h this applicant for example in front of macy's which has a restaurant in it. that permit was proximate to the macy's entrance when there's the cheesecake factory in macy's. so essentially the way we view it is if there's any type of gap between the door to the building and where the actual restaurant begins it wouldn't be subject to the 75-foot restaurant requirement. >> period? >> period >> so the restaurant has no protection from a food truck outside of the building where the restaurant is essentially. you are saying it's completely outside of the scope. >> because it's further inside the building. >> okay. >> and there's a gap. >> i'm not convinced that's what this means but that's how you are saying you interpret it that's fine but i don't think that's what this means. i think this means that the primary entrance is the way you get to the restaurant.

and if that entrance is more than -- doesn't have direct street access then this doesn't apply. does that make sense? so you know the big double doors at cheesecake factory that's the primary entrance. doesn't have direct street access so it doesn't apply. as i read this, that's what these words mean. >> i agree. might want to go back and talk to whoever at public works drafted it. >> i agree. >> it's in the ordinance? >> yeah, i mean -- so. anyway. probably none of that matters. >> the ordinance is different. so why is the language different between these two things brad, our city attorney? >> i can't say why it's different but there is an ordinance that has the same restriction it's just worded differently. it says the prohicks set forth in

section 4 shall on -- prohibition set forth in section 4 shall only apply if it has. >> it's hard to hear you. >> the code provides -- we've been looking at the order on mobile food facilities which is very similar to the code. the code provides the prohibition set forth in subsection 4 which is a 75-set radius provision shall only apply if a restaurant has direct street access to its primary access. very similar. >> the problem is the ordinance doesn't make sense. a restaurant can't have street access to its own entrance. what it means is does the public have access to the primary entrance directly from the street. >> where the restaurant -- okay. >> right. it's written in a way that doesn't make any sense. >> it does stem from a public works

code. >> if i was standing at the juice bar am i more than 75 feet from this food truck? >> i believe so, yes. >> that's all i need to know >> thank you. >> is there any public come on this item? how many people are here for public comment? vice president lazarus? a few minutes? okay. >> first person, come on up. yep exactly. >> you have two minutes. thank you. >> thank you for waiting. good evening. >> good evening. my name is emilio. bay area resident. i for one think it's exciting and productive when young people put together a business like this and it should be encouraged by the city, not made more difficult than it already is. i very much enjoy the hometown creamery and support their endeavors. thank you for your time. >> next speaker. welcome. >> doing great. my name is elise.

>> thank you. >> i love the hometown creamery. i live on the same block at the main place is at. i really like that they are a small business. i know they have really like the footprint of having a mobile food truck is not a lot of cost. it really helps. i don't know why if they've already got the permit why it would be overturned. it's just really good for them to have a small business. we don't want to make it harder for small business folks to operate in the city. especially downtown i think it's really cool to be able to have the san francisco hometown creamery. it's a tiny little cute little truck if you haven't seen it in real life. i support ice cream and small business owners and i wouldn't want equinox to take that away from them. thank you. >> next speaker please. >> fill out a speaker card. >> thank you. >> hello. good evening.

my name is vanessa. i'm a san francisco resident. and tonight gives me a whole different level of respect for everything that you are doing, given how late you have to be here. i am trying to wrap my head around everything that's been discussed. and it seems like at this point it's like half of a dozen egg situation where we are splitting the difference. i would like to see that we are supporting small businesses and that we are allowing people in san francisco especially non-tech entrepreneurs to build their businesses and do it in a way that we are being inclusive of people in our community. it seems like we are always kind of pushing one direction and not the other. and it would be wonderful if we could create opportunities for locals to build this business and allow people in our city to have delicious ice cream. so hopefully we can consider this

as an option. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> thank you. >> hello. my name is noah 30-year resident of the san francisco bay area. thank you for all the work and time you have put in tonight. my second time, being here i felt a moral obligation to come not particularly happy about being here. i'm sure the young gentleman and the daughter aren't particularly happy to be here either. i'm sure they would rather be scooping ice cream at the shop or i know they teamed up with local charities and schools to create unique flavors for disaster relief in the past but they are not doing any of those things right now and ultimately because of a few landlords large corporations like equinox feel threatened by a 1960s vw ice cream truck. i think it's absurd.

