that is a necessary business to one, where -- pardon the pun, there's lots of sausage offered in other business along that corridor. thank you for your time and i'm hoping that we can resolve this as soon as possible. and i don't even see the permit on posted anywhere that allows us to usurp that space. thank you very much. i'm done. >> i will just know, barry, if you want to leave use email address in the chat, we will note it and you can go ahead and we will email you so you can file your complaint. >> is there any more public comment that we're seeing?

hearing no more public comment, we will move on to the next agenda item. the next agenda item is number 2, the approval the minutes for the june 30, 2020 meeting and do we have a motion to approve the minutes of june 30th, 2020? >> i move to approve the minutes of the june 20th meeting. >> second. >> before we vote, is there any public comment on our minutes? i'll take that as a no. >> there are none. >> public comment is closed. (role call).

>> the minutes have been approved. gavel down. the next agenda item is the report from our executive director wylen. >> thank you, president blymin. good evening, commissioners. it's nice to see all of your faces, even though it's on zoom. and there goes our president. and i also do want to just note all of the attendees in the room. this is many more people than we normally see on any given entertainment commission hearing night and i appreciate you're here tonight and i encourage you to reach out to our office and i will just provide during our update some ways in which you can engage further than tonight. and so currently, i do want to just talk about our engagement

with the economic recovery task force. and then i will get into a little bit more of the outreach that we have been doing to the industry and then i can briefly update you on our staffing assignments right now supporting the work of the community education and response team. and so, relative to the task force, you know, you are all lickly very aware of the creation of it, the mayor and board convened to guide the city's efforts into revising businesses and employment here in san francisco. we started in june and the group is compromised of community and industry leaders and city officials and this fall, we're tasked with submitting a report to the mayor and board of supervisors with final recommendations on how to guyede the city's recovery effort.

so within this group, we branched out into four smaller groups, one of which is called art's, culture, hospitality and entertainment. president blymin are both serving on the task force and both sitting within the policy group. i am also the policy lead for this group on the staff support side which means i am helping to guide policy discussions and making sure that the group is in alignment with the overarching goals and strategies for the economic recovery task force. and i have a great staff support team. dillon has been essential in helping and joanne lee from the art's commission and ben van houten, along with beth reubenste -rbgin who has been da fantastic job and benjamin peterson and so this group has

come very far along in the last few weeks and at this point, we have come up with some policy proposals that we'll be presenting this week to the large economic recovery task force and so, the goal is that by our next hearing on august 18th, we'll be joined by some city staff support members, possibly beth and ben, to provide some updates on our policy proposals and then take some more comment from the public on that. and as a part of that process, though, i do want to know that we did put out another survey that this is our second survey that we've done during the pandemic and this one was really focused on those beginning proposals as they were beginning to marinade within the task force member group, trying to ground troop them in our community and see how important

they were as priorities for our industry. and so that was very helpful. there's going to be more ways in which you can engage. we're ensuring we're updating anything related to covid-19 and we do a newsletter immediately. but we're constantly updating the sf.gov website and i highly encourage the public to check that out. again, educating on the roles, we had a new face covering rule that went into effect on july 24th and you now have to wear a face covering in more situations, such as within six feet of people outside and passingpassing people on the si.

you have to remain the rules and you're ensuring that our reopening process and timeline can stay on track and especially now with what's going on within san francisco. so again, beyond the education that we constantly try to do, we are holding virtual office hours and this is something thatten tn van houten are doing together and if there's anyone that wants a half an hour with us on zoom to discuss the current rules, go over any of your plans for how you hope to reopen and at this time, we can do a lot of

speculation, but a lot of what we're doing is really encouraging the industry to come together and to be a louder voice and if our commission hearing is the first place for that, we encourage it. and so far we've conducted over 90 of these meetings.

this is the first touch that goes out relative to 311 complaints that come in about businesses and how they may or may not be operating in compliance and our group does not have enforcement powers. so the real aim of it is to educate businesses about what compliance looks like and, of of course, correcting while we're there. we environment support of the city attorney to review all of the reports that come in to ensure that those reports get routed through the appropriate channels, to let the enforcement

agencies know that, hey, we're able to bring this into compliance or this may need further enforcement and so i'm happy to answer any questions about that. the only other kind of big stat that i would share that we have completed within that program 616 investigations. so we are going out to many investigations in san francisco far and wide and making a big impact in educating people in san francisco, at least when it comes to that kind of reactive method that we're dealing with in this program. i know that's a big update. let me know if you have any questions. >> commissioners, any questions? >> i want to thank you for your exceptional work?

>> what have been the big challenges in this? are there areas to do more here >> are you referring to serts? >> yes. >> yeah. i think, you know, our gaffes, we've been meeting them along the way and a lot of them was resources in that way, just because we want fair inspectors who are out there and we're pulling them from other agencies and there aren't a huge pool of people who have that skillset. we try to be as educational and fair and approach prior to even

disciplinary action with a lot of education. and so that's what we're looking for in our inspectors and we ensure that the folks that we have in the field do just that and so that has definitely been a bottlenext at times and then, also, just work on workflows with other agencies that i think we're at a pretty good place right now as we have now achieved long-term activations for all of our folks and that's a huge weight off of our shoulders. we have the people we have now through the end of this calendar year and so that means the more we continue to educate them on what is correct, we're investing in these human beings now and they'll be doing a great job. >> thank you. >> anything else? >> i just have a couple of items if nobody else has anything.

so one, i'm on the frontlines. certainly many bar owners and restaurants get a visit from sert and i hear about it, generally, and i want to say that overall, the experience has been positive. that is in stark contrast from other agencies, where it feels like people just want to treat everyone like they're a criminal, every business owner like they're criminal and they need to be cited or changed and so i appreciate that. i think this is a good to have a hearing, are we hearing from

permit holders right now and if so, could you boil it down to some general things that are coming up. is there anything that's coming up regularly or anything that's surprising or what are we hearing from the entertainment permit holders, if anything? >> you know, generally, we are hearing about plans for the future in whatever way, shape or form that may be. huh can we move this idea forward relative to policy making? and then, you know, other people are closer toward being able to reopen in some other way and some those folks are nightclubs

that, you know, may want to activate a parking lot and what's good, we environment mayor, had another supplemental declaration pass this last week to allow for temporary use authorization within parking lots and so that will cover outdoor dining. however, folks are thinking really creatively about how they can host entertainment outside. i think one of the big challenges we're seeing come up, too, is how limiting it is to not able to have a vocalist within entertainment and, so, that includes any kind of spoken word participation because of the transmission issues. i've heard great, great ideas, though. i mean, i kind of don't want to put the yeahs on blast, though, just because you may actually see them crop up. but there are some ideas that actually can fall within outdoor

dining guidelines that allow for entertainment. when the world progresses beyond outdoor dining, this could potentially carry forward and so you'll be hearing about that possibly by this next hearing, which is great, but i'm spinning out. >> i've got one question. so even though we can't open as an entertainment venue, but we have a liquor license and when

the order is lifted that bars can open again, the entertainment venues are not restricted to do so, correct? >> they can still open as a bar as long they're not running entertainment? >> so the hypothetical is that, ok, when bars are included like a type 48. >> i think if i can just clarify, i think the governor, it seemed to us and the expect that he was pretty unclear when he said that entertainment venues could not open. and correct me if i'm wrong, commissioner lee, but i think he's asking when bars are allowed to open outdoor or indoor, if they happen to be an entertainment venue, that will mean whether they're under the governor's directive or they can open as a bar as long they're not an entertainment venue. >> if bars get included in outdoor dine asking they don't t

have to serve as bonafide meal, that would include the entertainment venue. >> venue. >> what if we just want to open our bar inside. >> bars? >> so right now, bars are not allowed to be open outdoors, but if they're serving food -- >> yes, i know that. >> -- then they're treated as a bonnified eating place. >> fids not a venue depending on the size and all of the things from sacramento, they would conceivably be able to open within the rules as long they're

following guidelines. >> we're going to look for that pathway. >> if you own an entertainment firm, you won't get penalized, even if you don't have a dj and you want to open your bar and serve drinks, whether it's with the restaurant or whatever. >> entertainment venues could do that now and some are, right. >> they could do entertainment

within the outdoor tuning guide. >> ok, thank you. >> any more questions for the executive director? is there any public comment? president bleiman, we have michelle delaney with her hand up in zoom. >> ok. >> i'm going un-mute her right now. >> hi, guys. how are you doing? thank you for taking my question. so steve brought up something that i thought about and maybe mentioned it. just curious if there would be a possibility for if the downtown area will stay as dead as it might for awhile, with every possibility fopossibility for ur liquor license in the city where there are maybe residents or people, just to try to think of options we might have if we'll be closed down for awhile down there.

