taking a look at a form law retail and what is sort of the arrogate in terms of what it brings verses non-formula retail. are you going to ask the entity that is doing the rfp to sort of make sure that there is some sort of weight and balance of doing that, because, if you take, you know, let's just say a larger clothing store verses a smaller clothing store, how are you going to equate so that the scale is not tipped just by volume? >> i think that the short answer to that is that we don't want to finalize after the consultant is selected, we will finalize the scope in working with the consultants so the number one point is to choose neighborhoods that reflect the different conditions on the ground, the different economic levels different rates of activity and the different areas served so is this a

regional hub? is it a local hub, or a city wide district, and we want to make sure that we have a good balance and then, we want to make sure that the districts that are chosen in terms of comparison have it a balance of formula retail that we will study. so will there be big box stores in addition to smaller stores? and we want to make sure that we have all of our possibilities covered in there including, perhaps, entities that are not currently considered formula retail but may be in the future. and for example, gas stations, or gyms or other personal service. and chains that we doents currently subject to formula retail controls but may in the future, we want to be sure that we have that to the extent that we can predict how that will happen we want to have data because we don't know when we will have the opportunity to study the information. >> commissioner dooley? >> i wanted to also request, i

remember in the 2007 study, they had some kind of broader statistics about formula retail that is based outside of san francisco, in terms of that verses a local business, and how much money comes back to the city and if the other way how much money is taken away from the city that would not be, if it was local. you know? just that whole, question of where a company may be spaced. that i think is important, because that is more of a general kind of an idea. and i always found that very interesting. my other question is as we know right now, there is a stampede of legislation being proposed and i don't know how many formula retail applications are in the pipeline.

but, have you guys considered some kind of a moratorium, until you get this sorted out in for a few months? >> just so that you know, i could see a lot of strange things possibly happening, on either end of it like someone is pushing through, tighter requirements and then two months later, you guys have come up with something, that would work. for on a more general basis? >> we are not right now. we do not have a moratorium on formula retail on table right now. we have asked that the planning commission, we have asked the planning commission and in term they have asked the board of supervisors to take a pause on passing new legislation that would impact this. and that may or may not happen. i know of one proposal, i believe from supervisor martha will probably be on hold until the conclusion of this study, for example. >> i don't think that we could

characterize changes that will be recommended by the planning department as one way or the other. stricter or less strict. >> i do think that there is an acknowledgment that probably the controls would be more effective. if they were slightly more refined, and so that perhaps, the criteria varied from use to use, or. five was considered. and i was just considering because i know that we have all been contacted from different merchant districts that are like the hair is on fire and they want to get it done right away. they may have a specific, you know, project, that they are looking at. and you know i just try to find some way to kind of respect, if they back off, that then they don't don't see, all of a sudden a bunch of things going in that maybe won't work. six months from now. >> what i agree is that we cannot change the voter

approved requirement that a neighborhood commercial districts, formula retail requires the conditional use authorization and so widespread formula retail will not come fleeding on to union street without public discussion, so it would require the oversight and the close oversight for the commission, but where, i can see perhaps some concern will be in districts where the formula retails don't typically apply like in portions of the c3, or pdr and that is where the controls could be, for example, an option in those situations. >> commissioner dwight? >> i heard on your first line, item of your stud y you mentioned looking at wages, you might also look at benefits because i think that is a big issue. and that is always an issue and the people getting hel healthcare and are they getting other benefits that they might or might not get with a small company. >> i know how hard it is to

provide those benefits. i presume that you should let your consultant know of course to look at the starbucks effect. i think that is a very well studied phenomena that starbucks has while perhaps it hasens the demise of marginal retailers has really grown a category to something that was never even conceived of and has really stimulated a specialty, retail category that today, is a huge business for small and big companies. and it is, i think, proven that look, a lot of small companies are on the verge of disaster every day. and you know, i am not, i am not one to say well we out to be proping those up, if they can go on indy go, go and get $50,000 to extend their life that is great. i don't think that we ought to legislate, sort of, you know, putting the companies on life support. and i also think that it is

