that lease signed and to fill those vacancies. we look forward to coming back with you and sharing the other proactive measures we're taking to address vacancies, citywide collectively. i think that as you mentioned, some are much more problematic than others. we're looking forward to coming back to you and sharing more, either this quarter or the beginning of the new quarter next year. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> director regina dick-endrizzi. >> commissioners, so i, too want to extend my appreciation to director torres and to laurel and ben and jorge. we're working in a very collaborative manner, both our departments and what's really important, that's been happening over the last year, is that we're aligning the priorities and then triaging how, as both

agencies are going to accomplish our goals, to help our small businesses and streamline the efforts. and also with the s.f. shines program, the program manager with that program has been working closely with ria in our office, with accessible business entrance program and our grant funding. we're really trying to align and maximize all of our funding efforts and supporting each other's programs, so that we're really making it much easer for businesses as far as helping them. so that's -- it's really great to see how we're really working closely together. so accomplish our goals. >> great. well, thank you so much, commissioners. if i may, i just wanted to say thank you very much for the positive responses. we're looking forward to doing more. we know that there's more work to be done.

we're certainly not stopping or resting on any of the achievements that we've shared with you so far. i think that -- i think that we're -- we are living in a very complicated environment for small businesses, which is why the effort that director regina dick-endrizzi is talking about is so important, to make sure we're out there and supporting a diversity of communities much more proactively. we started with the job squad, the arm of the office of small business. we know there's more opportunities to convene, not only directly with existing merchant groups, but also convening our own conversations with community members to make sure that entrepreneurs at any stage are aware of the resources that we have, so people can gain more understanding about the positive impacts of partnership with the city could actually lead to. we're looking forward to talking more about that this year as well. >> well, there's one thing that you forgot on here. but i'm going to give you some credit, which you should have a

big shout-out for. and that is your fire mitigation. if you go to west portal and you're standing at uola and west portal avenue, right outside of the muni tunnel. it's open. you -- and, in fact, i remember when that fire happened. you guys were down there. and within a few years, that's all rebuilt. same businesses are back in business and that's something that you really should be proud of. because i know you, joaquin, were a big part of that. and you streamlined everything and you got those people back in business, the lion's shop, everybody. everybody is back in business there. and to me that was a miracle. because every time you had some tragedy like that, it would just stay vacant or something else would happen to that spot. i do believe, through oewd, not only on west portal, i know on

ocean avenue a lot of those businesses wound up going to other parts of the city and thriving more. , you should be very, very proud of yourself for the actions that you've done when it comes to those type of disasters. i hate to say it that way. you rose to the occasion and took care of those businesses. and you go there now. you can't even tell that building was totally gone and leveled. you know, it looks the same, but cleaner and nicer. so you should be very proud of yourself for -- i think that program is one that really, really has helped like invest in neighborhoods program and everything. >> thank you so much. i really think it's reflective of an incredible team. and so i just want to thank again jorge and laurel and ben for all of the work that they're doing and i know that jayda will be making a presentation later on today, or to this commission. it's really extraordinary, committed, passionate staff that makes all of this work happen. we can all have a vision, unless we have the people around us who

really do care about the small business community and about the small they provide to our neighborhoods, we don't see the results we collectively want to see. to all of them, just a huge thank you. and i really do appreciate all the time that you individually take at this board level and commission level to take extend your thanks to all of them. i know they appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> let's open this up now for public comment. do we have any members of the public who want to make a comment on item number 4? seeing none, public comment is closed. again thank you. and thank you, laurel, jorge and ben for your comments today and for your hard work. and everybody else in the office of oewd, you guys do fantastic work there. so thank you. okay. next item, please. >> clerk: item 5. oewd presentation. construction mitigation. the presenters are jada,

