training. that is our short-term goals. had report on longer-term goals as we get a better senseh! of fung in some of those things, moving forward,9é constituted and starts to weigh- çin. supervisor mar: i had a j0eáp&ei for ms. brown. in the accomplishments section, the farmer's market is very0uz h a model of promoting fresh fruits in a key area in tj: southeast part of san francisco. first to allow the use of food , other monetary ways to purchase at:8ñ fresh food. we also have strong participations women and children as well. i had a question of howq

coordinate with the city's overall taskzm forces and how ty could pay closer attention to that to serve4a as an example to other markets? could you comment on that? 's wholesale produce market sits on land that is z on real state jurisdiction. we work closely!r with the nonprofit board. 4lwe have sought input and adve mcon it issues in the past reld to the farmers' market. beyond thatxcñ -- i am not surei can address the specifics. >> john@d update --updike. !pi am the liaison with dph. k on a number of initiatives.

shek0x been helpful guide the issues that we have been trying to address at alemany, and at other4uy farme'' markets. we have a direct relationship on security and on the policy issues jfñsupervisor maxwell: how many people do you have workingd÷ on the farmer's markets? ?cy>> the budget analyst did it excellent job of summarizing that ont)÷ page 7 of the report. we have a chief manager for the market. program manager. s3zwe have three 1408s, although right now. we have had a public service aid, apm÷ 9920, who has been

helping we have a couple of people helping out with the traffic at alemany. assigned to work out there.5 full-time people do you have altogether? ñ be four f. supervisor maxwell:z&y so everything is full, you have four full-time people the farmer's markets, fleave market, and un plaza. rç>> correct. and then others whoe[z support - supervisor maxwell: but now you have three. s been here since --

>>0ññ june 12. rdthe prior manager took a promotional opportunity. supervisor maxwell: is it your intention to fill the vacant position? >> yes. we thought we obtained the mayor approvals office. our hr department informed us that they had not yet had the yes button. one of my jobs today is to call the budget analysts office and remind him we are still awaiting that approval. supervisor maxwell: ok, that is all i have. supervisor mar: thank you. should we open this up for public comment? supervisor maxwell: i do want to thank you both, all of you, again. i feel your passion and commitment. i just want you to know that

everyone thinks that our farmers markets are extremely viable to us, especially as we see a market starting in almost every neighborhood. even restaurants are helping out. this one is a prime. i appreciate the fact that you are looking at it again and read committing ourselves to make sure that three years from now, we are not saying the same thing. i do not want anyone having to go through the same thing, especially the people and farmers who work there. >> certainly. thank you for your support on this. we hope to continue to have your patronage. supervisor maxwell: most definitely. the agricultural commissioner? >> good morning, supervisor

maxwell. supervisor maxwell: what is the general function of what you do? >> in regards to the alemany farmer's market, i am the authority -- supervisor maxwell: do you work for the city? >> i work for the city and county. supervisor maxwell: so we have an agricultural commissioner. did we have one before? >> we had one up until march 2008. he was here for seven months. previous to that you had a commissioner up until 2004. there was a vacancy from 2004 through 2007. supervisor maxwell: tell us about what you do. >> i enforce codes and

regulations when it comes to food, pesticide use enforcement laws, direct marketing, fruit and vegetable quality control, nursery inspection, which and measures --weights a weights and measures. i certify products that are being exported from san francisco. in this case, they are being produced in other counties and they are being exported from san francisco to buyers and receivers all over. supervisor maxwell: give us an example. the produce market -- >> we have one that receives

produce and from toledo, stennis loss. he packages the product. then he sends it off . we have to respect it and then issue a certificate that allows that produce to be imported to switzerland, france, where ever the receiver is. supervisor maxwell: do you deal with safeway? >> no, we do not. produce managers will tell us that they have a shipment that they do not believe meets the minimum requirements. we will then go and conduct an inspection. if it does not meet the minimum requirements, we will reject the load and have it reconditioned to meet minimum standards. supervisor maxwell: so what do

you do at the farmers' market? >> we are required to inspect those markets and ensure the certified producers have thereier certificates posted, tt the market manager is complying with direct marketing laws. supervisor maxwell: that is all of them? >> yes, all the certified farmers' markets that we get. supervisor maxwell: farmers' markets in our city do not need to be certified? >> if you are going to label your market a certified farmer'' market, you must comply with direct marketing laws. but you do not need to have a certified farmers' market. but if you are not sought effort -- certified, you cannot call yourself certified.

