delivery of the portal is august and jane has moved over to the department of technology to be working on the project. and informed you that our first key to the zip was fully funded right after the holidays, and so that is very exciting and now we now would like to find two more businesses that we can refer and we can refer as a trustee. to keep a zip. in your packet, is let's see. okay, you know i didn't get it printed out, but i will forward it to you, kind of the list of criteria that we use to sort of prescreen a business, for eligibility. then, i provided you with the fiscal quarter q2 for the 2013, 14 fiscal year. and we are up 43 percent, over

the current, the previous fiscal year in 2012, 2013. and then, the reminder that to the council of district merchants has the annual dinner on february 16th. and excuse me, thank you, for the correction, on february 6th, the mayor will be doing his quarterly meeting with the small business leaders on february 6th. and then, to it is a ways out but the small business week is schedule for may 12th through 16. and then, i just provided just some quick updates on the staffing, component and i really want to extend it and it has been five months since the commission secretary vacantcy position has been vacant. and have just now received approval from dhr, that we

consume post for that position and really want to extend my great appreciation to christian murdock for the job that he has been doing and wearing the hats and doing the double duty with the two positions to help you and to help me. legislation updates, i think that probably the most key thing that i want to identify, is the formula retail study is just going to soon be completed or the first phase. and focus groups are going to be held to present some of the first key findings, and then, on january 23rd, the planning commission will get a formal presentation. i will be also speaking to the planning staff to see about having a presentation to you. and then, lastly, i think that to highlight is the cottage foods, zoning referral fee which we had discussion about

with the dph, or excuse me, with during the planning, zoning changes. and the planning department has agreed to do a trial and wave the year's worth of planning fees. so we will be working with supervisor chiu's office and the planning department to draft the legislation on that. and then, i just provided you with the a list of recent but a good list of legislation that has been referred to the commission, and which you will be hearing in the next few, or the next two to three meetings. >> and with that, i will if there is any questions? i am happy to take them. >> do you have any questions? >> okay. great, thank you. regina. >> the next item, please? >> item 9, legislation and policy committee report. >> we actually met today. legislation and policy

committee. and we will have some items coming up at our january 27th meeting. >> that is it. >> thank you mr, president. >> that takes us to number ten, the president's report. >> i don't have much of a voice today. sorry. >> that 49ers game yesterday. just i am losing my voice. >> i don't have anything to add today, thank you. >> thank you mr. president, takes u.s. to item 11, vice president's report. >> nothing to report. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> item 12, commissioner reports? >> go ahead. >> let's see. >> commissioner dooley? >> i attended the business tax advisory group meeting on the 12th of december. i attended, we had another ada meeting with supervisors where

we are moving forward with and we had folks from federal and state, actually at the meeting this time, along with, different parts of the city that are involved. and we were slowingly but surely moving forward on getting some recommendations together, and you know, trying to solidify, so that the state, the federal, and the city dbi requirements are going to be the same, so that our businesses are not going to be penalized for, you know, complying with the city's ordinances and then, puts them in jeopardy for being sued at a state or a federal levels and so we are moving for ward with that and i think that we are making some really positive steps forward. and i went to the council of the district meeting on the 17th and as she mentioned i will be part of the formula retail focus group coming up next week. so, that is it.

>> great. >> and any other commissioner reports? >> seeing none, next item, please? >> item 13, general public comment? >> do we have any members of the general public that would like to make a comment or a suggestion to any future meetings of this commission? >> seeing none, the public comment is closed. >> next item. >> item 14, new business. >> we have any new business? >> commissioner o'brien? >> i just wanted to make an announcement, my current tenure as commissioner is up. and i had discussions with my wife about seeking my appointment renewed with the mayor, and the commitment and we had a long chat about it. my children are older today, than they were when i first came on the commission, my daughter and my son, so i

decided not to seek reappointment for the third term with the mayor. it is a heavy hearted decision but i just want to allocate the time that i spend on the commission, the subcommittee time, etc., for a while, i wanted to dedicate that time to my family. so, with that, most likely, this will probably be my last meeting. of course, i will be available if i am required to help fill in while they look and seek my replacement. but, they will be able to do that between now and the next meeting. given that that is likelihood of that, i would like to just make a comment of acknowledgments, one of them is to thank mayor lee, the current administration, for allowing me to serve, during his administration. and i also wanted to thank mayor gaven newsom for

