thank you commissioner caminong for talking about a lead. any way that we can be helpful, certainly reach out. here you are. these are all by departments that fall under the city administrator's office. everything is highlighted in yellow is quite a lot. >> vice president caminong: than k you so much. great job. congratulations. >> thank you. >> president bleiman: are there any other questions? all right. if you want to do this again. >> all of you will be famous. [laughter] thank you very much for having us today. we really appreciate it.

>> bye everybody, stay safe. >> you too. >> president bleiman: let's open up for public comment. do we have anyone here for public comment? >> i'm checking now. there's nobody with their hand raised. i'm going to stop the screen share. we don't have any one who wants to say anything.

>> good-bye everyone. >> president bleiman: item number 5, update on nightlife, business assistance in response to covid-19 presented by ben van houten, the beard, business development manager for nightlife and entertainment sector within the office of economic workforce development. please bring up mr. ben. >> good evening commissioners. great to be here again. ben van houten, office of economic workforce development. i will try to bring up some slides.

it says i need to quit zoom. >> if you want help, e-mail my g-mail and then i can get it going. >> i updated my mac operating it

system, now i'm paying for years of procrastination. >> understood. >> my slides are generally not going to be too much of a surprise in most respects. i don't want to waste any more of the commission's time. i'm happy to present as is without the slides. we have a few updates to provide on a couple of items that i had updated you all on last commission hearing then also have some new program materials as well to announce. the mayor in january announced a

new $62 million plan for financial relief for small businesses. that includes relief grants totaling $12.4 million, proposed program to help stabilize small business operations, grants ranging from $5000 to $20,000 in amount. the goal here of this program, which will launch in february, is to reach businesses across the city and high need neighborhoods in particular. looking forward to the launch of that san francisco relief grants program. in addition, the mayor relief plan calls for a $50 million loan program. the sf community investment loan is the program aimed specifically at the supporting businesses, especially those who have been left out of existing relief programs including businesses that earn above

$2.5 million in gross receipts annually who have been left out of the existing relief programs to date. more information about both of those programs as they are developed and they are launched will be available on our website, oewd.org/covid-19 where you can find all the information there. the second update for all of you -- oh, thank you maggie. thank you team. the second update for all of you -- the california small business covid-19 relief grants, we talked about this during the last presentation update. at that point, round one was

open. round one closed and a number of businesses got updates but they have been wait listed for the relief grant. which is frustrating for small business owners who are challenged to look for relief across the board. that was frustrating. the second round of applications is open now. these are grants up to $25,000 for small business from the state. any business that was wait listed in the first round, country need to reapply this round. the second round, which is the final round, closes on february 8th with businesses to find out more updates to follow after that. the shutter venue operator grants, that's the new name save our stages. i think it rolls off the tongue

less well. we don't have a ton to update on in terms of the timing of the shutter venue operators it grant program. there's a lot of anxiety and concern among venue operators to make sure they're able to apply in a timely manner. one thing i do want to flag, the s.b.a. did publish an f.a.q document for the program. i would encourage businesses that want to know more about just where the informationing is, where the thinking is now for s.b.a. there's some useful tips about getting ready to apply and some things you can do to register with the federal government, register your business or just

be be ready to apply for the s.v.o. grants. we're all waiting for more information that we can share with the business community. on the local fee and tax waivers, previously i think we said that businesses that had already paid these taxes and fees that are eligible for refunds would need to submit an application to get a refund. they will get an automatic refund. businesses should have gotten a letter from the treasury and tax collector office, letting them know they'll be getting an automatic refund of any fees and taxes that they prepaid. that's good news that's on its way.

