>> good morning everybody. thanks for being here this morning. so we're going to start this off with our mayor who needs no introduction. but we're here today to talk about our city's efforts to really curve and reduce the amount of retail left in san francisco. so without further adieu, mayor breed. >> thank you, chief. and thank you everyone for being here today. we know sadly that this pandemic has been very challenging for our city, for our country and what we've seen in terms of theft and burglaries has been really definitely frustrating.

the videos that have gone viral don't necessarily tell the full story about what's happening in san francisco. yes, what we saw was very problematic, but what we haven't seen was the good work that has been done by the men and women of the san francisco police department to apprehend many suspects in many of these cases. we know that what happens with these particular crimes, it's not just about stealing merchandise and thinking that, okay, these are large companies and they can recover. they can deal with lost prevention and recuperate their expenses to insurance. when these businesses decide they don't want to do business in this city and they close, people lose their jobs. when the pharmacies decide we're going to close in this neighborhood because we have

too many challenges with theft, the seniors and folks who depend on the medications of those pharmacies, they lose, the community loses. what community doesn't want a pharmacy in their neighborhood? what community doesn't want a grocery store in their neighborhood? what community doesn't want resource that is they can access that are easy to get to? and when we rob these places that serve our community, we're taking away this resource from the people that we care about from our mothers, our grandmothers, our grandfathers, our family members who are in need. the people who work at these establishments when they lose their jobs, what do they do? we are better than this. and what i will also say sadly in many of these organized theft rings, a lot of young

people, parents, what's going on with your kids? in some cases, these kids are under the age of 18. we are better than this and we can do better than this. here is san francisco, we're a compassionate city. we care about criminal justice reform. we care about second chances. we care about making sure that people are not wrongly accused. but don't take our kindness for weakness, our compassion for weakness. when a crime is committed in the city, when you cross that line, there will be consequences. there has to be consequences because we can't continue to allow what we see as

lawlessness continue to dominate our city and the domino effect of closures, of people feeling unsafe. it's frustrating and we are tired of it. this city has jeffed significant resources and to job training and placement program, small business initiatives, resources around education. styphens for training programs. our goal is to make sure with our plan that we have sufficient resources dedicated specifically to investigate, to apprehend, and to make sure that we gather the appropriate

evidence for a conviction for these crimes. so as a result of the work that we've been doing here in san francisco, a couple things that we're going to be doing and the chief can talk a little bit more specifically about them we will expand san francisco police department's retail officers from two to six. this will be their sole job is to deal with these retail thefts. we will expand our san francisco community ambassador program consisting of retired police officers. originally, i created this program for union square, for the need who need to make sure that people who are shopping and visiting union square felt safe. for the holiday season. we are expanding that program. we have eight people who will part of that program now. we're going to increase that

program to 25 and those retired officers will be of significant service to help with this program. we plan to hire a new strategic coordinator and deployment of off-duty police officers. they'll be a lieutenant who's responsible in the department for those who serve in 12b and many of you know 12b are officers who are able to be hired by private businesses to work during the times that they're off duty. we now will have a change in how we deploy those officers to the most heavily needed retail establishments. many of those places like the wallgreens and the targets and the large retailers that have been targeted, we will make changes to deployment in the hardest hit areas.

and expand the rapid reporting and response to our teleserve unit and that is so that people who need to report a crime, they have an easier way to do it. online and making a phone call rather than waiting hours for a police officer to show up. we don't want people to not report these crimes. we want to know what's happening whether you have a video or not. we want these crimes reported so we can make adjustments in the area that we target to address theft throughout san francisco and our retail establishments. so our goal is to expand it and to make sure that the resources are available so that we can respond quickly. i just want to give one example of the san francisco police department and the work that they've done to address some of the theft and the vandalism in some cases of some businesses

in chinatown. there were about 49 reported incidents of vandalism and of those 49 reported incidents, there were 30 that were committed by one person who was apprehended and is behind bars as we speak. many of you saw the video that went viral of the guy riding his bike into the walgreens. everybody talked about it, but nobody talked about the fact that that suspect has been apprehended and is awaiting prosecution as we speak. so the work gets done by this police department, the investigations get done, the arrests get made and we're adding more services to ensure that we continue to do the work for the people of san francisco to make sure that people in communities who want these pharmacies and businesses in their communities are able to keep them. folks are able to keep their jobs and we're able to serve san francisco and that we as a

city through our law enforcement agency will respond when that line is crossed and those crimes are committed. with that, i want to introduce our chief bill scott who can talk more about the program and answer any questions. >> thank you mayor breed. as the mayor said, we've been challenged and these retail theft crimes, they impact us all and you don't have to be directly impacted by this. you go into your favorite retailer whether it's a community business or a large national brand retailer, your experience is important and if you shop in the city, if you live in the city, if you work in the city, if you play in the city, your experience is important. it's important to this mayor. it's important to us. and it's important to the people that we've talked to.

so i'm going to go into little bit of detail how we intend to make things better. as the mayor said, we first of all had to sit down and had to really make a plan to rise to this occasion because it is challenging and when these things happen and they get captured on cellphone video, they do go viral and then it makes it even worse because then people then start fearing crime even if they haven't been victimized and we have to address that as well. this is where the increased presence, the better and tighter control the management of our privately funded 10v officers working in uniform becomes important. so i'm going to go into a little bit of detail and after i speak, we'll make ourselves ready for questions. we have deputy lieutenant lazarre and we'll be able to answer any further questions that you have. so a little bit of detail about how we arrived to this point. first of all, i want to say

thank you to all the retailers that we sat down and not only had discussions with, but we listened to, he heard them. they are apart of the solution as well and better communications. better investigative processes from the time the crime is committed is something i believe we all should share to make better and that is very well in progress. in terms of our investigations unit and that's headed by lieutenant scott ryan, again, sitting down with the investigators doing the work and listening to what they have to say and hearing them. one of the thing that is they told me when i sat down with them and lieutenant ryan was, chief, we're working as hard as we can work, we need more resources. and we had to recalibrate and give them more resources and as the mayor mentioned to increase that unit from two to six investigators will do wonders because we have more capacity

to investigate these cases and we have some 'really good investigations going and we expect really good outcomes in terms of arrests from these investigations that we have ongoing. so that is a big step forward. the other thing that i want to go into detail is the privately funded officers in uniform as the mayor referred to this earlier, we had to do a better job in coordinating the scheduling of those, making sure that that aligned with the needs of this city. and what i mean specifically by that, we have hot spots in retail theft. we see organized groups go in, take a bunch of property, run out, and a lot of times these things are captured on video. we can't be totally driven by that, but we have to be data driven. and we felt we could do a better job of analyzing our data. getting data from the retailers some data we weren't getting before and making sure we know where things are happening.

we understand where these problems are occurring. but here's one thing that we know. these crimes are underreported and in our discussions with many of our retailers, even some of the community, the mom and pop type of businesses, they're not always reporting the crimes. so one of the things that the mayor mentioned in terms of our reporting process is we've implemented new processes to make it easier to report. now, there's a plus side to that but we expect you're going to see an increase with better reporting and that's not a bad thing because it gives us an opportunity to have, number one, good data to begin with. secondly, to know where to put our resources because we don't know what we don't know. and we encourage everybody to report these crimes when they happen so we know where to put our resources. we do expect an increase.

we do online reporting in about three weeks, we'll come online to enhance that and we expect to have better data. the other thing is what we depo with that data is this increase of resources, we put them in the right locations. so the retired officers we're bringing back to work in these locations. we've seen tremendous success with what they bring to the table in union square. as the mayor said, we started this holiday season last year. tremendous support and praise from our retailers in that area as well as our community members who benefit from these folks being out there and what i mean by that is they have police radios and they call our

on-duty resources to see what the problem. and that's the value added to this whole process. that's what they'll be doing as we mentioned from eight to 24 members and that's huge because it expands our geographic reach across the city so we'll be beyond union square and that's a big step forward. the 10b coordination. another thing, coordination of communication and getting the information to the people that it needs to get to. we have officers day in and day out who work in uniform and they're hired privately by businesses and they are for security purposes, they're in stores. you go to a lot of our retailers across the city and you'll see officers in uniform. so one of the things as we said i want to talk with everybody who has a stake in this, we

have to have better coordination with the information. lieutenant ryan's investigators, they need to know what these officers are seeing day in and day out and we felt we could do better there and we are doing better. that lieutenant that the mayor mentioned has already been hired. they're already on board and we've seen better deployment almost immediately at the retailers who needed the help the most. and that's big. it's really huge. the other thing is these officers typically work in these stores quite often. they know these customers and the people and better communications with the retailers with people who are chronic defenders who are not supposed to be in those store s

in the first place and if the retailers don't know who they are because communications haven't been what they should be. how do they tell the officers that person can't be in the store. so these are things we believe will not only help prevent some of what's happening, but it will give us the tools to enforce the law. last thing i'll mention is just on the whole investigation piece, we have to have good outcomes. a lot of work, a lot of money, a lot of resources, a lot of time, a lot of coordination has been poured into making this better. and we at the police department have to give our prosecutors the best evidence possible. we're asking for assistance with retailers, but we have forensic evidence that we have to make sure that we get our forensic folks out there to collect that evidence, but if we don't know about it, we can't do that. this is why it's so important

to communicate and i'm encouraged by what we have seen this last month. the mayor gave very clear direction on what she expects and what needs to happen. we're brought into that and we agree with that and we've been a part of that conversation from the start. what i expect is better outcomes. i expect people to be held accountable. we're not going to arrest everybody although we'd like to, but we're not going to catch everybody, but just know that you don't get a free pass when you come to this city and commit those types of crimes. please know that. people will be held accountable. they will be prosecuted. we're going to do our jobs and we're going to get better at it until we make this situation better and i'm encouraged by that and i believe we can