jackson, prospect manager and jorge rivas. >> great, welcome. >> hor lay rivas. i want to go ahead and set up the topic today. so we've been having construction mitigation for a few years now. and it wasn't until lately that with jada jackson's support that we've been able to get this program off the ground. i want to go ahead and introduce her and i'll stay around for questions as well. >> great. thank you. and you have a very thankless job. we have a -- you have a lot of symphony from my -- from me. >> i've been with the department for about nine months. it is the birth of a whole little baby here. as you know, there's currently unprecedented amount of both

public and private construction going on throughout the city, especially in our city system of working infrastructure, streets, sewer, power, water and transportation. city construction projects have the potential of stimulate long-term economic benefits for the surrounding areas, but in the short-term these projects might have negative impacts and challenges to area businesses. and some of those challenges are often seen as reduced sidewalk access, loss of on-street and off-street parking, excess noise, dust and disruption, difficulty navigating to businesses, less traffic, and fewer pedestrians in front of the business. in november 2017, the city and county of san francisco developed a construction mitigation program. this program provides departments with suite of actions to limit the negative impacts construction projects have on surrounding businesses

on the commercial corridors. an m.o.u. was signed by sfmta, dpdand oewd to create the partnership that adds the business support services component to projects. it's important to note that departments oftentimes that lead construction already have construction mitigation plans in place. yet now with our program, we're standardizing these services, provided on project impact level and it impacts the service component. it takes it from simple tasks suchs at housekeeping, that the lead agency must provide. the objective of the business support component, led by our team, is to support business owners as they navigate through construction projects. through my role as business liaison, i'm the point of contact for anything related to

business support services. facilitating technical assistance, the corridor-specific marketing campaign and directed business support, which i'll talk about a little bit later. the suite of services has been put together to support both the short-term and longer-term needs of businesses, and some of these are available to impacted zones, when determined and funded by the lead project department. in my role, i have the responsibility to continue strengthening efforts pertaining to construction mitigation, with our partner agencies, other city agencies and merchants. and as a member of the project team, i have the opportunity to be more proactive with solution-based approaches for merchants through a suite of services that include program coordination, marketing support and small business technical assistance and support. we're able to provide outreach and have a greater presence along with our project team

partners, with the community, whether it's meeting with city leaders, individual stakeholders, or at a community meeting. so oewd has been utilizing a wraparound services approach for providing services and resources to merchants, by enhancing and el reportero vating the attention and responses that we're providing to our merchants, affected by construction. and with support of the small business development center, we're able to provide technical assistance and business action plan support. and key elements include being paired with the small business adviser to develop the action plan and then ongoing evaluation and support. so we leverage existing programs and services, as well as partnerships between city agencies and our non-profit partners. through oewd's program and partner resources, we're able to provide business education on

various city programs, such as the legacy business program, the small business revolving loan fund, and san francisco women's entrepreneurship fund. and working with sbdc, businesses are able to access for free the expertise of advisers there to receive training and one-on-one consultation in a variety of areas such as business accounting, budgeting, cash flow management, we're seeing a lot of lease negotiations assistance. some assistance around legal issues, as well as social media and training. so now we're going to talk about the open for business program, which is our corridor-specific marketing campaign. so to date we have developed six marketing campaigns. and one of the benefits that we provide, through this campaign, is utilizing the mantra of open for business. this provides direct marketing

support, based on the corridor's unique identity to attract residents, visitors and customers, reminding them that the corridor is still open for business while improvements are taking place. open for business works in close coordination with the merchants and the program direction and priorities are guided by merchant leadership. the open for business program, in reminding residents and visitors that our commercial corridors are open for business, we take a focused approach on direct marketing support to neighborhoods. our program has established templates that facilitate focus and customized marketing materials, advertising, way-finding signage, social media, workshops and even event planning. another area of fund discussion is our directed business support. when oewd implements a directed

business support, which is a financial grant, a key component is defining affected businesses within a qualifying project. so often times we're looking at businesses that have a direct impact or an indirect impact. and that leads us to the first time that we had to implement direct to business support program and that was for the central subway project, which is a major impact construction project. experienced extraordinary delays and we utilized best practices, looking at other models such as l.a. and seattle. we all know that city construction projects have the potential of starting late, long-term economic benefits for the surrounding area. however, when we see distress or challenges to the area businesses, which is what happened with central subway, the response was for the late

