worse off. i think that's pretty significant relative to the size of your program. is there any other points r elated private equity that i missed? >> over the last year, your portfolio appreciated about $500 million driven in that particular time. i know that growth has been an initiative over the past several years and it's playing out very well for you. >> i think there's one more point that we should talk about which is announcement of your fees by management fee and c arried interest. in your program, your management fees are about 90 bases points. relative to the market, it is actually lower than most other

systems from a management perspective. over the last year, your interest paymentsing s aggregatd about 1%. added another 100 bases point to the cost of your program. the good news with that specific number is that carried interest is a performance-based sharing of profits. it means your program is done well. your managers have done wl. they realized lot of gains in that last year. relative to the size of your program, at this point, consistent with the market in terms what people paid out in carried interest. >> commissioner casciato. >> commissioner casciato: i read all these reports. is there anything bad news in them that you want to explain to

us? anything that concern with. that not performing well. what is the bad news in this? >> i don't think there's bad news. there are characteristics of your portfolio that we discussed prior to your arrival sir. one of them is you have a big portfolio. you have a lot of names relative to your active managers represent about a third of the overall size of your private equity program. last year, we discussed the notion that this might be a good environment to reduce the size of the portfolio through some secondary sales and the secondary market continues to be robust. i think there's complexity with managing large portfolio. there's a lot of obligations that are imposed on staff monitoring 300 names. the other part of the portfolio, i think we've touched upon in the past, benchmark for private

equity is unrealistic in today's environment. the s&p 500 plus 500 bases p oints a very aggressive benchmark. the 500 bases premium over public has been used to reflect the ill-yesterdayty ill-liquidc lass. there's a loot of secondary capital chasing opportunities. so the liquidity premium is something that i would reinvestigate with the assistants of the general consultant and cam bridge and ourselves included. those are administrative issues you should think about in terms of managing the portfolio. things that we worry about overall tied to just the overall investment climate, rise in interest rate and lot of c apital, it's just a worry sometime to be an investor.

i think the advantage of the class is managers can move in a prescribed manner sometimes independent of factors. i think that's one the virtues of private equity. your portfolio is well position. as anita said earlier, the american investment council surveyed 165 public pensions over the last several years. last eight or nine years. your programs, private equity component has been in the top ten in each the last several years for which they done that survey. relative to your peer group, you've all performed e xceptionally well. you should be proud of that. your team, your relationships and your portfolio construction.

i hope that's responsive to your question. >> president stansbury: any questions from the board? commissioner driscoll. >> commissioner driscoll: all three your reports here, the page has index begins. you use the phrase gains. that's a phrase that can be confusing to people that mixed up with rates of return and numbers are not quite the same. the thing this footnote number three the way it's written. let's say don't agree -- i appreciate what you trying to d o. it's wonderful. maybe we should try to fix that. my suggestion is, i can talk with you and one -- -- to clear that piece of paper up. >> absolutely. >> commissioner driscoll: thank you. >> president stansbury: open up for -- we'll hold public c omment. any more questions about the private equity side? my apologies i do wish that we were able to spend more time on these things. i do enjoy some of these deep

dives. agenda sometimes run long. can we call both 12 and 13 together? >> performance has been good. relative to your benchmarks. i'm not going to repeat what's been said about real assets. cambridge did good job covering it. in terms of private credit, you're well ahead of your benchmarks which is a good t hing. questions? >> president stansbury: for me, one of the big things i like to ask, what are the red flags or the risks that can be actually mitigated? something we can actually take action against? >> i think one of the things you've done very well is to create a diversified portfolio. that's a proactive mechanism to

create to manage risk. each of these asset classes part of the return opportunity because they are risk m itigating. i think bill and art have created a well constructed portfolio that should give you some insulation in a six sigma event. for us, on our side of the business, manager selection portfolio construction. you've done both of those pretty well. >> president stansbury: other questions from the board? seeing none. why don't i open up for public comment. any members of the public like to address the commission on items 12 or 13? i see some -- no members of the public, aisle -- i'll close

public comment. >> it's a new effort for us. end of 2017, we had 1.6% of p lanned asset on our way to 10%. there's not much to talk about in terms update. we talked month ago about our strategy plan. i think it would be helpful to hear from cambridge if you have interest and time to talk little bit and do it quickly about the private credit landscape which we expect going forward. i know there's been discussion about the pace we build that portfolio. i think that cambridge had comments that was relevant to you. >> that's fine. bring them up.

