years for the expansion of s.f. shines. and i'll go into more details of s.f. shines in a bit. $1 million of -- a one-time of $2 million for small business fee assistance relief program. a one-time over the next two years, investment of $4 million in the program called community cornerstones, which is a pilot program, which i'll share more details in a bit. oewd supports various access to capital programs. one of those programs is a revolving loan fund. since the program commenced in 2007, the revolving loan fund has actually allocated 177 loans for a total of about $5.2 million. of these loan, i the majority have focused in high-need neighborhoods and supported over 60 women-owned businesses and 53 minority-owned businesses. as you can see, the repayment program is pretty high.

the additional $1 million will allow us to recapitalize the loan program. this will allow us to provide low-interest rates to invest in corridors. we're looking at about 3.5% rate. but the loan is also available to citywide businesses or businesses across the city. the last time we actually provided resources to this revolving loan fund was in 2013, under mayor lee. and main street lounge is our partner in administering the loan. we're currently actually amending their contract, so we can add the additional dollars. next piece is the $2 million allocation for the next two years to expand the s.f. shines program, into the bayview, excelsior and lower haight. the dollars support small business owners to make improvements to their storefronts and interiors. with the goal here is to make the spaces more appealing and

accessible to patrons and contribute to the overall vitality of the neighborhood. we estimate that the additional dollars will support about 100 businesses over the next two years. just quickly, just some history on the program. since 2009, s.f. shines has completed 203 storefront improvement projects and given over $3.6 million in support. it has also allowed us to expand to various types of the program, not only s.f. shines, the regular project that you think about the entire facade, makeover that comes with the program, but also a quick awning program that allows these dollars to spread further. support of small business with an awning makeover, a quick paint job to their storefront. and also s.f. shines is working with local non-profits to incorporate art na their facades and make sure it's culturally relevant.

it could be around the holidays or particularly focused around themes. out of the dollars we put out there, 35% have supported women-owned businesses. and about 65 have supported minority-owned businesses. and this year alone, we've implemented 73 programs. we just closed r.s.p. that allows this election for the next contractors to help us implement the s.f. shines dollars that were allocated to our budget. next piece. the next piece we have here is a small business fee rebate program. as ismael of the mayor's -- as a signal of the mayor's commitment -- knowing that fees are a challenge for our small businesses, but also recognizing the time that it would take for us to address them. mayor breed allocated money this year to provide immediate relief in the budget. the rebates will target relief to support businesses that are subject to ongoing regulatory

license fees in san francisco. it will ensure that businesses receive a partial refund on their ongoing fees, beyond business registration, that are paid to the city for permitser such a cash register, print scanners, d.p.h. or the carbon dioxide tanks for the soda machines with the department of public health. oewd tax collector's office is ensuring the money reaches businesses this winter. we are designing the program so there is no need to apply or request the information. if you're a small business and pay fees beyond the business registration, through our consolidated building process, you will simply get a mail-in check. get a check in the mail, excuse me. we estimate small businesses will receive a refund. 88. the next slide here we have is these san francisco community

cornerstones program, which is a pilot program. recognizing san francisco's non-profit and small business is our community cornerstones or hubs for essential services and affordable resources that support low-income opportunities. for this reason, this year's $4 million one-time allocation will pilot the community cornerstones program. this program is a two-fold program. it will support about 25 to 30 small businesses, with commercial, physical improvements and technical assistance moving into spaces, acquired through the mayor's office small-sized division program. we estimate there's about -- we know about 13 buildings in the pipeline for now for the program. and we estimate about 34 commercial spaces are available to benefit in the program. >> nice. >> for the non-profit side, we expect support 10 to 15 non-profits with financial assistance to complete tenant improvements in ground-floor spaces in newly constructed

affordable housing sites. the timeline is we expect guidelines to be released in december of this year. the first application deadline will be february of next year. and awards will be announced, which non-profits will be selected for the grant dollars in march of 2020. with that, i'm going to go ahead and pass it over to ben on our team to go over business streamlining. >> good afternoon, commissioners. ben van houten. here with an update on permit streamlining. the small business permit streamlining legislation was introduced in december of last year. and it was adopted unanimously by the board and signed by the mayor in september. and it became effective october 11th. so we're in the early days of implementation. but really excited about some of the new opportunities to come out of this legislation. i'm going to do a quick overview, recap of the

legislation itself. and highlight a little bit how some businesses are already looking to pursue opportunities based on it. and then talk about implementation and next steps, kind of where we're heading from there. just as an overview, this is a very technical package of legislation. but really all of these pieces, that were a part of the legislation, came from real world situations. small businesses coming to the office of small business, coming to folks in economic and workforce development or others. and finding themselves stuck at some part of the process or finding themselves unable to do what they wanted to do, in order to strengthen their business, expand their business, moving forward. four main buckets of reforms in this legislation. bucket number one, enabling retail businesses to diversify their offerings. we have heard from retail businesses and informed by retail study as well, that in order to get patrons in the door, get them to browse the

