these different roles for managing traffic, to and parking, to running the transit, to regulating the taxis to facilitating the commercial vehicles, bike sharing and car sharing, and it is really some what of a unique structure, within the united states. that the voters put this in place, through ballot measures in 1999 and 2007 and so it gives us a great opportunity, to really think about the transportation network and manage it in a comprehensive way and i think that is a great opportunity that we have to improve how we work with small businesses. my board also adopted a strategic plan and it was adopted a year and a half ago and actually coming up on two years ago and it is guiding the agency over the course of three fiscal cycles or six fiscal year. and it identified a vision, of

san francisco, as a great city with excellent transportation choices, which has meant to really importance that the transportation plays because we are so dense and compact, and how it plays in making san francisco and keeping san francisco a great city. and that word of choice is important. and this goes back to talking about the transit first policy and that it is not transit only. it is we see our role as creating choices for people having good options for people so that they can make choices and how they get around, and facilitating what the needs of san francisco are today, as well as what they will be in future. four goals, that the board identified in the strategic plan that we need to achieve in order to realize that vision, the first being to make sure that the transportation vision is safe and pretty much everything that we do is being driven by that goal. and the second really is the

essentially the transit first policy. and making those modes of preferred means of travel, and which also to the extent that we get people on to a bike and on to their feet in to a muni bus and into a taxi and it makes more space available. and whether it is in the traveling lane or a parking lane for the people who do need to drive or for the vehicles that do need to be using those spaces including commercial and delivery vehicles. the third goal is improving the environment and quality of life in san francisco. and the fourth, one, looks like it got cut off here, but it is creating a collaborative work enforement and strengthening the agency and how it interacts with the other agencies so that we can deliver on all of the other goals. and i made reference to this before and maybe this will be the stimulus for some conversation, but we have a lot of growth coming to san

francisco, both in housing and jobs, and this is what the planners and they expect will be coming. and it is, you know, probably coming, and regardless of whether we wanted to come or how it is going to come. and so, i think that it is incumbent upon us as the city family to plan for it so that we can manage it in the best way possible and that again, it is a opportunity for us as we think forward about how to man the transportation in the city. and so with respect to the transportation system, there are opportunities, that we have. and that the transit system is one of the densist provisions of the transit in the country and i think that it is something like 90 percent of san francisco residentses are within two blocks of a muni stop and so we have a very robust transit structure that we are starting with and the demand and a lot more people who would like to be able to take the transit but it is

either too crowded or too slow and so i think that there is more people who would like to be able to use the transit, and but, made choose not to based on the current circumstances. we are one of the most walkable cities in america. and we are a city of neighborhoods. and it is part of the great attraction, the fact that we are geographickly small means that you can do a lot of what you want to do in san francisco, on foot. which is a great thing. in terms of cycling we are one of the most bicycle friendly cities and it is a fast growing mode of transportation in san francisco and we have seen a lot of growth of creative ways of getting around and we launch the bike sharing a couple of months ago and san francisco has been a leader in car sharing. and a lot of other services are developing to try to make it easier for people to get around the city. but we are also not without our challenges and i made

reference, already, and i will and i don't think that i need to talk about the challenges that we have with the muni and despite the fact that we are a very walkable city, in terms of pedestrian safety, we really compare pretty unfavorably to many other major cities in the united states, really the exact opposite of where we want to be. and our bicycle network, and despite the great growth is some what fragmented and we have portions that are very friendly and attractive and others that are much less so. and we do have because we are a very geographically small area, we have a fixed amount of right-of-way to play with. and there are absolutely trade offs, that we have to, and we make it every day and we will continue to have to make as growth comes to the city. as part of this strategic plan the board of directors did adopt a goal to try to really directly speak to the call from the transit first policy.

