the director of the department of public health, dr. grant colfax. the director of the department of emergency management, mary ellen carroll. the director of the department of human services trent rhorer. the director of the department of homelessness and housing, abigail stewart-khan and our police chief bill scott. thank you for joining us this afternoon. i want to start by providing the most updated numbers currently. we have 1,058 cases here in san francisco of those diagnosed with the coronavirus. and sadly, we have 20 people who died from this illness. and for more information, please visit data sf.org/covid-19 for our full tracker and more

information that you may be interested in reviewing. today i just wanted to talk about the anniversary of the 1906 earthquake. this weekend marks the 106th anniversary of the earthquake. when we all can look back on our history and remember during that time, not only did the earthquake hit and it really physically destroyed buildings and many parts of our city, there was a very devastating fire that occurred. and, in fact, over 3,000 people lost their lives. and during that time, san franciscans didn't throw up their hands. we took to our feet, we came together with businesses, with people from all over the city and we focused on rebuilding. we got through that because we came together. we got through the 1906

earthquake because we worked together. because we didn't throw up our hands. we focused on recovery. and that really is the spirit of what it means to be a san franciscan. it really does represent who we are, because we focus on how do we get through this and how do we move forward and how do we become better than ever? this is a resilient city because of that. and just like after the 1906 earthquake, the work that went into rebuilding our city and making it stronger for future earthquakes that we knew were coming, we also really rebuilt this city and we have been through a number of challenges that have made us even stronger and better. this is a pandemic like no other. and this is a challenge that we

will get through. and just like in the 1906 earthquake, we will rebuild and thrive. today i want to talk a little bit about our new directive that dr. colfax will provide more information about. and that is a new requirement to wear face coverings. we recommended face covering in the past and now as of midnight tonight, it will be a requirement. but i don't want you to be alarmed. i want to make sure that people know our goal isn't to enforce until april 22nd to give people who may not have access to face coverings the opportunity to get access to them. we are working to distribute some to many of our vulnerable populations, but we want to ask members of the public to do this now if you can.

whether it's a mask -- and there is no need to wear an n95 mask. those should be reserved for health care workers, but any type of mask, face-covering, a scarf, something that covers your nose and mouth, this will be a requirement for people who are standing in line at grocery stores or any other places open for essential services. it's going to be required when you're inside of those locations. any time you're indoors or within close proximity of others within an essential business or at work, like many of our city employees who are essential workers on the front lines, you will be required to wear a mask. now, if someone is out walking and they're with other folks, someone is out and they're with other people in their household, or you're running or exercising

or doing something out in the open and you're social distancing yourself from others, that is not as problematic as when you're standing in line and in other locations where there are a lot of people. we want to be clear that the requirement to wear face coverings does not take the place of social distancing. maintaining six feet regardless of this new requirement. and i also want to make it clear, if you are not a police officer, don't act like one. we're not expecting people to police one another, because the fact is, you can't control what other people do. you can only control what you do. and what we ask you to do is, if you can obey the order and have a face covering on and keep your distance at least six feet from anyone. i want to be clear, what we don't want is more

confrontation, more stress and more drama in general as a result of this order. we don't expect anyone in this city to step up and police anyone other than the people who work for the san francisco police department. so, please, do your part to follow the order and worry about what you need to do and not what someone else is doing. and we'll do our very best in order to manage this situation. and dr. colfax will talk a little bit more about the face covering requirements, but this does not -- this does not change the need for us to social distance ourselves from one another, it does not change the existing rules, it does not make it better, it's just an additional requirement, an additional allayer that is -- an additional layer that is necessary to help us flatten the curve. so far you've been doing an

amazing job. so many people in the city doing an amazing job of keeping your distance, following the order, respecting one another and your space. and we want to continue is that and we're just adding an additional requirement that will also help in this effort. speaking of staying at home, i just want to remind people that during 4-20, we are going to be add golden gate park. we're going to fence up golden gate park. we'll have police officers out in force. and we will not allow any large gatherings of any kind at golden gate park. so i am asking you to stay at home for 4-20. it is not going to happen at golden gate park. so, please, follow this order and not just as it relates to large gatherings for 4-20, but

for any other large gathering. i just want to remind people, for example -- and i talked about the choir where they practice social distancing and they had rehearsal and 45 people were infected and two died. situations where people and families have gotten together anyway and only to discover that they are now infected with the coronavirus. this is real. it can hit you at any time. and even if you don't care, if you get infected, please care about your family members and the other folks that you come in contact with. you know, i always bring this back to my grandmother who raised me. there is no way that if she was still alive today that i would want to be the reason why she was infected or i would want anyone to infect her because of being irresponsible in this effort. so just keep that in mind. so many people are counting on us to do the right thing. stay home for 4-20.

don't come to san francisco. we are not welcoming any large gatherings of any nature, not just during 4-20, but any other time as long as the stay-at-home order is in place. thank you, all, so much for your understanding and your cooperation. i want to also take this moment to talk about a few expanded resources, because we know that our seniors and our disabled population, they are probably struggling in some instances. they have neighbors who are looking out for them or family members or folks volunteering to run errands and do grocery shopping, but the fact is they may need to take essential trips. for health reasons or what have you, they may need to go somewhere and they're concerned about getting on the bus and

they're concerned that because they're part of the vulnerable population about getting around the city and there are mobility challenges that exist that make it difficult to do so. the sfmta has created an essential-trip card program which provides reduced cost taxi trips for older adults and people with disabilities. so while this is an important resource for people who may have limited mobility and who don't have other transportation options available, with this program, people can get a card that allows them to take 2-3 trips per month at 20% of the cost of a regular fare. so, for example, if the fare is $10, then the person only pays $2, which is really incredible for our senior population and those who have disabilities. we want to make sure that

transportation for essential needs or things you may need to do, that it's not a barrier during this time. it's important that we provide creative solutions for our vulnerable populations. and that's exactly what we're doing with this program. if you want more information, please call 311, or you can visit the sfmta website. we are here for you and we are here to do all we can to take care of the residents of san francisco. i want to, again, express my appreciation to each and every one of you. it is the people of san francisco that are following the directives, cooperating and doing the best that you can -- you're the reason why san francisco is a model for so many other cities to follow. you're the reason, your cooperation. and i want to be clear that as

difficult as i know it is for you, i know that we have parts of our communities that are not complying with the orders that we put forth, whether they are being defiant or they may not have the mental capacity to really understand and follow the directive, there are challenges we know that exist with people who aren't able to follow the order. again, we are going to do everything we can to get people to comply, but the fact is, what all of you are doing, how you have all participated by following the order, has put us in a great situation, but we can't let up. we can't let up because the fact is, sadly, 20 people have already lost their lives. we have over a thousand cases in our city and growing. and we can't let up because that

could mean the possibility of other people getting infected and seeing the numbers surge completely out of control. that is the last thing we want. and that is why i want to remind you as the weekend comes, make sure that you are keeping your distance from people who are not a part of your household. make sure you're not making this one-time exception of getting together for a dinner party or any other event. make sure that you are using the telephone or other resources to call and check on family members to make sure that their mental health and well-being is okay. but we need you more than ever to continue down this path so that we cannot only flatten the curve, but make it nonexistent. thank you, all, again for your cooperation. at this time i would like to introduce the director of the department of public health, dr. grant colfax.

thank you, mayor. thank you, mayor breed. i'm grant colfax, director of health for the city and county of san francisco. as we work together across the city to flatten the curve, and even as we all do our part and even as we see signs of

progress, i want to acknowledge the grief, anxiety and perhaps for some even anger that we are experiencing during these unprecedented times. the department under the direction of the mayor with other city departments, with key community stakeholders, and from people like you, the department is doing all it can to address and mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. in doing so, the department of health will always listen, welcome feedback and strive to refine and improve our response. this is particularly important as it becomes increasingly clear that the coronavirus will

exploit longstanding challenges and disparities as it spreads, whether this be related to other health issues such as mental health and substance use disorders, or broader inequities, such as homelessness, housing challenges, or income disparities. this is why we must continue together to be unified and vigilant to slow the spread of the virus. and to make difficult decisions and to prioritize our actions. we must continue to follow the science, data and facts as we move forward together. i would like to provide an update on the data, including city-wide cases as well as at the jail, the msc south shelter

and laguna honda hospital. today as the mayor said there are 1058 san francisco residents with confirmed cases of coronavirus. out of a total of 10,077 tests reported. sadly, 20 people have died and i send my condolences to their families, loved ones, community and friends. there are 91 patients with coronavirus hospitalized across the city and about 30% of these cases are in the intensive care unit. our hospitalization numbers for covid-19-positive patients have been holding relatively steady for the past week, which is welcome news, but again, that

could change at any time, especially as we expect to see continued outbreaks. across san francisco's hospital system today, there are 1,048 acute care beds and 445 intensive care beds available across the city to meet the demands of a surge. yesterday the city had its first positive case confirmed in our city's jail. the person showed no symptoms, but was tested and isolated as part of routine testing of all new bookings that are housed in the jail. a contact investigation is under way. as i reported last week, there was an outbreak of coronavirus at msc south, the city's largest homeless shelter.

