about where osb stops and where the commission starts. so, again, i think just as a communication strategy to maybe include some e-mail newsletter content just to describe the roles of these different organizations, that would be very helpful. and, again, just communications with city departments. there were a couple departments that only -- i think the ones where it was more complicated conducting the interview or city departments where they only have one form they fill out that affects small businesses, or organizations where really they only deal with small businesses a couple times a year. having an annual visit to each department would help a lot and also i think just, you know, including these city organizations newsletters or reaching out to them and saying, we'd like to describe your organization and the role you play in our next newsletter. so, that was a very fast presentation, 25-page survey. we really enjoyed this project. again to summarize, the objection levels were very, very high.

people loved working with -- they knew everyone that worked in the organization by name. and one director in particular i think had good experiences working with regina when they had to work their ada issues, when they worked on policy issues, they were always very pleased with the relationship they had with the office of small business. >> good. commissioner questions? this is a great report and you always do such good work. this will help me. i'm taking this home. >> me, too. >> i really appreciate, you know, your outreach on this and you really did touch city with the nedos on this. i appreciate this. you did a good job. >> thank you very much. >> do we have public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. are there any other commissioner questions? any other questions for ken?

great job, ken. next item -- can we switch and do [speaker not understood] first before the next item? >> i think rob is -- >> we have to skip item number 10 in order to call number 11. >> commissioners, would you mind if we reversed items number 10 and 11? >> no problem with me. >> no. >> no problem. >> we have a motion? >> i move. >> second. >> all in favor? >> aye. >> okay, let's switch 10 and 11. >> that brings us to item number 11, presentation of a small business commission certificate of honor recognizing rob black, executive director of the golden gate restaurant association, as part of the sbc's "small business recognition program". >> so, thank you, commissioners. i'm honored today to recognize

rob black, but somewhat on a sad note. i don't know if you're all aware, but rob is going to be leaving the golden gate restaurant association. and, so, i thought we have to recognize him for all the work that he has done as executive director. and, so, on this monday, november 18, the small business commission is honored to recognize rob black as the executive director of the golden gate restaurant association as the executive director, you've worked tirelessly to promote san francisco's restaurant industry ~ as a strong and essential part of san francisco's economy. as an executive director, you have been excellent at articulating the needs and repairing the reputation of the golden gate restaurant association and the restaurant industry to san francisco's city government. you have also been an invaluable partner to the office of small business and the small business commission in advocating for reasonable

public policy discussions and the betterment of regulatory conditions for restaurants. for these reasons, the small business commission commends rob black for the contributions that you've made during your tender tenure at the golden gate restaurant association ~ and wishes you continued success in your new endeavors. (applause) >> commissioner white. >> rob, as you know, this is a very sad for me, being a restaurant owner here in san francisco. although i do wish you well, i know you're moving on to bigger and better things. however, i wanted to personally thank you for the work that you've helped us with, david and i with 1300. without your leadership and the ggre, we certainly could not have gone through the obstacles that we went through. and i know you've been a big support to all restaurants in

san francisco and i know this is a very sad moment. you've done the job very well. >> thank you. >> i'd just like to comment as well because i worked with you, rob, on many, many items here in the last -- lots of years actually. and i know you're going on to do bigger and better things. you're still going to be around so we still have some battles here. but with the golden gate restaurant association, you've done an awesome job. we talked earlier about entertainment and late night, you know. restaurants are part of that and the reputation san francisco has on restaurants, i mean, you carried that mantle. so, i can't thank you enough for all your help you've done with small businesses. you've done an awesome job and i wish you continued success. >> thank you. >> hopefully we'll see you up here again. >> yes. and one more thing to add. we're still going to be calling you. regina and i have already discussed this. [laughter] >> absolutely, absolutely.

