they are non-profit, but we believe this will create the kind of environment that they will want to move into. we recently did a survey that shows that 80 organizations, non-profit arts organizations, wanted to move into central markets if they could permanently if conditions were right. this proposal will help to create those right conditions and attract nonprofits to provide programming for the whole city and the surrounding neighborhoods that are right now very much underserved. so thank you for this, and we are in strong support of this legislation. supervisor chu: thank you very much. a few more names. [reading names] >> hello, supervisors. in the in turn executive -- interim executive director for the north of market tenderloin community benefit district. our benefit district recognizes the importance of business attraction and retention for the central market and tenderloin area. and for this reason, we support

the payroll tax exclusion legislation. the tenderloin and market street have many challenges. one of them being boarded up vacant buildings and storefronts. it has always been our strong belief that thriving businesses create positive foot traffic and street activity, which is an important step toward improving our neighborhoods. this was the primary reason we urged the postal service to open a full retail post office at high street. we are aware of the gentrification concerns of this legislation. in fact, the fear of gentrification was a vocal concern during the formation of our community benefit district, but after five years in existence, we have proved that improvement of a neighborhood does not necessarily equal gentrification. it is important to us that city officials strongly suggested business is taking advantage of this incentive that they immerse themselves into our community and become strong community partners. again, we thank you for your

consideration and strongly urge you to support this legislation. thanks. supervisor chu: thank you very much. i also would like to take this time to welcome supervisor avalos to the committee. >> thank you. i have been asked by people why i'm so passionate about the legislation, why i think it is so vital. the reason is i came to the tenderloin in 1980, began working full time in 1982. when i got there, there was no heat in residential hotels. i brought 8 "chronicle" of -- reporter around. used to be if you were a tenant in the tenderloin, you did not pay the rent, they would not bother with eviction procedures, he literally locked the door, called the police, have you arrested, or through your down a flight of stairs. we did a protest to change those policies. we then stopped the hot line hotel program, which had taken all of the rooms in the tenderloin and turn them into

transit facilities and that of the permanent housing the historic we were. when we elected a mayor, he a sign legislation that took effect may 12, 1990, up protected our residential hotels. in 1985, we also passed the rezoning to stop commercial developments, stop buildings over eight stories. in 1990, i was asked by a committee whether i was concerned about gentrification and the future of the neighborhood. i said in 1990 in a document -- we stop it gentrification. our problem is we cannot get any investment. we are a neighborhood starve for investment. this was 1990. we then had the biggest economic explosion the city has ever had, but it bypassed amid mart and the tenderloin. we then had the housing bubble which turned fresno and stockton into booming areas, but it did not do so for the uptown tenderloin and amid market. when people say to me, "why is

this so important?" because we cannot compete on an level playing field. has a history shown that? they are combined, joined. people coming to the theaters on mid market street patronized restaurants in the tenderloin caribe so i urge you to support this legislation. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker please. >> i really appreciate the comment about the high cost of housing in san francisco being an enormous disincentive. mercy housing has built housing, a great deal of housing, and renovated housing in the tenderloin and in the central market area, and i specifically want to urge the supervisors to take concrete, highly targeted steps like the payroll tax exclusion. out of our properties in the tenderloin, we have a high

amount of retail square footage, and we are renovating it particularly distressed building that we recently acquired with the arlington hotel. it will benefit from this payroll tax exclusion. we are trying to attract a restaurant to a large corner restaurant, generate a lot of payroll, and it will be important to have a very practical in dues and unlike the payroll tax exclusion. for that reason, i do want to urge the supervisors to make a very careful consideration of the boundaries upon which this payroll tax exclusion will be applied. i appreciate the analysis of who would come without it, what would be the effectiveness of it. in other words, you do not want to attract businesses that would already come. it has to be a particularly distressed area. the block adjacent to the block with the furniture market is going in. i'm speaking of the block between ninth and 10th street.

mission has a large number of vacant buildings. mercy had to acquire buildings to build. we have built two properties in that block. we have now 240 affordable apartments that did not exist four years ago. to do that, we had to acquire three buildings at the height of the dot-com boom. the largest one is 48% vacant. this block has very similar characteristics, and i urge you to include the boundary between ninth and 10th -- supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, supervisors. i commend the sponsors for coming up with a very good proposal. i'm the coordinator of the mayor pose a civic center stakeholders group, and we are responsive to the civic center, which covers a number of blocks that will be subject to this program. i want to point out that the cbd was supposed to come into effect

next year -- its primary purpose was security, and it will assist the police department and perhaps mitigate some of the costs for providing security for whoever goes into the building. this area for 25 years has been a weak area for offices as well as hotel and retail. three or four years ago, it was subject to a round of dramatic changes in that the federal government built a new office building, taking itself out of the rental market. the mark itself decided it would no longer service the furniture industry and put itself on the market, and the puc is building a new office building. this 3 million square feet of office has come rather recently in a destabilize area, and i personally do not know where you are going to find tenants for that huge amount of space unless you provide some incentives. the aaa building has gone into foreclosure.

