>> shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their business in the 49 square files of san francisco. we help san francisco remain unique, successful and right vi. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> i'm one of three owners here in san francisco and we provide mostly live music entertainment and we have food, the type of food that we have a mexican food and it's not a big menu, but we did it with love. like ribeye tacos and quesadillas and fries. for latinos, it brings families together and if we can bring that family to your business, you're gold.

tonight we have russelling for e community. >> we have a ten-person limb elimination match. we have a full-size ring with barside food and drink. we ended up getting wrestling here with puoillo del mar. we're hope og get families to join us. we've done a drag queen bingo and we're trying to be a diverse kind of club, trying different things. this is a great part of town and there's a bunch of shops, a variety of stores and ethnic restaurants. there's a popular little shop that all of the kids like to hanhang out at. we have a great breakfast spot call brick fast at tiffanies. some of the older businesses are

refurbished and newer businesses are coming in and it's exciting. >> we even have our own brewery for fdr, ferment, drink repeat. it's in the san francisco garden district and four beautiful muellermixer ura alsomurals. >> it's important to shop local because it's kind of like a circle of life, if you will. we hire local people. local people spend their money at our businesses and those local mean that wor people willr money as well. i hope people shop locally. [ ♪ ] this is a regular meeting

the small business commission g held on monday, september 23, 2019. the meeting is called to order at 2:03 p.m. the small business commission thanks sfgov tv for live streaming the committee. members of the public, please silence your phone and other public devices. the public is limited to three minutes per speaker. speakers are required to state their names. completion of the speaker card will help ensure the proper spelling of the speakers' names. the speaker cards will be called in the order in which they were placed in the basket. additionally, there is a sign-in sheet on the front table.

please show the small business commission slide. >> welcome, everyone. it is our custom to begin each small business commission meeting with a reminder that the office of small business is the only place to start your small business in san francisco and the best place to get answers about doing business in san francisco. the office of small business should be your first stop. all of our services are free of charge. the small business commission is the official public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about the 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. first item, please. >> clerk: call to order and roll call. [ roll call ].

>> clerk: you have a quorum. >> thank you. next item. >> clerk: item 2, general public comment allows members of the public to comment on matters that are within the small business commission's agenda. >> do we have any members of the public who would like to make comment on any item not on today's agenda? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> clerk: item #, approval of legacy business registry applications and resolutions. discussion and action item. the presenter is richard carillo, office of small business. >> good afternoon. richard carillo, legacy program manager. sfgov tv, i have a powerpoint

presentation. before you are seven applications for the legacy business registry. the applications were reviewed by me and heard by the preservation commission on september 18. for each applicant, the s.b.c. has been provided a staff report, the draft resolution, the application, a case report from planning department staff, and a resolution from h.p.c. there are copies on the table and the public binder. item 3(a) is adobe books and arts co-operative. it is a book store and art store. adobe books opened an art gallery where friends of the shop could show their work. in 2004, adobe books made national news by the only store

to organize by color and artwork by chris cobb. in 2012 they faced an untenable rent hike in a changing neighborhood. a book of supporters found a new store front on 29 street in the mission. the co-operative built a more explicit dynamic connection between the book store and the exhibition space and has hosted scores of public events featuring art, poetry, writing, and more. item 3(b) is anresco laboratories. the business is a laboratory founded in 1943 by dr. sovin isenburg that does testing of food and food-related products. anresco is an acronym for research and consulting. in the 1970s, anresco did

nutrient labelling. in 1980, the business moved to the bayview neighborhood and solicited businesses from the various nearby meat companies. they also developed a expert capability for testing food of pesticide and herbicide residues. they are only one of two commercial laboratories in california accredited for all procedures required by the states, bureau of cannabis control. the business is a family-owned business owned by the son of the doct doctor. item 3(c) is the ha-ra club. the business is a bar in the tender loin that opened in 1956 by hank hanestead, a wrestler and ralph, a boxer.