i haven't heard one legitimate rebuttal that passes the smell test for why this truck can't be here. so back to what some of the other folks said, i think it's really about what you want in your community to look like and reflected and do you want it to be big national organizations who can send their expensive lawyers here to defend them? or do you want it to reflect the cultural diversity of the residents of san francisco and support local businesses like hometown creamery. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. is there any other public comment? okay. we'll move onto rebuttal. mr. gladstone. >> okay. i'm going to be very quick. first of all the restaurant lies on a public business to be in the black. just as much as it relies on patronage from the gym. the restaurant never would have accepted moving in there separate from the gym it has nothing to do

with ownership of the gym. it would never have moved in there if it was true that you have to pass by a gym concierge and show your id before you get into the restaurant. and by the way, let me show this here. you walk in from the street. the concierge is not standing there. he is out of the picture and asking for ids over here. you walk in the entrance and you turn right here. and you are not in a long entrance to the restaurant. you are in the lounge area of the restaurant right here. we showed it to you. it's labeled the lounge. it's on the floor plans. it's on the permit which we'll somehow you in a minute that the lounge area starts here. it is not a hallway to a restaurant far away. if you take d.p.w. to its logical extension it means if we put a restaurant where the he can equinox club is, that would not have direct access to the street because

one can come here and go to a restaurant here before one reaches further into the building to reach the equinox restaurant. it doesn't make sense. i also wanted to mention that we went to the permit holder and suggested a compromise. he has other places in the city. there are other places just across the street. we did some measurements across the street of whether he could be across the street. and we found that it meets all the mfs guidelines. i'm sure he's a great restauranteur. he has fans. they would only have to cross the street. it's not a big burden. i want to point out that i was involved in the case of phil's coffee truck. what's important to note about that even though it's not before you is that situation was a similar one where the mff was within a 75-foot radius of the entrance but you had to go up an elevator

to reach the restaurant, meaning the issue at hand was the same issue. however d.p.w. in that situation and exclusively said that was direct enough access such that the restaurant could be considered a restaurant within 75 feet. the result of that hearing was that the mff food truck could not get a permit and it moved to a different location. that's an extreme version of what's happening here. it's much more direct than it was in that case. and we hope that the permit holder will take into account the compromise and would look at the location across the street because the law requires that. thank you very much. >> i have a question. i'm trying to find the site plan you showed. did you provide that? i'm not seeing it? in order to really understand the location. because in my mind this hinges on the 75 feet

>> yes. it's not in our brief. but we are going to show it again. the floor plan. >> you are saying you turn in the door go right or left and it's right there. and it seems to not be the testimony of the public works or of the permit holders. >> i think we should ask public works did they walk into the entrance and get ided and stop by the concierge. >> my question is the location of the earth bar relative to the main entry. where is the earth bar? >> the earth bar we serve food here >> what's the distance between there? >> there's a lounge area here and called out in the permit as the lounge of the earth bar >> i can't see it. do you know if that distance is scaled between the entrance and the lounge itself?

>> thank you for looking at scale. i don't have a scale here. but you can kind of tell the scale by looking at the dimensions that do appear. but frankly again you walk in the entrance. >> i'm sorry, could you -- look at the television so you can see what we see. >> back out other direction. >> there you go. >> sorry. i didn't know you couldn't see. >> that's all right. >> you walk in the entrance here. this is an opening. this is a wall. >> where the concierge is at. >> here's the concierge desk. here is the wall. when i walked in and i should ask d.p.w. if they did. you can't go beyond this point because the concierge is asking for your id. >> can you show the way you would get to the restaurant? >> you go in >> you go in that double door. and you walk down here.

you see people at tables. we showed you pictures eating products from -- >> just answer the question. >> the distance. >> you walk right down there and i can't tell you the distance between here and here. >> that's fine. a couple things that are challenging to me. obviously 75 feet, where are we measuring from, et cetera. but i think what's challenging for me is the way the earth bar is not really signed. so it would seem to me if i were outside walking on the street i wouldn't know earth bar was there unless i was an equinox member or went into the ally as the permit holder say go into a door i can't get into and wonder where is the earth bar. so it strikes me this may be the way to get to the earth bar but it doesn't signal it's the primary entrance to a restaurant. it's signed as the entrance to the equinox facility. >> i have a question. does the earth bar sell ice cream? >> we have a menu.

