the meeting, not nearly as exciting as the legacy business stuff and it's our favorite part of the evening. thank you. appreciate you coming out tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. happy holidays. all right, next item, please. iet >> item 4, approval of meeting minutes. >> motion? or discussion? oh, first of all, any discussion, commissioners? no. do we have any members of the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. do we have a motion? >> i move. >> i second. >> okay. all in favor? aye. any opposed? that motion passes, 6-0. >> all right. next item. >> director's report, update

and report on the final regulations and permitting for adult-use cannabis, the office of small business and small business assistance center, department programs policy and legislative matters announcements from the mayor and announcements regarding small business activities. >> i will have a lengthy director's report since we have a short meeting tonight. to start with the legacy business program, so, ria algonado, our new staff person is handling communications for legacy businesses so we have now started producing press releases after the businesses come on to the registry. and as a result, we are now generating more press for these businesses and wanted to highlight that tomasso's received front page of the business section on december 7th above the fold, so it was a

really nice article. >> i was there last night. first stop, off the plane, dropped my bags, went there, and they are so delighted they got that mention in the paper. it will be framed and placed along the other mentions they have had. many decades of history. that is fantastic. and the more of that we could do the better. >> right. and hood line is very dedicated to really doing articles featuring the legacy businesses. but now we are making it easier for them to be up to speed on whose being added to the registry for them to do articles. so i'm very pleased about that. we started the logo and branding project. i made a list of whose on the committee. we had our first meeting last tuesday. and the first part of this project, which is the logo and brand identity, were we are estimating including

>> for a business to be on the registry, is it a requirement to be open and operating. that's one question that we should ask ourselves. since interruption is allowed for two years, then potentially a business that got on the registry could, during those two years open and continue operating. so shutting down, if that is not a finality, it is not a condition, not a reason for removal. >> being dormant. >> i think if you get on the registry and you can't interrupt your business for two years that question is premature. that person has two years to come back and operate. the question is -- >> how do we indicate it or not. >> in other words, i have not seen anywhere in our regs that

says if you are a legacy business, for some reason you have an interruption, you will have to justify your existence on that legacy. so you have two years to recover. am i right, or wrong? >> this is good for us to explore because there could be a situation where i business has to temporarily shut down and relocate. i think it goes back to the intention. if they intend to keep their business registration current. but we will bring that back for you. because i do think it merits some discussion or procedural way in which staff and the commission handle the situation. >> okay, good. >> today there was a press conference at ted's market. and i'll let commissioner zouzounis talk about this during director's report. with senator wiener, mayor lee

and director rafael from department of environment for sb-458, which senator wiener sponsored. and it allows cal recycle to approve up to five local jurisdictions to develop a pilot program that would allow for new and innovative redemption and collection systems. so right now the way the law is written, [coughing] it's written as though, when there is an entity that triggers a convenience, there needs to be stationary recycling center. as san francisco, we have been moving away from stationary recycling centers and using our land use in that way. but what's happened, i think, and you all are very familiar with this, our small businesses have become the de facto recycling centers. so this will allow the city to

develop a program, hopefully we will work with cal recycle, department of environment to make sure it's something they will approve and in doing something that will meet the requirements of the number of recycling centers that the state deems the city needs to have, so our small businesses are no longer having to act as our recycling centers. i also want to, i didn't make a note of this but i also want to bring to your attention, there is office of tourism. and it's been fairly quiet, but it recently came to our attention because of a letter they received saying they owed $300,000 to the office. as a business that was associated with tourism. which was not quite accurate

but we are still trying to flush out sort of exactly the criteria and the notification process meeting with that particular office. but i wanted to bring it to your attention because there could be businesses receiving a letter from the office, from the office of tourism saying you owe a fee to the office because your business has some nexus to tourism. >> i received one. >> you did? >> yeah. quite out of the blue. >> so we will be putting an announcement in the newsletter because we do want to hear from businesses who are receiving this to try to really understand sort of what is their nexus. around associating businesses with tourism. theoretically san francisco is one of the number one tourist

