there is so much houselessness, where so many businesses, small businesses aren't thriving and so i just want to really uplift gilbert's skills and being able to work collectively to bring forth those voices here to city hall.

this democratic city of ours. thank you. >> supervisors, chinatown cdc here in support of gilbert appointment to the planning commission. we need a problem solver and listener, we need a strategic thinker and i think gilbert brings all these things to the table and brings the experience of a native san franciscans which for a lot of us that have come later in life to the city, is really powerful when he speaks and relates to the issues that we see every day. i am excited to kind of bring the support of chinatown cdc and the broader api community to gilbert and his work on the planning commission, replacing our very own gabby ruiz and

wanting to see more diversity of experiences and the diversity of people on the planning commission so we can tackle the important issues supervisor safai brought up with the housing element and a roadmap for the city, which will be complicated and i think an approach that says i will look at everything, i am going to really take everything into account. i'm going to listen and try to not apply one size fits all approach to my decision is can going to be really powerful and so i'm excited for gilbert to take the seat on the planning commission and again, in full support of his appointment. thank you very much. >> good morning. happy monday. my name is [indiscernible] here in full support of gilbert

williams. i had the pleasure working with gil grt over the last 5 years as a community organizer and i think something that stands out to me other then echoing everything said before me is, gilbert's commitment to build the leadership of others and i think that is really important. i think we need a commissioner who can not only bring his own solutions to the table, but actually really take into consideration everything else that is said. i really urge you to support him and so he can go to the full board and hopefully can get appointed to the commission. i want to thank you for giving him this opportunity. thank you. >> good morning vice chair walton, members of the rules committee. charley, i first met mr. williams 10 years ago at community gathering the people summit. this is is event where every day people come together in order to articulate a long-term

vision for planning and development of their neighborhood. he struck me as down to earth but little did i know he was a power house of community spirit, planning and advocacy. over the years i have seen gilbert take many steps forward to serve his community. he is quick to lend his time, energy and skills for community movements. a active participate in community spaces where he is sooleading voice for healthy equitable affordal development. his service takes many forms participating in neighborhood tours to uplift community struggle voices and expertise and community efforts to advocate for policies that really deliver more equitable outcomes for the city working class and bipoc residents. gilbert has high expectations for city and he holds to same high stands rtz rchlt he is principal human being full of

integ taes, decency with fierce spirit. he has my highest recommendation for the planning commission. >> good morning vice chair walton, members of the rules committee. timothy wright. i want to echo what everybody else said. gilbert is a excellent candidate and if we want to get to our goal of 82 thousand housing units we have a guy who knows how to build these things because he is a training carpenter. i just can't say anything more. gilbert is the right guy for this job. thank you very much. >> good morning supervisors. i'm speaking in capacity as former supervisor city county of san francisco where in this body i served to see we had a plan for how we would build out our southern neighborhoods, how

we would respond to displacement pressures happening in the southern neighborhoods and it was really important that when we talk about equity we actually really mean what we say and we actually insure there is a balance so the disbalance that happened for years working class communities do not get fair share of resources can achieve that by having a greater emphasis on working class communities. that is what reparations is about and also that's what gilbert is all about is insuring the voices of working class communities can have a say in how we develop our community. he's been doing that a long time whether with ace, back in the day, or in his work just as a community member, he's rooted deeply in the excelsior and has connections to district 10 and districts across the city and the voice of working class

people gilbert williams represent is essential to insure we have planning for the future. right now the southern neighborhood are and western neighborhoods are slated to get the most development. how do we insure we develop and fighting displacement and insure working class communities have a right to belong in the city? that is what gilbert represents. i hope you can help him ascend to a seat on the planning commission. thank you very much. >> good morning supervisors. my name is gabriel here on behalf of the resource center. also speaking as someone born and raised in san francisco in the same neighborhoods gilbert grew up in, former president latino democratic club and district 11 club, gilbert was [indiscernible] if we need a expert to talk about the working class, who was displaced. i firsh met gilbert more then

