customers to interact with departments in the same consistent way and we're hoping to expand and do more training services for customers on key services. so before the pandemic, we were doing customer trainings on electronic plan review, we weren't able to do those in person as planned, but we are really excited to make use of some of this great space here and find ways to bring training and development opportunities for our customers. help them learn to use our services better and learn more from them so we can be better. capabilities include experiencing a friendly customer service team. we have hired a group of we will be ten by early 2021. of trained and experienced customer service professionals from various industries that are currently working on the permit

center floor. they will really become a conduit between all of the departments learning services, about all of the agencies that are here. and being able to help customers with a broad set of questions and work with them. so that we just have a unifying thread customer service through across all of these departments when somebody comes into the building. we have a state-of-the-art cueing system that we're working with and we'll continue to work on more digital services to provide streamlined friendly and efficient experiences. next slide please. and just some quick pictures. oh, one of the pictures flipped on its side. oh, actually two of them did. well that's no fun. maybe let's not linger on these. when you come you will see it in person. kind of crazy. oh, and these pictures went crazy too on the conversion.

left hand side is our cueing system and right hand side is a squished up picture of the payment kiosk. part of our payment solution delivery will be we have a traditional point of sale system like a cash register. very very fancy cash register, but we also have payment kiosks to allow customers to just run in and make a payment if they have received an invoice and be done or if they don't want to wait in line that they can make a payment and grab the receipt and walk away. next slide please. next slide please. let's see how my time line held up. this is just a click. kind of overview of the permit center journey. really it began in 2018 when the permit center director was hired.

and she spent you know, probably about three months really learning and doing research and analysis on our space and going through volumes of information that the controllers office put together on the department services and potentially for the space. and once she learned that information she began hiring up our team and then we got to work and we spent much of 2019 putting the permit center together. so precaring systems, doing research, working with service designers to understand customer experiences and to develop and implement and reenvision how our services should work. early 2020 we began rolling out electronic plan review, training staff, training customers, moving materials and getting ready to launch that and then the pandemic hit.

and that meant we needed to pause on work we were doing. and shifted resources and really spent a lot of summer on two things. one we had to continue to move. there was a time line we were obligated to meet so you know, thousands of employees moved into the building. and we were part of each one of the moves working with public works and the real estate division on miscellaneous pieces. a lot of it was it related, but getting everybody settled and getting their desks ready. and then in addition we reallocated a lot of our resources to the department of building inspection to a system. and then towards the end of august, early september, things settled down. you know we got into our grove

of how work waour groovehow wore through the pandemic. that allowed us to add more in person services. in addition to doing planned drop off for over-the-counter work and we have a lot of resources that are assisting with appointment services for dbi, we're also assisting with bringing in fire only permit customers and the environmental health has added appointments that we help bring their customers in safely and get them to the environmental health folks. public works has added drop off services and we're part of that as well. we were hoping to open up to in person over-the-counter services this winter. unfortunately, we pulled back on that for health and safety reasons. we will revisit it sometime early january we'll just continue to monitor the covid

rates and adjust and again, a lot of this has been really fluid. i will say the staff across all of the departments have been pretty fantastic. doing their best to work in a really unstable environment. things change from week to week. they have been doing you know their best to keep up. we try to weave in and out as as much as we can and pick up slack for whatever the departments need. but really our main focus has been customer service and making sure that we keep the in person customers moving.

>> as we add more services. we willed a customer experience

solution so that we can hopefully build some automated bats to respond to inquiries quicker and build a building base to provide more information to customers at their fingerti fingertips. i will skip strategic planning. we will pick up special business and events work at the end of the year. we want to resume the events planning work we were doing. we need to reconfirm which business services are coming to the space. a lot of things changed for the department. they brought more services online. that will help us create post pandemic service plan to understand what the new world is. that is the permit center.

in a few minutes. i will take a breath and see if anybody has any questions. commissioner yekutiel. >> i am in my small business. something just happened. this is commissioner yekutiel. thank you for the presentation. i have a couple questions. i actually pulled up my photograph of me in the planning building with my plan for when i recently visited a couple years ago. all of these memories flooded

back. i am so excited about this. someone recently moved the plans through the process himself without help of anyone. i did it alone. i can still feel the sweaty armpit of nervousness and anxiety i had sitting in that building. quick questions. one, where will pick be related to the new permit center. >> pick is actually on the permit center floor. i will explain the floor plane. -- floor plan in the bottom middle of the floor. they are in the middle of the floor, easy to get to. >> same floor as all of the different counters? >> yes, exactly. they will be five of the 70 counters that are available. >> okay. great. that is helpful. it looked like from the floor plan and we will see this when

we visit in person. each of the different departments have a different sectioned off area. one thing helpful in having all of the counters in one area, when something was an miss in one defendan department they wot out to the other department. that ability to have them all-in-one area is lost in this plan. you get more overall tables, is that correct? >> that is the floor space that is bigger. what we are giving you because we are more spread out, you have the crackerjack customer service reps that can help move you around the floor or help active runners, frankly, in between departments. if a customer or department needs something, you have a team of people ready to jump to assist customers and staff. >> that is great.

when the occupation expediter was explained. it was so sad we needed people to do this. i am glad there are people on staff to help answer questions of folks like me who are competent but need to figure out where to go first then next. dph in order to get the dph set of permits for moving through man check you had -- plan check you had to go through dph. you don't have to go there. you can get it all done in the same place? >> yes, they should be sitting on the floor, and they should be a routing station. your plans can be walked over to somebody if you have physical plans and they can stamp them. i hope that really what we are dealing with you have an electronic set of plans, and all

departments are in a session and can electronically stamp them for you. >> there was something satisfying about a physical stamp. i understand that is more sustainable and probably easier. do the assembly permits you don't have to go to second street any more? >> fire will have the second street staff and their former 1660 street or mission street folks all-in-one space together. >> i have to say for folks who have gone through this, having requiring folks to go to dph then fire then notary. you have your own notary, hello. i had to go find a notary in san francisco. it was complicated. i am so glad to hear second street fire assembly permits on one floor, pick on the same floor and there will be on site

nottary services? yes, certified in january, hopefully. >> this is amazing. >> my last question. you know, the process of moving through plan check can that a long time. for me i was there. i got there at 9:00 and left at 5:00. in the old planning building no concessions and no nearby restaurants of any kind. if you have low blood sugar and get hungry it was tough. you can't leave because they call out your name. then if you miss your name you are screwed. will there beacon sessions in this new floor plan at all, snack bar or something? >> two-part answer to your question. one, no, no concessions here. next door to us in the residential tower there is a retail space for a cafe.

unfortunately, with the pandemic i don't know if it is the same vendor selected previously. it is suspected a cafe or restaurant space. we also have a wonderful system that will let you leave. we are planning to use that even during the pandemic so customers can wait in the car or away from the permit center to limit the people on the floor. you can leave and go to the market and get a salad or coffee, and then you will have anywhere between five and 15 minutes to come back to the permit center when you are summoned, cell phone and e-mail. >> for fellow commissioners who haven't had the pleasure of going through this. it is like dmv. you wait for a long time.

put in your name and someone calls out your name. if you miss it, they just go to the next person and you lose your spot. there were a lot of people. the question about concessions is important because if you had to get up to get water or get a bite to eat or use the rest room and they called your name and you missed it, that was it. that happened a couple times. it was sad. it is really exciting to hear a cueing system. too bad no snack bar on the premises. the fact you can leave solves that problem. thanthank you very much. this is exciting. >> vice president zouzounis. >> thank you for the presentation. i am excited about this permit center. the goodwill that used to be from provided customers to the businesses in the area, and i know a lot of them are looking

forward to having a customer base nearby again. i don't know if you had this number in earlier slides. what is the maximum goal for number of employees that you believe are going to be working at the permit center? >> actually presently because i just had to do this for health and safety plan. we have up to 80 employees on the floor right now. that is during the pandemic. it will probably be about the same. d.b.i. is working maximum capacity right now as is the permit center team. then with the building full, honestly i don't know. it is thousands of employees that will end up staffing the building when it is open again. >> that is great. that is great. to answer commissioner's

question there are a lot of businesses across the street, down the alleyway. this is a spot for small family owned cafes and food trucks. i am excited for them to be able to retain some of the customers coming through. we hope the customer representatives give people recommendations for nearby spots to go while they are waiting for their name to pop-up. i am excited for the tour on friday. thank you so much. >> i wish i would have known this i would have texted you for a recommendation. >> it is down the alleyway from the permit center. we are excited to have a customer base. the goodwill folks were like family for a while. looking forward.

>> great. any other commissioner comments? this is something the small business community has been waiting for for a long, long time. it is representing a children in how the city does business. it is going to be fascinating in the wake of the pandemic how much business as a whole and the city business moved offline into work from home. it will be fascinating to see how that plays into this. i think regardless there is a need for in person services, and i am sure the rest of the commission agrees with me. godspeed. you have our full support, and if there is anything we can do

to help, we would certainly be glad to do so. the preps as presented look like a great starting point to move forward. let's continue to stay in touch, and fingers crossed, by summer we are starting to get back into being able to go in person and be indoors together and have a normal life again. >> thank you very much. likewise. we hope to be able to partner with you and really need for us to thrive and do well need data and input from external entities to tell us how we are doing and what things are working and what things are not. we welcome the feedback and looking forward to a great partnership in the future.

