>> it is. >> or the driving of people out of the city, good people in the city. i have been approached by colleagues in the industry asking me not to leave the city and start a business in another city because the city needs people like me, and those of us who have built san francisco cocktail. >> as to professionalize the industry, this is professionalizing what used to be in a profession that was for people who did not do other things. it was not a professionalized industry. it is now. i believe that bars, to attract good talent, have to offer competitive wages and benefits, working conditions. we have to do that. fortunately, with the new health care law and the small business tax credit for health insurance, that will help us going forward, offering good benefits, and

respect the intent of the law, which is to provide health care for all working americans. >> i agree with brian's comment -- with commissioner o'brien's comment. but i think one of the things that would really be beneficial to the industry is engaging the owners and general managers in a conversation that make them aware of those kinds of credits and those kinds of programs. because people -- now i am stepping out and in trying to do things. but if i were not, i would not know about some of these things. i still do not know about a lot of them. the general feeling for most owners and general managers is do not touch the government at all costs. the further away you can keep from dead, the better off you are going to be. if you can take an approach of reaching out and saying, "here are the programs meant to help

you, and in a very simple format, here are the qualifications, and even if this works for you or it doesn't" -- programs like that would be beneficial. people would think there were some programs costing them money, but others that how. i do not think most people know that. president riley: thank you. >> whatever you don't understand, we have a small business assistance number. >> maybe it's a communication thing. it is easy to say this, but to leave your office and go there -- i do not know the answer. i do not know the solution. i am just throwing that out. i am trying to think of ways to make that work. >> you can call. >> we can use the boothby center as a place where we can invite

bar and restaurant entrepreneurs to come and have a cocktail and meet the commissioners, meet the heads of these offices that are doing these things, and have brief presentations our conversations about how they can improve their business by being aware of what is going on. president riley: and we would love to do that. we will work with you on that. >> thank you. [laughter] >> , and we will have a conversation over a cocktail. >> thank you. and thank you for waiting to provide your presentation. >> no problem. thanks for having me. i will stay in touch and see where else we can do stuff. that was really the point it was so you know who i am. my contact info is on that sheet. i can be reached by e-mail. let me know if you have any thoughts or plans, or how we can do anything. >> will do.

>> thank you very much. >> happy holidays. [laughter] president riley: we don't need public comment on this. >> seeing none, a public common discussion is closed. next item: please. -- seeing none, a public common discussion is closed. next item, please. >> item 9, the discussion and possible action to make recommendations to the board of supervisors amending the public works code to establish regulatory controls for the discharge of fats, oils, and grease into sewers. it provides prohibitions, limitations, and requirements for the discharge into the city's sewer system by food-

service establishments. you have an explanatory document in your packet. it says draft on it, but that is a glitch in the wake it printed. this is what was introduced at the board of supervisors. last month, we had a presentation from the puc, at which time the commission made a recommendation to approve. that ordinance was introduced by supervisor mar. no changes were made. the reason this is on the agenda is that now that it is at the board of supervisors, the commission has been referred this to make a recommendation to the board. >> we heard this last month, so do we? >> this is just a matter of formality since there are not any changes. we just wanted to make sure, as a matter of formality, we dealt with it appropriately. the commission just revises its

recommendation to the board of supervisors so we can draft that recommendation. >> i support this. >> are there any questions? >> it is my understanding that the restaurant association had no objection. >> right. commissioner kasselman: i will second. >> i think what we may need to do is take a moment to wait for commissioner o'brien to return to the dais. >> he is still here. >> show we tete-a-tete go to minute break? -- shall we take a -- >> two-minute break?

>> commissioner o'brien? we are waiting for you. >> a quick recap on this item is that what we have before the commission is the fact, oil, and greece legislation -- grease legislation. there have been a change is since the presentation you had last month. last month, the commission made a recommendation to the department for approval on this. the legislation has been officially introduced. so as a matter of formality, it is before you to make a recommendation to the board of supervisors. >> we have a motion from commissioner riley to take the recommendation made to the puc and forward it to the board. we have a second by commissioner kasselman. >> those in favor?