>> thank you commissioners. we have todd. >> thank you commissioners. i'm todd from cambridge associates. i work with your team on private credit plan date. -- mandate. liquidity it remains abundant. bank lending is accurate. we're seeing financial capabilities across the board. there are signs of austerity creeping in. senior loan officers started to increase their decline as monitored by the federal r eserve. that liquidity is reflected in

low spreads. not far off it. can be seen on the private equity side as well by rising by multiples. that liquidity could be turning with rising libor as you probably know. there's an increase in rates this morning. we can expect the central bank to ease off its buying and take some liquidity out of the s ystem. we're also seeing very low bond inventories. we're seeing the curve flattening. quality remains very strong. commercial bank charge off rates hovering around 50 bases points. well beau 90 bases. we're seeing default rates very low. the one caveat is that the range of forecast for the next 12

months is very high. the range of outcomes -- it's very difficult to predict. we believe that way portfolio is now is one position. we believe it's time to start thinking about special finance and more opportunities and strategies that can take advantage of changes in credit landscape as these dynamics develop further. i'll leave it there. >> president stansbury: question s from the board? none. okay. anything else you want to point out? any red flags or anything for concern? >> we are working on a strategic partnership with one private credit manager. we'll be bringing that recommendation later this year. we .

>> with relationship to pacing we're going to be cautious. we're at a late stage of the credit cycle. we want to get established so that we can have some flexibility in an ability to take advantage of opportunities. whenever there's a credit crisis or credit crunch, we can take advantage of those opportunity. we need to get that established by the end of the year. in the meantime we'll probably bring six to eight i i eclectc between now and end of the year. >> there's interest rate protection that's being offered through the investment reporting to the board.

>> president stansbury: commissi oner driscoll. >> commissioner driscoll: they do break down of industries where all the debt is. one of the ones i did not see listed, is transportation. highly capital intensive area there maybe a lot of o pportunities. to see it not listed, it means it's mislabeled or you don't look there. >> we have exposure and it's been large contributor to r eturn. i'll get back to you on that. >> commissioner driscoll: thank you. >> president stansbury: great. thank you very much. that will conclude items 12 and 13. can we take -- we already called for public comment. can we take item 14 as submitted or can we push it to the next meeting? >> i can do three pages of a.

only reason it's important first negative quarter we had s&p 500 in about four years. you did extraordinarily well. maybe that's all i should say. >> president stansbury: why done we call item 14. >> i would be happy to be brief. if you turn to page 16. a top line is your total fund performance. that is the time waited for the fund for one, three and five years, your returns have been substantially higher tan your seven and a half. bill is going to report on his report fiscal year to date, you're already almost at 11%. we'd expect, unless june c rashes, it year you're going to have fiscal year return 7% r

ange. you have more equities than median public fund. look at your three month rank. you have more equities than the median public fund. which returns nine bases points thu were at 1.3. is extraordinary. you got there partially because of extraordinary performance on your active managers, your equity portfolio did extraordinarily well. .1 extraordinary performance versus your assumed rate and peers. as you can see from the risk statistics your risks is g radually reduced as it will be and staff implements your new plan. if you turn to page 17, this is your asset allocation target versus people and policy range

all policy within range. under allocation versus long term policy are absolute return 5% and private credit, 8%. new and setting up that money that is not in those asset c lasses resides largely in equity. that is part of your outperformance but it's also part of risk as everybody has heard here. equity markets are incredibly overvalued by historic s tandards. if you turn to the next page, we talked about diversification. cambridge and tory cove talked about diversification as your best long term protection. your total portfolio level look at the bar to the right which is your policy versus where you've been. you'll see much less concentration in equity. you have the effect of adding

