and i am looking forward to working with you. again, we're still talking about the vice president, so we changed it into a bit of a conversation here, but i support steve adams for the position of vice president. president yee riley: any more comments? commissioner clyde, do you have a comment? >> -- vice president clyde: i want to say congratulations to commissioner o'brien. i will be supporting commissioner adams. as a community banker, a community-banker, he will add a very important, necessary, and what has been a missing element in this commission, because

banking is so critical to the success of small business, or it can also operate at its detriment, and we have had -- we have not gotten a lot of traction with the big banks and the very big businesses that sometimes the predatory in discriminatory practices, and i would like to just say the really welcome the boys, so i will be supporting. thank you. president yee riley: ok, we are talking about the vice president now, so i really do not think it is the time or place to talk about last year's election, but since, commissioner o'conner, you brought it up, i wanted you to know that i voted for you when you first came on the board as president, and i was never criticized by the mayor's office

or anybody, and last year, i was not contacted by anybody to say, "do you want to be present?" i wasn't running. commissioner dooley, you're saying the vice president needs to be president. i was vice president of the year before. but did i get your support? did i get your support? no, i did not, so there goes your theory. all right. any public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. let's tv roll call. clerk: commissioners, the motion to nominate commissioner adams, which was a motion at, let's see, a commissionerkasselman, commissioner adams, commissioner dooley, commissioner clyde,

commissioner o'conner. that notion passes. congratulations to commissioner adams. madam president, would you like to move on to the next item? president yee riley: yes. clerk: and just a note, commissioner atoms, that will take effect with the next meeting. this is an updated report on it up as a small business and the small business assistance center, an update on the department's programs, an update on matters, and activities. >> commissioners, well, first, i wanted to give a welcome to commissioner atoms for your first meeting, and now, congratulations to your election

to the vice president, and i want to extend my great gratitude to commissioner yee riley for your services last year and your stewardship with the commission. we have accomplished a great deal under your leadership and also with your support with the vice president, commissioner clyde, and congratulations, commissioner o'brien, on your election to the president's position. i know it is getting late, so i am not going to quickly run through, but i am going to move through the director's report, so we ended this year, the small business assistance center, servicing 2006 hundred 65 clients. this was up 13% over last year.

-- 2665 cleint -- clients. during the holidays, we were closed to watkins for a certain time. i have included in the binders or of a summary of the recap for the small business assistance center, cases by month, and i just wanted to highlight one particular item, and that is in july of 2009, these numbers are a little skewed, we did have some interest doing some entry, so even though it does look like we were down 36% that month, i just wanted to make a note that

we cannot really a test to exactly what transpired at, but those numbers are a little off for that month of that year. also, we are starting our second month for a program, and one of the arrangements we made is groupon in their promotion and did an ad for the shop sf, get more ad, and moving on to policy matters, i want to update the programmatic materials and what has transpired with the ada, so, commissioners, in october, you approved a resolution to the city attorney's office to draft an amicus brief on a case at the

state supreme court. the city attorney's office, actually, under the leak of california cities but drafted by our city attorney's office, they submitted the amicus brief today to the state supreme court, so i will be forwarding on the version for you to read. and i just wanted to extend my appreciation to the city attorney for facilitating the end to a man who wrote -- wrote the brief. you will see that it is submitted under the league of california cities, which is good, because it does then represent more than just san francisco.

so we have made some significant progress in regard to the lawsuit. opportunity fund has created a fund for the ada. i think is $50,000 that can be used. several had been sued, so there was a meeting to kind of clarify again what is the law, what is the federal, what is the state, where does the city fit into this, and really trying to explain why if you do get a

permit, a stamp from ddi -- dbi that you may not be complied in regards to federal ada standards. two inspectors were there to talk about the inspection, which provided a great deal of information. now, the inspections and reports, we have had some time with it, seeing about the implications of it, and it is advisable thing to do, but also, if a business does receive a letter, it is a step to help deal with the letter, letting

the customer know that you are taking their concerns seriously and taking some steps. and we will be launching on our program soon within the next couple of weeks on our website, getting materials translated and things of that sort. i will be distributing some of the materials and would like your feedback, more from a marketing kind of perspective. today, the department of justice had a hearing. it was one of three held nationally here in san francisco. they are considering some new laws to add to the federal ada, one around web accessibility and websites, movie theaters, furniture, a lot focused on

exercise facilities, and so, i just went and made a brief statement, because i just found out about it last week, a brief statement about moving forward with regulations, especially around the web, after experiencing what we have seen with small businesses and ada and the complexity the businesses do not feel well- informed about the laws, what the requirements are, that they consider requiring supportive partners, such as internet service providers. we federally fund economic development organizations that do business training to require them to do education around

it was a very brief and simple presentation. it had been think about -- they need to be working with others to help small businesses with the requirements if they are going to pass new laws. i will be working with the of reach committee, especially around the web component -- the out reach complot -- the outreach committee, especially around the web component, such as requiring closed captioning if you have a video on your website. i think it would be good for the commission to take a look at the questions. we can provide some feedback. and i think it would be good for them to hear that if there is a mandated direction, then how can