10 years ago. he was a victim of foreclosure and he was out protesting in district 10 making sure other families were not evicted. he was protesting for tenants in district 5 makes sure folks were not ellis act evicted. gilbert is a tremendous human being and is a carpenter. he has experience building his own house and has experience talking to folks in san francisco that want someone to understand, sympathize and listen to issues and also the builders who have to go through construction for the housing we need. especially affordable housing. they understand he knows what is on the job sites, how to get thingz done so that is is what you are getting with gilbert williams. you get a commissioner that will get it done and listen to everybody and will be accessible to everybody, so i can't say enough about gilbert, but he has my highest

recommendation and honored to be here on his behalf. thank you. >> thank you to all the speakers. i don't see anyone else here for public comment, so public comment is now closed. supervisor safai. >> yes. thank you. just again want to thank gilbert for coming out. i know he's been super active in doing tremendous work in our district. i actually met gilbert going door to door right after his forecloseier and we spent a few hours speaking about that. he immediately engaged in the excelsior planning process as mentioned and active engaged in all the projects both affordable and market rate to insure we have the maximum number of afford able housing in our district and to the carpenter happiness, they are all most all union built and every single one had union

carpenters on the project, which is great. again, thanks for stepping forward mr. williams. i know it is important. you won't be the first from district 11, i think you will be the second, but still carrying that wonderful tradition and be a strong voice for the southeast neighborhood so thank you for stepping forward. >> thank you supervisor safai and i too just want to again thank commissioner ruiz for her service and thank you mr. williams stepping up and your focus on affordable housing that will be very important as we try to meet the goals of the future and we need someone who will fight for working class families, so appreciate you being willing to step up. planning commission is a very serious commission is and i think you understand the role that you are about to participate in and so, with that said, i would like to make a motion to strike reject throughout and replace with

approved and send this appointment to the board with as a committee report. >> yes, amend and recommend as a complity report to the full board. on the motion, preston, aye. safai, aye. walton, aye. that motion passes without objection. >> thank you. motion carries. mr. clerk, please call item 2. >> item 2, ordinance amending the administrative code to establish a permanent homeward bound program administered by the human services agency and the department of homelessness and supportive housing for individuals experiencing homelessness or who have formerly experienced homelessness, such as individuals residing in permanent supportive housing, to receive paid travel and relocation support to a destination where the individual has someone to receive them.

>> thank you mr. clerk. i know we also have representatives from hsa and hsh on hand if there are any questions. supervisor safai. >> thank you mr. chair. colleagues, want to really say first and foremost, i think this is a really important step we are taking here today. the homeward bound program started in 2004-2005. one of the most successful programs in the city's history at reunifying those that are unhoused with their family members. since that time, over 11 thousand people were served up until around 2018-2019. unfortunately at that time the program started to diminish the number of people served declined, and there was i think some confusion on primary lead and otherwise, so what we are

doing with this legislation here today is we are putting in chapter 20 of the administrative code. we are elevating the program and insuring that on a annual basis that the city would get the numbers that are served and in the simplest form, what it is average for less then $200 per person, this allows people to reunify with their family. majority of those folks are california residents and in the end it saves thousands and thousands of dollars for san francisco and we check on them day 30, day 60, day 90. with the legislation in front of you today we are expanding the program somewhat to allow for those in risk of being homeless as well as those that might live in permanent supportive housing in a transitional nature to again, help reunify with their family. the concept is allowing people to go back to their home

community if they so desire and allow them to be there with a loved one. the executive director of hsa and hsh will work in coordination of this program and we believe this is is the right step. unfortunately i think it was buried in the bureaucracy, not highlighted and not made as really as much a part of the tool kit as it had been in the past. in the mean time, hsh definitely expanded the amount of services that they are helping people with, and that's also a really positive thing. but we insure essentially that this is really thinking about those at risk of being homeless, those that are currently unhoused and reunifying them with their family and insuring it is in the code and it is a permanent part of the tool kit and no longer a after-thought as part

of the service s that we provide here in san francisco. pretty straight forward. i have the amendments in front of you colleagues and unless you have any questions, but essentially, i kind of described them. i also want to thank director trent roar and suzy smith from hsa and dylan schneider and emily cohen for work with us along with rescue sf and the coalition on homelessness for input on this program. as i said just finally to wrap up, at the height it was about a thousand people a year served with this program. it diminished to less then a couple hundred. we want to insure this is something we can do in a real positive way and allow for the program to be administered in a really-with the proper oversight and accountability as well. thank you colleagues. >> thank you supervisor safai, is that a motion to amend?