absolute return which is a very strong risk mitigator and the private debt. good positioning for the future, extraordinary performance from what you done. i'll stop there. every single asset class that you are invested in with the exception of absolute return outperformed benchmarks in the quarter. >> president stansbury: thank you for that report. i will open up for public comment. any members of the public like to address the commission on this item? seeing none. close public comment. any questions from the board? >> i read the pages statistics versus universe with interest. i had a quick question about one year performance. just taking a look at the sharp ratio comparatively. do you have concerns where they are. we've been looking pretty good over the last three, five, ten

plus years. this one is little bit different in terms of relationship between the two. >> again, your portfolio more recently is shifting to more diversification. as you do that you're lowering the volatility in portfolio. thattives you a high -- that gives how higher sharp ratio. you had higher ring than your peers you've been awarded for i t. as markets get more threatening, you have moved to a more diversified -- your targeted to move to more diversified portfolio. it takes time to do that. but in the meantime, i think you certainly have -- you should have concerns about the amount of money you have in equities and the equity markets are highly valued and diversifying into other asset classes.

it's going to be an important objective. i don't see any over concerns there. your active managers have done extraordinarily well in combination with one another in a difficult period. they've outperformed very substantially. >> president stansbury: commissi oner driscoll. >> commissioner driscoll: i'm going to suggest to my c olleagues on the brooder. - board. pages 31 through 33. it's a break down of effects. we talked to you about the tactical allocation that cio is making. all the uncalled capital, uncommitted capital are parked in one of the asset classes. how has that helped us or not? these numbers indicate that has helped us yet in terms of earning additional points and keeping contributions down. it's not very well understood

chart. at least it's graphical. i thought i bring that to your attention. >> i'll be happy later date when we have more time to walk through that. there's more time. that page that does suggest breaking down that out performance. versus managers doing better than benchmark. joe said, for the one year period, that 1.3% is strong. only 39 bases point is tactical positions. it's not a ton but it has been positive. largely because the money has been parked in equities and equities have done well. that's an over simplification. your manager selection is quite strong. it's in the same categories just heard tory cove talk about real assets, global equities outperformed. very substantial and consistent

performance across asset c lasses. >> president stansbury: i think this is area for board to have more discussion around. i would find way to come back later day to talk more detail about what happened in first quarter. it is a test case. we have public comment and ask questions. why don't we move on to -- how is the board on time? people need to go? we're going to take item 19 and 21 as submitted. for good of the order. we have a sense where that is. that will happen next month. member reports and comments. we'll take those as submitted.

our last item is item 15 then. public comment on all those. all are continued. last item of the day is item 15 then. >> item 15 is manager's under review. every quarter we have an obligation to -- >> for the items you're a ccepting, submitted, you'll have public comment. >> president stansbury: i'll be continuing next month. >> managers under review for the quarter. we have mechanic al process for placing public managers on a list. if they happen to under perform their benchmark ovree to five year period or if concern about staff turnover or organizational changes or violated the guide guidelines. if my view this is a mechanical process. we had eight managers last quarter, three of which have

come off. i would state really from mechanical reasons these three stand capital i reference earlier all of them are actually well ahead of their benchmarks. and past performance exceeds their peers 50% of their peers over other time frames. fast what i will highlight. those three have come off. we have not added any -- i'll leave it to your question. >> president stansbury: question s from the board? no questions. comments? open up to public comment. any members of the public that like to address the commission regarding this item? close public comment.

commissioner driscoll. >> commissioner driscoll: no comment. >> president stansbury: i thought maybe you were going to ask a question. anything else regarding that o ne? >> no. >> president stansbury: we'll continue everything else. is there any objection from staff? all the other items being continued. please correct me on this, do we need motion to adjourn? meeting adjourned thank you everyone. monday, june 11, 2018.