>> and the answer? >> so public comment is not question and answer. >> ok, sorry. >> so this is a time to make your comments, but also, we're all available to help you answer questions and so -- >> in reality, i'm writing this down as an idea. usually there's a time for comment and we're a stoic group of people. >> you guys are awesome. >> follow up with our staff and we will -- you can always ask questions and we'll try to get in touch with you as quickly was can. >> thank you. >> are there any other public comments on this agenda item? >> i do not see any other hands raised.

>> we're going to close public comment on this agenda item and so, now we are -- the next agenda item, actually, i would like to propose that we make a motion to move it and we want to move it -- correct me if i'm wrong, dillon -- between item five and six instead of where it is now. is that correct. >> that is correct. >> so the presentation on the city shared space's program, robin needs a little extra time before he can make his presentation. we have to vote on this and before we vote -- obviously, we need a motion and second it. but we'll do public comment. let's start with the motion. >> i make a motion to move item 4 to after 5.

>> do we have a second? >> second. >> is there any public comment on the motion to move this item? >> president blieman, i see no hands raised. >> we can have a vote. (role call). >> even without commissioner

falzon's vote, it still passed so we'll move that agenda item. this ithat was 5 and now this i. hearing impossible action for permits under the jurisdiction of the entertainment commission and this is 5 and i will have the deputy director introduce the items. (indiscernible). >> this is located at 333 11th w owner and peter lin of p & p inc have plans to maintain this as a

nightclub. their programming includes bringing in live dj's and using the space for events and they're applying to maintain the same parameters which would allow entertainment until 6:00 a.m. this is namely for continuity as they do not intend to hold events after 2:00 a.m. but would like the option. this is michael and peter's first venue in san francisco, but together, they own pier nightclub in sunnyville and did conduct neighborhood outreach. peter and michael walked down 11th street and dropped off 15 letters included in your file this evening. most of the businesses were closed, they were able to contact a few of the neighbors and introduce themselves. there is to opposition for this permit and southern station approves with the conditions listed below in your memo. and here to tell you more is michael and peter.

>> hello. >> hello. >> hi, everybody. so this is a venue nightclub in sunnyville and we've been there eight plus years and we have been looking for another venue in san francisco for the last couple of years and i think steven lee knew about this, too. and finally, we had a chance and just a couple of months ago. obviously, right now, we can't do anything. we're just trying to apply for -- we're in the process of applying house permits, the fire permit and just working things slowly and i don't see us opening any time soon. and we're in the process of

getting a liquor license, as well. so that is pretty much it if where we're at. does anybody have any questions for us, any concerns or comments? feedback? >> are you finished, michael? >> yes, steven. >> president, can i go first? >> please do. >> ok, so tell us, what are you going to do? obviously slim is an iconic venue, you know. you're taking over a very iconic space and historic space. and so, other than just dj, are you planning to do any improvements? are you remodeling? i mean, obviously you're not doing live music and it is -- they were doing a lot of 18 and older events and what is your real plans of formatting and

tell us what kind of dj's? is it all locals? are you planning to bring anybody from overseas or things like that. so tell us more about the format. >> of course, of course. so we all plan to open -- at first, we'll open friday to saturday night and we're going be doing pretty much -- we book a lot of international dj's. so we're going to pretty much have one dj come here in sunnyville and play on friday night and then, we're going to drive into san francisco the next day to play at yolo. so that is our plan. and then, as far as 18 and over, we're not planning and doing 18 and over. it's occupationa optional, juste extended hours. both peter and myself have kids

and it is something we like to have. and just in case. and so, it's going to be mostly dj, dancing, dj. we're not planning to do any major remodeling, purely cosmetic. >> the neighborhood is very sensitive and i know because it's pretty much closed and have you met any of your neighbors? >> uh-huh. >> pretty much next door to you. >> uh-huh. >> that building and you actually sat down and they discussed any issues with you? >> yes. we met with -- right next to us was actually a construction designer crew and they're called dan and i met both of the owners. i spoke with them and introduced myself and they were talking about doing their company party because they do a company party

every year at slim. i said, yeah, sure, we're open for the idea, if we're able to open. i said, obviously, i can't tell youy or no righyou yes or no ri. across the street is a liquor store and there's a new opener moving in serving food and i met both owners and i think the owner was named joe. we introduced ourselves. mind, wwe walked around the neighborhood and not a lot of venues are open. we dropped off the letters just to say hello. >> i was reading that you did some sound-proof testing. how did you do that? >> so, slim did a lot of soundproof already in the last couple of years. if you walkedded in, you would see the black colored banners

from the ceilings. and then we made an appointment with someone in the entertainment department. was his name jeff or somebody else. >> it was jordan. >> it was jordan. so he came over and we did sound testing. because of the fact we're not doing any light bands. so slim, as you all know, it was an historical place and they were doing a live band and live bands produce a lot more sound level, but we're not doing any of that. we'll be doing just sound. he tested it out and said you should be no problem if you're just doing live dj. >> just the low frequencies are the problem, you know. bands play a lot louder and you

can control it. >> right, right. >> as far as you guys running a club, i mean, i know you're experienced and you're successful at pai pier and as fs knowing what to do, i have confidence you can run an operation. unless commissioner falzon has other things for you, but you've learned a lot sip since i've knn you. good luck and i'm glad you're helping to keep entertainment alive in san francisco. >> thank you, steven, thank you. >> i'm done. >> i have a question. >> i raised my hand. >> i'm trying to be as good as the young people i've done calls

with and i'm trying to practise raising my hand. [ laughter ] >> and so, hi, michael. hi peter. >> you talked about talking to your neighbors, sounds like they have businesses on the block and what about the engagement that you have had with nonindustry folks that are in the neighborhood? and then i'll have a follow-up question after that. >> could you repeat that one more time, please? >> so you spoke about the liquor store on the block and also an architectural firm on the block. did you do any outreach with some of your neighbors who are nonindustry? so residential neighbors in the neighborhood? >> around our year, there's actually no residential -- not that i can see. it's all commercial. bars and automobile places.

