it wouldn't hurt anybody. and we could use it for a community center. it took until january of 1999, when mayor brown issued an order to muni to stop their efforts. and work with us to fix the building. in 2001, this being san francisco, muni proposed and carried out a neighborhood celebration for the 100th anniversary of the geneva car barn. so in 2002, the nonprofit friends of the geneva office building and power house was formed. in 2003, we partnered with rec park informally, because rec park didn't own the building

then. we worked with the two agencies a little bit. and muni readily agreed to give it up for $1. so it was a bargain. [laughter] in 2004, we started working on the project. the office building over there was stabilized, with a new roof. this one wasn't stabilized at the time, it didn't need a new roof, but now it does. >> this is why we want to move -- >> yes. that's true. [laughter] the 2012 parks bond was the perfect opportunity to

get this thing funded. it didn't happen because of the bureaucratic situation our organization was in. we couldn't participate in it. so that opportunity went away. 2015, the arts commission and oewd jumped in again to try to move the project forward. the proposal was to do it in phases. this is phase i. we're celebrating the ground breaking of the beginning -- or the phase i effort. i want to thank, acknowledge mary murphy from gibson dunn, architecture services by aidan darling design. we've already met.

[applause] >> finally, the message of this message is phase i, great as it is provides only 3,000 square feet and one room. we also need phase ii, which is that side over there, with i has 17,000 square feet, many rooms and spaces of different sizes to multiply the number of events and activity we can have here at one time. thank you. [applause] >> ok. we're going to keep moving. but one brief correction, this project actually does have $3 million in 2012 clean and safe neighborhood park fund money.

so lots of funding from lots of different sources. so we're very proud of that. now, let's turn to the future. we've talked about the past. let's talk about the future. i'd like to bring up tom, from the arts commission, to introduce cass and the arts performing workshop to talk about what comes next. >> thank you, phil. it's so exciting to be here this morning. i have the privilege of being part of this project for the last six years and as a neighbor, i can't thank my community neighbors enough for this fight over the years. i know we have plenty of work ahead, but i'm committed as a partner at the arts commission to making that happen. this is a neighborhood with one of the highest density of children, youth and families in all of san francisco.

it's also a neighborhood that lacks a cultural facility like many of the other neighborhoods in san francisco, so it is overdue that we finally have a premiere cultural center in district 11. [applause] and it's exciting because it's not just this facility that is happening, we are also about to break ground on the art center with our partner art span. and we continue to work with incredible partners like youth art exchange, art span, performing arts workshop and all the arts and culture organizations that service and work in district 11. it's also the home to a growing number of artists as it's one of the last remaining affordable neighborhoods.

so, before i get to introduce our tamazing arts partner, this includes a public art project as part of the build-out and we have three incredible finalists. hank willis thomas, allison peb worth and they'll be putting together proposals for art in the building. we look forward to sharing that with you and getting input. i am so thrilled to introduce our partners at the community stabilization trust. we were hosting the deputy mayor of london and colleagues from london who are here to host a summit this november. one of the things they've been so excited about in san francisco is the community arts stabilization trust, otherwise

known as cast. cast was founded through a grant from a foundation and work with the office of economic and workforce development in the community loan fund as a holding company. they've helped save a number of arts in san francisco and have been critical partners in making sure the arts remain a critical part of san francisco. i'm sad that their executive director can't be here this morning, she's not feeling well, but so honored to introduce their director of real estate and partnerships and i'd like to welcome her up to say a few words about the project. >> thank you, tom. good morning, everyone. friends and long time supporters of the geneva car barn project. i am so excited to represent cast as the director of real estate and partnerships and on

behalf of the executive director, our staff and board of directors, we're so honored to be a part of this long-coming project. and we're excited to be part of the activation of the geneva car barn and power house. today is an important day and we're here to celebrate the ground breaking. let's give it up for the san francisco, the rec and parks department and the wonderful members of district 11 for whom this building is going to an instrumental part of the neighborhood. [applause] just to share a bit about cast work. we're a nonprofit in the business of cultural place keeping, through keeping arts and culture here in san francisco. we've done so through the support of a cohort of vision airs, generous funders and