. >> reporter: when exactly do you expect to see an impact in terms of this and these crime rings brought at bay? >> well, we expect it to go up and then we'll have a

comparison point collecting better data, like really being able to parse out how many of our theft cases are retail theft. right now, it's difficult for us. i can tell you what our overall thefts and our car break-ins but we want tighter data and these are some of the systems we've put in place and to have tight numbers on specifically retail theft. so next year, we'll have a better benchmark. i think the following year, we'll have a true comparison on where we really are, but in the meantime, a lot of it is the eye test. look, if you are out shopping or doing what you do in the city and you're seeing these things occur, we want you to see less of it. we don't want you to see it at all, but we want you to see less of it and so some of it really amounts to that. you know, the statistics say what they say and we say there's an underreporting and people remind us of that all

the time, but we need a solid base of data to compare and the way that usually works is we compare year to year. so as we collect better data, as time goes on, we'll see what the trends show and we're going to work toward a decrease. >> reporter: this may be a question for you, mayor breed, or chief scott, some shop owners i've spoken to over the summer, one thing i heard from people on filmother street and they told me they heard this was where they're using drones to surveil shopping districts, so they knew when patrol officers were or weren't in the area. and they said that they've heard this from their own district. so curious if you know anything about this. if there's a reality to that situation or is that staff ring back and organized? >> i will tell you this, you know, any time we put a strategy in place, people try to get around it.

so it wouldn't surprise me if that's happening. we have to be unpredictable as we can be in terms of our deployment, but at the same time, we want people to know we'll be in these locations. that's what presence and deterrence is all about. the whole thought process is if they see a uniformed san francisco police officer at a store, around the store, or on foot or foot beats, we hope that that serves as a deterrent to go somewhere else if you're going to try to commit a crime. i'll ask lieutenant ryan to speak on the drone question because i'm not sure. >> i think that shows that they are trying to do what they can. i think that that means we're going our job. we're going to go to lengths that you're talking about. but if that's what they're going to do, we're going to get better and be just as fist

indicated. >> reporter: and just clarity, the two to six increase are those detectives or investigators or officers on patrol? >> those are sergeants. look, we're going to do what we need to do. and here's the bottom line. this is something that we've got to get better and we'll start and see where it goes. we have 2,000 employees in the department. but we're going to do what we need to do to make this better. we're going to rise to the occasion. we have to. >> is there a point where you wanted to push it over to light? >> a few things have been happening and some of this is not new, but we're trying to come out of a global pandemic unlike anything that we've seen and, you know, the mayor's directions has been clear as far as that as well and we all

as department heads buy into this and agree with this. this pandemic has put us in a different place on several fronts. we've seen violent crime go up across the nation. we've seen things that we weren't seeing before. we've had these robing vans of car caravans going into retail establishments and looting. we weren't seeing these things before. so we have to make adjustments as we come out of this pandemic in this city and the direction has been clear for the mayor is be ready to re-open the city for people who come here, who live here have good experiences and the retail theft thing kind of came to a head. a year ago, we had looting in the city. we got it under control pretty quickly here in san francisco thanks to the resources that, you know, we were able to get from the mayor's leadership. we only had one day of looting, but we had a lot more incidents that weren't big organized, you know, looting type of incidents

that took us all summer really to manage and to arrest people and hold them to account. we arrested, you know, i think several hundred people just for that. so it puts people in different head space and we're not out of this pandemic yet. you know, people are hurting and i'm not making any excuses. it's wrong to steal, but we're dealing with the dynamics that we have not had to deal with before. we had to be ready to adjust and it's not one incident. i think it's a combination of many things, but the bottom line is we have to adjust to it. we have to do what we need to do to make this situation better. >> reporter: and you mentioned a lot of these crimes go unreported. why do you think that's the case? >> i think there's several reasons for it. you know, some of the retailers have a threshold, a monetary threshold and some of them have corporate policies that, hey, if we can get our property back, we're not going to bother

the police department. you stop somebody at the door, they have an $800 handbag, we take our handbag back and we're not going to bother calling the police department. we'll let that person go. we'll give them a trespassing order not to come in our store, we have our own security. the bottom line is we need to know about that person that stole that $800 purse that you stopped at the door and got your purse back because they're probably going to go down the street and try it again. so we need to know about that. there's probably in apathy for people who don't think it's going to make a difference. these crimes sometimes aren't easy to solve and sometimes people give up and that's why we need to promote so people are encouraged to report to us and they need to know we're going to take action and i hope what you're hearing here encourages people that we're serious about this and that's why these extra investigators or additional investigators put into place so we have better

outcomes for people so they don't get discouraged. >> reporter: some of the apathy may come from the idea that people feel that this is not going to be resolved. right. i think we talked about public reception of all this. perception that they're going to do it over and over again. the same people are cycling again. what are you going to do with the d.a.'s office to try to make sure you're getting the outcomes that you need to make an effective change? >> well, thank you for that question. i think it's a bigger issue than that. people also have to realize, you know, what our voters have voted for and i'm not going to stand up here chief of police and criticize instead of look and really say we have to do a better job because we have to arrest and give the district attorney and the prosecutors and the courts the best evidence we can give them. now, the reality is this, you

know, the laws have changed and, you know, while we're doing all this, we're reenvisioning the criminal justice system. there's a concerted effort to have people sit in jail for a petty theft. and that's not a bad thing, but we have to adjust to it. so part of i think trying to promote confidence in our criminal justice system is doing what we try to do in this police department and tell people we're trying to work with the system we have, with the prosecutor that we have and make things better and we are committed to doing that and i can't speak for the district attorney, but i can say, we bring them a case and his people a case and they will prosecute it. we don't always get the outcomes we want. sometimes we ask for people to be detained and they get released. sometimes they're detaineded. but the bottom line is we have to do what we need to do and, you know, part of what i think

needs to stop is we need to stop doing this and do this and just try to get better at what we can control and if everybody does that, we're going to be in a better place. >> how do you expect to see the increase in reports of these crimes? i think you said it's going to be implemented in three weeks. what does that mean to that? >> about three weeks, we should start seeing this and hopefully immediately people will start reporting. david, you want to speak on that. >> yeah. with regard to reporting, our teleservice unit is opened now. that's staffed by department personnel. we figured calling the phone and having the report prepared over the phone will be much more efficient for the retailers and much more efficient for us. that system's in place now. in terms of three weeks from now, we'll have our current cop logic system where you can go online and write a report. you can do that now, but you

can't put suspect information into that and so we're going to make that change so that the retailers can give us as much information as possible. much easier way for retailer, merchants and others to report crime makes it much more efficient for us. >> this might be a question for chief scott or mayor breed. when it comes to supervisors advise requests that you and district attorney provide more information about retail theft. >> well supervisor safai's trying to help. and he's doing what he can to help people to help the situation. this is a part of that conversation not the cause of it and this direction was clearly from the mayor in term officer making sure that we pulled all this work together. but what supervisor safai's doing is trying to add value to this process by helping bring us together and talk through these issues and hopefully providing the resources we need to actually do something.

this has to come with resources and the mayor mentioned it and i'll emphasize it. we can say all we want to say about the plans, but if we don't have the people to do it and the resources to do it, it's not going to work. so we have to commit the resources to this. >> were they now hires to sfpd? >> no they're seasoned investigators. >> does that mean they're off some others? >> yeah. we have to make adjustments and that's the trade-off. we have to make adjustments and that's apart of policing and police management and different trends will happen and we have to adjust to it. so that's just a part of what we have to do. >> one more question. >> chief scott, this is an unrelated note. about a month ago a couple of your employees in the police department received a letter from h.r. recommending suspension if they continue to refuse reporting their vaccination status. where does that stand today?

have they been suspended or are you moving to suspend any employees? >> we only had eight employees who fell in that category and we intend to follow through on what was said, but there is a due process. like any disciplinary matter, our members have due process, that means they can appeal and their appeals will be heard if they choose to do so. but we fully intend to follow through on what we said we were going to do. i mean, we're in a global pandemic. we're over 600,000 people have lost their lives. we all have to do our part and, again, you know, our leadership, the mayor has been very clear on what she wants to see from all of her departments to make this situation better, so we'll follow through. but they do have due process. >> that means you are moving to suspend these eight employees? >> yes. the notice of discipline has been issued for those employees

and they'll go through their process and see where that lands. we're going to follow our due process to be fair about this and continue to do what we have to do to try to help do our part to help us get out of this pandemic. thank you all. >> thank you very much.