would you like to look at the menu? >> an acai bowl and something else >> it has smoothies. >> i think i got my answer from colleague. thank you. >> i have some questions. you said the earth bar is not owned by -- you represent the owner of the building? >> correct >> and obviously the owner of the building and owner of equinox are different. >> yes. >> equinox is a tenant. >> a at the. >> and earth bar is a separate tenant. >> i don't know if it's a subtenant of the equinox. but the code doesn't talk about the relevance of that. i'm not sure which one it is, frankly. >> okay. i'm wondering because you say they are not owned by equinox. >> they are not owned by equinox. whether they are a subtenant, i don't know. code doesn't ask that question.

>> >> are you familiar with westfield mall? >> i am >> is it your position that the primary entrance of the restaurants by the movie theater -- do you know where those restaurants are? >> yes >> is it your opinion the entrance is the front door of the mall. >> i don't know where those restaurants are. >> do you know where the food court is? >> the food court downstairs >> no. i don't. i know where it is next door at the nordstrom's. >> it's underground. just take my word for it. is it your position that the primary entrance to the restaurant at the food court is the front door to the mall or instead something else? >> i think if it's down in the basement the front door is the front door of the actual -- well, you know i don't know. i can't really tell you. because that's not a situation that's

discussed in these ordinances. i don't really know. >> well, it's pretty important to me because that's sort of what we have here. >> i think you made a good observation earlier that i thought was the best observation about that. >> okay. thank you. >> thank you. we will now hear from the permit holder. >> no, you go, no you go >> so we were told, it was our understanding that when there's a break, that's when it's -- that 75-foot no longer applies. so here if you were to step inside and you were at the bar it would be greater than 75 feet once you enter from there. but that's what i wanted to close with is our goal is straightforward and simple. we want to build a contemporary business. we want to create as many jobs as we can, san francisco.

manufacture as much ice cream as we can in san francisco and contribute and engage with the community as much as possible. it's imperative we grow our business in order to survive. we've been open for four-years now. with continued increases in operating costs and trying to keep the majority of our team members above minimum wage, we are struggling to continue to manufacture our products with the highest standards while keeping our pricing accessible to all demographics. because we have limited resources we have to be creative. we are a small independent family business with no outside investors. our brothers and i are the sole owners, and we are doing everything we can to keep it that way. through the bus we have found a unique and creative way to utilize the limited resources we have and put it towards expanding our business in a legal way that benefits the local community and adds value not only to the surrounding areas but also the tourists and cultural experience of san francisco.

creating a contemporary san francisco institution is not easy. we request the board not overturn the permit and allow my brother and me to continue our pursuit in growing our business. i would be happy to answer questions. >> i'm very supportive of small business. i'm supportive of your business. i went to gordo's and my daughter wanted an ice cream so we got one. you have a brick and mortar and you say the struggling lost of operation. what about the brick and mortar in that area because they have rent as well as their employee costs? >> sure >> let me finish. would you like a food truck or an ice cream truck in front of your brick and mortar on ninth and irving? >> so within the block and a half about two-block radius there are five other places that have ice cream. and within a block away there's an ice cream truck in golden gate park that's a block away. >> a little bit farther that's where

the parking structure is. that's almost three blocks. >> if you cross lincoln. >> cross lincoln, because you are at the corner of irving and you are three-doors down where the old mortuary was. if you go to that one block then you go into the park, pass a hall of flowers then you are going to where the parking structure is so it's really two and a half blocks. so if you were to have an ice cream truck directly in front of your food truck in front of your brick and mortar would that affect your business and how would you feel if that were the case? >> i can sigh during our due diligence we checked if there were any ice cream operations near it and we didn't find any >> again, there are other restaurants. there is a easy breezy.

there is another place down the street. >> those are also brick and mortar. what my question primarily was is you understand how difficult it is to operate a brick and mortar in san francisco with the health code the restrictions, the rent, the insurance employee costs. and here, you know, the question was would you like a food truck or mmf with your similar product in front of your brick and mortar? >> so i think as the question was asked the gentleman before they asked if they served ice cream. that would be like asking if there was an acai truck or smoothie place in front of our shop. >> so if they moved in front of your business, it would not impact it? thank you. that was the question. >> it was stated the appellant approached you guys about an alternate location. did you explore that location? what was your conclusion? >> we reached out in an e-mail.