completed our first two projects with luggage store gallery and, stabilizing two nonprofit cultural centers in the central market and tenderloin neighborhoods of san francisco. we can't wait to do more. we're excited to do so through the rehabilitation of this phase. a culturally rich and historic asset we've all known has been vacant for a very long time. our role is modest as cast. we've entered into a long-term lease with the city's rec and park department and we're looking forward to participating in the redevelopment and long-term operations of this space. as phil and a number of others have mentioned, we joined the chores of leaders for -- chorus of leaders. we're fortunate to be working closely with performing arts workshop, a nonprofit organization that has over 50-year history of providing youth oriented arts education

programming and we're excited to have them be the anchor tenant of this space and look forward to the reactivation of the building. i want to say how proud cast is to share this moment with all of you and we're eagerly anticipating the reopening of the geneva car barn and power house for arts and culture in our community. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. so next it's my proud honor to introduce emily, the executive director of performing arts workshop. for those of you that don't know, i have the honor of serving as executive director of performance workshop for nine years. i see my predecessor, jessica, who is a district 11 neighbor, who is now program officer with the foundation which has been a long time funder of workshop, this project and a number of

other cast projects. so please welcome emily garvey. >> thank you, everyone. i want to say first of all, what an unbelievable honor it is to be taking the baton along with cast in this final lap of the marathon that the renovation of the power house and car barn has been. when i walk into this space with folks, which i've done a lot over the last 11 months, everybody's breath is taken away and they comment on the light. i say, yeah, i know, but can you imagine what it's going to be like when the windows are done, there is going to be three times the light in here. that's not going to hold a candle to how bright and alive this place is going to feel when

it's renovated and filled with community members and children. the light and power generated by our youth engaged in the arts is going to rad yat past these walls out into the community and supervisor safai said, draw the district 11 community and beyond into this space and into district 11. we are so honored to be part of that process. when the power house programming is in full swing, we look forward to working with an additional 2400 community members and youth a year. we will be activating this space constantly. there will be young childhood programming in the space during the day, after-school programming, we'll be working with a variety of community partners talked about today, acting as a convener for the assets that exist to run adult programming, family arts programming. activate this space as a

performance venue. it's going to be a rich and vibrant facility. currently we work with 4200 kids a year, around 90 spaces. public school, preschools, after-school, transition housing for homeless families and we're excited to come to district 11 to put down deep roots in this community that we've been working in for 40 years. we're thrilled about that. it's fitting that the doors are wide open. when we come into this space, usually we walk in through the back and it's incredible to see the open door there. it is metaphoric in that when we are here as residents of the geneva power house, there will always be an open door. we're so excited to fill this space with arts and culture and the incredible energy of young people. thank you.

>> so mayor lee used to say, i'll keep it short. because i am. it's too late for that. but i'm going to put the microphone back. all right. here we are. i would ask everybody to come up and grab the group assembled here, you're all welcome. grab a piece of the shovel. we're going to turn some dirt. and then we're going to welcome you all back in early 2019 to the geneva car barn and power house. thank you, everybody. [applause]

three, two, one! [cheers and applause] [ ♪ ] >> on december 28, 1912. san francisco mayor, sonny jim

rolph stared into the crowds of those who have gathered. a moment in history. the birth of a publicly own transit system. san francisco municipal railway. muni as it would become to be known. happy birthday, muni, here is to the next 100 years. the birth of muni had been a long-time coming. over the years the city was disjointed privately owned companies. horses and steam and electric-powered vehicles. creating a hodgepodge of transit options. none of them particularly satisfying to city residents. the city transit system like the city itself would have changes

during the san francisco earthquake. the transition that will pursue from this aftermath would change san francisco's transportation system once again. facilitated by city boss, abe ruth, ushering in the electric city car. the writing was on the wall. the clammer had begun for the experiment including public transit people. owned by the people and for the people. the idea of a consolidated city-owned transit system had begun traction. and in 1909, voters went to the polls and created a bond measure to create the people's railway. would become a reality three years later.