>> when i first started painting it was difficult to get my foot in the door and contractors and mostly men would have a bad attitude towards me or not want to answer my questions or not include me and after you prove yourself, which i have done, i don't face that obstacle as much anymore. ♪♪♪ my name is nita riccardi, i'm a painter for the city of san francisco and i have my own business as a painting contractor since 1994 called winning colors. my mother was kind of resistant. none of my brothers were painter. i went to college to be a chiropractor and i couldn't imagine being in an office all day. i dropped out of college to become a painter.

>> we have been friends for about 15-20 years. we both decided that maybe i could work for her and so she hired me as a painter. she was always very kind. i wasn't actually a painter when she hired me and that was pretty cool but gave me an opportunity to learn the trade with her company. i went on to different job opportunities but we stayed friends. the division that i work for with san francisco was looking for a painter and so i suggested to my supervisor maybe we can give nita a shot. >> the painting i do for the city is primarily maintenance painting and i take care of anything from pipes on the roof to maintaining the walls and beautifying the bathrooms and graffiti removal. the work i do for myself is different because i'm not actually a painter. i'm a painting contractor which is a little different.

during the construction boom in the late 80s i started doing new construction and then when i moved to san francisco, i went to san francisco state and became fascinated with the architecture and got my contractor's licence and started painting victorians and kind of gravitated towards them. my first project that i did was a 92 room here in the mission. it was the first sro. i'm proud of that and it was challenging because it was occupied and i got interior and exterior and i thought it would take about six weeks to do it and it took me a whole year. >> nita makes the city more beautiful and one of the things that makes her such a great contractor, she has a magical touch around looking at a project and bringing it to its fullest fruition.

sometimes her ideas to me might seem a little whacky. i might be like that is a little crazy. but if you just let her do her thing, she is going to do something incredible, something amazing and that will have a lot of pop in it. and she's really talented at that. >> ultimately it depends on what the customer wants. sometimes they just want to be understated or blend in and other times they let me decide and then all the doors are open and they want me to create. they hire me to do something beautiful and i do. and that's when work is really fun. i get to be creative and express what i want. paint a really happy house or something elegant or dignified. >> it's really cool to watch what she does. not only that, coming up as a woman, you know what i mean, and we're going back to the 80s with

it. where the world wasn't so liberal. it was tough, especially being lgbtq, right, she had a lot of friction amongst trades and a lot of people weren't nice to her, a lot of people didn't give her her due respect. and one of the things amazing about nita, she would never quit. >> after you prove yourself, which i have done, i don't face that obstacle as much anymore. i'd like to be a mentor to other women also. i have always wanted to do that. they may not want to go to school but there's other options. there's trades. i encourage women to apply for my company, i'd be willing to train and happy to do that. there's a shortage of other women painters. for any women who want to get into a trade or painting career, just start with an apprenticeship or if you want to

do your own business, you have to get involved and find a mentor and surround yourself with other people that are going to encourage you to move forward and inspire you and support you and you can't give up. >> we've had a lot of history, nita and i. we've been friends and we have been enemies and we've had conflicts and we always gravitate towards each other with a sense of loyalty that maybe family would have. we just care about each other. >> many of the street corners in all the districts in san francisco, there will be a painting job i have completed and it will be a beautiful paint job. it will be smooth and gold leaf and just wow. and you can't put it down. when i first started, it was hard to get employees to listen to me and go along -- but now, i have a lot of respect.

>> clerk: -- held on october 4, 2021. the meeting is being called to order at 4:35 p.m. members of the public who will be calling in, the number is 415-655-0001. the access code is 2480-980-2106. press pound and then pound again to be added to the line. when you're connected, you'll hear the meeting discussions, but you'll be muted and in listening mode only. when your item comes up, dial star, three to be added to the speaker line. if you dial star, three before

public comment is called, you'll be added to the queue. wait for your turn to speak, and your line will be unmuted when it is your time to do so. public comment is limited to three minutes per speaker unless established by the chair. speakers asked but not required to state their names. >> and if the office of small business will put the slide up -- >> clerk: i believe we don't have access to it tonight. >> okay. with that, we begin with the statement that the small

business commission is the best place to get answers about doing business in san francisco during the local emergency. if you need assistance with small business matters, particularly at this time, you can find us on-line or via phone, and always, our services are free of charge. please note, the office of small business and personal hours have changed to tuesday through thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. we will be updating the slide to reflect these changes. office staff are still available by phone and e-mail five days a week. before this meeting is called, i'd like to thank sfgovtv and maria pena for assisting with the public comment line today, and with that said, please call

item 1. >> clerk: item 1, call to order and roll call. [roll call] >> clerk: vice president, you have a quorum. >> thank you. i will now read the ramaytush ohlone land acknowledgement. the san francisco small business commission and office of small business staff acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the ramaytush ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as the indigenous stewards of this land, and in accordance

with their tradition, the ramaytush ohlone have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibility as the caretakers of this land. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the ramaytush ohlone community and by establishing their sovereign rights as first people. please call item 2. >> clerk: item 2, board of supervisors ordinance, file 21808, planning code, requirements for laundromats and on-site laundry services. this is a discussion and potential action item. the commission will discuss and may vote on possible recommendations regarding ordinance file 210808

[indiscernible] and to prohibit accessory dwelling units that reduce on-site laundry services unless replaced, affirming the planning department's determination under ceqa, and making findings of consistency with the general plan, and the eight priority policies of planning code section 101.1 and findings of public necessarily, convenience, and welfare under planning code section 302. and today, we have lee hefner from supervisor peskin. >> and you have the floor. >> thank you so much, commission, and commissioner zouzounis for taking up this legislation today. this legislation, on its surface, i think is a fairly straightforward tool designed to prevent the loss of laundromats in san francisco,

and i just, by way of background, how we got to this point, our office, supervisor peskin's office, has been looking into the issue of laundromat closures for a couple of years now, and this was just based on the information that we were getting periodically that this or that laundromat or dry cleaner was closing down. it was our intention to look at certain use types under the planning code that are really community serving businesses, kind of backbones of the communities that they serve. interestingly, when an incident came up last october, at the address 998 filbert, an owner had proposed to displace a laundromat called tons of

bubbles on russian hill. commissioner deland chan says laundromats are vital to the community, and i think there are a lot of things that are overlooked in the conversation, but things like your hand ware stores, like your grocery store, like your laundromat, like your locksmith, that are vital for everyday life serve a very valuable purpose in district three and across san francisco, as well. but we were looking at these businesses, and in the course of doing so, and certainly, when our research was intensified during the tons of bubbles incident last year, we started researching what they track, and interestingly, our planning department doesn't

track the number of uses over time. d.b.i. doesn't track this, either. we're in conversation to come up with new tools so we can better track the numbes and different use types in our community. we actually got that information from sfpuc, and what we found in san francisco, in the past seven years, the number has decreased from nearly 300 -- 288 -- laundromats to just 200, and i think that that caused us to reinforce and understand what's going on here. the legislation before you seeks to introduce this as an

ordinance issue. probably to no one's surprise, they tend to concentrate in higher density neighborhoods. they tend to be higher concentrations of lower income people. we found that laundromats disproportionately serve census tracts with more diverse racial and ethnic populations, so everything, everything that we were learning about laundromats is this is a use that we should step in to save, and again, that doing so is going to help benefit lower income communities, more racially diverse communities, and certainly, the senior communities. when it was about tons of bubbles, we were inundated with dozens and dozens and dozens of e-mails, probably over 100 people said even if tons of bubbles closes, the next

laundromat is a block over, but i'm not going to be able to do that because it's up a streep hill. in this instance, i think the c.u. was designed to be a disincentive, and to the extent that real estate speculation is driving some of these laundromats to closure, that we are apprehending that speculation before the laundromat closes because then the property owner is going -- and landlord is going to know that they will need to make it through another public hearing before replacing that use. so it's -- and we have also put a three-year timeline on it. thank you, commission secretary

birnbach, for noting in your tool that these were passed for night time entertainment use, so we're kind of appropriating that tool for use here. i actually believe the a.d.u. component of this was just addressed in legislation put forward by supervisor mandelman, who is noting this problem from a different point of view, so this might be redundant at this point. but as authors of san francisco's a.d.u. ordinance in 2016, i think we need to make sure that we take note of some of the counter placements that displace laundromats or not. so that's my short recital,

probably not that short. we're invested in this project. we intend to use the next month or so to get the word out. we're working on a public media campaign to bolster the public awareness for community necessity small businesses. looking forward to bringing this to the planning commission and thereafter to the board of supervisors. with that, i will turn it back over to you, and thank you for the opportunity to bring this legislation. >> thank you, lee, and thank you so much to the supervisor's office for working on this. i will start with commissioner adams, if you would like to start the discussion, go ahead. >> yeah. first off, mr. hepner, thank

you. this is something that's been in my mind for a while, and i am just so grateful that supervisor peskin is doing this. i'm all for a.d.u. units, but i live in the castro up on lower twin peaks. we've lost -- not only have we lost our laundromats up here, we've lost our dry cleaners, where you can actually do the wash and fold. there was three of them within walking distance. they're all gone. and i do know, like, the big one that we recently lost about 1.5 years ago, which was on noe and 22, you know, this may be the lower twin peaks, half of my neighborhood, half of the people on this street do not