last night i got a phone call about whether we would think about that. it's my understanding that would cause us to -- >> have a problem with someone else. >> exactly. >> impact another restaurant? >> not impact another restaurant. but it would require us to do a 30-day notification again. we've already went through this at the public hearing at public works. and then it was appealed. and then it's two months later. and so if i remember correctly it would require us to restart the application process all over again which we submitted this in december, i think, of last year. >> and was it the appellant who appealed at the public working hearing as well? >> right >> and the suggestion to the alternate location came prior to this hearing? >> it was brought up to me last night >> do you sell anything beside ice cream out of the truck? >> no, strictly ice cream >> no beverages. >> we can do hot cider. but because of theside size of our vw it limits us to pretty

much just ice cream. >> okay. thank you. >> thank you. anything further from public works? >> of course. >> i was hoping to bring more color on the 75-foot from the actual food facility to the earth bar restaurant. so this is a tool that public works uses. it's how we review a lot of these permits and it has a measuring tool. so just as an example, i measured in the line you see here is 82 feet so it's shorter than that. if i do an aerial photo. >> it's hard to see. we need to move it down. like is it the upper left? >> it's this line >> okay, sorry. >> so that was 82 feet, i believe

it was. this is the proximate. but you can see that at 82 feet, it would still be quite short of the earth bar restaurant. i just wanted to -- i know you had some concerns about the plans that were presented. it does seem pretty clear to us that the actual restaurant in and of itself would be more than 75 feet from the truck. and then just to show again the gap. so as you enter the entrance there and turn to the right there are benches and i believe there was a pro shop that it was called that looks to me like probably around at least 40 feet before you would actually enter the vicinity of the restaurant itself.

>> and then the applicant or the permit holder asserted if they were to go to an alternate location as suggested by the appellant that the process would begin again. is that true? what part of the process would have to begin again? >> most likely we'd have to review what the new location would be. if it was just a matter of one parking space then the same notification scope potentially it could be done administratively. but if it were a larger move, we would have to renotify the public per the code. >> okay, thank you. >> thank you. >> commissioners, this matter is submitted. >> this is an interesting case. certainly can see why there may be some confusion over what is 75 feet from what or where -- where. it seems obvious to me that it would be hard as a member of the public to know the earth bar is there. and it's more than 75 feet from the location of the proposed

mobile food facility even if it was a full-on entrance to the street. if the door from the earth bar opened right at the earth bar it would be outside of the radius. i'm sensitive because it's also a small business. i don't know if it's a chain but it's a business that employees people that has a clientele it's trying to reach in order to provide its product but also to provide jobs for the folks that work there and provide what it provides. it doesn't seem to me that it's product wise huge competition which i think part of the regulations we have is to prevent the restaurants from competing and digging into each other's businesses. hopefully folks at the equinox want to keep healthy and have the acai bowls. and it's not there every day. it's there three days a week so it's not in full competition with

the earth bar hours. i would not about against the appeal. >> you would be prepared to grant the peel. the appeal. >> sorry. >> they remove like or similar food from the ordinance or for the approval. several years ago we've had a lot of mffs come before us and food trucks. and i find it strange that the building is represented but yet the earth bar doesn't have a problem or representation here having a problem. but at the same time fundamentally i am a strong proponent of small business brick and mortar. and i think by having food trucks and mffs in that facility, especially in this day and time where brick and mortar are having such a hard time, i cannot support this. i do support their business.

i think it's a great model. i supported them when they were in front of macy's. but in this case i am not prepared to support them. >> i have a question for d.p.w. am i correct that on various days and various times there are other food trucks on that block particularly on the north side of pine between montgomery and samson? >> i'm not familiar with other mobile food facilities on that block >> there are some -- plenty on pine. [off mic] >> i'm sorry. can't have a member of the public responding. you don't know any other permits for food trucks on that north side of pine? >> i'm not quite sure >> we had one from -- >> we saw pictures. >> yes. okay. yeah. so i needed to note that.

thank you. >> just making lunch plans or -- >> never mind [laughter] >> they just opened up their first brick and mortar themselves. so congratulations for that. >> i think the only way to make sense of this ordinance and the resulting public works order is to exclude earth bar from it. and the reason that i have for that is because i think that the primary entrance of earth bar cannot be the front entrance of the building itself. it has to be something that's actually at the earth bar, probably the 3 feet in front of it where people stand. otherwise i don't know that you could read 9 and 9 feet together to ever make sense. and so like the food court at the westfield mall, i think 9 feet applies because it's a 75-feet requirement does not apply. so i would deny the appeal. >> who is going to make a motion?