mayor lee, supervisor peskin and sfmta so - to identify resources in the amount of $395,000, designate for this direct business support fund. this was to support merchants impact by the construction project. the areas of impact included chinatown, union square and 4th street, south of market. small business owners received one-on-one business assistance and directed support in the support of small grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, depending on the impact they experience. and this money went in support of represent and utilities, followed by additional improvements in marketing. oewd administered the fund and provided it directed business support to 69 small businesses. this disbursement was to 61 businesses in chinatown and eight businesses on 4th street and union square.

so since the signing of our m.o.u. a few years ago, oewd has become a part on several notable projects, which include previous projects of polk street, which was lower and middle polk, twin peak tunnel, west port on castro, some of our current projects central subway project, van ness, gary, and we're in talks about better market, upper market, fullsome howard and a project on 19th avenue. so we have long-termed a lot of lessons, after nearly a year of implementation on various projects. we've leaped to local businesses and so we've heard that starting earlier and being more proactive in the process it really beneficial, especially with our lead agency partners.

early engagement has been possible with giving an opportunity prior to construction beginning to begin hearing hearing hearing from the merchants. for instance, sfmta has included a question that's standard in the pre-construction surveys, that ask business if they're interested in our free counseling and technical assistance. so once i get those surveys back, i'm able to start the outoutreach process, getting those businesses in the doors to sbdc before construction has started. due to the early engagement and proactive planning, oewd has been working more efficiently so improve small business operations and encourage foot traffic during construction, while ensuring that the investments we make in our infrastructure today, do not come at the cost of our small businesses. and i'm sure you've heard all of the great news about the $5 million from the educational revenue augmentation fund, that will be coming from sfmta to our

office. and we've heard from a lot of merchants as well as the transportation authority commission. and the allotment will go towards $4 million for the directed business support program. and this program will be for a citywide directed business support program. providing grant awards to businesses impacted. and you have to be a major impact construction project, with some type of significant delay, in order to qualify for this funding. and then we have $1 million set aside specifically for the revolving loan fund for construction mitigation. and that's loans with 0% interest and zero risk for any project, with an sfmta scope of work. and the idea is that merchants would be able to utilize this fund as soon as the project commences. and that is the end of my

presentation. are there any questions? >> commissioner dooley. >> i have a couple questions. can you just run me through -- i assume this is in place on the van ness corridor. i drive down there a lot. it seems like no access at all for any of the businesses. i no longer shop on van ness. for van ness specifically, that project we did the open for business campaign. there's an ad campaign on our buses quarterly that speaks to coming to the corridor and highlighting if it's

entertainment, the nightlife. we did have signage up to point people to where the businesses are. and we can even have banners that say this business is open. and so this project is unique in that it's constantly moving. there's different sequencing happening on both sides of the street. where parking can open and there are times that construction is not going on. signs are up saying no parking. once we see there's no construction, we're able to place a call and within an hour we can have those parking spaces reopened. >> thank you. i think you're speaking to the actual conditions on the ground and how our office can play a role. i think our role is to hear from the merchants and relay the message to the project lead, which in this case is the sfmta. i think because of the close collaboration that our office now has, instituted with the m.o.u. in place, we're able to

relay those messages to the appropriate department. in this case the sfmta. and they're the ones who can follow up on the actual actions that need to be taken around making parking available or moving staging, if appropriate. that's the role that our office can play in that regard. >> can i ask one more question? >> of course. >> do you have anything in mind that will help encourage property owners to lower their represents, if their tends are -- rents, if their tenants are in a construction zone? >> that's a really interesting question. i think, you know, there's different measures that can be taken around education and reaching out to the property owners and setting real expectations. there are some cases where we've shared information with the property owner about going rents in the neighborhood. of course, we can't force them to bring the rents down.