on december 28, 1912, mayor sonny rolph introduced the new geary electric streetcar line and the new san francisco railway. that he said would be the nucleus that would host the city. and san francisco gave further incentive to expand the city's network. a project by way of tunnel leading into chinatown by way of north beach. in december the first streetcar was driven into the tunnel. just two years after its berth, muni had added two lines. and k, l and m lines that span out from westportal.

in 1928, the j line opened heading west to the beach. in 1944 san francisco voters finally approved muni take-over of the market street railway. by then motor bus and trolley bus improvement had given them the ability to conquer san francisco's hills. after the war most of the street-car lines would be replaced with motor or trolley bus service. in 1947, the mayor recommended replacing two lines with motor coaches. and it appeared that san francisco's iconic cable cars had seen their final days. entered mrs. cluskin, the leader to save the cable cars. arguing that the cable cars were a symbol of the city, and she

entered a charter placed on the november ballot. it passed overwhelmly. the california street cable railway was purchased by the city in 1952. there were cut backs on the cable car system and in 1957 only three lines would remain. the three lines that exist today. in 1964 the cable car's future as part of california's transit system was sealed when it was proclaimed a national historic landmark. in february, 1980, muni metro were officially inaugurated.

in that same year, muni received its first fleet of buses equipped with wheelchair lifts. in 1982 when the cable car had a shut-down, they added an alternative attraction to the cars. the festival was a huge hit and would continue for the next four summers in a permanent f-line that would extend all the way to fisherman's wharf, by 2000 the f-line was in place. and in 2007 muni extended the third line to the southeast corner and returning to third street. for the first time in 60 years. in the course of last 100 years, muni's diverse workforce forged

by men and women of innovation have reflected the many cultures that flock to the city. muni's ground-breaking antidiscrimination has guaranteed equal opportunity for all. the city's policy mandates the course for the future, as they work diligently to increase options and increase multialternatives, and deduce -- reduce the carbon footprint. it continues to improve the systems. during this sen -- centennial year we reflect on the transit system. driven not. >> i just feel like this is what

i was born to do when i was a little kid i would make up performances and daydream it was always performing and doing something i feel if i can't do that than i can't be e me. >> i just get excited and my nickname is x usher my mom calls me i stuck out like a sore thumb for sure hey everybody i'm susan kitten on the keys from there, i working in vintage clothing and chris in the 30's

and fosz and aesthetic. >> i think part of the what i did i could have put on my poa he focus on a lot of different musical eras. >> shirley temple is created as ahsha safai the nation with happens and light heartenness shirley temple my biggest influence i love david boo and el john and may i west coast their flamboyant and show people (singing) can't be unhappy as a dr. murase and it is so fun it is a joyful instrument i learned more about music by playing the piano it

was interesting the way i was brought up the youth taught me about music he picked up the a correspond that was so hard my first performing experience happened as 3-year-old an age i did executive services and also thanks to the lord and sank in youth groups people will be powering grave over their turk i'll be playing better and better back la i worked as places where men make more money than me i was in bands i was treated as other the next thing i know i'm in grants performing for a huge protection with a few of my friends berry elect and new berry elect and can be ray was then

and we kept getting invited back you are shows got better we made it to paris in 2005 a famous arc we ended up getting a months residencey other than an island and he came to our show and started writing a script based on our troop of 6 american burr elect performs in france we were woman of all this angels and shapes and sizes and it was very exciting to be part of the a few lettering elect scene at the time he here he was bay area born and breed braces and with glossaries all of a sudden walking 9 red carpet in i

walgreens pedestrian care. >> land for best director that was backpack in 2010 the french love this music i come back here and because of film was not released in the united states nobody gave a rats ass let's say the music and berry elect and performing doesn't pay very much i definitely feel into a huge depression especially, when it ended i didn't feel kemgd to france anymore he definitely didn't feel connected to the scene i almost feel like i have to beg for tips i hey i'm from the bay area and an artist you don't make a living it changed my represent tar to appeal and the folks that are coming into the wars these days

people are not listening they love the idea of having a live musician but don't really nurture it like having a potted plant if you don't warrant it it dizzy sort of feel like a potted plant (laughter) i'm going to give san francisco one more year i've been here since 1981 born and raised in the bay area i know that is not for me i'll keep on trying and if the struggle becomes too hard i'll have to move on i don't know where that will be but i love here so so much i used to dab he will in substances i don't do that i'm sober and part of the being is an and sober and happy to be able to play music and perform and express myself if i make.