they have been on the market for quite a long time trying to get tenants, and they have not. this is a very good program, and i'm sorry it is focusing only on twitter. twitter is a great company, but we should be after a whole variety of other companies. if we were having this discussion last year, it could be zuniga. instead of focusing on trying to help one company, think about an area which has been in dire conditions for years, and at the moment needs this kind of stimulus to bring in the 10,000 or 15,000 employees that have been mentioned. so i urge you to support it. supervisor chu: thank you. a few more names. >> good afternoon. i'm the artistic director of bockscar theater. if i seem nervous, it is just because i do not want do not

-- do not want to get gonged. we open the studios on hide and golden gate, another really stellar neighborhood, so we are kind of in the thick of it. we kind of go with the idea that you build it, it is going to come. i like "field of dreams." we have been a full capacity since the beginning of the year and have had a lot of people coming through our door, which is great. we are not going to directly benefit from this legislation, but i think that having big businesses, small businesses will start helping connect the dots in the neighborhood. the twitter thing sounds great. people coming in from twitter. i get one person who comes to my show from twitter who treats about it, that would be wonderful, but i do not think this is about twitter. this is about this area which, if you get a chance, and i do not know how many people walk through it -- i walk through it all the date. it is a wasteland. it is a complete bum. we have to focus on the route of the problem. we're talking about competition

with other cities, but we are like a farmer with a three legged cow. we do not have a lot to compete with. having a lot of incentive is really going to help. i guess there's a philosophical objection about giving breaks to these big businesses, and i have a small business. i think the businesses to donate to me. that would be great. but the reality is that there is nothing there right now. we have a saying in the theater that an empty seat is not going to refer the show to anyone else. if you get one business, they might start bringing other businesses. i do not think this is the time to be greedy and said that we need the payroll money. right now, the and the building is not bringing any money in. just get somebody in there. and that is my time. thank you very much.

>> i'm from the san francisco planning and research organization. i did not think there is any question that this area represents one of the most persistent challenges we have in that downtown area here not only has it been difficult to attract tenants and businesses, but it has resisted repeated efforts to revitalize not just the commercial space, but also the physical space down on the street level. while we have not yet achieved success, i think we have always been supportive of diligent and repeated efforts to try to create real incentives to attract businesses and residents to the area and encourage more of a comprehensive solution. i think that is the way we need to think about this. you have a proposed package of targeted incentives, and what it represents is another tool in the arsenal to help realize the potential of the neighborhood. payroll tax incentives are generally not an effective tool in isolation. we have heard some conversation about that from all the analyses that were done in a discussion of this, but when they are used

in combination with a variety of other strategies, they can really help provide valuable momentum to draw on businesses and other types of services that are needed to really help an area like this drive. i do not think we should be under any illusion that this incentive in itself is a solution, but it is a coordinated land-use and economic development strategy that has really evolved over time, due to some past failures and successes, but i think ultimately, in combination, they will be successful. it is already being proposed in combination with a number of other types of strategies. you are talking streetscape improvements, technical assistance to small businesses to help place them in some of these spaces. partnership in coordination with community benefit districts and other types of coordination to help get more attention here. while the primary focus of this discussion has really been about twitter, i think it is really about the city's overall efforts to attract businesses, to reactivate the corridor in a way that is worthy of --

[bell rings] >> good afternoon, supervisors. longtime resident of district 6. the truth is i'm a little ambivalent about twitter and this location. i certainly recognize that it is a good idea to have a company like this in the city of san francisco, but i'm hearing a lot about how jobs are going to be created, how this is going to benefit the neighborhood, and my experience has told me that that is not necessarily always the case. that a lot of times, what happens is that people from other parts of the state, and work in our city. yes, that is a good thing, but you are talking about the benefit is going to have for the immediate neighborhood, and i just do not know that that is not -- that that is necessarily true. i'm more worried about the gentrification. worried about how the people that come here are just going to come here, work, and leave and

