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 business 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 resolution, 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 each of the 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-time job just cleaning fish tanks, and that just kind of ued contin 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 far, which 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 chu from 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 over 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, and i know me and you ahave talked about what this will contain

for retaining small businesses in these districts, so yeah. my questions center around what kind of tools would actually be able to help, you know, the economic sustainability of these cultural districts. >> yes, that's wonderful. thank you, and precisely that report, what it hopes to do -- is to ininvite input and assessments by the author of the legislation right, so let's say hillary in district nine, defining which departments should be weighing in through that report about let's say calle 24 cultural district. through that series of reports, what we want to hear is what are the current recommendations, using the current law, using the current departments we have in each department to see what's

actually going to work in this area for that district. and so in that way we're going to be able to use maybe laws that apply, let's say in north beach. that could be replicated in the mission to be able to help small businesses remain, right? or let's say it's the arts commission actually doing a really great work with mural making in the mission and being able to translate that to district three in chinatown, right? so we want to be able to have more intentional collaborations through that report in getting recommendations from the different city departments as to how to best leverage our city resources and policies so that it can -- so that we can actually help small businesses. the other piece is we want to make a lot of connections, especially with the legacy business program and try to be creative in what our new legislations and protections that we can create?

for example, we're already kind of experimenting with that on mission street around having special provisions for, like, areas where we have legacy businesses, right? if they are -- like, for example, we have current income controls that if you displace a small business that is a legacy business, you won't be able to get another business in that is not a legacy business for about three years, right, and we're trying to figure out if that can disincentivize property owners, for example, from displacing small business owners that have been there for a long time. they want to be experimental and creative, and in that way, we want to continue working with you, the small business office to figure out what else can we do to ensure this

remains and potentially grows over time. >> commissioner cartagena ortiz? >> carolina, i want to thank you. i know the mission is like a big center for displacement, but the more tools you have in the bucket, the better your chances of fighting displacement. so i appreciate this. thank you. >> i'm going to say a couple few words here. first off, i've got to thank you, and i love this legislation. and the way -- and i want to thank supervisor ronen, and the way you guys did it. you reached out to oewd, the office of small business, the mayor's office. i've been following this since the beginning, and it's the collaboration of everybody coming in to do this.

and it's really exciting because in my district, we're going to have an lgbt district that we're working on in the castro. miriam -- ted's is really big in the leather district, and a new leather district south of market, and i just -- i learned the history of ted's market, and it was so touching. and they played a big part of the south of market culture, and what's happening now in the bayview with the african american district. so this crosses all over everything, and it's wonderful. and what you said earlier is ideas that may work in the mission can maybe work in the co castro or maybe work south of market or in chinatown. to answer your question, irene, about the districts. it wouldn't cross its boundaries, so for chinatown,

it would probably be historic chinatown, which would be between bush and broadway, kearny and, what, powell? you know, but it would have to come from -- from the community, like, where those boundaries are set. >> so it won't cross districts? >> you mean, supervisor districts? oh, it can cross supervisor districts. >> okay. >> it -- some district -- you know, the districts are the districts, but geographically, i think there's parts of the mission that go in, you know, to district 8 and district 9 are all mixed up, you know, you know? so yeah, it could cross supervisor districts. >> that's what i want to know. >> yeah, so it can definitely cross districts, and this ledge latiledge -- legislation, i like it

because it gives it the teeth. if you have your people in your neighborhood that want to start this, there's now a guideline and a template to do that. and i think it's done wonders for the mission. i think you're starting to see more and more businesses retain there, which is awesome. that's one of the thing i want to work on in the castro where we have lgbt businesses that i don't know are going to be around in five years, and this is going to help it. same thing in chinatown and south of market and some of these other neighborhoods. i can't really tell you how much this excites me and what a great job. and thank hillary ronen for, you know, using all the city resources and bringing everybody together with this one. commissioner dooley? >> i was going to say it's a great move on your part. i'm from north beach, so we have been in the policy of using zoning and planning to