the meeting is being called to order at 5:37 p.m. the small business commission thanks media services and sf gov tv for televising the meeting or live streamed at sfgovtv.org. members of the public please take this opportunity to silence your phones and electronic devices. public comment during the meeting is limited to three minutes perspeaker. speaker are requested but not required to state their names. completion of a speaker card while optional will help ensure proper spelling of speakers' names in the written record of the meeting. please place speaker cards in the basket to the right of the lectern. speaker cards will be called in the order in which they're placed in the basket. additionally there is a sign in sheet at the front table. sfgovtv please show the office

of small business slide. >> thank you, everyone. welcome and it is our custom to begin and end each small business commission meeting with a reminder that the office of small business is the only place to start your new business here in san francisco and the best place to get answers to your questions about doing buss in san francisco. the office of small business should be your first stop when you have a question about what to do next. you can find us on-line or in person here at city hall, and best of all. our services are free. 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. thank you. >> clerk: item 1, call to order and roll call. [roll call]

>> clerk: mr. president, you have a quorum. >> great. thank you, next item, please. >> item 2, general public comment. allows members of the public to comment on matters within the small business commission's jurisdiction but not on today's calendar and suggests new items for the commission's future condition. >> okay. do we have any members of the public that would like to make a comment not on today's agenda. come on up. welcome. >> thanks. nice to see you all again or most of you, at least. i'm rick french. i have the animal company, and i just wanted to -- suggest i go on the record about what's coming up a week from thursday which is the planning commission hearing on the healthy spot issue. i say issue because it's stirred up quite a bit of controversy, but i think it's pretty simple issue that noe

valley is not supposed to have any chain stores in there unless there is some need or desire, and they do knno harm, and in this case, there is no need, there is no desire, and they would do a lot of harm. and they plan on opening up right around the corner from my store, and we've been in business in noe valley for 43 years. so as my other fellow merchants, they would be affected, also, and they're only two blocks away. so i just want toded to go on record, saying that come to the hearing next -- next thursday, and you can be a public speaker, too. so if there's any questions on any of it, i could answer them. >> thank you. >> no? >> during -- yeah, there can't be back and forth engagement during public comment. >> oh, okay. just one way. okay. thank you.

>> thank you. any members of the public that would like to comment on items that are not on today's agenda? the more, the better. >> i'm sage. i own v.i.p. scrub club, and my partner owns v.i. pichlt grooming, and again, i am -- v.i.p. grooming. again, i'm going to reiterate what rick said here. i want to thank you for your last meeting and supporting local businesses, and the hearing on the 21st. if you know anyone or want to encourage anyone or have as many people at that commission meeting advocating for our local businesses, advocating for our pet businesses. we feel it's so important that we are able to bring our pets to places where the owner is right there, and you can talk to them and discuss any issues you have, and i just don't see how a chain grooming store is advantageous to our city,

particularly when our city already has a lot of great local stores in it. so thank you again for your support, and if anybody can show up at the hearing, that would be amazing. thank you. >> thank you. any other members of the public? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> clerk: item 3, approval of legacy business registry applications and resolutions, discussion and action item. the applicants are the animal company and v.i.p. grooming, sf, inc. the presenter is richard kurylo, legacy program manager. >> good evening, president adams, commissioners, office of small business staff. richard kurylo, legacy program manager.

sfgovtv, i have a presentation. before you today are two applications for your consideration for the businesses to be included on the legacy business registry. the applications were reviewed by me for completion, then submitted to planning department staff on may 9 for their review. historic preservation commission heard the applications on june 6 and made positive recommendations to the small business commission. for both applicants, you have been provided a staff report, a draft tionlu the application, a case report from planning department staff, and a resolution from the historic preservation commission. there are copies on the table for the public. item 3-a is the animal company. the business is a small, neighborhood pet store located in noe valley. the animal company was founded in 1976 as a full line pet store, selling troppical fish and birds, along with the

