human services hosted a reception recognizing the employers and the employees participating in the jobs now program. as the means to provide an opportunity to really emphasize the importance of this program and how this program is creating jobs. and that that is a good thing and a much better thing to do than to put more people on unemployment and so to really emphasize the need for continuing this program. on this wednesday, august 11rks i will be immediating with -- 11, i will be meeting with 15 of the merchants associations and you should have the agenda of that meeting in your pack elt and -- packet and what we will be discussing is, i'm going to be reviewing the

programs that the city currently has that involve purchase engagement. so as you -- merchant engagement. so as you had heard the presentation earlier from christine on the mayor working to reduce truancy, we have our shop local program. i did meet with both the san francisco locally owned merchants association and to talk about both those entities really market and promote shopping, shopping buying locally but in very different ways. s.f. made is about products made in san francisco and so we talked about what is shopping local, what can we do to work together, how to best position the city in this -- to -- how can the city best position supporting that concept? and so what we came away with

that we will be devicing the details of this down the road, but that what they saw was an important role for the office, for the city, is to really drive home the economic message. so, not so much who -- dealing with the database, you know, who are the locally owned merchants, who are the s.f. made merchants, not to say we can't work to identify those, but that our role was really to drive home the economic message, to really educate and promote that. so, i'll be discussing this with the merchants and then at a future date i'll also be coming to you with what that's going it look like. the shop s.f. get more campaign is designed for the holidays. this is again another place where merchants can become engaged and help drive business to their businesses by participating in this campaign.

we are going to be doing it again. and we'd like to bring in more businesses to participate in the shop s.f. get more that are out in the neighborhood commercial corridors. so i will be talking to them about that. small business week,small busino events that are really targeted at towards the merchants. there was the sidewalk sale, but now, the shop your neighborhood, i do want to of a discussion about how we can create a cohesive program for that day that really benefits the merchants. and at one of the briefings, commissioner dooley had the idea

of having these identified by the neighborhoods, so we did do that this year, and that idea went over really well and was very well-received. people liked it. the merchant corridors that participated really liked it, and so, again, just reemphasize the, this is another area where the merchants can come together and promote their commercial corridors. we also have i bike sf. we have not received a formal presentation on this, but it is one with the bicycle coalition. we have targeted two areas and are now moving into some other areas, like castro, where businesses can be high laid it on the -- highlighted on the

sfmta page, so i want to present all of the programs that the city is doing that merchants can be involved in to help promote their direct -- business, dry business, and that sort, so that meeting is being held. as i said, your welcome to attend, and then i do also what do talk about our office working with them. they will let an opportunity to respond. legislative matters. the two proposed matters that the commission heard last month

regarding the progressive payroll tax and a parking tax increase on parking grosz's and valet parking, -- garages and valet parking, those two word table, so they will not be on the ballot. the others passed out of the board of supervisors that you heard were the transfers from the fire department to the police department. that has passed out of the board of supervisors as well as the zoning regarding child care facilities. that concludes my report unless you have any questions. president yee riley: any questions for the director? seeing none, next item, please.

>> commissioners, you are now on item number nine, the legislative and policy committee report, which allows the chair to report on recent committee activities and make announcements. vice president clyde: we have already reviewed two items, the alcohol mitigation and the nail salon, but i do want to speak about another. we heard an informational presentation about a proposal that is not really in legislative form yet about restricting pet stores from selling any type of small animals except for fish. we heard a presentation from animal care and control. we heard one from the animal welfare commission, and we also heard from several of the merchants that deuce else --

still sell small animals. i was particularly taken by the fact that there are only five businesses in san francisco that do so small animals, formula retail, and we asked some questions about some of the animals that show up at animal error -- care control better actually being purchased from life than the markets, an animal rescuers are buying them and then turning them into animal care and control, and that has been creating a problem. we may need to address this in the future, and i think that there certainly should be some sort of compromise that will work for both sides. the grandfathering the five businesses that are selling

small animals and allowing that to continue, even if they sell their business, allowing that model to go forward but prohibiting new businesses in the city, so we are just going to keep a watch on where this goes. that concludes my report. president yee riley: thank you. next item, please. clerk: commissioners, item number 10, the permit a committee report, which allows the jered report and recent committee activities and make announcements. -- which allows the chair to report. >> i will have that next month. president yee riley: thank you. next item, please. clerk: item number 11, the outreach committee report, allowing the chair to report on recent committee activities and make announcements. >> the status of the vacancy