>> i move to deny the appeal and uphold the permit on the basis that it was properly issued >> we have a motion from commissioner tanner to deny the appeal and uphold the permit on the basis it was properly issued. on that motion. [roll call vote] that motion carries 3-0. and the appeal is denied. >> is there any further business? >> this concludes the hearing >> we are adjourned.

>> what a great store. thank you so much for inviting us into your home, your business. we know that this store is named after your great grandmother and we really appreciate the work that you are doing here with the castro street merchants and all the incredible merchants that are here. hey, richard. good to see you. all the incredible merchants i'm london breed i'm the mayor of san francisco joined by the supervisor of district 8 supervisor mandelman to talk about the shopping and dining

and 49ing that didn't work. but the 49ers are winning. we are here today because we know that we are kicking off the holiday season. and there is nothing like -- nothing like shopping and hanging out at some of our great restaurants and other places in so many of our neighborhoods that really does put you into the holiday spirit. and so we want to encourage people to shop in places like stag and main, which is an incredible store as you can see ornaments, furniture bowls plates cups, you can come here and decorate your whole house for thanksgiving tomorrow. so this is one of the most incredible small businesses we have in the city. and i know it's a favorite of the supervisor, along with so many unique neighborhoods. you can go to almost any neighborhood in san francisco and discover something that you probably never saw before. noe valley, the haight ashbury

the western addition, union street so many great places that you can shop, you can buy gifts that will be unique gifts for our family members and friends, because they are unique small businesses in san francisco. a lot of love and care goes into these places. and we want to make sure that when you are out shopping this holiday season, that you really look at your neighborhoods and different neighborhoods throughout san francisco and support our small business community. let me tell you. i still use a lot of the same places i've been using since i was a kid. believe it or not they are still here. i still go to the same dry cleaner. the lady who is been doing my nails for over 20 years is still doing my nails even though i didn't get them done today. the places -- i had the same dentist, a small business owner since i've had teeth. it's so incredible to have these

incredible relationships that you have because it's a personal touch with the people who run these businesses. because most often when you walk into any of these places, nine times out of ten the owner of the store will be there and that is why he is here today because he's not only the owner he's an employee. he works here every single day. so you see him on the news, come down here and see him in person. but part of shopping in san francisco and so many incredible neighborhoods also involve making sure that we are being smart about parking. you know, there's no secret that we have a lot of challenges with car break-ins unfortunately but i am proud of the work the san francisco police department has done in reducing the number of car break-ins significantly. and i know chief scott is here with us today to talk a little bit about how we park. i think that helps tremendously in helping to avoid becoming a

victim especially during this holiday season when we know people are paying close attention to what people are doing. we want people to have a great experience. we want them to come here to this store and hang out. then we want them to head over to hot cookie and have a hot cookie. we want them to enjoy the amazing restaurants castro, the castro community is our featured neighborhood this time around, shop and dine in the 49. and so we really wanted to highlight this unique place in our city and the supervisor will talk more about this amazing community. but if you can get out there and support our small businesses all over san francisco i know it will make a real difference. and you'll have a good time. because overall, we want your experience to be great from start to finish. we want the time that you leave your house to the time that you come to the castro, to the two three, four, five, hours you spend walking up and down market

street and castro street and all the bags that you are going to be carrying, you go and you get some food and hang out and then you go home and feel good and relax. that's what i want people to experience during this holiday season in san francisco. so it is so great to have all of you here. thank you to the castro merchants association for coordinating and thank you i know commissioner adams is here to talk on behalf of the merchants association. but shop and dine in the 49. san francisco is an incredible, unique place where there is something for everyone. and with that, your supervisor to talk about this community and all the great places that you can visit during this campaign, it will be supervisor. come on up. >> thank you, mayor breed. small businesses in san francisco today.

