. >> clerk: held on november 22nd, 2021. the meeting is being called to order at 4:30 p.m. small business thanks sfgov tv for televising the meeting. members of the public who will be calling in, the number is (415) 655-0001. the access code is 24997935471.

press pound and then pound again to be added to the line. when connected, you will hear the meeting discussions but you will be muted and in listening mode only. when your item of interest comes up, dial star three to be added to the speaker line. if you dial star three before public comment is called, you will be added to the queue. when you are called for public comment, please mute the device you are listening on. when you are ready to speak you will be prompted to do so. speak clearly and slowly and turn down the device your listening the meeting on. public comment is limited to two minutes per person. an alarm will sound once the time is finished. speakers are requested but not required to state their names. sfgov tv, please show the office of small business slide. >> president laguana: today, we will begin with the reminder

that the small business commission is a place to voice your concerns about the economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco. the office of small business 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 online or via telephone. and, as always, our services are free of charge. before item one is called, i'd like to start by thanking media services and sfgov tv for coordinating this virtual hearing and the live stream and special thanks to matthew ignao who will be running the meeting. please call item number one. >> clerk: item one. call to order and roll call. [roll call]

that's it. mr. president, you have a quorum. >> president laguana: thank you. vice president zouzounis, will you read the ramaytush ohlone land acknowledgement, please? >> vice president zouzounis: the san francisco small business commission and the 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 traditions, the ramaytush ohlone have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional

territory. as guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the ramaytush ohlone community and by affirming their sovereign right as first peoples. >> president laguana: thank you. next item, please. number two. >> clerk: item two, board of supervisors file 211030-police code-regulation of cannabis business. this is a discussion and action item. the commission will discuss and take action on an ordinance amending the police code to clarify that the office of economic and workforce development may establish standards governing the certification of cannabis-related pre-apprenticeships programs that relate to the social equity training and license

incubation processes, underserved community outreach programs. the period for which the director of the office of cannabis may grant the temporary authorization of medical cannabis to continue operating while they wait for the o.o.c. to operate and have several prerequisites. and presenting today, we have earnest jones, legislative aide to supervisor safai. >> hello everyone. and good afternoon, commissioners. i'm going to go ahead and share my screen here. i hope everyone can see that. can you see it? >> president laguana: yes. >> again, my name is earnest

jones. i'm a legislative aide and i'm here on behalf of supervisor safai district 7 supervisor. the office of cannabis is permitting a process that's progressed much more slowly anticipated and as a result, medical cannabis dispensaries are spending significant periods of times under the m.c.d. authorization. the proposed changes are the same requirements made of cannabis business permits under article 16 of the police code or the adult use operators. this legislation strengthens our equity and apprenticeships programs by legislating for all qualified dispensaries in san francisco and just in terms of who we work with to develop this legislation, the office of cannabis and john pierce is with me here today. u.f.c.w.5 and oewd, we all collaborated together to work on this to create something that was very useful. so the proposed changes and, again, this is an amendment to

current legislation. the proposed changes would, one, the ordinance will require the temporary medicinal cannabis dispensaries to ensure that 35% of hires are from certified apprenticeship programs to the extent feasible. two, if the medical cannabis has more than ten employees, the medical cannabis dispensary must enter into a labor peace agreement or a collective bargaining agreement with a bona fied organization. three, the intention of the medical cannabis to sell adult use cannabis from 120 days to 150 to 180-day periods. and, four, these mcds must not have received any viable public health or safety complaints in the prior 150 days. and the reason we brought this forth is it's an opportunity to take all of -- to bring

cannabis to san francisco under one umbrella and basically just create one very smooth experience for all the operators, employees, and patrons. it adds more transparency to the operations in that transitional time by holding mcd they're temporarily authorized to the same standards as those of the adult use retailers and i do have john pierce who is the interim director that can answer any technical questions in addition to what i presented today. >> president laguana: thank you. commissioners, do we have any questions? commissioner adams. >> commissioner adams: yeah. i like all of this except for the one part for change where you have ten or more employees, they have to join a union. i'm pro-union. i come from a union family, but it shouldn't be a city law. that should be up to the people who work there. the city should not be