have washers and dryers in their unit. we used to be able to go right down at market and hattie, and it's been gone. it's been gone for a few years. and the one at 18 and hollywood, it's gone. so people in this neighborhood, we have to go to sanchez, and if that closes, we may have to go over to kolb alley. so i support this, and when i read this, i thought to myself, someone got it, so thank you, thank you, thank you. >> thank you. commissioner hui? >> yeah, thank you very much for bringing this to my attention, and yeah, definitely, this is something

that i -- you know, in our communities, we recognize these are really important pieces of what, like, makes living in a walkable city walkable and liveable. so i had a couple of questions. one is what are some of the reasons, i guess maybe, like, the top, you know, reasons for the closures of the laundromats besides the real estate speculation? >> honestly, it's a great question, commissioner hui, and it's one that we hope to understand. i think part of the provocation of this legislation and part of the three-year timeline, too, is to, you know, urge the planning department to dive deep into that. there is a question whether the c.u. is the best way to

preserve that and is there other measures to do so. we don't fully understand why so many laundromats are closing down. are they profitable businesses? i talked to several businesses. tons of bubbles has several laundromats across the city. their owner has been enthusiastic about this, and everyone time we have to raise money -- there's a lot of questions that i think we have to about why laundromats are closing down, and that's where the speculation piece comes in. i do know that sfgov and the

p.u.c. has a voucher based program for coin-op laundries which allows -- i think it's designed to allow people to have. >> -- but i think your question is -- is really one that we're also trying to ask. why are we seeing this crisis level of closure of laundromats. so i hope to be able to report back to you in a couple of years with a little more

insight. >> yeah. i think that's -- you know, this is a question that we can ask about a lot of our community serving small businesses, right? like, what is causing closure. and i think what you said and specifically to -- might not be as possible as competing businesses, right? it's, like, really key to some of this is, like, to function in an everyday capacity is just, like, not that -- you know, it's -- it doesn't generate the revenues that are [indiscernible] doing business [indiscernible] and are costing us. and one of the things that i think about is if we are trying to preserve these businesses, which it sounds like i love how much time you've put in to this presentation, but, like, is there a way that we can roll

that into our -- almost, like, our vocational training programs because the city already offers many vocational and small business training programs? you -- this is a realistic plan so people can learn -- teaching them how to grow a very specific business. that seems almost easier than teaching someone to grow a

business in general. we could really help people build businesses here in san francisco with the city's help which would really turn that narrative of a small business, like, having the toughest time -- like, you know we have this reputation of building all these barriers. wouldn't it be great if we actually were able to, like, grow businesses here, so yeah. i think there are tons of possibilities with this, and i really appreciate it. and also, i'm happy to talk more about it afterwards or,

you know, think through things, too, so i'm here. thank you so much, lee. >> i love that idea. thank you, commissioner. >> so i don't see any other commissioner questions -- >> i'll just say -- sorry. >> i think we've got commissioner ortiz-cartagena. >> can you hear me? >> yeah, go ahead. >> yeah, i just wanted to add, thank you, lee, for the presentation, and it's funny that you're bringing up this because some of the c.b.o.s in the mission, we're actually coming up with ways to incorporate laundromats into our mixed use buildings because from a decade ago, 180, there's only 80 left in the city. so mission housing, meta, we're trying to incorporate

laundromats into these new buildings and old buildings that we acquire because it's definitely a service that our community needs. >> thank you, commissioner. actually, meta, i talked to some folks over there, and they were really instrumental in supporting us on this. >> commissioner adams, did you have something else to add? >> i'm okay. i just do know for a fact that coin laundromats are cash cows. you have maintenance, and i have seen the people who own these places and run them do very, very well, and to answer commissioner hui's issue, i know two of them that closed

down in this area because the landlord just didn't renew their leases, and that was an issue. and one of the places is sitting empty still, so, you know, that -- and that's part of the problem right now. they're speculating, but the business is actually a very good business. >> thank you. >> i'll just say that i agree with everything that's been said. i think our commission and particularly our racial equity committee is really looking to focus on businesses that serve low-income communities and kind of refocus. the pandemic made us just reaction to whoever was the loudest.

and now, we're seeing as the dust settles, a lot of the equity and minority serving businesses were left out. so please let us know how we can support any amplification of community serving businesses and their needs. that's something we want to focus on. laundromats are a prime example of that, and i think we're all in full support. a couple questions that i had. one is i think we've seen a couple of attempts at a mixed-use model of the laundromat and another business? is there anything in the code that maybe, you know, is preventing that from being more of a common common business model that might increase the

solvency of this business type in the city or is it already addressed from your research and the planning code? that was one question i had, and then, a second question i had on the legislation, and i think in section 202. -- well, basically, when it says guidance for the commission, is it referencing, like, the planning commission might have discretion on whether they make it that a c.u. would have to come after it because i saw it, like, the questions. is the business community serving? is it an amended type of laundry model, so my question is, does that mean that there's a pathway for if a business comes in, that it may not have to deal with a c.u. after a

closure? >> so i can try to take those in order. as to your first question, i'm familiar with those, as well. i mean, i think the one that everybody loves is brain wash which was a laundromat and cafe. but even the one, commissioner adams, down the block from you, i think was wash and spin, but it's got the cafe or the florist in front. >> sit and spin. >> and i think there was one maybe to have a bar concept at one point. but i think that that is -- inasmuch as a laundromat is a principally permitted use, adding another principally permitted use, whether that's a cafe or something else, i think that the code does allow for

that, probably within certain boundaries. like, the boundaries that you're not going to have an adult use accessory use to a laundromat, though maybe somebody should think outside the box there, too. but i think that should be allowed, and the code does allow that flexibility that that is allowed, and that makes the case. as to your second question -- oh, the discretion that the commission has. so your proposal, if a laundromat goes out of business, any subsequent business that is not a laundromat would be routed through the community business processing program, which means that the business operator would be entitled to a hearing within 90 days of their application, and as far as i have been able to tell, the city has been really good at adhering to that 90 daytime

line. and part of the process -- part of the project there is to -- let's not eliminate the process, but let's eliminate the longer process at the same time. what i envision is that if a laundromat closes down, the commission has the right to ask questions why it closed down and was there a diligent search for a replacement operator for that community serving business, and for the community to have an opportunity to be able to come out, too, and say, that was my laundromat. i don't know what to do. i don't have in-building laundry, and to really make the case that hey, maybe the

building owner needs to find a proprietor that will keep it as a laundromat and it can continue serving the community, and look at the next business in terms of how it's going to serve the community in that capacity. >> okay. thank you. in our ability to put landlords of existing laundromats on notice about this legislation, and being a disincentive for eviction or whatnot, are we able to send, like, targeted letters? like, how does that work? >> you know, part of the project that i'm hoping our interns can pull together in the next few weeks involves printing out fliers that we can

go and walk around and deliver to laundromats, so hand delivering notices to those businesses. i think in the same breath offering opportunities for patrons of these businesses to learn more about the legislation and to add their voices of support to the legislation, but certainly, there is a notice component of that. and i think it is only appropriate that some people have a press push out here or go the extra mile and alert, you know, commercial realtors to this, though they tend to be pretty hawkish when it comes to legislation moving through the process. i think our best bet at this stage of the legislative process is to do the direct leaflet delivery to the laundromats, and that's what we'd like to see.

>> i love it. >> yeah. >> there's not any c.u.s currently related to a relocation of a laundromat, right? >> no. >> uh-huh. okay. so i'm just trying to think -- you know, our commission, one of our concerns, which you heard, is if a laund row mad needs -- if a laundromat needs to relocate or move through no fault of its own, is there a way to make sure that a new laund row mass doesn't have to come in and deal with an intended purpose like a c.u. >> if there's a laundromat replacing a laundromat or dry cleaner, there's no c.u. i think your question is what

if the laund row mad relocated consensually or if there's a parting of ways? i think when you cast any net for tuna, you're going to get a dolphin in there, and that's an unfortunate elegant way of how we legislate around anything. we'd like to allow for some of that vetting to be heard, but i think more often, what we're going to find, given the precipitous decline of laundromats, this is the canary in the coal mine. every once in a while, i'm sure we're going to find an owner of a laundromat who doesn't want to operate anymore.