we can provide support, legal support with, you know, somebody who understands how to negotiate a lease, when an attorney understands how to look closely at a lease and provide some advice to the business owner on how to renegotiate their lease, if if it's a temporary basis, so they can get a rent decrease or a rent waiver for a few monthsing while construction is happening in their location. but i'm happy to explore that idea, with you further. i think there are some similar conversations out there about how can we work with the property owner and make sure they're aware of the impacts on the ground and to be sensitive to those impacts and work very closely with our tenants. >> thank you. >> commissioner riley. >> hi. you mentioned van ness advisory committee. who are the members of the committee? >> i don't have the names of each committee member. they were -- they're members of the merchant community from the

van ness corridor, that were selected by the sfmta team. and they meet monthly. and they have a regular agenda and it's a part of the brown. so their agenda and meetings are readily available to the public. >> well, that's good. do you have the merchants involved. thanks. >> yes. >> any other questions? again thank you for this. >> i just want to expand. i think commissioner riley is speaking to the importance of the small business involvement in creating the mitigation plan. i think, for example, on along van ness, that's when i was getting involved and with the sfmta around the mitigation measures for van ness. there was no merchant association or community benefit district that was representative of the neighborhood at that time, along van ness. especially the entire part of van ness. so the sfmta took the proactive approach of creating an advisory

committee. and the advisory committee can reflect the needs of the corridor. it's also very important for the small business owners to reach out to our office, directly with sfmta to kind of voice and express their interest and their needs for support along the corridor. >> right. and i want reiterate, too, that project started before you guys even got involved. then you guys got involved and changed the attitude on that. >> so there's some projects were under way. and van ness is one of those that we kind of kept in command, at a later date. there was an interest from the administration at the time. so the mayor started working very closely with the sfmta and the businesses to make sure that at least some package of mitigation efforts were developed. at that time marketing was the one tool that we had at our hands. and the small business assistance, which is not always what businesses need directly at that time, so we were trying to

figure out how do we bring resources and the mitigation package that made sense. going to the established advisory committee was the forum. in addition to the outreach that we did, door-to-door and particularly targeting the mom and pop businesses. we can hear directly from them the type of marketing they'd like to see. i know van ness not the most exciting, but the van ness merchantses asked for the way-finding, in addition to what seven-day provide -- so what sfmta provides. >> that's important to get them involved. so they can voice their opinions. >> director zouzounis. >> through the president, if there's one question i may ask. >> yes. >> current projects and potential projects, this a.s.u. lot of projects and a lot of businesses to assist.

and currently just jada. just curious as to whether, especially for the potential projects that are in development, if there's discussion as to whether the projects are budgeting in a position, a jada position that can be work-ordered through oewd? >> thank you, director. so part of the m.o.u. asks for the lead project to provide resources to our office. so we can provide the additional support, not only with staffing, but also make sure that the programs that we mentioned, that are actively, proactively bringing to the commercial districts are available. and i think you're pointing to the staffing question. we currently, just to clarify, we have two positions, one position is jada's position and the other position is the small business development center, that provides the actual intake to businesses that are referred

through construction mitigation efforts. and i think as we see the list -- the long list, i think we are in conversations with lead agencies to think about how more -- how much more do we need to support. and if they need to start budgeting in their projects that support. it's not only for staffing, but also for services and programs that support these businesses. even though we talked about the revolving loan fund, it can go so far. if we talked about consulting services, pro bono, can only -- only a number of consultants that we can hire at this time. if we need to hire more, to make those available and so forth. to think about how to staff and services out of oewd play a role and how can we keep up with that list. but there is more support that's