as of today, 95 guests and 10 staff there have tested positive for the coronavirus. and at laguna honda hospital, there are 19 confirmed cases of coronavirus. 15 of the confirmed cases are among staff and 4 are among residents. there have now been no new cases among residents since april 7th. all the residents are in good condition. and, again, we are doing everything we can to reduce the spread of the virus in our community, protect vulnerable population, health care workers and first responders. now i would like to provide more details about the new action that san franciscans -- that we are taking to help san

franciscans fight the spread of the coronavirus. because even as we respond to outbreaks now in the homeless community and in long-term care facilities, we are also looking ahead. today, as the mayor announced, we will -- residents and workers will be required to wear face coverings at essential businesses and public facilities and on transit. this requirement is a legal health order and takes effect at midnight tonight. it strengthens a recommendation we made on april 2nd and is informed by the centers for disease control and prevention guidelines. like our shelter in place order and many of our approaches, this is a regional effort. the face covering requirements have already been announced by

sonoma county and several other bay area jurisdictions will announce similar orders today. by wearing masks or face coverings when interacting with other people in public, san franciscans will be less likely to transmit the coronavirus to one another. it is important to understand that today's order is part of a broader strategy to establish new ways of interacting and behaving. this will help us now and it will help us in the future as we hope to be able to relax the stay-at-home order. by then people will already be in the habit of wearing face coverings at the grocery store, in lines, while riding a bus, taxi, or über.

it is likely that we will need to continue to do this for some time, even after we start to emerge from our home. and, please -- and i can't emphasize this enough -- please know and please remember that wearing a face covering is not a substitute for staying at home, staying six feet apart, and frequent hand-washing. the purpose of covering your nose and mouth is to protect other people. face coverings help to stop droplets that may be infectious, even if the person wearing the mask has no or mild symptoms. in other words, my mask -- i want to assure you i was wearing a mask until approaching this podium -- my mask protects you and your mask protects me.

covering your face is a great way to show you care for your neighbors, your friends, your community. we are going to have to continue to work together to slow down the virus and reduce transmission. the virus is still out there, so we must continue to be vigilant. i want to emphasize that the face covering is just one part of an effective response infrastructure. other components include aggressive outbreak investigation, expanded testing, contact-tracing, and adherence to isolation and quarantine orders and continued prevention. all of these -- all of these will be critical in the future to maintaining any gains we are making due to our current efforts to flatten the curve.

there are good signs that we are, indeed, making progress, but we still have a long way to go. thank you for everything you are doing to protect the health of our community. together, every day, we are saving lives. thank you. now i'd like to introduce the director of mta who will make a few remarks.

>> thank you, dr. colfax. once again, my name is jeffrey tumlin. i'm the director of transportation at the sfmta. i have four key points to make. one is a reminder. muni is for essential trips only. this means essential workers and people making essential trips like going to the grocery store, going to the pharmacy or going to seek social services. if you have another means of making your essential trip, please choose to do so. it's very important that we save seats for essential workers that have no other means of getting

to work. the second point -- and this is again to emphasize what dr. colfax and the mayor have said -- if you're riding muni, please wear a face covering. this is incredibly important and again, it is not about protecting your health, it's about protecting the health of the other passengers and our operators. please wear a face mask when riding muni. my third key point is something that the mayor mentioned, which is our new service offering. we know as muni cut back its service to the 17 most essential routes that serve the majority of our riders, that we left parts of the city behind. so my team has worked rapidly this week to develop the essential-trip card. this works effectively as a debit card and if you're an older adult over the age of 65 or somebody with disabilities, you can order your essential-trip card by calling 311 or going to our website at

sfmta..com/covid. the card works for any taxi service. call the cab and use the card like you would a debit card and it gives you an 80% discount on essential trips. trips to the pharmacy, the grocery store or other essential services. at the same time, it supports our taxi operators who have been hit hard by this crisis. we have partnered with the taxi industry to support them in making sure that all drivers have personal protective equipment as well as cleaning supplies for their vehicles so they can make sure the vehicle is clean on every trip. we're happy to have announced this partnership with the taxi industry and hope it will help provide important connections to members of our community who have suffered from the decline in muni service. my final point is about our muni ambassador program, which we

also started piloting yesterday and goes into full effect today. we're having teams of sfmta employees stationed at the main bus stop throughout the system. they're wearing yellow vests, so you can see them. and they're helping passengers with a variety of health-related objectives such as standing six feet apart at the bus stop, making sure that passengers are wearing masks. we're partnering with other departments to distribute masks and other face coverings to our riders. they're also making sure that our buses are not getting too crowded. we set passenger caps on all the buses. we're limiting the 30-foot buses to 15 passengers. 40-foot buses to 20 passengers. and our 60-foot are limited to 30 passengers. what this mean is, you may be passed up by our operators if the bus is already full. it may also mean if you're not

wearing a face covering, that the operator may also pass you up. please be patient with us and wait for the next bus, or if you have another trip alternative, choose that alternative. we're so happy to be partnering with the health streets operation center as well. in order to direct people in need of homelessness services and other social services to those services rather than taking refuge on our muni buses. the sfmta is proud to be able to keep essential workers moving, making sure that the nurses and janitors and cooks and cleaners are able to get to work to keep all of us happy. and we're relying upon all of you to do your part as well in order to keep our passengers and our operators healthy. with that, i'd like to introduce the chief of the san francisco police department, chief william scott.

good afternoon, everyone. i'm chief william scott, the san francisco police department. first i'd like to again thank our mayor london breed for her leadership during this challenging time and thank our public health director, dr.

grant colfax for his leadership. i want to update you on the enforcements efforts of the public health order. with the good weather we've increased our presence in city parks and other popular places where we know people enjoy walking and getting out of the house for exercise. with the park rangers from the parks and rec department, we've been able to educate the public and continue to warn the public to make sure they stay a safe distance away, the six feet that has been recommended by our public health officials. with that, we're still enforcing where enforcement is appropriate and i'll get to that in a minute. as i stated before, our officers found that the vast majority of the public in san francisco have been compliant. i'd like to reiterate what mayor breed said a little while ago. we also would like to thank the members of the public who have vastly been compliant with this order. there are still some challenges and we continue to work through

the challenges, but the men and women of the san francisco police department want to be part of the solution and we are here to help and help keep our city healthy and safe. with that said, our citation has not changed from the last press conference on wednesday. we still have nine citations in connection with violating the county's public health order. we have issued a number of warnings for the non-essential businesses since wednesday and that continues. also we are still receiving calls regarding social distancing at essential businesses. i must say most of the businesses, the majority of the businesses for that matter, have been compliant with that. in terms of crime, we are still where we were as of wednesday. same report. our total overall crime, we have 25% reduction which equates to 130 fewer crimes than the week

before. and that breakdown is a 29% reduction in property crime, which equates to 130 fewer crimes, and a 0 change for our violent crime. so we are exactly the same as we were the week before on violent crimes. compared to march 31 through april 5, the third week of this reporting period, we're still seeing overall decreases in crime. that's both year-to-date and week to week. we want the public and the people who would take advantage of people during this challenging time to know that we take crime seriously. nothing has changed in terms of our enforcement of the law, although, the jails have had to make adjustments and other parts of the criminal justice system have had to make adjustments to keep everybody safe, laws are still being enforced and we will make arrests and working with the sheriffs and the sheriffs

department, they will accommodate violent offenders and people who threaten public safety. so we want to make sure that message is reassured. that the public knows we're out there and we'll continue to be out there. we're still seeing some challenges with burglaries. and we're working through that. with that, i'd like to thank partnership with the district attorney and his team at the district attorney's office. we've made a number of arrests and the district attorney's office has charged looting charges. i would like to thank them for their attention to that matter. this week i also want to give a shoutout to our dispatchers. this is basically national dispatchers week. our dispatchers work 24-7 to reassure the public when people

call and sometimes the most difficult times in their lives, those dispatchers are there to reassure them that things are going to be okay as much as we can make them okay. they do a phenomenal job. they're by our side and we want to reach out and thank them for the work they do in this challenging time as well. also, this week is actually the crime victims week and it's a time to remember those survivors who have lost their loved ones to victims of crime such as murder and other violent crimes. and i want to reach out to our victims and remind them, we are there for you, the san francisco police department and the city of san francisco will always be there in your time of need. we know this is a time there are normally activities surrounding national victims' week in the state capitol, and those festivities were not able to happen this week, so we want to let you know, we do remember

what you all have gone through and we're there for you as well. couple notes to reiterate about 4-20. i want to, again, thank the mayor for her leadership on this and reiterate what she said. we will be out in full force this weekend, including 4-20, the date of 4-20. you will see officers? the parks, street clothes. you will see us out with the area fenced off. we want to remind people, please do not engage in 4-20 festivities. we can't afford to let up right now. the city is doing well. our public has responded to the calls to stay at home and we really need you to heed to that advice and stay at home. and if you don't follow that advice, we'll be there. and, again, we will cite, we will arrest if we have to, but we'll be there to make sure that we keep this city as safe and healthy as we can. just a reminder again, please do

not engage in 4-20 activities in the city or anywhere else for that matter during this pandemic. with that, i close and thank you again, and turn this over for questions. >> reporter: okay. our first set of questions are for dr. grant colfax.

