not setting a specific time but being reasonable. allow an unpaid dog. the dog walker's personal dog be in non paid, not included in the limit, and then to increase to eight, and then to work to establish it paid apprenticeship program, and the lanyards are not mandated. do we want to give any direction about the licensing? president o'neal: if the one to provide leaflets as part of their business services, but i do not think that they should have any other application -- obligation. >> all right, and also adding

that mandating that the only wlk -- walk licensed dogs is not a requirement. president o'neal: no, absolutely. >> do you want to read that back? clerk: pushing that the implementation date that will work with supervisor wiener. dog walkers will have a high number of days from implementation to meet the requirements. no lanyard requirement or visible license, increasing the limit to up to eight dogs plus a personal dog. working on an established paid apprenticeship program and that there be no obligation to verify licensing. president o'neal: do you want to take a roll call?

clerk: i would need a motion. supervisor dooley: i move the dog walking legislation with the following recommendations from us. clerk: a motion, and will there be a set and put a second from commissioner adams. would you like it roll call? [reading roll] commissioners, that motion passes, 6-0. president o'neal: next item, please. clerk: commissioners, item number three, the presentation of the certificate of honor to inspector dave falzon, san

francisco police department, as part of the small business conditions city employee recognition program. commissioner: inspector falzon was recommended by the office of small business for his work in licensing. he is the inspector who is in charge of the abc licensing program here in san francisco, so i will read this, but i will say that i am very honored, because inspector falzon's work has helped numerous business people get started with very creative and innovative business plans, and things that we did not know could be done could

actually be done quite well, quite legally, and successfully, i must say. i have been and several business owners in a been successful over the last two years, and thanks to his help. on this monday, november 14, 2011, the small business commission is proud to it knowledge the contributions of inspector dave falzon, which she made to the business community. he continuously provides excellent service to small business owners trying to navigate the complex regulations in san francisco and the state of california. this time the responses and helpful guidance have allowed to numerous small businesses to open or expand in san francisco. the office of small business staffed nodes that inspector falzon applies things clearly, works diligently to resolve disputes, it neutrally works hard to have businesses meet

their full potential. the commission also recognizes the inspectors leadership, allowing for uniformed and streamlined permitting of licenses, and for that, on behalf of the small business commission and community, i really thank you. [applause] >> president o'brien, director, commissioners, thank you very much. this is a wonderful honor, but i want to say you are only as good as those to help you. i have a wonderful staff. more importantly is i have an extraordinary supplies step which is extremely helpful. it can be difficult to find the middle of the road. in san francisco, the middle of the road is very bollard. we all work hard at it and try to seek our balance, and i cannot get this done without the

chief and my commander, and most importantly, the staff i work with, and with that, i say thank you very much. [applause] president o'neal: thank you

again. next item. clerk: item number four, presentation of the small business commission certificates of honor to f. loferano & son, inc., as part of a small business conditions small- business recognition program. commissioner: i had the pleasure of meeting them in less than optimum circumstances after i had something smooshed. the family, the logo on the wall, talking about how devoted they were to customer service, and so i just really wanted to recommend such a wonderful business and give them this

month small-business award. let me read you what we have here for you today. to f. lofrano & son, and on the state, the small business commission is proud to acknowledge the contributions that they have made to the vitality of san francisco. family owned and operated collision repair shop opened since 1974. over the past 37 years, the company has grown from a father and son operation into a full family affair with seven family members in the business. in point over 80 employees across three repair facilities. the family attribute their success to maintaining their original concept, which i saw up on the wall. they believed when father frank and son tony opened their first shop, quality repairs, good

customer service, and good relationships with insurance companies, vendors, and customers. the family is also dedicated to community, participating in ventures such as a recycle program, and they demonstrate how local small businesses can contribute to the social fabric of the city. in presenting this certificate of honor, the small business commission wishes the fo -- lofrano family success for many generations to come. [applause] >> i would like to thank you very much for this honor. coming from our industry as a body shop, we always feel that we are kind of put in the gutter a little bit. mechanics are called grease monkeys. we are not. so we get offended when that