needed. >> thank you. any other questions? again, jada, i mean, you're super woman. >> thank you. >> i just wanted to thank you so much with this program. my neighborhood of north beach has suffered mightily under never-ending construction. construction crews who have no interest in the neighborhood or how it impacts and i myself have served on m.p.a. groups. and no one ever came up with anything to help mitigate the problems. so, you know, fingers crossed that this will be very epful and much needed. so thank you. >> thank you for all of your great work. all of you. >> so, yeah. jada, i just want to commend you. you're almost a one-person shop. like director regina dick-endrizzi said, there's a

lot of projects out there right now. jorge, i have to give you a shout-out. i know for a fact that some of these projects were already going. and when you stepped in there, you know, you really took care of it, especially on on west portal, rebuilding the tracks. you were down there and you really took a brunt of the battle with m.t.a. you were down there, you rolled up your sleeves and you worked with -- you worked with the merchants over there. so, you know, hats off to you and jada. this is a thankless job. it really is. and you're out there battling for small businesses. and i just -- from the bottom of my heart, i can't thank you both enough. and, jada, you know, you rock. and you have a job out there, like with these projects coming up, you know, van ness is like -- they call it van mess. and we almost think it should

have been done a year ago. it's still going on and you still have to deal with that. now we have geary boulevard starting at full strength. but i'm confident now that we have this program in place that there will be some mitigation, with small businesses. and, you know, especially with parking and everything. so i'm really proud that you guys have worked on this program and everything you've done. so thank you. do we call public comment on this? >> clerk: not yet. >> can we have public comment on item number 5, on the construction mitigation. do we have any members of the public? seeing none, public comment is closed. great. well, thank you, jorge and jada, for your presentation. and laurel, thank you for coming today. we really appreciate everything

that oewd does for small businesses. so thank you. next item, please. >> clerk: item 6, discussion and approval of office of small business executive director regina dick-endrizzi, fiscal year 19-20 performance plan. discussion item. >> okay. so this is a performance plan, not a performance review. so it's an open meeting. and this is on our going -- it's what we talk about at our retreat. so this is items starting for 2020 and 2021. >> technically it's for fiscal year 19-20. we're a little bit late in the year. >> that's right. >> in establishing the performance plan priorities. but this would be for the evaluative year of the fiscal year 19-20. i know it's been a little while

since we've done performance plans. so want to get back on track. just to give a little bit of an overview on the format of the performance plan. so the city has five specific priorities that it's working on, which is like -- which are listed as residents and families that thrive, clean, safe and viable communities. a diverse and equitable and inclusive city, excellent city services, a city and region prepared for the future. and so what's been requested is to match the performance plan with the department's strategic plan. we haven't done -- our last strategic plan is from fiscal year 13-14. so we don't have an updated strategic plan. so what i have done is worked with both the president and the vice president on using the strategic plan goals from

'13-'14, kind of best lining them up with then a goals and objectives of what to accomplish this current fiscal year. and those are lined up with some of the project plans that we have laid out, earlier in the year and i did bring some copies, if you wanted to review those. so to first start off with goal number one, from the previous -- from the '13-'14 strategic plan. establish a consistent means for reviewing and evaluate department progress. and so i have connected goal one to the city's priorities of a diverse and equitable, inclusive city and excellent city services. and so under that, the performance measures to be met

will be to establish a new legacy business grant program that will start fiscal year 2021. and then to create a three-year strategy plan for fiscal year 2021 to '23-'24. we will be working on that over this year. goal two is to maximize the office of small businesses outreach to small business community. and goal two would be connected to the citywide priorities of residents and families that thrive and excellent city services. so the task to be performed with that, is the disability access fund has successfully assisted businesses in meeting the tier two compliance requirements. and then enhance the business portal on key state labor laws and add a section on non-licensed regulatory requirements for small businesses, that currently does

not exist on the business portal. goal three is work to streamline the permitting process in the city and county of san francisco. goal three is connected to the citywide priorities of a diverse and equitable exclusive city and excellent city services. to work on the streamlining permitting process, excuse me, in conjunction with oewd, so as per the presentation that you heard today. develop a set of recommendations that reduce the barriers of operations for small businesses. so as laurel presented to you today, we are in the process of finalizing what the -- what we can get accomplished both short-term and long-term. and then successful execution of opening the o.s.b., oewd space at 49 south van ness, the one-stop permitting center. goal four is advocating for san francisco's small businesses