>> absolutely. we are committed to being a friendly and positive partner in making that happen. as you and i well know, no matter what plans we make they will fall apart and be completely broken the seconded we hit the ground running. i am sure we will have more input when that happens. what you presented so far looks great and i am excited to see it happen. it is hard to imagine how that wouldn't be a substantial improvement how things were before. >> mr. president before we closeout the item, i want to make one note in terms of office of small business space. we are excited that we have been included in the permit center, and we are there because we know that businesses are going to hear about the one stop permit center and go there. they are going to go before they are really ready to engage in

permitting. they are doing research and development. our space is there to really catch those businesses. often they need a conversation to help them think through all of the considerations before they engage with the department. there are many other considerations that in terms of operating a business not just related to permitting, just the permitting to get your business open. we are excited to have space to be a value add for departments to be able to direct individuals to so that they don't have to go to city hall and walk the three blocks to city hall to get their questions answered. our presence won't be there until likely -- i mean rebecca will give me an idea, but we

likely won't be there until the permit center is fully operational, until there is no longer requirement around social distancing protocols. that will be, you know, aways away. we will be there and we are very excited about it. >> will this be supplemental to the city hall location? will people go to both locations or in place of? >> supplemental. they will be able to go to both places. >> are there just for my future note. are there any staffing or budget changes to happen to the office of small business to accommodate that or are we good to go with the folks we have now? >> we may need to give that consideration. right now the plan is to have staff rotate.

then we will be able to make a determination as to the volume, both if we begin to see increased volume of service needs by having the two locations, we will make that determination. >> thank you. we should go to public comment. any public commenters on the line? >> there is no one in the queue at this time. >> seeing no public comment, public comment closed. any further commenting, commissioners? seeing none, rebecca thank you for coming and persevering through the technical issues. we appreciate the update and look forward to talking to you again in the future. >> thank you very much. >> look forward to seeing you later this week, too. >> next item, please. >> item 4. proposed special committee on

racial equity and subsequent appointments. articled v establishes special committees maybe formed for limited duration for a specific purpose. president shall designate a commissioner to serve as chair of special committee. chair shall work with the director to accomplish said task. unless the commission specifies otherwise, the president is empowered to appoint member to special committees. the committee may be formed by a majority vote of the commission. discussion and action item. >> all right. so this is important work for the commission and central to our mission. i know this is something we all care deeply about.

i feel like we started to talk about who might want to participate in such a committee, but, director, can you remind me where we last left things or did we leave things? >> yes, mr. president. so where we last left things was in august your recommendation that the commission have members work on the equity work in between meetings so that we -- because our meetings are full. not taking meeting time to do some of the work, and at my recommendation, my recommendation was to consider vice president commissioner

zouzounis, commissioner dooley and commissioner ortiz-cartagena as special committee members and they all said, yes, they are interesting to do the work laid out not only in what is required of reporting to the office of racial equity, but if there is additional work that the committee and commission thinks the commission should take up. >> great. >> first step would be the official formation of establishing the committee. it doesn't necessarily have to have the members identified. the commission approves that special committee is formed. >> okay. do we vote to create the committee? >> yes. >> great. would it be acceptable to make a motion to form the committee?

>> yes. >> okay. >> you would have to take public comment first. >> any public commenters on the line? >> there is no one in the queue at this time. >> i would be delighted to nation the smoke to form the commission. >> i second that motion. >> motion by commissioner laguana to form the committee on rake equity. seconded by commissioner adams. roll call vote. >> commissioner adams. >> yes. >> commissioner dooley. >> yes. >> commissioner hule. >> yes. >> commissioner ortiz. >> yes. >> commissioner yekutiel. >> yes. >> motion passes 7-0 with no absents. >> before the next item, real

quick. just so i am clear on procedure and process when do we designate members? what is the process for fo for designating members, when will they report back in what is the timeline so i make sure the agenda is properly reflects our obligations? >> yes. the commission -- the rules of order do not speak to an absolute requirement for the commission to vote on the committee members. it ithey can. it is a special committee based upon the work that the special committee will do, there could be a time where it might be

having other members come in not made up of the committee. that is to your discretion now that the special committee would be made. right now in terms of the appointment who sits on it formally with you establishing who the is the chair of the commission. that answers your question. in terms of setting the timeline. the timelines for the work that the commission has to meet for the office of racial equity, the work is to be done between january and june of 2021. the first key metric to meet is amending the bylaws to reflect racial equity and that is due to

the office of racial equity in march. the remaining items are to be done and completed by the end of june. >> in terms of next steps everything happens offline until the committee reports back in. >> correct. >> okay. we will follow up with that then offline. unless there is further commissioner discussion. i didn't mean to skip over you, commissioner adams. >> thank you. no problem. we used to do these committees a lot in my early days on this commission. they are very helpful. it is at your discretion who is

on them. i do believe director the meetings with the appointees have to be in public, correct? >> yes. >> they will help you more than you realize, and the choice is the three who want to do it are excellent choices. any support i can give to this, i will. thank you. >> i concur on the choices and i also concur on i think the output will be extraordinary and extraordinary narrowly helpful. i am looking forward to it very much. vice president do you d zouzoun. >> i am looking forward to this formation to centralize some of the work of the commissioners who were recommended to work on

the committee outside of the commission are ready if it is an ethnic trade association or equity neighborhood that we focus on. i am excited to kind of institutionalize that work further. i am interesteeded in the understanding of the small business equity reporting so we can line up our goals and work on that and be informed with issues you are finding in the office during intake processes. that is all i have to say for now. we will talk next steps offline. >> thank you so much. thank you to the committee members for stepping up and taking on this additional responsibility. i know we have all taken on a

lot. this is a big job. i appreciate you doing this. any other commissioner comments? seeing none. next item. please. >> 5. resolution number 2020-003. support for nightlife and entertainment venues. resolution establishing the commission's support for night light and entertainment venues and urging the mayor and board of supervisors to provide economic relief. discussion and action item. >> commissioners you received the draft resolution in your packets. this is a follow-up to the entertainment agenda item we had last week. this is a resolution that will

support this industry, which we all agree is valuable cultural asset to our city. presumably everybody has had time to review. do you have any questions? this is a good time. i did want to mention our clerk has submitted a few amendments to address non substantive changes to make sure we are amenable to the changes. now is a good time to talk about the resolution in front of us if you have any questions or comments. >> there is the senior policy and drafter of the resolution. i have three amendments that i would like to submit for the resolution. first in the seventh paragraph and the first sentence place of entertainment should be

capitalized. just for the record. on the eighth paragraph i wanted to also include and apologies for not having this included initially, but that entertainment also includes bars like music venues and nightclubs and highly concerned they would need to close permanently. i want that also included in the resolution. the next paragraph, the ninth paragraph, i would like to add that same language that bars like music venues will need to close permanently and in addition more than half of survey respondents to the survey reported having lost between 75 to 100% of expected business

income and between 75 to 100% of expected individual income for the year 2020. that is what i will be adding to the resolution if the commissioners are amenable to that. >> do we need a vote on it? >> yes. >> okay. i move we take a vote on it. >> point of procedure question. i have an amendment i would like to add to. shall we do it now? >> do it now. >> just before we do that. we need to take public comment and there should as fares i understand there should only be one vote to approve with

amendments as presented, is that correct? >> yes, all amendments, proposed amendments should be presented now. then we have -- public comment on the amendment and then actually on the amendment -- sorry. amendments presented and public comment on the amendment and the resolution because you need to hear the public as to whether they want to urge you to accept those amendments and then action on the amendments and full resolution. >> are there two votes or one vote? >> my understanding there is one vote. >> it is two votes. you have to vote to accept the amendment and then on the full. on the resolution with the

amendments. >> she will make the proposed andments then open up if there are any others for public comment. >> after all of the amendments? >> right. >> do we vote before public comment or after public comment? >> you vote after public comment because you want to hear whether the public wants to have you accept those amendments or not. >> i apologize. do you want to make the proposed amendment? >> yes, the only comment i wanted to add and we can vote on it. the line that gives recognition to entertainment venues part of cultural districts or cultural.

i know we have a lot that are specific to communities. they are recognizing that. >> what would you like it to say? >> i mean i think it can go after the one of the sentences in which we recognize entertainment venues are culturally significant in san francisco. then we canlaborate and say specifically venues that holed cultural significance and the

communities or part of cultural districts? >> i would see the drafter of the resolution that it might go in after the whereas where it says -- the first page whereas entertainment nightlife businesses are historical to the san francisco unique cultural and contribute significantly to the vibrancy of the city. after that one. >> in line with something whereas many of our entertainment and nightlife businesses are of special

cultural significance to the cultural districts they reside in. >> or the communities they were founded in or something like that. >> did you get that? >> yes. >> okay. we need to vote on these amendments now. public comment. sorry. tell me five different times and i won't remember. is there any additional commissioner comments before public comment? >> i just want to say this is exactly what this commission should be doing. this is a very powerful statement. it needs to be said. we need to push more envelopes. i don't about you. after that presentation last week, i couldn't sleep.

this really bothered me. i am happy we are doing this. we all want to be law-abiding and do what is right in this pandemic and follow the law and do what is right. these people are getting screwed. excuse my language. it breaks my heart. this commission is doing exactly what it should be doing. pushing the envelope and pushing, pushing, pushing. i commend each and every one of you for this. thank you, president laguana for having the people speak last week. we have to hear more of this. right now we are in trouble, folks, if something doesn't happen sooner than later. i read this. it is excellently written and i really appreciate these amendments you are putting in. thank you, vice president zouzounis. this is good.

thanks. >> thank you, commissioner adams. i think the lion's share of the credit goes to the excellent clerk for drafting the resolution building on some language provided to us by the entertainment coalition. i share your feelings about the entertainment community and the testimony we heard last week. i think your suggestion that we hear more direct testimony from people affected is a good suggestion and we would be wise to follow up on that in this moment this community is decimated, not just entertainment but small business community as a whole. we have really had a tremendous obligation and responsibility to do everything to advocate for

them. that is what this commission was chartered to do. i am deeply proud of the commission and the commissioners that i serve with and the staff of the osb that be can take testimony from folks and turn around with a resolution to get behind a short time later. with that, i think we should go to public comment. if i understand this correctly, and i probably have managed to mingle it. public comment will first be on the amendment. then we will take a second round of public comment on the resolution as a whole. is that correct? >> mr. president, you can hear public comment on both items. you want to -- the public is able to make comment on the the full resolution and make comment

on the proposed amendment. then after public comment, then you would take those amendments, vote on those and then vote on the final resolution. >> one of those days i will learn how to do stuff. we will have more comment after the public comment. >> it is about a potential amendment. can you and perhaps explain why the new number amount was not included in the financial desires? i am sure there was a reason for it. i feel like giving specifics is useful but i am sure there was a reason why we didn't include in the resolution how much money this community needed in financial support.