the name is a combination of their names. the s the interior of the bar has been restored to reflect the business's long history and the exterior neon sign is a recognized feature of the neighborhood. today the ha-ra club is the tender loin's longest-running bar. item 3(d) is the mechanics' institute. it's a non-profit organization established in 1985 by a group of mechanics who were dissatisfied with san francisco's lack of libraries and dearth of educational opportunities for adults. the plan was to host a library, to offer classes and lectures that would teach new skills, to welcome everyone regardless of race or gender and to cost the

user as little as possible. the organization moved a few times before purchasing its current location on post street in 1866. the institute built a three-storey building on the site, but the building was destroyed 30 years later. in 1910, the institute constructed a new nine-storey building that was declared a local landmark in 1981. today the mechanics' institute is the oldest surviving library in california, designed to serve the general population, and the oldest chess club in the nation. item 3(e) is the national picture framing centers inc. it is a picture store established in 1974 as a result of the owner's experience in doing accessible and affordable framing.

this store eventually became a full-service custom framing business. cheap pets was born in 1988. rather than change the successful format of the store, they changed the name. the company's production facility and headquarters are on pacific avenue. there are four additional stores around the city. item 3(f) is new asia restaurant inc. the restaurant is an iconic restaurant in chinatown established in 1987. they have 100 tables and can

host a banquet for a thousand people at a single events. they hold many fund-raisers, birthdays, lunar new yooer ooea celebrations. new asia restaurant was the first restaurant in san francisco's chinatown to introduce the use of dim sum pushing carts as a unique way of showcasing the food. item 3(g) is sodini's green valley restaurant. the business is an italian restaurant that is operated continuously at 510 green street originally as green valley restaurant. the restaurant has retained its italian-american roots. in 1993, peter sodini and his

wife purchased green valley restaurant, adding their name to the restaurant, restoring the old building and turning the restaurant into a thriving, popular north beach establishment it is today. approximately 90% of sodini's clientele are north beach residents. all seven businesses received a positive recommendation from the historic preservation commission. after reviewing the applications and the recommendation from the h.p.c., staff finds the businesses have met the three criteria for listing on the legacy business registry. there are seven draft resolutions for consideration by the small business commission, one for each of the applicants. your support of the businesses should be as a motion in favor of the resolutions. in the resolutions, please pay close attention to the features that define the business. one approved by the s.p.c., the

business must maintain these physical features in order to remain on the registry. for anresco labs it's testing services for foods. for the ha-ra club, it's bar. for mechanics' institute, it's library and cultural center. for national picture framing centers it's picture frame store. for new asia restaurant, it's restaurant featuring chinese cuisine. for sodini's green valley restaurant, it's restaurant featuring italian cuisine. 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 applications. >> do you want to go right into public comment? >> sure. >> yes. >> okay. let's go into public comment. >> clerk: would sienna team come to public comment. >> my name is siennakong and i

am here in opposition. i was at adobe for a year and a half and during that time i saw the staff mistreat co-operative members. this led me into the workings of adobe, and they have demonstrated a consistent pattern of violating labor rooltions in exploiting its members. it did not provide workers' compensation for the entire duration of employment at adobe books and co-operative. they did not provide compensation for another lady when she was injured at work on march 28, 2018. she was injured in the eye and

report her enjoy to the board of directors. they not only told her there was no compensation in place and insinuated that she was at fault since she purchased the decorations that injured her. even though it's been over almost six months now since injury, she still has not been paid and she had to pay the bills out of her own funds in order to avoid personal debt. third, adobe then retaliated against the woman for seeking workers' compensation. she found her hours reduced from 32 hours a week to 20. additionally, adobe has been unlawfully using volunteer labor, despite being a for-profit enterprise. as you all know adobe claims they can get away with this

because they a are co-operative. adobe has always claimed that it can't give money to its volunteers because it has made no profit, it still would need to pay for the labor of the volunteers. i also have -- these are the ones that i witnessed while my time is here. i apologize. i only found out about the meeting this morning. [ bell rings ]. >> i could provide further testimony from former volunteers and further documentations. thank you. >> next speaker, please. come on up. sy. >> thank you for having me today. i have worked at mechanics'