[applause] it is gray and rainy. and i was in puert o vallarta yesterday. it's been a little bit of a gray time in this neighborhood for the last few weeks. there was an awful fire on castro street. and i know we have a number of businesses represented here who have been impacted by that fire. and i want to thank the mayor and the office of economic and workforce development, joaquin and your team for stepping up for those businesses. and i know you are going to be doing a little bit on that later. but the response from the city, the fire department that was fighting the fire to the folks who came in later to help out the residents and the business owners have been great. and i want to, on behalf of the castro, thank you for that. that's an applause line yeah. [applause] but i think we also know the castro has had some problems for a while now and some of it is reflective around challenges for

retail across the city and the country and some of it is unique to the challenges we have up here, some of the street behavior issues and the real challenges of operating businesses here in the castro. but this is a as you all know, this is a wonderful neighborhood. it is a neighborhood that is embedded in the history of this city and the history of this country. world-changing things have happened in this neighborhood, done by, starting with a castro small businessman, harvey milk and his camera shop downcast row street. today is the anniversary of the assassination. some of us will be at a candle-lit vigil later. but this neighborhood is part of the heart of san francisco. so even till today building on that tradition of harvey milk there are so many great local leaders, from the merchants thank you for the work you do and andrea, and all the merchants and staff who

courageously stepped in to open this business just about a year ago, steve adams made sure i was here. thank you commissioner. and you've brought this wonderful establishment to this block, other brave, courageous folks stepped forward every year to try to share their dream with this community and other communities around san francisco. and it is so easy to go online and buy that thing. but i ask i hope that san franciscans, if you love your neighborhoods, if you love your neighborhood small businesses, you know, today take a break on the online purchase, go out and actually support the neighborhood small business and the folks who are working so hard like staff both to share their dream with you and to make these neighborhoods work. we need our small businesses so desperately. they are critical to the vitality of our neighborhoods and they are great. and so i'm just pleased madame mayor and joaquin that you

chose to have shop and dine start here with this event. i want to thank miriam, wherever she is, the most extraordinary public servant who made this happen. mary ahn gets a little bit of applause. and tom and my office are working to make this happen. and i want to thank chief scott and the police department for your partnership around some of the issues i alluded to earlier. it is challenging up here, but we are getting tremendous help i know, and i'm enjoying working with you and looking forward to continuing to work to make this place where people are safe, have fun and where we have a healthy, thriving community. so with that chief scott. [applause] >> thank you supervisor. and thank you mayor breed. first of all happy thanksgiving everybody. we have so much to be grateful and thankful for. and i want to start by thanking the mayor for her great leadership in this great city

and the supervisor, the office of economic and workforce development, castro merchants association. we have a great city and a great community. and so it's my job and all of our san san francisco police department officers that you see here to give you some reminders to stay safe during the holiday season. as the mayor mentioned we've made a lot of progress in our park smart campaign, because one thing that we want to do is not make it easy to be a victim. we want everybody to step back and have a good time and do your shopping and enjoy your families but don't make yourself an easy target. so there's a couple simple reminders. first and foremost, if you are going to shop, you probably are going to have packages and bags and all this great merchandise. make sure you don't leave it in your cars when you go and dine afterwards in the 49, make sure you don't leave it in the car to make it easy for somebody to take it to you. one of the simple things in crime prevention is don't make

yourself an easy target. so lock your cars, don't leave anything visible in your cars. if you have merchandise if you can't carry it with you put it in your trunk. it's always a good idea, oftentimes if you are going to be dining and you are going to go to the restaurants and take advantage of the great food in this area, have a plan in terms of how you are going to shop and do your merchandise. a lot of times the stores will hold things for you or you hold it and come back and purchase it after you eat. so there's just some basic common sense things that we can do to make ourselves not be easy targets. here's the other thing. if you see something, report it. say something call us. we will have officers around this city thanks to the support of the supervisor, mayor breed and the budget we got this year. we have officers on the beat. we have foot beat officers out here in the castro as around the entire city. call us. we are there for you. we want to be a part of your experience and we want that

experience to be a good one. so call us if you see something that's amiss. if you see somebody staring into cars and you think that's suspicious we don't mind coming out. that's a call you should make to us. lastly before i wrap it up and turn it over to commissioner adams, pay attention to your surroundings. you know, we are so distracted in today's world. everybody has phones. i think i have two me right now and i'm always looking at them, making sure i answer the mayor's messages. [laughter] but when we do that, it distracts us from paying attention to what's around us. i can't tell you how many people have had their phones snatched out of their hands because they weren't paying attention to what's around them. we can't prevent everything but we can prevent a lot of things. so pay attention. we know people have to make calls and you have to answer your calls but pay attention as you do that because it just makes for a more vigilant and resilient san francisco when you do that.