>> this is the senior policy analyst donovan. i read the package of recommendations. i also drafted and helped form our commission's recommendation to the mayor and board of supervisors regarding federal economic stimulus and relief. there is not one number that i believe would satisfy the need for this industry that the city could likely provide. this industry is decimated. i don't know there is one that could be provided. i did want to include that from

the survey, from the entertainment and nightlife survey, these 318 businesses reported that they can expect up to 100% loss of personal income and revenue for the entire year. with respect to that, that is what -- i mean $318 million, $400 million at the very least. these businesses are grossing more than $1 million per year in order to pay for staff and their own personal expenses. if you would like to include an amount that is 100% up to you. given the fact that i don't know there the going to be any one for one number that would meet the need.

>> that may beings sense. i know that other departments and industries are asking for certain dollar amounts based on conjecture, but they understand from a negotiating point. it puts them in a much stronger place. what we heard loud and clear from the last meeting last week they need money. they need not be evicted which is great. one of the main crux of the issues is they have very high fixed overhead costs that aren't going away. commercial eviction is one piece of it, but we need to put money in the bank accounts to pay their bills. i don't know how to square this circle. i understand how like it feels

like pulling the number out of a hat. we did hear $48 million in the last -- that was on the proposal. that is a lot of money, also, maybe those venues that doesn't apply to all folks with entertainment. intelligent people crafted this. i am not proposing a specific amendment. i want it out there that it puts us in a tougher negotiating spot when we don't put a range or wouldn't it be nice if or we expect the financial ruin to equate to x amount because it then makes it harder for the elected officials to know how much they should be ballparking advocating for. >> we included in that letter to the mayor and board of

supervisors that the advocate for $10 billion in set asides for ppp loans for san francisco small businesses. we also had another section within that letter that spoke to the specific needs of the entertainment and nightlife businesses. that grants be established specifically for independent venues for those expenses that you just mentioned. >> that was in the supplemental crtf letter? >> no that was the letter. >> we just can't as a commission advocate for a specific dollar amount from directly to the federal government. we have to do that through the board. >> right. >> if i may. so commissioner, as always, you

have a very sharp and pointed suggestion that, no, i mean that in the best possible way. i love holding feet to the fire and really trying to put a specific number on it, you know, there is a lot of setting an anchor price and negotiating from there. the challenge with respect to this particular resolution, in my view, is the 908 bill for federal stimulus that they are calling it now bipartisan agreement. i got the draft language. it is a $700 billion bill. now they have taken out the aid to the cities and liability and that is a separate bill so this bill doesn't get caught up in

that. the $700 billion including $300 billion for ppp to allow first round ppp recipients to go back and get second round. i think part of the problem here for me and there is also some stuff for other expenditures. i guess part of it for me is when we are literally days -- potentially hours away from there being a dramatic children in the amount of money that is -- dramatic change to the amount of money available to the city and businesses, it seems premature to specify an amount when things could be dramatically different tomorrow. with that being said, maybe that is the wrong take on it.

maybe you just put a number out there. i also try to balance. i mean my take on it i want the commission to have credibility and don't want to make the commission look like we are not in touch with the other side of the balance sheet. >> that point is well-taken. i am not -- i see this document as a guiding document for our advocacy as a commission to the folks making the decisions on behalf of this community, the next question after someone gets this. how much? as long as we seem to have a good answer to that question if asked. if it is you commissioner or director how much money does the community need? great. if we did want to add language,

which i am not necessarily proposing. it could be something to the effect of the san francisco venue coalition estimated the amount needed to fully plug the hole to be in the estimated $48 million. something like that. it is not the small business commission but passing off work done by the coalition last week saying the san francisco venue coalition estimated the amount of relief they require would be $48 million. at least, you know, if a member of the board of supervisors takes this to the budget committee meeting they can say i heard that they need at least $48 million to plug the hole. >> i think that is a reasonable suggestion. why don't we put that in the whereas. that is an additional amendment whereas the entertainment venue

coalition. >> the san francisco venue coalition. not independent. they are different be. >> yes, i understand. whereas the san francisco venue coalition determined that the entertainment community would need $48 million in order to sustain itself through this next phase of the pandemic. >> the only wrinkle to that is that was specifically for venues. the resolution expands, not just venues. familiar. >> that's right. >> it is other things. >> we have a birth of a conundrum. the number floated for subset of the group that we are doing the resolution on and we lack data

to form it. >> i am sorry to have caused the wrinkle in this commissioner laguana. mannys has an entertainment permit. we a venue. i don't know. director do you think adding in the numbers in this resolution would add teeth needed or distracting and unnecessary. >> you know i have a better path. >> i missed this sparring. >> why don't we move forward with the resolution as drafted. then let's make a commitment to revisit this in our first meeting in january, and it can be a quick agenda item.

at that point we will know a couple different things. one, we will know what if anything the board of supervisors have done for entertainment to date. we know what the federal government has done to date. we will have perhaps a better sense from the entertainment community what they might need to get to the next four to five months. then we can make an additional resolution. we are not limited to one resolution. we can make another resolution that is more specific and we can use the time remaining between now and then to put a finer number on this. with a little more basis and research than we are able to do right now during this hearing. >> sounds good. >> thank you, commissioner.

>> is there any other amendment before public comment? are we 100% there are no more amendments? commissioner your lips are moving. i thought you were making another amendment. >> no, no more amendments. i am amendmented out. >> can we have public comments. any public comment on the line. >> three callers on the line. >> let's hear from them. >> hi. thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak. i am calling in support of the san francisco venon you coalition and this resolution is near and dear to my heart. i am richard wilson. i made this my career for 20 years.

street level promoter, stage hand, worked in operations and have been the head of security for the local san francisco venue. the san francisco nightlife and music scene has not only kept me employed it has been my life. we are suffering. there are no remote work options for us like there are in the tech industry. we rely on the ability to gather in public for our industry. the outlook for the future seems bleak. we are the first industry to take the hit and the last industry to come back. public gathering are once again safe -- who news when that will be. we are struggling. i can assure you we need stages to come back to when the public gatherings are safe again. stage hands, ushers bartenders

promoters, security, lighting and sound we need your help. that is all i have to say. >> thank you for your comment. >> thank you so much for taking the time to take up this matter. i am rob. we spoke last week. i am urging you to do two things. a, pass this resolution in support of entertainment and nightlife. it is vitally important for the city's culture. b, i am urging you to draft a second resolution that is specific to venues.

>> hello, commission. i am allison. thank you for hearing me. i am part of the san francisco

venue coalition. also, former gm of 365 club. this particular meeting is really special, near and dear. thank you for all of those kind words in item number 2. you guys know bimbos is unique. it is irreplaceable. the truth is that the business has been closed since march. it hasn't had any options, unlike restaurants or any other retail stores that have other revenue forces during this pandemic, and it is bittersweet to have a legacy business registry when we are closed and knowing that we are totally on the line. encouraging to pass this

resolution. let's do it. let's get that first step but let's keep going. it is true. thank you, commissioners, we need funding. like i said we are on the line. i know i it is a huge bezel and there are -- huge puzzle. we need your help and i can tell this commission is on board with this. please do it for bimbos. i miss that place. thank you. i do urge for that second amendment, too. we will keep coming to the meetings, too. thank you. >> if thank you. next commenter, please. >> i am a member of the sfvc and i would like to urge you to pass

this resolution. i would also like to respectfully ask the commission to acknowledge that we are hoping for federal aid, but looking to this city to contribute to financial contributions to preserve the culture. there is always a question of where the money comes from, and $48 million is not a small chung of change. recently is supervisor haney pointed to city emergency relief fund. we are aware the state has a tax surplus. i know this commission does not have jurisdiction to allocate those funds to us, you guys have done a great job in bringing awareness to the issue. i would ask you continue to do so and help us get to those funds so that our staff can

return and we can all come back to work and help the city recover. thank you. >> okay. next commenter, please. >> hello. thank you. i am duncan, part of the sfvc. co-worker of rob readies. you know the numbers. i don't need to reiterate that. i want to call somebody who is grown up in the area and going to shows since i could. [please stand by]

>> as you know, independent venues have huge heart beat of the city. being the first businesses to close and going to be the very last to reopen, we're staring down this massive amounts of

debt and bankruptcy. shows lot of the tenacity of these people in the city and how much they know we're worth to hold on to get back. we will not get back until december or fall of 2021. it's heart breaking. in order to get to the other side, almost going to be 18 months of zero revenue. it's going to be a patch work of city, state and federal relief. we do thank you for amplifying the voice of independent venue in san francisco. i say again, it's zero revenue. i can't think of another business that has not been able to operate since this pandemic began. we worry about the plight of business. we're in communication with employees, contractors and

vendors. they're hurting. we heard these stories from the venue coalition last meeting. thank you to the commissioners, steven adams for recognizing how difficult it is to hear these stories. we're fighting here in san francisco to bring awareness and relief so we can survive and help rebuild the city, independent venues have been trying to recover. raising awareness to the mayor and board of supervisors is going to be critical to money actually being spent to invest in the future by san francisco. as you know, president laguana stated, we have our fingers cross-ed this federal stimulus comes through. for cities and business and

individuals, i don't think the fight stops there. we need to work together to work on specific policy and programs that ensure that venues are not excluded. we look forward to engaging in conversations and come up with tangible relief for independent venues in the city and can't thank you enough. thank you very much for all of your time and for helping to champion this cause. thank you very much. >> thank you, next comment please. >> clerk: that was was the last one one. >> president laguana: okay. is there any additional commissioner comments after the public comment? while i wait, i'll say something. this is not going to be only resolution we don do on this ma.

this is not the only action we take on this matter. this is just the beginning. we're going to move the ball forward now while we can. we're also going to keep focusing on what we can do to make more movement quickly and as president of this commission, i will commit to following up with all of you in the entertainment community and making sure that we get some actual real measurable progress out of this. >> commissioner yekutiel: my take away from -- this is in general, a lot of us probably feel this way, there does seem to be this black box of where the money is. i know we were presented to by

our esteem controller who explained the budget. i can imagine that everyone is coming to the city for money for things. now. we're in a time of recession. it will be really helpful to understand what are potential places, specific funds we can ask about. they mentioned on this call, the city had an emergency relief fund. i'm not sure what that is. where is that housed? i saw recently that the city administrator had her own discretionary fund. i'm sure there's a reason for that. are there discretionary funds, does oewd have discretionary, we

know there's a fund that's for some stuff. we revealed last week, $406 million sitting in accounts. we know there's legal issues. we find out through the press there's $406 million sitting in the account. i guess this is directed towards the director and the president. if you guys know of particular funds with fancy names that have pots money in them, it would help us with our advocacy. we can ask about those funds and see what's left in them. that make sense? >> president laguana: it does. i think -- having been chasing after this and programs i'll let the director speak to this.

