all that. of course not. well, it was too graphic for the kids, so i'm going to have to block you. you know, i got to make this up to you. this is vinny's watch. for the historic meeting between the small business commission and the transportation agency. >> these are two meetings. >> director brink man? >> present >> lee. >> present. >> nolan,

>> present. >> rubke? >> present. >> direct heinieke will not be able to be here. you do have a quorum. >> for the small business commission. >> commissioner adams. >> here. >> dooley. >> here. >> white. >> here. >> ortiz-cartagena. >> here. >> commissioner riley. >> here. >> white. >> here. >> prohibition of the sounding of devices the ringing of devices are prohibited at the meeting and any person responsible for one going off, may be removed from the meeting. be advised that cell phones that are set to vibrate do cause interference and so the board and the commission request that they be placed in the off commission, item four communications. >> okay. >> let's take as you begin this afternoon to introduce ed ed

reisken. >> and i would like to introduce regina the director of the office of small business. >> so, the first report is for. >> item five. >> yes, item five is a presentation and discussion regarding the impact of sfmta planning policies and have on the economic vitality of small business in san francisco and the presentation, discussion, regarding sfmta governing rules and transportation planning policy and priority. >> >> good afternoon. i am going to use this. >> so, good afternoon thank you

chair noland and welcome, to chair, and president adams, and sfmta board members and the small business commission. we want to really appreciate you for your time and i know for the sfmta board usually you don't have night meetings and so i want to thank you for your time and joining what is traditionally the small business commission meeting regular meeting time. before i start today, i also wanted to address my appreciation to both the office of the small business staff and the sfmta staff in helping prepare both of us and you for this meeting and in particular, christian murdock and boomer from the sfmta staff and they have been terrific and so i really want to express my appreciation to them. >> and i also want to express

the appreciation and acknowledgment, to director reikin and first when we decided to schedule this meeting bs since then director reiskin has convened a couple of s2nomeetings one with chair nola nd working with the small business community and what i would like to say is that with director reiskin and his out reach to the business community and his expression of understanding the needs, and sensitivity of small business issues, and having a real direct interest in really working on this together. i kind of liken it sort of taking the trim tab of a large ship and resteering it with what he is doing to kind of, what i call the ship of the historical legacy of the sfmta not being that sensitive to small businesses or inclusive

and so we are now on a new trajectory and so i want to express our appreciation from the commission and from the small businesses to your leadership, and the direction that we are on. so, with that, i think what i want to, our presentation is to kind of give you for the sfmta board an understanding of the small business commission, its governing rules, its history, why we are here. who we are representing, and our roles and functions. and then, we have a series of recommendations and discussion items that i will be presenting on that have come both from conversations with at the small business commission and with the small business community. >> so to give you an overview

of the history of this small business commission, it actually started with a small business advisory commission in 1986. then, the board of supervisors in 1999, dropped the advisory from the commission name and created the office of small business affairs, in 2003, the voters passed proposition d in november of 2003, adding to the city's charter a small business commission, and i think to our knowledge, this small business commission is the only chartered commission in the united states. proposition i, passed in november of 2007 amending the administrative code to define the duties, which created, and the functions of the office of small business, and mandating that the office of small business under the guidance of the small business commission, establish a business assistance center and that is what we have

today. so, to give you a bit of an overview of the structure of the office, there is the small business commission, and under that, i report to the small business commission. then we have in our staff, starting from the left, a policy commission secretary policy analyst, a supervisor to the assistant center and a case manager. then, we have one case manager who also handles our marketing promotions news, letters, and program matters. and then in the case manager that helps also do supplemental policy research and now the office of small business, our budget is under the office of economic and workforce development. so, we have a strong partnership with the office of economic and workforce development because our budget is all under the larger

umbrella of that department. and so, we have a very close relationship and structure to the investing neighborhoods program and to the jobs. and so we work in direct partnership with those programs that are directly under the office of economic and workforce development and so sometimes it is a little confusing because sometimes, we might be seen as more of the office of workforce development but because we have a commission for our department, there is a certain amount of autonomy and separateness, and now the mayor does, because you will see in a minute, the mayor appoints four members of this commission of the small business commission, and so, i, as a director i do report to the mayor just as director reiskin does and even though there is oversight to the department by the board. >> and so the small business

commission, comprises of 7 commission members, four appointed by the mayor and three appointed by the board of supervisor and they have four-year terms. at least five commissioners must be small business owners, operators or officers of a small business. and one of the commissioners may be current or a former owner, operator, of a small business, or a member of the commission may be an officer representative of a neighborhood economic development organization.