there's a woman in my neighborhood who wants me to operate her laundromat because she knows i love them so much. >> from the case studies of lost laundromats that you've seen thus far, there's no new small businesses going in there; it's more like an entire unit, you know, new use, and usually, a developer or something, right? so this is the trend that you've identified and closures that you've studied? >> right. and i hate to say it, but one of my favorite bars is in a place that was a former laundromat. so that's what we're seeing, and addressing that is going to be complicated, but this scratches the surface and

allows us the time we need to learn a lot more. >> okay. i guess i'm just trying to understand if this is based on data or a trend or if this is going to help us get data because it seems that we're putting in a request for prior trends, and we want to get the data. >> about one in 11 laundromats have closed in the last seven years. there is nothing in this legislation itself that requires departments to study why this is happening. that is going to have to be someone's torch to carry, and we will have put in a three-year stopgap measure where every once in a while, one of these is going to come to the commission and we're

going to be able to use this for understanding what goes on holistically, and i hope this is catalyzing some attention paid to the problem and a deeper study why this is happening in the first place. >> okay. i think that helps me understand the problem a little bit better. director dick-endrizzi, did you have anything you wanted to say? >> i believe commissioner adams was before me -- oh, he already spoke. so a couple of things to maybe give some consideration to so maybe help gather some of that data? home s.f. is the home equity

density bonus program, and when they're demolishing or doing extensive development on a property, that they notify oewd if they're going to be displacing a small business. so a thought is that for property owners who are choosing not to renew a lease, that there's a requirement to notify planning and oewd? and then -- and then, in reference to some of your comments, commissioner hui, is -- and also commissioner adams, if -- if, you know, these -- if laundromats [indiscernible] i think, you know -- this isn't -- this isn't something is necessarily put into the legislation, but

you might want to give consideration to add as additional comments when carry moves forward, your recommendation that what may be challenging is the start-up costs to open or relocate if a property owner is not going to renew a lease, then to relocate a laundromat, so the cost of equipment, you know, perhaps in parallel at least from an equity perspective, these are very important businesses to retain? in parallel, supervisor peskin is introducing a land use solution, but in parallel, there needs to be some economic solutions, as well. and maybe the three years this

program is in place, you may want to recommend that a complimentary sort of program -- like, commissioner hui, you identified that let's take a look at these businesses, but we may want to partner support for having these businesses get open, right, or relocate. so those are just some thoughts. >> i mean, the coin shortage is the one that's kind of open in the room, too. i don't know what the banks are giving the laundromats, so i don't know if that seems a little -- like, i don't know

how much the city can solve for that economic barrier, but that sounds like one of them. if there's not any other comments, i'll call for public comment, and if you want to hangout, lee, that would be great. sfgov, can you see if there are any callers on the line? >> we have no public callers on the line. >> seeing no callers on the line, public comment is closed. commissioners, do we have any action? >> i would definitely make a motion to support this piece of legislation. like lee was saying, there's kind of an urgency with this because you're seeing lots of them close. there's a couple of them i know in this area that are going to be closing probably in the next

six months, so this is something i really would like to see get approved, so i would motion to approve this. >> we have a motion. is there a second? >> i'll second. >> clerk: okay. seconded by commissioner hui, so motion to support. i will read the roll. [roll call] >> i know this is probably not right, but if we wanted to make the recommendation that director dick-endrizzi made?

>> yes. you can make the legislation and then come back and say we want to add these supporting comments to the letter that we send forward to the board of supervisors, so there's two ways that you can address it. but commissioner adams, if you do want to include in your motion kind of the -- you know, the -- >> yeah, i appreciate your comments. i didn't know if we could do that, since we are in the middle of taking votes, we can do that. >> you can rescind your motion -- >> well, nobody else has voted, so i will rescind my motion and reintroduce my motion with the director's comments on the relocation, and if you want to help me with that.

>> that the motion would be to support the legislation? >> yes. >> recommend the board of supervisors approve the legislation, and that these are important equity -- these are important businesses to preserve from an equity perspective and therefore need -- the city should look at an economic development program to support relocation and/or the -- supporting the establishment of new laundromats. >> thank you. you said that perfectly, so that. >> clerk: okay. there's a motion. is there a second? >> yes, i second that. >> seconded by commissioner hui. and i will read the roll call. [roll call]

>> clerk: yes. motion passes 4-0, with three commissioners absent. >> thank you, commissioners. >> thank you so much, lee. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, lee. >> great. next item, please. >> clerk: item 3, board of supervisors ordinance, file number 211010, appropriation and deappropriatetion, office of economic and workforce development, legacy business, $400,000, fiscal year 2021-2022. this is a discussion item and action item. the commission will discuss and vote on possible recommendations regarding ordinance file 211010.

an ordinance deappropriating $400,000 previously appropriated to the office of economic and workforce development for the office of small business' legacy business historic preservation fund and reappropriating $400,000 to e.c.n. to provide a new grant program for legacy businesses in fiscal year 2021-2022. we have director dick-endrizzi and richard kurylo, office of small business. >> so i mentioned this at the last meeting in regards to -- that this funding is a result of supervisor chan, peskin, and ronen doing an add-back and because of where the funding

ended up, we are -- where the funding ended up in our line-item budget, we are requesting that the item be removed. we're doing this specifically because of the need of -- beginning to change any business assistant grant type of funding that comes to the legacy business program. so rick is going to review with you, give you an overview and provide you with some information on that, so i'm now going to turn it over to him. so rick, take it away with your powerpoint presentation.

>> [indiscernible] and reappropriating that $400,000 to a different fund to provide a new grant program for legacy businesses in fiscal year 21-22. the office of small business received a $400,000 ad-back for the legacy -- add-back for the legacy business program in the 2021-22 budget. the board of supervisors specifically recorded the add-back at $400,000 for the replenishment of the legacy business preservation fund to be used for direct grants to

qualify small businesses. so the legacy business historic preservation fund to which they were referring was added to the administrative code to proposition j in november 2015. it can only be changed by going back to the voters. the fund consists of two grant programs. the business assistance grant, for grants to legacy businesses, and rent stabilization grant, for lands that provide stabilization to tenants. the $400,000 would be needed to use for the legacy business grant because that is the only grant to the legacy businesses within the historic preservation fund, however, there are major problems with

the business assistance fund. it pays grantees for full time equivalent employees, f.t.e.s, and would only pay about $75 per f.t.e., considering $400,000 divided by about 280 applicants. number two, the grant would be too small for microand small businesses, which often need the most assistance. businesses that struggled during the pandemic are struggling with f.t.e.s. the range of grants would too large, ranging from about $75 to about $7500. it's difficult for applicants to calculate their f.t.e.s, and many applicants calculated f.t.e.s inappropriately in the

past. the solution is the development of a new grant we're calling a legacy business grant, featuring a new grant that has a simpler application and has an easier review process. under the new grant, there would be four types, prioritizing renters over property owners. the city attorney vises that the city cannot create a new grant program within the legacy business historic preservation fund, but it could create a new grant outside of that fund. the only way to make an amendment to the only appropriation ordinance after the controller certifies the

availability of fund is to reappropriate the funds. there are six sample grants demonstrating the difference between the legacy business grant and the proposed legacy business grant. rows a, c, and e in the green are all for-profit businesses renting spaces. all three would have received less than $320 through the business assistance grant, would receive over $1600 through the legacy business grant. row b in yellow is a large for-profit property owner in district ten. they would receive 5600 through

the business grant but 1200 through the legacy business grant, and rows d and f in orange are large nonprofit renters in district 3 and district 9 which would receive about $7,000 and 5700 through the business assistance grant but 823 through the legacy business grant, so it kind of gives you an idea that the legacy business grant is much more equal through all the appointees. this concludes my presentation, and i'm happy to answer any questions. >> thank you, richard, and commissioners, if you have any questions, you can put them in the chat. i want to say thank you,

director dick-endrizzi for knowing our business so well to be able to make these kind of material and concrete recommendations. i mean, the board, i hope they know what an asset we are because we've been able to really tell them what the best use of their money is, what the best use of their money can go towards, and how you're in the lead of this program, and you've identified how to make it more equitable, and thank you for this, and i'll let commissioner adams -- >> no, i just want to say. i want to echo what you just

said. you said it beautifully, vice president zouzounis. and everything that miriam just said, i want to say, so that was beautiful, commissioner. i'm sorry. >> so i guess can we ask how this is being received from oewd, and the supervisors who [indiscernible]? >> yes. so one, you know, the appropriation ordinance says oewd, just because our budget is under the larger oewd -- >> okay. so they're not giving us problems. >> no, no, no. so this is just how the ordinance needs to be written, and once the funds are deappropriated out of the legacy business preservation

fund, it will be reappropriated into another line item in o.s.b.s budget, so just to make sure that everyone's clear on that. i mean, so far, when we -- we did some -- when we determined -- when we found out that the funding was put into the legacy business historic preservation fund, then, we went to the city attorney and said can we create an additional program under the historic preservation fund line item, and it was determined that we could not. so then, we had to reach back out to the supervisor chan as the primary legislative sponsor for the add-back, so we reached back out, and they weren't really grasping why we needed to make the change? and so rick did a really excellent job in doing -- i forwarded you the cover letter

and the document that he -- we sent over, and they got it, right, and they understood it. so we have -- supervisor chan is actually the sponsor in this ordinance, so we have the three sponsors in the add-back supporting this change, and we met with supervisor haney's aide today, and she doesn't anticipate it being an issue. and one of the other issues is the budget and legislative analyst is recommending approval. so -- so i think we'll get the support from the supervisors. i don't think it's going to be an issue. >> great. >> and so just to be clear, your support for the recommendation is not really supporting -- your support would be to -- is basically

deappropriating the funding out of the, you know, historic preservation fund and reappropriating it into a new line item under our budget, and it's not so much a recommendation in relationship to the program, but what we're identifying is how we will be expending those funds? so it does demonstrate the benefit of taking those funds out of the historic preservation funds and putting them into a new line item, if that makes sense. >> yes, it does. so we can take action on this without any other further explanatory recommendation. got it. >> mm-hmm. >> okay. >> with that, do we have any other commissioner comments

before we take an action? >> clerk: don't forget public comment. >> oh, yeah, okay. i'll call for public comment. are there any -- sfgovtv, are there any callers on the line? >> clerk: there are no callers in the queue. . >> public comment is closed, seeing no callers on the line. commissioners, this is an action item, correct? >> yes. >> so do we have a motion? >> i motion to approve the -- the -- i don't know what this is. ordinance? >> yeah, you can just say the -- yeah, the ordinance or b.o.s. file 211010. >> that's exactly what i'd make

a motion for. >> i'll second it. >> clerk: seconded by commissioner adams. i will now read the roll. [roll call] . >> clerk: motion passes 4-0 with three members absent. >> great. item 4. >> clerk: item 4, residence aleutian making findings to allow teleconferenced meetings under california government code section 54953-e.