>> commissioner yekutiel: it's almost like you're trying to get into a really hot restaurant. you know you need to say like i'm with bill kind of thing. it's almost like there's some kind of secret budgetary password you have to use. what about about that emergency relief fund. oh, that fund the one with $100 million in it that hasn't been touched. >> i think, as we know with hdso money, there's regulations. taking your interest and your request, i can't say that i know where the pots of money are.

some of them are particularly assigned to certain things. are there as emergency spending or funding extra funding for certain types of spending. it's to go back to the controller and ask for that list and where all the -- what is that additional money, the emergency money. where does it live and are there specific spending requirements attached to that money? i can tell you, oewd does not have a magic pot of money. it most certainly wished it does or could. any magic money that happen for oewd for money that is

transferred into oewd? >> president laguana: that is the challenge. well, commissioner yekutiel, it's a great suggestion. we need to pursue this offline and vote on the resolution in front of us now. so we get something done. >> commissioner yekutiel: sir, yes, sir. [laughter] >> president laguana: i move that we support the resolution and amendments as currently drafted. >> you first need to adopt the amendment as proposed.

>> president laguana: i move we adopt amendment as proposed. >> second. >> clerk: i believe that was a tie. commissioner adams or dooley. who like to have it? >> it was miriam. >> i'll second it. >> clerk: miriam, motion to approve? >> vice president zouzounis: sec ond. >> clerk: roll call vote. [roll call vote]

>> sometimes i fear the clerk of the board is watching our meeting. she's sitting back and laughing in her chair at how disorganized the clerk small business seems sometimes. >> president laguana: every time i do that intro at the beginning, i aspire to have a speaking voice as good as hers. i know i'm like nowhere near. that's the gold standard for public speaking in my view. >> clerk: that motion passes 7-0. no one in the dissent or absent. is there a second motion? >> vice president zouzounis: jus t clarification, we voted on the

amendment and now we're voting on the full? >> clerk: yes. >> president laguana: i motion that we approve the full resolution with amendments. >> seconded. >> clerk: motioned by commissioner adams to approve the resolution with the amendment previously voted on by commissioner laguana. roll call vote. [roll call vote]. motion passes 7-0. we are now on item 8, which is the director's report update report on office of small business and small business assistance center, department

programs and people and legislative matter and announcements from the mayor and announcements regarding small business activity discussion items. >> thank you commissioners. first, i want to start off by congratulating commissioner yekutiel for being passed out of the rules committee out of sfmta board. congratulations to you. then, i also want to extend, this is our last meeting of calendar year 2020. hard to believe that we are here. i want to extend my appreciation to media services for their support that they provided to the staff and for you as

commissioners in running our meeting. and really helping the city get through this process and be able to conduct this business in a virtual environment. we all have learned many new and great things from that. thank you media services, sfgov tv, i just really appreciate all that you have done to support us. to move on to -- i have a very short report tonight. i want to let you know -- i'm going to monthly report out our client service numbers. i am reporting the november total. our staff served 313 businesses. 13 businesses came through

inquiries from the sf business portal. note that this sort of -- this number kind of takes us back to numbers pre-covid. we're going to get into doing new business services. the engagement time with each of those businesses is longer because we're not being able to conduct it in person. 25 businesses were assisted in spanish and nine businesses were assisted in chinese. 14% of that 313 were prestart-up. 14% of the 313 were businesses with less than one year in business. then 40% of the businesses had one or more years in business. we assisted hand full in

businesses in closing their business and four businesses seeking assistance in relocation. the top four district that we served, this is in order, is d3, d fine9, d10 and d6. also has a high equity reflection as well. the top issue, there's some interesting issues that has arisen in the last couple of weeks. one is we're in greater need for legal assistance around leases and rent and small businesses. i do want you to know that the office of economic and workforce development is working to engage the bar association to help provide the legal assistance. legal services for entrepreneurs

is -- the demand is very great that's coming through them. to help keep up with the volume and the need, we're going to be expanding that assistance to the bar association. we're also seeing businesses predominantly food related businesses that have more extensive p.i. and preopening costs. their getting their business open. several have just begun the process when covid hit. there was definitely a pause when construction for the business, commercial business sector wa was not allowed.

businesses are getting close to opening but they're finding they don't have enough funding to complete their project. the funding, there's not enough funding out there for newly starting businesses. of course, these businesses aren't eligible for the idle and the ppp because they were not in operation in 2019. any of the covid funding, they're not eligible for. i want to say that i'm very happy that the commission did put in it recommendations to the mayor for federal funding that we do need to substantially also increase funding for newly starting businesses. we want to make sure those that did get started, not go out of business or don't have opportunity to start their

business. we need to make sure, we have enough funding to help new businesses going as well. that's a key part of our economic recovery. i want to extend my appreciation that commission also gave back in consideration in its recommendation. i am working with oewd, we are getting inquiries from our services and massage. only key distinction is that technically medi spas do have a doctor on site to do some doctor procedures but the doctors don't perform the massage, any

facials. i know that this was something that was brought up. one of the perhaps meetings with the commission with dr. argon. those are the key things i want to highlight for tonight. there aren't any significant pieces of legislation that were introduced last week at the board of supervisors. i will provide you with some written updates. the legislation that you heard around the entertainment permit and restaurant permit, last week, has minor amendment but it's to codify some of the business licensing and tax payment dates and deadlines. with that, i'm happy to take any questions. >> president laguana: do you

have any questions for the director? no questions. i think those are some things we want to keep an eye on, the whole personal service issue remains a vexing problem. i think now with dr. argon at the state and with no current public health officer, it's unclear when we'll get a replacement public health officer. i seen some supervisors saying they plan to have a replacement public health officer. we need to find some way to advocate for small business with the current structure.

it's like everything else, there's a whole lot of moving parts. it's very difficult to figure out what the right path to take is. i appreciate you bringing that up. >> you're welcome. perhaps, adding on to that, commissioner laguana, as the commissioner may want to give some consideration for future resolution, i just thought of this. looking to our mayor and board of supervisors, one of the key components that dr. argon was advocating for was really using risk-based management tools. i don't think that's really been fully developed at the state level or local level. i think there's still room and time for those things to be worked on and implemented.

i think that will also be critical and also conveying to the consumer as we start to -- after the immunization reaches a critical level to build back customer confidence, it's a more escalated recovery as opposed to a slower recovery in terms of customers returning to businesses. >> president laguana: i thought a lot about those comments you made about risk-based models i'm hoping we'll start to see that get rolled out and that will result in a more surgical response to shutdowns which at the moment, seem not a surgical

as it could be in enabling folks to stay open while still being very careful about public health. this seems like it needs to be worked on american an -- and ada more careful approach. thank you again for this comment. >> commissioner huie: thank you very much. as i'm thinking about it, i feel like right now, we have an opportunity to kind of reimagine what this next phase is going to look like. i don't know if it's the new year approaching or the place we are in terms of having some understanding of the virus, of

the environment. i feel like we're at a midway point. it make sense senior us to kind of maybe recognize how much we've kind of put together in this time frame. from march to now, we've helped and seen sectors organize. we've seen leaders rise up. we've seen all these different things happening. people gathering numbers and gathering information about their sector and about their business. we have now kind of this big vault of information that i think we have it kind of disorganized in a way. i think we could take this opportunity to do something more with it and reimagine what i think an ideal kind of reopening

might be. what happened is that, i think certain businesses and sectors get kind of left behind when something else marchs forward. i feel like it's a constant struggle and maybe it doesn't have to be that way. i don't know if that's just dreaming and wishing. i feel like that's kind of needed to pull yourself out from the weeds and see what can be a better plan and for us to be able to propose that given the information that we know. are we also -- part of what we do is advocacy. having the data, having the information and i think -- i feel like now we have a lot more than we started with in terms of we know just the information we

have about the entertainment venues, the information we have about nail salons. we understand a lot more about our business community than we did. i think it's kind of a good time to recognize what are the things that we do know now and what are the risk that we should be evaluating and how do we advocate for something that's less surgical as you described and advocating for a reopening of our economy that really keeps people safe but may be puts more responsibility on what we do with our personal time or how we spend our personal days. i don't know exactly what the solution is. i wonder with all of this information that we gather, i don't want to see us minimize

how much we know today versus how much we knew in the very beginning of this and to be able to look like at the big picture and see what we might be able to actually change. i do believe that we should continue with resolutions and try to help with things like on a line item kind of basis. i think that we as a body or as a group, have the ability to see the big picture that maybe other -- before coming on this commission and just being an advocate in my neighborhood. i didn't see the big picture than now being on this commission. i have a better sense. i hope that we can collectively think about what the future of san francisco recovering from

this pandemic could look like in maybe water strokes. >> president laguana: thank you, i appreciate that comment. we should -- there's always the ground level work that needs to happen and sometimes it can be something that doesn't seem that big to us but it's big to the businesses like paper bag fees or whether it's plastic utensils or disposable utensils. then the legislation and the resolutions and then there's high level stuff like the federal part and there's a global approach which is what you're advocating for. i think that's an important part of it too.

the challenges always how -- we're just an advisory body. we don't have any actual teeth. whatever we say, it's only as good as the advice that we're giving and it's good of credibility that we have with the listener. big part of our work is to bill that credibility and build that trust that we're going to give good advice. second part of it is is to give good advice. i'm always hoping if so many of our ideas and initiatives have come from different commissioners. the floor is yours, commissioner

huie. i'm happy to be a partner on anything that you come up with. >> commissioner huie: i'll work on that. [laughter] >> president laguana: okay. we'll move on to the next -- we got to do public comment. commissioner yekutiel. >> commissioner yekutiel: we're moving on from new business? >> president laguana: not yet. we have to do public comment on director's report. are you out? >> commissioner yekutiel: i have no comment on the director's report. >> commissioner dooley: i have something for new business also.