>> yes. >> thank you. mr. clerk, can we get a roll call on the motion? >> would you like to take public comment? >> yes, take public comment. my apologies. >> yes, on the motion to amend, members of the public who wish to speak should line up to speak. each speaker is allowed two minutes. there is a soft chime with 30 seconds left and louder chime when time expired. any members of the public who would like to speak? there does not appear to be any speakers. >> thank you mr. clerk. no speaker, present, public comment is now closed. mr. clerk, on that motion-- >> on the motion to amend supervisor preston, aye. supervisor safai, aye. vice chair walton, aye. the motion passes without objection. >> thank you i believe the city attorney will let us know if

they are substantive or not. >> they are. sorry, meant to say that. these amendments are-because we are slightly expanding the universe of individuals that can be served by this program to those that are at risk or living in permanent supportive housing and that's something that has not been done in the past and we did that in a thoughtful way to insure we can also capture people that might otherwise not have been served in the past, so we'll have to sit for a week and i think hsh and hsa might have numbers to present the following week if necessary. >> thank you supervisor safai. with that, we'll make a motion to continue the amended item to next week's meeting. >> yes, that is motion to continue the matter to the march 18 rules committee meeting. on that motion, supervisor

preston, aye. supervisor safai, aye. vice chair walton, aye. that motion passes without objection. >> thank you, motion passes. mr. clerk, do we have any other items? >> that completes the agenda for today. >> thank you so much. we are adjourned. [meeting adjourned]

>> the vibrant south of market neighborhood in san francisco is deep lee rooted filipino if fluences to shape the cultural identity. soma pilipinas known for [indiscernible] night life and art scenes is home to growing filipino community that thrived for generations. >> soma pilipinas is a community, the village that has been over a hundred years in the making. this is home to many generations of filipino from the turn of the century, to the present. continues to be a gateway community for a lot of filipinos just arriving from the philippines. >> one of sth most prominent scines is filipino owned businesses become staples in the neighborhood.

restaurants like manila bowl and jp restaurant offer [indiscernible] >> we call it [indiscernible] this is my passion. everybody's who came right now. we feel good right here. community is like a family. >> the eatery serve mouth watering dishes and provide a sense of home to the filipino community, preserving traditions passed down generation. >> a filipino restaurant utilizing california ingredients we honor traditional family recipe [indiscernible] we shop in the market 2 to 3 times a week. we make the filipino cuisine proud in san francisco.

>> along with the culinary deliteds, soma philippine ow is home to san francisco top mix aulgists. filipino artistry is a facet of soma pilipinas rich tapestry. the filipino cultural heritage district transformed public spaces into canvases that depict the stories and experiences of filipino americans. >> parlt part of the work we do is support filipino artists to work with community to really create and develop community based art. this is murals and designs that really reflect the rich history, the culture and the struggles and triumps of the filipino community. >> the presence of the filipino cultural center which offer workshops, language classes and community resources is a testament to the community efforts to preserve and

promote the heritage. >> features the [indiscernible] philippines which is a indigenous community weaving textiles and tapestry for hundreds of years so proud to feech were modern ones and very antique ones and showcase fashion from the community and we are inviting everybody to come experience that with us. >> the center not only caters to the filipino community, but welcome all who wish to learn about and embrace this culture. >> we want to develop a cultural district where you have the young generation learn their history, language and culture and where you have also the seniors be part of the cultural and share their stories and their traditions, and continue to grow young in the neighborhood. >> the intersection of technology and culture in this part of san francisco provides a unique back drop for a thriving community embracing the past while looking to the

future. the filipino influence ingrained in soma serves as remindser of the power of cultural diversity and importance of celebrating in our ever changing world. >> hi today we have a special edition of building san francisco, stay safe, what we are going to be talking about san francisco's earth quakes, what you can do before an earthquake in your home, to be ready and after an earthquake to make sure that you are comfortable staying at home, while the city recovers. ♪♪

>> the next episode of stay safe, we have alicia johnson from san francisco's department of emergency management. hi, alicia thanks to coming >> it is a pleasure to be here with you. >> i wonder if you could tell us what you think people can do to get ready for what we know is a coming earthquake in san francisco. >> well, one of the most things that people can do is to make sure that you have a plan to communicate with people who live both in and out of state. having an out of state contact, to call, text or post on your social network is really important and being able to know how you are going to communicate with your friends, and family who live near you, where you might meet them if your home is uninhab hitable. >> how long do you think that it will be before things are restored to normal in san francisco. >> it depends on the severity of the earthquake, we say to provide for 72 hours tha, is

three days, and it helps to know that you might be without services for up to a week or more, depending on how heavy the shaking is and how many after shocks we have. >> what kind of neighborhood and community involvement might you want to have before an earthquake to make sure that you are going to able to have the support that you need. >> it is important to have a good relationship with your neighbors and your community. go to those community events, shop at local businesses, have a reciprocal relationship with them so that you know how to take care of yourself and who you can rely on and who can take care of you. it is important to have a battery-operated radio in your home so that you can keep track of what is happening in the community around and how you can communicate with other people. >> one of the things that seems important is to have access to your important documents. >> yes, it is important to have copies of those and also stored them remotely. so a title to a home, a passport, a driver's license,