>> few people happy of all ages i've gone my job so i have so stay is an i feel like the piano and music in general with my voice together i feel really powerful and strong

>> president adams this is a regular meeting of the small business commission held on monday, march 26th, 2018. the meeting is being called to order at 2:01 p.m. the small business commission thanks media services and sfgovtv for televising the meeting. members of the public please take this opportunity to silence your phones and any other electronic devices. public comment during the meeting is limited to three minutes per speaker, unless otherwise established by the presiding officer of the meeting. speakers are requested but not required to state their names. please place speaker cards to the right of the lectern.

speaker cards will be called in the order they are placed in the basket. sfgovtv please show the office of small business slide. great. welcome, everybody. it's our custom to begin and end each small business commission meeting with a reminder the office of small business is the only place to start your new business in san francisco and the 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 questions about what to do next. you can find us online or in person here at city hall, and 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 here in san francisco. if you need assistance with any small business matter, start here at the office of small business. welcome, everybody. >> item 1, call to order and roll call. >> commissioner stephen adams. >> here. >> commissioner kathleen dooley. >> here. >> commissioner mark dwight. >> here. >> commissioner william ortiz cartagena. >> here. commissioner irene yee riley. >> here. commissioner miriam zouzounis. >> here. >> next item, new agenda items. discussion item. >> do we have any members of the public who would like to make comments on anything not on today's agenda? seeing none, public comment is

closed. next item, please. >> item 3, approval of legacy item. the applicant is kabuki springs and spa. >> thank you, commissioner. like superman each time. good afternoon, president adams, commissioners. office of small business staff, richard corillo. sfgovtv, i have a powerpoint presentation. the application before you today is for your consideration for the business to be included on the legacy business registry. the application was reviewed by me for completion, then submitted to planning department staff on february 7th for their review. historic preservation commission heard the application on march 7th and

made a positive recommendation to the small business commission. for the applicant, the commission has been provided a staff report, a draft resolution, the application, a case report from planning department staff and rose lution from the historic preservation commission. there are copies on the table for the public. the applicant is kabuki springs and spa. the largest japanese bathhouse and spa, known for communal bathing facility, world class massage, skin care and body treatments. the business was developed in 1968 as an essential part of the japan cultural and "tradecentre". kabuki building which was a separate development featured dinner theater, sushi bar and bathhouse. kabuki bath springs was seen as

a new and uncommon business and it became popular for young americans looking for a unique experience. the spa under went a major renovation in late 1998 and reopened february 1999 keeping the footprint of the bathhouse and bringing the ethos of the communal bathhouse into the 21st century. co incidentally this wednesday, march 28th is the anniversary. in partnership with the city and county of san francisco, japan town merchants association, the japan center malls, residents, merchants, non-profits and spiritual leaders will celebrate the anniversary on wednesday at 11:00 a.m. at japan town peace plaza. remarks by city leaders, and a blessing. it received a positive recommendation from the historic preservation commission.

after recommendation from the h.p.c. staff finds it meets the criteria for listing on the legacy registry. note that a motion should be in favor of the resolution. in the resolution, please pay close attention to the core physical features or traditions that define the business. once approved by the small business commission, the business must maintain these physical features or traditions in order to remain on the legacy business registry. for kabuki springs and spa. this concludes my presentation, i am available to answer any questions. and i know there are members in the audience who would like to speak. >> president adams: any

comments from commissioners before public comment? >> i just want to say how important it is, this was one of my mentors. on the rare occasion we didn't provide the utmost service in our hotels, kabuki springs was some of our service recovery. i'm glad to hear that you are here. thank you. >> president adams: any other commissioners before we hear public comment? okay. that makes me want to go over there and get some hot rocks on my back. [chuckles] let's have public comment. >> i have four speaker cards. sandy maury, ingrid summer field, greg moratani and cathy nelson. >> my name is sandy mohry and i chair the board of directors for the task force which is a non-profit organization based in japan town. our mission is to try to