>> reporter: dr. colfax, the first question is from fox news. today the first antibody test results showed an infection rate in santa clara county up to 85 times higher than the number of people who actually tested positive. for an infection fatality rate of 1.2%, what do you make of the numbers and how might they be used to formulate adjustments to the current recommendation? >> so i think that those data are important and certainly significant. i think it's too early to generalize them with regard to how they'll apply to our recommendations. we're reviewing that study and i'm hopeful there will be other data similar in other jurisdictions that will be produced to help us make more informed decisions moving forward. as i've alluded to in previous

conferences, we're working hard with scientists at ucsf to conduct similar studies to get better data on the prevalence of coronavirus in our community. right now, remember, the numbers are based on the number of people we are testing. it does not represent the total number of coronavirus circulating in the community. those are important data and we are working hard to obtain them as quickly as possible with scientists in the -- at ucsf and other institutions. >> are there exceptions for face coverings in public like kids? how should parents get their kids to wear masks? >> we'll be releasing frequently asked before the order goes into effect tonight. there will be clear guidelines on how to support your children

in wearing masks. i also want to emphasize that in very young children, our recommendation, we strongly discourage the use of masks in very young children. there is a risk of suffocation, so you want to make sure that young children do not wear masks. those guidelines will be provided. children under 12 are not required to wear masks. children under 2, we do not recommend mask-wearing for children under 2. >> reporter: and from shannon lynn, how is san francisco testing homeless populations both in shelters and encampments? >> so with regard to testing in those situations, we follow our policy with regard to testing people in general. with regard to focusing on people who have symptoms. if people are positive, we focus

on doing intensive contact investigation and testing people who have had close contacts or who are otherwise at risk or who show symptoms. this is what we're doing, again, across the city as we continue our number of outbreak investigations. >> reporter: okay. thank you, dr. colfax. the next questions for trent rhorer, human services agency.

>> trent rhorer, human services agency. >> reporter: how are the shelter hotels run? are they safe for nearby neighborhoods? >> thanks for the question. first, let me say that because there has been some confusion. when the city enters into a contract with the hotel, we're taking 100% of the rooms in that hotel. there has been some confusion that we're taking or contracting a portion of the rooms in a particular place. we're not. we have the entire hotel. and we staff it accordingly. specific to the question, individuals who are placed in hotels who need to be isolated or quarantined are -- arrive to the hotel and they're counselled by the department of public health staff on site about the need to remain in their rooms.

in addition, all of the needs that the patients might have when they're in the hotels are met in their rooms. most notably, the food. we bring three meals a day directly to the patient's door. the patient, when they're done, leaves the empty -- or the dirty dishes outside where they're picked up. same with laundry. everything is sort of oriented towards keeping that individual in his or her room in order to satisfy the quarantine or isolation requirements. >> reporter: just iterate, after moving confirmed cases, contacts or vulnerable populations to hotel rooms, are they allowed to leave the room? lastly, are there professional staff on site in each hotel? >> there are professional staff on it in each hotel. the case of isolation and quarantine rooms, there are clinical staff from the

department of public health to support the patient's medical needs. in addition there are hotel operational staff, largely coordinated by the human services agencies. these would be basic hotel operations. there may be nonmedical type staff to support the staff as well. as i said earlier, individuals who are there to isolate or quarantine are counselled at the beginning when they're placed. they're to remain in their rooms. there are wellness checks in the rooms throughout the day, in addition to dropping meals off. so the patients that are there are seen many times throughout the day to make sure they're in their rooms and complying with the directions to remain. >> reporter: thank you. the next question is for director abigail stewart-khan, homelessness and supportive housing.

>> reporter: okay. this question comes from shannon lynn, can you share why there is a delay with placing more homeless people into hotel rooms? >> there is no delay. we are placing people into hotel rooms on a daily basis.

we have opened four hotel rooms for the non-covid homeless population in a very short period of time. there is another one opening today. and more opening over the course of the next week in rapid -- in a rapid approach. >> reporter: okay, thank you. that concludes all the questions for today's press conference.

[inaudible] >> to start the meeting. >> i think so. right? >> this is a special meeting of the small business commission held on april 13 of 2020. the meeting is being called to order at 11:02 a.m. the small business commission thanks media services and sfgov-tv for televising the meeting and helpinging to run the virtual meeting, which can be viewed on sfgov tv 2.

public comment during the meeting is limited to three minutes per speaker unless otherwise established by the presenting officer of the meeting. [clearing throat] all right. sfgov tv, please show the office of small businesses slide. >> we begin with a reminder that the office of small business is the only place to start your small business in san francisco. today we will start with a reminder that the small business commission, official public forum -- is the official public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about policies that affect the economic vitality of small business in san francisco. and that the office of small business is the best place to get answers about doing business in san francisco during the current local emergency. if you need assistance with small business matters, you can find us online or via telephone. as always, our services are

free of charge. before item one is called i would like to thank the mayor for granting us a special authorization to hold this special meeting. i'd also like to thank media services and sfgov tv for coordinating this virtual hearing in the live stream. a special thanks to tom, michael, jason and sean. please call item number one. >> item one, roll call. >> we will come back to you. >> he is trying to log in so he

can have a voice. >> ok. [roll call] >> mr. president, you have a quorum. >> great. thank you. please call item number two. >> item number two. overvo*u hview of the local, state federal response to the disruption of the covid-19 emergency, discussion and possible action items. today we have the office of economic and workforce director joaquin torres. >> great. director torres, thank you so much for taking the time to present and take some of our questions today. we know your time is short and that you have a hard stop at 11:20. the floor is yours. >> well, thank you very much, commissioner. can everyone hear me ok? >> yeah.

>> ok, great. am i on screen? i'm not able to see if i am or not. >> you are. >> great. all right. thanks. i just wanded to say hello, everyone. i hope you and your families are safe and well right now during what we know is an extremely difficult time. that's why our office of economic and workforce development has been just tirelessly working across teams to make sure that we could affectively be responsive to small business community needs. and i really just want to thank very very much you, president laguana, for your leadership as well as the leadership for all of your commissioners who i know have been responding to deeply to the needs of the small business community. i also want to give a huge, huge shout-out to the leader of office of small business for the work that you have been leading, the insight you've been providing and, of course, the extraordinary work of your

staff, stretching -- [phone ringing] themselvess to the limit so we could -- [phone ringing] so that we could effectively respond to community needs. the support needed right now is deeply, deeply important and extensive. we know that the widespread impacts that we're experiencing here in san francisco are unprecedented in nature. we know that we have not seen the level of unemployment in this city in over a 50-year period of time. just based on the number of applications we were seeing at national level in terms of even just unemployment relief. we know that the information -- we know the information that we are currently receiving only applies, for example, to businesses with employees of 50 or more through our notices. we already know -- we already know that we -- we have seen

over 8,000 people be impacted thus far we know more to come in the coming days and weeks. so, the pain that is being felt is very, very real. which is why i'm very proud of the efforts that the mayor has been taking, not only to support the small business community, but all of our communities here in san francisco. we've had some initial conversations with some partners who let us know that we've been citying city-wide merchant sales down on an average of 70%. that changes in some areas more than others and not fully conclusive as it does not represent every single merchant in the city but rather a sample data set that is pretty informative about what's happening. we know because of the public health order that some industris are shutting down entirely. music venue, restaurants and bars that have not been make a take-out model work and we have been shifting our resources as well to help meet the need.

on march 11, three steps were taken and together with some of you and the director, a deferral of business taxes until february of next year. as well as fees being deferred for a quarter. that would have a significant impact on small businesses as merely a first step in the work to be done. at the time we announced a million dollars in resiliency fund grants that would benefit small businesses individually in the amount of up to $10,000 per each, we have over 2,000 applications that we have received thus far. you know that more are being count more. i'm sure we'll have more once we have folks looking at applications that will come in over the weekend as well. to be sure that we're being responsive to all of those folks. about $400,000 of that first initial $1 million has already

been provided to small businesses. our partner there, many thanks to them -- northeast federal credit union. the next stage for us is really going to be the second million dollars for those grants which will serve a little over an additional 100 small businesses. those small businesses, it has been a priority for our office, the mayor's office, your office, the supervisor's offices, in making sure that we have an equitable approach to half those resources. we're very much looking forward to providing you, commissioners, with an update on that work once we have a plan put into place. to complement that work, we also know that facebook is planning to launch their grant process and their application will be going live next week and we'll have more details specifically on that program. in addition to the $10,000 grant program through the local initiative support corporation.