supervisor maxwell: what does that mean? is there a difference? >> that is a conundrum, i guess. supervisor maxwell: what does the customer get from being certified, what is the advantage? >> the customer knows that the producer of the commodity they are purchasing was actually produced by the person who is selling it. that person is on a local or regional basis, and they brought that product directly to the consumer. we do not have non-certified markets, if you will. that is not an experience we have, here in san francisco. supervisor maxwell: so all of our markets are certified? >> yes, supervisor.

supervisor maxwell: anything else you would like to add? most people never knew we had one. most people do not necessarily know what you do or how important you are to us. that is why i kind of wanted to get some more information. >> there are 58 counties in california. each county is required by law to have an agriculture commission, weights and measures. some counties share a commissioner between the two. we all essentially do the same job, we have the same jurisdiction. we have a california agriculture commissioner and cedars association where we work together to apply consistently uniformly all bylaws and regulations from the

agricultural code of regulations and the businesses regulation code. in almost every county, in each county, the ccommissioner is assigned to look at the device. supervisor maxwell: parking meters? >> yes. the scales that you see at the farmer's market, that is sealed by staff. they test the skills to make sure that it is type-approved, and then they will seal it so that the consumer knows that if he is paying for 1 pound, he is getting 1 pound.

that is part of my job. i get that question all the time, why do we have an ag commissioner of san francisco? >> i have beei have been here se 2008, and i am glad that you have an ag commissioner again. i am happy to be here. if you have any other information, please call me. i would be happy to speak with you in regards to any other questions you might have. supervisor maxwell: thank you. nice meeting you. public comment? >> hi good morning, supervisor mar.

i'm walter. i mostly go to the flea market on sunday and i just wanted to say -- no farmers market does it better makes me feel sad for the rest no farmer's market does it have as good as you alemany farmer's market you are the best you are the best supervisor maxwell: any further public comment? good morning. >> good morning, folks, supervisors. i want to thank the three of you for allowing us to be here.

a few things concern me. most of it is behind us, and i hope it is behind us. one of the more frontal issues that i see is in the winter, when there is a rainy season and there are empty stalls, certainly, enough to accommodate other food vendors, it seems no one is talking about how we can protect our goods, in addition to providing a service for the vendors that come, the customers that come in the winter. the winter months can be quite harsh. without any protection, it does not work out as well. of course, the summer months, as i indicated, there isavailable when it is not raining. that is one of the issues that i wanted to bring. there is another issue that i am not quite clear on, and

necessarily does not fall under the department of real estate but dph, and that is the fees for something such as selling coffee. i was up there with one of people -- she was dating some things that i was doing. if i was selling coffee, i would have to pay an additional fee apart from what i have to pay to sell pastries and bread. this is with dph, not the department of real estate. i do not know about that. if there is some information that could be passed on to the food vendors, that would be good. some of these things seem

sketchy. i would also like the department of real estate to lend an ear to what the issues are for some of the vendors, even some of the farmers. this meeting was short notice, so i am sure there are others who wanted to say something. mainly concerned with some of the things that i see the need to be addressed. if there are any questions for me, i would be glad to answer. supervisor maxwell: would you be willing to help with the cac? >> indeed. what ever i can help, i have made it known, i am willing to. alemany farmer's market is by far the best farmers market in the city. there are a lot of things in other markets, but in terms of oowhat the people want, what te people feel comfortable with, family issues, those kinds of aspects, i think this is the best in the city.

what ever i can do to help in that cause, i am willing to. supervisor maxwell: what about advertisement? you mentioned the department did some more advertisement. >> if they have done it, i am not aware of it. i will say this. i have noticed the new sign. i was driving one morning and i saw it. i do not know about the advertisement as a whole. supervisor maxwell: they will continue to do more of that, hopefully. do you think that would be helpful? >> yes, anything to remind people that there is a farmer's market on saturday. there are a lot of markets that have cropped up since the inception of alemany. sometimes, we need to be reminded of things. ford motors, they have been

around since before we were born, but we still see advertisements. i do not think it is a good idea to allow it to lay and reminisce. we need to do some advertising and remind the people. thank you. >> my name is body. i provide greek food. i have a concession at the tuesday nighvarious locations. last year, i applied to get one of the spots at alemany.