the commission will discuss and vote on a resolution that it has considered or reconsidered the circumstances of the state of emergency and either 2-a, that the state of emergency continues to directly impact the ability of members to meet safely in person, or 2-b, that state or local officials continue to impose or recommend measures to promote distancing. i'll be reviewing this with you. basically, based on california government code section 54953-e, that there was a state of emergency declared because of covid-19, that it prevents us from meeting in person safely, and that local officials do continue to recommend measures to promote social distancing.

and the resolution in front of you today confirms these findings, and moving forward, we'll need to reconfirm them every 30 days to continue our meeting remotely. i can put the resolution up on my screen if that would be helpful. >> i understand that, and i think it's procedural. >> yeah. >> clerk: yeah. >> so are we going to have this, like, on our agenda every month? >> clerk: yeah. every 30 days, you'll have to renew that which basically says you'll have to keep finding these findings. >> but i have a question. is there any time when we'll be

able to go back to city hall? >> yeah. not an affirmative date? there's still discussion around, you know, november being the time that the city employees return, so there is the possibility that commission meetings may return in november, but there's still no confirm date yet. >> okay. >> so if we don't have any questions, we should call for public comment. >> clerk: okay. sfgovtv, is anybody on the public, public comment? >> operator: there is no public comment. >> seeing no public comment, item -- public comment is closed.

commissioners, do we have a motion on item 4? >> i make a motion that we approve item 4, the resolution making findings to allow teleconference meetings under the california government code section 54953-e, and a motion to approve it. >> clerk: commissioner adams made the motion. is there a second? >> i second it. >> clerk: seconded by commissioner hui. i'll call the roll. [roll call] >> clerk: motion passes 4-0, with three members absent. >> great. next item, please. >> clerk: item 5, approval of draft meeting minutes.

this is an action item. >> does anyone have any comments on the minutes before i ask for public comment? okay. great. are there any commenters on the line for item 5? >> clerk: there is no public comment. >> oh, there's not. okay. public comment is closed. do we have a motion? >> i'll motion to approve the draft meeting minutes. >> okay. i'll second. >> clerk: okay. motion to approve by commissioner adams, seconded by vice president zouzounis. i'll now read the roll. [roll call]

>> clerk: motion passes, 4-0, with three commissioners absent. >> next item, please. >> clerk: item 6, general public comment. this is a discussion item which allows members of the public to comment on matters that are within the small business commission's jurisdiction but not on today's calendar and suggest new agenda items for this commission's future consideration. >> are there any public callers on the line for item 6? >> clerk: there are no callers in the queue. >> thank you. item 6, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> clerk: item 7, director's report. this is an updated report on the office of small business and the small business assistance center, department programs, policy, and legislative matters,

announcements from the mayor, and announcements regarding small business activities. this is a discussion item. >> good evening, commissioners. there are a couple items i want to just bring to your attention. commissioner dickerson had noted at our last commission meeting she's going to be part of the city administrator carmen chu's two-day summit to help inform, educate, and encourage san francisco small businesses and helping l.b.e.s with the city, and that is taking place october -- tomorrow and wednesday, and we did have that in the announcement that went out in the osbe newsletter. in addition, oewd and s.f. made, as part of the manufacturing week, are hosting

a hiring fair on october 6. and then next week will be the -- just bay area disability entrepreneurship week. so those are some business activities that are taking place that would be of interest to the basis community. i also want to inform you, in case you did not know, that the commission voted to send a letter to the m.t.a. regarding business loading zones and cost. what has resulted from the letter and feedback from many businesses and business organizations is sfmta has cut the application fee from $775 to $387.50, so cut the

application fee in half. businesses are eligible for this reduced application fee if they apply by december 31, 2021, so that's roughly three months. and i do want to make a special note that sfmta is encouraging businesses to first consider getting an assessment as to space that they're looking to do -- that they might apply for a general loading zone would be permissible. so sfmta is offering to do an assessment so businesses don't -- if it's not going to work out, that they do not submit a nonrefundable application fee. so that is noted under the general loading zone so that's there for businesses, as well.

and then, i attended the upper haight merchant meeting last thursday. 18 businesses have been sued. of note is some of the businesses, what their lawsuits are for is not necessarily the entryway but things like counters being too high, the height of the dining room tables. so i think what that says is there really needs an effort made around educating our businesses. we're dealing with the entryway with the a.b.e. ordinance, and with the upper haight, you know, with the upper haight just went through two years of

doing improvements. they're working with the property owners to, where it is doable, to kind of grade the sidewalk in a way from the entryway to create a level landing. this was done on castro street when castro street had its sidewalk improvements, so that's one step that the city is really taking to help, you know, help create more accessible entryways. so what we do have, particularly in the upper haight as in the castro, we now have more accessible entryways as a result of the work that public works is doing with property owners when we're doing sidewalk improvements. so we're definitely going to

look to expand and strengthen our education program for businesses, one, that they should be getting a [indiscernible] inspection and ensure an interior [indiscernible] inspection, and just ensure that businesses really understand that even if they have an accessible entryway, that there still may be other barriers that they need to remediate. and then, also think about employee training? just like, i mean, i try -- for restaurants, i liken it to you're training your employees on all the things that they need to comply, the health code and the environment, well, we need to add that to make sure we're maintaining an accessible environment, as well. so we're going to be looking to work to try to develop more of

a training program and work with the merchants associations on that. in addition, we are now seeing also an increase -- we now have -- or not seeing an increase. we're now starting to see businesses that are being sued for nonaccessible website, and this is particularly with their e-commerce section? so it is a little frustrating because a lot of businesses purchase what i call off-the-shelf products for e-commerce, and these product developers aren't ensuring that their product are -- meets accessibility guidelines or informs the business, if they're making any modifications -- like, giving them a tool to test, that any

modifications, they're meeting -- they're maintaining compliance for an accessible website. so i think this is sort of a new policy area that's going to need to be looked at, and so we're looking -- we're also looking internally with staff to see what we can do and create a space on our website to make sure what tools that you can use to make sure that your website is accessible and then work with our organizations, to make sure that this is something they should be asking the product that they're purchasing as to whether they are a.d.a. accessible, and if they are, can they prove it? so -- and i -- and commissioner adams, i know that you have

just recently gone through some efforts yourself, so please feel free, if you want to take a moment to share that. >> no, and i appreciate that because i'm still going runs through that on a number of our properties. we're in the process now of registering with the state, and you can put your inspections up on the state architecture site. people are looking -- but i found out that people are not even driving by in these lawsuits. they're looking at google maps and stuff, and doing it that way, so just -- we all want to do the right thing, and, you know, we're making our changes. we had our cass inspections done. i had three more in the process

that we're undergoing right now and are making those changes. there is support out there, at least from the state, from where i'm at, so i appreciate that. >> right, and thank you, commissioner adams, for reminding me, is that the state architect now, if you do have a cass inspection -- so let's say you've just recently had your cass inspection. you haven't been able to remediate your barriers. you can have your cass -- you can have your business and address identified under this one section called 120-day stay. so it does inform if -- it does inform those that are paying attention to this section of the state architect site that you just recently had your cass

inspection and therefore are going through the process. so one of the benefits of having that cass is a 120-day stay. and also, there's another section -- there's two sections -- >> yeah. there's a 120-day stay, and then, you can register it with your cass inspection number, property address, all of that. >> so i'm bringing that to your attention just so -- so there's definitely -- i think moving forward, we just -- you know, it's part of this office's effort, you know, regardless to whether i'm here or not here, how we can continue to help really encourage businesses to get their cast inspection, understand, you know, precovid -- i know that there is one coffee shop on valencia street, had an accessible entryway, but got sued because they had a counter, the top,

the milk, and the sugars and all of that was just too high. so any way, we need to encourage businesses to really understand the inside, even for new businesses in addition to businesses that have been open for a while. i want to -- under policy and legislative matters, i do want to note that supervisor safai's legislation on the commercial rent relief that you supported has passed out of the board of supervisors with a total of eight supervisors supporting that. still no information yet as to whether that -- the commercial rent relief will be funded. the resolution that you adopted regarding the employee tax credit, that has been forwarded, and i think carrie