destinations. so could they say every business in san francisco has a nexus to tourism? there is an exception at $1 million and or if you have less than 1% of your revenue goes to tourism. it will be interesting to hear, commissioner dwight, what your communication is with them. but it's pretty much nearly every single type of business. it has the potential for a nexus in terms of their list. >> we were under the thresholds but i thought it was outrageous to receive the letter, frankly. it would come as a great surprise to any small business. and this idea that because be have chosen to be, to stay in this city because it is the city and have the city turn around and tax us because we want to call ourselves sf made

or san francisco-based businesses is really -- when we are paying all the other taxes we are paying, really seemed to be pretty crazy. >> right. and it's the state and so, we are taking a look at it. there is a group, there are several of us, including o.e.w.d. having some discussion and trying to develop a little more information to figure out what the, i think the plan of action the city wants to take around this because i don't think that we are concerned. >> the biggest thing it was a complete surprise. in ten years of being in business had never seen anything about this. and then to get it out of the blue, especially during these difficult times, seemed just like, really? cut me again. >> are we aware of any other state that has the same kind of

fee? >> we haven't looked at it. i know this was, the bit of information i do have, this was a bill that was passed in the late 90's, perhaps when schwarzenegger was governor. >> i think it was pete wilson. >> pete wilson. we looked at it. we aren't sure, we had one meeting with sf travel. we aren't sure how aware they are, this seemed a little bit of a surprise to them as well. this is supposed to be an office promoting tourism for the state of california, so you would think our sf travel, our local organization would be aware of, sort of, how this works. >> i assumed it came from the city. i didn't know it was from the

state. >> oh, interesting, okay. >> do we have any idea what kind of fee they are charging? >> it's based on a percentage of your sales that goes to tourism. i don't know the exact percentages. i can get that information for you. >> i can bring my notice in next time, just for fun. >> and maybe this isn't appropriate but is there any advice we could give our businesses? are they going to get a fine if they don't pay it? >> i think we are doing some research to figure it out. >> we are doing some research. i do know what has been told to us from the office of tourism is they aren't doing any sort of back retroactive. they are looking at now moving forward. >> okay. >> i'll go into it a little

more later but the mayor did sign the cannabis legislation on 12/6, on wednesday. december 6th. so it goes into effect friday january 5th. and i will talk a little more about that later. there are some local ordinances that have been referred to the small business commission. and we will work on scheduling these for january. one is supervisor peskin has introduced legislation amending the planning code to spell out some more specific definitions around retail sales and services for formula retail. then there is a planning code amendment to regulate restaurants and bar uses in the jackson square special use district. we will be hearing an administrative code process for establishing cultural districts. it's in the works and it's

being amended. but the idea when cultural districts are being established and there are legacy businesses, they are proposing a process where the commission weighs in and provides some feedback in relationship to the legacy business section of the cultural districts. and that one you are definitely hearing on january 8th, we will be getting some information out on that. and then supervisor ronan has introduced controls for mission neighborhood commercial district around lot mergers. which i think she also introduced some interim zoning controls, which is further down the page, which i think those two things are related. the interim zoning controls will immediately go in effect while she works on the long-term controls.

and then i want to highlight that supervisor peskin has introduced an initiative ordinance. this would be for the ballot. dealing with business tax regulations and administrative code dealing, adding an additional gross receipt tax on commercial rent. i will send out links to those so you can start reading the legislation. and then we did -- i wanted to bring to your attention, occasionally there are pieces of legislation that are referred. such as on page 3, the geary masonic special use district, these are when specific parcels are going through redesignation at zoning, the planning code for development purposes. so this is where the lucky penny diner was next to trader joe's. if that's the parcel.