finally, this is really out of the conversation commissioners you had at the last hearing. in terms of business permits, i don't think we have discussed the rollout of proposition h. there's been some discussions. please do report that proposition h, save our small business -- initiative that's fully in effect. ton of credit for the planning department for implementing proposition h especially to all the business permitting and speeding up business permitting over the last couple of months. this is a high level bold point list some of the things that are possible now thanks to this ballot measure. part of which is around zoning reforms and emphasis on temporary uses and pop up retail uses. expanding greater potential there. just as the business permitting

process for businesses that are permitted in our neighborhoods. really should be much faster for good number of folks. that's really exciting. it's a successful effort that we're looking forward to educate the business community and time they can save, especially as we head toward recovery and i think it's they're in alignment with the discussions about thinking, building off successes like this. what more can be done around entertainment, permit process, entertainment code process, looking forward to continuing those conversations with all of you in the future. i think that's it. oewd.org/covid 19 has updates on resources and grants and loans and other tools and resources for the business community but

happy to answer any questions. my apologies for the technical delays, i promised that by march, this is going to be -- i'm not touching this computer except to solve some presentation problems. i'm looking forward to it. >> you did great. we figured it out. >> when the grants finally come in, who's going to be the clearinghouse? is there going to be another third party again that review these applications? somebody in your department going to be screening the application? when they them offered before, seem that the third party people distributing these are making decisions. we're really explaining why we were either turned down or what.

i'm just wondering, are they considering a more transparent situation or we're back to the same process. >> that's a really good question. i think highlights the challenges, some of the challenges that businesses are experiencing. you go to a site that is not a city site or a website that you know and you put in your information, i think that is helpful feedback. that is responsive to some of the challenges i heard folks express around the state grant process and other grant processes. i will definitely take that back to our team. this is stuff all still happening it in realtime. i think that to the extent, we do use and rely upon a variety of community partners that we can all collectively work together to better improve

clarity and transparency so it really feels like a meaningful use of business. >> the state obviously in the last round of money, already ran out. we're all on the waiting list. luckily, they're going for round two. that's encouraging. everybody was very discouraged. they thought that was it. they didn't realize there was a second round coming. we'll see. hopefully. cross our fingers. thank god for outdoor dining. that helps. >> absolutely.

>> any other comments or questions? one thing i would like to acknowledge, thank you for making time to make the monthly presentation on our agenda. i think it was a really great addition to have you. thank you for spending your tuesday night with us. >> thank you. it's really my pleasure. looking forward to continuing to work with allful you -- all of you on all of this important stuff. >> we appreciate you, ben. >> thank you. likewise. >> let's move on to public comment on item 5. >> there are no hands raised. there are no comments in the chat. >> there's a ben b. in the attendee list now. that could be our ben v. who was on the call.

>> that seems likely. [laughter] >> it's just a coincidence. >> thank you. seeing none, public comment is closed. the next item on the agenda is number 6, the report from the deputy director. presented by deputy director azevedo. >> good evening commissioners. the enforcement report that has been uploaded for your review has included three new complaints which is in conjunction with the new health order that came out on january 25th. i didn't highlight any of them, there were really none of note. i want to mention that two of

the three, one was unfounded, one is being handled by constituent attorney's office and the current one is under current enforcement review. i'm happy to answer any questions you may have. i do anticipate we'll see more complaints coming in now that outdoor dining and activities are allowed again. it was really quiet for the month of december and beginning of january. that's my high level update. we do have inspectors out in the field on the weekends and working late night. we do have coverage. >> commissioners are there any comments or questions for the deputy director? kaitlyn, we look forward to

hearing from you during the next meeting. let's move ton to public comment. is there any public comment to report from the deputy director? >> there are no hands raised and no comments in the chat. >> seeing none, the public comment is now closed. the next item on the agenda is item 7 is the election of vice president. this item allow the commissioners to nominate and elect the seat of the vice president of the entertainment commission to fill out the term from february 2, 2021 to july 6, 2021. >> did i miss something? are we suppose to take action? >> are you interested in running again? >> i was going to nominate dori,

i'll nominate her. >> second. >> to answer the question, yes, it has been an honor serving as vice president. i do think that -- i want to acknowledge mr. bleiman's leadership as president of the commission. just the work that we've been putting in together t especially during the pandemic and showing up for our community here. answer is yes. we have a first from commissioner falzon and second from commissioner thomas. please take a vote. >> did you forget to do public comment? >> we should ask if there's any other nominations. >> okay. commissioners? are there any other nominations?