>> president laguana: i'm calling on you guys, you're lining up for the next item. i apologize. is there any public comment on the director's report? >> clerk: there's no public comment. >> president laguana: , next item please. >> clerk: item 9, commissioner discussion and new business discussion item. >> president laguana: commission er yekutiel, you were first. >> commissioner yekutiel: okay, technically, commissioner dooley and i voted at the same minute. >> president laguana: would you like to defer commissioner dooley? >> commissioner dooley: i'm bringing up something that i'm thinking of inform -- in term of our recovery. we will still be in semiemergency for a long time.

some of may know, i visited this tiny island of kawhi, they put together a small business website that allowed people to order online whether it was because they were closed, which was still true. most of businesses are closed there or from people are other places, visiting. they had visited that spot before and wanted to do some shopping. [indiscernible] i was thinking whether we can put something together neighborhood small tiny businesses can participate in a way having a portal a that says shop san francisco. it brings attention to very small businesses but that have really unique and exciting

things to offer. i ordered baked goods from folks in kawhi. it seems like our city and county could do something like that for our small vendors. that is something i would really be interested in looking into. >> president laguana: i love this idea. you can send a link website to the director so that we can share it with the commissioners?

>> commissioner yekutiel: i have a couple of items that i want to present for new business. the first about the legacy business program and whether or not if it has not already been done. if there is a password we can use to ask for special infusion of funds to our legacy business recipient understanding that for a lot of these legacy businesses, they're more cash strapped than some newly capitalized businesses. it's hard out there. it's not necessarily -- we don't have to make it an agenda item but maybe point of exploration for the director or the commission president and vice president. whether or not there are ways we can check in with the legacy businesses to see which one on the verge of closure or extra funds we can use in the legacy business. that's just putting it out there. it just came up in the beginning. the second thing --

>> president laguana: let me interrupt for a second. just an idea on that. i know that many of our legacy businesses, some of them are groceries, i believe. i seem to recall. perhaps i'm wrong. there may be a few other legacy businesses. i'm just make the observation that not all small businesses are doing poorly in the pandemic. some are actually doing really well. the idea would simply be if you are doing well, would you be willing to defer on any glants or aid so that can be redirected to folks who are not doing well. >> commissioner yekutiel: at the least, commissioner, laguana, if there's some kind of list serve of the legacy businesses or richard compile them all in an e-mail and send out a brief

survey or understanding of the health of them. this body and the businesses themselves go through stuff so much to become a legacy business. these are like our babies. we need to see how they are doing. if richard hasn't already done that. grocery stores are doing fine, that's good to know. maybmay be we can think about ws to do special advocacy for those legacy businesses. >> president laguana: commission er huie is up after you. hopefully we can get an update on the survey. we could perhaps lean little bit harder on the legacy businesses and find some way to segregate

that data perhaps, i don't know, if it will be possible how we're doing this. that might be a way to get to the health of our legacy businesses through the survey. >> commissioner yekutiel: that's something that's happening with -- if the survey sent out to legacy businesses, great. if we have the e-mail of all the legacy business owners, if we have all their e-mails, perhaps it's a quick check-in. i don't know. this is not a specific recommendation. >> rick has been staying very close in touch would at the legacy businesses. we do want to know as soon as possible if there's going to be some anticipated issue. that said, we can take a look at the different sectors and taking

a look at the businesses and speak to you individually about some ideas along with the president potentially vice president. they are important businesses for us to retain. >> commissioner yekutiel: if may be we're trying to help as many small businesses as we can. if it's hard for us to find pots of money for particular industry, maybe it won't be hard to find pot of money to save legacy businesses. there are 40 legacy businesses

on the verge of permanent closure, we can use that extra special emergency use authorization supplemental funds in the slush to fund these businesses. it's my thinking. that's the legacy businessing. second thing is, vaccinations are coming. might be small businesses have a vested interest in the distribution of this vaccine. there's a lot of questions what is a front line worker and what is an essential worker. it might not be a bad idea for this body to find out what the person is locally making the decision. second piece is there's an interim public health director

and potentially -- we all know, i think it's no mystery. there are lot of small businesses who feel very aggrieved right now by the seeming lack of, science and facts that have come as backup to the recent health order. i actually don't think that small businesses have a lot of problems doing what needs to be done to protect people's lives. restaurant, bars and retail, folks are frustrated but they understood because decisions were then immediately backed up by data, science and facts. what we heard loud and clear with the outdoor dining, recent data come out that about less than 2% of new covid cases have been contact traced back to dining we have questions.

i don't think it's outlandish to get the answers. what studies were done that showed outdoor dining was the right call to make based on the data, science and facts. i did submit a number of public records request as it relates to the healthcare security ordinance after the last small business commission meeting about trying to understand what these funds are going and have gone and where they are sitting. i'm awaiting the responses to the public records request and have communicated to the office of the supervisor that i've been in touch with about this. i will update the commission once i hear back. thank you. >> president laguana: point of clarification, has dr. philip been named interim health

director? i missed that? >> commissioner yekutiel: i think there's some things that gets triggered. if the sitting public health director leaves the second in command automatically becomes interim until the permanent public health director gets chosen. she is the interim just by nature of thomas being done. >> president laguana: there's no deputy health director. if there was a deputy health director, that would be true. you may have better information than mine. my understanding and perhaps our director can share any knowledge she may have about this. my understanding is we did not have a deputy health director. as a result, the director of

b.p.h. becomes the only health -- becomes the acting health director. i'm a little unclear what the actual title is. i don't think there's an interim. last i heard. >> vice president zouzounis: i'l l find out specifically. there was the determination by the city attorney early on in terms of there was a question in terms of the role of dr. colfax and then dr. argon as the health officer. this determination stated that dr. argon was made the health officer is the head of the department of public health who is generally a medical doctor. at the time that dr. argon was appointed as the health service, the head of the department of

medical health was not a health doctor. now we have a medical doctor, i don't want to speak to what the next steps are. i will find out for you. >> president laguana: i know we're not allowed to lobby the state government. the state public health director is our former city public health director. the city will not go against what the state of california is doing. unfortunately, whatever it is, our state public health director is now empowered to might these decisions for the entire state. what i'm trying to funnel here is, i'm getting a lot of

inbound. lot of frustration. lot of questions from my industry and they do not know what to do with their feelings. as a representative of small businesses, to our city government, i feel a little bit ham strung. i do not know where they should focus their attention. we don't have a public health director and we don't know what the next one will be. once there's clarity on who's making a decision on the future of the industries. i would really love to bring them in this body to ask them important questions. >> president laguana: it is challenging. this is a state level position. there's that inability to take action at a state level.

perhaps we can think about this offline. there's nothing that i know of, that prohibits us as individuals from speaking with dr. argon, whom we previously developed a relationship with. perhaps, if we have specific questions or or you can speak with the other coalition partners in the small business community and think about what we might want to specifically request or lobby for or -- there's other ways we can assist. it doesn't necessarily have to be within the context of the

commission. that's the challenge as far as the commission in terms of interacting with statewide authorities. it's unfortunately outside airline scope. hue >> commissioner huie: i wanted to address the legacy business question. starting with that. i believe i had a conversation with rick at some point where we felt where we had talked about perhaps, him finding out more information or being able to survey the legacy businesses.

these are businesses that have

learned how to really be generational and how to pass a business down from one generation to another. which is crucial to many of our businesses that have done a lot. it's a different mindset. that's something i think could change san francisco community in terms of businesses not just opening up for a moment but really being an institution and what that might look like. i do think that the legacy businesses have a lot to offer in terms of their expertise as well. that will be really nice in addition to the knowledge that we have right now. the second piece, commission dooley, i love the idea of

having a one-stop shop website. i feel like, i personally have been trying to reach out to every small business and spend any money i have at the small business and i think there many residents who will probably feel the same as well as who have a fond place in their heart for san francisco. i saw an e-mail go by this morning where somebody had asked about something like this. i think lot of partners that we can probably talk to and you'd be happy to lend my support towards your idea. i think it's a great idea. lastly, one thing i keep talking about is a survey. the survey, i believe, will be done in all languages by wednesday. that's been my last update from

the professor. that will be done. my ask of you, for all of as commissioners is to maybe take a look at director's outreach document, if there's any way to help fill that out a little bit. i think all of you have really very positive and close connections to your supervisors. i think that might also help too. i do think the feedback that i gotten from all of you, has been surveys are tough now. people are getting survey fatigue. it will take a lot of effort on our part for outreach. i'm willing to go around, commissioner dooley and commissioner ortiz-cartagena has offered and every one of you

offered this, walking door to door. it is going to take the personal touch. hopefully the survey will be a nice excuse for us to connect with people within our community. i'm hoping that will be a good part of the holiday season. that's pretty much all i had for my commissioner report. i will probably attend a meeting that different things. i'm happy to support all the stuff you guys are working on. thank you. >> president laguana: question with regards to survey timing. this is an honest question, i don't have an answer in mind one way or the other. do we think it's wise to do a

survey, put are the survey out right before the holidays? would we collectively be better off just wait until after the first of the year? i'm not putting my thumb on the scale on that question. >> commissioner huie: my feeling from the professor and her experience so far, she's advocated for doing it now. we're going to get today's data and we are keeping it open through the month of january. whether it gains traction now or later, we can control that a little bit too if we're seeing that it's not hitting in the holiday.