products to maintain these animals. in 2001, after 25 years of business, rick and allen french purchased the animal company and molded the store to fit their vision while providing individual character. it was provided to put the emphasis on what they new best: tropical birds. in addition to exotic birds, they carry a large variety of supplies for dogs and cats in noe valley and the surrounding location. they moved to 1317 castro street in the heart of noe valley. item 2 is sf grooming, inc. the business was established in 1984 at 24 and douglas streets

in noe valley. in 1996, yancey wu took over as a full-time owner. she is a nationally significant person for the role in the historic right to marriage case wu versus locklear. v.i.p. grooming sf inc now provides services for 2,000 dogs. if approved by the s.b.c. for the registry, both locations would be included on the registry because they fall under the same employer identification number, have the same business name, which is v.i.p. grooming sf inc and have the same ownership and business model. both businesses received a positive recommendation from the historic reservation commission.

after reviewing these applications and the recommendations from h.p.c., staff finds the businesses have met the three criteria to qualify for listing on the legacy business registry. there are two draft resolutions for consideration by the small business commission, one for f th o legacy business registry applicants. note that a motion in support of the businesses should be a motion in favor of the resolutions. in the resolutions, please pay close attention to the core physical features or traditions that define the business. once approved by the s.b.c., the businesses must maintain these physical features or traditions in order to remain on the legacy business registry. for the animal company, it's pet store, for v.i.p. grooming, it's dog grooming. this concludes my presentation; i'm happy to answer any questions. there are business representatives in attendance who would like to speak on

behalf of the application. >> any questions before we go into public comment? okay. let's go into public comment. do we have anybody who would like to make comment on our legacy businesses today? come on up, it's your turn to speak. >> i'm rick french, but i feel like some of this is going to be redundant, but -- and this is ellen. she snuck up behind me. 43 years ago next month, victor and gary opened up the animal company, and actually, i was one of their very first sales people, so i've been connected to that store for quite a while, and it was -- you go in there, and you tried to write the orders. it's your typical little neighborhood pet store that had hamsters and guinea pigs and tropical fish and birds. all this stuff was crammed into

a little space, but it was a neat little space and it fit in noe valley, and the customers seemed to like it, and it was a fixture in noe valley. over the years, you'd see kids, volunteer. a lot of them would get their very first job, part-t job just cleaning fish tanks, and that just kind of continued on for the next 25 years. kids grew up and moved onto school, and another generation would follow them, and it would just be this endless cycle of kids coming in and learning about the pets. that went on for 25 years. and gary and victor decided -- actually, victor passed a couple of years before that. but gary decided it was time for him to move on after 25 years. he gave us a call, and we had been selling him birds for quite sometime because we were breeding birds at the time, and he said he was either going to

close the store or sell it, and i was working in corporate still, and didn't want to do that anymore, so i jumped back into it -- we talked about it, and we jumped back into the retail business, and right then is when all the big box retailers were coming in, and internet sales, so we really had to kind of switch our focus and find our niche to compete, so we did what we knew, which was the birds. so we kind of scaled is back on some other things, skill providing dog and cat food and the supplies, and we focused, and that's our niche. people come to see us from all over the state, out of state, because it's the place to come. and they come to san francisco and particular, noe valley, where we are, and that's a good thing, i think. so eight years ago we moved to the heart of noe valley which i think is right at 24th and

castro, and -- excuse me, and plan to be there for quite sometime, i hope. but know, we're fighting a new battle, and we talked about that earlier, the encroachment of that pet supply and dog grooming chain. so i'm confident, i think, that we have a lot of support in the neighborhood, other merchants, and we're going to succeed in it -- and prevail next week, a week from thursday, and that's going to be our legacy. >> thank you. >> all right. thank you. >> next speaker. you have three minutes. everybody has three minutes. >> okay. good evening, commissioners. v.i.p. grooming is honored to be considered for legacy status. v.i.p. grooming has been serving noe valley since 1984. i purchased the business from