through involvement in policy discussions and legislative process. and so that -- what i have identified is initiate policy analysis by the way of policy papers. and the small business commission's resolutions. recommendations from economic -- from the economic mitigation working group for small tobacco retail permit holders, are successfully adopted and successful adoption of new massage regulations. so those are the key highlights. and so these have worked out with the commission president and vice president, can discuss it with you. this is open for discussion, in case you see that there are other things to be added. you want to strike something and add something else. so i will open it up to questions for you. >> commissioner riley.

>> yes. you have five goals here. what are the percentage? are they equally weighted, like 20%, 20%? >> per the -- i would say at this point they're equally weighted, based upon the document that the department of human resources has provided. >> okay. >> so if the commission wants to -- if the commission determines that they want to weight the goals, then i think that that is per your prerogative. >> so you have four. so be 25% each then. >> yeah. >> yeah. that's fine with me. just want to clarify. >> commissioner dooley. >> yeah. i just wanted to follow along on that. and since at the top we have five priorities, are we delaying

number five? or it rounded into the other ones? >> the -- apologies. so not being clear. these are five priorities. we don't necessarily need something to fit all five priorities. it's just that the idea is that the goals are to be reflective in achieving one or two of those priorities. >> okay. >> if that makes sense? >> yep. >> yeah. any other questions? i thank everybody for this. i want to thank director dick-endrizzi in working with you on this. i think we have a plan going forward. i'm going to -- since there's no other questions at the moment, i'm going to open this up for public comment. do we have any members of the public that want to make comment

on item number 6. seeing none, public comment is closed. >> i have one more question. >> oh, yeah. >> who is going to evaluate the result of this? >> actually that's the commission at a closed meeting. >> okay. so it's not going to be oewd? >> no. it's -- it's this commission in a closed meeting. >> is that right? >> correct. yes. >> okay. any other questions? okay. great. next item, please. >> clerk: item 7, 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. >> so thank you, millimans.

-- commissioners. d.b.i. is sending out a final mailer this week to 9,000 noncommunity property owners, for the december 1st deadline. and so just again there might be a spike and you might hear from some property owners. the tobacco economic mitigation working group held its second meeting last wednesday and was -- we received a detailed review of the tobacco permitting process from the department depf public health. it was very informative. and then just i wanted to make sure that all of you are aware that the city is now requiring all commissioners to go through implicit bias training.

so dough minka has forwarded an email to you. it's due by the end of the year. and then following up on some of the legislative matters, so a new piece of legislation has been introduced, that is going to require all departments to hold two meetings, regarding the annual budget. so this will be something that, if passed, we will be adding to our calendar. we will need to finalize those hearings by the end of february. so the likelihood that we're hearing those in january and february. in terms of the -- items that you have heard, the job housing linkage fee had its second vote last tuesday on november 5th.

i did inform you that supervisor haney did adopt a recommendation of doing a tiered fee for the small cap and the large caps. and soar the small cap projects up to 49,999 gross square feet will be capped at $62.64 for office space and laboratory use will be $38.37. the initiative ordinance on the vacancy tax is being heard tomorrow at the budget and finance meeting. supervisor peskin's office has informed us that there are amendments. he did present on some of them at the meeting, at the last meeting. but there are likely some others

coming forward as well. so i don't have final details on that. so i can't communicate what it is. sweetened beverage legislation was heard in committee. it will be heard in committee this coming -- it was heard in committee on friday and because i was absent, i don't have the results on that. but i don't see any reason why it did not pass out of committee. the health code food preparation. that is changing from the numerical scoring to the green, yellow and red placards. that passed out of the full board on last tuesday, on november 5th. and it is at the -- it's before the mayor to sign. and then the promotion of the renewable food service ware, which the commission did hear, it's still with supervisor peskin's office at this point.