appointing me to the commission. and for me it was an honor and a privilege to serve on this commission. and i am very grateful for that opportunity. i also wanted to thank you commissioners for serving during my time and for your support and help and in particular, for the commissions that were on board, for the year that i was president. i wanted to thank you for your help and support at that time and lastly but by no means at least, i wanted to thank the director and your very fine staff for all of her help and support throughout the few years that i have been on here, for me the business is a small business commission, i think is a vital importance, and i am very proud of the achievements

that have been made during my tenure. and a lot of it is not the stuff that takes up the headlines and the paper, it is the day-to-day stuff that protects the request of the small business community. and we are often unsung heroes for what it is that we do, because it is not the attention grabbing stuff such as some of the other commissions might, but vitally important. and statistickly we never get away from the fact that the small business sector of the economy is the one that we rely on more than any other sector and the one that we are going to be looking to more and more, for opportunities, for jobs, for prosperity, and for our community. so, to that end, i want to thank everybody again and i want to wish you commissioners, as you start a new term, that you have wisdom in your choices and the best of luck in the decisions that you make going

forward, thank you very much. >> commissioner dwight? >> i did not get a chance to talk during, or right after the public comment or the beginning of our meeting, and it occurred to me, that the gentleman that we heard earlier talking about their broad way billing and improvement project and sort of the more general restrictions in that area and it might be useful for us to have and if we don't already and i don't know to kind of a best practices for general public comment and i think that we are here to hear these issues. and i think that there are good ways to bring them up for our consideration so that we can, you know, give them the time that they are due, so that we can discuss them ourselves so that we can get the opposing point of view also into the discussion. i also think that three minutes is a challenging way to convey the details and merits any significant issue. and it also comes across as sort of rude on our part that we have to have a three minute limit, you know? but that is just the way that

it is, that is the way that we keep order, but it is kind of like we are rushing people off and saying that you are done. that is just not the right way to do it, you know? i think that the best practice would be to acknowledge that we are here to help and that to suggest that you use your three minutes to propose this for putting it on the agenda or for some form of consideration or on or off the agenda and to really coach the people on how to come here and how to get something under consideration by us, and so that we can give it, it is you know, due consideration. so, if it does not exist, maybe we could work on agendaize ourselves putting together something like that, posting it on the website and directing people to that and as we rush them off and say that we are really sorry you got cut off but that is the way that the meetings work, we would refer you to the one place on the website where you can figure

out how to bring these things to our attention in more detail. >> can i... >> director? >> well, i will defer to you president adams, and you, indicated that you would like to speak. >> okay. director, commissioner dwight. >> yes. >> i just regina i wanted to say thanks for the letter to tom nolan, and i just wanted as far as new business to just to make sure that we are on top of following up with our action items as new business and i wanted to make sure that we stay on top of that. >> all right. >> and i just referring back to what commissioner dwight was talking about, do we have any protocol for public comment on something that is already agendaized? for us to hear? >> >> right. >> yeah, because, it, and it would have, and the public

comment was something that will be agendaized on the 27th. >> okay. >> but it did, that sort of interaction there, just sort of pointed out to me that you don't necessarily know how to come in here and make your case and you are all energized and this is happening to me. calm down, we are not the enemy, and also, we are also not the fix-it guys, we are here to carry the discussion into a forum where it can be considered in a way that addresses all of the combined needs of everyone in the city. >> okay. >> and he would like to make a closing comment. >> luke you have been a stellar commissioner, and you are on this commission to the last 8 years. i want to thank you for your mentoring. and in my first term here and i got to thank you a lot for that.

thank you for everything that you have done for the small business and i know that you have done a lot of work down in the noe valley. and throughout the city and on behalf of myself and the commission, i was going to save this for latter so thank you for your service to the city and county of san francisco. >> thank you. >> director? >> so i am going to take the liberty, even though technically i am not allowed to bring up new business, to commissioner o'brien i really want to express my great appreciation for our time and your service on the commission it has been valuable for me to have you provide the insights that you have given around our permitting and our permitting committee and the structure. and i really appreciated that

you gave very thoughtful, consideration to each piece of item and policy matter that we had to consider, and to witness your deliberation. and here on the dies and also in the committee meetings and so, i too am a little bit surprised. you know, i was not expecting this, at the meeting, but, i am going to miss you. and miss your contribution, and but i also know that i have somebody that i can also call and consult with from time-to-time >> just a phone call. thank you. >> any other new business? >> okay, next item? >> item number 1 5, adjournment, this is an action item. >> move to adjourn. >> second. >> all in favor.