doesn't look like it. okay, is there any public comment on this item? >> there are no public comments. >> thank you. please take a vote. [roll call vote]. >> thank you. congratulations. >> well done. >> the next item on the agenda is item number 8, the election of the president of the entertainment commission.

this item allows the commissioners to nominate and elect the seat of the president of the entertainment commission to fill out the term from february 2, 2021 to july 6, 2021. >> i would like to nominate ben bleiman to finish out term as president. >> second. >> i'm sorry i'm on the road. i want to say that serving as president of this commission has been a great joy and honor. especially during covid, there's a lot going on, kind of like the duck part where you see what's going on top of the water and under the water, incredible amount of action and movement. just working with staff and working where all of you and vice president, maggie and ben.

it's been really good work. i love this job, i appreciate your confidence in me. thank you. >> is there any public comment on this item? >> there are no hands raised. there are no comments in the chat. >> sorry, any other nominations? [laughter] >> i don't think there are any other nominations. >> [roll call vote]

>> thank you guys. great. congratulations. president bleiman. next item on the agenda is item 9. new business request for the future agenda items. is there any item you like to address? >> vice president caminong i had a thought. i like the equity manager. did you want to make that an agenda item? >> vice president caminong: i think we can discuss that more during the retreat. this is within our upcoming

session. >> no worries, perfect. >> just to agree with that to put the racial equity issue on our retreat agenda and just thinking how do we what our baseline is, how we go about setting goals around racial equity if we want to address any of the recommendations around internal resolution and a representative to the racial equity work group and so on. that does seem like that's a good topic for us to tackle at the retreat when we got a bit more time and space to dig into issues. i know what racial equity work looks like in other places. i got less of a sense of how to measure or set goals related to the work that we do. i don't know if there are other

entities around the country that look at entertainment with a racial equity lens that might learn something from. i have nothing in mind. i don't know if staff have any thoughts or any model we can borrow from. >> to say, though, at least with our most recent application, the jam application, we did collect racial demographic information for every applicant for that program. it's something we can consider trying to implement across existing permit holders. we can find a way for that. i wanted to add that in. >> obviously you get into -- i don't necessarily want to make our application process more difficult or try to go back and collect data we haven't been

collecting. that's also only way to get a baseline or sense of where the gap inequities might be. figuring out the best way to tackle that, that is not disruppive or burdensome to our permit holders but give useful information. >> i don't know if this is more of -- what can we do about -- when the health department says, you can do outdoor dining but you can't turn on your television to watch the super bowl game. they're not really dancing or anything. are we as commission to challenge those or do we have to go along with it? it defeats the purpose in the

sense. there's still limited capacity. i'm just curious is this something we allowed to do as a promotion or promoting entertainment, not really promoting entertainment, but it seems like the television thing. i get if you got a d.j. on tv and you're out there promoting. if you're eating and watching, even the news, even watching the election or something. are these kind of decisions made. we know it's based on safety. is it really good for business? i want to put that out there. >> what the current role around outdoor tv with outdoor dining.

>> it reads the same as prior outdoor dining allowances were. which is, it is permitted in the outdoor space. tvsare inside. permitted in the outdoor space and the way it was translated to the entertainment commission was that audio was being amplified. some businesses just take the tout having no volume. they just show a game or what have you in the background. that would not require a jam permit. >> that is still allowable per the health order. >> is there something else commissioner lee to relative? are you talking about indoor tvs? >> i know that walnut creek i saw on the news, it gets confusing. every city is different.