the department of parking and traffic which is now the sfmta to provide the information and staff assistance to the office of small business, regarding business impacting laws, regulations and administration to the departments. and the office of small business does have liaisons with your department and with

various other city departments as well. and currently the liaisons that we primarily work with with the sfmta assist us on business issues, or the business questions, mostly around maybe, curb colors, sometimes the deals with curb cuts and helping businesses understand, you know, the issues around the curb cuts but that is more around planning but also, we have, it has got issues that we assist them with as well. and our primary liaisons with the department are with jerry robins and julie and cindy and what we have not cultivated well are on the liaisons more on the policy, and project matters and so that is probably one area that would be great to explore tonight is to look about how we can strengthen our create liaisons in those particular areas. but, we do want to say that the

liaisons that are business counselors work with, with jerry and jewelry and cindy and we have a great relationship, great response and they have been very responsive. the services that we provide are also monolingual one on one assistance from start up expansion and we provide a checklist of the local and tait federal requirements by business type and we refer to the technical assistance for businesses regarding planning, financing, and things of that sort. permanent assistance, and coordination with city departments and help the businesses understand the prokurment certification and business programs that are out there for them. this just gives you an idea of the number of businesses that we have worked with since the

assistant center has opened, so last year, for the year of 2012/2013, we are interacted with over 4,000 businesses. the small business commission for the mission of the small business commission its primary function as specified in the charter is to over see the office of small business and the administrative code specifies additional responsibilities and the most notable among them are that the small business commission shall set policies for the city regarding small businesses in order to promote the economic health, of small businesses, of the small business community in san francisco, its employees and its customers. and to make recommendations to the mayor on rates, fees, similar charges, with respect to items coming within its jurisdiction.

in addition, additional responsibilities as put forth in the administrative code is to review all legislation effecting small business and making recommendations to the board of supervisors, review the rules, regulations adopted by the city departments that effects the small business and recommend the modification that will promote the health of small businesses and conduct investigations under its power of inquiry in any aspect of government operations effecting small business including holding hearings, this today and taking testimony and to make recommendations to the mayor and board of supervisors and so, the small business commission, and its current strategic plan, has four particular categories, one is to with the office being opened for five years, do an assessment of the performance measures and evaluate the service effectiveness and

maximize the small business offices out reach to the community and stream line the process and advocate for the small businesses through the involvement on the policy discussions and the legislative process and under, and its goal for the small business commission and the office of small business are very pleased today to expand our dialogue, with you with the staff of the sfmta and the board effecting our small businesses. i want to talk about the common bond between the small business and the sfmta, and because without the sfmta and it working well, the businesses, customers have a hard time getting to them, no matter what mode of transportation, they

take whether it is car, taxis, walking bicycles, the train, many small businesses employees take transportation to get to and from the work and so the reliability of the bus and trains, are critical for businesses as well. and the decisions that you make for the sfmta effects that.

the requirements and because sometimes, this is not, necessarily always understood by the other departments. but for small business, they see the city as one big entity. and so, whether it is the sfmta and whether it is puc, and whether it is dpw and whether it is the department of public health, they see us all as one. and i like to liken it as if you are looking at your bank, and you have a checking account and a savings account and a mortgage, or, you know, a home equity line of credit or a credit card, you like at your financial institution as one entity to be able to navigate and you want the ability for those things to be able to communicate and function well, with each other, for you to be able to manage, what in this situation, managing your money. so, with small business and

primarily, our commercial corridor businesses, there is a lot that the city brings to them. and asks them to do. and so, it is the graffiti is on the business, they are required to do the graffiti removal and they are ticketed and find if it is not removed. if there is a need for sidewalk repair, they are basically informed that they need to repair and the consequences and if the business decides to increase the employees and goes over 20 employees there is the added expense of the healthcare security ordinance and while the healthcare security ordinance is a good thing but it does mean that once that business adds one employee, it could add anywhere from the immediate 60 to 50 to 100,000 cost, depending upon whether it is full time or part time. and the number of full time or part time employees and then there is all of the businesses licensing regulations and a business has to incur with a

fire department, and health department, and then, we also require businesses in our neighborhood, commercial corridor to register their cash register and there is unsecured property tax on all of the furniture and fixtures and i put in the commercial rents because this is an immediate concern that the businesses are having right now in regards to commercial rents and for the long time businesses concerned for when the lease comes up what is going to happen with that and i identify this and why should this matter to the sfmta but when, when the staff goes out, and makes presentations, one does not necessarily know what might have been before that business, and before that business, they might have received a letter from the dph, that says that you need to now register your cash register and then they go to the meeting with the sfmta and they are not happy and you are taking my parking away and

you want all of these things from me? and it is going to make it harder for me to conduct business. and so i would just like to highlight sort of the thing that the businesses are looking through that lens when they are looking at us as a city family. >> so, we have divided up through our discussion points, and recommendations under three categories, communication and partnership, operational sensitivity, and parking management and street use. so, what we have heard from many small businesses, and the small business commission has had a discussion at its meetings is, a need for the small businesses to be seen as the equal stake holder. and equal to a bicycle advisory committee, and the bicycle