institute for 12 years as a librarian. mechanics' institute as a concept started in scotland in the 1820s as a vehicle for educating the working class. they typically hosted libraries, offered lectures on the sciences and emerging technologies and classes to teach new skills. this was a time in the world when there was no such thing as government-funded school systems, universities, or libraries. so the concept spread like wildfire, and at their height in the mid-19th century in the english-speaking world there were over 100 mechanics' institutes in england alone. in north america there were a handful, mostly in canada and the eastern states. so san francisco's mechanics' institute is the only one in the far west and one of the few in the world that continues to

operate on its original mission. the decision to found the san francisco mechanics' institute was made at city hall on december 11, 1854, and our founders all had boundless faith in the future of san francisco and a very strong belief in self-improvement through education. 164 years later, i think the founders -- our founders would be very proud of what it's accomplished and eager to participate in all that the legacy business registry has to offer and the security that it will afford us as our community grows. thank you so much for hearing me today. >> great. thank you. next speaker, please. come on up. >> hi my name is john feldman. i'm one of the owners of adobe

books. i wasn't prepared to defend myself against the allegations made earlier. basically, we are a volunteer-run co-op because we -- and there is no management, per se. there's a hired -- or an elected board of directors. we don't manage. we make decisions based on the way co-ops work. we -- we're elected by the constituency of the co-op and operate through -- the same way you guys do. we have a certain amount of people needed there and we vote on things. they're either passed or not. as far as ms. kong's allegations that we're exploiting them, we literally have no -- we literally make no money. as far as i can understand, as

far as the co-op law works, people that are -- once you become a member of a co-op, you have -- i'm sorry, i wasn't prepared to have to go through this. once you become a member of a co-op, you are an owner and we decide at the end of the year to decide what to do with our money that we've made. we can either take it and put it back into the co-op or we can take that money, which of course you said dividends. when we started the co-op we decided to just put the money that we had back into the co-op. that's what we've done. the people that come there as volunteers, the first 40 or 50 hours can -- from what i understand in the co-op law, can be recognized as trainees. and they would become worker

owners. that's my understanding of that. as far as the person that we have, one employee that was hired, at that time, and now the laws are changing with contracting, she was a contracted employee. so under that contract situation, it wasn't exactly the same as a regular, hired employee. and -- [ bell rings ]. >> -- as far as her injury we told her we would pay her when we had the money. we were waiting for a certain fund-raiser and we were going to reimburse her. that's my side of that, and i hope you take that into consideration. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi, i'm jim drago and i own cheap pete's. this is my fifth year of owning

it. one thing i wanted to point out is about half of the employees we have, 85 employees, all live and work in san francisco. we've done a real good job i think of making sure that these employees can make a living. we pay higher than minimum wage. we work hard at that. we're very proud of that and wanted to point that out. we have employees that have been working for us for nearly 15, 20 years. i would say about a third of them. so we have a good, strong community presence. it's something we're really proud of. i wanted to point that out. thank you for considering our application. >> great. thank you. next speaker, please. come on up. it's your business. let us hear about it. >> hello. i'm speaking on behalf of sodini's green valley. i'm mark sodini. i would like to thank you all for everything you're doing for us. in short, the restaurant employees everybody that works

there lives in the city. i've had employees over there for 20 years. the restaurant opened in the early 1900s, and i've worked it six, seven days a week for the past 29 years. i just love north beach. i love the city. i still enjoy coming to work and i love this process. thank you very much for listening and thank you for all your help, richard, greatly appreciate that. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker, please. anybody else? come on up. >> hi. good afternoon, commissioner. i have the honor to have the owner of new asia restaurant here today.

>> sorry, english ... >> he said "thank you, thank you." i am very pleased that i have the opportunity to meet and work with mr. and mrs. so who's coming on working with a legacy business, got to know their narrative and their history. i'm particularly very -- it's a blessing for them to have the restaurant there because -- as rick already mentioned, it is one of the largest ones and they employee on average every single time is around more than 50 employees and they serve as to a lot of new immigrants coming from asia, hong kong, taiwan, they come over here and stay in

chinatown. they are one of the major employers who help them to settle down and help them to settle the family down. so i think this is one of the greatest contributions that new asia restaurant has to do for the entire immigrant community here in san francisco. one other interesting thing is mr. so told me that my restaurant is the second-largest washrooms in chinatown. i said, what do you mean by that? he said, i open my restaurant to customers and non-customers because i know that a lot of people have natural calls. i would be more than happy to open my restaurant to them to use, whether they are my clients or not. mr. so keeps on saying that because his english is not good. so he asked me to just translate