happens. so this i think is fantastic, to be honored in this way. from the city that we have had our business in since 1975. we just love it here. it is a great city. and all i can do is to say thank you, thank you very much, because this is a fantastic honor. thank you. thank you very much. [applause]

clerk: commissioners, next item, number five, general public comment, allowing members of the public to comment generally on matters within the commission's purview and suggest new agenda items for the commission's future consideration. commissioner: what was the

public comment for the dog walking? that was three minutes? ok. >> to represent small business. graphics. sfgtv. how far you can go with a little bit of money. [laughter] ♪ small business, why not have a small business? i cannot live my life without you take my dreams i know you will use them and money, i know you will never money lose them, a business that shines i know you will make lots of

dimes. and i know you will always do good, the part, it take my business cards, and take this and go all of the way ♪ and ♪ stand tall in your small business i know you are going to make it big time, and i want you to stand tall, in your small business will not fall, and you will make business though great now, and you can, business, stand tall in your business, small make it, and you will have in all ♪

thanks. president o'brien: thank you. next speaker. >> hello, my name is michael. i am a gay bar lager -- a gay blogger, and i am here about the problems of property. the harvey milk flag is on public property. unfortunately, it is controlled by a bully. the bully is the head of the merchants of upper market. this bully recently it stopped us from having a meeting with amy brown. she is the interim city administrator. we were trying to set up a meeting to find a resolution to return the flagpole back to the

public and the gay community. well, the bully, in cahoots with one supervisor, told amy brown, "cancel the meeting." this is the latest example of bullying that is dividing the gay community in the castro. also, it is, in effect, stopping a number of activists from staging actions that would bring people to the castro, and then they would patronize the small businesses, but the bully who heads them does not get that at all, so i would like to hold up the rules and regulations regarding making a request. you see, i am not holding anything. they do not publish any rules or a transparent process. there is no transparent process

that they engage in when you want to make a request for guarding the flagpole. that is not acceptable. we are trying to find a resolution to go around this bullying. for gay people around the rock. -- around the area. this is harming small businesses in the castro. if the bully does not want to have a transparent process, i think he should at least start opening some of the meetings to public comments. let the community in the castro have an open discussion. let's create a transparent

process. let's put an end to the bullying that the president engages in. thank you. president o'brien: thank you. any further public comment? seeing none, next item. clerk: item number six, discussion and possible action to make recommendations to the board of supervisors on file number 101055, an ordinance amending the san francisco city code. from supervisor mirkarimi. supervisor mirkarimi: good

evening, honorable commissioners. thank you for your time. i have also been joined by my aide, robert selna, and another. it turned out that san francisco was the first city not only in the united states but in the hemisphere to ban placer bags. this was a piece of law that i offered. it passed overwhelmingly at the board of supervisors. it was signed into law by mayor newsom. from that position, a number of cities throughout the state of california and around the country have followed our lead. the motivation by many cities are ranges from just saving money, in trying to spare the additional impact to their landfills, to something more noble, like contributing to the larger cause of environmental degradation and the global

climate crisis, where local governments feel some of the boy from the federal government in the ability to execute a proper or meaningful response. this an area of the normal, common plastic bag blowing around everywhere. "the wall street journal" says that there are 102 billion plastic bags consumed each year, and according to "the wall street journal," that is a very low estimate, and less than 1% of the bags are recycled or recyclable. it is a myth that they are recycled. when we set out in the legislation in 2007, we did not realize the positive domino effect that it would have in the state of california. cities like san as a, los angeles, and another inc. region -- cities like san mateo.

many versions of their law has actually surpassed that of san francisco, the first year ban, -- the first year -- tier ban, and those retailers that are hybrid cars restores and pharmacies. we have seen upper eds to 20% reduction in to the san francisco landfill. as evidence of our plastic bag man, just in that sphere. we believe by extending this city-wide to all retailers, we will certainly accelerate what the objective is, and this is to wean people off of the reliance on plastic bags, and i should remind you, what plastic bags are necessary with the objective here -- why plastic bags are