my boss then mentor in 1989 and have carried on and hopefully improved by the business of business care. i am now training what i believe to be the excellence of dog grooming in my shop, and it is my intention to have these young groomers take over the business when i retire and take over the tradition of v.i.p. pet grooming. i believe what sets us apart is their sincere love of dogs and their people. we truly love what we do. for us, it's not just a way to make a living, it's a way of life. we are not just teaching our employees the love of grooming, we are teaching them the ability to gain the trust of dogs. once their trust is acquired, they will allow you to do the work you need to do. we rarely have to cage,

restrain, muzzle a dog. this technique has gained the praise of many dog owners as they are amazed that their dog love their grooming experience. love and respect are the bed rock of how we are. it is how we treat our customers, our dogs, our employees, and our community. as owners, we are in our store every day and take the time to get to know our customers, as well, they get to know us, we know our families. we cry with them when their dogs pass, and we rejoyce with them when they get a new puppy, and if necessary, we band together and fight what we believe is right for our neighborhood and our city and our world. when i was asked to be the name claimant for the right to marry

lawsuit, i knew i needed to be the champion, and i was grateful for the customers that encouraged me during this time to fight for what was right. there were many ups and downs during this process, and progress was slow, but finally, we did prevail. thank you. >> in 2016, our customers requested we consider opening a second location on church street in the recently vacated k-9 scrub club location, and in a few months, v.i.p. scrub club was born. we expanded to add more stalls and a small retail section. we have been able to add some other events, rescue fund raising events, and a doggie dental clinic. like any new business, we are still finding our way but

building on the bed rock of v.i.p. grooming's foundation of respect and love for all dogs and their people, the new location is starting to blossom. we have been thrilled with the support and feedback we have gotten from the community so r, whi tells us we are on the right path. recently another community issue has arisen which we feel needs our attention. we have banded together with other pet store owners and are fighting to keep a predatory pet store chain from coming into our community. we know we cannot sit idly by when our community is being threatened. we believe the status of being a legacy business will help v.i.p. dog dooming and scrub club -- dog grooming and scrub club, and we thank you for your consideration. >> thank you. any other members of the

public? president adams, commissioners, good afternoon. my name is chris walker. i'm a manager at v.i.p. grooming. it was about 2007 when i answered an ad on craig's list for a job i didn't know existed let alone qualify for. a day or two later, standing on eye tree lined noe valley sidewalk, my face-to-face interview with owner lancy wu felt anything but odd. for the next ten years, i would have the honor of contributing my service to a business that established itself not only as the center piece of a thriving san francisco pet community, but as a bastion of compation and integrity in the service of animals. the personal touch that lancy has always provided to her clientele and her compassion to

educating not only her staff by all things pet care have cemented them as a legacy business in their own right, my day consists of addressing families and dogs by name, and hearing about their upcoming plans. so much more than just a job, our lives are interwoven with the stories of our neighborhood, through generations as we navigate the ever changing landscape of our shared landscape and our home. this has allowed me to experience life at ground level, all from the humble storefront at 24th and douglas. i thank you for listening to our perspective, and i heartfully request your decision of granting legacy business status, so that after

lancy and i have moved on, we can rest easy knowing the familiar pet haven. >> thank you. any commissioners have questions or comments? commissioner dooley? >> yeah. i can't think of two better businesses that contribute more to our community, and they can never be replaced by companies that have headquarters somewhere and just do not reflect the life blood of the community that they're in, and that is something that's so important to us right now in keeping our identity in san francisco. so i congratulate both of you on an honor well deserved. >> commissioner dwight?