maintain and promote economic development. the san francisco japan town is one of the three left in america. the other two are in san jose and los angeles. i'm here to ask you to support the resolution prepared for you to support the kabuki springs and spa. this particular business has been a very important cultural heritage role in our community. thanks to cathy nelson, the owner and manager of the spa, she not only runs the spa but she is very active in the community. she participates in the cherry blossom festival in its planning efforts. she has been on japan center board of directors and now on our newly formed japan town community benefit district board of directors and we always welcome her participation in a very active way. so as you see in your write-up of this particular recommendation, the authenticity of this spa is

very crucial. the whole idea of communal bathing facilities, the massage services especially shiatsu and steam room and tubs, japanese baths. thank you, commissioners for allowing me to testify. but i highly recommend this particular project. >> president adams: thank you. next speaker, please? >> good afternoon, commissioners, i'm ingrid summerfield and i've been involved with kabuki spring and spa probably 15 years. what's important about this property, it's authentic, it's part of the community, part of san francisco, part of the neighborhood. it also really keeps its prices and affordability low for people to be able to enjoy.

and i full heartedly -- not full heartedly, wholeheartedly support this project and the legacy. i think it's good business for the community. thank you. >> president adams: thank you. next speaker, please? >> greg moratani. before cathy took over there were few who knew who worked at the spring and spa. her outreach to the community has been simply the kind of thing that invokes community spirit for everyone. i also want to recognize richard for his fine work. he has been real helpful. cathy has always said he answered everything and helped as much as possible. we believe that with the fact this will be the first legacy business, private business operating in japan town if so

designated we look to others who belong there too, the hardware and some others. we hope when they find out the benefits and the promotion that legacy business provide, and with the announcement hopefully on wednesday that the first one, 50 years old, is now on your registry. so we look forward to a favorable decision. thank you. >> president adams: thank you. next speaker? >> thank you, commissioners, for hearing me today. i want to say, thank you, rick for all your help in all this. it's been a real interesting process. thank you very much. it's so important to me that within japan town that we are the first legacy business to be announced and in two days with this 50-year anniversary, i think it's coming together in a very fortuitous way. i'm very excited about it.

i just want to really say that i hope that kabuki can remain that place for san francisco and san franciscans for the place of wellness, and emotional and physical healing that it has been for 50 years and that it's going to continue to be. thank you. >> president adams: thank you. any other speakers? okay, seeing none, public comment is closed. any other commissioner comments? commissioner dooley? >> i just wanted to say yet another extremely deserving business will be hopefully added to the legacy and this is what our city is really all about. >> president adams: commissioner dwight? >> yeah, this is great. i want to thank you all for going through the process. i know it's laborious and tedious but i think greg stuart is helpful.

spread the word amongst your fellow businesses in japan town. it would be great to get some more. i know there are some businesses that have been there a long time, so let's try to build out a business in japan town, thanks. >> president adams: any other comments? i would like to comment myself. i love kabuki. i'm a customer. and the whole japan town center is like one of my favorite places in all of san francisco. when i bring people from out of town, they go there. when my parents used to visit they used to spend the whole day at japan town shopping for christmas items. so japan town is very special to me when i lived here, i lived in pacific heights and that's where i would go every night for dinner, i discovered sushi and noodles and all sorts of good food. the stewards of japan town, keep doing what you are doing, because it's a special place in san francisco.

and kabuki bathhouse, you keep going. i want hot rocks on my back right now. [chuckles] it's a very, very special place. congratulations, and thank you for even going through this process. commissioner riley? >> thank you for coming. i'm not a customer yet, but i'm sure i will be. thank you very much. >> president adams: do we have a motion to approve kabuki hot springs? >> so moved. >> second. >> we have a motion by commissioner william ortiz cartagena, seconded by commissioner mark dwight. roll call. commissioner adams. >> yes. >> commissioner dooley. >> yes. >> commissioner dwight. >> yes. >> commissioner ortiz cartagena. >> yes. >> commissioner zouzounis? >> yes. >> motion passes 6-0. thank you. [applause] >> president adams: next item please. >> item 4, board of