so have a wonderful thanksgiving. remember to shop and dine in the 49. you'll see many of us out there shopping as well. my daughter is here in town and i promised here i was going to take her shopping. [laughter] so thank you. with that i'll turn it over to commissioner adams. [applause] >> thank you. i'm going to be very brief. first i want to thank mayor breed, supervisor, joaquin mary jorge for bringing this event to the castro this year. i want to acknowledge the president of the castro merchants who asked me to come in today. and i love this event. we also have several castro board members here, brian springfield, j.b. and isaiah with body. some of the some of these guys have had a rough time with the fires. so if there's anything we can do to come in and support their business. body is back open so you can

come shop, eat drink in the castro. i also want to acknowledge rodney with the chamber of commerce and the s.p.a. is also here today. we've got everybody here. castro we need some loving here. i especially want to thank the mayor and supervisor for changing up some of the zoning laws in upper market here where we are now able to fill in second story businesses and ground floor businesses like this one to get them open to get them open quick and for people to enjoy it. so thank you for that. so with that, happy holidays, everybody. we have our tree lighting on monday at 6:00 at castro and 18th street. so come shop, eat drink and stay in the castro. thank you. [applause] >> and andrea, come on up. >> hi, everybody.

good morning. yes, i'm andrea with the castro community benefit district. we are responsible for keeping the castro clean and safe. so have no fear, we will be keeping these streets clean for all the people to come and shop in the castro. i want to thank mayor breed for having us here this afternoon. and i also want to thank seth for inviting everybody and opening up his store and taking the risk of having all those cameras. making sure nothing breaks because he has wonderful things in this store. and i also want to thank regina who is here this afternoon with the small business commission. so thanks so much, regina. [applause] so we all know that san franciscans love small businesses. and everyone here has appealed you to do the right thing to shop local and shop in the castro or the haight or wherever

your best neighborhood is. but i want to remind everybody why the best reason to shop local, to get out and get offline is because shopping is fun. and it's social. you remember how it used to be when you would go with your best friend and you would go shopping and get that special thing for your mom or get that special thing for your boyfriend or girlfriend or whoever it was or your dad shopping is fun. and that's why it's important that you remember you go back to what it used to be like. and i want to encourage everyone to take a challenge this weekend and not shop online. to get out and shop in the castro instead because again shopping is something that you do with your friends and family, and you can enjoy your relationships and build on that and have an experience that is really fun and interesting and unique. and we have some really great unique stores in the castro, as a matter of fact. there's local take on 17th street where that little f line turn around is, local take.

sells hand-crafted artisan kinds of things. so you can go there and you can support local artists, and at the same time you are supporting a small business in the castro. you can also shop here. you can shop at stag and manor. the castro has three home decor small businesses. there's stag and manor there's the kenneth winguard store that has really unusual and special gifts, and then there's this little shop that is hidden so if you like to explore the neighborhood it's down on sanchez street. it's called, i think the address is 286 sanchez. it's called s16 home. they have unique items there for that very special someone in your life or someones. also right next door to this place is the incredible place called d & h sustainable

jewelers. this jewelry store is high end. so if you have a special person that you are looking for this incredible unique piece of jewelry, it's sustainable in nature which means you are helping the environment and you are also being able to purchase a really unique piece of jewelry for that very special person in your life. what else? oh and i did want to mention there's this very cool shop on castro. we are in the castro, after all. and they advertise themselves as the dayest shop ever, the official name of the store is nobs it's 432 castro street. you can go there with your friends. they have a runway so you can tryon your newest styles -- try on your newest styles and model and experience what it would be like to walk around in those new clothes.