dictating in my opinion those type of rules. that's the only thing i don't like about this. it could be a deal killer for me. why -- if somebody could explain, why was that put in there? because i don't know of any other cannabis whether it be medical cannabis that are in labor agreements right now. >> so the adult use, these are the same rules that apply for the adult use dispensaries currently. so this is something that was just mirroring what is already in article 16. >> president laguana: i'm sorry. go to 'proposed changes.' it's medical cannabis dispensary has more than ten employees, that requirement was in the previous -- >> it's in the article 16. so the adult use cannabis

dispensaries do have that. >> i can jump in here and provide some context if applicable. i'm john pierce in the office of cannabis. let's take it way back before the state of california legalized the use of cannabis, there were medicinal cannabis dispensaries called mcds. they existed in the city prior to 2017 when the law was changed. after the law was changed, our office issues a different kind of permit to new medical dispensaries. our permits are governed under article 16. the conditions of article 16 are different than the conditions that govern medical cannabis dispensaries. the proposal that supervisor safai is talking about would change the laws that currently govern mcds which say you have to have these labor agreements, it would change that to the same law that applies to article 16 which say you have

to have more than ten. >> president laguana: so, currently, it says ten if it's medical. >> correct. >> president laguana: okay. vice president zouzounis. >> vice president zouzounis: thank you so much director pierce and e.j. for being here from the supervisor's office. can you just repeat back to me, what was that 20 number of employees? was that a prior statute that's being -- that was amended to ten for the commercial campus establishments? >> so the current code governing medicinal can bus -- mcds is more than 20. the current code governing article 16 or the new permits is ten and the proposed changes to reduce the mcd law from 20

to 10. >> vice president zouzounis: thank you. i didn't even realize the mcds had that same requirement even though it was at 20. i knew about the adult use and i know that there is still a process that the workforce does engage to get to that point. and so if you want to provide us a little bit more kind of order of operation so that maybe, you know, commissioner adams and those of us who want clarity on what the city is asking and then what is the responsibility of the shop and employees to meet that requirement or if there's a way that they decide not to, how that works. i would love to have kind of a play-by-play on that since we had one in commercial already. and then, my just overall concern is a lot of mcds are

even more mom and pop to a degree. they were the original cooperatives, you know. of the their legacy establishments, a lot of older generations are running them. so i just make sure we're not as we're trying to bring everybody up to a standardized level, we're not in a standardized level where some commercial establishments have more capital involved. so i would love to hear what your feedback has been from the mcds on this legislation. if they feel like this is leveling the playing field for everybody or if it is still a disproportionate burden for them to meet. i would love to hear about any conversations you've had. >> i'm not sure if i clearly explained this and maybe john can elaborate on this, but all

of the mcds must convert. and so that's the process that we're working on and because many of these mcds are spending a much longer period as mcds during the conversion period is how we came to this legislation. so i'll let john talk a little bit more about what he's seeing from dispensaries and that. >> yeah. to e.j.'s point, all mcds will eventually be governed under the new law, the article 16 law, it's just a question of how long it takes the office of cannabis to transition people from one to the other and the proposal today is just a method to do that before the permits are changed from one type to another. our office has not communicated with the mcds in good detail about how they feel about this proposal. so i'll defer to the supervisor on that. >> i think from the

dispensaries that we've spoken to in our district, we didn't have any real push-back because they each realized this was something they were going to have to do regardless. >> but you only have a few in your district, what about others in the city? because this should have been outreach for everyone. >> we've only spoken to dispensaries in our district at this time. >> president laguana: vice president zouzounis, did you want to follow up? >> vice president zouzounis: no. i think -- thank you for explaining kind of where this lies within the trajectory of the commercialization process. our commission's been active in the last five or so years, but,

yeah, i just think i would have loved to hear the stakeholder perspective here. i understand this is part of getting in line with the city and the state and moving into commercial cannabis law. i feel like as much as our commission has been involved, i don't feel like we're up to date. it's hard for us to make decisions that we might -- it's hard for me without feeling like i understand the conversation in cannabis, like what's happening in the industry and why the city, you know, is making proposals like this. like is this to help them or is

this to put on their radar or if this is meant to be a punitive mechanism to get you there. i just want to understand what this means to the industry itself. >> i definitely don't think it's a punitive change. it's really a change to make sure that there is parody in the operation of the cannabis dispensaries throughout san francisco. we definitely don't see this as -- these are requirements that most of these dispensaries will have to enter into within the next year regardless because they are going through the process with mr. pierce and so it's just a way to streamline