these are nonconclusive in terms of the other additional resources that may be accessed through private companies to also support these efforts for small business relief. we know that's not enough. the state knows that's not enough. the federal government knows that's not enough. it is one of the reasons that we launched -- made an announcement of a $9 million loan fund for private philanthropist that will be made to the mayors and the cities give to s.f. philanthropist fund. to date, we have raised $1.3 million for specifically that loan program. our partner is main street launch and they will be providing loans of up to $50,000 per business. that is a 0% interest loan. we know that is not enough. which is why in partnership with many of you with the office of small business and with small business leaders, we

have been advocating both at the state and the federal level to make sure both businesses and employees are being served in this time. the expansion of unemployment benefits, we've seen a number of weeks be expanded and we continue to advocate for additional relief at that level. we know that individuals will be making not only the 450 cap, but also have an additional investment of $600 per employee, bringing the unemployment benefits to over $4,000 per month or possibly of over $4,000 per month. that is a major benefit to us, but we also know that that's not enough. and the federal government knows that that's not enough. the small business administration's two loan programs, one of which is newer, that has been announced and has been troubling for us at times, which is why we've been in conversation with many of our financial partners here in the city in partnership with

the treasurer and tax collector's office and the assessor recorder's office in reaching out to financial institutions here in san francisco and making sure that they're aware of what our priorities are in ensuring that our small business communities are being served by these products. we were very heartened to hear that it was also very clearly on the speaker's mind when we took part in a town hall session on monday of last week, monday evening when we talked about the importance of our financial institutions doing everything they can to be deeply engaged in this process and providing access to the small business community. just kind of as an anecdote, i've had conversations with some small businesses as well around this specific issue. and been able to support them in conversations through their lending institutions. the biggest thing really has been about clarity and clarity of access in ensuring that people will have access to those products. when they are unable to do so,

we encourage everyone to reach out to our office a, which brings me to the next piece. and a lot of where the relief of where the work has been done, where people have been dedicating their time to the weekday and weekends. i don't think many of us know what day it is anymore. many of us share that perspective. in terms of being available for immediate responsiveness, whether you're a small business owner, a business owner or employee. through the office of small business and the office of economic and workforce development. the workforce line or the business line. those are seen on the small business side along, over 1200 calls or nearly 1200 calls to date. and e-mails. and i know in my testing of doing that work, i received a call back when i'm sure what was a busy day in just a very short amount of time asking me what else i needed to know. so, please do refer small businesses to those hotlines and please do let us know,

commissioners, how well that is going. i mentioned very briefly on the worker front the advocacy work that has been done to date, both at the state and federal level, our conversations with the employment division at the state level as well to make sure that they're doing everything proactive as well. we were alerted by the governor's office just on friday that an additional 850 workers were being redeployed to support those efforts at the state level so that people trying to get through will find a better time doing so. and we're very, very happy about the work and the effort that the governor has done with his administration as well. we also knew that there was a question of what the shelter in place order would mean to employees and also how it was going to be important to craft a policy around paid sick leave that would benefit small businesses. i really want to thank regina again and also our deputy director of the workforce cad

daniel for developing a policy and program in partnership with many other city agencies and city attorney's office to provide a program source with a $10 million allocation of general funds to provide employees an additional outlet and employers an additional resource to provide their employees with paid sick leave up to 40 hours could be reimbursed for a week. 755 applications have been received to date. more than 85% of those applications come from businesses with less than 50 employees. right now we're oversubscribed by about $1.2 million. but as we go through this process and people submit their applications, we will also be working with those who have applied and maybe aren't on a wait list at this time to make sure that if we are able to, we can serve them as well. again a $10 million fund, almost immediately within a week, fully exhausted. just again to highlight what

the need is right now out there. in terms of rapid response work that we've done, we've had 10 webinars that have served 46 employers and about 240 individuals. on that work force hotline, similar to the small business hotline. about 1100 calls and e-mails that we've responded to. everything that i'm talking about right now is identified on our website and i just want to share that upfront again. oewd.org. oewd.org/covid-19. click on our button and you'll get a list of resources for employers, employees, businesses employees as well as nonprofits to make sure that we're framing where relief can be found and also for us to have through those phone numbers and those e-mails a way to have some feedback about what is and what is not working on our end or on our partner's end. on the state and federal

level, we have the private sector to connect displaced workers with job opportunities and those providing essential services. it's a one-stop resource for people here in this state impacted by the job loss due to this pandemic. at the same time, you've already heard me mention emergency paid and sick and paid family leave bills. we've also talked about unemployment extensions and expansions for that 13 more weeks of coverage and two additional resources. we've touched on the forgivable loans to cover fixed costs at the s.d.a. level as well as the already existing emergency disaster loan program at a 2.75% interest rate -- sorry, 3.75% interest rate for businesses, 2.75% for nonprofits.

in addition to that $10,000 advanced grant being provided. the federal reserve's main street lending program has not yet been launched but we're looking forward to providing you with up. dates here at this commission as well as on our website. as i mentioned to all of you, we know that this is not enough. but i do want to thank you, all of our partners at the chamber, at our ethnic chambers, our chinese chamber, filipino chamber, african american chamber, hispanic chamber of commerce and all the work that our [inaudible] have done to make sure we're addressing these issues holistickly. it has been a very, very important time for us and i have to say how extraordinary it has been to work with so many of you and our partners to make sure that we're delivering the resources as we can. we know that it is going to be a long road ahead. which is why we're looking forward to beginning conversations around recovery, through the mayor's recovery task force.

we are hoping to provide additional updates to the commission at a later time in terms of when we will know the competition of that task force in addition to when the dates will be taking place. we're in conversations now with two city chairs, jose cisneros, carmen chue, in addition to the mayor's office to be co-chaired, of course, with rodney fong at the chamber of commerce and rudy gonzalez, the head of the labor council here in san francisco. and then i don't know if regina will have an tounl share with all of you the april 10 letter that they -- that frank cisneros and assessor chui sent out to financial institutions. if there is any feedback there, please do let us know. hello. hello. [laughter] again, if there is anyone who needs support out there, immediately, please do go to our website. please do call our hotlines. please do let us know what is

or is not working. we're here to provide a human level of service here during this time when we know in this hyperautomated world right now that can be hard to find. we want to make sure that we're a voice for you that you can connect with. and ensuring that we are being responsive to small business community needs. again, mr. president, to your fellow commissioners, i can't thank you enough for how involved all of you have been involved and commissioner cartagena, i want to say what a long road it has been from where we started doing a walk highlighting the program at the mission. i understand the online work of the program has been going quite well, but what a strange environment we find ourselves in right now. but i just want to reinforce to all of you how committed we are to addressing this crisis together, how important it is to be doing so and i'm very much looking forward to the work ahead as we continue to advocate at the state and

federal levels to the state and federal resources that we believe are important for the small business communities and make sure they have access to those resources so that they benefit our economy comprehensive and equitably. thank you so much. happy to answer any questions. >> i know you have a hard stop at 11:20. it is 11:22. do you have time for a couple of questions? >> sure. sure. i would be happy to stay on for a few minutes longer. thank you very much, mr. president. >> ok. commissioners, any questions? commissioner yekutiel? >> i don't want to jump the gun too much. i know you don't have a ton of time. i have two quick questions. the first, joaquin, is how are you going to make sure that there is a small strong business voice and representation on the recovery task force? the city is assembling. that is the first question. >> certainly. so, on that side, every single

time that we're talking about this, one of six principles at the top of list, one of the first words small business so you can be assured that there will be representation and also a focus on how we support the small business economy. and small businesses through that work. >> can you assure us that there will be a small business owner on the recovery task force? >> i have to get back to the small business commission on that. i'm certain that there will be. i want to -- once it has been confirmed, i want to provide that to you. that is the intent, commissioner. >> i know the intentions are good there. we have a lot of people who advocate for us. but it would be good to have us advocate for ourselves on something as important as this. >> i think that's extremely important and i rest assured am certain that will happen. >> the second -- thank you, joaquin. the second question is, you know a lot of work has been done on our part, per our responsibility of understanding what small businesses need to go into this letter that we're going to be reading and talking about afterwards to be