the castro has really unique businesses and it's a fun place to come shopping and i want to remind everybody the castro is open for everyone. we want to serve businesses -- business to everybody. so come and explore the castro during the day. you probably know the castro at night, but the daytime it's a great place and experience what shopping is like and purchasing those special gifts for you and maybe even yourselves. so thank you very much. [applause] and i know that seth from stag and manor wants to say a few words. so next up is seth. >> [off mic] >> i didn't even know i was going to be speaking today but i want to say thank you all for coming to stag and manor. it's such an honor to serve this community which is my community the community i've lived in for many years now. it's been such an honor to have the shop open for a year this saturday with incredible customers coming through every day with so many wonderful things being a part of it all.

and i hope we are all just sharing these experiences with all our friends and neighbors to get more people out because now is the time to really support small business. i'm so happy andrea mentioned the friends i was going to mention to make sure they got a shoutout. i'll add crystal way another long time small business that does wonderful work. come out on next thursday for the castro artwork at one of our wonderful community events. also the following saturday our neighbors are going to be hosting the rocket dog rescue group next door as part of a promotional event to show our community and the way we work together. so again thank you everybody such a pleasure. come on up. >> the cookies that -- [off mic] >> finally. >> so everyone gets one.

>> these are from hot cookie? >> yes >> wow look at that. doesn't look like a cookie, it looks like a cake. wow. thank you. all right. >> thank you again, thank you mayor breed. such a pleasure to have you in the shop. >> thank you, seth. [off mic] >> well, as was mentioned by the supervisor earlier unfortunately there was a fire that happened just a few weeks ago. and the amazing men and women of the san francisco fire department did an incredible job. and afterwards, the people from the office of economic and workforce development did a extraordinary job stepping in, meeting with people, working with the tenants as well as the small business owners to provide

whatever support we could. we know that experiencing fire oftentimes you lose everything, but then it's not just the people it's also maybe the employees and meeting payroll and how you get up and running. you run a small business, you know you're probably -- you know again the person who is the owner and the employee and sometimes you are lucky if you are able to hire other people. and then to add a fire to a situation makes it even worse. but i'm really excited that the city has a disaster relief fund that provides an opportunity to support our small business community in a way that gives them what they need to not worry so much. i mean, it's not a lot but it is more than what it used to be, which was nothing. and this is an opportunity to support our small business community, because what we want

during the time of rebuilding and dealing with all of this, that we provide a little bit of support that will help in whatever way possible to at least keep those persons on their feet as they go through this most challenging process. and so i want to thank joaquin torres and his office for working so hard. in bureaucratic years, this is really fast to happen. [laughter] supervisor you know, to have checks ready to go. we are going to be presenting four checks today to osaki sushi. mr. wang, thank you so much. and they had to do work for this. they had to fill out a whole application and everything else. and sam from cafe mystique. met sam on the way in. thank you sam. thank you. >> i appreciate it. >> and let me tell you, some of these businesses, you have been there since -- who has been there? there was a business that's been there, body oil or body

since '89. and body. andrew. come on up. >> isaiah >> oh, who is andrew? [off mic] oh, well, body, since 1989 this business has been in the castro. and how amazing is that? so we are so happy that you were opening right away. so make sure you stop by and purchase some items. i'm so glad to have you. and last but not least q bar john? are you here from q bar? here you go. thank you really. and let me just say how much more important it is that when these businesses that aren't back on their feet get back on their feet, that we support them. and that we go and we visit and we spend money as much as we can, because this i'm sure was difficult. it wasn't just the merchants. there were other people living in the building.

i think four are back in their apartments. but there are another eight people that aren't. so very difficult time for all of you. we are glad to have you here today. we are hopeful that the rest of the businesses will open and then that you would get a lot of business so the merchants association, the san francisco chamber of commerce, you got work to do to advertise for this community, these small businesses let's support our incredible merchants in san francisco. let's have a good time in the castro. and let's eat these cookies because they look good. [laughter] [applause] thank you so much. ... ...

>> good morning, everyone. welcome to the thursday, november 21st meeting of the government audit and oversight committee. i'm gordon mar and joined by committee member valley brown. aaron peskin is unable to join us today. thank you to this committee's clerk, john carroll. i would like to thank john smith for staffing this meeting. mr. clerk, any announcements? >> yes thank you mr. chair. please ensure you've silenced cell phones and your completed speakerrer cards to be included as a par