>> aye. >> meeting adjourned. at 7:10 p.m. >> you're watching quick bite, the show that has san francisco. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we're here at one of the many food centric districts of san francisco, the 18th street corridor which locals have affectionately dubbed the

castro. a cross between castro and gastronomic. the bakery, pizza, and dolores park cafe, there is no end in sight for the mouth watering food options here. adding to the culinary delights is the family of business he which includes skylight creamery, skylight and the 18 raisin. >> skylight market has been here since 1940. it's been in the family since 1964. his father and uncle bought the market and ran it through sam taking it over in 1998. at that point sam revamped the market. he installed a kitchen in the center of the market and really made it a place where chefs look forward to come. he created community through food. so, we designed our community

as having three parts we like to draw as a triangle where it's comprised of our producers that make the food, our staff, those who sell it, and our guests who come and buy and eat the food. and we really feel that we wouldn't exist if it weren't for all three of those components who really support each other. and that's kind of what we work towards every day. >> valley creamery was opened in 2006. the two pastry chefs who started it, chris hoover and walker who is sam's wife, supplied all the pastries and bakeries for the market. they found a space on the block to do that and the ice cream kind of came as an afterthought. they realized the desire for ice cream and we now have lines around the corner. so, that's been a huge success. in 2008, sam started 18 reasons, which is our community and event space where we do

five events a week all around the idea of bringling people closer to where the food comes from and closer to each other in that process. >> 18 reasons was started almost four years ago as an educational arm of their work. and we would have dinners and a few classes and we understood there what momentum that people wanted this type of engagement and education in a way that allowed for a more in-depth conversation. we grew and now we offer -- i think we had nine, we have a series where adults learned home cooking and we did a teacher training workshop where san francisco unified public school teachers came and learned to use cooking for the core standards. we range all over the place. we really want everyone to feel like they can be included in the conversation. a lot of organizations i think which say we're going to teach cooking or we're going to teach gardening, or we're going to get in the policy side of the

food from conversation. we say all of that is connected and we want to provide a place that feels really community oriented where you can be interested in multiple of those things or one of those things and have an entree point to meet people. we want to build community and we're using food as a means to that end. >> we have a wonderful organization to be involved with obviously coming from buy right where really everyone is treated very much like family. coming into 18 reasons which even more community focused is such a treat. we have these events in the evening and we really try and bring people together. people come in in groups, meet friends that they didn't even know they had before. our whole set up is focused on communal table. you can sit across from someone and start a conversation. we're excited about that. >> i never worked in catering or food service before. it's been really fun learning about where things are coming from, where things are served from. >> it is getting really popular. she's a wonderful teacher and i think it is a perfect match for

us. it is not about home cooking. it's really about how to facilitate your ease in the kitchen so you can just cook. >> i have always loved eating food. for me, i love that it brings me into contact with so many wonderful people. ultimately all of my work that i do intersects at the place where food and community is. classes or cooking dinner for someone or writing about food. it always come down to empowering people and giving them a wonderful experience. empower their want to be around people and all the values and reasons the commitment, community and places, we're offering a whole spectrum of offerings and other really wide range of places to show that good food is not only for wealthy people and they are super committed to accessibility and to giving people a glimpse of the beauty

that really is available to all of us that sometimes we forget in our day to day running around. >> we have such a philosophical mission around bringing people together around food. it's so natural for me to come here. >> we want them to walk away feeling like they have the tools to make change in their lives. whether that change is voting on an issue in a way that they will really confident about, or that change is how to understand why it is important to support our small farmers. each class has a different purpose, but what we hope is that when people leave here they understand how to achieve that goal and feel that they have the resources necessary to do that. >> are you inspired? maybe you want to learn how to have a patch in your backyard or cook better with fresh ingredients . or grab a quick

bite with organic goodies. find out more about 18 reasons by going to 18 reasons.org and learn about buy right market and creamery by going to buy right market.com. and don't forget to check out our blog for more info on many of our episodes at sf quick bites.com. until next time, may the fork be with you. ♪ ♪ >> so chocolaty. mm. ♪ >> oh, this is awesome. oh, sorry. i thought we were done rolling. ♪ ♪ >> you're watching quick bites, the show that is san francisco. and today you're in for a real treat.