well, i'm truly touched, commissioners. regina, thank you so much. it means a lot -- it means a lot coming from the folks who i have spent, since my time at city government, working for alioto, ggra, a decade working on behalf of. so, i'm very honored that you would take the time to honor me. it just, it really does -- it's very touching. i have had the privilege over the last three years to represent what i would term an entrepreneurial artist in restaurantures. while they're an ornery bunch at times, they are a beautiful part of what makes san francisco special. and when taken in the ag he re gate, what you see is the restaurant industry, all of those 4,000, 5,000 small

businesses he help make san francisco the tourist driver and build its economy. ~ aggregate tourism and hospitality is really our number one economic driver and san francisco, it's the primary driver of that economy. i've been honored to work on behalf of those people and this beautiful city and the bay area's restaurant industry. but also one of the things, it is while i think we've had difficult challenges and i feel like the association and the board of directors of the ggra have taken those challenges on in a very positive and meaningful way in really trying to do right by the city in my time at the association, so, i've been very proud of what we've been able to accomplish. you do have to look back at the end of the day and think about what makes san francisco great

in that particular job that i had, and at the end of the day my job was to make sure you were well fed and well drunk in san francisco. i can't do that, i might not be doing much of anything. so, we've had great partners to work with. regina has been such a great partner. i've known her since her time at the board of supervisors as well. we were aides together. and to watch her growth on behalf of small business in the city, and to have played a small role in making to make sure this office was properly funded and staffed so that we could do this work in the city, that's another area where i'm very proud. so, thank you for this. it truly is a very special thing to me and i appreciate it very much. and i continue -- i look forward to continuing to work with many if not all of you in the future because i will be working around and doing community work and doing --

part of, you know, part of my new responsibilities will be a broader sense of systemic sustainability and how you can integrate economic sustainability within communities. and part of that aspect is working with small business -- working with small businesses to invest in those because that's how you build that social and economic fabric. so, i look forward to continuing to work with you in the future and thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you.

[speaker not understood] >> [inaudible]. >> okay, next item. >> that brings us back to item number 10, discussion and possible action on preparation for and documents to transmit to the sfmta board of directors in advance of a joint meeting of the small business commission and sfmta board of directors on december 9, 2013. this is a discussion and possible action item. >> so, commissioners, we have our joint meeting with the sfmta scheduled for december 9th. so, i wanted to take the

opportunity to review with you -- to get some of your goals and objectives of what you would like to accomplish with the hearing. we did have the one meeting in may 6 with sfmta director ed russ kin. so, outlined in your packet ~ are a list of those recommendations. we've color-coded them. there's been other recommendations that have been put forward. the yellow are the recommendations. and then in listening to the small businesses in other meetings, there's additional recommendations that are listed after the blue section which are some questions. so, i wanted to find out from you -- we have the list of recommendations. the one that aren't at the top of the page, are you interested in moving them to the top of the page to present to the

sfmta board, some of the reasonings for the recommendations? i've put some bullet points for some of the reasoning for the recommendations based upon comments that i've heard. do those reflect what your recommendations are? and then, christian, may i borrow your packet? i'm missing my section of -- i'll share -- >> actually -- >> we've got it. >> and then also -- so, there is for the sfmta, what would you like to have, some questions -- what question do you have? what presentations would you like to hear from the sfmta staff and what discussions would you like to have with the sfmta board as we have this joint meeting?

and, so, i think for me it's a little more clear on, you know, what we -- what some of your questions and issues you want to present. now, the sfmta board, you know, most commissions or many commissions, they have municipal codes of which they govern themselves by. they have different things, you know, that we have the san francisco's transit first policy that govern them self-by in terms of making decisions. ~ this commission is an advisory body so we don't quite have that same sort of structure. so, i'd like to hear if there are things that you would like to have presented to the sfmta board either for reading materials or as a presentation regarding small business to present at that joint hearing. so, we don't necessarily have to answer every -- you don't have to provide absolute

answers today, but this is kind of an ongoing discussion. we will be meeting -- we will start meeting with the sfmta's board secretary to start orchestrating the meeting and getting the list of presentations that need to be had to allow staff on both sides to be able to prepare for that. so, i just want to open it up and get your feedback and direction on what you would like to accomplish. >> commissioner ortiz. >> first of all, i want to thank both of you for comprising that. i read that, it's very thorough, a lot of ideas we've had, seen them on paper, that's awesome, thank you. as i started reading it, i started seeing that we started like kind of focusing maybe on like certain things that are more like specific detail specific. one of my things that just popped up and it never came to

my head when we were, you know, having these conversations, is when i was in business i was part of the lbe program and my experience with sfmta with the lbe program was excellent with their off-street parking division. so, i know now, you know, working with a lot of community organizations and small businesses that the sfmta is one of the biggest contractors in the city because they say muni and various other departments. i was just wondering since my experience was good and i hope my business to grow back then ~ helped my business to grow back then, i was wondering if that's the case for other departments in the mta [speaker not understood] lbe [speaker not understood], requirements and municipal codes can be very daunting. is there resources like in the off-street parking division with the sfmta to -- for lack of better words -- nurture first-time businesses that are participating in a city contract with sfmta?