i was here last year complaining bitterly that my business plan received daa zero. since then, we have done tons of wine and art festivals. we have been invited to the north street festival, union festival. i just want to make you aware that when i resubmit my proposal, i want to give a copy to you for my participation in alameda -- alemany. as a side bar, the health department. yes, they are overburdened, like everyone else, but in the year and a half that i have been in part of the city, no one has come to inspect me, not once. the firemen have been there three times. they were very nice.

as far as the conditions of food vendors at alemany market, deplorable is the way i would characterize it. it is clear when you go through the county's what the standards are for health. you are supposed to have clean water with soap, rinse water, and water to sanitize. i only saw one stall that had those. i only saw one person wearing gloves. of all the festival that we have done, when the health inspectors show up, they shut people down because that is just not the right way to do things. the licenses that people have to take -- you need to take a food safety course. i took it and passed. it is not difficult. basically, you want to treat the

public the way you treat your family and friends. make sure you do not sit in anybody. most of the festival's we have done, a health inspector has been our first customer. many have taken pictures of our set up for trading purposes. i would like to offer my services to the vendors down there to comply with state and county and city regulations. as far as the nutrition programs that we are talking about. in my santa rosa market, we are involved in reaching out to schools, trying to bring slow food to the public. show them that this is what you need to do to be healthy. you need your fruits, vegetables, meats. everything that we do is local, sustainable, and organic. it does not always need to be organic but it should be local and sustainable. that is pretty much our mission statement. supervisor maxwell: thank you very much.

is there anyone else who would like to speak? >> my name is john. i am an organic mushroom farmer. my family has been with the farmers' market -- i have been at the farmers' market all my life. i am just here to thank everybody. the real-estate office as well as your concerns with the farmers' market. just the importance that it is, not only to the city, but to my family. so thank you. supervisor maxwell: ok, let's close public comment. i would like to ask ms. brown to come back up. public comment is closed. >> i fail to address something that you asked me.

that was how we went about using the competitive rfp process. because there were not specific requirements the way there are in 9a for the farmers' stalls, we opted to do it under chapter 23 which encourages a competitive process, competitive selection for agreements on permitting city property. we went with that type of process to put out requests for proposals, rank them according to the criteria that the budget analyst highlighted for you, and with respect to whether one vendor is paying more to one next to them, we determined it was better to allow the market to determine that both because of chapter 23's encouragement of that as a policy, but also, in our view, we wanted to have a

robust offering their. we realize someone who sells cups of coffee will not make as much as someone who sells enchiladas or some of the more robust -- some people are buying lunch there, taking things home with them in greater quantity. but we want to make sure that a coffee vendor, somebody who sold patrice -- pastries, could also be there. we decided to let them tell us what's they thought they could pay based on what they anticipated their business would make, basically allow the market to set those fees. if it is the direction of the board, we are happy to consider a flat rate. i would suggest that we may want to consider different tiers for different types of offenders, as i suggested.

-- vendors, as i suggested. we have had a few vendors decide they cannot do business there and they left. we do not necessarily think that is a bad thing. we still have a robust offering their. --- there. we did not move to replace those who left because we still felt like we had a robust offering. we did not feel like we needed to rush out and get more people there. i have one more point.

that is with respect to the use of the stalls in the winter months. please correct me if i am wrong, but i believe one of the things we have been told from an enforcement perspective, that we have to separate the non- certified farmers selling their products from the certified farmers'. . that is part of why we located the food and beverage vendors to where they are now. i do not know if we could do that without some additional break between them and the farmers. supervisor maxwell: so certified farmers' have to be segregated from the food vendors? >> and any other type of vendor. >> in the market rules, there has to be a boundary between certified agricultural and non- certified products.

that is why it needs to be separated. supervisor maxwell: what if you are not a farmer? what if you are selling popcorn? >> yes, that is a non-certified product, so it is separated from the agricultural part of the market. you may be able to address that in the rules somehow -- i understood the gentleman to say that if it is raining in the winter, you could use astall. this is in the certified agricultural part of the market, you cannot do that. supervisor maxwell: but if it is not, you could. ok. khnum so what we need to do is figure out if those are

certified vendor -- ok, so what we need to do is figure out if those certified vonendors are coming. >> [unintelligible] supervisor maxwell: it might be confusing for them while -- >> that is what i mean. once we set it up, it would be difficult to change [inaudible] they would be out of compliance if they allowed a non-certified to go into a certified part. supervisor maxwell: but if you have an idea of who you serve, who is certified and who is not,