the process and make sure everyone is covered under the same rules. >> president laguana: vice president zouzounis, are you done or did you have more questions? >> vice president zouzounis: i will leave the floor. >> president laguana: okay. commissioner huie. >> commissioner huie: i think you might of just answered my question, but just to clarify, you're saying that everybody is going to transition within this calendar year or maybe not -- i guess year, that would be next november. >> so john could give the exact timeline, but we're within 2022, correct, john? >> the exact time line depends on the municipal cannabis industry themselves. we assume everybody will begin the process within 2022. >> commissioner huie: and, how

many medical cannabis dispensaries are we talking about? >> 35 are currently active. >> commissioner huie: so 35 will be subject to these changes eventually and we're trying to fill that gap between now and the next like year or so. is that right? >> this would bring the process forward in time, yes. so it would instead of having to wait until they finish the process, it would bring it to now. >> some of these, you know, are things that you're asking of the dispensary, or of the business like requiring that, you know, the new hires that 35% of new hires are certified apprenticeship programs and obviously the collective bargaining piece. so when would they be subject

to those? >> president laguana: commissioner huie's asking when would the legislation go into effect and when would they be required to be in compliance with these proposed am changes? >> i don't know when the board is planning to hear this, e.j., the condition is one that mcds are already required to fill currently. so that's not a huge change from what the current code says. >> president laguana: no. please continue. >> and then just in terms of the legislation, it was heard in committee last week and recommended for the full board on the 30th for its first

reading. >> commissioner huie: okay. i'm basically just asking the question because i'm wondering again, you know, without knowing what the dispensaries, the way they feel, without having taken a pulse on that, i'm kind of curious as to how they feel about -- do you want your text messages up right now. >> oh, sorry. >> commissioner huie: sorry. i just wanted to let you know in case it wasn't. sorry i lost my train of thought now. yeah. i'm just kind of curious as to how they feel about having to kind of speed up the process if there are significant changes especially when it comes to, you know, employees, labor, things like that because those are things that are challenging

for any business to come here into compliance quickly just because we don't have a ton of control over who's going to actually apply, what's going to happen and i see like there's this feasibility type of, clause there but, those things aren't like fast-moving within a business. >> so one of the reasons that the feasibility components is there is from my understanding is that the apprenticeship program does not currently exist. so it's something that oewd is working on. so at this moment, it wouldn't be something that would be immediate. >> commissioner huie: okay. >> president laguana: okay. so -- sorry. commissioner huie, please continue. >> commissioner huie: i'm okay. i feel like you're going to ask

the next couple questions i would ask as well. so go ahead. >> president laguana: you please go ahead and ask them and i'll come in at the end. i'm just chomping at the bit here. >> commissioner huie: no. i'm actually done. i'll go ahead and jump back in if i have another question. thank you. >> president laguana: okay. please do. on behalf of the commission, i guess we're -- maybe, you know -- i think we're all just a little perplexed and also a little shy about advocating for changes without having a clear understanding of what this will mean for the industry. i see director dick endrizzi has something that may help the

matters. please proceed. you're on mute, director. >> director: thank you, president laguana. and, through the president, just a little bit of a historical context. when the original legislation was passed to create a legalized structure for retail cannabis or just nonmedical cannabis, right. so there was some very significant deadlines that things needed to be. san francisco needed to have its permitting process in place before -- for businesses to be able to then -- like, they had to submit an application before to prove at the state level to

submit an application. it was very complex. the timing was very intense. i think if my recollection serves me that when the commission initially heard the legislation, the labor peace agreement was i don't think part of it. and it was something that was kind of a last-minute sort of push and negotiation that happened i believe with supervisor safai's office and the industry. so while on one hand, i think, you know, they're definitely your concerns around the labor peace agreement and for another day to analyze the implications of such an agreement at an employee threshold, but do note that the cannabis industry at

the time who was working with the city and the supervisors to get the legislation passed did eventually agree to it. right. so whether they felt really good about it or not, but it was something that, you know, the party did come to an agreement so that the legislation could get past. >> president laguana: understood. and thank you for that clarifying context, director. i was going to say on behalf of the commission, i don't know that in my time on the commission that we've seen a requirement for collective bargaining agreement with businesses as few as ten employees. i think we're all a little concerned that we might be -- i