and then last meeting commissioner sharkey asked in regards to whether we could look at shifting the second meeting of the month to an evening meeting. so i've done a preliminary look at the availability, it look thes like there is availability to shift that meeting, when we initially scheduled second meeting in the month for the commission, there wasn't the availability. >> right. >> i will submit that request, if that is what the commission is interested in. >> absolutely. >> and with that, that concludes my report. >> okay. >> unless there's questions? >> commissioner yee riley. >> hi. on the a.b.e., we're sending out 9,000 notices. the final notice. do we know, as of now, how many

have responded and comply? and how many still need to be? >> i think , i will get back to you on the specific number. >> ballpark? >> i would say -- i would say 3,000 to 4,000. >> okay. i heard that majority of them have not responded. >> yes. the majority of them have not responded. >> yeah. and december is the deadline. >> december is the deadline. and december is the deadline to submit the check list. so it's not like the entryway has, you know, completed its permitting process. the december 1st deadline is to submit the check list to identify what level category your entry is in and what remediations, if any, need to be

done. >> well, hopefully they all respond before the deadline. >> yeah. >> thanks. >> okay. any other questions? let's open it up for public comment. do we have any members of the public comment who would like to make a comment on item number 7, the director's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. great. thank you, director regina dick-endrizzi. next item, please. >> commissioner's report. allow president, vice president, and commissioners to report on recent small businesses activities and make announcements that are of interest to the small business community. >> i don't have any past stuff to talk about. i would like to invite all of the small business commissioners and director regina dick-endrizzi and anybody else from the office of small business, that we'll be doing a holiday tree-lighting ceremony at castro and 18th street on

monday, december 2nd at 6:00 p.m. everybody is welcome. commissioner dooley. >> i have two things to report that should be of interest to our audience. and to the commission. after posting i think it was about 38 vacancies last year in north beach. i'm happy to announce that we now have 22 new businesses. >> that's great. >> open or will be open or in the process of opening. four of them are restaurants and 18 are shops and services. and i wanted to run down just to give an example to other neighborhoods how this came out. we still have 28 vacancies, seven of them vacanted a not for lease and one lease but vacant. of the ones that there's two

reasons why half of the for-lease buildings are the way they are. first is five of them have exorbitantly high rent, crazy rent. and those are put out there by the two really bad landlords in our neighborhood, that hold their business -- their sites open for years and years and years on end. so that is half of our for-lease vacancies. so it's a good report. and it just shows we can get out there and hustle for some new businesses. they're all unique and interesting businesses. the other part is i became aware recently of cafe sapore which is a popular neighborhood cafe. it has been there 22 years. the landlord decided to evict

them, citing because it was because of seismic retrofit. after some dig, we found that basically the seismic retrofit for that building would not have impacted on the cafe for more than one or two days. so the whole neighborhood is gathered together on this. supervisor peskin is participating. and we will be holding a press conference on thursday at 11:00 a.m. in front of cafe sapump ore to try to reason with this landlord. >> great. thank you. any other commissioner comments? do we have any members of the public who would like to make comment on item number 8? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> new business allows commissioners to introduce new agenda items for future consideration by the commission. >> commissioner ortiz?

>> in recent months, there's been a developing things happening in my neighborhood. and recently everybody is seeing the newspaper, one of the founders from uber just received $400 million in start-up funding for cloud kitchen. [ please stand by ]

>> the other thing we should talk about is maybe even with the planning, i don't know if you guys did it at north beach, you know, the changing of the neighborhood commercial -- what is the word i'm looking for? the m.c.d.?