and that was to shift the role from 39 percent to 50 percent of all trips during the 6-year period of the plan. so that this would be really the first time that we are trying to move the needle on that policy of the city that was enacted 40 years ago. further context is that there are other policies that guide the work that we do beyond the transit first policy. and i think that the director made reference to the better streets plan, and i think, you know, the language in there, it is quite clear. that guides what we are supposed to do and the general plan, and it has the transportation element, and there are other parts of the charter, the section 8 a is the or the section of the charter, and other areas of the planning code, of the transportation code of public works, codes that guide what we do, and with the exception of changes to the

division two of the transportation code, all of the rest of this is governed by the board of supervisors, and the voters. >> so, we do have a lot of different stake holders, whose needs that we are trying to address, and speak to. and we have certainly heard from small meetings that i have had with the small business leaders from the commission meeting that i came to from the discussions with oewd and the office of small business, we understand that there are concerns about where does the small business community and the small businesses fit within all of these stake holders? and i do think that there is certainly room for improvement and i think that some of the recommendations that were provided in the previous presentation would help to put us on that path and we do try in balancing the stake holders

not to pick one or the other but to guide the work that we do with the principals such as those in the center in the blue and the public safety first. and transit first, but again, not transit only. and planning for an economic vitality for population and job growth, using pilot programs, and paint, to test, and customizing to neighborhood and balancing the needs that we get that each commercial district is different and each neighborhood is different. and then, communicate early and i think that is where we certainly see great opportunities for improvement on how we do some of that. this s and there is a lot, and some of the bigger projects, and most of which have not happened, they have only been proposed. they have been part of what has caused some of the concern, i think, or at least that i have heard from the small business community, but i think that it is the director made reference to, there is a lot of work that is happening every day, and not much of it comes directly to us

not through the office of small business, but every day, things that different parts of our agency are doing in support of small business is often as a result of direct requests from the small businesses. but this just highlights what some of those are and there are many, parking and traffic changes if you look at an mta board of directors agenda, you will see those changes every month, or twice a month and you will often see requested by business or requested by merchants to make the changes in the color zones and the signals to permit the street closures. and we support business requests for things like bicycle racks and we do advertising in support of small businesses and a lot what we do in the meter parking and the parking garages that we work with, the small businesses in the area, including having enforcement in place so that the parking regulations are effective.

and we establish, contractor permit and recognizing the specialized need that the contractors have to do to do their work and the folks that are using those are small businesses. and we are also, a big spender, we spend a lot of money in buying things and delivering services and we have a very strong small business program something that we take very seriously and making sure that people benefit not just from the improvements, that are products or that our projects and services provide from the work itself and making sure that the small business community and the san francisco businesses benefit from that and so, there are a number of things that we do. and i think that regina also made reference to things like small business week, which we host with the office of small business. and working with sf travel and working on things like small business saturday and helping advertisements for those, and i think that there is a lot of things that we are doing

outside of the big projects every day to try to facilitate and encourage commerce, particularly small business commerce in the city. so, in terms of the projects, the capitol projects, which i think have been probably the main source of concern, this flowchart is meant to show kind of an over all, over all process. and one of the things that i have spoken to a number of you about, is our opportunity to do the public engagement and out reach, better, including engaging people sooner in the process, and as i have also shared, we are developing a new approach to that. and which we should very soon have a draft of and be happy to work with the office of small business and the office of economic workforce development, and the small business network and any other stake holder who is interested in reviewing it and giving us feedback because i do think that that is an important part of the project. and there is a lot of process,

in these projects and a lot of things don't even get to the sfmta board because, we take them in a different direction, and we generally bring things to the board where we have consensus, and it is not always the case, but that is generally what we try to do so before that, we have the community meetings and we have the stake holder meetings, and at some point, things go to a public hearing before they come to the sfmta board and so there is a lot of process already. and often, we are critized for too much two ses which makes the delivery slow and we recognize that there are ways that we can improve how we do that. so finally, somewhere along the lines of the recommendations of the first presentation, this just some ideas and i think that many of these dove tail well with those recommendations about how we can better partner with the small businesses, the commission level but also down to the neighborhood and where

possible, the individual level, i think that there is some work to be done in the area of research, as well as assessment and i think that was one of the recommendations and in understanding how transportation patterns and traces, impacts small businesses, and how projects that we might be leading are part of. and projects like them can impact the vitality of a commercial corridor and i think that there is a lot of data out there that we could get smarter and better about how we are using or how we are using it. awareness, and education small businesses that were early on in the process and addressing things like loading and other issues that we understand are very directly important to small businesses we go and we work with the