try to preserve the ambiance and history of the neighborhood. this is pretty inspiring. i'm going to bring it back to my neighborhood and see if we would like to join in. we're one of the original cultural areas, so thank you so much for putting it in a codified manner. >> any other questions before we go to public comment? >> can i add something? >> yeah, commissioner zouzounis? >> something that has been brought up with other bodies, there's also culturally specific sectors of the workforce, right, and i would love to see some kind of language in there, whether it's, you know, restaurants, you know, nail salons, corner stores, wherever we see certain cultures, demographics, historically working in, i would love to see some language that points to certain sectors

of the economy that if they were displaced or if legislation went after this one particular sector that that would be impairing, you know, the cultural sustainability of that community. >> that's great. thank you. we would love to meet with any of you, all of you through regina or directly in whatever ways and discuss the policies and guidelines for implementation to make sure that we are keeping all of these factors into the conversation. thank you. >> any other questions before public comment? okay. do we have any members of the public who would like to comment on item number 4? >> good evening, brian chu, director of community development for the mayor's office of housing and community development. just wanted to add my support for this legislation and to say that as we've been working together with supervisor

ronen's office it's been -- it's a great opportunity for us to be able to work for collaboratively with the office of economic and workforce development with the small business commission, the arts commission, planning, dpw, and there's so many departments that kind of affect these districts, it's sometimes confusing for us to figure out who we should invite to the table. and if it's confusing for us, i think it's going to be confusing for the typical average person to figure out how to contact to work together. that's going to be one of the difficult pieces of this legislation. it forces the city to work together in a collaborative way, and sometimes we need that push to make sure we're all playing well together, so we're very excited about this opportunity, and we look forward to working with your office as well as these other offices to put this whole exciting program together. >> great. thank you.

>> thank you. >> any other members of the public? seeing none, public comment is closed. any other commissioner questions? this is a discussion item, not an action item. commissioner dwight? >> actually, commissioner zouzounis brings up an interesting point. this is defining a geographical district as sort of a hub of activity and cultural identity, and yet, there may be cultural -- there may be things of cultural identity that actually span the entire city, whether because it was something that happened to serve the city geographically and is will have disbursed because of that or because there's been a diaspora of cultural identity in the city because it's been unable to maintain a physical location that defines it, so it's at least an intellectual exercise to go through. is there a notion of a cultural

district that is county wide that should be identified as one, a legacy worth preserving in some form or fashion. >> for future discussion, i'd presume. >> okay. any other questions? thank you very much, and great job. this is something very good, so thank you. >> yeah. great. >> okay. next item, please. >> clerk: item 5, approval of meeting minutes, action item. in your packet are the draft regular meeting minutes from april 9, 2018. -- i'm sorry, april 23, 2018. >> i need to ask for your recusal. >> okay. we need to take a vote on this. first off, do we have any members of the public to make a comment on commissioner matthew corvey's recusal?

>> and commissioners, just -- sorry, a little coaching here, but recusal because you were not present at the meeting. >> we cannot vote on it. >> so you can't vote on it, just for the record. >> do we have any members of the public? seeing none, public comment is closed. do we have a motion to accept matthew's recusal? >> i move. >> second. >> okay. moved by commissioner yee riley, seconded by commissioner dwight. all in favor? all opposed? motion passes, 7-0, with -- 6-0. 6-0. so now, we'll go onto the minutes. >> okay. any comments on the minutes? do we have any public comment on the minutes for april 23,

2018? seeing none, public comment is closed. roll call. >> i move to approve as submitted. >> i second. >> clerk: okay. we have a motion in support of the minutes by commissioner dwight, seconded by commissioner yee riley. roll call. [roll call] >> clerk: motion passes, 6-0. >> great. thank you. next item, please. >> clerk: item 6, director's report. update and report on the office of small business and the small business assistance center. department programs, policy, and legislative matters, announcements from the mayor, and announcements regarding small business activities. discussion item. >> good evening, commissioners. i want to start off the director's report by welcoming matthew corvey and have him

take a moment to introduce himself to you, and then, after that, i think it would be great for each of you to give a brief introduction about yourself to matthew during the director's report, and then once that's done i'll continue on with my regular report, so turn it over. >> thank you. thank you, regina. my name is matt corvey. i'm a native san franciscan. i graduated from st. ignatius. 43 year member of the olympic club and currently play on the basketball leagues out there. i started my first small business when i was in my 20's, which was a lighting company that basically sold lighting and maintenance supplies to big manufacturing companies. from there, i went into the bar and restaurant business in my 30's. i started bartending in 1992, and then opened my first