submitted to the mayor. how are we going to know that the letter has been submitted to the mayor and how will we know what the mayor's response and reactions will be in a letter that we work sod hard to put together? >> certainly. we'll be reaching back out to the small business commission and coordinating with the mayor's office so you are aware of what communications are taking place with speaker pelosi's office. she has been extremely responsive to the requests that we have made. i think many of the items that have been shared not only there, but in conversations with the hotel council, with the golden gate restaurant association, with the chamber are ones that we've already seen address through the speaker's efforts. of course she has to wrangle with her fellow colleagues across the aisle, which is no easy task. even in an emergency environment that we have right now. >> just to put a fine point on my question, the letters will go to you to go to the mayor. >> you're submitting this

letter directly to the mayor. is that correct? >> is that true? >> i deferred it to regina. >> regina, are we submitting it directly to the mayor's office? >> that -- yes, you can. and that will be determined by the action the commission makes. >> ok. thank you. >> great. manny, are you done? >> yes. >> are there any other commissioner questions? ok. not seeing any just yet. so, i have one question for you, director torres with this. how can -- i think this is a critical importance to the commission. how best can the commission serve you and your office and the board and the mayor. what are the most impactful things that we can do to help our community? >> i think one of the most

important things you can do is something you're already doing which is to ensure that there is a small business voice and representation when we're talking about recovery and also, more importantly, i think also what is the equitable approach that we're going to be taking in terms of the resources that we provide both directly and also the resources that are provided by the private sector partners that exist out there. one of most important aren'ting for us being able to sit down with our ethnic chambers to get insight from them and also this body to gain insight from you about what is the most appropriate approach to take when it comes to the resources that we have available to provide. some modest relief for small businesses in this environment. >> thank you. before we let you go, i just want to check with the commissioners to make sure everybody got their questions in. >> i have a question. >> ok. go ahead.

is that commissioner dooley? >> yes. >> ok. great. please. >> joaquin, i'm just wanting to know specifically about the many, many self-employed people that are out of work now and, you know, they can't apply for a lot of these grants because they maybe only work alone. and so i've been talking to a lot of those people and i just am won'tering where we are with help for the self-employed. >> certainly. i think that is where we have one of the gaps, commissioner dooley. i think that is absolutely correct. the focus of our efforts has been on our brick and mortar businesses here in san francisco. that has been a priority for, i believe, all of us with the limited resources that we have available. that is why we're grateful for the expanded benefits at the individual level. i think also for those sole proprietors, in addition to new products that we want to launch, that is one of the questions that we're asking of

our providers how can they support self-proprietors in this environment. how can we be sure that they're supported with those efforts that we can provide in addition to what's available at the federal level. if there is also some feedback about how people are interfacing from the self-proprior to community with the s.b.a. products, that would be great for us to know from your perspective. >> i find self-employed, and unemployed people are now feeling like they're part of this situation. and they really don't moe what to do. even myself, self-employed, the only thing that i thought i could apply for was the s.b.a. loan, which [inaudible] as a grant. but this is like everyone i

know who is self-employed. we're just a little confused. >> what i would ask, commissioner, is that for those individuals who are looking for support to please reach out to our office and go to our website. because then we can do something perhaps tailored to that community so we can answer questions directly. >> ok. thank you. and thank you all. again, thank you so much, regina, and commissioners. much appreciated. director torres, thank you for taking the time. thank you to you and the staff of the oewd. i know you're working night and day and we appreciate everything that you're doing. >> thank you very much. ok. no we'll open it up to public comment. is there anyone on the line? >> do you still want to have -- oh, yeah. >> actually, there's generally one public comment under one

item -- this is regina, director -- we do need to move into commissioner laguana, the memo. and then after discussion of the memo, then we open it up for complete public comment on both items. >> ok. great. thank you. i think i will open this by providing a little bit of context here. the commission is composed of small business operators, small business owners, people with direct overlap with small business and, as commissioner dooley mentioned, sole proprior tos and folks that are self-employed. we have all -- i just want to say to the community that we're all enduring the same effects of the virus that you all are. and we are struggling mightily

to try to chart a path for the entire community while presiding over our own losses of our businesses, of our employees and of our staff and struggling to maintain all of this simultaneously. it's a very difficult task, but it is a responsibility that we agreed to take on and so we've been trying to do our best to rise up to that responsibility and represent the community as effectively and impactfully as we can. to that end, staff has reached out, and myself has reached out to as many members of the business community as we could find time to speak with. and specifically with an eye towards what are suggestions that we could make towards -- to speaker pelosi and her

office regarding future stimulus packages as well as addressing modifications to the current stimulus package, which is the cares act. we have collected a large number of items that were compiled into a memo that can be found on our website. i'm going to jump past the preamble and the memo and get to the suggestions. there's quite a few so it might take a little bit of time. and also i don't have the opportunity of explaining what each one of these items are, but you're welcome to reach out to us afterwards and we can try to explain what the context is for the suggestions. we've broken them into several categories so i will start with

naming the category title and then explaining -- lifting each of the items underneath it. so the first category is to extend, expand and refine the paycheck protection program, also known as p.p.p. the first suggestion is to extend the p.p.p. through december 2020 with corresponding increases and eligible, forgivable loan amounts. the next is to extend the rehire period requirements in the p.p.p. through the end of the calendar year with corresponding increases in eligible, forgivable loan amounts. third is to reduce the interest rate of the unforgivable portions of the p.p.p. loan to 0%. next is to incentivize local financial institutions such as community development financial institutions to fund administered p.p.p. loans. next we'd like the require a more equitable basis for the

distribution of p.p.p. funds including preferences or set-asides for women, minority and veteran-owned businesses. currently glishl-speak businesses around those with relationships to major financial banks and consultants are favored. next is to provide small businesses with technical assistance needed to access p.p.p. lending via financial technology, such as strike, paypal or square. i was informed this morning that conveyor is now an s.b.a. approved lender. next to >> to allow small businesss to apply for additional p.p.p. loans if there is a demonstrated need. the next category is to extend, expand and refund the economic disaster injury loan, known as the eidl. the first is to increase the emergency grant amount to $15,000. next is to allow eidls administered due to covid-19 to be used for prefinancing

preexisting debt. next is to address or -- sorry, to reduce the interest rate for eidls due to covid-19 to 1% for small businesses and nonprofits. next item is to extend the application period for eidls through the end of the calendar year for all states. next is to ensure that loan distribution is equitable [inaudible]. the next category is private sector assistance. we would like to encourage the tech sector to develop smart phone apps for small business to utilize in applying for major federal assistance programs, including the paycheck protection program in eidl. the next category of business interruption insurance. we'd like to require insurance carriers to pay out business interruption claims due to states and localities prohibiting access to their businesses because of the

spread of covid-19. at the same time, we would like to stabilize the insurance industry by creating a federal backstop for insurers facing an increase in business interruption claims and to support those pay-outs. the next category is mortgage and commercial renter relief. we'd like to require incentivized [inaudible] due to covid-19. we'd like to establish protections for small businesss that own property from seizure or forced sale. small businesses that own property, especially in prime commercial real estate markets may feel pressure to sell or threatened of seizure due to mounting effects of the covid-19 crisis. we'd like to extend the federal moratorium on mortgage defaults to commercial property owners and allow the restructuring of mortgages for commercial property owners whose income are affected by covid-19. the next category is investment in economic development

organizations, otherwise known as e.d.o.s and nonprofits. we'd like the provide financial assistance via grants to organizations that support small businesses with technical assistance for accessing federal and other government programs and services. e.d.o.s provide direct support to small business owners who have language and cultural barriers that prevent them from expeditiously accessing aid. they provide critical roles to providing jobs in disadvantaged communities. we would like to expand elgability for p.p.p., eidl and other economic relief to 501-c4 which are -- i forget what 501-c4 was. this is from memory now because it is not in the memo i'm reading. they include, i believe, councils and other business organizations that aren't

organized at 501-c6. we'd also like to expand eligibility to 501-c6 organizations that are known as business leagues. this includes the chamber of commerce and destination marketing organizations. these organizations not only employ thousands of people but they significantly support our local economy. next we'd like to increase the universal charitable deduction from $300 to $2,000 for contributions above the standard deduction. and we'd like to temporarily expand the cap for property owners exempt from 501-c3 public charity lessees of commercial property. the next categories we'd like to provide support for essential business workers. we'd like to fund personal protective equipment for home health care workers, workers and essential businesses and industries and businesses who continue to produce, distribute and sell food to our households, homeless shelter provides in addition to first responders and health care

professionals. the next category is support for the sector and workforce transitions. we'd like to invest in training and technical assistance to manage the transition from a storefront business to a delivery-based business. like investment in training and equipment to manage the transition to work at home. and fiberoptic infrastructure to support home internet particularly from more vulnerable business districts. we'd like to ensure a strong post covid-19 economy and workforce. to do this, we would like to make the following suggestions. extend unemployment insurance benefits authorized under the cares act through the end of the calendar year, including the $600 weekly enhancement. next suggestion would be to expand aid to include those paying taxes via the individual