groups and we deal with the parking and loading issues, and that remains in an area where perhaps we could do more and make sure that our folks understand the needs of small businesses and including cash register and certification requirements that our sister agencies are imposing on them. and in terms of awareness, and you know, anything that we can do more in terms of promoting the small businesses during things like small business week or the day that we had last saturday, i think that there is a lot of opportunity there. like rise and promotions and marketing. we have done a fair bit with you. and with the small business community, and i think that there is probably the opportunity for us to do more there. making sure that the people now how to find the parking and better for all modes of traffic

so that we can get the folks to the great commercial corridors that we have and then finally, engagement and including and i think that is at the core of where some of that concern have been in the last six months, or a year, and making sure that we figure out the best way to early and effectively and consistently engage with the effected small businesses, and making sure that it is a two-way dialogue and, making sure that we can come out that have process, with recommendations for improvements to make safety and to make our streets safer and to make them more accommodating of all of the different modes of transportation, that use them. in a way that works for small businesses as well. and so, we appreciate the partnership that we are developing with the office of small business and i also want to thank, regina's office and my staff, and not just for working together, but to put this together, but for the ongoing work that we are doing

collaboratively together to improve the transportation and the small business vitality in the city and so thanks for having this forum and look forward to the discussion. >> thank you, very much and thank you, regina, these were both two great presentations before we start our general dialogue up here, we are going to first take public comment. limited to two minutes. and so with that, we would like to open up the public comment. >> chris dolan and mary, hall and paula swartz. >> good afternoon, directors, my name is christopher dolan and i earn the dolan law firm in san francisco and i started the business myself with one secretary and i now employ 45 people and i have commerce in the city, that brings people to the city. and i have employees that live

in the city that need to get to work i have folks that need to get to court and go and go. i need transit. and i want to just say that on market street, i bought a building between polk and van ess where you need the courage and the bullet proof vest to get to work every day and i stayed there it seems to be a great place, twitter finds it to be an ideal location to be but it always wasn't. and what made the difference is the way that market street has evolved. and one of the most important

going to collapse. transit is like water, if you put in a block in one place, it will move another place if you give that need another avenue it will take it and as a small business person, thank you for holding this meeting and thank you for helping my people get to work and my clients get to my office and to keep the city alive, thank you. >> thank you. >> next? >> mary lauren hall. swarts, and kaplin of >> i am with the alliance for biking and walking and an organization based in

washington, d.c., we focus on biking and walking issues and i am here today to give you a little bit of context about what is happening in our cities across the country. we are really seeing that after 40 years of being with the care and urban centers are experiencing a boom in growth much like san francisco is. and what is interesting about this boom in urban growth is that it is the first time that this has happened since we billed out the national infrastructure for the highways and the automobile age and it is a great news for the economy and small business and because it means more of a customer base and it is also a bad things for businesses in the transportation planning where we had been used to the planning for the automobile only road space and it is just the case that when you have thousands of people moving through a city, getting everybody from point a to b by a car is not going to keep on working, new roads is not an option and there is not the land use space and the transit is expensive and it is certainly important and that is why we are seeing many cities across the country implement the bike lanes and these are

lanes that have separation between the traveling and automobile traffic and bicycle traffic with plastic posts or parked cars or planters, and it is an innovative solution that does not take a lot of time to put in that many cities are starting to implement and the co-author and the impact on the local economies i have been examining the data speaking with the owners, across the country, and the cities where, the transportation planners are building these types of bike lanes on the streets, people really enjoy these types of improvements.

>> i am dedicated full time to working with small businesses one on one as well as the small business community in general, and to, do out reach for infrastructure projects being programs, and to businesses that want to become more bike friendly and do bike education, and so i am out on the streets, and i am new to this position and so the fruits of this work are not yet he evident but i want to introduce myself and i want to say that the vision at the san francisco bike coalition includes a thriving small business community and our city vibrantcy depends on the small business culture that is sustainable and that is growing. and that small business, and livable streets go hand in hand

and i want to highlight a couple of examples in san francisco. on valencia street, two-thirds of the merchants said that the improvement bike lanes and etc., improve their business, and the recent study by the fisherman's wharf shows that improvement to jefferson street, brought over a one million dollars in gross sales as compared to last year and this is a brand new project with parking conversion, and traffic calming, and wider sidewalks. and so there is a precedence in san francisco for the benefits of some of these projects. and the cities like new york, and on 9th avenue and union square, have the pearl street in brooklyn, and seattle, and washington, d.c. and chicago. are all investing in the livable streets, and seeing the benefits to their businesses, and so i hope that you continue to do the same for san francisco. and i hope that this hearing is a good first step in making sure that all of the important stake holders from the small