any type of medical records that you need need, back those up or put them on a remote drive or store them on the cloud, the same is true with any vital information on your computer. back that up and have that on a cloud in case your hard drive does not work any more. >> in your home you should be prepared as well. >> absolutely. >> let's take a look at the kinds of things that you might want to have in your home. >> we have no water, what are we going to do about water? >> it is important for have extra water in your house, you want to have bottled water or a five gallon container of water able to use on a regular basis, both for bathing and cooking as well as for drinking. >> we have this big container and also in people's homes they have a hot water heater. >> absolutely, if you clean your hot water heater out regularly you can use that for showering, drinking and bathing as well >> what other things do people

need to have aren't their home. >> it is important to have extra every day items buy a couple extra cans of can food that you can eat without any preparation. >> here is a giant can of green giant canned corn. and this, a manual can opener, your electric can opener will not be working not only to have one but to know where to find it in your kitchen. >> yes. >> so in addition to canned goods, we are going to have fresh food and you have to preserve that and i know that we have an ice chest. >> having an ice chest on hand is really important because your refrigerator will not be working right away. it is important to have somebody else that can store cold foods so something that you might be able to take with you if you have to leave your home. >> and here, this is my very own personal emergency supply box for my house. >> i hope that you have an alternative one at home. >> oh, i forgot. >> and in this is really important, you should have flashlights that have

batteries, fresh batteries or hand crank flashlight. >> i have them right here. >> good. excellent. that is great. additionally, you are going to want to have candles a whistle, possibly a compass as well. markers if you want to label things if you need to, to people that you are safe in your home or that you have left your home. >> i am okay and i will meet you at... >> exactly. exactly. water proof matches are a great thing to have as well. >> we have matches here. and my spare glasses. >> and your spare glasses. >> if you have medication, you should keep it with you or have access to it. if it needs to be refrigerated make sure that it is in your ice box. >> inside, just to point out for you, we have spare batteries. >> very important. >> we have a little first aid kit. >> and lots of different kinds of batteries. and another spare flashlight.

>> so, alicia what else can we do to prepare our homes for an earthquake so we don't have damage? >> one of the most important things that you can do is to secure your valuable and breakable items. make sure that your tv is strapped down to your entertainment cabinet or wall so it does not move. also important is to make sure that your book case is secure to the wall so that it does not fall over and your valuable and breakables do not break on the ground. becoming prepared is not that difficult. taking care of your home, making sure that you have a few extra every-day items on hand helps to make the difference. >> that contributes dramatically to the way that the city as a whole can recover. >> absolutely. >> if you are able to control your own environment and house and recovery and your neighbors are doing the same the city as a whole will be a more resilient city. >> we are all proud of living in san francisco and being prepared helps us stay here. >> so, thank you so much for joining us today, alicia, i

appreciate it. >> absolutely, it is my pleasure. >> and thank you for joining us on another edition of building >> you're watching san francisco rising with chris manners. today's special guest is katy tang. [♪♪♪] >> hi. i'm chris manners, and you're watching san francisco rising, the show that's focused on rebuilding, reimagining, and revitalizing our city. with us today is katy tang, and she's talk to -- talking to us about assistance and services provided to local businesses. can we talk about the role of the office of small business? many small businesses are struggling to help.

how can you help? >> director tang: we are here as the city's central point of information for all things small businesses, so we can help people start, stay, and grow in the city. if you want to start a small business, we can pair you up with small business advisors, who can talk you through your business plan, help you develop it, whether it's regulatory requirements, business permits, and just help you understand the journey that was up ahead. and if you'd like to stay in san francisco and perhaps your business is facing challenges, we can also pair you with a business advisor who can assess your business needs and figure out whatside that would best help you. so for example, perhaps you need more marketing assistance or you need to be connected to a loan, a low interest loan or a grant program, if that's

available. those are services we can provide to you, whether you're starting out or trying to stay in san francisco. and of course, if you want to expand and grow into a new space, we can help assist you with that and help prepare you for the journey ahead. we have a team dedicated to assist you you with all the small business needs, all the requirements needed to help you establish your small business in san francisco. >> do you have an e.s.l. program for people who want to start small businesses? >> director tang: we have staff that can speak spanish and mandarin and cantonese, and we understand if english is not your first language, it can be difficult, so we want to be as helpful as possible. >> excellent. i know that s.f. shines was