report, do we have an update on vacancies? -- vice president clyde: clerk: we do not have an update, commissioner clyde. vice president clyde: ok, we did discuss outreach to the businesses, and i have to say that this month has really been concerned with outreach regarding the alcohol mitigation fee, and that outreach has been significant, and i would really like to recognize the efforts of small business in coordinating the dissemination of information to the small business community. the turnout in the committee hearing, budget and finance and policy, it was really remarkable, and, you know, largely due to your efforts.

we discussed, of course, the progressive tax structures that are no longer on the table, as well as businesses that are currently not being taxed, and i have not had time to go more in depth. i am sorry, business sectors. we did have a far ranging discussion on business sectors that are not currently taxed at the local level, but i have not had time to organize a report on that. we did of a discussion on the department's 2010 budget, and there was no new business. because our hands were full. thank you. president yee riley: 80. next item. clerk: commissioners, we are now on the president's report, which allows the president to report on the small business activities. president yee riley: well, i attended a meeting on community development, and there was a

great presentation from the mayor's office of economic and work force development on their goals, objectives, and the funding strategy, which was very educational for me. legislation and policies, and commissioner dooley already reported it, and august 3, that was the day we had the new commissioner, commissioner kasselman, sworn in, and commissioner o'brien also gets sworn in. so that is it. thank you. clerk: commissioners, items number 13, vice president's report. vice president clyde: i would like to begin my report by recognizing a woman who gave

extraordinary service to the small business community and to the san francisco community, joanie chang, who passed away a few weeks ago at age 41. she was a compliance officer with standards enforcement. she was charged with implementing the groundbreaking san francisco law that created healthy san francisco, and the reason i would want to recognize her is that she was a real model in how to educate the community, how to communicate with the small business community. she did it with grace. she did it with just great intelligence and compassion, and i think that the small business community should really an extent -- note should really extend our -- should really

extend our sympathies. she was taken way too soon. she believes newborn twins and her partner, -- she leaves newborn twins and her partner. she was only 41 years old, and she is diagnosed with cancer seven weeks ago, -- was diagnosed with cancer seven weeks ago. for the members who would like to send condolences, there is a website that was created by her friends and family. it is www.giveforward.org/ bakeanapple, and i would like to think the office of supervisor campos for providing this information and, again, to her partner, and to the new twins. i would like to send, you know,

our condolences and our appreciation. thank you, so i am just going to move on. i did attend a convention with bettie yi. she is our representative to the state board of equalization. she made it very clear that she did not favor a patchwork of regulations regarding the alcohol industry because it is so difficult to work. she did make it clear that her office is not interested -- her office is interested in keeping small businesses operating, and her office will work with businesses that are having trouble meeting their tax payments. she was very clear in response to members of the public.

the state board equalization now requires substantial deposits from businesses, businesses, who do not have track records or businesses that are changing their corporate structure. that was brought up at this meeting. her office is responsive to the synthesis go small business community. please contact and the board to work note payments and to work out schedules. she is focused on we are still in economic crisis, and she emphasized that she did not want to see businesses closing.

she also discussed marijuana and the challenges of legalization and taxation of the marijuana industry and challenges of the industry that is threatening to pick up and leave if they are taxed. this is going to be extremely challenging. the merchants organization in north beach did note -- did have a presentation, and i will encourage everyone to support this fund project. thanks. president yee riley: thank you. next item, please. clerk: next item, commissioner

14, commissioner reports. vice president clyde: i have been trying to keep the small business public more informed about the proposed congestion pricing that is being proposed by cta, which is creating a very large corridor in our city that would be charging a fee of entry and exit, morning hours and afternoon hours, perhaps in each direction, and the possible impact that might have on our small businesses. i attempted. attended a workshop cta last month and brought up some of the concerns of the small business community which i attended a workshop. -- i attended a workshop.