taxpayer identification number, itin, which is often used by taxpayers who are not necessarily citizens. we'd like to create a small business payroll stimulus program. small businesses deemed nonessential and those forced to furlough their employees due to their respective state or local stay at home orders will need to rehire their employees if limited with any capital. we'd like to support a national shop local campaign to bring small businesses back to life post crisis. the next category, traditional areas of support for small business. we'd like to create a federally managed secured asset buyback program. certain capital intensive small businesses may be temporarily oversupplied with fixed assets and/or inventory that are secured by debt and for which there is an active resale market. examples would be vehicles or specialized restaurant equipment and other high-end inventory. we'd like personal guaranteed protections for small business

owners. many small business owners are required to provide personal guarantees in order to obtain debt financing. these guarantees, though well-intentioned, leave small businesses at risk of losing their homes of small business owners at risk of losing their homes, their retirement savings and children college savings. finally, we'd like to enforce and bolster anti-competitive business practice policies and protections to prevent overconsolidation and industry from a rush of small business sisterings. so that is the staff memo and recommendations that were made in the memo. dominica and regina, is now the appropriate time to take public comment? >> this is regina, director. unless the commission -- because the order is generally presentations, commissioner discussions, public comment and

then commissioner deliberation. so, if the commission -- the commission can go into public comment first and then have questions and deliberations or there could be some questions, discussions prior to going into public comment. it's your choice. >> ok. great. so i guess -- sorry. it's an unusual process that we're doing here. i guess now we open it up to public comment. is anyone on the line? operator: you have two questions remaining. >> caller: yeah, good morning. it's henry [inaudible]. it looks like i got through. anyway, my question that came up was about these s.b.a. loans that -- well, the forgivable

loans of $10,000 for people who owe loans [inaudible]. and nothing has happened just yet. i did speak with julie krause with the s.b.a. and she has no way of finding out what's going on with -- don't know if anybody else has [inaudible] or not or what's happening. i would be interested to know if there is anybody that [inaudible] forgivable loans or not. and then also having heard of anybody [inaudible] or any loans from the city that the [inaudible]. that's my question. >> thank you. next speaker, please. operator: you have one question remaining. >> caller: hi. my name is candace collins,

owner of the [inaudible] spa and i'm a board of the member of commission [inaudible]. and i'm completely lost. first of all with what henry said. no one is getting that $10,000. the s.b.a. [inaudible] never meant to give that $10,000. it's just [inaudible]. i don't know anyone who's gotten it, first and foremost. this morning my accountant said because i laid off all of my people, we cannot get -- we cannot apply for the p.p.p. because of that. so [inaudible] the grant, nothing is coming down the pipeline. nothing. i'm paying bills, just like everyone else. paying bills and everything else. so, what do we do? i'm lost. thank you. >> thank you. is there any other -- operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> next speaker.

>> members of the public, there was a typo in the agenda, which i believe the access for the public comment line is 310-7452. president laguana, if you will allow for it, maybe a minute or two to allow other public commenters to call in to the line in case they had the wrong access code. >> absolutely. >> absolutely. of course we will. >> again, the correct code to dial in the >> 310-7452.

>> and once you are in the queue, press 1-0 to be called next. operator: you have one question remaining. >> next speaker. >> caller: hi, this is candace [inaudible] again. not a lot of people are maybe on here. i can keep going. [laughter] >> no, i'm sorry. each speaker is -- i believe regina or dominica, correct me, but i believe everybody is only allowed -- operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> yes. unfortunately it is the process.

that each public commenter has one time to make their public comment. >> yeah. i'm really terribly sorry about that. but candace, if you e-mail the commission afterwards, we can -- staff will reach out to you and do our best to assist you with the questions you raised. ok. i don't -- -- operator: you have two questions remaining. >> oh, good. next speaker, please. >> caller: hello. this is amelia lindy from the s.f. chamber of commerce, small business and [inaudible] team. itself just wanted to speak in support of this letter [inaudible] on this movement on addressing what recovery will look like and addressing what the [inaudible] start to see more of an improvement in the covid-19 situation. it's really important to have these structures and the [inaudible] in place ahead of

time where we can re-open and then find that we don't really have the structures and safety net set up for everybody. i think it is really important that the [inaudible] commission is adopting this and i would address a couple of comments on this. i know there's a lot of confusion as we work with small businesses. a couple of questions, if anyone wants to reach out to the s.f. chamber of commerce, there were a couple of questions that were raised that i have specific answers to and can help direct the info i got. but i just want to keep working on this. of course we know that the journey is not over until we get there. thank you all. operator: you have one question remaining. >> caller: hi. this is jennifer.

i wanted to ask where can we find the memo to speaker pelosi, the commissioner referenced? i tried to go on to the [inaudible] website and uld continue find it f. you can give the link, that would be great. my second question is, i know there is a [inaudible] moratorium for small businesses. i was wondering can small businesses get late fees for also being unable to make rent and is there anything that is in the works to help with that for -- you know, is there a [inaudible] for how much they can charge small business owners because they're getting charged 10% for late [inaudible] and i don't know if that is allowed or what is the cap. thank you. >> thank you. operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> because of the typo, i'm going to leave it open for one more minute before proceeding.

>> as a reminder again, the public comment line -- there was a typo in the agenda and the access line is 3107452. and once you are on, please press 1-0 in order to enter the queue. operator: you have one question remaining. >> next speaker, please. >> caller: hi. steven cornell here. i don't know if it's appropriate [inaudible] to comment on joaquin's discussion. i think that this is the time. is that right?

>> it's your comment. >> caller: my comment is that he talked about -- quick things. he talked about the sales down in the various neighborhoods. do they have any sales of what online sales should be in san francisco and how much the city's actually down in sales as online sales replace significantly retail sales, number one. number two is there was comments on one of the commissioners with joaquin about the post-committee for when they start up again. that there should be a small business person on this. i highly recommend that since most of the work is going to be for the local people. operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> thank you.

ok. so before we move on to the commenter that commented on not being able to apply for p.p.p., having laid off their staff. i will say that i was forced to lay off a lot of my staff simply because i did not have enough money in the bank account to continue paying them. and i applied for a p.p.p. and was approved. so i do believe that your accountant is probably mistaken. please do not take this as legal advice or an opinion of the government. but i'm just relaying my personal experience. two, the speaker that was looking for guidance on the late fee. you can call 415-554-6134 or

call sbc@sfgov.org, an e-mail. is that sbc or sbac, regina? is that a typo? >> it is not a typo. the sbac goes directly to the business councilors. >> ok. i apologize, then. you can send an e-mail to sbac@sfgov.org for any questions ton commercial moratorium. and so with that seeing no more public commenters, public comment is closed and i'm going to open it up to commissioner discussion. oh, sorry. and i -- i'm being advised that i want to clarify that the memo that we have was written to the commission and not directly to

speaker pelosi. so with that, i'm going to open this up to conversation and discussion. any commissioner comment? >> hi. it's cynthia. >> hi, cynthia. >> hi. is it ok if i go? do we just jump in? >> as far as i'm concerned, think it's fine. i don't think we have to do the formalities. if you have something to say, just say it. we can -- we're all adults here. we can handle it. [laughter] >> ok. great. thank you. so reviewing this memo, i am -- yeah. it's very comprehensive and i feel like i've been in meetings since this situation, you know, started, since the shelter in place started and prior to that as well.

i can do a little listing of some of the meetings i've been in. i met with the merchants, of course, that's like my neighborhood merchants association and then also the west portal merchants association. i've also been speaking with several professional organizations, some just because i run an oral surgery practice and so i have a lot of service providers that are either closed or functioning as essential businesses. i know our practice is open for emergencies right now so that is kind of an interesting pivot. but pretty much what i heard across board is very much this, you know, the same that i'm seeing in this memo, that the access to the p.p.p. is, you know, they're only serving a portion of small businesses and there is a huge percentage of businesss who are not able to

access any of the funds. so that morning that it was announced, i think i got -- i don't know how many text messages i got where i've been up since 5:00 when i was trying to get into something. and that really hasn't let up for some people. i think there are some instances of people where they've been consistent and very loyal to certain banks. but because of the criteria, the access right now, they are not able to -- they're not able to get into the p.p.p. program right now. another thing that i really appreciate in this particular memo is something that i've been giving a lot of thought to and i think i'm really -- i understand now some of the funding that seems to be available and now i'm thinking in terms of recovery and how does that look?