it's all businesses. so i didn't see any residential. >> that large -- there's a tall brick billing right on the corner of 11th there that is a residential building. >> ok. i'm aware of that. a residential building, i assume there's residents living there and what are you asking us, to go and knock door to door, drop off a letter? >> well, as part of your outreach within the neighborhood, just letting them know you're coming in and that you're applying for the permit and so i just wanted to get a better understanding of the extent of your outreach. european operator in sunnyville. and why don't you tell me a little bit about some of the the

incidents that maybe you have had with some of your neighbors and how you just trouble-shoot some of the issues. >> we've been there for eight years. one time one of our neighbor's glass got broken and they were upset. i thinin downtown sunnyville, ts other bars opened late, as well. so we don't know which customer -- whether it came there us or the other bar. so we approached them and we gave them -- we figured out how much the window would cost and gave them 25%. whatever that would cost, i talked to the openers and said,i

don't know who did it, but we'll go ahead as a nice gesture to give them 25% of the window replacement. and i think that's one incident i can remember. we have strict conditions opened from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., and so our security will have strict security protocols where at the end of the night, our security staff will walk or customer to the parking lot and that's another thing that we do.

we do bring a lot of business to our neighbor's restaurants. >> ok. and i just wanted to get an idea of the kind of outreach that you've conducted with nonindustry folks and we have had a series of complaints from neighbors in the area and not for the full block so much, but for -- with specific permit holders on the block and so, i think it's just important for you to become important with some of the sensitivities and some of the issues. and i think you can have additional conversations with our staff just to that you will be knowledgeable and just mindful and make yourself available to have those conversations. >> sure. so welcome. i surrender my time to commissioner thomas. >> that was essentially the same question that i was going to ask.

there are a number of very engaged neighbors on that block, both on norfolk and on 11t 11th street who have who have. involved in entertainment commission issues and have had a long series of complaints. i mean, slims themselves, you know, much longer ago went through quite a battle with neighbors and so, it would probably be good to familiarize yourself with some of the concerns of the neighbors and to reach out to the folks who have been most involved. i think that the entertainment commission could help you reach them. i would hate to see you move forward and open this and then have complaints from neighbors as opposed to reaching out to them ahead of time and hear their concerns. while i don't think that the

neighbors have been concerned about slims, that building specifically, they have been very engaged around not just noise from some of the clubs across the street but also the noise that happens from the late nights with uber and lyft and people on the sidewalk. and so some of the businesses in the area have tried to coordinate better around how to mitigate some of the noise for the neighbors. and so, yeah, i would strongly recommend reaching out to them now, especially the folks who the entertainment commission staff know well who are the most active and engaged there because i think you're better served meeting and hearing from them now and getting to know them and what their concerns are instead of doing that afterwards. >> ok. got it. >> i do want to just jump in and

note, too, for the two of you -- i don't want you to be super scared out of this large investment and big life decision. just as background, we have not received sound complaints about slims in years. they did a whole lot of work, as you know, on soundproofing and the tests evacuee done with you proves that building can really hold the sound, which is fantastic. but to commissioner thomas' point, we just want to underscore the importance of not only connecting person to person with these neighbors but maintaining that once you finally get to open, maintaining that traffic news, i think that's going to be your biggest issue. i really hope that when you do open, it will be packed. but people will be lined up and they're really loud and that will be the most impactful thing to folks and then the leaving at the end of the night.

>> are you going to log them and will you have a time of response or engagement with the neighbors who might be complaining. >> i would say 24 to 48 hours, we'll reach out to them and community kate to them ancommune how we can improve that situation. >> and then, so, you're required to have your cell phone number to be available to the numbers,

via your website and so you'll have somebody assigned to keep track of that cell phone number and respond to it? >> yes. >> when there's a call? >> of course. >> so hopefully, you can respond sooner than 48, maybe more like 24? >> sure, sure. we'll make it happen. >> and maybe you can think about doing a log so that you can have a record of the recurring pattern of complaints for certain issues, certain neighbors and then you can figure out if it's a pattern, a one-off and you can kind of keep track for historical purposes? >> yes, will d we'll do that. we have a security log with any incident, whether it was intoxication, altercation or whatnot. we always have a log and we sent that to the public safety in

sunnyville within 24 to 48 hours and we have a log, a procedures that we do. >> ok. >> you can incorporate that for the potential -- hopefully, there won't be any complaints, but just to be prepared and have a policy everybody in your staff can follow. >> will do. >> thank you, that's all and good luck and welcome to san francisco. >> thank you. >> any more questions from commissioners? >> i do have comments. i think, guys, it sounds like you're on it and know what you're doing, which is great. i think the staff has george floyjoyedworking with you and ta lot of belief you can make this happy. you can't go door to door because of the coronavirus, obviously, but you need to get in touch with some neighbors. it doesn't mean you need to get in touch with every person who

lives in the radius of you. there's a lot of housing and apartments close to that strip and i really want to see you get out ahead of that. we try to have, in the spaces that i have, we try to have real-time communication with neighbors who have issues and in the long run, i think it will be very helpful for you and i don't think you'll need to worry about the investment you made, but just doing business in this city

where residences and commercial corridors really come right up against each other, it's different than other places around and i would just encourage you to go above and beyond and try to connect with neighbors who live near you and really, really do a substantial job of that and in the long run, it will be extraordinarily help follow fohelpful for you, i pro. promise. it's incredible to see the evolution of one of our iconic place expossplaces and how they. i think it's great to put in your amazing club and get your incredible dj's in there and let's keep partying. but i would encourage you to really consider neighbor and neighborhood outreach as a top, top priority. and this is coming from somebody who has had to do this for 11 years. those are my only comment.

comments. you don't have to respond. i just wanted to put that out there. >> if there are no more comments from the commissioners, let's go ahead and open this up to public comment, if we can. if the staff could let me know what's going on with public comment. >> dillon, i am looking right now and i do not see any hands raised and then crystal, do you see any chats from anybody? >> president bleimam, you may want to reallowed the chat. >> i have to get off the screen share here. >> this is from maureen. >> so there was a comment and this is not a question.

so it's not question and answer period, as we were saying. but the comment that we will read is, it's from a maureen r. and says, would you still have live music like slims did? there aren't enough rock venues in the city and we'll just leave that as a comment. and again, guys, i appreciate how difficult it is right now in entertainment and i appreciate how hard it is, probably, to be in your shoes and be opening this up during a pandemic. so we need more people just like you coming in and bringing life and energy to places and so we do appreciate that. but with that, i think we can have a vote and, so, deputy director or executive director, can you just remind us what the staff recommendations are on

this, if any? >> deputy, this is your item. >> so the staff recommendation is the approval with the good neighbor policy and the sfpd southern station positions which are one, permit holder shall be responsible for outside pr promoters and patrons inside and on perimeter of the venue and two, notify via email the southern station's permit's officer, southern station event's supervisor expect entertainment commissioner of special events for situational awareness. >> i have one possible. do you think it's advisable, they won't be using extended hours often, but i think it would be nice to know in advance

when they do use it so it doesn't surprise the neighbors. can we add an addendum to that? or is that included with the notification -- to southern station? >> deputy director, do you have an answer for that? does the notification include after-hours, like a calendar ahead of time or something like that? >> commissioner lee is the goal to provide that information to neighbors, or is the goal to provide it to the department or both? >> well, yeah, neighbors and the police. i mean, maybe not so much the police, but i think -- >> you would just say a calendar of events and can you repeat the language one more time, katelyn, on the item that you do have? >> notify via email station

officer, station supervisor for situational awareness. >> so essentially, they want a calendar. >> if i could raise my hand when we get a minute. >> you could amend that to include neighbors and to highlight extended hours' event. those are options. >> i would like to hear commissioner falzon's take. >> i'm having some technical issues but are you hearing me? >> yes. >> a couple of quick comments. i think i understand what mr. lee is asking but my only observation is number one. i don't think we should limit that. they're paying for a permit, but that said, i think as the executive director said, i think we can amend the notification to

include when they're going to activate their after-hours, that the commission and police department knows about it. then as far as community awareness, my only concern is how effective it can be if they don't. but i think what is a way of communicating is putting stuff on their website which i suspect they do from a marketing point of view anyway. so my take away would be if i was the neighbor, i would be tracking their website or whatever social media they're doing. so i do agree with commissioner lee, i think a modest amendment would be just to add the word and after hours activations, notify the station and the commission. >> sure. that's a common condition and that can always be amended to include neighbors or we can share info, but you're very right. if they keep their website up to

date, then anybody can see that. >> i think once they get the chance to meet the nonindustry neighbors, they're going to realize that the open communication will help them a lot. (please stand by)