>> that's great. >> um-hm. >> commissioner dooley. >> i think, you know, because we're getting so many infrastructure projects and a lot of new building, i think it's really important to address loading zones. >> yes. >> i think it's a huge issue. if mta wants to also do new projects change streetscapes, they really need to address the impact of eliminating parking if that includes eliminating loading zones. they need to have part of their plan be able to mitigate and allow commerce to continue. that goes to the question also of, you know, before they start working on infrastructure project, they need to look at all -- >> this is [speaker not understood], yes. >> yes. that to me is one of our

largest things. and i also think it's important to discuss the possibility of allowing more parking structures because if you're going to take the parking away, you know, we need to have someplace to have folks who drive, for whatever reason -- not everyone takes the bus. maybe they're coming from out of town [speaker not understood]. we get a lot of visitors. we have to have some parking [inaudible] if we're going to take it off the street, we have to put it somewhere else. >> and even though we have the transit first policy. but i do want to piggyback to what she said about the loading zone is what i hear all the time, especially with all these new projects on valencia street. i'm hearing it a lot now with -- now that that's been redone, divisadero, now that that street has been redone. it's like i hear all these merchants, they find out who i am, they start complaining about the loading problems. >> right, columbus avenue. >> columbus avenue.

yes, that's one i would really like to address. >> okay. >> i don't think they think about that. >> they were planning to move all the loading zones on columbus avenue. well, there's like a million restaurants that come every day. as it is with the parking spaces, people are double parking. but, you know, business has to -- people have to receive deliveries. >> all right. so, you would like to hear -- receive presentation on their policies and design approach when doing these major infrastructure projects and how they give consideration to loading zones. >> what you have here i think is great. i just think we all need to prioritize what we all want to here. and if there is a way we can all look at this for the sake of time and get, you know, send regina and christian what we would like to see on that, i

think that would be very helpful. >> and then are there things that you would like to ensure that we present to the sfmta board -- i mean, sometimes i do think we live with this on a day-to-day basis, but it is important for other entitleies to understand sort its to understand the cumulative effect a business incurs doing business with the city from all the permitting, you know, sidewalk, having to repair sidewalks ~, graffiti, you know, the various -- cumulative sort of impacts of different city agencies interfacing with them, regulating them. and, so, to understand that that is the view of which this commission does come from when it's taking a look at the lens

and deciding to address issues that are affecting small business. >> i'm particularly happy to see you mentioning the small business should have an equal place at the table along with the bicycle advisory board because we don't at present. i feel like we are really an afterthought and, you know, we are a huge economic driver in the city and we need to be at that table. >> everybody says we're pro small business, but when it comes to this they're not. this is what we need to address. i do know that in the quarterly meetings that's been addressed, [inaudible]. >> do you know if that happened? i know that the small business request to have a member on the mta board. >> i think it's still on the table right now. i know he said -- the mayor was wanting to interview the people personally. so, commissioner ortiz.

>> following the same sentiment, it's like items 2 through 4, item 3 that you mentioned, is just more of the theme that we need presence -- representation at the sfmta. the loading zone is a perfect example. have they come to somebody that's in the trenches, a lot of headaches for business e and themselves. ~ it's more of a general theme items 2 through 4. hey, we're a big pack or in the city. you've got to listen to us. >> i think also we've seen too much that the small business community ends up being reactive because they're not at the table. >> right. >> and that is not a good thing that we're always saying, oh, my goodness, they're taking all the parking away, or, they're closing the streets down. we need to be at that table so we know. yes. >> again, i think of the five

item, topix listed on this list here are good. ~ i don't know how much time each one will take. but the ones that are not on the top of the priority list, maybe we can have materials to he review rather than a live person. >> [speaker not understood]. >> so, is there like a top 3 in terms that we should have a presentation in terms of maybe the transit first policy and definitely have a presentation on that, parking? >> [inaudible]. >> which would include all forms of parking, green zone. >> right, yellow zone. >> do you think there will be enough time to cover those? >> all five? >> yeah. >> i don't know, i'm asking the question. >> well, we're going to be meeting a little bit earlier for this meeting. i do know that. >> 4:30 will be the start time.