>> well, i want to thank all four of you for going through the process of becoming a legacy business. i know there's a lot of work to be done, and i know that richard here is a great help going through it. for as long as you're in business, it's so rare that we reflect on our past, because who has time to do that. so forcing yourself to kind of go through the process and document your history, i think is great because it also establishes that sort of living legacy for yourselves and whoever you might pass your business onto. i also appreciate you coming out today. it's great to have you here to testify on your behalf. i hope that the timing is perfect for -- as you wage your battle next week at the planning commission that you both as legacy businesses can maybe have even more weight and -- as you weigh in on the discussion, and so best of luck to you in that -- in that battle, and hopefully, victory will indeed be your legacy

there, so thank you very much. >> any other commissioners like to make comments before we get a motion? i'd just like to say, first off, again, thank you both for coming out tonight and applying for legacy business status, and i want to thank supervisor sheehy for nominating you. and the animal company, i can't tell you how many times, you know, all the little kids in my neighborhood, and i live up on twin peaks, when they're in noe valley, they've got to stop and see the birds. and v.i.p. grooming, you've been an institution for as long as i've lived in san francisco, and that's 25 years, as 24th and douglas. you're right next to the restaurants and everything, and you just -- what you've done for the community is awesome, in your private life and in your business life, and i just

want to thank you and commend you for that because that wasn't easy, and that was part of that fight. and if -- that wasn't an easy fight. so i just want to thank you both and congratulations. do we have a motion? >> i move that we approve both of these businesses as presented. >> i second. >> clerk: we have a motion by commissioner dwight, seconded by commissioner yee riley. roll call. [roll call] >> you can vote. >> oh, i can. >> it's just the minutes. [roll call] >> clerk: motion passes, 7-0. >> congratulations. >> awesome. thank you. [applause] >> congratulations, commissioner corvey, you just

passed your first -- >> thank you. >> motion. >> your name is high up in the alphabet. >> okay. next item, please. >> item four, board of supervisors file 171140, administrative code, process for establishment of cultural districts. ordinance amending the administrative code to create the process for the establishment of cultural districts in the city to acknowledge and preserve neighborhoods with unique cultural heritage and require the mayor's office of housing and urban development report to the mayor culture districts preefg establish -- previously established by resolution. presentation. >> welcome, and you know, the legacy business, you don't need to hang around for the rest of the meeting if you don't want to. >> you're welcome to. >> you're welcome to if you

want. >> we have to run. >> back to work, yes, go prep. >> and commissioners, we also have brian chu from the mayor's office of housing who's also going to be part of the presentation today. >> good afternoon, commissioners, good afternoon, director. thank you for having me here. i'll be speaking on behalf of supervisor hillary ronen. supervisor ronen introduced this legislation back in october and our office has worked over the past months to incorporate input from city departments, existing city departments, community leaders and supervisors from the abobo. what this legislation does is formally recognize cultural districts in san francisco and creates a formal process for operating them. it provides a framework for city departments to invest resources to preserve them through a creation of cultural

districts and any accompany stablization funds. this legislation shapes cultural districts as community stablization tools within neighborhoods. we think of cultural districts as areas where certain communities have established themselves historically in san francisco, areas where these communities have brought a rich diversity of cultural artistic and aesthetic traditions and life to the neighborhoods they inhabit. for example, we have the latino cultural district on 24 street in district 9, the soma filipinas in district 6, communities that have been marginalized and been oppressed, they make our neighborhoods in san francisco

an amazing travel destination. it is these neighborhoods that prevent san francisco from becoming a cookie cutter city where every neighborhood looks and feels the same. supervisor ronen believes that we must do everything we can to preserve and strengthen these rich consultures in our neighborhoods. cultural districts are -- cultures in our neighborhoods. cultural districts combat the displacement that has led to shrinking the kmeconomic diversity in our city. because of the housing crisis in our san francisco, we're not only losing the people that makeup these cultural districts, we are losing the businesses that provide the rich products that you can only find in those neighborhoods. we're losing the art and cultural organizations that exist for these communities to express themselves and bring vitality and art into our

lives. we're missing that place making that made us the envy of the world. so supervisor ronen has created the formal concept of a cultural district as a way to fight back while saying yes to positive change. we currently have five cultural districts in the city and two cultural districts in the making. supervisor cohen is working with community in the bayview to create an african american arts and cultural district in the bayview, and supervisor sheehy is working to establish the lgbt castro districts. so this legislation is about ensuring that these districts thrive and also about providing a framework and support to enable new ones to emerge. so here are the main components of the legislation. one, create a clear purpose and set of goals for the city in establishing cultural districts, including stopping displacement of vulnerable