proven that when large entities prove a category, that that creates a symbiotic effect where they find a way to differentiate themselves and i think that today it is regarded that star bucks coffee is not that great even though they pioneered the category, what they do is a phenomenal mix of things but they have allowed all of these other people to come and do specialty things around them that are independent, you know, entrepreneurs who are getting or starting great companies and san francisco is a great beneficiary of the coffee movement. >> and so look at that, and there are some negative effects but there are some significant positive effects of the big companies growing markets. >> great. >> director? >> one item that has not been discussed, and commissioner dooley's comments made me think

about that in terms of the discussion of the dollar state here is the distinction between franchised formula retail and non-franchised formula retail and for our office and for the small business consultation, we kind of have this, and we work with them as though they are small business owners because they have to do a lot of things very similar to a small business even though they may be able to take advantage of the national companies marketing and things of that sort. so, i think that it would be good to, i don't know exactly how, but to get some sort of economic data, you know? around franchisees in creating the controls there may be some distinctions around a franchise formula retail as opposed to, you know, a corporate-owned formula retail.

>> that is a good one. >> any other comments? >> well sophie, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> and this is very, very informative. >> you don't know how we have been looking forward to this presentation. >> and you know, write down everything that we had to say. you know? listen, you know this is a tough one. but it is something that does need to be addressed and we are seeing it a lot and it is city-wide and i really appreciate that your commission and your department is taking this on right now. because it needs to be discussed. so thank you, and thank you again for coming tonight, >> thank you. >> and go home and take care of your kids. >> director? >> i just before you leave, so, we agenda this as an action item, but if the commission is just comfortable with having

individual commissioners making suggestions and recommendations, christian has been making note of that and then we will just, you know, we will reaffirm what the commission stated and send it over to the planning department, as well and if you are fine with that we don't need to take a formal action on that. >> i think that we are fine with that. >> great, thank you. >> and i was taking notes because we are truly trying to sort out this issue, so input is valuable across the board, thank you. >> thank you. >> item five. >> it will be a presentation by the san francisco department of the environment on mandate and non-mandate programs. they will have staff providing specifics energy, commuter benefits and the green business program. and this is agenda as a discussion item only. >> good evening, everyone, thanks for having us tonight.

as christian mentioned we are here to speak on the commuter benefits program, the energy watch program, and the green business program. and my name is sueellen at tkinson and impart of the clean team and i manage the clean business ordinance. >> there we go. >> five years ago san francisco adopted the ordinance for the suitable transportation for the people commuting to and from the city. >> it requires employers with 20 or more employees nationwide to offer commuter benefit to all full and part time employees in san francisco. those commuter benefits could be as a pretax deduction and employer paid subsidy or a provided transportation program. >> the ordinance passed with strong support from the business community, and in a

vote by the board of supervisors. over the past five years, we have engaged in very extensive out reach and education initiative including partnerships with the chamber of commerce. >> and these out reach in education, programs include our commuter benefits website and tabling events for both business and commuters and brochures, and free, one on one consultations with employers about our programs, and a phone hot line that we man, and i have also actually a e-mail hot line so that we can answer the questions by phone in e-mail. >> and we are proud to share that over the past five years, the ordinance is or has been a local success here in san francisco. and each year, we are saying more employees using commuter benefits in san francisco. and in 2012, 10,000 employees were actively using the benefit. >> more benefits in the program

translates to fewer single occupantcy vehicles, driving to, from and within the city each day. this helps us to reduce the carbon emissions attributed to car and truck traffic and helping the city to reach the climate goals. >> and employees, and employers, realize cost savings through the use of commuter benefits programs, of course, the employees get to enjoy lower cost commutes and employers enjoy, savings on payroll taxes including fica and they also enjoy usually happier employees. requiring commuter benefits has the number of positives, and businesses have really supported this program over the past five years. and responded positively. and as you can see here, over the past five years that we have been implementing the program the number of bitss that have worked with us has increased dramatically, from 2009 to 2013, we have seen a