and i kind of want to just put it out there that, you know, there are other countries and places in the world who have opened and closed again. i do appreciate that this memo looks at a longer term. i think that is something that i've been cautioning. businesss that i speak to personally is to, yes, let's try to get the funding for the p.p.p. and whatever it is they need to keep their business afloat. but what are the long temple. what are the cash flows you need for the long-term. because this situation is not just going to be over in eight weeks. you know? there are -- there are going to be challenges that are going to affect our businesses for much longer period of time. so those have been some of the conversations. i know some of the more immediate concerns that people had also were toty about safety. i think everybody is kind of seeing spots of things

happening and different corridors. it sounds like hopefully the merchants association if they can work closely with some of their foot patrols, beat officers and also come together in this time and really communicate when things happen with each other. there is essential businesss that have reached out to me in terms of helping with boarding and things like that. should there be a broken window? should there be -- at least having those -- having those recourses available so that you don't feel like you don't know where to go. i think that is one of the most challenging positions as a business owner is that things happen every day and you just kind of have to go with it. it feels much more supportive and re-assuring if you should have those resources available. i encourage associations or other organizations and have

resources available for all different types of situations so that merchants can feel supported. and things may not happen for that. but should they do, they know where to go. what else is there? i am concerned about the equity piece in terms of how the national government is dispersing funds. i have not -- i think that it's awesome that you got approved for your p.p.p. already, sharky. congratulations. [laughter] >> well, to clarify, i am completely upside down and deeply in debt to a small community bank that is an f.d.a.-preferred lender. so, they were incentivized to process it quickly.

i do know of many other businesss that have received approval, but there is no question about it. it's a giant mess. it has been a giant mess every step of the way. and i think some of that mess is just a product of how quickly this all came about and not really having time to properly plan or come up with a program that can be administered properly. but that is not to excuse the powers that be, but rather to say that those of us who are charged with representing the community now have a responsibility to do, as you are doing, to let the powers that be know what is not working and help folks, first of all, work their way through

the process. and second of all, to help the government develop better manners and procedures for moving through this and i do want to commend you, commissioner huey on your work. with that being said, i think i just want to remind all the commissioners that at least for this portion of comment we do have to stick to the four corners of the memo so for anybody else wanting to join the conversation. and then i'm sorry, i'm trying to review [inaudible] while talking at the same time. >> i'm sorry. i totally didn't realize where i was going with my comment.

i forgot where we were in the meeting. >> don't worry about it. we're all deeply disadvantaged. we've never done this meeting to mat before. and we're trying to figure this out and then it is also, i mean, it is not like it's not a global pandemic and we have a lot of things on our minds and trying to navigate this is this as well and get the process and procedure right. i don't think it's that important sort of quibble over the details. but i know you've been doing a ton of work so i want to commend you for that. and i think your points are well stated that we do need to think very carefully and closely about the equity portion here. there are constituencies that are not equiped to speak up for themselves and one of the roles of commission is to make sure that we speak up for them and i think that advice is well taken. i think some of that sentiment

is reflected in the memo and hopefully we will be able to do a good job at representing the folks who are not as equipped to represent themselves. i think that is actually really critical and probably even more critical because the contributions of those folks to those disadvantaged communities, as a percentage of the value to that community is actually much higher. so i think it's -- if we're going to have a healthy, functioning economy, that health and that function needs to exist at all layers in society, not just among the people that are well-positioned to navigate the process. so do we have anymore comments or questions on the memo?

commissioner yekutiel, please. >> thank you so much for all the work compiling that and putting it all into one format. i know there is a ton and ton of backwork to national convention happen. my question is about process moving forward. and specifically just making sure that the intention of the letter of providing what the needs of the small business community are that get to people that will be in a position to act on them. and i guess just wondering once we -- give than we approved the letter, what is the next step that happens with it and what does our feedback loop look like? >> sure. so, i can tell you first of all i'm not an expert on this, nor am i an attorney. but i'll give you my best understanding of the city charter. and what i -- what i understand the process to be, what the

caveat that i could be wrong. >> ok. >> so first, the commission under the city charter does not have the ability to interface directly with state or federal authorities. so it would not be appropriate for us, or even legal, for us to send out a letter directly to speaker pelosi. under the city charter, the only official authorized to authorize federal and state authorities mayor breed. so the appropriate way to move forward with this is to submit these suggestions to mayor breed for her review as well as her state and federal lobbying teams that help advance us through the process. we heard from director torres

that we will be getting feedback on how that's going and how that process is moving forward. with that being said, i think it is also important to note that, in addition to being commissioners, we're also obviously individuals and constituents and we have the ability to skenl and write letters ourselves as individuals to the speaker's office so i will tell you that i sent a letter to speaker pelosi's office listing those concerns yesterday morning after the memo was made public and that letter was written as a constituent, not as president of the commission. it was co-signed by a number of business leaders and business groups.

so to get to any -- i think what you're sort of speaking to is the [inaudible] of the question, right? moving from point a to point z, how do we make sure that point z happens, that it gets in front of the speaker's team. but i think the most effective way is to get it in front of the mayor, from the commission's standpoint. but from an individual constituent's standpoint, you can, of course, always communicate directly with your representative. >> i guess my question is, like have you and regina schedule add phone call or meeting with the mayor to review the memo after we voted on it so you can actually speak to her directly? i trusted the mayor's staff is taking what we're doing seriously and wants to make sure that it gets into her hands and at the same time, i understand that the mayor's staff is quite busy doing what they're doing and managing a pandemic crisis and i think it behooves us, given that regina is the director of this office and the president of this

commission to schedule a conversation directly with mayor breed to go over this memo and make sure she hears it from us directly and if she has questions for the small business commission, and the office of small business she can ask those questions directly from the people who represent the small businesss in our city. are you guys scheduling a phone call or meeting with the mayor? >> i think that's certainly, you know, something we can look at. i would say first we -- i believe we need to take a vote to send the letter. >> right. just that we approve it. >> what's that? >> presuming we approve it. >> assuming that we approve it, i think there will be -- it would certainly be appropriate to follow up. there's clearly a public health crisis going on, so i don't want to speak for the mayor or the mayor's office in terms of what their scheduling is. and where we [inaudible] into what's the highest and best use

of the mayor's time. but i think -- i'm confident that our letter will be taken seriously and, you know, certainly we can explore whether that is something that could work for the mayor and the mayor's office. >> have you and regina had direct conversations with the mayor since the shelter in place began? >> i have not. le >> [inaudible] solutions for small businesss? >> yeah. you know, the mayor has 30,000 employees. and i'm just a volunteer. so, i have not personally had a conversation with the mayor since the crisis began. >> and commissioner yekutiel, no i have not had direct

conversation, but am working very closely with director torres with oewd on providing unified information in discussion with the mayor and the mayor's policy staff. and -- and utilizing -- streamlining the efforts so that, because as commission kerr laguana says, the mayor as a good deal of individuals and departments to be communicating with. so director torres and i have agreed that we'd work together on that communication. for our office to be focused on providing the frontline services at this point. >> so that point, i've been communicating with director torres as often as scheduled permits. most of the past week has been

engaged in speaking with the various business associations and trying to put all that stuff together. >> i think you understand where we're coming from. i think if a conversation is going to be had about small businesses, either regina or you should be in the room or on the call. because as capable and understanding and as brilliant as director torres is, and i believe he is, he is not a small business owner and he is thinking about a million other things other than just small businesses. so we elbow our way into a room, in order make sure that we are properly representing our constituents here. that is my suggestion. i think this memo provides a very, very appropriate opportunity to say we like to have a direct conversation with the mayor or the board of supervisors. if they meet with us and hear the work that we've been doing. i think it would make sense for

us to have that same conversation with the board of supervisors to schedule a meeting with president yee and i don't see why not. that is how i feel about this and i feel pretty strongly about it. >> i think that is actually really well taken. and to be honest, i hadn't thought about that side of it yet. most of my thoughts have been around appropriate policy and how do we get the policy in front of the most impactful person, which at this point in time, i think of speaker pelosi and how do we do that in the most impactful way. i think that this is the shortest path to it. you bring up excellent points and i think that is well taken. and i will certainly do my best to try and make it so. >> thank you very much, commissioner. >> yeah. i appreciate that.

do we have any other commissioner comments? >> i have something to say. miriam here. it was my understanding that we were also planning on sending this memo resolution to the board of supervisors in addition to the mayor's office. is that correct? >> we can see [inaudible]. but the board cannot be an interface with the federal government. so we can c.c.:them, but the appropriate person for the letter to be addressed to would be the mayor. does that answer your question? >> yes. i just know that they have been making resolutions, recommending things to state and federal level, too. so i thought it would be appropriate if we could pass them to this as well. >> any other commissioner comments?