shouldn't say we're all concerned, but at least some of us are concerned that we might be advocating for something that the folks who were actually tasked with complying with this for agreeing to it but, director, if i understand you correctly, this is well understood that within the industry, this would not come as a surprise and is that correct? this is an understood part of the context of operating an mcd? >> i'm sorry. >> director: no. go ahead. >> sorry. i was just going to say all of the current medical cannabis dispensaries are aware that they will be complying by these rules. >> director: right. and just to be a little bit sort of, you know, just to note

in terms of what -- we've been. there's been legislation about it extending the deadline one because of covid and other in terms of the office being able to work in terms of businesses. technically the mcds were to have regular retail operations and so technically at that time, if it was done a year ago or what have you, they would of had to already when they transitioned, they would of had to, you know follow the regulation around the labor piece agreement. [please stand by]

>> i'm just trying to identify facts of consideration . the commission of course, i know that you can always sort of make a recommendation to the understanding, because there are challenges the cannabis industry is experiencing with the black marketand things of that sort as well . and whether i think you know, the initial thought when we are transitioning into ... from a medical regulation to just a some legalized business. there was thought there would be some great huge room with the cannabis industry and that i think is starting discussions on that reevaluationbecause the

black market is still so significant . anyway. i'll leave it at that. >>. >> chair: thankyou director, i appreciate that . vice president zouzounis. >> thank you director. thank you doctor pierce and ej. this is thankful but we were really involved with cannabis and the last couple of years we feel like we're not as twoand in so that's why we have a lot of questions . i know the industry is dealing with an oversaturation and that's why we've seen moratoriums and you can correct me if i'm wrong because i don't think this referredto us but the equity application . is there an existing or moratorium on getting certain

new license types? i'm trying to understand why there is an influx of new commercial businesses from the mcps or if you feel like a number of them aregoing to help this process . i'm trying tounderstand , sorry.i also saw in this legislation you referenced equity for training that oewd would be able to authorize with this legislation so i'm trying to understand what we can expect for you, new commercial licensed businesses and some of the moratoriums that you're putting on. >> there is currently no moratorium on applications for new cannabis . >> so that. does that equity equity moratoriumnot pass ?

>> sorry, therewere hearings about this a few months ago . nothing haspassed . i believe that supervisor safai is considering additional conversations but as of now there is no moratorium. >> we do have a hearing set up for december just to understand the state of the equity program mister zouzounis so we can learn more about how many applications there are, many are in the pipeline and how well our equityapplicants performing , once in the business . because our office we do really want to support the equity applications to make sure they are successful inthe business . >> thank you, canyou please let our commission know when that hearinghappens ?

i'd love to have an eye on that . okay, so that helps me understand a bit that we're not going to contradict each other here. but reinforcing one element and do you feel like all 35 are pending right now are going to make the cut or what do you se ? you said there is not an exact timeline but is there a date in this legislation or a date for the legislation that's trying to get streamlined? >> there is no set date for when these regulations would currently set in under the existing code would likely be in the next two years or so. some people will move more quickly through the process. to answer your question about liability generally speaking

these are businesses that have existed for a long time. some of them more than 10 years so it is likely most of them will proceed but some businesses do better than others.>> that's all i have and i want to say especially for supervisor safai's office i know we have a sentiment on this commission where we would love to be able to have all businessesparticipate more in workforce benefits and for their workers . a lot of you please get in terms of resources so we'd love to keep that conversation open and thank youfor answering our questions . >> president: so two quick questions . one, i think you said of the 35

businesses that are currently in the queue for this, do we know how many of them haveover 10 employees ?>> i don't have that one hand we can find out for you. >> president: do you have a roughsense? i won't hold you down but is it most of them, a fraction of them ? >> i'm sorry, i just don't have a good estimate. >> to make sure i understood what youjust said previously , but for this legislation most of them would eventually make the conversion but sometime over the next two years this simply accelerates that conversion process? is my understanding ofthat correct ? >> yes. >> for the commissioners, in