400 increase in the number of businesses that are working with us on our program and we are hoping through the coming years through more and more improvements in the out reach program that we can reach even more. >> and in 2012, we heard that about 3800 businesses in san francisco were offering commuter benefits of those businesses, nearly 40 percent reported that the ordinance inspired them to offer the commuter benefit in the first place and so that is about 10,000 employees that did not have that program before. >> and while the ordinance has had positive benefits for san francisco, we are also very proud that it has an influence nationally. and the requirement in the ordinance is that the business offers the commuter benefit just to the san francisco employees, and but as the companies that reported to us that they are offering a program, 61 percent have actually taken an extra step and offering that program to

all of their employees and all locations. and so it is really been fun to see that something that we are doing here locally is having an impact nationally. we are also seeing that the highest participation rates in commuter benefits are actually at the smaller businesses. and so we are seeing a 36 percent participation rate among the employees at businesses with fewer than 500 employees, including those with fewer than 100. in the coming year, our program is focused on enhancing our business collateral and improving the material to provide more robust information to employers about options for a complete transportation program including commuter benefits but also the other transportation programs that we offer. >> we are also focusing more on enforcement of the ordinance, to insure that all businesses that are required to offer benefits to their employees, understand the requirements and

are working in these programs with us. >> and during a partnership of the office of economic and workforce development, smart will be conducting the out reach specifically targeted to businesses with neighborhood commercial corridor and this out reach will focus on commuter programs and also electric vehicle programs. and finally, the regional ordinance will be taking effect later this year, and that will effect the businesses with 50 or more employees in the 9 county bay area. >> and the san francisco commuter benefits ordinance will work hand in hand with the regional ordinance to expand the availability of commuter benefits. to more employees in the bay area. and i would like to introduce gabby conas coordinator for our energy program, thank you. >> good evening. like my colleague said i am here to talk about the energy

efficiency program. and implemented by the department of the environment. this program has not only helped the small business owners, save money by providing energy savings that directly support their bottom line but also lower the environmental impact. the first was power savers. >> and it helped over 4,000 small business owners, receive energy efficient lining retrofits and 2,000 projects were installed through the peak energy program. and currently the san francisco energy watch program has installed over 4300 and energy efficiency projects and local business and this number continues to grow. altogether the programs have installed over 10,000 energy efficient project and commercial establishments and saved an average of over $2800 in annual energy costs and paid

more than 29 million in incentives and just in the carbon emissions which is the equivalent to powering over 38,000 san francisco homes for a year. this program you can see the map, sort of. but these programs have touched every neighborhood and commercial corridor in san francisco. especially where there are high concentrations of businesses. the san francisco energy watch program is a partnership between the city and county of san francisco and pg&e, the small business owners qualified for high incentives and turn-key service and energy assessment at no cost and followed by a full project management by the staff. and this turn-key services are beneficial to small business owners who have limited time to

examine today's technology on the market today. >> we need of the financial help to the retrofit, and the program staff presents the optional pg&e financing. we have a 0 percent interest loan, they are also looking at this possibility through the power and staff or the water bill to offer great flexibility for the larger projects. >> the opportunity for improvement including lighting, and heating and ventilation and air-conditioning and the computer management network. here are a few case studies of small and medium sized businesses, you may be able to see that the incentive is better for each one of them and that is because it is based on the energy savings identifying the business and so the higher the energy savings, and

identified, the higher the incentive would be and sf environment would help the business owner identify these opportunities. in 2009, a grassroots campaign in preparation to this, the sf environment prepared the bi lingual and contacted local media and met with each district supervisor and at times the district supervisor and the director of sf environment will join the merchant walks. over 1300 assessments were conducted during this campaign and almost 90 percent of them were considered small businesses. and in 2012, the commercial lighting ordinance came into effect, and requiring the (inaudible) to be more efficient and this time there

is... (inaudible) with the t8 lamps and electronic ballast and this is reinforced by the department of building inspection and however, sf environment sent out a mailing to target the businesses, where the lamps are (inaudible). the material that was sent is a letter about the ordinance and the letter about the sfwatch incentives. also phone out reach was conducted to expand this effort. >> the program continues to be a presence in the business community, and through social media, and channels and the events like the small business week, and also, through multicultural media channels and professional organizations like the chamber of commerce and these small business administrations and san francisco council of the district association and more. >> all of the materials are available in chinese and

spanish as well. and they have been recently been updated and the new cases are periodically created so that they are updated. and also, we have a hot line, that the people can leave the messages in their languages and we get back to them and we also have an e-mail address and information in span sxish chinese on-line. moving forward, the department is looking to specialize in technologies like led light and refrigeration and targeting art galleries and restaurants and bars and retail stores and others. and sf environment is implemented the pilot refridgation project and it is a research data for commercial research units and qualified small businesses can receive 50 percent off concern energy of refrigeration units and in addition the program staff will

continue to reach out to multicultural communities, and by providing print, and website, on-line information, and either english or spanish. and also, programs that will customize the average campaigns in the local and tenant commercial buildings. >> and this is the slide that shows you a few of the san francisco energy watch participants. and as you can see, they will range from different sectors including non-profits and the sf environment sfaf looks forward to help the small business owners save, money and the environment and now i will introduce you to my kol laoelg, ana francel she will talk about the green business program.