did inform you, has been forwarded to all the key folks in the city and the office of economic and workforce development, so i'll be following up with her this week because she was out last week, so just what the next steps might be in response to the resolution so that i can provide you with that. then, i want to just -- i want to kind of -- as we move -- as you move forward, as we all move forward, legislation is happening, and it's -- you know, as -- i mean, as commissioner adams, and even you, commissioner ortiz-cartagena, have been here for a while, we can see that -- i mean, there's been an extraordinary difference where the office of small business

and the small business community wasn't consulted in drafting legislation, and -- and therefore, you know, the role of the commission in dealing with legislation at the time and having -- there was a lot more nuancing and recommendations for amendments, and fortunately, we're sort of more in a place of office staff having more involvement in advising on drafting of legislation. and so, you know, to give some consider for what's -- what are some additional -- besides making some legislation and recommendations, what else can the commission do? so the commission can take a look at policy or different procedures. we did this -- we took some initial steps in this -- in taking a look at it, getting

presentations from departments. it may be multiple presentations from multiple departments over different meetings than to coalesce a recommendation. this was similar to what was done with the commission working group, so i just sort of laid that out there in terms of you might want to think about moving forward in terms of taking on two or three policy items that you want to take a look on, do some is deep dives, and then have the commission come together to make its policy recommendation. and to kind of follow up with this, we had a -- we start to have a very robust discussion with the formula retail and conditional use. so i want to do just some policy reminders and then, you know, i don't -- it's not --

it's not agendized for us to have a robust discussion, but just kind of utilizing -- i want to provide you just with some information just kind of give some thought to it. so one is just a reminder, that under the cb3p program, which is the expedited conditional use, formula retailers are permitted to use the cb3p to help our local home-grown businesses. so the other thing to give consideration to is the fact that there are still businesses that have to go through conditional use just like a formula retailer, and these

businesses are not eligible for the cb3p, and that is like a tobacco retail establishment, nighttime bars or restaurants or things that have a full alcohol license. so it's not just places that serve beer and wine, but that they are able to serve spirits, as well. i think it's always important to remember that there are individual businesses who also have to go through that same conditional use process. then, i also -- having gone through my own experience of having worked with a retailer from when they were three stores to -- i think i left when they had 13 stores, and just being able to see, you

know, what a business could do having, you know, a higher number of businesses. and i was an area manager, and what i experienced as an area manager is that sometimes new stores, it would take them a year before they started to break even? and to be able to support that cost, it helped by having other profitable stores. so -- and that was able to sustain that new location, being able to get, you know, off the ground and start generating a profit. so something that -- so when we're talking about formula retail, i just want to make sure, you know, that it's not to say that the expense of going through the conditional use is not something to be considered, but we have to also

remember sometimes who's the messenger, and sometimes the messenger are the retailers, and there's a higher profitability with being able to lease two formula retail. but the greater thing that, i think, needs to be given consideration, and if we kind of look at el faralito situation, and i'm going to say this without being able to absolutely affirm, you know, their schedule of growth? but they opened their first two locations in 1997. they opened a third location in san francisco in 1998. the fourth location in san francisco was opened in 2014. it recently closed in january of 2021, but i think, you know, some of the conversation that we are hearing in -- regarding

our local home grown formula retailers is they -- they may have two or three locations, and then, they leave the city to be able to grow even more and then come back rk and prafg -- come back, and perhaps some of that is being done because you might need to grow your business outside of san francisco in order to come back in order to grow your business. i sort of liken back to when i first moved here, i don't know how much of you remember just desserts. it was in many neighborhoods, and it was the place to go, and it was a san francisco home

grown thing. and i don't think that we quite see that kind of home grown business anymore in multiple neighborhoods, so when we're talking about, you know, kind of growth and expansion, yes, the formula retail costs, but it's a one-time cost. like, once you get through it, it's a one-time cost, and can you afford the cost on an ongoing basis? [please stand by]

>> director: so i just -- i just, you know, as you if the commission's going to give policy consideration in relation to formula retail, i think just don't forget there are other potential considerations that might

affect this as well. so i'll just leave it at that. so with large -- with businesses growing their business through e commerce first and then wanting to do land use and then have a store. so as a reminder and i believe, commissioner adams, you can correct me and i believe vice

president zouzounis, the planning department said it's not within their purview to establish any kind of economic distinction so that is if there's interest from the commission, that can be something that's explored on your behalf -- not your behalf, but you can explore what that could be from a policy perspective. but, again, you know, the planning department did note their role and their purview is regulating land, so anyway. that is why e commerce, we don't have an e-commerce designation that potentially could be applied for formula

retail. and then, also, i just want to remind the commission that the economic mitigation working group did set forward or did produce a set of 15 recommendations and discussion with vice president zouzounis who's the chair of the equity special committee, the racial equity special committee. you know, this is something that the racial equity special committee can look at, but there's a set of recommendations too that can be looked at and discussed. and i think there's kind of a top three that i look at. one is the elimination of the deemed approved use fee to amend the tobacco retail sales so that it allows for other

family members and expands the family member definition if the business is passed on to the family that they're able to retain. the tobacco license and then the cigarette litter abatement fee, but there is a whole host of others. so i'll resend that list to you for you to take a look at. and then lastly, i just want to make a note that i am having carrie work on a resolution regarding ada tax credits because it turns out the annual tax credit and deductions that businesses can take, that hasn't changed since 1998 and it turns out through carrie's research, excellent job on her part, that she found out that

senator duckworth in 2018 and 2019 put forward a bill to increase those tax credits and deductions, but, you know, it was under the trump administration, so those kind of died on the floor. so it's good to know that we have, you know, senators at the federal level who are also thinking about this and so looking to draft a resolution to help our local government encouraging our state -- our federal officials to continue to support and maybe encourage senator duckworth to reintroduce that bill. so with that, i'm happy to take any questions and i will leave it there.

>> vice president zouzounis: thank you, director. commissioners, do we have any questions for director dick endrizzi? commissioner huie. >> commissioner huie: that was a lot. thank you very much. that was a lot to digest. i am wondering in terms of formula retail, what in the past, how has this mission gone about to explore -- like, was there a sub committee. i feel like this was a huge topic like you were saying in terms of all the different policies that have happened and and i feel that our commission's role is so important because they're in

such a disconnect in policy and what actually happens in real life and speaking of other, you know, i guess without bringing up other topics and things, i think we have such an intimate understanding of how a business operates, runs, what we're thinking in terms of how we weigh our decisions and i think that's something that, you know, i wouldn't expect other people to understand unless they've really been in our shoes. like the example you brought up

in your. so how do we then bridge that gap between the idea of land use and the actual economics of running a business today. so i think that conversation is so -- go ahead. >> commissioner: i can jump in because i lived and breathed for the last eleven years and we've had sub committees and out of it we made changes to the cp3 program. we were able to make some changes, but you have to realize this is a voter mandated thing. so we can only do so much you have to go to the voter. she said i was involved in every one of these subgroups trying to make those changes because i hear your frustration

on this. i mean, i'm living it myself and i hear it through others. this isn't an overnight thing. it's going to have to come from changes from the mayor's office, from the board of supervisors. unfortunately, i mean, this commission has tried to do some changes. we've had some division on the commission with this. so, you know, in all fairness, we've had groups that we've met with the planning department. it's a tough thing and without getting into discussion on this, because we can't, but we've had groups in the past

that came out with positives on this. maybe we can have a retreat and talk about and see what we can do. >> commissioner huie: yeah. i don't think we're going to solve this and i don't even know what that solution would look like, you know. i think it's just -- i think is there a way that our commission can help shape the narrative for the present and then the near future? because the landscape looks very different than it did even five years ago at this point. so my hope is that i think putting it on the retreat agenda is a great idea. like having some space to be able to think about it and how do we fit into that narrative? because i think we've -- you have obviously put in a lot of work and other commissioners have obviously dealt with it. >> commissioner: yeah.

and i think the best thing to do going forward and we've done this. i think for people like you and people on the commission to have planning come in and somebody from planning explain it because it's a lot. and it's really important i feel, especially, you know, you've been out on clement street. i mean you know what's going on. your own shop. you're involved with your merchant organization and so i know what you get being involved in a merchant organization and i think there's things as merchant organizations, they may not last -- i mean, they don't know what's really out there and i think the first step is to have somebody come in and explain everything to the commission. >> director: right. and to add to commissioner

adams' comments, sometimes things are department driven, so the 2014 analysis was a department-led effort by the planning department and so therefore they included a representative of small business commission which i think was you, commissioner adams, but then they also had neighborhood representation which is where commissioner dooley and i think vice president zouzounis were involved through that. sometimes things are department driven and you might write a resolution that says, "we request that the department do xyz." i think one thing commissioner adams said is one thing for the commission to get a full briefing on the history. we'll use formula retail as an example and just get a full

history of the formula retail from inception, what changes have taken place, you know, what's there. so, you know, that's why i reiterated that, you know, we do have exceptions for formula retail to at the point them go through the conditional use process just like other small businesses who have to go through conditional use that can derive that benefit. so sometimes that may not necessarily be in everybody's, you know, forefront of their mind. so there's a history and then i think, you know, where the commission can really help weigh in and sort of do some potential sort of recommendations is around the e-commerce side. so, again, you know, that was 2014 and the planning commission city attorney said

that this is not an area for them to take leadership in because of, you know, their department, their role, and their function, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the commission can't take the leadership in that. so what would that entail? and that is something that, you know, then working with carrie would be, you know, what is the information we would want to gather to hear to then be able to inform and make a recommendation. or it could be that a special committee is created, though that's a lot of additional work. but to do a deep dive into it as well. but sometimes it benefits to have the full commission to have those presentations. so, um, so any other questions?