>> clerk: [roll call] >> president bleiman: congratulations, guys. your permit has been approved. two things, one, follow up with our staff as soon as possible for next steps. and two, do that outreach it. will help you and everyone involved and i can't stress enough how -- how good it will be if you make the honest effort to do that and -- and how much that will benefit your business in the long run. so thank you. >> thank you. >> president bleiman: my alarm is going off in the back because my wife is cooking dinner for my daughter. sorry about that. >> i thought that maybe the popcorn was ready. >> president bleiman: i thought that something was

burning. okay. let me get the next item. so now we are going to go back and forward in time and this is agenda item number 4, the presentation on the city's shared spaces program from robin abad, shared spaces program manager. >> clerk: and president bleiman bleiman before robin gets started i want to tell you all how incredible this person has been to work with. we are working together, as i mentioned earlier, on how we can possibly to integrate entertainment and amplify sound permitting into the shared spaces scheme. so that's what we hope on to sharto sharewith you next. it would require a mayoral declaration so we will keep you apprised of that. and with that, robin, take it away. thank you for being here tonig

tonight. >> thank you. commissioners it's a pleasure to updateow this very important program and also to give a shoutout to entertainment commission staff. they've been really critical in the program success. not only helping us to design it and to put it together, but then also to operate it and, you know, to notably running and operating the response team which is -- cert is not only shared spaces but a number of these programs. so the commission staff are really showing up and showing up for the city and our communities. so with that, i will just share my screen. can everyone see the slides okay? i'm getting some nodding heads. okay. so just some program stats. a little overview of how this

works from the merchant or the small business owner's point of view. and then some of our thinking about next steps, in particular with regard to equity. so shared spaces is a program of the economic recovery task force which mayor breed has set up for a cross sector, you know, analysis and development of a plan for helping us as a city to get through all of the forthcoming stages of recovery, especially with regard to our economic well-being as a community. so this program is specifically tailored to serve our small business community and our merchants by allowing the activities that would otherwise, you know, to take place inside, the commercial activities being retail, merchandising, of course, dining, and allowing those to take place out of doors where we know that, you know,

transmission of the coronavirus is minimized outside versus an enclosed spaces. so this really is part of our emergency response to -- to the coronavirus. and there's also implications for, you know, further stages of recovery and things that we're experimenting now carrying on past the pandemic. which we can talk about a little bit later. as i said earlier, this is really about public space. so where do these activities take place, where are we allowing them to happen? of course, on the sidewalk, in the curbside lane or that parking lane, that is kind of where we see a lot of park lits in the recent day. and curb-to-curb in the case of valencia street between 16th and 17th and 18th and 19th streets. that is from thursdays through to sunday from 5:00 to 9:00

p.m., those segments are closed and the local merchants and local restaurateurs are deploying and serving in the street, which is really wonderful energy. also on other city-owned lands such as parks, mostly managed by the recreation and parks department, plazas, lands owned by the port, you see here in the diagram that we have this parcel and this deceptively shows, it may look like we're talking about inside a building and we mean private property that is unenclosed. so you could think of parking lots, for example, being a prime spot for these activities. and shares space allows for a number of different types of uses, curbside pick-up. so temporarily turning the curbside, you know, in front of your storefront into a white zone, a temporary white zone, to

facilitate contactless pickup and the like. of course, outdoor retailing. reserving or helping to mark out parts of the sidewalk to allow for them to distance. so you might look at outside your local produce market, for example. and then most famously and probably most notably is outdoor dining. we're seeing applications in all parts of the city. we're seeing some concentrations which are kind of natural, you know, and kind of the valencia corridor and chinatown, north beach. and we're seeing increasing adoption in some of the outer neighborhoods and there's a specific equity strategy that is driving some of our focused technical assistance in those neighborhoods that i'll talk about a little later. but here of the almost 1,100 applications that have been submitted since the program became active about two months

ago we approved about 51%, and others are awaiting or in various stages of permit review. looking at that street section and kind of the breakdowdown spatially of where these activities are taking place, you can see that the biggest share of these are shared spaces. the biggest percentage of them are shared spaces that are deploying both on sidewalk and in the parking lane. so that you can imagine, you know, like the café in your neighborhood putting tables, you know, out by the curb and then also beyond the curb. a smaller portion of those are just outdoor dining on the sidewalk and increasingly those roadway closures are a larger and larger percentage of proposals that our team is seeing. here's just another way of looking at some of the stats. those different types of shared spaces or places, and where they

are in kind of the permit review and approvals pipeline. so where you will see in the total rows as well as columns, there are some numbers in parenethese and these are our numbers just seven days ago. so the trend that we're seeing, a lot of enthusiasm for this program and a lot of interest as well. one of the things that the city is trying to do across the board with all of our response programs is actually to minimize bureaucracy and to get out of the way, especially for permitting activities in the right-of-way, you know, have traditionally been very rigorous. it can be a very lengthy, detailed and oftentimes expensive program and we're really taking a whole different aprepare here. part of that is the web portal, you know, the way that folks do

web intake and they have done this for a while with the permit applications. that is happening more and more across the city. especially with shared spaces. so there's a portal there for technical assistance documentation as well to those various types of spaces. you know, critically we're not charge anything fees. this is not a fee-neutral revenue generating program for the city. this is something that we are doing in the interest of maximum adoption and accessibility, not charging any fees for this. currently the program runs to the end of the calendar year. it was established through a mayoral emergency proclamation. and it's set to expire at the end of the year. part of what we'll be doing through the rest of this year, of course, is monitoring and reporting on the success of this program, both in terms of the

bottom line impacts to merchants. but also the ways that it might be kind of, you know, changing our outdoor and street culture. and that information will inform emerging policy conversations about what we might want to do with this program after the calendar year. so, again, you know, along the lines of making this a very easy access program, you know, it's very straightforward to apply. it's a simple web form. the applicant is expected to, of course, to identify where they would like to operate. self-certify compliance with rules, so we're not engaging in a lengthy permit or planned review process here. we're providing the guidelines and operating requirements very transparently and folks in their intake are -- they're self-complying. they are self-reporting that they will comply with those.