>> president laguana: i think that make sense. let me make a recommendation based on my limited marketing experience. why don't we do -- an idea might be to release the survey pre-holidays, personal networks and kind of do a soft launch, if you will. then in january, try to do a full-court press, first and second week of january. lot of times, when you're promoting something, people need to hear it, from multiple channels simultaneously. i'm worried if we dribble it out over the holidays, we'll never gain a full head of steam. we should commit to doing a full-court press. in january when we think we can

get everybody's attention. go ahead and release it now. it's just an idea. >> commissioner huie: that feels like general marketing principles. it's like a presale or like vip survey [laughter] i recognize this is a public forum. my vip may not be that special. i do think that this soft launch might be nice during the season. i will be happy to talk about this offline and go over the specific outreach if you want to talk about it after, if that's possible. >> president laguana: okay. >> yes, that's possible.

>> president laguana: okay. great. any other commissioner questions or new business? i'll just go real quick. i've been investing lot of energy in bankruptcy reform, particularly at the state level. unfortunately many of our small businesses are not going to make it. it was about the adjournment notice. >> president laguana: i've not forgotten. by will come back to you. many of our business will not succeed and not survive. many of these business owners will be facing bankruptcy. currently bankruptcy law only

allows $70,000 as a homestead exemption. if you're a small business owner and you own your home, you have a $300,000 in equity, you're only allowed to keep $70,000 of that and file bankruptcy and the rest will go to jury lenders. if you have a car, the trustee will sell your car and give you back $2300. which is not enough money to buy a another car. there's all these different laws and they are unfortunately lender friendly for small business owners. i think they were written in contemplation of a time when most people were filing bankruptcy made mistakes or perhaps were engaged in fraudulent behavior.

that's clearly not the case now. [please stand by]

>> forgive your debtor some portion of your debt so you can stay in business. great. you have got some debt forgiven. that is amazing. you are able to stay in business until you get a 1099 fee from the lender at the end of the year because debt, forgiven debt is taxable. if you have a $1 million loan and you got $500,000 of it forgiven, you could be looking at a -- doing quick math here. $150,000 tax bill that you weren't expecting. that tax bill is not forgivable

or dischargeable in bankruptcy. i just wanted to alert everybody this is a very serious matter. no policymakers that i am aware of are focusing on yet. i don't think the small business community fully understands how serious thi this iceberg is. perhaps an opportunity for the commission to write another memo about this, but i will say that in our federal ask we also made a number of recommendations around bankruptcy reform. there are similar laws that need changed at the federal level. it will be an ongoing "trainwreck" that will drag people out of being small business owners for the rest of their lives and they will never escape the damage of these 8

months because bankruptcy doesn't allow any escape. it is really awful. that is it. i feel like i have other stuff, but that is enough for one day. it is mys to be done by 7:30 p.m. with that, i guess we will -- is there any public comment on the commissioner new items? new business comments? >> there is no public comment. >> seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> please show the office of small business slide. >> we will end with the reminder the small business commission is the small public forum for economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco it is the best place to get answers about doing business in san francisco during the local

emergency. if you need assistance continue to reach out to the office of small business. item 10 adjournment. >> do you want to make a motion? >> yes. this is commissioner yekutiel. i would like to motion to adjourn tonight's small business commission meeting in honor of the cliff house. a brief word about the cliff house. 157 years old. it was built by senator john buckley and cc butler. purchased by the first jewish mayor in 1883. there was a dynamite explosion in 1887 which destroyed it. there was a christmas fire in 1894 which burned it to the ground. then the mayor rebuilt it in

1896. this business survived the 1906 earthquake. then was burned to the ground in 1907 again. rebuilt and changed ownership a few times, but at long last in 2020 due to the covid-19 crisis it was announced yesterday or sometime this week that it was going to permanently close december 31st. they have laid off 180 employees. obviously, the cliff house is a san francisco institution. i have to believe there is not the last we have seen the cliff house it is too important to the city culture and history. it is possible that the permanent closure announced will be a permanent closure. it is important to adjourn in honor of the cliff house.

>> i second that. >> motion to adjourn the meeting in honor of the cliff house by commissioner yekutiel. seconded by commissioner adams. roll call vote. [roll call] >> motion passes 6-0 with one absent. the meeting is at injure adjourt 7:36 p.m.

>> have a great holiday. >> thank you all for joining us today. before we begin, please remember to keep your microphones and video feeds off to avoid distractions. you are submit up to two questions to the web-ex chat

only. welcome dr. colfax. >> good afternoon. thank you for joining. i'm here to report our collective progress in beating back the current surge of covid-19 in san francisco. and as we look back on this difficult year of 2020, i want to thank you for your incredible efforts during the past months. months that were unimaginable just a year ago as reports of the virus first surfaced. and i want to express my incredible gratitude to the medical providers and first responders and everyone who has been on the front lines of this pandemic this year. this includes the incredible team at our covid command center and the department of public health teams going non stop for months now.

we are seeing some reasons for hope, but we are still in a precarious position. as we close the last week of 2020, we mourn the loss of 182 san franciscoians who we have lost to this virus. and we extend our condolences to their loved ones, especially difficult time of the year being without them. and we find ourselves as we begin 2021 in the middle of the worst surge yet. this is not where any of us wants to be. the state of california has the highest case rate in the nation with more than 33,000 cases per day. there's zero intensive care bed capacity in southern and central california area. here in the bay area, i see the capacity hovering around 9%.

while san francisco has the second lowest case count in the bay area thanks to our dedication of staying at home, we must continue our efforts if we want to combat this current surge successfully. let's review the data that shows some small improvements in the past three weeks. since thanksgiving we have experienced a surge and aggressive increase in covid-19 cases as you can see on the slide. we are also start together see indications that the surge may have reached a peak. the case numbers remain extremely high just below 30 per 100,000 but the rate increase is showing some signs of decline. we have managed to push the average number of new cases were day in san francisco down to about 270 for the first time since december 12th, a little

more than two weeks ago but i must emphasize we are still far from out of the woods. we still have more cases, far more cases per day than we have in the previous two surges and we have to wait until january to see the overall impacts of the pivotal holiday weeks when it is likely people have gathered and giving this highly infectious virus a possible foothold for increases. while travel at san francisco airport was down significantly compared to last year, this past week, unfortunately set national records for travel since the pandemic began. this is extremely concerning and does not look well for january. recent hospitalizations have hit a record in san francisco as

well. right now we're just slightly below 200 people who are in the hospital with covid-19 in our hospital systems across the city. this is nearly double the number we had during the summer surge. now, the rate of increase has slowed just a bit. we believe that our capacity in the region is likely to result in many hospitals cancelling elective surgeries or reducing the number scheduled during the holiday week. but as hospitalizations increase, hospital capacity across the state and region is decreasing. the hospitals outside of san francisco have very limited icu capacity and, again, california hospitals outside of san francisco and sacramento have no hospital icu capacity. we also know that

hospitalizations lag about two weeks behind case increases. so unfortunately we expect this number of hospitalizations in san francisco to continue to climb for now. we will be watching these numbers very closely in weeks to come. next slide please. but this slide shows what we have accomplished and we can continue to accomplish when we work together. we use the reproductive rate, re on the top of the slide, we use that rate to project hospitalizations and deaths. look at these numbers. i know there's a lot of detail here but i will go through the slide with some time. we use the reproductive rate of the virus to project hospitalizations and deaths. on december 5th the rate was estimated to be 1.45.

at that time, we were looking at nearly 1500 hospitalizations and 544 additional deaths by march 1st. by december 26th with our early implementation of the stay at home order december 6th and with the state's order being put into effect about a week after that, we pushed the reproductive rate down to 1.13. look what that did to our numbers. it declined an estimate of 1200 fewer hospitalizations peaking in february. and over 500 deaths averted. now we need to continue to make this progress continue. to get our reproductive rate below one. if we are able to do that by the new year, we will continue to save lives and hospitalizations.