>> the motion carries. >> item 10, stuff report, discussion, and possible action to make recommendations to the board of supervisors on our see zoning district use changes -- on rc and zoning district these changes to amend rc-3 and rc-4. there is a document in your packet entitled "street frontage s ii." i also included a map. the director asked me to do a step report and i have something for the monitors, so i will -- the director asked me to do a staff report and i have something for the monitors, so i will step up to the podium.

commissioners, currently, and i will refer to this map briefly -- >> there we go. >> ok. rc zoning districts are a zoning classification primarily in the northeast sector of the city. there is a lot of concentration in the tenderloin, lower nob hill, into knob hill, along venice's avenue -- venice avenue. there are other isolated pockets in the rest of the city, but they are limited. commercial uses and rc-zoning districts are currently subject to regulations in the nearest nc district, such as the polka

neighborhood commercial district, -- polk neighborhood commercial district, noe valley, and others. there are pockets that police south of market. the blue ones refer to the polk ncd. what you have is a splattering of zoning controls that are hard to interpret. there are also technical issues with the code. for instance, the van essess ave and a lot of the tenderloin currently refer to the polk neighborhood commercial district, and for unique reasons, all restaurants, self- service and full-service, are banned. you have a large part of the

city were currently you cannot do preferred uses, or uses that would normally be compatible. the planning department has been studying methods to streamline and regularize the controls in the rc district and has been looking at a couple of different options. one of the reasons that i am here is because the other day we did not really know how -- there are three different proposals to address this issue. there are two different ordinances' sponsored by supervisors, and cleanup legislation the planning department has been working on. i will try to explain it so it makes some sense. one proposal was to use c2 commercial zoning controls and all the areas reference. that would permit a large number of uses that may not necessarily be compatible with some of the

neighborhoods in their -- there. in sutter and parts of polk street, it was one size fits all that did not really work. another proposal was for nc3 districts. i just wanted to refer to you what those would be. if you look at the3 -- the nc3, movie theaters would be permitted by right. conditional uses such as adult entertainment, large fast-food

restaurants -- as would all be conditional. i apologize for trying to make sense of something that cannot really be done in three minutes. one of the things that we found out, working with staff, was that conditional use for formula retail did not currently apply to these areas. one thing we have been consistent on is encouraging staff to use formerly-use retail controls. staff worked directly with the planning department legislative sponsors and really insisted upon conditional use requirements that should be in effect throughout the rc district. the staff worked with

stakeholders such as livable city, the supervisor's office, and the planning department has determined -- in your memo, you noticed they would like to apply those nc3 district controls and ad formula did -- formula conditional use requirements. we are not sure which ordinance will move this proposal forward, but we did want to let the commission know that staff had worked on this issue and that the current proposal from the planning commission that was approved would be to apply the nc3 controls with a few exceptions. liquor stores would be permitted use. drive up facilities would not be permitted. there would not be any drive ups or automobile garages walkup facilities such as service windows would be permitted by right or by a conditional use.

what's the colors have determined is that these are appropriate controls. if you have questions or comments, i may be able to answer them for you and will step through your desk. step to your desk. >> do we know which ordinance that is going to move this forward? >> not at this time. there was a rush of activity in this last week, and working to get our input in the offices and knowing what the commission's general direction has been in these matters, to get that hard -- to get that heard, we have worked hard.

chris has been following this much more intimately than i have. supervisor mirkarimi's legislation may have dressed -- addressed some of this. >> the street front legislation would have referred to the nearest nc3 controls. changes, largely technical, were necessary to do that. we also find out that the controls applied currently -- the zoning administrator interpreted those especial controls rather than use controls. -- as special controls rather than use controls. there is also a separate ordinance that was going to make c2 controls. but we have for you is a proposal from the planning commission that addresses the number of the concerns this commission and others have had.

we just do not know specifically which ordinance will actually make those changes. we did vote during the street front ditches ordinance -- we did vote for the commission to support this ordinance, which would incorporate a number of those things, but we felt it would be necessary to provide for the broader update. >> so this is a work in progress, informational it. >> just so you know, this has been in the planning commission for the land use committee. this has been continued to the call of the chair at the next month. at this point, would it be informational? >> right now, this particular presentation is informational. the staff -- if there is any sort of commons, any additional

direction, we would certainly welcome that. we do not have to take action. you could agenda is it as such if there was any action you might want to take on it. >> when we made the agenda, there was a chance we would need firm direction. but it is going the direction that we have already had direction. >> anything that makes it easier or more clear to make plans, i fully support. >> thank you. just keep us updated. >> just to let you know, i think we are going to see some continued. i think there was active interest from the planning department to take a look at this. we will continue to see improvements coming before the commission in terms of cleanup

and zoning issues. >> no public comment. there is no public present. >> item 11, and directors report, update and report on the office of small business and the small business assistance center, update on department programs, update on legislative matters, and make announcements regarding small business activities. >> i want to wish a happy holiday as we come to the close of 2010. i hope you have a good one. for the small business assistance center, we are up 23% over last year in terms of the number of clients received. i provided you with a worksheet tally that calculates an overall