supervisors, file number 180053 planning code, massage establishments union street neighborhood commercial district. ordinance amending the planning code to conditionally permit massage establishments, as defined, in the union street neighborhood commercial district, affirming the planning departments determination under the california environmental quality act, making findings of consistency with the general plan, and the eight priority policies of planning code section 101.1, and findings of public convenience, necessity and welfare under planning code, section 302. presenter is ellie miller hall, legislative aide. >> thank you. >> thank you, my name is ellie miller hall. thank you for hearing this

today. this allows massage establishments on union street to be conditionally permitted. currently they are entirely prohibited. we support a path to contribute to our local economy. we support this process only apply to the union street n.c.d. and for the limited time of 18 months. because massage is currently not permitted on union street these businesses wouldn't otherwise have a path to legalize. a few existing businesses continue to operate. thank you. >> president adams: that's it. that simple? we go from honoring a massage establishment to granting possibly another. any commissioner questions on this? you want to permit with a conditional use massage establishments on union street and union street n.c.d.? >> yes, that's right.

>> president adams: are there any other there now? >> there's three currently within the n.c.d. that are operating right now. >> president adams: so they need this to continue operating? >> correct. >> president adams: okay. any commissioner questions? >> will they have to go through the c.u. process or be grandfathered is this ? >> diego sanchez from planning could help answer those specific questions. >> diego sanchez, the ordinance allows them to do a neighborhood notice, not do the conditional use. >> okay. >> president adams: any other commissioner comments? commissioner zouzounis? >> yes. i'm just seeing this as kind of a trend where we are having to have supervisors come in and make conditional permits that are amending a code on the books for businesses, for individual businesses. i'm just wondering if the supervisors are having that conversation as a whole looking

at planning code that restricts certain licenses, whether massage or tobacco and why we have to keep going back to make loopholes and maybe reassessing some of that legislation that creates those obstacles? >> it's my understanding this is a neighborhood generated. moratorium. isn't it? they decided in that neighborhood they didn't want massage parlors in that area. this points to the problems that we have when we have moratoriums in n.c.d.'s and community benefit districts and parts of the city. thinking that, oh this makes sense now but not thinking forward where we might want to readdress this. this is not so much -- this has not been generated by the supervisors or by the legislative process. it's been generated by the people in the neighborhoods who have wanted this. >> but there are more examples, correct?

>> correct. >> president adams: this would be a great discussion for our next item, item 5. the n.c.d.'s came about in 1988 and the world has changed since 1988. >> that's why i always caution people who come here with those types of proposals. >> president adams: so speaking to this item only, if we don't have any more questions by commissioners, can we open it up to public comment? do we have any members of the public who would like to comment on item number 4? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners? >> well, i move to support. >> second. >> clerk: we have a motion by commissioner yee riley, second by commissioner dwight. roll call. commissioner adams. >> yes. >> commissioner dooley. >> yes. >> commissioner dwight. >> yes.

>> commissioner ortiz cartagena. >> yes. >> commissioner yee riley. >> yes. >> commissioner zouzounis. >> yes. >> motion passes 6-0. >> president adams: a+ for simplicity. thank you. item 5. please. -- 4 please. >> small business feedback and recommendations to the state of retail sector report. regina dick-endrizzi director of office of small business. >> i'm sorry, i intended to get this to you last week but things got a little busy. so at the top of the document are the recommendations, programmatic recommendations that amy cohen provided just to review. and below are the commissioner

recommendations. and i just bulleted them out based on the commissioner that proposed them. they are similar things. so before sending onto the office of economic and workforce development, the recommendations that you provided them, to amy and to joaquin last week, or last meeting, i wanted to just take an opportunity to just review them and if there was any -- and allow you the opportunity if there was anything in addition that you might want to add and affirm what your recommendations are. >> the one item, and commissioner zouzounis did bring it up in our last presentation, you know, it seems like we do these one-offs on each districts on the n.c.d.'s with changes. and the one thing they need to

do citywide is to relook at the city n.c.d.'s that are named and are specific. i know castro upper market, we have been wanting a vet in our neighborhood. and in the commercial zone, the 1988 plan says you can't have a vet hospital in upper market or in the castro n.c.d. so it's those little things i think need to be reviewed citywide with all of them. you have several neighborhoods that ban banks and banks are going away. why even have that on the books any more. >> okay. >> i think in terms of -- i think it's good that neighborhoods revisit their