210 hospitalizations would be predicted and while one death is too many, significantly fewer deaths than what are projected for the reproductive rate at 1.13. as we lower the reproductive rate, we see fewer sick people requiring fewer icu beds and fewer people dying. by staying home and not gathering, we have been able to prevent hundreds of hospitalizations and save so many lives. our goal is to get -- needs to be to get the reproductive rate below one. we have done it twice before and i know that we can do it again. it is an incredible effort by all of us that will result in slowing the spread of covid-19. i know it comes with sacrifice.

thank you for everything you are doing and everything we are giving up today, this week, this month so that we can save lives. and i'll all be here for the va. as we head into this new year's eve, let's remember that the power is in our hands to continue to turn this surge around. hundreds of families in san francisco will have a chance to spend next new year's eve together in good health because of the choices we make this week. we must continue to take the preventive measures that we know slow the spread of covid-19, avoid gatherings, do not gather with people outside of your immediate households. do not travel. keep your distance and cover your face with a mask when and if you have to go out. remember, it is also key that if

have you traveled outside of the bay area counties region recently, you must quarantine for 10 days when you arrive or return to san francisco. by taking these steps together, by supporting each other, we have done relatively well in the last two weeks and we see signs as i just reviewed that we are slowing the surge. but i must emphasize, this surge is still our biggest yet and we cannot afford to have a christmas or new year's surge on top of the surge that we are already experiencing. that would be catastrophic. we simply can't let this get worse. we don't have good insight into the impact of the christmas holiday until january 2nd at the earliest, until january 8th for the impact of new year's.

and there's also another new variable. as you may have seen in the news, the united kingdom has identified a variant strain of covid-19. while the cdc has not identified the variant in the united states yet, it is very likely that it could be here but is not yet detected. now, this is not a surprise. all viruses mutate over time and some of the mutations change the way the virus behaviors. this variant has changes in what is called the spike protein, making it easier to transmit the virus to others. at this time, there's no evidence that this variant causes more severe illness or increased death and i emphasize again, this variant has not been detected in this country, california or san francisco.

we also have no evidence that the covid-19 vaccines recently approved will have any trouble working against the variant. the vaccine scientists are testing to confirm this. we will learn of more variants over time and others have been described in other parts of the world. the core covid-19 prevention methods not gathering, keeping at least six feet apart, wearing masks and washing hands should still work to prevent the spread of the virus variants and strains and as we learn more, we'll adjust our efforts as we have during this pandemic. and for now, we will continue to require that people who travel outside the bay area quarantine for 10 days. let's continue to work together. let's keep the pressure on the

virus and continue to turn this surge around. let's begin the new year by pushing the curve lower. stay at home as much as possible. please, please wait until new year's of 2022 for the traditional new year's celebration. this year, keep it distant, keep the community safe, we are so close, again, to beating back this third surge. let's keep it going for 2021. thank you. >> thank you for your patience director. when you're ready, we'll start the q&a. >> i'm ready. >> we have a couple of questions asking about new year's eve. new year's eve is typically a time to celebrate together, gather to watch fireworks and ring in the new year with family and friends.

what impact would normal celebrations have on our covid-19 rate? >> so, i cannot emphasize enough how catastrophic it will be if people celebrate in the ways we normally do for new year's eve. we can continue to move forward and slow the spread of the virus if we see a surge like we did on thanksgivi thanksgiving, we'll have thousands more people in the hospital, hundreds more people dying. we have been fortunate in the bay area so far compared to other regions in the state but we simply cannot afford to have people gather. there's more virus out there than ever before. you simply can't get away with things you may have been able to get away with even during the prior surges. it is one new year's eve. i know it has been a hard year but the vaccine is on the way.

we need to gather by zoom, by phone, by whatever social media we used to be together for new year's eve outside of our immediate households. please do not celebrate in ways that have been done in the past. this is a very dangerous time and if we can get through the next few weeks, we will get through this surge, it's much more likely we'll get through this surge. >> thank you. the next question is how many people in the city have so far been vaccinated? >> so, what i can tell you is that within the health department, we have vaccinated 4,000 front line workers in our hospitals as well as our first

responders. we unfortunately don't have insight into how many have been vaccinated in the city at this time. the vaccine being distributed by the state to healthcare systems what they're calling multi county providers and we do not have insight into how many vaccines are being distributed to these multi county provider systems. and then being directed to the healthcare systems in san francisco. we have asked the state for that information and the state has committed that that information will be provided but unfortunately we don't have it at this time. >> thank you. the next question is what do these latest projections mean for the stay at home order? >> so, with regard to the state's stay at home order, right now the bay area region is still below that 15% threshold

we need to be in three weeks for the stay at home order to be lifted. at this time, we expect we will continue to stay in that stay at home order situation. so these numbers, i think the point is, if the numbers continue to go down, if we are able to hold off on the surge because of christmas holiday or the new year's holiday, the sooner we'll be able to get out of the situation. and that would indicate the sooner we can have the state stay at home order lifted and san francisco stay at home order lifted, which will be lifted once icu capacity is at 25% and cases and hospitalization s are going down and the sooner we can start a gradual reopening and get life back to a more normal situation as we did have before the surge started in november.

so whatever we do now, the sooner we can go back to a new normal. >> thank you dr. colfax. the next set of questions, does the department of public health or state health department even have the capacity to determine if the variant has arrived in the bay area through blood samples. if not, will you expect to see it in the data based on an increase in spread of the virus? >> so there are a number of labs, including at ucsf that is detecting the genetic patterns of the virus that could identify the variant if and when it occurs. overall the united states does a very low number of sequencing of

the viral strains compared to other countries but ucsf and other labs do sequence a proportion of virus, so we would expect if and when this variant enters the country, the state or the region, it would eventually be detected. >> thank you. the next question is since the beginning of the vaccination process has the department of public health received any reports of people suffering bad reactions or having problems with it? >> we haven't had any reports of severe consequences to administering the vaccine that i'm aware of at this time. >> thank you. and the last question is it's been reported operation warp speed is falling behind in the goal of shipping 20 million

doses of the vaccines to states by early january. the cdc had reports of 2.1 million vaccinations out of 11.4 million shipped. is the city experiencing any problems in the vaccine rollout because of it? >> so as i commented earlier, we don't have full visibility to how much vaccine is being distributed to multiple entities and then distributing it even in san francisco. so, again, the multi county health system entities that are receiving vaccines from the state now. we don't know how much they're receiving and how much will flow to san francisco. what i can say, the health department has vaccinated over 4,000 front line workers to protect them from covid-19. i'm happy to say we expect in partnership with walgreens that

vaccines are expected to start for staff at the hospital who haven't been vaccinated and residents. things are moving forward with vaccination. but, again, we don't have full visibility into this. we are collaborating and cooperating with the state and hospital systems across the city to gain a better understanding but really the state has said we will get that but we don't have it yet. >> okay. thank you. this concludes today's press conference. thank you dr. colfax for your time. for future questions, please e-mail dempress@sfgov.org. >> thank you and stay safe everyone. ♪

>> this is one place you can always count on to give you what you had before and remind you of what your san francisco history used to be. >> we hear that all the time, people bring their kids here and their grandparents brought them here and down the line. >> even though people move away, whenever they come back to the city, they make it here. and they tell us that. >> you're going to get something made fresh, made by hand and made with quality

products and something that's very, very good. ♪ >> the legacy bars and restaurants was something that was begun by san francisco simply to recognize and draw attention to the establishments. it really provides for san francisco's unique character. ♪ >> and that morphed into a request that we work with the city to develop a legacy business registration. >> i'm michael cirocco and the owner of an area bakery. ♪ the bakery started in 191. my grandfather came over from italy and opened it up then. it is a small operation. it's not big. so everything is kind of

quality that way. so i see every piece and cut every piece that comes in and out of that oven. >> i'm leslie cirocco-mitchell, a fourth generation baker here with my family. ♪ so we get up pretty early in the morning. i usually start baking around 5:00. and then you just start doing rounds of dough. loaves. >> my mom and sister basically handle the front and then i have my nephew james helps and then my two daughters and my wife come in and we actually do the baking. after that, my mom and my sister stay and sell the product, retail it. ♪ you know, i don't really think about it. but then when i -- sometimes when i go places and i look and see places put up, oh this is our 50th anniversary and everything and we've been over

100 and that is when it kind of hits me. you know, that geez, we've been here a long time. [applause] ♪ >> a lot of people might ask why our legacy business is important. we all have our own stories to tell about our ancestry. our lineage and i'll use one example of tommy's joint. tommy's joint is a place that my husband went to as a child and he's a fourth generation san franciscan. it's a place we can still go to today with our children or grandchildren and share the stories of what was san francisco like back in the 1950s. >> i'm the general manager at tommy's joint. people mostly recognize tommy's

joint for its murals on the outside of the building. very bright blue. you drive down and see what it is. they know the building. tommy's is a san francisco hoffa, which is a german-style presenting food. we have five different carved meats and we carve it by hand at the station. you prefer it to be carved whether you like your brisket fatty or want it lean. you want your pastrami to be very lean. you can say i want that piece of corn beef and want it cut, you know, very thick and i want it with some sauerkraut. tell the guys how you want to prepare it and they will do it right in front of you. san francisco's a place that's changing restaurants, except for tommy's joint. tommy's joint has been the same since it opened and that is

important. san francisco in general that we don't lose a grip of what san francisco's came from. tommy's is a place that you'll always recognize whenever you lock in the door. you'll see the same staff, the same bartender and have the same meal and that is great. that's important. ♪ >> the service that san francisco heritage offers to the legacy businesses is to help them with that application process, to make sure that they really recognize about them what it is that makes them so special here in san francisco. ♪ so we'll help them with that application process if, in fact, the board of supervisors

does recognize them as a legacy business, then that does entitle them to certain financial benefits from the city of san francisco. but i say really, more importantly, it really brings them public recognition that this is a business in san francisco that has history and that is unique to san francisco. >> it started in june of 1953. ♪ and we make everything from scratch. everything. we started a you -- we started a off with 12 flavors and mango fruits from the philippines and then started trying them one by one and the family had a whole new clientele. the business really boomed after that. >> i think that the flavors we

make reflect the diversity of san francisco. we were really surprised about the legacy project but we were thrilled to be a part of it. businesses come and go in the city. pretty tough for businesss to stay here because it is so expensive and there's so much competition. so for us who have been here all these years and still be popular and to be recognized by the city has been really a huge honor. >> we got a phone call from a woman who was 91 and she wanted to know if the mitchells still owned it and she was so happy that we were still involved, still the owners. she was our customer in 1953. and she still comes in.

but she was just making sure that we were still around and it just makes us feel, you know, very proud that we're carrying on our father's legacy. and that we mean so much to so many people. ♪ >> it provides a perspective. and i think if you only looked at it in the here and now, you're missing the context. for me, legacy businesses, legacy bars and restaurants are really about setting the context for how we come to be where we are today. >> i just think it's part of san francisco. people like to see familiar stuff. at least i know i do. >> in the 1950s, you could see a picture of tommy's joint and looks exactly the same. we haven't change add thing. >> i remember one lady saying, you know, i've been eating this ice cream since before i was born. and i thought, wow! we have, too. ♪

my name is doctor ellen moffett, i am an assistant medical examiner for the city and county of san francisco.