number of businesses -- clients we see annually and the total since we opened. for the year 2010, we do not have december totals. but up until november, we have seen a total of 2509 cases. so far, we are averaging an increase of 11% over last year. of course, total served since we opened in may of 2008 is 6005 clients. i am going to just do a quick review. i wanted to acknowledge the mayors of the house yesterday. it was a highly successful event. we are not able to have our offices open in our section of the tax and treasurer's office. we are 140 on the other side

open, so we set up another space over there. it was really wonderful to see all these many individuals and families who do not come to see you all. these are the citizens of our city who ask very little of us in many respects. they just loved the fact that there were able to come into city hall in see it. of course, there were long lines for individuals to take their picture with the mayor. the kids love the snow park. the other component of want to make note of is that there were a number of people who said, "do you know of a great restaurant to go to around here, or a good place to eat? these things are really good will that are meant to help our citizens feel good about being in this city, and for the city

to be giving something to them. they are also good economic generators. there is, i think, many positive benefits to them. in regards, i am going to highlight some core pieces of legislation. the mobile foods -- the p.w. is working out the transition -- dpw is working out the transition. i hope i will have a specific plan to report from them, but that is still in transition. it has not completely rolled over yet. the set like ordinance -- we had a briefing at the mayor's department -- the sit-lie ordinance -- we had a briefing at the scammers department. that are developing their guidelines so there will have consistent guidelines for how sit-lie is implemented across the city. they want to make sure it is

consistently enforced. once i know that those guidelines are finalized, i will have a presentation by the police department to you for you to hear them. and then i think -- so those are the core legislative elements we have been working with. lastly, and ada update -- the city attorney is filing an amicus brief on behalf of francovitch vs. lee. an opportunity fund has created a specific loan program to assist businesses with their 88 improvements. -- ada improvements. i want to make sure the commission has received their calendar for 2011 and you have

your dates in, and that you have your march retreat date scheduled. you have that in your calendar as well. the march retreat date is march 31 from 1:00 to 8:00 here at city hall. >> and did you give us a calendar? >> i think it was an e-mail calendar. >> chris, i thought you had sent out a calendar to the commissioners. >> you probably did. i might have missed it. >> i will send a separate e-mail from all of these other things so you have that. >> in the subject field, put in capital letters "calendar." the more idiot-proof you can make it, the better it is. no disrespect to the other

commissioners. >> lastly, i want to make a note that commissioners you did receive a communication from and lbe that had trouble receiving some payment. this is more a matter for the comptroller's office and the human rights commission. if you're interested in having specific follow-up as to what transpired with the communication, please let chris know. that concludes a report, unless you have any questions. -- my report, unless you have any questions. >> commissioners, item 12. legislative and policy committee report. >> the committee chair is not here. i do have notes to go over. some items reviewed at our committee meeting have already been discussed today.

that is it. thank you. >> item 13, permitting committee report. >> i am not as ready as i would like to be a period of a ticket stub at some of the notes i had from the meeting, and particular ones i think are important. the catch program is, as you know, due to -- or at least there is a lack of agreement to have assisted financing on the program. what is being disclosed now is whether to go forward on a mandatory basis. i believe it is going to be coming up on the agenda on wednesday. i think i am prole going to go to that meeting of the dbi and see what we're going to do going forward, whether it is going to be a program that is going to be mandatory or not. there are a lot of unanswered

questions as to the cost of it and how much by in there is on the community and how it is going to affect building owners. how is it going to affect landlords? how is a good to affect tenants? is the cost going to be distributed? there are a lot of unanswered questions. i will keep you posted. there is an item on here regarding the restaurant task force, which is easy to report on because it is on hold. the reason for it is also very easy to explain and it is to do with the america's cup, which is, how should i put it, taking over all the resources right now to try to make that a success. i heard the mayor saying last week it was all but a done deal barring some details that have to be ironed out. that is huge, as you know.

in the impact fees, i would characterize that as an item that we are trying to become educated on kind of get our hands around it and understand all of what that means. the first ones we are going to look at it as we go forward and analyze it are the ones that affect eastern neighborhoods, the ones that are as a result of mta transit and the puc waste water. they are all very, very hefty big impact fees, and may affect anybody who is trying to start a business. i remind everybody that i think a lot of people thought the impact fee was about developers, but it is not. it is about anybody trying to start a business in the areas in question.

that is it for now. i just want to be more prepared on the other issues i will mention. that will conclude our report for this evening. >> item 14, outreach committee report. >> because commissioner dooley is not here, i apologize. i do not have a report. i will brief you on our next meeting, but i completely forgot to cover it for my fellow commissioners, so i apologize. >> thank you. >> item 15, president's report. president riley: this is the last commission meeting for the year 2010. i want to wish everybody happy holidays, and i also want to thank my fellow commissioners and staff for all the hard work. as i look back at my