n.c.d.'s regularly every couple years. a sweeping generalization that goes across all n.c.d.'s because everything has a different story but think we really need to get it out there to these n.c.d.'s that say if they want -- they want to change the veterinary to allow what they need at this point to go to their supervisor and -- >> president adams: i appreciate that. you said something that's very key. san francisco is unique and every single neighborhood is unique and different. and they shouldn't do everything as a blanket to copy each neighborhood. i believe each neighborhood should have a say and get the neighborhood together. and a lot of the n.c.d.'s still need changes. i'm sure north beach there are things you don't want now that you have too many of, that you want more of. >> we just revised it in 2017.

we review it every couple of years. >> president adams: we tried doing that in the castro and we didn't go anywhere. i think it's one of the reasons we have a vacancy problem in our neighborhood. >> so with the recommendation, the city support to the merchants and residential neighborhood surrounding to take a look and revisit. >> president adams: more neighborhoods are more proactive than others. ours is pretty active but the person handling ours passed away in planning. i was trying to think of his name. nepscott. >> i know. >> president adams: we were in the middle of it and i can't think of his name and he passed away and it just stopped.

i know that affected everybody in district 8. >> uh-huh. sort of leading to that, one of the things that i also somewhat observed attending the council district merchant meetings over the years, a lot of the merchants associations don't even understand their planning code of the n.c.d.'s >> i agree. in our n.c.d. we have people on the merchant board and on the residential board who specialize in this and are available to talk to prospective business owners on the business side.

review zoning for residential and have regular meetings where planning and zoning meetings, that's all they do is invite people that maybe want to start a project or whatever to come present it and let them know if there's anything that could be a problem or hiccup that will delay their progress. i think we do need to encourage the other n.c.d. groups to find someone and you know, maybe give them a seminar or whatever. i think it is essential that people in the neighborhood know what the planning is, what the code is. just to prevent problems. you know, good and bad. some days we can say you can't really apply under this designation, but how about this one right here?

that's a role i think the organizations need to take. >> president adams: commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> i agree with commissioner dooley. i think there should be like, like all the recommendations should run parallel because each n.c.d. is unique and merchant is a separate network. i want to say a lot of things we pass like item 4 is always reactive and somewhere down the line there's a small business that wants to come into place or is impacted. at the very least we should come up with another strategy, or a strategy that allows or enables small businesses to counter the n.c.d. regulations that are in place, zoning regulations at a faster pace. i know we have the c.p.3 -- >> c.b.p.3.

>> [chuckles] c3po? >> that should run parallel to something that is a little more -- you know, if your corridor wants a vet hospital, it shouldn't be burdensome. that alone, just going through a conditional process shouldn't discourage a potential business. if i was going to open a business, i'm not going through conditional. conditional use is hard. even when you have the support of the community it's still hard and it's costly. just to keep that in mind as we keep the recommendations parallel. >> when the commission heard the revisions to the massage both health code and planning code regulations, you know, you did specifically mention the fact that places where it is non-permitted, while they were retaining that, but i don't think there was an opportunity

to really meet with each of the n.c. districts to ensure that's what they had intended and wanted. so you had made the recommendation that -- you had made the recommendation back then that it should be conditional use, you know. >> i think another thing is -- >> [off mic] >> i think another thing we need to talk about is -- >> president adams: commissioner dooley? >> is that the planning department desk? i have heard so many times that the people working there are actually not very well-informed about n.c.d.'s and just issue things and don't let them know what's actually in the code. it's like they should have a copy of the n.c.d. and hand it to the person who is going to

apply. i just heard many errors that have lead to disappointment or problems. people need to be informed right up front what the n.c.d. they want to go into allows, or doesn't allow. >> president adams: any other comments before we go into public comment? commissioner zouzounis? >> yeah. i would just like to state again that i would be in favor of not more resources but more mitigating fees, as a general theme in this. i think really putting that to the culture of, you know, the supervisors that a fee can't be used to balance the budget any more. small businesses can't be the crutch for balancing the budget in the city any more. and we can save