also, phil did a report on this for channel 5 news, and it was also mentioned in the column, so i just want to continue to keep putting this in front of the public as much as possible so we can get some feedback and have folks be aware about what the potential costs might be in the business community. president yee riley: thank you. anymore reports from the commission? seeing none, next item, please. clerk: commissioners, item number 15, general public comment. president yee riley: seeing none, public comment is closed. clerk: commissioners, item number 16, new business, which allows commissioners to introduce new items for future consideration by president yee riley: the riley: --

consideration by the commission. president yee riley: seeing none, next item, please. clerk: item number 17, adjournment. commissioners, the meeting is adjourned at 11:46 p.m. --7:46pm.

supervisor maxwell: i am chair, supervisor sophie maxwell, joined by david campos -- eric

mar and david chiu. madam clerk, are there any comments? >> please make sure to turn off all cell phones and speakers. items acted upon today will appear on the september 7 board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. supervisor maxwell: thank you. madam clerk, we can't recognize you until public comment. madam clerk, the first item -- items one through four. >> item number one, resolution authorizing the office of economic and work force document to extend a grant for $750,000 from lowe's hiw, inc.. item number 2, resolution authorizing the office of economic and work force development to retroactively to

expand a grant from $400,000 from the wal-mart foundation. item three, resolution authorizing the office of economic and work force development for $100,000 for implementation of california low income energy efficiency program. item number four, resolution authorizing theout of economic and work force development to accept and expend a grant for $200,000 to support the citybuild program. supervisor maxwell: thank you, these items will be sent forward as a committee report. any comment from staff? >> thank you. my name is amy wallace. i am director for economic and work force development. i am happy to answer any particular questions that the committee has about any of these four items. i can speak breafl to each of

them and then take questions or comments you might have? supervisor maxwell: why don't you do that? >> the first is an accept and expend asking the committee to allow us authorization to continue contracts we have with young community developers to provide retail skills training and recruitment for the lowe's facility in bayview hunter's point. the second item is a grant with san francisco works commrks is the non-profit arm of the chamber of commerce through the wal-mart foundation to fund our new green skills academy, which is a training program for back office jobs as well as fuller installation and energy efficiency that we have begun this past summer. supervisor maxwell: back office jobs? >> this is actually a new area for us.

in conversations with many of the solar installers and energy efficiency providers in the city, they have told us that they have actually -- the city has done a good job of training folks for the hard skills, construction-related positions. what they really have a lack of are folks who can help with the sales and administrative infrastructure around incentives and things like that. so we will be working with city college to provide a green-related essentially office skills training for up to 40 people in this next year. supervisor maxwell: great. >> the third item is a small grant of $100,000 to support an energy efficiency curriculum and training which we are adding to our citybuild program. we started in the last cycle, adding two weeks of energy efficiency training through the city college program that we run for citybuild academy, and have trained and placed seven

additional graduates just through that program. we will be continuing that with our new program starting in the next two weeks. and finally, the last item that we have before the committee, item number four, is authority to expend a small grant from the haas junior foundation. it is a grant that was continued from the -- the supervisors may remember the private industry council. they previously administered this grant about four years ago . the foundation has continued to generously provide support for the citybuild program, particularly our community organizations and their wrap-around services this. is a continuation of that funding that began about four years ago through the private industry council. supervisor maxwell: supervisor mar? supervisor mar: i was talking to supervisor maxwell about

this. i nouth there is a career investment fund to provide stipend for people in the programs. i wonder have we have provided stipends? i strongly support some kind of economic support for people who work 14 weeks in these programs? >> we don't provide stipends per se. what we do provide are what we call income support or other support is hises for folks. through the citybuild program and other areas, we provide things like child care assistance, growth card and assistance, gas cards and or transportation vouchers depending on the mode of transport that folks use. we shy away from actually paying for -- you know, sort of a cash payment while folks are

in training. but we do recognize that is a hardship, particularly when folks are out of work. some folks in our training programs are working part-time, but recognize they need some additional income support. so we try to provide those through the supportive services which we know they will utilize effectively, and which frankly, our students and clients have told us those are the areas where they need additional income support. the one exception to that which is not actually affected by any of the items before the supervisors today is the ramp program, which is a program for at-risk unadults ages 18-24. in that program we provide a small incentive on a weekly basis for young people who attend and meet certain milestones in the training, and that does come in the form of a gift card that they can use on a variety of things.