>> okay, we're allowing it. >> san francisco allowing it. walnut creek they're saying, turn off the tv. >> essentially the rules around allowing outdoor amplify sounds including tv, you have to prevent any gathering. that does happen. where businesses either encourage it or it gets out of hand and they have to mitigate any crowding that could happen even over watching a football game. especially the super bowl. luckily it's the 49ers around playing -- >> what about indoor? indoor you can't even turn on your tvs if you want to do indoor. >> yeah. that is right. with indoor dining, it's not allowing tvs because of that gathering element. essentially they wanted to

discourage indoor as well. the health officer was just allowing her indoor to be able to allow for more business expansion and economic growth. in terms of health, it was meeting halfway. i think tvs was something that would potentially encourage more gathering inside which is not good. >> i think, as entertainment commissioners, some tvs -- it's really the control of the venue itself, maybe law enforcement, how we all talking about law enforcement and stuff. any way this commission we can negotiate or try to work out to see how we can help? >> i would say for the specific issue, it doesn't actually -- it's not relevant for commission when we're talking about indoor tv usage.

that doesn't require a permit from us. >> i know, all around it's all about small business. it's nice to watch something while you're eating. >> i would defer to your colleague if they have any >> -- >> what do you think guys? not to have television is -- >> steve, are you suggesting that we would support urge letter to the department of public health? >> not just a letter, we got dome up with some suggestions. maybe some identify ideas how these things can work. we're the industry experts,

they're not. i'm not going to challenge them on health decisions. they should listen to us on entertainment decisions. we're the ones that promote safety and everything. make sure all small businesses do well in san francisco. i know that the health department seems to have the big pull. if we're talking about helping a new business idea and we're promoting entertainment or even business, i think we should think of some best practices that may be the health department hasn't even thought about. they're only thinking one way. i know there's a lot of struggling businesses that can use little bit of suggestion or best practices. i'm throwing it out there. i'm not saying we should do it. i don't know if we can do it. i look around and see we're just happy that outdoor dining is there when we do partial indoor

dining, it's going to help. there's nothing to do on the inside. certain restaurants is fine, but other places, it's kind of boring. just going to eat. i get it. i thought may be there's something we can do. >> i would say, i think that some of that depends on is it a health issue or is it an entertainment issue? it's like plenty of things that would help entertainment businesses but might create negative health interactions or increase risk for people. i feel like, that's the crux of this and the health department is looking at it through a health lens. we can look at it through economic or business lens, we have to figure out what the

health issues are and sort of what's the most business can do without creating health risk for their patrons. i don't know the answer to that. does tv draw people too close together or not. it might be that it doesn't. i think that's a conversation we'd have to have folks at the health department about what was behind their restrictions and what have we seen in practice. >> i tend to agree with commissioner thomas on this. i think that's the lens which we have to approach this. if you have like a list of industry best practices, you don't think has been considered, we can look at them as a group >> there's not much best

practices other than keeping everybody apart. it's obvious they don't want tvs that draws in the people. that's basically what the television does. if the food doesn't bring them in, what else brings them in. obviously gatherings and stuff. but if it's under control like they supposed to be, having a tv on with no sound may be would be better. that's at least a compromise. that's all i'm saying. the commission should be helping. whether they have a permit or not. small business is small business. we're all there to help small business in one way or another. it might not be our jurisdiction. but we are industry experts. it will be nice to have conversation with the health department and talk about these

things. other people are suing the government because there's no data before all that money was wasted money and all these lawsuits. maybe we can prevent some of that stuff. some people are desperate right now. it's something to think about. >> we are developing another survey for our permit holders for folks to take. i don't know where we're planning, when we're planning to launch the survey. maybe we can actually incorporate questions around issues like these. i'm sure there are other things that you're thinking about that could be also included in the survey. that way when we release this data, we'll have the evidence to show this is the demand. >> that will be great.

i don't have a clue either. i think it's something we as a group can talk about may be. i think it's not fair. we don't want to promote anybody getting sick. there's got to be a way. there's always some kind of solution. got to think positive you guys. >> thank you steven. is there any additional comments or questions from the commissioners? okay, let's move on to public comment on this item. >> there's nobody in the attendees list. there's no chats. >> moving on to the final item on our agenda, item number 10, commissioner comments and questions.

i would like to propose roll item 9 and 10 together. [laughter] just to keep us in single digits for agenda items. >> will do. >> okay. all right, thank you everybody. i got to take public comment. is there any public comment on item number 10? >> there are no hands raised. there are no comments in the chat. >> awesome. public comment is closed. we'll adjourn this meeting at 7:03 p.m. thank you everybody.