we simplify it for the small business person in terms of cost, access to that requirement, things of that sort, so there are readily achievable components. mobile foods -- and then the other, excuse me. i wanted to say i am working with supervisor weiner's office to put together a meeting for the valencia street merchants as well, and would like to thank supervisor carmen chiu for her leadership on this. she has been helpful with pulling together city departments, the department of building inspection, and the mayor's department on this ability to work on a joint program together. -- on disability to work on a joint program together. mobile food -- dpw will hold

their hearing at 6 in the morning to present to the public the guidelines, the permitting process, and to get feedback. if there is not a lot of changes or recommendations for them to consider, they are targeting a february 1 implementation date for the new permitting process. last week, i was a part of the meeting to work with some of the guidelines with dpw, including with food. we also had kevin wesley from the golden gate restaurant association. and we had matt cohen from off the grid. we had the representation of pushcarts, trucks, and restaurants to create some guidelines around food for the hearing officers to be able to use.

it was a very constructive meeting. local hiring -- last month, we heard the local hiring legislation. it did pass. it passed without the delayed implementation for the lbes. hrc will be monitoring and keeping the commission apprised of any negative unintended consequences to the san francisco lbes regarding the requirement to fulfil the local hiring mandate. in july, i am hoping to have a presentation from the police department around the sit lie, how they are educating their officers and will be implementing this. that will be at our february meeting.

bath oils and greece -- with fat oils and greease, it is waiting to be assigned to committee. with the board of supervisors, the new committees have not been established. in likelihood, we will know by the end of the weak who is assigned to what committees, and things will be scheduled. supervisor mirkarimi's plastic bag legislation is still under ceqa. you have seen things being installed in areas of the city on the parklets. the zoning controls for the van ess special use district ended up being -- the final result of the legislation ended up being that it is going to be a discretionary -- discretionary with internal review with the planning department. there were some interesting

dialogues with the planning department around the other entertainment uses, which ties in very well with what we are working on with supervisor mirkarimi's office. the congestion pricing study, the transportation authority board unanimously approved the final report. excuse me. the board unanimously approved the report and voted to approve additional studies. that means there will be additional studies being undertaken for the congestion pricing. they did exclude the southern gateway scenario of what is to be considered.

then we have our city commissioner voted on by the board of supervisors as the interim mayor. i anticipate that will be ratified tomorrow. of course we would like to welcome our new supervisors. i also would like to congratulate jocelyn came for her appointment to the executive director for the entertainment commission. a couple of final calendar items. a very 17, the small business network and the council of district merchants will be hosting their joint event at the mint. it is to meet the mayor and the supervisors. small business week is may 16

thru 21. that saturday is the shop your neighborhood. i would like to think commissioner adams for his willingness to be decommissioned appointee for sitting on the small business week committee. lastly, i want to do a reminder that it is every commissioners responsibility -- the commission has taken it upon as a project to recognize city employees and small businesses. we still need more nominations in this particular area and encourage you to talk, especially for the employee recognition program, to members of the business community. they are the ones who are interfacing with them on a day- to-day basis and would love to hear about employees who are providing great service.

with that, unless there are any questions, i conclude my report. commissioner yee: thank you. next item, please. >> before we begin the commission report, can we go back to items 3 and 4? those are from the november 8, 2010 minutes. president o'brien: but to approve. commissioner yee: i second. those in favor? the motion carries. >> item 4, approval of the minutes. commissioner o'conner: we do have a quorum? but to approve. move to approve. commissioner yee: those in

favor? >> great. a thank-you, commissioners. i wanted to make sure we got those in. next item will be 13, legislative and policy committee report. the committee chair is not present. i can report that it looks like all legislation has been covered. the committee did not meet last month due to the christmas holiday. they are scheduled for january 24. commissioner yee: thank you. next item. >> the permiting committee report. >> i want to combine this month's report with next month's report, which is combined into one. >> thank you. outreach committee report? commissioner clyde is not present. would you like her to defer that to the following month? >> you will defer to the following month.

>> item 16, president's report? commissioner yee: no report. 17, vice presidents report. no report. 18, commissioner reports? commissioner yee: seeing none. >> 19, public comment. commissioner yee: there is no public present. there is no new business. >> is there a motion to adjourn? commissioner yee: i move. >> the meeting is adjourned at 8:00 10 p.m.

>> about four years ago, [inaudible] look at how beautiful this was. there is our relationship to the planet. these regions are the wealthiest, the most powerful. that really has impacted the planet. it is almost impossible now to go anywhere and had it really be completely dark. there are very few locations that you can find. that means our relationship to the sky, there is a way where we dominate the sky. we cannot see anything really. we are blinding ourselves in a way.

>> you can look at the images, they are beautiful. when i started four years ago, there was a conversation about environmental issues that was very different. this is not being talked about in the way it is now. . this has just been like an amazing growth. i anticipate the project to be something that opens a dialogue to public interest in these ideas. to public interest in these ideas.