business community are involved. and that we can work together moving forward. thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker? >> gwen cap len. >> nicole snyedr and dan nuentan. >> i appreciate having this hearing with the sfmta and the small business commission together. and both our directors are here. so first of all thank you. my business is ace mailing in the north east mission business section of the city and we are in the pdr zone. and in our area, which is bound by 19th street, through division or 13th of the central freeway, by protrero and cap street we have a little bit of everything there but we are particularly concerned about the pdr zone and being able to load and unload trucks.

and load and unload as commercial businesses in that area. we are also concerned about retail parking, and meters and we are also concerned about commuters who park in our area and go downtown, or wherever they are going, and so we realize that this we have a lot of big jobs in front of you, but we appreciate the opportunity, particularly, in my area, for the nod to what is required of a pdr zone, so thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> niekol snyder, dan wintom and steven cornel. >> good afternoon, i am the executive director of walk san francisco and thank you so much for taking the time to address this really complicate and timely issue. and thank you to the directors

for your thorough presentation and it sounds like there is a lot of thought that has gone into this and i just want to say on behalf of walk sf, we are really excited that these conversations are happening, and small businesses are the heart of our community, and really, small businesses make our communities walkable. and they are really important piece of a walkable community. and as the daughter of two small business owners, i know how important walkable, or small businesses are to to a community in general and neighborhoods. and also i know how hard it is to operate a small business, and the challenges and that is where i get my work from. and you know, we, as walk sf, we see this new partnership as a opportunity to move forward and address some of these challenges and figure out some solutions. and again, you know, we know

that walkable business areas are the most thriving business areas and so we want for them.

without a doubt, many bicycles will grow and continue to grow as long as the city continues to make bicycling a friendly and welcoming place. and we have our headquarters in our store in south park and soma as well as a store in the mission and no doubt, the biggest obstacle for our ability to grow our business is the lack of infrastructure to make bicycling and walking friendly. particularly in the soma area where we are headquarters and there is no greater impediment to our growth than when there is traffic congestion caused by cars. people will choose to to bike and walk and take the public transit if you continue to make the investment, i have a car, a bike and walk and i don't, drive unless i need to, and

like many of our customers we will choose to bike and walk if you make those investments thank you very much. >> steven cornell, scott vetal and those are the last two people who have turned a speaker card in under this item. >> i have owned a small business in the neighborhood and regina said really well what the concerns are and i would like to add to it that, we are not just when you own a business and we get upset, at coming to dealing with mta or the police, or whatever other department, we have so much passion involved, because we are so involved. and like i said i owned my business for 39 years and i have an enormous investment in it and all of my fellow merchants have huge investments and time and money and our employees that we work with we know them all and so it is very important to us and so we go crazy sometimes when we have to

deal with the city comes and gives us new regulation or wants to change something. we have always, in the neighborhood, thought that muni is very important thing. and there is not a commercial neighborhood in san francisco that does not have a muni line on it. we want it. and when muni wants to remove a line, and take away a bus stop, we go, nuts. and that is how we can get a lot of merchants to come out to something, to tell them that a muni stop is going to be removed and we are all out there. we heard earlier about how certain streets are doing really well under a lot of bicycles, and it is true. but, one size does not fit all. so valencia street is a great street for bikes but there are no hardware stores or large grocery stores or big drug stores, all of which take huge trucks to be delivered all of the time. some of us actually make driver

deliveries, you will see that sometimes on mission or whatever, you can't have one size fits all, transit first, i want to put a cheer out for mta and it is the only department in the city that has gone out of its way to make sure that the employees do transit first, and that is in the other departments thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> scott howgen and zach stenzer and kristine winser. >> scott howge, owner of cal insurance on 33rd, and we are right on the metro line. and first, i would like to thank the mta for meeting with the small business commission. and secondly, i would like to thank the commission to convening this meeting. some of us in this room were involved in the creation of a commission, going back to 1985. and at the time, we created the