and applicants are expected to provide the furnishings as we see here in this example in the mission. caveat -- this won't work everywhere. san francisco has a bunch of streets and we have many, many narrow sidewalks. so in order for us to ensure in particular a.d.a. accessibility, we know that, you know, putting furniture out on the sidewalk isn't viable everywhere. so we're very transparent about that with applicant applicants,o are entering the program. if it's not immediately viable, our attitude, again, is to help you to get up and operational. to get you back -- get your employees back into their jobs. and so we try to help to find alternatives. sometimes that means helping folks occupy a space nearby. maybe, you know, in front of their neighbor's business, for

example, or their neighbor's building. and then we also emphasize collaboration and outreach with neighbors. something that we know that the entertainment commission does a lot of. here's an example of some technical assistance documentation that we have available on our website. you know, endeavoring to make it really easy for folks to understand how to do this safely and how to do this right and how to maintain a.d.a. accessibility and access to life safety facilities such as fire suppression, etc. so, essentially, you know, access and application forms through the website and you fill it out and it's a very simple web form. and at the end of that work flow for sidewalks you receive a notice to operate. slightly different in the curbside. you know, it's a little bit more technical. as you know, we want to ensure

that folks aren't proposing these in red zones or in bus lanes or at stops. so there's more analysis that goes into it. and, of course, the requirements around enclosure of the space and physical barriers and kind of the material strategies are more robust. so here's a great example of another site in the mission i actually presented to district 9 constituents earlier today. so a lot of photos are from the mission. and not a legacy business but certainly a long-standing one, a beloved institution in the mission, using their parking space immediately in front of their frontage, you know, to put out a little space for folks to dine. and, again, as with furnishings, the applicant is also responsible for providing the

delineation or the barriers that mark it from the rest of the street. as a result you get a lot of innovation and creativity and a lot of whimsey sometimes with these sites. you know, adding a whole different kind of feeling to the street that we often get with parklets but at a much different scale across the city now with so many participants. and you can also enclose the entire street. in these situations, merchant associations and other neighborhood groups are the key sponsors oftentimes. the valencia corridor merchants' association was responsible for putting together the valencia street closure. and so these are big collaborative endeavors. they're quite a bit more technical and complex, of course, than the sidewalk or the curbside ones. but with that sort of scale, that physical scale, you do get a lot more potential for activation and a lot more

potential volume with more tables that can be spread out, you know, physically distanced. we do caveat that shared spaces, street closures, aren't appropriate for streets that currently have active transit lines running down them, buses and munis are already at reduced capacity. our transit network, the core network, is much reduced. so those are real lifelines for helping folks get around san francisco and we are not really entertaining any compromise to those systems. so frequently in neighborhood commercial districts if you do see shared spaces that are closures, they are sort of on side streets that don't disrupt muni service. our goal with these projects is from application, submittal, to application approval -- two weeks. which is a very ambitious timeline. but we're endeavoring to meet

that because we know that every moment, every day that passes, is another, you know, loss to that small business owner's livelihood and their potential to support their family. as with all of the other shared spaces the neighborhood association is expected to, you know, to provide the materials and to operate these sites. part of our equity strategy is looking at the city providing at least the barricades and some of the other, you know, traffic control devices. and so those conversations are ongoing and we're working with the public works and the office of economic and workforce development to resource this. and i mentioned port and parkland. parkland the applications for the web forms and th they are on the same web page that we looked at earlier. other details are that the

operators are expected to carry insurance and this is very standard for small businesses. so, you know, we haven't found it to be an impediment. we are relaxing some of the requirements for participants of the program to actually submit this documentation or to go through the process of naming the additionally insured. we're waiving those requirements so it's a few less steps for these stressed business owners to have to worry about getting up and operational. and as i mentioned before you can, you know, occupy your neighboring building's frontage if you get permission. i mentioned -- or i opened up this presentation with celebrating the e.c. staff and the work that they do running our cert team. so we do have a more of a complaint-driven, kind of enforcement response.

we are really trusting that small business owners and merchants in their neighborhoods are being good actors and they're doing everything they can, they're doing their best to be good neighbors. and so we will only respond and send a team out if we are hearing, you know, repeated complaints or we get reports of something that sounds very egregious. so this is as you know a very different approach for this city in terms of kind of enforcement and monitoring. you know, we don't have a -- require site visits, for example, as part of the planned check. and it seems to be working well so far. and in the situations where we do have a deviation from compliance, again, that's where the skills of the sirt team have come in handy as being very able ambassadors and able to work with these businesses to bring them into compliance and to have that communication.

you know, kaitlyn is really fabulous with training her team and we hear a lot of positive feedback from folks who are subject to those interactions in terms of, you know, the conversations and the interactions they have with those sirt team ambassadors. of course, we do caveat that we can revoke permits if anybody is being really, really bad, but peaply, i can report that hasn't happened at all. finally just a few notes on like things that are coming up, emerging aspects of the program. we do have an equity strategy that is helping us to focus energies and some -- the limited technical assistance and financial resources that the city currently has to help this effort to direct it at, you know, communities that were already facing barriers and were vulnerable, even before covid

hit. we're all acutely aware that this pandemic has only amplified the pre-existing inequalities and vulnerabilities that certain communities were facing. so, you know, we're being very attentive to that. that looks like multilingual outreach, for example, so we can reach e.s.l. community, business communities, and immigrant-owned communities. we're partnering with city-wide non-profit to provide more technical assistance and ambassadorship during project development. and as i mentioned earlier, also working with our colleagues at oewd to design some surveys so that we can understand who -- who we're touching, who we're impacting. you know, what the benefits and the impacts have been to their bottom line and their ability to recall staff, etc. so maybe later in the year in

the fall or closer to the winter, if the commission is interested, we can report back on some of those findings. i think that i went over time so i apologize, director, and you all have our email address. >> thank you so much, that was great, robin. >> thank you very much, any commissioners have any questions or comments? i am checking to see if anybody has their hand up. nobody. commissioner thomas, please. >> commissioner thomas: there was a question raised in the public comment earlier about taxicab stands. are they part of the, like, blue zone and red zone that should be protected from shared spaces in or are they fair game for shared

spaces? and i have a second question what it means to be adjacent -- like, if there's a park across the street from a restaurant, is that something that they would be able to use or does it need to be on the same block? >> those are really excellent questions, commissioner thomas. and i do see that there's some comments about the blue zones and red zones. so currently established blue zones and red zones are places where we're discouraging shared spaces. because, you know, they're in place for a reason, obviously, for a.d.a. accessibility and in the case of red zones to make sure that there's adequate visibility between the motorists and the pedestrians and the like, or to protect a bus stop, for example. what's great about this program is that we're actually creating more spaces for things like pick-up/dropoff. so, you know, that's one of the potential things that you can apply for with shared space.

this is creating a temporary white zone, right, or -- rather, white or a yellow zone. so, you know, the existing white and yellow zones and the blue zones and the green zones are part of the analysis that happens when someone applies to do this on the sidewalk or on the curbside lane. so our m.t.a. staff are definitely looking at all of those, and making sure that we're not having any conflicts. with regard to physical proximity or adjay being adjacea shared site. it's something that we're exploring. what is most feasible and viable and what most people are trying to do is to activate the spaces directly adjacent to their frontage. like, right outside. which makes a lot of sense. that being said, there is -- you know, if the driving principle

is to help as many people as possible stay operational and survive this distressed, you know -- and these very stressful times, then we're open to figuring out other spatial solutions. so a park across the street or a plaza, why not. we're also as i mentioned earlier looking at -- we just created a process to allow groups of merchants to use open surface parking lots, undeveloped lots in neighborhoods. so naturally that, you know, might mean that you're serving food or your patrons are dining some distance from your brick and mortar business. and so there's a lot of things to think through on a case-by-case basis but it's not something that we're discouraging in the spirit of economic recovery.

>> commissioner thomas: great, thank you. >> president bleiman: commissioner lee. >> commissioner lee: so, thank you, robin. yeah, a lot of questions. i've been involved with the shared streets program in chinatown for the last three weekends. and we've been working with livable cities. and it's been successful every week. we've been getting more people but there's a lot of questions. and today there was a press conference, the chinese chamber and the ccdc are going to be giving out grants for the restaurants who are not on grant avenue. there's not a lot of restaurants on grant avenue, and the ones that are are really doing well now. which, actually they were only making $3300 a day or even less or not even open. the thing is that there's a lot of restaurants on jackson street and washington that are all on a slant. and some have been granted already their parklets and

they're doing well, but there's a lot of restaurants on jackson street that are still closed or offering to go. and they're still struggling. so one question that i have is when is the information going to be translated into multiple languages? number two, since grant avenue is closed, is some of the restaurants that are on the slant that want to participate but because they're not right across the street from each other, they're not allowed to. so i know that the program will be expanded a little bit, and i don't know what you can do but i guess if these restaurants are on a slant, there's no other way that you guys can evaluate if there's a safety issue. but are they going to be able to do the same thing? and, you know, with assistance be able to apply for the shared street as well?