coalition, the pedestrian safety advisory committee walk sf, livable cities, and residential organizations. to be involved in the consultation, planning design and policy development, so for the first recommendation that we have is that when you are about to engage in project areas, to identify small businesses and small business representatives in that area, to be the representation and the stake holders, the same as you might do for the bicycle coalition, or walk sf, and then, as consultants as you begin to work on a project plan area. and then, for policy matters, to develop small business representation to and the small business commission can help facility this and be a part of it, but we also think that it is important to work with small of the small business leaders as you are to look at policy matters, either as they need to be reviewed, or you are

developing them. second recommendation is to have the sfmta staff also meet with the office of small business and the office of economic and workforce development staff, upon consideration of a project area, or in the business area. because we too can lend some suggestions and recommendations on what either who might be good to reach out to, in that business area, or some other elements that may be taking place that will benefit the staff that is going to be working on those project areas. recommendation three is the sfmta staff can come and present to the small business commission on projects, that effect small, effect business areas and that is not just neighborhood, commercial corridors but where we do have business and where the project is like the eastern neighborhoods where that is not

necessarily a corridor, but that is a business area. recommendation four, to work together and i know that to work together with the county transportation authority, most small businesses and most businesses do not know that there is a san francisco sta, the sfcta the county transportation agency but they don't understand, the distinction between the two. and i think that one of the unfortunate things for the sfmta is that once the county transportation project plans are shifted over, to the sfmta staff, to and the department to implement, and your staff goes out and reaches out to the business community, and they end up getting, i think, some of the wrath of the lack of out reach that the cta has done in those business areas and so

there is a great amount of frustration from the businesses because those are heavy and subnative projects that have said, why didn't we know about this a year ago? i could have made plans. you know? i just renewed my lease and maybe i would have moved. so that we need to, we want to work with you to work with the cta and i know that director reiskin has said that he in communication and talking to chang to improve communications. but i think that there is an opportunity for all of us to be working together to do the better out reach and so that the businesses have a greater opportunity to be able to adjust to the larger projects that are coming up because they do, they do have substantial financial implications to them, and one or two percent for some of these businesses in a drop of business means whether they are able to stay in business. or they have to close their

doors. then also moving on to want to see the project policies, sensitive to small business needs. there is a perception that small business needs can vary to the needs of other stake holders, there is a perception but i have seen the presentation to business organizations that where we are giving the same presentation to or as they would to the neighborhood organization and so that the discussion and dialogue where the presentations are given, are very two different distinct types of presentations because businesses have a unique set of needs. that are very different from the residents that live in that

neighborhood area. and then, these are some of the historical legacies. and then, where, it leads to conflicts is the eliminating of loading zones when the bike lanes are installed, and adding parking meters and pdr areas. are two examples. and the other area that has led to conflicts is that when we are looking at new combinations of arrangements of modes of transportation, that does not need to be codifieed in the transportation code, or somewhere else. but i took a look under the parking and traffic regulations and so two things that really stood out for me is i myself sort of went through an education. but i learned that with bicycle

lanes, the dedicated bicycle lanes in the neighborhood commercial corridors, the plan is for the ability to be able to share those lanes. with the taxi and delivery vehicles. but it is not okay for a residential corridor but i think that without these things being codifieed there is a lot of confusion, and there is a lot of confusion in terms of just exactly what are the rules and what are the regs? of the governor ans and what is appropriate and not appropriate. and that is as much for the people who drive the vehicles as for the people who ride bikes and for the people who walk as well and as for the

delivery companies. and my one of my concerns with the ability to be able to share the lanes with the delivery vehicles, is either one of two things might happen delivery vehicles are going to be adverse to share the lane. so that they will be parked, double parked and blocking muni's ability to be able to function correctly, or if they do park in the lane, and the bicycle does maneuver out there is an accident, and there is an injury, then it is likely that the delivery company to be able to choose and to be able to pay out in relationship to that injury. and so, that it is important and we are going to be and we have a lot ahead of us in what is planned in terms of how we are going to be utilizing our streets that we make sure that there is a really clear means, either in our municipal codes

and communication, education, and so that we all understand it. recommendation four is to establish a pay and paint policy so that we are not doing or building out permitly recycled tracks or bike lanes or permanent ones, especially in the neighborhood commercial corridors or areas where we have our business districts but a lot of development is happening. and this a pave and paint approach and you have the most ability to be nimble to adapt and change as things change and you are able to understand the dynamics of an area. recommendation five is to conduct with the businesses directly adjacent so that installing the bus shul shelters and and to work with

the businesses that the bus shelters are going to be the plans to install are close to. and again, the storefront is an incredible is incredibly important for our businesses on the street front level and it really does effect a business's business. and so, to really work with the businesses when you are working to install the bus shelters. and the recommendation six, we have put forward a list of sort of impact analysis, methodology to use, and this can be or we are happy to work with you and work to sort of formalize this or, in project areas, prior to going into the designing