for him. again, thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you for your time. >> any more speakers? public comment is closed. commissioner dwight. >> i love new asia restaurant because my wife and i walk by there every saturday night on our way to eat in north beach, but we love to see the celebrations going on, whether it's a wedding or some party. and it's just a -- it's sort of a bell weather of the vitality of chinatown to see it so lit up and everything going on there. it's a very festive place. i love that place. i don't go there, but it's so quintessentially chinatown. if it disappeared, i would be like, what happened to chinatown? so it's really great. i love cheap pete's. i've framed many pictures there.

i had no idea that was both frame-o-rama and cheap pete's. and i've toured anresco labs. we went there when we were doing our c.b.d. research. i've been to mechanics' institute. it's a really neat, historic place. they have some cool books on the stacks there, if you want to see the world of analog books, that's a great place to go. congratulations to all of you for going through the process. >> commissioner riley. >> yes, i also want to mention new asia restaurant. that's the most popular restaurant in chinatown or outside of chinatown. any time when there is a celebration like weddings, birthday parties, fund-raisers, and especially the chinese new year, all the family associations have a party there. so i personally go to new asia

for banquets at least 10, 20 times a year. thank you. >> i also have been to many, many banquets at new asia. maybe not quite as many as irene, but it is a regular part of my year to go there. green valley restaurant, you're a part of our heart in north beach. what can we say? you're just part of us. i also visited anresco laboratories with the commission. i was really impressed by how professional they were and how thorough they were. it was really an eye-opener to see some contaminated cannabis that they brought out to show us and show us all of how they run through all their tests to make sure that things like that don't

come to the public. congratulations from everyone. you're all so well deserving. >> i want to give a shout out to sodini's. it was either you, golden boy, now i'm kind of older, i'm excited. your family is amazing. we love your food. >> and i just want to give a couple shout-outs, first off, sodini gangrene valley restaurant, that was one of my parents' go-to places because they used to stay at the washington square bed and breakfast when they came. that was one of their definite go-to restaurants. new asia restaurant, i have been to many banquets at new asia restaurant, shark fin soup, and i've had a blast. national picture framing center, cheap pete's, every picture in

my house and of my family has come from -- it is from national picture framing or cheap pete's. i've been to your other store and the one in san francisco. our company, we buy all of our frames from you. you guys are awesome and have great frames there. keep up the good work. do we have a motion? >> i would like to make a motion. we have an elephant in the room today with regard to one of our nominees. i would like us to have an opportunity to consider what we've heard today. my motion is to approve six of the seven resolutions, excluding adobe books only for the time being so that we can learn a little bit more about what we heard. i think it would be irresponsible of us to just kind of wash over that. that's my motion. >> second. >> i have a point of

clarification. maybe defer to staff on this. isn't -- it's my understanding that it does have to go through some sort of vetting with the city before the applications come before us. if there was a complaint it would have shown. is that the case or not? >> we generally do extensive research on the legacy businesses. they go through a big process. online we try to find out as much as we can about the businesses. we get news reports and things like that. for the registry we have not been checking with o.l.c. for all the applications. for the grants we do that because we don't want the funding to go to the businesses before we check. we haven't done that for the registry. if you want, we can start doing that, if that's something that you think -- >> just to be clear, i don't -- nothing in my motion suggests that either -- that there's

anything at fault. at adobe. we don't know that and there's no fault in the process. i think this is something we have not seen before and that we aught to cause and consider it's something we haven't seen before. let's see how we deal with this situation and avoid it in the future. maybe it's an outlier case and revisit it at the next round. most of the work has already been done. it's a matter of us doing our due diligence to be fair. >> with the legacy applications we hit all issues up front. you've seen that with all of the applications that we brought before you. we generally ask the businesses if there's anything we need to know, let us know, and we'll talk about that beforehand. if there is an issue and the business did not bring that to us, that is partially their fault. so we need to make sure that we know everything before we do the application. >> let's sort it