communities, providing economic opportunities, promoting affordable housing and home ownership, attracting arts and entrepreneurship, and promoting the city's tourism city. and for that, of course, we see small business as a critical part. number two, defines what a cultural district is, and establishes a process for creating these districts. number three, clarifies and formalizes rules for city departments in providing support to cultural districts via data analysis, programming, and guidance in economic development, leading culture and arts, community development and affordable housing, public infrastructure, planning and zoning protection. and four, provides structure for financial support and public oversight when funds are provided to cultural districts through public grants or private donations through both

creating a fund and providing an opportunity to create a citizen advisory committee for each cultural district fund. this legislation, just like cultural districts themselves, are a collective effort. we want to thank brian chumro the mayor's office of housing and community development, and the office of economic and workforce development for being key partners in helping us collaborate with the city's family with all city departments, including the arts commission, the planning department, the entertainment commission, the small business office, public works, and more to strengthen this legislation during this time. big thanks to the cultural district organizers who provided input and are active in protecting our vulnerable communities every day. there is -- and with all of this, there's also still more work to be done. we're very excited to engage with mohcd in a series of

convenings to develop guidelines for procedures and i ever willmentition as so we can define what the program will look like and how it will engage with stakeholders on the ground. we look forward to engaging you as commissioners and the small business office to ensure that small businesses continue to benefit from being within cultural districts. we see this program working simile to the legacy business program in the sense that we will continue to refine and increase its potential ove time. we look forward to the continued work together, with cultural districts to protect the unique identity of our city, and we thank you in advance for your support and collaboration, and i'm available to answer any questions. >> thank you very much. commissioner comments? commissioner riley?

>> yes. can you give me some background information on this cultural district? how did it come about, and would this district be specifically within another district or would it crossover more than one districts? and is this program still in working? -- work in process? it's not done yet, is it? yes. >> yes. so part of the history is actually we've had defined ways of defining critical districts. many years ago japantown started a process to designate themselves as a special area, as a cultural district. calle 24, about three, four years ago was created via resolution by supervisor david campos at the time to have this kind of special designation to be able to bring more attention

and resources to the area, knowing that a lot of the small businesses and the people in the area were getting displaced. and then, with time, we've had a lot of other cultural districts created, and it's been a little bit haphazardly. it's been great that city departments have been very interested and very supportive in the process, but we really haven't had a formalized process, and it's also never been codified. the cultural districts have been worried that if we don't coddify them, for any reason, we could have city departments make not invest as much resources as they've had so far, so we wanted to make sure that we coddified it, that we

institutionalized it and make sure that it's the importance that the city has been given to the cultural districts. and we're making sure we have more details as we continue to implement. >> i also notice that chinatown in north beach was not on the list. is that something that we would look at in the future? >> so it's something that comes from the ground up. the communities that have created cultural districts have gone to their supervisors to get that recognition, and we've actually reached out to chinatown, and they're trying to figure out how they would like to do that, and if they would like to do that, and the same with north beach, like, what way would they like to do it; like, what are the boundaries, what are the stakeholders. >> so who will be doing the outreach to these areas? >> the city supervisor for that district. >> okay. so the supervisor would be working with merchants and the

community. >> mm-hmm, yes. yes. and the city departments are key helping this. o.e.w.d. and m.o.h.c.d. have been critical in all of the cultural districts that have been created in making sure that there's a lot of really good community engagement that includes stakeholders in it a way that represents the neighborhood and not only a small group of individuals. >> thank you. >> commissioner zouzounis. >> thank you so much for your presentation, carolina. this is exciting and i'm glad that we're becoming part of the conversation as it's growing into a more comprehensive program. i do have a couple questions around the cultural history, housing, and economic sustainability strategy and those reports and what usually triggers those and what they specifically contain,