retail wares, get them to linger a little bit longer, businesses are interested in offering to-go food, coffee, pastry, that sort of thing. businesses are interested in hosting events. and so two pieces to this legislation, one, to remove barriers at the local level. it's really right-size the local code with the state code to allow our retail business to serve that to to-go coffee or pastries without building out bathroom access for the patrons. second lie, on the events side, we reduced -- or eliminated food and beverage requirements from entertainment permitting or retail businesses that want solve some accessory entertainment use. there's a catering company in south of market, that really wanted to have to-go sandwich window to help activate that corner and the corridor and also to bring in some additional revenues for the business. they weren't able to do that previously, because you would have had to walk through their

kitchen, while it was in operation in order to get to the bathroom. so they're really excited about this legislation and adding a new amenity to their business. thank you. another piece of this legislation, increasing opportunities for businesses to fill vacancies and enhance vibrancy. we really delved deeply into some of the more byzantine aspects of the planning code around n.c.1 zoning and limited commercial uses. there are certain parts of the planning code where the zoning for one neighborhood applies to other neighborhoods as well. and this was something that the business in coal valley found itself stuck by, that neighborhood cafe, wooden coffee house just trying to add beer and wine to extend his hours and offer live comedy events, which was a part of the neighborhood character and culture for a long time. he found his business limited by controls that were intended for

haight street and limit new restaurants on haight street. we established more reasonable controls, again where the controls for the neighborhood, they apply there, but reduced the buffers that create these conflicts with other neighborhoods. also we corrected or updated the code on the uses. it used to be in most neighborhoods an arcade, pinball, video games, that sort of thing was actually i think surprisingly restricted, owing to some 1980s fears about the impacts of arcades op young people. there's been increased interest in arcades, without the commensurate, negative impact on young people. so we worked to revise arcade zoning. so as a result of this, arcades are permissible, permitted or with conditional use in a lot more -- many more zoning districts. we've heard interest from people who want to start arcades

without alcohol or anything. the final piece is supporting open-air food service. our code, our health code had said that you need to keep your doors and windows closed at all times, which was a real challenge for businesses that wanted to have the open-air feel. and already, thanks to this legislation, a cafe in the mission, who inherited the business from -- or i talked to the prior tenant of this location, they said, oh, you know, if only a connection with the community. if only we had been closer to the sidewalk. and, as a result, of this legislation, that new cafe did not have to buy and install costly screens ford to keep their doors and windows open during business hours. already saving businesses there. for our live music and other entertainment venues, we reduced duplicative requirements. previously if you wanted to get an entertainment permit, you would have to go back to the

health department or go back to the fire department, even if you already have your health permit and fire permit. if you've gone through the building permit process, you have to go back to the building permit. by eliminating duplicative inspections, where somebody has just gone through the process, this can save businesses up to $600 in fees. and inspection fees. and up to a month in processing time to get their permits. and then we also right-sized some of the requirements for food service at our entertainment venues. final piece here is the most technical of technical legislation. there were a lot of places in the planning code where inconsistencies, migs in the code were leading to businesses getting different answers, depending on who they were talking to at the counter. or required businesses to get letters of determination, to figure this stuff out and letter of determination means a few hundred bucks, another month or so of time. we really want to reduce the

process and reduce the requirements to the extent possible. all right. a brief detour into the administrative reforms, that were announced as part of -- along with the introduction of this legislation last december. this is a -- these administrative reforms impact when a business has to go through the neighborhood notification process, to do a change of use, which in a lot of neighborhood commercial corridors, you have to do neighborhood notification, send out a mailer, post a sign on your property. that is a -- the notification itself is a 30-day process. but the entirety of the journey that your permit application goes on, is significantly longer than 30 days. so there's the time before the neighborhood notification happens, after you submit your information and it gets assigned a planner and sent out for notification. and then after that, under the old system, your permit application would go from intake

to intake and each of the permitting departments. so instead of being able to do it over the counter, it would go to the inbox over the counter and with all of the other more complicated stuff. we want to empower business owners to do as much of this stuff over-the-counter as possible. if all i'm doing is neighborhood notification, but not doing any building work, or doing limited building work, i should be able to do that, that back-end stuff over the counter at each of the departments. it's also better for the departments, because they don't have to have their intake inboxes full of stuff that could be approved over-the-counter. so, as a result, of this administrative rwhich was developed in concert with the department of building inspection, following neighborhood notification, d.b.i. can identify, haney, this is very limited scope of work. the rest of this can be done over-the-counter. and that applicant can go from count-to-counter. saving people potentially two to three months in the permitting process. so final piece on