article 16 it's actually 16 or nine paragraph the, sorry section b paragraph 12 the labor of these requirements is in their and i've been able to as the director alluded i've been able to independently confirm that this is not going to come as a surprise to the cannabis industry .so i think that's it as far as our questions go unless commissioner adams, did you want to add any last comments having heard what everybody else has said ? >> thank you presidentlaguana. it's clarified a lot to me and i appreciatethat . the only thing that's now not sitting good with me is the outreach . just going to a couple of countries in excelsior, this is something that could affect dispensaries all over the city and my own opinion is it should

have been discussed with more than dispensaries in the city but other than that, the other questions have beenanswered . >> at that point then we will see if we will open it upto public comment .anyone on the line for item number two. >> i had one more question. >> president: i didn't see you, i apologize commissioner huie. >> i just have one more quick question. i think somebody had asked this earlier but what is the benefit of becoming a medical cannabis dispensary or not becoming one as an mcd the coming whatever the classification is right no . >> i can take a stab of that and say it's not anoptional

conversion . >> is not an optional conversion but what would we be the benefit of that conversion. >> the law governing the dispensaries will expire so you won't have the permit unless you become an mcd . >> is the delay on the part of the city's resources or adelay on the part of the businesses not wanting toconvert ? >> it's a city issue . >> okay. i think i agree also with commissioner adams in terms of withoutunderstanding how people actually feel this . it's that piece of it continues to make it a challenge for me too i think analyze this properly.

>> i want to clarify one thing i said under the citycapacity issue . our office has prioritized equity applicants which is why we have not moved this through. >> okay. >> got it. okay,moved to public comment then . >> there's no one in the room for public comment. >> commissioners, i sort of independently checked with somebody that's in this industry just to stress check and hear from somebody. they are not in supervisors district . and i've been able to independently confirm that this is a controversial proposition based on the industry standpoint. i know it's a little anxiety

provoking for all of us because none of us are in the industry . it's potentially big changes but apparently they're not. to whatever degree that. concerned about that, i hope you find some solace in that, at least. but i share your general anxiety about wanting to beso careful moving forward. with that i will put it out there. any commissioners that would like to make a motion ? >> i will make a motion to recommend that piece of legislation. >> clerk: movedby vice presidentzouzounis . is there a second ? >> president: i will go ahead and second. >> clerk: seconded by president

laguana. i will call the role. [roll call vote] motion passes. six aye, one absence. >> president:gentlemen, ernest and john thank you for your time . could you pass on to the commissioner it would help our anxiety level tremendously if theoutreach was there so that we could be certain that folks would be supportive . i know it's not clear on the front-end but we take this

position seriously and we want to try to do a good job by the community andthat's helpful when you guys can do that . if you would pass on to the supervisor i would appreciate it. >> forclarification when i spoke i was speaking about our office specifically . i know some of our partners definitely talk to other outlets. >> president: i'm sure they di . it's okay. stuff happens. we appreciate you and thank you gentlemen fortaking the time t walk us through this . next item please . >> clerk: item 3, resolution to allow teleconference meetings under california government code section 54953e. this is a discussion and action item. the commission will discuss and

vote on a resolution 1 that it has considered or reconsidered the circumstances of the state of emergency and that either the emergency continues to directly impact the ability of its members to meet safely in person or 2b that state or local officialscontinue to impose or recommend measures to promote social distancing .>> president: any questions? is there any publiccomment ? >> no one on the line for public comment. >> president: i moved to adopt the resolution. >> i second. >> clerk: motion by president laguana, seconded by president adams. we will call the role. [roll call vote] motion passes

with 6 aye's and one absent. >> president: next item please. >> clerk: office of small business budget report. the commission will hear an update and report from the office of small business fiscal year 2122 budget and we have director tracy hereto discuss . >> president: iunderstand this item is going to be continued to the next meeting . we will take public comment on it and vote to continue it. is there any public comment westand mark . >> there is no one on the line for publiccomment . >> i will make a motionto

continue . >> i will second. >> clerk: motion to continue b president laguana, seconded by commissioner adams . [roll call vote] motion passes. >> next item. >> item 5, legacy business program strategic marketing plan, adiscussion item . the commission will review the legacy business program that was preparedfor the office of small business by design media . presenting today we have richard kurylo, legislative program manager. and i will give richard or