development is happening here. so what i am now doing is responding that the commission will not hear it but that we encourage the planning department to have the developers do adequate outreach with the surrounding businesses. while there's not a lot of surrounding small businesses but across the street, the corner across from target and they are heading down geary toward the ocean, there are a few small businesses in that area. it's a busy intersection. so i can imagine with the construction it could get very congested and sort of interrupt. it could have impact for those immediate businesses surrounding it. and then there was a sugary

beverage tax ordinance that was really clean up ordinance referred to the commission but it was an administrative clean-up ordinance. so for the cannabis legislation, just a very quick run down of the 12 sets of recommendations that the commission that you recommended and what was included. so the board of supervisors adopted your recommendation to allow a 2-step process for what we are now calling the preexisting non-conforming businesses. they will have to cease operation to be able to stay in the queue. and will have to sign a declaration they are ceasing operations until they find a zone-compliant place. but at least, this is a process to allow them to be able to be in the queue for permits,

article 16 permits, come january. allowing cannabis to share spaces. supervisor cohen actually introduced the ability for small retailers to share space. each retailer has no more than 350 square feet of retail space and we are still determining the co-location regarding manufacturing. the state regulations, there may be an ability on the manufacturing side making a determination on that. but even if the state allows it, i don't know that we need to legislate it because we have similar processes in place already for manufactures who co-locate space and it's not legislated.

then on-site consumption. so there will be the ability for existing operators and some, existing operators who are now article 33 going into article 16, who will be able to do on-site consumption and smoking. there are some very specific criteria, so it will be interesting to see how this will work because some of the retailers do not have the space. you are required, if you are going to do smoking, you are required to have a separate room. so i think some of these details are still to be determined as to how they will be flushed out. the board of supervisors did create a pipeline for applicants who had registered with the department of public health but had not had their

planning hearing. there's some nuances with that and i will explain that a little bit more at a follow-up. >> okay. >> and then, i think probably the most important thing is, to your point, item 6, commissioner tour-sarkissian is allowing for the transition from non-profit to for-profit business structures during the application and transition from article 33 to article 16, or the preexisting non-conforming as they transition their business. so that process is being worked out on an administrative end. and then item number 10, which is the 600-foot radius. the 600-foot radius was maintained from a school. they very clearly specifically put in the land use regulations

there is no minimum radius for cannabis retail use to existing daycare center. there was a lot of discussion about whether to include that at the board. but it was made very clear that this was to be kept at the school level. for public and private schools. but then in addition a retail cannabis use, in addition to the 600-foot radius from a school, the second measurement is 600-foot radius from another cannabis retailer, or medical cannabis retailer. the exemption to that is if a small retailer, that's going to be occupying 350 square feet within an existing retailer, they aren't subject to that 600-foot criteria. >> could i ask a question about that?

>> uh-huh. >> what if it's a non-retail cannabis license? >> the non-retail cannabis license is not subject to -- >> that 600 feet? >> yeah. it's still to be determined -- are you talking about? >> if there's a distributor and a retailer, does that still apply, that 600 foot? >> i'm not sure that distribution. we would have to go back to the zoning whether distribution is allowed. i don't have this memorized, allowed where cannabis retail would be. >> it may not. >> it may not. slightly different for delivery entities but for distributors. and then lastly, to this commission, which was also very important is the local hire percentage. so for those that currently have a permit under article 33,

they are required to do a 35% local hire. and those that come on under article 16, new permits that are issued, they are going to be required to have 50% local hire. >> i forwarded to you the research paper assessing the enforceability of local hire preference programs. i want to get on this. i want the city attorney to be notified. i'm hopeful that the local hire requirements applied selectively to private enterprise and unrelated to government contracts and involving public funds are unlawful. and so, maybe we will be that base case. but this is going to be, this is going to strangle this business, this industry, having to hire local like this, it's ridiculous. we need to get the city attorney on this one right away. it should be top priority for

us. >> the request has been put in. when they do an official recommendation, it does -- it isn't like an immediate sort of email back. it has to be vetted through a process through the city attorney's office. i'm waiting to hear back from our city attorney on the estimated time line. >> we should definitely dog this. i can't believe this hasn't gotten press, or the industry hasn't screamed about this. this is a landmine for them. even if they get approved, there's a non-starter if they don't hire. >> i would like to read the last sentence of this paragraph. says director of office of cannabis may approve time limited reduction waiver by showing of the cannabis business in general it was unable to locate, for that cannabis business specifically, was unable to locate a

sufficient number of qualified local residents. it's such a high burden of proof, that is very difficult for a business to come up with evidence that it tried and could not. so this is important, including this aspect of what passed. submitted to the city attorney. >> and then the last thing, yes. also for the office to itself establish criteria, it took us a while even with the legacy business assistant grant in terms of verifying the number of f.t.e.'s and it takes at least an hour per application for rick and ria to go through and see how they are doing verification and that's a pretty simple verification.