restaurant-bar and night club in 1997, and i have owned seven in total. currently, i own may's oyster house, which is on polk, and the blue light cafe on union street. i not only do the ordering and inventory and book events, but i also bar tend there every night, so i -- i take full advantage of, you know, the restaurant-bar and night club business. i also raised all the money to start each one of these businesses. and why i wanted to be a commissioner, first of all, i'm so excited. this is so exciting to be up here so be a part of this ---to be a part of this team. i also wanted to be on the small business commission to be of service to my city, of course, and support our mission to retain and attract small businesses back to san francisco. and most importantly, i look forward to utilizing my small business management experience

to provide a voice to our local neighborhood businesses. so i -- i can't tell you -- i can't thank you guys for being here and allowing me to be here, and i'm really looking forward to getting started, so thank you guys. >> welcome. >> so commissioner adams, why don't we just sort of go down through the roll call line and have each commissioner. >> start out with commissioner dooley? >> hi. kathleen dooley, 33 years owner of columbine design floral. i have also over the years spent a lot of time working with small business groups, trying to help them survive in this really tough climate. i am currently now also involved and am employed in the cannabis industry, which has just opened up so much education to me and so much information, and i'm very excited to be part of that

community now also, and i guess that would be it. >> thank you. steve adams. i started sterling bank and trust in san francisco in 1994. i got into small businesses and advocate for small businesses when i joined the castro merchant in 1997. i've been on their board, and i just recently came off their board. i was on their board for 20 years, from 1998 till 2018, and i served as president for seven years, so i know what it's like to fight neighborhood battles and businesses and retain culture identity when you have gentrification change, and that's what got me really passionate about small business, not only in the castro, but now it's all over

the city, and i really, really like it. i like fighting a good fight for small business. >> i'm mark dwight. i am born and raised in silicon valley. i moved to san francisco 15 years ago to run a small business called timbuk two, a bag company, which took me in a dramatically different direction from my corporate career 20 years prior. i bought and sold it in 2006 to a private equity firm, they promptly fired me, so i decided to start my own company called rickshaw bag company. we're based in the dogpatch. i'm the founder of dogpatch business association, newly formed in our fast growing dogpatch neighborhood, so welcome to the commission. glad to have you.

>> irene yee riley, and i'm a retired banker. i worked my 35 years with bank of america, and i was branch manager for many different communities, the richmond district, chinatown, and town area and all that, so i -- town down area, and all that, so i deal with a lot of small business owners. i understand their challenges and what their needs are. when i retired, the mayor asked me to serve on the small business commission, and i gladly accept, so here i am, and welcome. >> thank you. >> hi. my name's miriam zouzounis. i'm third generation in my family small business, which thank you for the shout out, commissioner, president. so yeah, my family's business is not too far from city hall. we're a corner store and deli, and we're also a member of the arab american grocer association which represents

400 similar types of businesses in the city, so i try to advocate for those harder to reach immigrant businesses that are often scapegoated in the city, and i'm also smart of the small business merchant association. >> all right. >> my name is william cartagena ortiz. i own a consulting firm and i'm a pretty big advocate in the mission. i was formerly a chair in the mission economic development agency. now i'm the head of their 504(c) 4, one of the nonprofits in the neighborhood. >> excellent. >> i've got to check my notes. i took my notes. >> so thank you, commissioners, and welcome, commissioner corvey. so i want to start off just to give a quick rundown. the -- this week, i'm going before the budget and finance committee meeting on friday. we had as part of our

million-dollar allocation, there were some funds that were put in reserve in 2016, and technically, those probably should have been allocated in this last -- the 16-17 budget, but it didn't, so they helped offset the -- the reserve helped offset the moneys that were brought in to make the total 1 million for our historic preservation. so we do have to go before the budget and finance committee to get their reserves for lease. simply put we have rent stablization grant applications that are either been awarded, pipeline and are up for renewal, so there are three grants that we awarded in the last fiscal year that are up for renewal, and so we really need to see funds to ensure that we can fulfill our commitment to fund these