>> yes, thank you, commissioner lee, for those questions. firstly, regarding language access, the materials on the website are available in chinese. so what we looked at and what i showed on screen, you know, was obviously the english version. but if you go to the website you can see that there's the ability to click on the spanish, simplified chinese and as well as filipino translations. so that -- that technical assistance is available. we do realize though that in other parts of san francisco, not necessarily in chinatown because there's this big -- there has been this big pilot that everyone is aware of that has made everyone aware of the program, but, certainly, in other parts of the city we could do some more proactive multilingual outreach. so that is something that our team has been gearing up for. with regard to the slant -- i

think that, yeah, that's one of those physical characteristics of san francisco that is part of its amazing charm and quirkiness but it makes outdoor dining impossible to do in kind of a safe way outside. so, you know, without building significant structures that are terraces and have ramps, you know, it's not a viable solution for any businesses or merchants that are located on those steep streets. i think that's where these larger more roadway closure or surface parking lot kind of neighborhood surface parking lot opportunities could -- could be part of the solution in helping -- or being made available to folks who are in other parts of the neighborhood, maybe on side streets where their immediate physical locations aren't conducive to a shared space, and being able to, you know, to leverage space

nearby in the neighborhood. grant street -- you're right -- you know, there's so many streets in chinatown and many, many restaurants and most of grant street was really a neighborhood/commercial corridor with produce markets and other food markets. and that's important. i think, you know, the shared spaces program isn't just for outdoor dining and it's also to make sure that there are people that are able to physically distance in these parts of -- in parts of our neighborhood where you do go every weekend to go shopping and to pick up neighborhood essentials. so i think that's something that we are encouraged by as well, that -- >> commissioner lee: if you could talk to the people at livable cities, because there's a lot of restaurants that wanted to be on grant and there's only like one or two. and everything in between is only retail stores. so there's plenty of room to put

restaurants there, but they're not necessarily, you know, directly right across the street from each other. they, you know, they wanted to set up tables where they could have display of their food. of what they serve at their restaurants. and they would actually walk them down to tables that were right in front of their restaurants on the sidewalk. they wanted that opportunity but we were denied -- you know, because the program is still new, right? so everybody was still testing things out. but they were saying that those restaurants were not allowed to participate in the closed street. so i thought that maybe that is something that you guys could figure out later, you know, because there's a lot of restaurants, you know, that won't be able -- you know, we're going to lose them anyway if they can't survive this. so they're just trying to think outside of the box. >> absolutely, thank you for that insight, commissioner lee. i'll follow-up with livable city and we are trying to tweak and

evolve all of the pilots. after every weekend we learn something more about how they could work better for more people. so i'll follow-up with them, thank you. >> commissioner lee: thank you. >> president bleiman: other commissioners? commissioner caminong had her hand up on the thing. >> vice-president caminong: hi. robin, thank you for the presentation. i was just curious, in terms of the mapping tool that is basically just show degreecasinf the spaces, is that public or internal? >> thank you for that question, commissioner caminong. it is currently internal but we're working on a public version so that you can actually go to the sf.gov web page and see where everything is. so it's just -- it's just one of those tech projects that has been on the back burner while we deal with volume, but we absolutely intend to make that

data set available for the public. you can visualize it in that form and you would be able to -- i think that our plans right now are to be able to download a list. >> vice-president caminong: i would just encourage to get the word out. these are our wins right now during the pandemic as each business goes online and is able to continue to practice and serve their audiences. you know, it would be really be great to help those who don't have many right now, but this is definitely one. so thank you. >> president bleiman: all right, we have commissioner falzon has his hand raised. >> commissioner falzon: hey, robin, i wanted to first off to congratulate this effort that you have been doing. from the law enforcement side that spent decades dealing with bureaucracy and the crazy laws, it fascinates me that it takes a pandemic to actually do good

business. i think there's a real learning opportunity here. that being said, i did want to share something regarding the planet hills. something that i have saw in the south of france and it was really successful. they put a lot of restaurants on these steep hills and what they have have are portable ramps they put right outside their restaurants. and it could really work in chinatown. what i'm talking about is that there would be a level ramp on the left and the right side of the door as you go in and in some cases it might be just be one table that can fit two people on each side of the door. but at least you're serving people. so that's two, you know, turnover table opportunities. in some cases, depending on the width of the business, there's four. i completely recognize that there would be a.d.a. challenges. but i would encourage you guys seem to be willing to think outside of the box. i'm just telling you firsthand. number one, it really makes for a really cool experience. these are not elaborate and

expensive structures but they're sound. it's plywood that is leveled with a 2-by-4 frame underneath it. and it can be pulled into the restaurant at nighttime and they're about four feet wide and as long as you can get away with with the width of the property or if guys would let them expand it. but i encourage you to not give up on our hillside restaurants. >> thank you, commissioner. yeah, there are definitely design solutions to this. i think that we have seen after running our city's parklet program for nearly three years, we definitely got some beautiful parklets on some slanted streets. some steep grades. >> commissioner falzon: great, thank you. >> president bleiman: commissioner wang. >> commissioner wang: yeah, i wanted to echo my fellow commissioners in commending all of your efforts, robin. i work closely with the small business community and handled the insurance for the valencia street closure as well and have

heard really, really positive things about their ability to recoup some of the lost capacity in income. i did have some questions with the outer sunset merchants' association. thank you, honey. [laughter] my daughter. and i had heard them express some frustration because they had put in an application about -- potential irving street closure and had a several week delay in hearing back. i haven't talked to them in the last week or so, but i'm wondering if there was a status update on something like that? because i did see less dots on the map on the west side of the city. >> thank you, commissioner wang. and we would want to see west and south and southeast, or where there's still a lot of opportunity. so first off i want to acknowledge that the program has

been extremely popular. we saw some of the numbers. i mean, the number of applications increases by the day. and so that does -- you know, in all transparency, there's a lot of volume. there's a lot of things to get to and the city is running at a very -- you know, is running at reduced capacity right now. many of us are wearing multiple hats and doing emergency service work and our department's capacity is cut by a third. that's not an excuse though. i mean, it's just some context i think for what frustrates us as the folks trying to deliver this program about the pace. so i am glad to report though that, you know, in the sunset that there are no fewer than three active applications. the one on irving is one of them. one site is already irving between 19th and 20th.