oh, my! food inspired by the mediterranean and middle east with a twist so unique you can only find it in one place in san francisco. we're at the 55th annual armenian festival and bizarre. this is extra special not only because i happen to be armenian, but there is so much delicious food here. and i can't wait to share it with all of you. let's go. armenia, culture and cusine has had much cultural exchanges with its neighbors. today armenian food infuses he flavor from the mediterranean, middle east, and eastern europe. >> this is our 55th year and in san francisco we're the largest armenian food festival and widely recognized as one of the best food festivals in the area. we have vendors that come up from fresno, from los angeles showing off their craft. we really feel like we have something for everyone in the neighborhood and that's really

what it is, is drawing people to see a little bit of our culture and experience what we experience weekend in and weekend out. >> we are behind the scenes now watching the chef at work preparing some delicious armenian kabob. this is a staple in armenian cooking, is that right? >> absolutely, since the beginning of time. our soldiers used to skewer it on the swords. we have a combination of beef and lam and parsley. and every september over 2000 pounds of meat being cooked in three days. >> after all that savory protein, i was ready to check out the fresh veggie options. >> this is armenian cheat sheet. it's tomatos and mint and olive oil. that makes summer food. and what i'm doing is i'm putting some nutmeg. it is kind of like cream

cheese. in armenia when they offer you food, you have to eat it. they would welcome you and food is very important for them. >> in every armenian community we feel like we're a "smallville"age and they come together to put on something like this. what i find really interesting about san francisco is the blends of armenia that come together. once they are here, the way people work together at any age, including our grandmothers, our grandfathers, skewering the meat, it's fun to see. fun to see everybody get together. >> we call it subarek. it's a cheese turn over if you want. we make the dough from scratch. we boil it like you do for la san i can't. >> the amount of love and karin fused in these foods is tremendous. they come in every day to prepare, cook and bake bread, all in preparation for this big festival. >> nobody says no. when you come them, they have

to come tomorrow for the feast. >> what a treat it is to taste a delicious recipe, all made from scratch and passed down through generations. it really makes you appreciate the little things. >> it's one of the best festivals. it's outstanding, a marvelous occasion. >> we're outside checking some of the food to go options. i grabbed myself a ka bob sandwich, all kinds of herbs and spices. i'm going to taste this. looking fantastic. one of the best i've had in a long time. you know it's delicious b i have just enough room for dessert, my favorite part. we're behind the scenes right now watching how all the pastries get made. and we've got a whole array of pastries here. honey and nuts and cinnamon, all kinds of great ingredients. this is amazing. here's another yummy pastry made with filo dough.

oh, my god. really sweet and similar, it's lighter. this is what i like. we have a lovely row here. looks like a very delicious and exciting surprise. i'm going to bite into it. here we go. um. this is great with armenian coffee. now we're making some incredible armenian coffee. >> we buy our coffee, they have the best coffee. they come from armenia, specially made. and would you like to try it? >> i would like to try. >> would you like sugar or no sugar? >> no sugar today. i'm so excited.

really earthy. you can really taste the grain. i think that's what makes it so special. really comes out. i hope you try it. we're having a great time at the armenian festival. we ate, we saw, and we definitely conquered. i don't know about you, but i have to go down to the food. check out our blog for so much more at sf bites at tums abler.com. until next time, may the force be with you. ♪ ♪ >> first of all, everybody is welcome and we ask two things when they get here. one, that they try something they've never tried before. be it food or be it dancing or doing something. and if they feel like it was worth their while to tell one person and bring that person, that family member, that friend down the street to come with them.

>> we're going to have to do a lot of eating so get ready. >> get ready. and you diet tomorrow.