in the castro, all the neighborhood groups got together in the castro and we listed the type of businesses we wanted and what we didn't wanted and what we would consider -- what we would allow for conditional use, but we didn't care if they didn't do a conditional use, as long as they came into the neighborhood. we went through this whole big project. and i don't know if you guys did this at north beach. >> we have been doing that regularly over the years asking the residents -- the residential groups, of which there are 22 they most wanted to see. >> we did the same thing. and then the whole thing stopped >> scott sanchez is still here, this is the other -- >> i am trying to think of the other guy's name. not scott sanchez, i can't think of his name. >> i know you -- i know you were talking about. >> he passed away suddenly and

then that whole project kind of died. that is something that can help with neighborhood vacancies. this stuff goes back to 1987. it can also address what he was talking about with kitchens and stuff. i would like to put that sometime on our agenda. it doesn't need to be immediate. >> i do think it is a little bit of a conversation and going back to commissioner ortiz's point that was brought up earlier about the online delivery and what that whole component is, and sort of some discussion we have had a little bit is -- so the kitchenware these cloud kitchens are going to operate out of -- so we heard from the department of public health. they have now created a new category called the shared

kitchen. so those areas will be permitted to, but to your point, uber eats , for each of their virtual restaurants that they are creating, are they having to get the same, you know, the same playing field? so the challenge is, the planning department, we went through this with the formula retail about creating a definition for online entities, and they are like, we are a land-use based entity. we wouldn't create that nexus. >> not to interrupt, i want to be careful because uber eats sometimes does help smaller restaurants. if i am a chinese restaurant and there's a high demand for hamburgers in my area, and that helps augment my revenue, i am supportive of that. i think i e-mailed you regarding the complete cloud kitchens. >> right.

so, yes. i think the evaluation of what is an equivalent regulatory environment to this new business model, and then even with d.b.h. around the muscles regular -- massage regulations, now there are online entities that are convened years, so to speak,, but they are operating in multiple cities and they are a big entity. i think the departments are still sort of under their perspective that, how do we regulate this if their business model is in the cloud? we are so -- our licensing, our inspecting, all of that, is a land-use base.

so this is a really good time for us to really start asking these questions and having the commission sort of be the forum of which departments come and present and have these discussions. >> again, i want to go on record , their intent is to disrupt and circumvent all the things small business have to do with getting permits, licenses, insurance, ordinance. they are backed already by half a billion dollars. that is not to compete. that is to annihilate. i have to go on record. we cannot let this happen. we have to act faster than not. if not, we are going to have a ton of vacancies. that affects the quality of life in our communities, not only our small business communities. >> yes, i would agree. >> and i would still like to go back -- regina and i spent a lot of time with the planning

department trying to get a handle on what would be considered a chain store, and nothing was done. not a single thing was done, you know, just trying to define what makes something the formula retail and what doesn't, how that applies to things that have a heavy online presence, all of that. it was very discouraging that they decided to do nothing. and i still think it is something we need to think about >> yes. i agree. okay. do we have public comment on new business? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> please show the slide. >> again, it is our custom to begin and end each small business commission with a reminder that the office of

small business is the only place to start your new business in san francisco and the best place to get answers to your questions about doing business in san francisco. the office of small business should be your first stop when you have questions about what to do next. a small business commission is the official public forum to place your opinions and concerns about policies that affect the economic vitality of business in san francisco. if you need assistance with small business matters, stopped -- start here at the office of small business. >> item 10 is adjournment. action might him. >> do we have a motion to adjourn? >> i moved. >> second. >> all in favor? >> aye. >> meeting adjourned. thank you.

consideration of items proposed for continuance. item one, the academy of art university. it is proposed for continuance to november 21st, 2019. item two is 461 209th street conditional use authorization is proposed for continuance for november 21st, 2019. item three is exemption from density limits for affordable and unauthorized units. item four, 865 market street is

proposed for continuance, and office development authorization until december 5th. item five a and b. 41846 grove street -- item five a and b. for 1846 grove street are proposed for continuance. further under your regular calendar, item 14, the water supply informational presentation is proposed for continuance until some book -- until december 12th. i do have several speaker cards. >> okay. we will now take public comment on the items proposed for continuance. [calling names] please come up and give public