not spend all that much money here. i'm just telling you what i feel and what my experience has told me. i am just a little ambivalent about it, and i think this needs a little more thought before it is approved. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. [applause] if i could ask the members of the public to refrain from clapping, we would like to move through public comment. >> hello. i'm with the housing rights committee. i have been an activist for 40 years. i want to ask one question, and that is -- what happens to the residents of the tenderloin if this goes through? my best guess is they get evicted eventually, all of them, because as the property values soared, landlord prices -- they can get a lot more money for their property, so all they have to do is read it out for a lot more money. but control does not matter. neither does the just cause we put out in the castro where i

was active in fighting the dot- com boom. people got evicted. as a clear man, i am particularly concerned about the tenderloin because it is the last refuge for pork, clear, and transgendered folks -- poor, queer, and transgendered folks. that is where they live. a lot of poor, queer, and transgendered folks live in the tenderloin, and they will be put out, and there is nowhere for them to go. just like all the other people who live in the tenderloin now. there is nowhere for them to go, and i have yet to hear a viable plan for what is going to happen to all of these folks. there is also a lot of queer history in the tenderloin. the first rise by transgendered folks have been in the tenderloin in 1966, but there were also organizations prior to

1969, and there were lots of clears -- queers living in that neighborhood. the fate of all of those people who currently live in this neighborhood are on view right now. if you make the wrong decision, it is on your conscience, and you are going to have to live with it. thank you. [applause] supervisor chu: thank you. again, please refrain from clapping. we are going to move through public comment as quickly as possible. >> i'm hoping i can provide a slightly different perspective. i just moved out here. i'm a computer programmer who will dare to started task company. people want to hear. you do not need to the special incentives. i think -- you know, again, i'm new in town, so i do not know how it works, but it seems to be the same everywhere in the country. you end up giving away

incentives trying to bring business into an area to make the neighborhood better, and all that is up happening is the residents of the neighborhood get kicked out. that happens over and over, and i did not see why this is any different. does not seem like you need to do anything special. you are forgetting you are the greatest teth city in the world. try not to forget that. supervisor chu: thank you very much. before the next speaker, let me read a few names. >> i work with the coalition on homelessness. i am opposed to the legislation before you. the rent is too dam high. this is a basic economic facts in san francisco. i'm saying this not because it hurts my pocket, which it does, but because since 1980, we seem to have lost sight of it. governments do not need to subsidize real-estate dealings that are not, have never been and we have no reason to ever believe will be economically viable.

so instead of the other property and cannot find tenants at current events without a tax is a gin and has not been able to do so since well before the recent recession, then the reds on the properties are too dam high, and markets should be allowed to drive them down until residents can afford them. this is basic economics. we are not talking about legitimate government involved in economics like the creation of infrastructure. we are talking about something which has real consequences, and ignoring this is very real for us. by effectively subsidizing rent, we keep the barriers to entry to hide. we keep the city on the hook for supporting an insane and unsustainable real-estate system just like our government did through supporting it was realistic district at a national level here finally and mostly to my heart, this organization forces ran higher, keeping to many of us out of stable housing. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you.

>> supervisors, i am supervisors -- i am with seiu 1021. until the legislation already has the required number of votes and we should not even bother with. that is probably true. but i see that there are two cats we can take. i would suggest to you right now that the path you have chosen is of big landlords running the show, big business running the show. there is another path, one where the community is more involved. i'm not going to say that we do not support some form of redevelopment, but the path you have taken will gentrify the neighborhood, will push out immigrant families, will push out people of color, will push up for people, and i'm sure there were organizations that supported what happened in the western addition, right? i'm sure there are organizations that supported what happened in the western addition to serve four people.

this is not new. we have seen it before, and we are seeing it again. i will just say this -- seiu 1021 primarily riverses working- class families who have been driven out of the city, many of whom had been driven out because of high rent. this will just expand that. on a personal note, as a transgendered person, i am clear that tommy is correct, that transgendered people will be driven out of this neighborhood. i'm clear that this legislation passes, what you have done is what he has called queer removal. i just want to put it out there that we're clear on what is happening. it may be that the votes are there and you may win the vote, but you lose the war. supervisor chu: thank you very much. >> hello, supervisors. fine with -- i'm with seiu, speaking in opposition. it is difficult standing against

some of the leaders i have seen in this room speak. i know what i particular, ran the shop, what he and his work have done for the tenderloin -- randy shaw. it is difficult to stand against some of the supervisors who are in support of the legislation, but i do so in good conscience. a lot of the comments that were said today i do not want to reiterate, but there is one. there is the issue of the larger real estate owners that are sort of getting off the hook with this legislation. it is important for them to create incentives to bring and draw businesses into the community. the other thing is back if you do decide, and it seems that you will, to move forward with this legislation, i ask you to look at this call back provision. i have been told that it requires that businesses receive a tax break to pay the taxes they owe if they relocate, so there should be some breeds that