>> vice president zouzounis: i was just going to say, i was on the subsidiary as the small business group and i think that was around 2015. it might have been right after the 2014 formal group convened, they had a subsidiary working group. so i know that that had -- i mean, our focus was a little different because it was on formula retailers that were creating adjacent businesses thoughts. my memory doesn't serve there's been any changes. so i think if it's something

that we want to formally request as a body to have a presentation on both the formula retail and the subsidiary codes because i think they are distinct in that sense, yeah. but i think we should take into account everything that the director said that there are policy initiatives. we've already started at the commission that will address some of the economic barriers for small businesses that are, you know, hoping to become expanded businesses with multiple locations. i think fee mitigation is something we have said over and over again and i would love to see us follow through on some of the policy proposals we've

made in those areas and maybe use this as our contribution to the formula retail conversation. so really identifying what we feel like our niche is in that but i'm happy to keep brainstorming around that. >> director: and the last thing i'll say and hopefully we can move into public comment. but the one thing that is different is e-commerce in 2014 is very different than e-commerce now and so that is a particular area that i think is worth exploring. so i think if there aren't any

more commissioner questions, then we should move on to public comment. >> vice president zouzounis: are there any public callers on the line for item number seven? >> clerk: there are no callers in queue. >> vice president zouzounis: thank you. public comment is closed. thank you, director. may we please take the next item. >> clerk: item eight, commissioner discussion and new business. allows president, vice president, and commissioners to report on recent small business activities, make announcements that are of interest to the small business community, and make inquiries of staff and allows commissioners to introduce new agenda items for consideration. this is a discussion item. >> vice president zouzounis: thank you, carrie. do we have any commissioners who want to give a report at

this time? we do the work. we don't always have to talk about it. all right. i'll give a quick one. i was invited by supervisor stefani to join a union street merchant walk as part of the activation. okay. yeah. i'm still commenting for as part of the merchant group and avenue green light projects there. that was really neat. i met some of your clement street colleagues. commissioner huie, you have a great crew out there.

active merchant groups are now helping other merchant groups and i see that as a big benefit from this project as part of the san francisco merchant groups. so that was a really great event on union street. so props to that association and, today, i also joined some of our colleagues as part of the healthy retail program and food trusts that are helping small retailers, small grocers address some of their supply chain needs as it pertains to getting healthy products and more to come on that. commissioner huie, i'll pass it to you. >> commissioner huie: i don't always like to share the stuff that i do, i guess.

not because i'm secretive about it but just because, you know, like all of us, we kind of just do our thing, but one of the things that i'm working on is helping the chinese historical society of america plan a street fair in chinatown and we got our street closure on joyce alley, so joyce street and we're working in partnership with c.c.c. which is i think "chinese cultural center" of san francisco. i may have that totally wrong. but we are partnering with them and they're producing a performance, a day of dance called "dancing on waiverly" and so there are two festivals happening at the same time and it's scheduled for october 16th. and it's kind of like a

marketplace where we've invited vendors who are exploring their a.a.p.i. heritage and bringing forth crafts and art and we'll have different artists with their work and hopefully artists talks and things like that. and the thing that's really significant about this is that we are working in collaboration with others and i find that in this community, it's really important for us to really think about how we can collaborate and create partnerships and, you know, this is -- i guess what you said, vice president zouzounis, was that, you know, merchants associations are collaborating with each other. you know, people in different neighborhoods are collaborating with each other. even in the same neighborhood. i think what we need now is really the concept of how do we

lift all of us up. let's not reinventing the stuff, and that's what we're hoping for with the street fair, is the opportunity to make new connections and bring people into the neighborhood and create something hopefully that will be sustaining. so this is the first of the fair. hopefully, this will continue and i'm kind of helping them make businesses. so, hopefully, if you guys are in chinatown or interested in going to chinatown on october 16th. i think the next day is going to be phoenix day for the whole city, so lots of activities. i know clement street has some things planned. yeah. i'm also excited about fleet week. that's coming up too. i don't want to be a sitting calendar, but there are a lot

of things happening that, you know, i am really excited to see because it's time we celebrate a little bit, you know. so, yeah. i'm open for more collaborations and meeting new people. thanks. >> vice president zouzounis: seeing no more commissioners. i'll take public comment. do we have any commentors for item number eight on the line? >> clerk: we have no callers in queue. >> vice president zouzounis: thank you. public comment is closed for item eight. next item. >> clerk: item nine adjournment. this is an action item. >> commissioner: i move to adjourn. >> vice president zouzounis: second. >> clerk: moved by commissioner ortiz-cartagena and seconded by vice president

zouzounis. okay. motion to adjourn. [roll call] motion passes four to none with three commissioners absent. do we have to read a closing statement before we close? >> director: well, we just -- the office of small business slide should be read before we do adjournment. so we'll just have to bypass that. >> clerk: oh, right. okay. meeting is adjourned at 6:27 p.m. then.

>> director: thank you, commissioners. >> vice president zouzounis: thank you everybody. >> manufacturing in cities creates this perfect platform for people to earn livelihoods

and for people to create more economic prosperity. i'm kate sosa. i'm cofounder and ceo of sf made. sf made is a public private partnership in the city of san francisco to help manufacturers start, grow, and stay right here in san francisco. sf made really provides wraparound resources for manufacturers that sets us apart from other small business support organizations who provide more generalized support. everything we do has really been developed over time by listening and thinking about what manufacturer needs grow. for example, it would be

traditional things like helping them find capital, provide assistance loans, help to provide small business owners with education. we have had some great experience doing what you might call pop ups or temporary selling events, and maybe the most recent example was one that we did as part of sf made week in partnership with the city seas partnership with small business, creating a 100 company selling day right here at city hall, in partnership with mayor lee and the board of supervisors, and it was just a wonderful opportunity for many of our smaller manufacturers who may be one or two-person shop, and who don't have the wherewithal to have their own dedicated retail store to show their products and it comes back to how do we help companies set more money into

arthur businesses and develop more customers and their relationships, so that they can continue to grow and continue to stay here in san francisco. i'm amy kascel, and i'm the owner of amy kaschel san francisco. we started our line with wedding gowns, and about a year ago, we launched a ready to wear collection. san francisco's a great place to do business in terms of clientele. we have wonderful brides from all walks of life and doing really interesting things: architects, doctors, lawyers, teachers, artists, other like minded entrepreneurs, so really fantastic women to work with. i think it's important for them to know where their clothes are made and how they're made. >> my name is jefferson mccarly, and i'm the general manager of the mission bicycle company.

we sell bikes made here for people that ride here. essentially, we sell city bikes made for riding in urban environments. our core business really is to build bikes specifically for each individual. we care a lot about craftsmanship, we care a lot about quality, we care about good design, and people like that. when people come in, we spend a lot of time going to the design wall, and we can talk about handle bars, we can see the riding position, and we take notes all over the wall. it's a pretty fun shopping experience. paragraph. >> for me as a designer, i love the control. i can see what's going on, talk to my cutter, my pattern maker, looking at the

designs. going through the suing room, i'm looking at it, everyone on the team is kind of getting involved, is this what that drape look? is this what she's expecting, maybe if we've made a customization to a dress, which we can do because we're making everything here locally. over the last few years, we've been more technical. it's a great place to be, but you know, you have to concentrate and focus on where things are going and what the right decisions are as a small business owner. >> sometimes it's appropriate to bring in an expert to offer suggestions and guidance in coaching and counseling, and other times, we just need to talk to each other. we need to talk to other manufacturers that are facing similar problems, other people that are in the trenches, just like us,

so that i can share with them a solution that we came up with to manage our inventory, and they can share with me an idea that they had about how to overcome another problem. >> moving forward, where we see ourselves down the road, maybe five and ten years, is really looking at a business from a little bit more of a ready to wear perspective and making things that are really thoughtful and mindful, mindful of the end user, how they're going to use it, whether it's the end piece or a wedding gown, are they going to use it again, and incorporating that into the end collection, and so that's the direction i hear at this point. >> the reason we are so enamored with the work we do is we really do see it as a platform for changing and making the city something that it has always been and making

sure that we're sharing the opportunities that we've been blessed with economically and socially as possible, broadening that

>> clerk: -- held on october 4, 2021. the meeting is being called to order at 4:35 p.m. members of the public who will be calling in, the number is 415-655-0001. the access code is 2480-980-2106. press pound and then pound again to be added to the line. when you're connected, you'll t