created to help with restoring and improvement. can you tell us more about that? >> yes. it's run out of a sister development and it's much needed in the small business community. if you are trying to improve your storefront, whether it's outside, perhaps you want to make some interior improvements, a lot of times, that involves a lot of cost and resources to be able to do so. for example, you may need to hire an architect to submit drawings so you can get your work done. currently, s.f. shines is offer a pairing of business sign services. you can be paired up with an architect to get your drawings done to help you start to do

the actual work. we hope that people will stay tuned, and you can find out more information on our website. that's sfgov.org/osb. >> let's talk about the shared spaces program. it's been a huge success, and outdoor dining spaces are very popular. >> the shared spaces program, especially during the pandemic, really helped spaces survive. to have an outdoor space where people could safely gather was critical, and the office of small business has been working with these shared spaces during the pandemic. some may or may not have been up to the city's code regulations, so department of

public works and other departments have been trying to figure out what violations are and help businesses come into compliance. the planning department and the city have decided that they'll give businesses until 2023 to come into compliance. also in the meantime, for businesses that want to start new shared spaces, new parklets, that is still an on going program, a new program, so people can always submit their applications for shared spaces regardless whether they started one during the pandemic or not. >> do you anticipate there being other shared spaces programs in the future and how do small businesses go about finding out about them? >> small businesses can find out about it by visiting our

website, sfgov/osb or you can call 415-554-6134, and we can connect you with the planning department and other agencies that would be connected with the shared spaces programs. >> over the pandemic, businesses have been victimized by vandals and other crimes. how can you help them? >> the city offers a program called the vandalism relief fund, and this would allow businesses suffering from graffiti or broken windows to apply with the city through our neighborhood services division, and you could get up to 1,000 or 2,000 if you submit certain documentation, such as a

photograph of the damage or a copy of the receipt or document showing the amount you paid for to correct the incident. we are so excited that the city now has a centralized permit center, where people can come and get their business done, hopefully, in the same day where there are several different agencies, ranging from department of building inspection, planning department, public health, fire department, all here to help people, whether you're building a new business or even new construction, to be able to, again, fit all of your appointments in one day and get things done quickly. so starting in may, our office of small business has actually started working out of 49 south van ness at the permit center, and we have a team of two staff who are dedicated to helping small businesses through their

permitting journey. so we do encourage people, you can come to the permit center or you can e-mail us at sfosb@sfgov.org, and you can communicate with our staff dedicated to helping you with your permitting needs. we hope that people will consider consulting with us before you even sign a lease so that we can help you on the path to success and understanding the journey of setting up a small business in san francisco. >> well, thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming on the show, miss tang. thank you for the time you've given us today. >> director tang: thanks for having me. >> and that's it for this show. we'll be back shortly. you've been watching san francisco rising. for sfgovtv, i'm chris manners. thanks for watching. [music]

>> san francisco is known as yerba buena, good herb after a mint that used to grow here. at this time there were 3 settlements one was mission delores. one the presidio and one was yerba buena which was urban center. there were 800 people in 1848 it was small. a lot of historic buildings were here including pony express headquarters. wells fargo. hudson bay trading company and famous early settlers one of whom william leaderdorph who lived blocks from here a successful business person. african-american decent and the

first million airin california. >> wilwoman was the founders of san francisco. here during the gold rush came in the early 1840s. he spent time stake himself as a merchant seaman and a business person. his father and brother in new orleans. we know him for san francisco's history. establishing himself here arnold 18 twoochl he did one of many things the first to do in yerba buena. was not california yet and was not fully san francisco yet. >> because he was an american citizen but spoke spanish he was able to during the time when america was taking over california from mexico, there was annexations that happened and conflict emerging and war, of course. he was part of the peek

deliberations and am bas doorship to create the state of california a vice council to mexico. mexico granted him citizenship. he loaned the government of san francisco money. to funds some of the war efforts to establish the city itself and the state, of course. he established the first hotel here the person people turned to often to receive dignitaries or hold large gatherings established the first public school here and helped start the public school system. he piloted the first steam ship on the bay. a big event for san francisco and depict instead state seal the ship was the sitk a. there is a small 4 block long length of street, owned much of that runs essentially where the

transamerica building is to it ends at california. i walk today before am a cute side street. at this point t is the center what was all his property. he was the person entrusted to be the city's first treasurer. that is i big deal of itself to have that legacy part of an african-american the city's first banker. he was not only a forefather of the establishment of san francisco and california as a state but a leader in industry. he had a direct hahn in so many things that we look at in san francisco. part of our dna. you know you don't hear his anymore in the context of those. representation matters. you need to uplift this so people know him but people like him like me. like you. like anyone who looks like him to be, i can do this, too. to have the city's first banker

and a street in the middle of financial district. that alone is powerful. [music]