ok. i'm just -- last call here. any other commissioner comment or questions? ok. so -- >> i just want to say -- i really like the point about how to give resources directly to people that have tax i.d.s that are paying taxes but may not have citizenship papers in order, because talking with a lot of our business consultants in the immigrant community, that question keeps coming up. >> yeah. i agree 1000%. and if we, you know, spoke about vice president zouzounis, when we began our term, we were going to make an effort to be careful with every action that the commission took to make sure we also view it to a lens

of equity and we certainly did our best to do it here. that not to say that we thought of every last thing that could be thought of. but given the short amount of time that we had available to us, and we are in a tight time schedule, just to sort of advise the public. at the time that we started compiling all this information, our understanding was that congress was going to reconvene on the 20th and so we wanted to make sure that we got this information to the mayor's office in time for it to potentially make it to the speaker's office so that they could digest this information and see what was a good fit for federal legislation or negotiation with the senate side and the president. so, it's a challenging

multifactorial problem andja say that we have -- we tried to be as complete as we could. but certainly i'm sure there are things we didn't think of or forgot and we encouraged both the community and the public to communicate with us if there is anything we left off, then we'll do our best to incorporate that into our list of suggestions. >> i have a comment. >> yeah. yeah? >> sorry. i was muted for some reason. >> hi, commissioners. i just need to interject one second. could you please state your name when beginning your public comment for the record and for those who may not be able to visually see you on the screen. thank you. >> commissioner dooley. i wanted to comment on what miriam said because i know that a number of the supervisors have very strong personal

relationships with ms. pelosi. and i think it's important for them to read this because they have personal contacts with the state and federal and should definitely let them knoll what we're doing so that they can perhaps advocate individually for what we're asking for. >> i agree. so i believe the memo's on our website. and i don't think it would be an issue to cc: the board in case they're unaware. i think it is important that the entire community come together and work together. the only way we'll get through this is by all of us doing our best to help each other. and i'm commited to that. so thank you, commissioner dooley. that's well-received.

so commission kerr yekutiel, you have a motion? >> yes. a motion that the memo be approved by the full small business commission, reviewed by president laguana directly with the mayor and be sent to the board of supervisors as well for reference. >> i second. >> ok. >> >> motion to approve the memo sent by o.s.b. staff by the small business commission. and to review and to have president laguana and director andrizzi review the memo directly with the mayor and send the memo to the board of supervisors for their reference presented by commissioner dooley. roll call vote. [roll call]

>> great. can we call item three, please? >> yes. item three, commissioner's reports allows president, vice president and commissioners to report on recent small business activities and make announcements that are of interest to the small business community. discussion item. >> ok. any commissioners have updates or announcements? commissioner huey, this would be the appropriate place to talk about the work you've been [inaudible]. >> i kind of already [inaudible] most of my report.

i don't know if -- oh. i wanted to see commissioner dooley's comment about the self-employed. i don'ten if this is a commissioner report type thing, but it might be helpful to have a place on the oewd website that is specifically for people who are self-employed so the resources can then just be put there. so a button just the same as everybody else's button might help bring some clarity to what is currently available and maybe what resources might be lacking. and i think that might be all that i have right this second. i may think of something later. thank you. >> great. >> i have a comment. a report.

i've been dealing with the folks at the lower [inaudible] they're doing an outstanding job of helping out the merchants and providing resources. i just want to point out that is another type of resource to have a huge website up. and i think we should post that on the commission site because they are out there doing all kinds of things for the business community and i'm sure that's true of other [inaudible] so we need to include them all. >> i agree. and thank you for pointing them out. i'd like to also commend supervisor peskin for being such a great advocate for small business as well as supervisor ronan who worked very diligently with the mayor to get the $10 million grant

program established. and along the same lines, well, anyways, i agree. i'll provide my update at the end. is there any other commissioner reports or updates? >> president laguana, this is commissioner ortiz. >> welcome, william. please go ahead. >> i just want to also -- i want to thank everybody, our team at the office of small business. i know the extreme pressure and amount of calls that you're handling and taking. i want to thank you. don't think that your efforts on the street are not noticed. we appreciate all your hard efforts. i do want to echo commissioner -- supervisor peskin and ronan. you guys were amazing to hit the floor running and get liquidity on the street when we needed it. obviously i represent the mission and the mission economic development agency and liquid thety for small business through an a equity lens is always something i'm going to

champion. one of things here at meta we're working on is providing programs for people that don't have social security that their status is in question because a lot of our proprietors are immigrants and english is their second language. so we're a program that does that and we've been advocating for these funds to be administered by cdfis because we have a faster impact to those underserved communities and we could definitely have the capacity and the resources to execute at a much quicker speed than the larger banks and institutions. also, i think it's very important for the city to reach out to the community's benefit organizations in every neighborhood and reach out and maybe revise a game plan. we and every neighborhood have more research and capacity. we have relationships with

pretty much every business that could probably execute things faster. and this crisis that we're facing. it's getting help immediately. you know? liquidity immediately. so those are some of the suggestions and the reports we're doing here in the mission. >> yeah. commission kerr -- commissioner ortiz, i know you've been moving mountains for your community and we've been advocating nonstop. we've communicated a couple of times about all the work that you've been doing and director torres, also have commended you for everything that you've been doing. i agree with you on the cdfis. those were included in the staff memo so that support has been passed on to speaker pelosi. i also agree with you that

compiling the resources out there and connecting beam their c.b.o.s is an important part of the process. it's very much a work in progress and we're trying to figure out how to help the folks that are moving it forward and do it as expeditiously as possible without clogging up the works as it were. so thank you for being such an effective advocate and your comments are important ones and i think we'll need your voice to help make sure we see this through to the end. >> one last thing, mr. president. and this is just a general comment for all small businesses. if you are negotiating anything with your landlord, get it in writing.

just get it in writing for all of our small business community out there. make an addendum to your lease. just get it in writing. whatever you get in your moratorium. >> yeah. >> i have one more item that i wanted to bring up, too. >> sure. please. >> i just wanded to bring attention to some of the things that have -- like some of the e-mails and things happening in terms of violence and race during this period of time. i know in the richmond district recently, i forget what day it was, maybe friday or so, we had four break-ins on balboa and i think three of the businesses were chinese-owned businesses. and i know in my circle we have been texting with family and

friends and different community groups about the increasing violence and racism that we're seeing and i know like for some of my friends -- and i feel this also going out that there is -- even though we live in san francisco and we have this wonderful, diverse place, it's feeling increasingly uncomfortable, i think, in certain situations. and so i do think that the national climate -- you know, whatever it is, is definitely happening within san francisco as well. so i just wanted to kind of put that out there while -- i mean, i guess during my commissioner report. but that's something that has -- i don't think we've addressed necessarily in the small business community. we've spoken a little bit in the early days about chinatown and the fact that it was

happening in chinatown. and i guess i have to say that it's happening everywhere. for me to go out, i think two weeks ago wearing a mask, just because i work in health care, my family is very -- you know, we've been very conservative and i do have masks at the oral surgery office. i was wearing one aun, you know, there were comments that were made. things that made me feel unsafe. and i think now, you know, when -- now thae with have this larger conversation about masks, maybe that is a little bit better. but there is definitely a racial kind of component to some of the things [inaudible]. i don't know exactly how the small business commission can, you know, deal with this. but i kind of want to put it out there that it's happening.

>> just speaking for myself, i think that is critically important that can't be allowed. it can't stand. it's unacceptable on every -- it's completely unopposite to our values. i think -- i'm not -- you know, at this point in time, i'm ready to suggest a course of action for the commission. but i think the commission should take action. that is something that we have to address and so we should perhaps think about how we can address it and move forward in a future meeting. i'll add to that there is a secondary issue here, too, which is many small businesses are having their stores and locations being broken into and vandalized. so, i think this falls under

public safety and the safety of businesses and by extension the safety of our workers and our economy so i think one way we could start to explore that is get something on the agenda where we could meet with members of the law enforcement community and talk about how they can protect the community against both racism and racist acts of violence as well as acts of destruction. it's also possible that this might be an important topic to bring up with the human rights commission. so, and we may be able to give advice or guidance to the human rights commission from the perspective of the small business community. i really appreciate you bringing that up.

that's -- you know, it's hard to keep track of everything that is happening and everything that needs to be done. and the only way we're going get there is is with all of us firing on all of our cylinders all the time. so that is like really salient and important topic to bring up. i absolutely think that that is something that we should be digging our teeth into and doing our best to advocate for those folks. thank you, commissioner huey. >> could i just give a quick shout-out to supervisor peskin for what he's done for the flower market? he pretty much single handedly got it re-opened with all the -- all the restrictions and that is applying at least 350 people getting their jobs back. >> absolutely. you know, generally i would say

that i think the city leadership has done a great job and doing their best for the small business community, has been very aggressive. certainly supervisor peskin has and supervisor ronan and supervisor haney has held several small business hearings. supervisor fewer has done important work at the budget community. supervisor mandelman has written an op-ed along with other business leaders, including laurie thomas from tgra that i thought was very impactful. i think we have some pretty good advocates and i appreciate you bringing that up and i think it's our job to help them do an even better job and gave them good advice. so, thank you for mentioning that.