i perform autopsy, review medical records and write reports. also integrate other sorts of testing data to determine cause and manner of death. i have been here at this facility since i moved here in november, and previous to that at the old facility. i was worried when we moved here that because this building is so much larger that i wouldn't see people every day. i would miss my personal interactions with the other employees, but that hasn't been the case. this building is very nice. we have lovely autopsy tables and i do get to go upstairs and down stairs several times a day to see everyone else i work with. we have a bond like any other group of employees that work for a specific agency in san francisco. we work closely on each case to determine the best cause of

death, and we also interact with family members of the diseased. that brings us closer together also. >> i am an investigator two at the office of the chief until examiner in san francisco. as an investigator here i investigate all manners of death that come through our jurisdiction. i go to the field interview police officers, detectives, family members, physicians, anyone who might be involved with the death. additionally i take any property with the deceased individual and take care and custody of that. i maintain the chain and custody for court purposes if that becomes an issue later and notify next of kin and make any additional follow up phone callsness with that particular death. i am dealing with people at the worst possible time in their lives delivering the worst news they could get. i work with the family to help

them through the grieving process. >> i am ricky moore, a clerk at the san francisco medical examiner's office. i assist the pathology and toxicology and investigative team around work close with the families, loved ones and funeral establishment. >> i started at the old facility. the building was old, vintage. we had issues with plumbing and things like that. i had a tiny desk. i feet very happy to be here in the new digs where i actually have room to do my work. >> i am sue pairing, the toxicologist supervisor. we test for alcohol, drugs and poisons and biological substances. i oversee all of the lab operations. the forensic operation here we

perform the toxicology testing for the human performance and the case in the city of san francisco. we collect evidence at the scene. a woman was killed after a robbery homicide, and the dna collected from the zip ties she was bound with ended up being a cold hit to the suspect. that was the only investigative link collecting the scene to the suspect. it is nice to get the feedback. we do a lot of work and you don't hear the result. once in a while you heard it had an impact on somebody. you can bring justice to what happened. we are able to take what we due to the next level. many of our counterparts in other states, cities or countries don't have the resources and don't have the beautiful building and the equipmentness to really advance

what we are doing. >> sometimes we go to court. whoever is on call may be called out of the office to go to various portions of the city to investigate suspicious deaths. we do whatever we can to get our job done. >> when we think that a case has a natural cause of death and it turns out to be another natural cause of death. unexpected findings are fun. >> i have a prior background in law enforcement. i was a police officer for 8 years. i handled homicides and suicides. i had been around death investigation type scenes. as a police officer we only handled minimal components then it was turned over to the coroner or the detective division. i am intrigued with those types of calls. i wondered why someone died.

i have an extremely supportive family. older children say, mom, how was your day. i can give minor details and i have an amazing spouse always willing to listen to any and all details of my day. without that it would be really hard to deal with the negative components of this job. >> being i am a native of san francisco and grew up in the community. i come across that a lot where i may know a loved one coming from the back way or a loved one seeking answers for their deceased. there are a lot of cases where i may feel affected by it. if from is a child involved or things like that. i try to not bring it home and not let it affect me. when i tell people i work at the medical examiners office. whawhat do you do?

the autopsy? i deal with the a with the enou- with the administrative and the families. >> most of the time work here is very enjoyable. >> after i started working with dead people, i had just gotten married and one night i woke up in a cold sweat. i thought there was somebody dead? my bed. i rolled over and poked the body. sure enough, it was my husband who grumbled and went back to sleep. this job does have lingering effects. in terms of why did you want to go into this? i loved science growing up but i didn't want to be a doctor and didn't want to be a pharmacist. the more i learned about forensics how interested i was of the perfect combination between applied science and

criminal justice. if you are interested in finding out the facts and truth seeking to find out what happened, anybody interested in that has a place in this field. >> being a woman we just need to go for it and don't let anyone fail you, you can't be. >> with regard to this position in comparison to crime dramas out there, i would say there might be some minor correlations. let's face it, we aren't hollywood, we are real world. yes we collect evidence. we want to preserve that. we are not scanning fingerprints in the field like a hollywood television show. >> families say thank you for what you do, for me that is extremely fulfilling. somebody has to do my job. if i can make a situation that is really negative for someone more positive, then i feel like

i am doing the right thing for the city of san francisco.

[♪] city of san francisco. >> i am the supervisor of district one. i am sandra lee fewer. [♪]

>> i moved to the richmond district in 1950 mine. i was two years old. i moved from chinatown and we were one of the first asian families to move out here. [♪] >> when my mother decided to buy that house, nobody knew where it was. it seems so far away. for a long time, we were the only chinese family there but we started to see the areas of growth to serve a larger chinese population. the stress was storage of the birthplace of that. my father would have to go to chinatown for dim sum and i remember one day he came home and said, there is one here now. it just started to grow very organically. it is the same thing with the russian population, which is another very large ethnic group in the richmond district. as russia started to move in, we saw more russian stores. so parts of the richmond is very

concentrated with the russian community and immigrant russian community, and also a chinese immigrant community. [♪] >> i think as living here in the richmond, we really appreciate the fact that we are surrounded three natural barriers. they are beautiful barriers. the presidio which gives us so many trails to walk through, ocean beach, for families to just go to the beach and be in the pacific ocean. we also also have a national park service. we boarded the golden gate national recreation area so there is a lot of activity to do in the summer time you see people with bonfires. but really families enjoying the beach and the pacific ocean during the rest of the time of year. [♪] >> and golden gate park where we have so many of our treasures

here. we have the tea garden, the museum and the academy of sciences. not to mention the wonderful playgrounds that we have here in richmond. this is why i say the richmond is a great place for families. the theatre is a treasure in our neighborhood. it has been around for a very long time. is one of our two neighborhood theatres that we have here. i moved here when i was 1959 when i was two years old. we would always go here. i love these neighborhood theatres. it is one of the places that has not only a landmark in the richmond district, but also in san francisco. small theatres showing one or two films. a unique -- they are unique also to the neighborhood and san francisco. >> where we are today is the heart of the richmond district. with what is unique is that it

is also small businesses. there is a different retail here it is mom and pop opening up businesses. and providing for the neighborhood. this is what we love about the streets. the cora door starts on clement street and goes all the way down to the end of clement where you will see small businesses even towards 32nd. at the core of it is right here between here and 20 -- tenth avenue. when we see this variety of stores offered here, it is very unique then of the -- any other part of san francisco. there is traditional irish music which you don't get hardly anywhere in san francisco. some places have this long legacy of serving ice cream and being a hangout for families to have a sunday afternoon ice cream. and then also, we see grocery stores. and also these restaurants that are just new here, but also

thriving. [♪] >> we are seeing restaurants being switched over by hand, new owners, but what we are seeing is a vibrancy of clement street still being recaptured within new businesses that are coming in. that is a really great thing to see. i don't know when i started to shop here, but it was probably a very, very long time ago. i like to cook a lot but i like to cook chinese food. the market is the place i like to come to once a year. once i like about the market as it is very affordable. it has fresh produce and fresh meat. also, seafood. but they also offer a large selection of condiments and sauces and noodles. a variety of rice that they have is tremendous. i don't thank you can find a variety like that anywhere else. >> hi.

i am kevin wong. i am the manager. in 1989 we move from chinatown to richmond district. we have opened for a bit, over 29 years. we carry products from thailand, japan, indonesia, vietnam, singapore and india. we try to keep everything fresh daily. so a customer can get the best out a bit. >> normally during crab season in november, this is the first place i hit. because they have really just really fresh crab. this is something my family really likes for me to make. also, from my traditional chinese food, i love to make a kale soup. they cut it to the size they really want. i am probably here once a week. i'm very familiar with the aisles and they know everyone who is a cashier -- cashier here i know when people come into a market such as this, it looks like an asian supermarkets,

which it is and sometimes it can be intimidating. we don't speak the language and many of the labels are in chinese, you may not know what to buy or if it is the proper ingredients for the recipe are trying to make. i do see a lot of people here with a recipe card or sometimes with a magazine and they are looking for specific items. the staff here is very helpful. i speak very little chinese here myself. thinks that i'm not sure about, i asked the clerk his and i say is this what i need? is this what i should be making? and they actually really helped me. they will bring me to the aisle and say this is battery. they are very knowledgeable. very friendly. i think they are here to serve not only the asian community but to serve all communities in the richmond district and in san francisco. [♪] >> what is wonderful about living here is that even though our july is a very foggy and

overcast, best neighborhood, the sleepy part outside on the west side is so rich with history, but also with all the amenities that are offered. [it. >> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges resident to do their shop & dine in the 49 within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services in the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so we're will you shop & dine in the 49 chinatown has to be one the best unique shopping areas in san francisco that is color fulfill and safe each vegetation and

seafood and find everything in chinatown the walk shop in chinatown welcome to jason dessert i'm the fifth generation of candy in san francisco still that serves 2000 district in the chinatown in the past it was the tradition and my family was the royal chef in the pot pals that's why we learned this stuff and moved from here to have dragon candy i want people to know that is art we will explain a walk and they can't walk in and out it is different techniques from stir frying to smoking to steaming and they do show of. >> beer a royalty for the age berry up to now not people know

that especially the toughest they think this is - i really appreciate they love this art. >> from the cantonese to the hypomania and we have hot pots we have all of the cuisines of china in our chinatown you don't have to go far. >> small business is important to our neighborhood because if we really make a lot of people lives better more people get a job here not just a big firm. >> you don't have to go anywhere else we have pocketed of great neighborhoods haul have all have their own uniqueness. >> san francisco has to all

>> good morning, everyone. i'm joined by timon walton and rafael manldsleman. our clerk is ms. linda wong. i'd like to thank sfgov tv for broadcasting this meeting. madame clerk, do we have any announcements? >> yes. due to covid-19 health emergency, city employees and the public and the board of supervisor and legislative chamber are [inaudible], however members will be participating in the meeting. this precaution is pursuant to the local state and federal orders.