necessary with the objective here. the decomposition of the bag takes a long time and is harmful to the environment. one can argue that a single plastic bag may not be harmful, but when you think of the tens of millions that cities like san francisco go through in city's large and small that contribute to the 102 billion consumption of bags per year that go into landfills, and they are not recyclable, then i think we all have something larger to do. for our ability to try to ban that at that tier puts us in pace with cities like santa fe and los angeles and the other incorporated areas this population amounts to about 1 million people. this puts us on pace with washington, d.c., who has now signed a fee, and that he has

resulted in an 80% reduction of plastic bags used in metropolitan washington, d.c. a lot of this was lifted from ireland. ireland happened to be one of the first nations on this planet that decided to assign a bag of the, and part of my inspiration came from ireland, -- decided to assign a bag feet -- fee. the reason we never lead with the fee is because of the california grocery industry and the u.s. petrol council. the huge lobbyists came in and went to sacramento and found a legislator to sneak in a writer bill, which prevented -- to sneak in a rider bill, which

prevented us in our ability to assign a fee. the protocol of proposition 26 which passed the year before last on fees is that we would assign the fee with this law, but this time, the businesses get the feet, instead of going to government itself, -- the businesses get the fee. businesses would be able to harvest, to reap that the -- fee. we are not looking to generate profits from any angle of this legislation, but it is to disincentive buys the reliance on the plastic bag and, of course, on the paper bag. even though a lot of our people is -- our paper is post recyclable, there is still a reliance on paper, and we want

people to reuse their bags, so both from international as well as i think from domestic examples, once we are out of the start at this, now other cities have really exhibited how well it works. red and blue cities or states are the ones showing this, so it goes without politics but more to the bottom-line of try to save the taxpayers' money, trying to spare the city i think the added challenge of walking the talk when it comes to their green pretensions, wanting to green their cities, doing something larger than what we would like to see done but frustrated because it is not happening on a state or federal level. we have some exemptions that are part of a lot. for example, specialty bags,

like a dry cleaning bags, for example. produce bags in grocery stores. even though the examiner is certainly well distributed throughout the city, in their newspaper in a plastic bag, that is not aimed for in this legislation either, so maybe they and others will want to convert that back to something more, so that should also take care of this dog question from your earlier item, if anyone needs a plastic bag for those dog walkers. so we thought this all through, if you can imagine, from every angle. so that is a synopsis, i think, of our legislation, as much as possible. i am open for questions, and i would like to bring up my aide, but please feel free.

president o'neal: thank you, supervisor mirkarimi. commissioner adams: congratulations for being appointed san francisco sheriff. supervisor mirkarimi. -- mirkarimi: thank you. commissioner adams: even though

they are collecting the fee, there are such small margins. there are smaller businesses, if you can keep those at 10 cents. regarding everything else, when the original legislation came through, i thought, oh, my god, what am i going to do? i use bags when i go grocery shopping. i use my canvas bag. my company gives them out as a promotion, and i see them used all over town, so that would be my on the recommendation. i am good with this. supervisor mirkarimi: it is well noted, and we will talk to find out what that will look like. a very obvious distinction is that four or five years ago, when we did the legislation, we were well opposed by the chamber

of commerce, and by the california grocers association. there are now supporters of this legislation. that is interesting how things have allowed to just mature over time and to see, early on, we were accused of being part of a nanny state. really, i think the jury is in. sometimes with added regulation and done in such a way to address the needs of both -- both business and the ultimate goal of helping, you know, in this case, reduce, reuse, recycle, it can work. it can actually work. anti-business taking the lead, really saying that we are fine with this, it is a nice turn of the corner. president o'brien: thank you, commissioner dooley. commissioner dooley: also, i

think it's great legislation. the time has come and we need to do this. it's not that big a deal. but i have just a few things i wanted to ask about, which is i know as being a very small business owner, a lot of businesses don't have really fancy cash registers or don't even have cash registers. so i'm wondering if there's some way to tweak some alternative of reporting for those folks, you know, to show that they charge for the bag, or however the recording is. i'm just a little concerned, because not everyone's cash registers have that kind of ability. i mean, i know my cash register was a box. so just something to think about in terms of offering some way for really tiny businesses. >> ok. commissioner dooley: and then the other thing is, what about garment bags?