>> good morning, welcome. i'm michael lambert, your city librarian. on behalf of the library commission, we're so delighted that you could join us today for this important announcement.

i would like to acknowledge our library commissioners that are present, teresa, tanya, pete, john, and dr. lopez. thank you all for being here. madam mayor, welcome. we are so honored that you could participate in this event. we appreciate your leadership of our city and we are super excited about your announcement today. with that, i will invite you to get us started. maybe i was premature on that. oh, there she is. [laughter] >> did we start already? [laughter] >> i was just welcoming you and thanking you for honoring us with your presence and your

leadership. we're super excited about your announcement today. with that, i invite you to get us started. >> all right thank you michael. i appreciate that. good morning everyone. i'm really excited to share some incredible news. as you may know, before i was mayor and even before i was on the board of supervisors, i served as the executive director in the western edition. i saw how deeply important arts are and in creating a vibrant and diverse community. believe it or not, i used to sing in a choir, dance, and perform, but i was not the best at it. however, the arts connects us to one another. it bridges the gap in our culture by helping us understand each other. they are how we express ourselves during our brightest and happiest moments, and sometimes some of our darkest

ones. for people of all ages, arts and culture can help us navigate a world that can be confusing and strange. they can also provide opportunity not only for jobs and income, but for people who are in under served communities to find their voices and to make sure they are heard. that includes the role of our city's poet laureate. since lauren was made our first poet laureate in 1998, this prestigious honor has showcased san francisco's finest poets from many diverse backgrounds. their work has reminded us how it means to be a san franciscan, it reminus -- reminds us of our diversity and calls attention to our most pressing issues and inspires us to create a more equitable and just society. it inspires young people to

search for their voice in a way that may not have -- that they may not have thought was possible before. it opens doors of opportunities for them to pursue their dreams. that is why i'm so excited today to announce our eighth poet laureate. before we get to the big announcement, i would like to thank and recognize our outgoing poet laureate kim shuck for her imcredible service for our city. she represented our city beautifully through her work and has given her time over the past few years to serve our community. whether teaching at the local colleges, universiies and public schools or helping the library launch their first ever american indian initiative, kim on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, thank you for your service and we would be honored if you close out your tenure with one last reading as

poet laureate. >> thank you mayor breed. there we are. i do have a poem. it's called san francisco has a new poet laureate. pick any bench, stoop, any fourth star in this city or over it. sit quietly, you'll hear the water of time. keys rattling, heart and innovation, war and colonization that only grows on the south side of that mountain right there. you'll hear the poetry of place, popsicle sticks scratching on the curb, jump rope songs, chess moves and love curses. every night in some back room, the future and past in autopsied words, gorilla words shouted at

unsuspecting somewhere in north beach. the skyline mutters poems that have been and poems to come. if you stand at the cafe's door too long, you will hear what they choose to call in this moment a poem. old wives tales along valencia, you can hear the purring of fog as they pass through, the paintings comment quietly on every new show and if your hearing is very good, ambrose's dictionary runs on a certain bar on a certain bar stool and the faint laughter from one of sam's jokes will still grind breath. victims in more languages that you can see, and the unbound seat 3. there are songs of varying and unbaring to found all over the richmond, every bench, every head stone under the sand.

paula talks stories at state, at tables and cafes that turned to bars. john's words rattled justice and the voices of those taken in captain jack's war has made them into their own songs too. there is an eighth poet laureat of san francisco and with the title comes more wealth and words than all the great libraries that have ever been. i would like to add that you will hear a lot about honor and responsibility. there are a couple of tricky things. one of them is that people will steal your pens. i had some pens printed up. i'm not going to say what they say and i don't think they will prevent your pens from being stolen, but they will raise the value of their resale on ebay. i'm going to share with you just very briefly what dr. jose said to me a couple of days after i was named the seventh poet