if they leave, they do not live up to their full commitment, that they do pay back those losses. in closing, i just want to say one thing -- not all money is good money. we have to remember that. we are often pitted, and there will be some leaders here from the workers who stand to get jobs from this. workers are going to be fitted on both sides of this issue, and i'm hoping, through the leadership in this board of supervisors, that you will find a way to address everyone's concerns. the lady who said government should stay out of the way, the odd thing is they want government to stay out of the way, but they want us to give them the money. they want us to give them everything that we offer and then stepped out of the way. they cannot have it both ways. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm the executive director at the central market community benefit district. we provide programs and services

to benefit the public space. we have folks on the street to clean up graffiti, pick up mills, address feces, and try to address people who are homeless and in need of social services. in short, we are trying to make the neighborhood into a cleaner, safer, and more inviting area. central market and the pavilion neighborhoods, as you have heard and know, have suffered from decades of neglect, missed opportunities, and lack of political support. the central market community benefit district has formed an established just five years ago to provide programs to improve the central market neighborhood and to work in cooperation with the city and public and private sectors and to help undo decades of despair. after decades of neglect, the time is now. the time is now to attract new businesses to our in the office buildings and vacant storefronts, to bring more people to pay to announce our

neighborhood small businesses and critical mass to support our merchants. the time is now to attract more foot traffic and positive pedestrian activity to our streets and public spaces that have suffered from crime and antisocial behavior. the support of other city agencies and strong supervisors are all critical to improving the central market and tenderloin neighborhoods and strengthening its health and vitality. right now, and to create opportunities and ensure benefits in the future. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker please.

>> i'm here to speak against the tax break for what amounts to a multimillion-dollar company. i know this could spur economic growth, but there's no guarantee of that spirit with its guaranteed is that we will lose six years' worth of revenue, and who is to say that twitter cannot just say they will improve the space, and if they did not get the tax break here, they will move on. supervisor chu: thank you. >> tenderloin housing clinic. one thing that i think has not been discussed so far is that in the tenderloin and on market street, there are areas people feel unsafe around. market street between sixth and 10th is an area in which most residents will tell you they do not go there after dark, the

giggly women, but it really people with disabilities, because we feel very vulnerable in those areas -- particularly women, particularly people with disabilities because we feel very vulnerable in those areas. legislation provides an incentive to fill office space. office space right now where we have 50% vacancy. that is a staggering amount of space going unused. a staggering amount of general fund money not being collected. i mean, it is truly an unfathomable to me that we are turning this into something that it really is not. what we have here is an opportunity without redevelopment, which, by the way, takes away more general fund money than is ever would, to revitalize an area that by all definitions is blighted. i also want to emphasize things that i do not think have been

hit yet. which is that we have the potential to attract a grocery store to the taylor and eddy area. we have the potential to turn the original joe's into a more usable space. this is much more than just market street. in the tenderloin, if you walk the streets, you will see there is very limited store fronts, contrary a popular belief. because it is so limited, those storefronts are so much more important because they really anchor the areas to the neighbors. this is a public safety issue. this is an opportunity to turn something -- [bell rings] supervisor chu: 90. >> my name is chris daly, and in a crowd san francisco progress of not afraid to stand up to unbridled corporate power. initially, when i heard about this proposal, opposed it from a

budget/justice perspective. as this community prepares to deliberate, some places have already been closed. resource centers are yet to be named $27 million in health cuts, which will tear apart the center city of san francisco in the system of services and care that the city has developed over the years. instead, we are here talking about giving away or foregoing -- however you want to put it -- up to $22 million to a corporation valued in the billions. as the administration stands here and claims that the city will not lose any revenue with the tax loophole, that assumes no new job creation over the next eight years. i think that assumption is incorrect. not to mention that the tax collector cannot even estimate the number of businesses that will be affected. but as i read more and think about it more, i think that this

is not merely primarily a budget issue. this is a land grab. this is a classic san francisco land use issue where the show instead of properties of the world stand to get even richer as the rents go up. for those who shrugged off gentrification in the mid market and the tenderloin, take a look at the grant buildings. remember the grand building tenants association. organizations like for magazines ousted. that was a community-serving space. the upscale youth hostel -- we will see more and more things like the it even buildings get evicted. three months ago, i stood up to someone who was threatening the city -- supervisor chu: thank you. >> someone needs to stand up again to the corporate read and again to the corporate read and do the people's work.