>> welcome. >> thank you for having me here today. we will do a quick switch over of the power points here. >> all right. >> so, as gabby introduced me, my name is anna and i am the green specialist for the san francisco green business program here. and i am going to tell you a little about the program if you do not have any background about it but a little history and about the out reach efforts that we are doing for the small businesses here in san francisco. >> so, i apologize for the formatting here, but the san francisco green business program is actually part of a larger green business network in california. and the larger network is called the california green business and it is made up of 24 jurisdictions that have recognized the businesses across the state and the

network uses the same model with the older networks for having been implemented for over 15 years and we feel that the bottom that we are using is strong and work able for small businesses in 2006, the green business ordinance was into place at the time by the mayor newsome and later in 11 making official the california green business network as the official businesses of california. >> we connect all of the businesses to city resources and we work with the sectors in the recognition program. and the program is the one-stop shop for businesses in san francisco and so we feel instead of calling the ten different numbers for the service and resource and audits you can come to our program and you are able to educate you about what the business can take advantage of in the city. >> and so, in san francisco,

across the city, we have 194 recognized green businesses, and they range from small to medium size in a variety of sectors such as the office retail sectors and restaurants and hotels and more, being green makes a big impact here in the city, economically and environmentally. and so, over the course of one year, our greens and businesses have reduced over 36 million pounds of co2 and diverted 1.6 pounds of waste by composting and waters through the greening measures that we asked them for undertake because that makes sense by using less water and less energy you will save those as an environmental impact because if you use this you will have less utility costs and that helps a business's bottom line. >> so with the program, we are there, each step of the way to

help the businesses, and some of the direct out reach that we do, to businesses, are through, indepth phone consults and on site visits from january, 2013, to june of 2013, so far we have conducted 32 sfoen consults and help to educate, and answer questions and set up audits and offer the rebates to a variety of small businesses and also on a larger scale, the program puts out a quarterly newsletter that goes out to the recipients and we also have a facebook page as to the social media front. and we also conduct different presentation and tabling to help different various groups understand more about the program and what they could take advantage of i guess. what this slide shows is that the green business program partners with a variety of other city departments to help

the businesses get access to a lot of the resources that the city provides and so we partner with the san francisco public utilities commission and the san francisco department of public health the san francisco energy watch to create the opportunities for the businesses and what i would like to also point out is that any of the businesses in san francisco could take advantage of these resources so you do not have to be in the sectors for the recognition program. >> and so the program also reaches in the form of events that we put on to business and so these include the different mixers and the lunchtime meet and greets and the awards reception. >> and these could come together to learn from each other and network and find the team available for the questions, and as well, we use the rewards reception to publicly recognize the green businesses as seen in the top photo there and those are the rewards that they receive.

>> the green business program has created the campaign to have a more formal out reach pilot and we created a greater awareness through the program throughout the area of the city in the mission area specifically and to recruit further businesses in to the program. the campaign consisted of door-to-door out reach to 100 businesses surveys, mailers, adds and billboards. and this was a great chance for us to educate businesses about the benefits again about going green and about connecting them about the information that we have and this campaign that we found to be successful. we had a handful of businesses registered into the program and we felt that we did raise awareness around a local neighborhood area. in the coming year, we do hope to move forward with another campaign to increase awareness

of the program. >> the program was able to connect with the hotel council of san francisco and we are able in the partnership to put on a green business forum to put on hotels of san francisco and their partners and the forum was very well received by the council and so we are actually moving forward with a five-part workshop series to assist the hotels, to green themselves so this is a very industry specific out reach that we are trying to do here. and other items that the program is moving forward with, is a set of translated checklists for the office/retail and the restaurant sectors we will be having those created in spanish and chinese and those are currently in the process at the moment and so we are hoping to complete them shortly and as wells the second thing that we are working on further is the