laureate. he said that everything you have done up until this point got you here and none of that will matter. what matters now is what comes next. have a great time and you do know where my kitchen table is when you want to hide. take care. >> thank you so much kim for that amazing poem. thank you for representing san francisco so well over the past few years. we look forward to seeing what comes next for you. now, it is my great honor to announce our eighth poet laureat. i had the privilege of knowing this individual for many years as he worked and volunteered at the african american art and culture complex. he has mentored men young men and women that came through our doors and taught them how to find their own vote and make themselves heard. his poems are just one of the

many ways he fights for racial justice, equity, and human rights. he has shown our community what it means to be a successful poet, as a black man from san francisco. we are incredibly proud of the work he has done so far, especially his commitment to inspiring black men and boys and providing support for young people in our community. he will continue the work that our ancestors did as they fought for their own voices to be heard. i am beyond excited to see what he accomplishes as the san francisco's eighth poet laureate. i am happy to present tongo martin, the eighth poet laureate. >> thank you madam mayor for this incredible, incredible

honor. i prepared some words that i hope i make it through. i'm already filled with tears. >> i'm going to let you have the floor, it's so great to have you. thank you for all the magic you created over the years. as i said earlier, when we work together at the complex, there were a lot of challenges, especially with our boys and we had unfortunately a lot of violence in the community and just seeing you as this literary figure and inspiring these young people to look at other ways besides, you know, being out in the streets and doing stuff that was happening then, focusing on how poetry, how music is poetry, and how they can really shift their voices to tell their own

stories. you brought that to their lives and i know they continue to carry it with them today. so, you have been an inspiration for so many years, directed at so many generations of people. i'm so grateful that you accepted this honor so now i want to turn the floor over to you so that people can know who you are. if they don't know, now they know. we're looking forward to the work that we know you're going to do to make san francisco proud. so the floor is yours tongo. >> thank you. thank you very much. incredibly humbled and honored. also, deep appreciation to the selection committee. i want to send love to my mother and brother as i am only an extension of their love, imagination, and revolutionary

commitment, love to my two powerful sisters and the whirlwind that has nothing on us, love to my family above mud and lava, love to my father and the rest of the village that is not here in the physical form. i would also like to thank kim shuck for being a leader of poets and beautiful force of the people. a poet of any station is secondary to the people. a poet of any use, that belongs to the energy and consciousness of the people, one of arts most important incarnation is that expression of mass resistance but really what art teaches us

with its dominantable energy, the indominantable energy of an idea is evident that it is oppressors themselves who are in the position of resistance. it's bigger than any imperialistic, cognitively reflected in any generation. the power is ours and it is oppressors who are resisting us, resisting humanity, resisting us pretty well. it's resisting our right to determine our reality, resisting a coming epoch of liberation. mass participation in art is what is always created in san francisco, futurism. san francisco has legend too fearless for me to count myself

as one of them. i am from this legendary collection of thousands and thousands of participants, revolutionary history and culture. i'm proud to be one of the anonymous thousands in san francisco who have road these buses all night, who has been raised in marcus's bookstore, who wants justice for mario woods and alex, who wants freedom. what the people taught me is that unity is the only thing and taught me that individualism, as it is practiced and codified, romanticized in this society is not really about your adventure through life but at its core, unfortunately, individualism is about practicing the selective

humanization. other people are only human beings when it suits individual interest. civilism of sorts, that is deeply connected to slavery, both from what the society evolved from and process that addicts you to and power struggle that alienates ourselves, and at no point do we find the dehumanization of other people, the deanimation of people acceptable, are let alone necessary for an individual journey. so as much as i would love to assign the rest of my days to an individual invention, that time is over. history is heightening, showing us more and more everyday that we're part of people, a people beyond systemic description, and we need the entire pallet of

protecting human rights and nurture human curiosity. the madness we see today shouldn't be surprising. these apartheid nativity scenes come home to roast and a capitalism in crisis, what is mixed in with the parole papers and the environmental racism and program deliverables and passivism. we're in a time of epochal shift where this is opening its arms if we don't open the historical process more critically. where do we go from here? what is our revolutionary practice or more conveniently, it begins with