the amount of staff time it will take to verify this. >> what are we verifying? >> on the city's end to be verifying what a business, you know, like to create established criteria what businesses need. you are talking about, what you mentioned commissioner tour-sarkissian is how a business is going to prove the efforts. but also the city needs to sort of establish some criteria to say this is the steps we need to see you have taken, to see if you aren't qualified for the waiver. >> i think it's fundamentally unlawful. we should start with the city attorney's office. >> the last thing i wanted to, just make sure the commission is aware of. the first set of processes that we are working with in getting ready for the january 5th is to

work with article 33 businesses, those that have article 33 permits so they can file for their temporary license and then be working them into article 16. and then the next criteria is working with those that do not have article 33 permits. what we are calling pre-existing conforming and are in a properly zoned place and getting them through the process and inspection so we could issue a temporary permit for them to be able to get their state license. or a temporary license for the state permit and then we will be working with the pre-existing and then bringing on also the equity program. >> okay, awesome.

>> also, i want to sadly acknowledge this is menica's last commission meeting. i want to extend my appreciation for her little over year and a half with us and your great work around all the cannabis and getting us through this big project and a significant milestone with that. i wanted to extend my appreciation. >> our commission would like to thank you for being a wonderful person in our office. i can't imagine how we will do without but wish you really good luck and we would like to present you with a little gift from the commission. >> best wishes for your next adventure. thank you for everything you

have done for us. have you set an extraordinarily high bar for the next person. it's unlikely anybody will be able to meet the standards you have set. thank you very much. >> and in closing, i do want to close in memoriam for donna lynn murphy, she worked there 17 years. while our office didn't have a high amount of engagement but she was very instrumental working with our workforce side of o.a.w.d. and the hospitality workforce program. so it was somewhat sudden. so just wanted to close with an in memoriam to her. >> thank you. is that it? >> that's it, unless you have questions. >> any questions?

any members of the public who would like to comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> 6. commissioner's reports. allows president, vice president and commissioners to report on recent small business activities and make announcements of interest to the small business community. discussion item. >> i have nothing to report. commissioners, anything else? commissioner yee riley? >> yes, i was at the city hall pop up on the 6th. >> me too. >> it was really well-attended. i saw a lot of interesting merchandise. >> yep. >> especially the rick shaw bags. >> thank you. we had a great day, it was very well attended. i was pleasantly, not surprised but -- >> i'm glad you were there. i only noticed your bags which is very masculine. >> thank you. >> and i notice you have very

nice washable cosmetic and tote bags. >> did you purchase? >> no. >> we had a good day. the mayor was on his way to our booth, he got detoured and never came back. we missed our photo op. anybody else have anything to report? >> mr. zouzounis. >> as director, you mentioned, we had a press conference earlier today and i spoke on behalf of the commission and also my role as a grocer in the community. i did heed the senator's office letting them know this is a very important first step but we still have a lot of work to do to hold the state accountable and to the bottle bill, amending the bottle bill, which currently mandates small stores to collect cans and bottles and out of pocket give

back that c.r.v. value. it's been a big unnecessary burden on the retail industry and this is an important first step but we have a lot more work to do so there will be more updates on that. as another note, the cigarette litter abatement fee went up to 75 cents. i think just like the bottle bill amendment, this is a good highlight of how recycling and litter reduction type of legislation does fall onto the small business sector and is often not regarded as a burden but more as a general responsibility that falls on the specific sector, so i think it was a good example of bringing these fees to the surface. i hopefully like to talk about that particular one more.