and one site is already operational that is on 37th avenue, between ortega and the pops group has a pop-up market there. they've applied to expand that further, which is wonderful. so there's another iteration of that that is on the way. and folks are also looking at terevel. so, you know, i think that we -- we are working with merchants to get a site plan for the irving and 20th proposal. that's the next step. and so we're really excited to see that come from the merchants because it will help us to advance the applications to the next stage. and it's a natural place to have a shared space, you know, with the concentration of businesses there and some businesses that have been institutions in the neighborhood for a long time. and it's, you know, fairly accessible by transit and so, yeah, it's a really sensible

place to make sure that it happens. >> commissioner wang: oh, great, thank you for the update. and glad to know that there's progress being made there. >> president bleiman: all right. any other commissioners with comments? awesome. i have a couple things to say. so first of all, i think that you guys did just a stellar job of rolling out the sidewalks and the parklet, the parking spaces deal. i've done it myself in my businesses and i know so many people who have. and i just commend you on that. it's shocking that there was so much red tape to do little things before and then all of a sudden as commissioner falzon said, we can do this and the sky didn't fall down and it seemed that everything is okay. and i hope that the city can learn from this so that we can continue to make decisions like this that don't require, you know, 18 months of hearings before you can do it. so thank you for that. and i know that you've had so much to do with that and i know

that our staff has had just a really positive experience working with you and they're always talking about it. so thank you very much for that. i had some questions around the street closures. and i'm going to just caveat this with -- sorry, my cat was on my lap and now there's hair everywhere -- i'm going to caveat this with the fact that i'm pretty disappointed with our street closure game in the city. and i saw the stats that you put up and i think that you said 13 approvals. are those 13 different streets or is that 13 blocks? >> those are 13 different projects. some are multi-block. so, yeah, valencia counts as one of the cases. >> president bleiman: and there were 47 denials, is that -- yeah. you're not on a cross-examination, i know that it's not your decision. i know that you're shepherding this through and i appreciate that. my personal feeling is that the city has really blown their

opening up the streets and they should have done it similar to how they did the streets where they by edict closed a bunch of areas. from what i have seen and i don't know all 13 so you are clearly privy to the information that i don't have -- but from what i have seen, the only ones who managed to get open so far are either super wealthy or super connected and organized. and i think that it should be the opposite. i think that the streets should be open -- and i don't mean all the time -- but thursday, friday, saturday nights from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m., whatever the thing, and a bunch of streets should be closed. and the only people that could stop that from happening should be the most organized people. so i hope that i'm wrong and i hope that there's a bunch in the works and they're coming and 13 is a good number and i hope that it's coming. but i know a number of areas where they're not organized at all and it's not their own fault.

maybe the english isn't the first language of most of the business owners. or you don't have a merchants' association or a c.b.d. that taxes the wealthy landlords and the executive director of the c.b.d., full disclosure, i'm not speaking on their behalf right now and so i understand how that works. so personally i'm just very, very disappointed with san francisco street closure game, and i think we could do so much of a better job, especially in areas that are less savvy as to how to organize. and the questions that i've seen -- and most of the denials that -- so a lot of the denials come across my plate because of my position as president of the entertainment commission and also organizer of bars and an advocate for small businesses. and the denials come across and it seems to me that the decisionmakers who are deciding whether or not the street should be closed down, they want to settle it, nothing less than

absolute consensus from neighbors. or, you know, 90% consensus or 80% consensus. but a lot of the neighbors don't understand the struggle that small businesses are going through right now and how hard it is. and it's impossible to get 80% of people as we've seen 47 denials and 13 approvals, it's impossible to get 80% of people to agree. but if you're a small business and you're about to die, it's -- the idea that you would have to go and build a consensus, like the pied piper or the johnny appleseat is just absurd. you have so much pressure on you right now. so i'm kind of making this comment and maybe -- maybe -- maybe you have some thoughts on this that would be interesting. but i'm just kind of saying this and it's a frustration for me, obviously. and i'm just wondering maybe you have thoughts on it or maybe it's just a comment without a response here. >> no, thank you, president

bleiman bleiman for that. i think that the struggle and the duress is very apparent. you know, and it's very acute. and so i think we -- as you have observed, the city has taken a leap and changed a lot of the way that it typically does business with this program. so in that way i think that you're right, it is a win. and it hopefully portends a different kind of future and a different way of doing things in general. that being said, i agree with you that we -- you know, we should be open to taking more risks. and that's very much the attitude and the spirit with which, you know, department leadership, our mayor's office has to approaching responses to this pandemic. i mean, we really have to try

things and experiment. you know, this program in and of itself is a huge experiment for the city. but that also translates to individual street closures and, you know, the kind of public engagement and outreach processes that we've traditionally had. we are exploring changing those -- or streamlining those much more so that we can get more projects up and operational, helping that many more businesses, that many more employees and their families. so i definitely hear you, what you are saying resonates a lot with feedback that we are getting from the small business commission and other members serving on the economic recovery task force. and i -- i always carry these comments back to our team and to our city leadership. and we are -- we are working to create more approvals rather than denials.

>> president bleiman: and, again, i don't want to besmirch you at all and i know that you're all in, and all of the feedback that i get from you, robin, is that you're just an all-star right now. so i don't want to confuse the message here. maybe we can end on one question which is, if you are in the position of small business or neighbors who want to encourage more positive responses and encourage more risk taking, do you have any -- and not general -- but like more specific recommendations for how best to advocate on this? >> well -- >> president bleiman: and i don't want to put you on the spot, obviously, it's a balancing act that you have to do. but in terms of advocacy, what

would be most effective in your mind? >> yeah, i think that a lot of the points that you just raised, you know, if the commission wanted to they could convey those to the economic recovery task force directly. certainly, my boss, the mayor. and to the -- to the department heads, you know, who are charged with delivering this program. so, you know, it's always helpful to get constructive feedback, absolutely. that helps us to be clear about, you know, how we can be better, what we can be doing, so, you know, certainly the small business commission has been very well developed ideas about what could change and what could be made more efficient. and, you know, as far as i'm concerned i'm open to any and all ideas. everybody on this commission, you know, is connected to the small business community and has that experience and wisdom that

could, you know, drive the content of some kind of transmittal. i'm very open to that. >> president bleiman: i think that the biggest thing is outreach and communication because -- we wanted to close down six blocks of grant avenue, really. and a lot of the merchants, the restaurants were hurting, but the retail merchants didn't understand it. all they were thinking is that we're cutting off their lifeline, you know, not letting traffic go through the street. but i think that as we progressed and we are able to communicate -- because a lot of them -- we actually got a 42 -- a petition of 42 retailers that wanted us to open grant avenue and just have dining on the street. but, you know, that's the whole concept would have been -- it's not the same. you know? so now they're getting -- they're getting it, because we're doing more, you know,

outreach in different languages and seeing them eye-to-eye and they actually see more people showing up because now the advertising is happening, you know. it just takes time. but i think that somehow you guys can do more outreach, you know, to the neighborhoods, to the c.b.d. or to get them, because that's the problem. they're fighting -- restaurants are fighting against the retailers. i mean, at least in chinatown, you know. valencia street you have a lot of restaurants so they're probably all happy and everything. but jackson street has all of the restaurants and grant avenue has all the retail. and there's only three or four restaurants so, of course, but we still pushed through it. and now we're looking at everybody, including retailers are benefitting. there's more people going in their stores now. so they just didn't understand. i think that we could work out some kind of outreach program or something. >> i think you're right, commissioner lee, in that we

could really point to the highlighted examples and how they're working and they're turning out to work out for everyone and really telling those stories, you know, sharing those stories will help folks to understand the benefits and maybe to be less wary. so that's a really great thing to call out. president bleiman, did i answer your question? >> president bleiman: yeah, yeah, i was just grandstanding there a bit, that's all. [laughter]. >> commissioner lee: it's not all of his fault. >> president bleiman: no, but i do appreciate -- you have done an incredible work and, you know, we do work -- i do communicate constantly with the small business commission and i am in full support of their proposals. and we have to consider for us specifically our permit holders. hopefully our team is going to have a breakthrough soon where

you will be able to stand outside and play an accordion or a guitar during shared spaces without having to come to a hearing to figure it out. but once that happens, you know, i'm very much interested in opportunities for safe socially distanced entertainment for people where we can employ artists and performers. we can't do it without the streets. so, thank you, i appreciate it. thank you for your time. thank you for everything that you have done. i know how hard this is. i can't imagine how many permits come across your desk every day and the process that you have to go through. so i don't know exactly, but i can sort of appreciate how difficult your job is right now. so thank you for everything that you have done. let's open this up to public comment. any public comment on robin's very well done presentation? >> clerk: at the moment we have one hand raised right now