implementation. obviously there's a lot of -- a lot of small fixes and changes in this legislation. so as part of thinking about implementation, we've been meeting with each impacted department. and connecting with them about education of staff, permit applicants, other stakeholders. you know, i think that the outreach and education needs, for both this legislation and also there's been a range of new policies over the last couple of years, whether it's flexible retail, temporary uses. all of these new tools out there. i think it's incumbent on us to make sure that city staff, that business owners and potential entrepreneurs and other neighborhood stakeholders, everybody knows all of the tools that are out there. we're continuing to identify challenges facing san francisco businesses. this legislation was developed out of discussions with all of the departments, collaborative discussions. we're continuing to do some of that work to hear from businesses and hear from departments about what the fixes are that we can do to smooth the process. and again we're guided by some

of these pieces of our retail study, that retailers are looking to do new things. they're looking to be adaptable and to expand their businesses in ways that might not have been anticipated by land-use permitting, technical rules and that we can find ways to have events and food and all of this stuff complement healthy retail environment. thank you. >> great. thank you. >> thank you. okay. do we have any commissioner questions? i first want to thank you very much for this presentation today. one of the things i firmly believe is this commission really depends on oewd and what you guys hear on the street. what we hear on the street and working together in partnership to change things. and i'm going to go back to that

legislation that the mayor just signed with the coffee house on coal street. and he's getting ready to do comedy now, which is great. i can go watch comedy, not take a bus. and i -- it's stuff like that or it's items like that that we are making a change for the better in small businesses, especially in these neighborhood corridors. i think -- if you tackle a lot of these issues and problems up front, you'll save on that vacancy space. you know, you'll prevent it. and you'll help that small business thrive. and, you know, like the awning program that she brought up. you know, i can't tell you how many times like, you know, in april i'm going around to businesses saying, you know, guess what, in may you my want to apply for this. there's no permitting fee on it. i have actually seen a couple of businesses change like that. you know, we always try to announce it here at our

meetings. but, you know, we need to get that out with other people. but i will tell you -- in the last few years, i am so impressed with the job that you guys do and the outreach in the neighborhoods. when i'm out there in the neighborhoods, and i have offices all over the city, you know, it's stuff that you guys do and they come up to me and, oh, thank you for taking care of this. thank you for taking care of that. and, you know, i'm the -- we're the office of small business. but i also feel like, you know, we're all one great big happy family and together making these changes. i really do appreciate everything that you guys have done. >> thank you. >> commissioner riley. >> hi. thank you for the presentation. and i just want to say that when the mayor -- mayor breda nounsed -- breed announced $9 million new investment and the people were very excited to hear that. so hopefully they can fund a lot

of your good programs. >> thank you. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena. >> i want to thank you as well for your presentation. and i also want to let everybody know that these are things that are actually happening. this is not just talk. you guys are really doing it. i mean, i see it on the ground in my neighborhood in the mission. this is really having an impact. i can name three businesses right now that's either part of the revolving loan fund, the awning program. i mean, you guys are on it. like this is really happening. so this is exciting. this is real stuff happening. this is not just -- you guys are really doing stuff. i want to say thank you to all y'all. >> commissioner zouzounis? >> thank you all for your presentation. this is really informative of exactly how these -- the mayor's ordinance is being allocated to the work. i have a quick question about the regulatory fee reimbursements.

were there instructions? do you have to apply for that? >> no. no. as laurel arvanitidis mentioned, that if you've been identified in our partnership with the treasurer and tax collector, as having one of the reoccurring fees and again we're estimating about 8800, 8900 individual businesses who are currently having those reoccurring fees. they'll simply see that reflected on their bill. >> okay. >> i'm sorry. as a check. >> yeah. okay. >> so there's no proactive work that has to be done, for many of the businesses. male simply see it reflected. >> and is the cash register scanners, is that like the weight and measures see that you're associated with that? >> yes. yes. >> okay. thank you. >> yeah. thank you. >> commissioner dooley. >> once again it's great to see some action in this area. i also just want to add, perhaps i missed it in all of this, just

the ongoing effort to get people to rent their spaces. i know in my neighborhood, there are a number of businesses, storefronts that will not lease for any reason for any price. it really drags down the neighborhood. and then we have a couple of really bad actor landlords, same thing. they own a lot of property. they either aren't putting it for rent or they want a represent that is not at all in terms of what it should be going for. so any of these things that we're going for, are really helpful. let's also push those vacancies for, you know, that are being held off the market. >> absolutely, commissioner dooley. i think that some of the investments that were listed can certainly facilitate those negotiations, when there are additional capital funds, that can benefit both parties, to get 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.