>> okay, any other comments. okay, seeing none. any members of the public who would like to comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> item 7, new business. allows commissioners to introduce new agenda items for future consideration by the commission. discussion item. >> any new business proposals? no. do we have any members of the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item. >> okay, we are, sfgovtv, could you please show our slide. >> it's our custom to end each meeting with reminder the office of small business is the only place to start your business in san francisco and best place to get answers to your questions about doing business in san francisco, the office of small business should be your first stop when you have a question what to do next. you can find us online or in person at city hall. best of all, all of our services are free of charge. the small business commission

is the official public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about policies that affect the economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco. if you need assistance with small business matters start here at the office of small business and the small business commission. thank you. >> item 8. adjournment. >> motion? >> i motion. >> second. >> okay, all in favor? aye. any opposed? all right. that motion passes. the meeting is adjourned at 6:27 p.m. >> it's a wrap.

>> good afternoon, welcome to the land use and transportation committee. the last one for the calendar year of 2017. for today -- [applause] monday, december 11, i am the acting chair of the committee, aaron peskin, joined by committee member supervisor katie tang, our clerk is mr. victor young. mr. young, do you have any announcements? >> yes. please silence all cell phones and electronic devices.

complete your speaker cards and any documents to be included as par of the file should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today will appear on the january 9, 2018 board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. mr. chair, would you like to take any action regarding the absence -- >> we will indeed, make a motion to excuse chair farrell. >> moved. >> moved by supervisor tang and take that without objection. i would like to thank the folks at sfgov tv for all of their work in 2017, live streaming the land use and other committees of the board w. that, mr. young, could you please read the first item? >> item number one is the resolution renaming the 600 block of stevenson street to oddfellows way to recognize the historic significance of the architectural and cultural contributions of the oddfellows have made to the city and county of san francisco. >> ms. lopez, on behalf of the

sponsor, supervisor jane kim, the floor is yours. >> great. thank you, supervisors. i'm here today before you on behalf of supervisor kim, supervising a resolution to rename the 600 block of stevenson street to oddfellows way in recognition of the oddfellows order which are on that street and doing a lot of giveback. the first high light is the stewardship of the street itself, caring and taking care of the alleyway in an area which is often difficult to care for as well as their arts giveback. as you know, that particular building is not only a historical resource center, the market street theater and lost district, it would [inaudible] on the interiors of that building. there is a lot of art and history happening right now. richard perry, one of gentlemen championing the renaming for quite a while, is one of artists in that building along with alonzo lei intersections, king ballet. they're very much an art cultural hub in the district and something we want to continue to preserve.

this has been an educational moment for me. i have learned a lot about the oddfellows, in particular the terminology itself came from a time where there is a lot of sort of rigid thinking around class structure during the air of industrialization and i learned that oddfellows itself comes from the mixing of social classes and from the mixing of people and so it's an organization that is inclusive and open to many and is focused on giveback and charity work. one of the things that they also do is they have our community courts there in that building. so, we do appreciate that. that building has also been a partner in our city to deal with conflict in the neighborhood. so we got a lot of letters of support that should be part of your general packet. some of the letters include some of our former supervisors, including matt gonzalez. and before i take up anymore time at the podium, i know we have quite a few individuals ready to give public testimony so i'd rather hear from the community rather than myself in terms of renaming of the street. thank you. and one more thing.

in the record, we also have our letters from public works and fire department and the police department in regards to the renaming. thank you. >> thank you, ms. lopez. and thank you for that. and while this street and building are in district six, i want to say that richard, a.k.a. lucky, perry is actually a district three resident and, as you said, ms. lopez has long championed this on behalf of the iooaf, a storied organization that exists in san francisco since the days of the gold rush and, as you said, has been really a profoundly important civic organization. including as set forth in the resolution and the encouragement of literacy. so, with that, we will open it up to public comment and ask our first speaker to be richard a.k.a. lucky perry who is a

renowned artist in his own rite and has his art studio in said building. mr. perry, please come on up. and congratulations for your dogged determination in convincing the district six office and my colleague supervisor kim to -- for this to the board of supervisors. >> thank you for the kind comments. as you said, my name is richard perry. but i just have to make one correction. it's spelled perri, not y. that is something i've been dealing with my whole life so far. so, anyway. >> i've been aware of that for many decades. >> ok. but i noticed on the thing it says -- >> oh, on the screen. sorry. got it. >> ok. so, with regards to the street naming change and the reasons why, it's primarily because of the presence and the contributions that the oddfellows have made to the architecture and to the benefit of the community, and san francisco as a whole. you know?