>> they're all very important, in my opinion. >> yeah. >> i think that we just really in general have to emphasize the inclusion of small business. >> yes. >> in all of these decisions. that is our number one message here. >> [speaker not understood] the quarterly meeting with the mayor. >> okay. and if there's any additional thoughts or information that you personally would like to get to be able to read ahead of time, e-mail both christian and i will facilitate getting that information to you. and we're starting to accumulate some information and we'll be sending it out this week in a packet for you to read. so, the strategic plan, the capital plan, that information, we'll be making it available to you. >> great. let's open this up to public comment.

do we have any members of the public who would also like to comment on item number 10? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> item 12, directors report, discussion item. >> thank you, commissioners. i'm going to be very brief due to time. but just a couple things i do want to highlight and that is we have officially launched our kiva zip program. so, right before the meeting we finalized a press release with kiva zip. so, i will be forwarding that on to you. and i do think that we might have our first lender. our first borrower, i should say. and i will send you that information. you do have attached some of the criteria which we're using as our internal guide in making the recommendations. we are starting out with just three borrowers for right now

just to make sure that we don't overcommit ourselves. we're doing a good job doing vetting and making referrals to kiva as a trustee. with that, i would like to by the end of january have a total of three borrowers that we have up on the site. and then i do want to say that we are getting close finalizing some of our outreach for material in the gross receipts. we will be doing an official campaign launch, the city, in january. so, and we will be having a full presentation for you at the january 27th meeting. and then i think lastly what i just want to identify is that the holiday seasons are coming up. so, i've provided you a list with all of our economic development organizations who are doing gift fairs and their schedule. so, they take place in the

first two weeks of december. so, if you have an opportunity to make sure that you do stop by and take a look at them and visit them. so, i'll let you read the rest and that concludes my report unless you have any questions. >> any questions, no? okay, next item, please. >> item 13, legislation and policy committee report. >> we are meeting after this meeting today, and the item that we spoke at our last meeting was presented earlier today. so, i have nothing else to report. >> thank you. item number 14, outreach committee report. and the committee chair i believe had to leave the meeting. >> okay, next item. >> then -- >> go ahead. >> we did meet -- i don't have any notes in front of me.

we did meet last week, two weeks ago, i'm not sure, and we discussed the bridge program that we heard today. so, we knew about that, which was great. the results. and then also we have -- is there anything else? >> working on the unsecured property. >> yeah, working on the unsecured property taxes which christian has looked into for us and we're most likely going to get that reviewed. >> yeah, we've contacted the relevant departments asking them for their input on the possibility of updating the amount or at least a study and see if an update would make sense. >> okay. >> item number 15, president's report. >> i don't really have anything to report other than the castro merchas will be having their annual christmas tree lighting ceremony on monday, december

2nd at 6 o'clock at castro and 18th street. and it will be a shop the neighborhood night that monday night. >> item number 16, vice president's report. >> nothing to report. i did attend the universal health care meeting that we've been following closely and i've asked the office staff to look into that for the businesses, the 20 to 49 employees which is of concern. so, that's pretty much all i have to report at this time. regina, do we have any update on -- >> we do not have any update at this point. >> okay. >> item number 17, commissioner reports. >> do we have any commissioner reports at this time? seeing none, next item. >> item 18, general public comment. >> do we have any members of the public here who would like to make a comment on any future meetings of this commission?

seeing none, public comment is closed. next item. >> item 19, new business. >> any items? seeing none, next item. >> item 20, adjournment. this is an action item. >> do we have a motion to adjourn? >> i move. >> i second. >> all in favor? >> aye. >> meeting over. thank you, everybody. the meeting adjourned at 4:29 p.m. [ adjourned] hello, san francisco

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