in the queue from barry in toronto. so, barry, we're going to bring you in. we have two minutes. >> and, john, could you put it on the screen too? >> clerk: yes. >> thank you. >> caller: hi. good evening. this is barry from toronto again. robin, you did a great presentation. it was really efficient. and i think that the valence vaa street is working because i do food deliveries too and the restaurants that we serve are not in the closed off areas. so it doesn't impact us. and i have seen they do it on fourth street and it works great. the problem is that there's more parking on the side streets for parking and going and pick up and delivery. the feedback, they should probably provide some parking on some of the side streets, either on 16th or 17th, to allow for the going into the closed

off area to do pick-ups from food delivery. it's great to hear about how you decide on the shared streets program. you answered the question succinctly about taxi stands. the thing is that i believe that white zones are not a permitted use for shared space. and a taxi stand is technically a type of white zone. so it would be great if i had your contact information and sent you photographs. and a follow-up further with robin regarding -- regarding this issue of the restaurant. plus aren't they supposed to post the permit they obtain from the shared streets program? there is one restaurant/bar on polk street that has posted on the outside of the structure his permit. but there's no permit posted for this particular organization. so it would be great to have a link to know which shared

streets have the permits and which ones were issued on your website. it would be great to have that information. thank you for your time. and this really was a wonderful presentation. thank you. >> president bleiman: thank you very much. any more public comment? >> clerk: yes, we have michelle delaney who is next on the queue. i'll unmute her. michelle delaney you're in public comment. >> caller: hi, awesome. thank you. and hi, robin, it was great. thank you. i wanted to make a comment, and today when i went down to minna there was a homeless outreach team and i am like so glad that you guys are here and to help the homeless folks here to get into navigation centers and the homes. because, guess what, there's no way that i can do a shared space at all on that alley because there's too many people loitering there and it's impossible for us. we can't do anything, we can't

move anybody or do anything during shelter in place which is probably for another -- i imagine six to 12 months for me. so i literally can't even put a table out there with this situation in the alley right now. so i know that there's a lot of pressure on you guys and i know that you're trying really hard but at some point you'll need to figure out for something for people that want to open up their bars or restaurants that can, that literally can't with the situation on the street. thank you. >> president bleiman: thank you very much. anymore public comment? >> clerk: yes, we have chris hastings in the queue to speak. i'm pulling him in now. >chris,go ahead. >> caller: hello. it's just a comment. i have been involved in some community meetings about the street closure on noia street at market. and one of the requirements that has been posed to us is that there needs to be an attendant

at each end of the street to move the barricades in case of an emergency vehicle would need to get through. and for the businesses that are involved, i think that is probably going to be enough to squash the businesses' motivation to followthrough with that. i think that would be the same in other places. and one of the suggestions that was put forward is to be able to have the servers who are already waiting on the tables to be the people who could potentially move the barricades, which seems like a much more realistic solution for us. and i imagine that we could have more street closures if that is indeed the intent city-wide without that requirement which would be a big -- it's a big expense on the businesses that are involved. >> clerk: thank you. >> can i respond to that one point? >> president bleiman: yes. >> we are working in particular with the fire department to think of alternatives to the staffing requirement, you know,

the valencia corridor merchants' association was barely able to get it done with the san francisco bicycle coalition and the local city really stepping in and stepping up to help recruit folks to staff those barricades thursday-sunday, 5:00 to 9:00, every single hour, and every single barricade. so we recognize that's not a sustainable solution. so there are other things that we're thinking about that involve potentially different kinds of barricades that can be, you know, driven over without, you know, causing damage to the vehicle as with the current barricades that we specify the transportation agency will specify. so i don't want to promise anything right now but i can, you know, assure you, chris, that it's something that we recognize that is not -- you know, there has to be a better way for us to do it. so more on that soon hopefully

before the noia street gets approved we'll have a resolution on that one issue. >> president bleiman: thank you. anymore public comment? >> clerk: there's nobody with their hand raiseed. it looks like we have some chat comments whenever you are ready and we can -- look at those. >> president bleiman: yeah, shall i just read them out loud? >> clerk: yes, i think that the chat started at -- it would be actually at 6 6 635 -- >> president bleiman: well, barry toronto already spoke publicly. publicly. so let's start with christopher millstead because you're only allowed one public comment. if there's a bike lane against the curb and a parking spot in the street, is it possible to relocate the bike lane? i have decreased my insurance

since we're not open but to apply for shared spaces i you have to have one million dollar policy. every penny counts. those are christopher millstead. and michelle delaney has a comment but she did already speak. and marine r., thank you for shared spaces. i went to restaurants on valencia twice in the last week, i really enjoyed it. and the dogs enjoy it too. and i hope that it continues past the pandemic, and on the weekend. it's too hectic to ride-share and with general traffic. great use after a long sidewalk. and widening construction on valencia is the only concern was the trumpet too close to the passerby and you need more than six feet. >> president bleiman, we have flagged that and we are reaching out to valencia street. >> president bleiman: and they wrote to me and saying thank y

you. and that's it for new comments. any other public comments? >> clerk: there are none, but i see no hands raised. >> president bleiman: so public comment is closed. there's nothing to vote on, obviously.

there will be cooking demos, a film festival and many more amazing cultural programming in art, culinary, dance, health, heritage and info vacation and sports. so i want to invite everybody who is listening to us and all of my fellow commissioners to check us out this weekend auguse

and youtube live. thank you. >> any other commissioners have comments? >> chinatown, saturday, sunday, come down, they have line dance practicing, food and, unfortunately, no entertainment, but at least you can entertain yourself. that's it. that's all i have. >> thank you. >> i have two things and we'll close real quick. two things that i've been following closely and what is i spoke with about the street closures and the others, i think that we've seen that people can be outdoors safely and i am begging and i'm going to continue to beg and plead and

activate the san francisco health department to give guidelines to our permit holders on how many people and what kind of events they can have outdoors in public spaces going forward. we need very straightforward guidelines on that. for example, if one of our venues wanted to activate in a park, how would they do it? how many people? what are the rules and we need that two months ago and we need to give our venues opportunities to offer what they do outside of the general spaces. so i'll continue to fight for that and working with that on the san francisco health department. so thank you, everyone, for attending and i know how hard it is. thank you, robin, that was a great presentation and with that, i will ask if there's any public comment on commissioner's questions? comments? do we have any on this agenda

item? senior analyst rice? >> there are no hands raised. >> all right. with that, public comment is closed and we'll ajourn this meeting at 7:34 p.m. thank you, everyone. >> thank you. thank you.

i'm nicole and lindsey, i like the fresh air. when we sign up, it's always so gratifying. we want to be here. so i'm very excite ied to be here today. >> your volunteerism is appreciated most definitely. >> last year we were able to do 6,000 hours volunteering. without that we can't survive. volunteering is really important because we can't do

this. it's important to understand and a concept of learning how to take care of this park. we have almost a 160 acres in the district 10 area. >> it's fun to come out here. >> we have a park. it's better to take some of the stuff off the fences so people can look at the park. >> the street, every time, our friends. >> i think everybody should give back. we are very fortunate. we are successful with the company and it's time to give back. it's a great place for us. the weather is

nice. no rain. beautiful san francisco. >> it's a great way to be able to have fun and give back and walk away with a great feeling. for more opportunities we have volunteering every single day of the week. get in touch with the parks and recreation center so come