the cultural and community benefits that we provided. just to give you a brief history, as you mentioned, the odd fellows have been established here in san francisco for -- on september 9, 1849. and in 1885 is when we built the building in that section. as a result, though, of earthquake we had to raze that building and sacrificed the building for a fireline. but the contributions that the odd fellows have made just generally is that they had a cemetery here. the column bering was initiated by the odd fellows, a crematorium, library, literary club as well as a bank and we have aided the community in many times of distress in many ways. some of our members are noticeable to the city. sam brennan, charles deyoung, maynard stanford, geary and

samuel hail parker and also wyatt earp was also a member of the organization. today the membership is wide and inclusive and includes all races, colors, creeds, gender and any sexual orientation is invited. today the building still holds a prominent position in the neighborhoods. we have -- it is a totally arts related building on the area between 6th and 9th street and i am there, i've been there for over 20 years. there are other artists there. there are writers. peter seller two is a famous historian and novelist who's written a book about the history of oddfellows in san francisco. and we're actively involved in the community and we've improved the appearance of the neighborhood. i can go on and on. but i'll leave the rest of these comments up to the other people that are up to talk. but i thank you for your time and attention and appreciate it. and, yes, i am district three

and happy to be there. >> thank you, richard. >> one other thing. we are in the south pole, too. we have -- there was a man who went down to the south pole. his name is robert swann. and he wore a patch of the odd fellows so now we'll even down in the south pole as well. >> i love i. any other members of the public who would like to testify on item number one? please come forward. >> my name is brian schlesinger. i've been a member of odd fellows for 25 years. as a resident of the organization, i wish to give my whole hearted support for the street change. since 1885, the order has been a long-standing occupant of the corner of market street and stevenson street. since the time the organization has created greatly to city of san francisco providing relief to sick, distressed, widows and indin now.

-- indigenous. an example of this is a gathering for the homeless, mothers, things of that nature. we support that. we support the mission to feed the homeless and we do this annually in churches and during holiday season. we purchase supplies and assemble tube socks and toiletries for the homeless. we have a did versusty of membership of odd fellows. we're artistic and cultural building that provides the city of san francisco a totally arts-related building. we have a rich history in san francisco. you can see that by visiting our museum. we also do things for the s.f. food bank of san francisco. a large venture which we participate at least twice per year. we also help the children psychological center provide assistance to the children

directly traumatized by natural disasters. we also donate to red cross, project open hand, salvation army, harbor lights program, homeless children and network. we plan to be here for a long, long time. thank you very much. >> thank you, sir. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is peter sellers, the building manager of the odd fellows building. been there 19 years. and have sought through the transformation of that building when it was on its way out. and what i believe and what we're not mentioning here is we have 1300 members of the organization here in the city where eight lodges are doing those things that brian schlessinger just mentioned and we're doing so much more. we have given to the pets unlimited, the spca, you name it.

aids foundation. you name it, we support those entities. my lodge, number 15, is housed in that building and we're committed. we only give contributions and donations in our efforts to community-based organizations. so we don't take that outside the city of san francisco. and i ream want to em size the diversity of our organization. we're not the odd fellows of 50 yearsing a, we're the san francisco group that have come together in the name of odd fellows. so, we are -- we have every representation in our organization. every representation and i'm very proud of that. i'm very proud of the work we do. to the pasht of taking on what is now stevenson street to ado.ing that street to kind of

keep the hundred or so syringes we pick up each day off of that street. that is one of the biggest nuisances we have. i heard that we're all -- an all arts buildingment we're not quite there. we do rent to c.v.s. pharmacy. we are 80% arts, fraternal organization, nonprofits. 80% and that is if keeping with something i worked out years ago when i was on the steering community for the community benefits district. that we brought in. so, we are quite active. thank you. >> thank you for your testimony and for your work. next eke spaoer, please. >> hello, my name is pam hag an. we have been in attendance at the odd fellow's building since 2002. 15 years now. our ability to move our studios from the old building we used to be out at 50 oak was -- we thought it was impossible to do

until we met peter sellers and were introduced to his building and it became possible to have the full group of people that were part of our organization, move to this new location. odd fellows are not only doing things in the past, but they are so actively doing things moving forward and the support of arts in the very civic center, the center of the city, a difficult area now and it is beginning to prosper. a lot of arts groups may be finding themselves priced out of the place all together. that is not the case as tenants of odd fellows. they're very supportive. we have not only the performance company that's actually on tour right now in france, but we also have b.f.a. program with the dominican university of california. we have a training program for students who don't want to go through a college experience. we have open classes available to both cities.

we have community programs that we take out to schools both in san francisco and the surrounding bay area. we have lots of students that come in from our summer program. that we audition from all over the country and people come. some come from foreign countries even to be part of it. so we feel like a strong part of the community. i think they deserve all the recognition they can get. thank you. >> thank you. next eke spaoer, please. >> hello, supervisors. my name is jane. and i'm here to voice my support for the name change at the 600 block of stevenson to odd fellows way. i am the president of the homeowners association of a 250-unit mixed use building. our front entrance is on mission between 7th and 8th. but our back entrance is on the 600 block of stevenson.

we walk that way to get to market street. right now this block is a shooting gallery with open, intravenous drug use all day long and it is dirty and frightening. imagine walking along with your child, a 9-year-old, and explain what that man is doing putting a needle into his neck. around the corner at 7th and market in front of c.v.s. is an open market for stolen goods and drugs. we're working with the police, the pay your and the odd fellows but that area is worse than ever right now and we need your help to make cleaning it up a priority. they have commited to leading the way on recapturing this block, which we really appreciate with monitors and cameras and clean-up every day. their historic building is beautiful and they have completed a major rehab to enhance it. they keep their building full of active tenants to keep foot traffic active and keep the bad

things at bay. we like the idea of honoring the long history of odd fellows and think they are deserving that name one block to recognize them and their historic building. and besides, now when we call the police, at least we'll distinct address to call them to. on note, i'll be talking to you about the central market plan and specifically the goal five of that park and rec. i have the honor of recommending district six to an aed vie sorry committee and we have specific ideas where we want the public benefits allocated mid market in the tenderloin. they're the densest, poorest parts of the city and have the least square foot of open space. the gorgeous open space in our city circles the center, but leaves a hole in the middle which includes the odd fellows way. so thank you for your attention and congratulationss to the odd fellows. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is henry rosenthal.

i'm a nearly 40-year resident of the 700 block -- excuse me, the 500 block of stevenson, the one adjacent to the proposed odd fellow's way. and i would like to voice my support for this historic name change. and it is fitting in the -- in conjunction with the renovation of the extensive renovation done to the building and the restoration of our historic neon sign. so, this worthy organization of which i am also a member and have served at the local, district and statewide level is most deserving of this honor. thank you. >> thank you, sir. next speaker. if there are any other speaker, line up to your right, my left. >> good afternoon. i've been around that block of market street since 1977,

native san franciscan. i had the fortunate opportunity of meeting richard "lucky" perri while he was serve his art. it is in our office now. but i think the fact that the odd fellow's has been around so long and since it's probably been around before, i wish i knew the history behind mr. stevens or stevenson, but i think it is only appropriate that it should go there. and i think it will create a lot of interest about the odd fellow's organization. san francisco's a very culturally rich city and the more people that know about this cool, for lack of a better word, club, the better in my opinion. so, thank you very much. happy holidays. >> thank