matthew, can you give richard the presentation? the presentation privileges? can everyone see that? good evening members of the public. richard kurylo. constant with a local firm design media for website

development and marketing strategy. in march we completed the design and implementation of the new legacy business work sector. in april we marked on development of a strategic marketing plan which included an online survey in july. and one on one interviews with six legacy businesses in late august or earlyseptember earlier this month design media presented a marketing plan . the executive summary highlights that legacy businesses are a diverse group of businesses thatmake up the cultural fabric of the city of san francisco. legacy businesses can be found in all of san francisco's neighborhoods . design media conducted two types of research to better understand the needs of legacy businesses and an online survey and one on one interviews with six legacy businesses chosen by the office of smallbusiness .

the online survey had a robust response rate over 50 percent with 150 more responses. design media reports through their research 60 percent of legacy businesses have been in business for 40 years and 11 percent have been in business for over 100 years. 87 percent of legacy businesses say the businessprogram has helped their business and 95 percent say they would recommend the programs . the strategic marketing plan is presented in three parts. part one programs and recommended for the city. part two, programs andtactics recommended for the legacy businesses and part three, implementation plans . part one, plans for legacy business programs .design media recommends a blend of

programs designed to reach both locals and tourists through a san francisco legacy campaign. their recommendations include online andoutdoor marketing, public relations and partner collaboration . the marketing will be neighborhood focused to enable residents and visitors to better understand the living history of their neighborhood . therecommendations are supported by survey results . 84 percent of legacy businesses find recognition as a reason they applied for the registry and 57 percent cited grants as a reason and 54 percent in marketing andpromotional help . in summary a part one san francisco retains its individualistic nature through scores of businesses and the unique story they have totell. the city is positioned to become a master storyteller for these were theventures .

part two, plans for legacy business partners . the recommended goal is 30 percent of legacy businesses to prevent begin promoting their status as a legacy partner to integrate the idea of legacy into their brand identity. target audiences areexisting clients and new prospects depending on the business . to benefit from the cities are san francisco legacy campaign businesses must embrace the idea ofincorporating legacy into their individual brands . legacy graphics and messaging should be busy at all customer touch points prompting them to ask what is a legacy business or to make the connection between the campaign and individual. the research results were clear and unified and the city staff members and feel confident that the state according to the

recommendations programs will be supported by legacy program partners . this is consistent with research that shows 93 percent of legacy businesses expect the program to provide assistance or advice withmarketing and promotions . 75 percent expect the legacy businessprogram to provide assistance or advice or connections with other legacy businesses . now i'm going to take you through the short medium and long-term projects.short-term projects are projects that can be implemented relatively quicklyand easily underresin staffing , contracts and budget allocations . select our san francisco legacy or similarphrase as a form of tagline . use the sf legacy bizhashtag in all posts . add a sidebar to legacy

businessregistered website for more dynamic content . add date added to the registry to the website with a link for business registry application. add known for to the website to list legacy businesses signature items. add a news webpage to the registrywebsite . provide free bronze plaques to those businessesthat can help them on their building exteriors . develop a kit for on boarding new legacy businesses. create a legacy business logo pin and include it in the on boarding kit. coordinate and support up to three mixtures and create a how-to guide or coordinating future events and announce the marketing plan program to legacy. medium-term projects are projects that can be implemented with additional office of small business staff

and/or funding. add a special office webpage to the registry website. conduct public relations including stories to local press and articles and interviews on tv and radio stations . outdoor advertising on the neighborhood level.explore financial corporation with other san francisco agencies. create a series of short form videos. leverage and amplify legacy business activity, collaborate with sf heritage and sf travel. create a community of legacy businesses through mixed events. most stories about legacy businesses on social media partner with the planning departmentand historic preservation commission , provides free bronze plaques t those businesses that can help them on their building

interiors . design asked plaques of similar storefront displaywindows . design virtual plaques similar in design to the bronze plaques and encourage legacy businesses to promote their status as a san francisco legacy partner andintegrate legacy into their brand identity . finally, long-term projects are those that can be implemented with additional office of small businessstaff , budget, planning, partnerships and or contracts with contractors. enhance the registry website with the law in area for legac business with an events calendar and highlight possibilities . create outdoor murals featuring legacy businesses .published a book of our san francisco legacy. create two qr codes in the shape of a legacy business programtorch or the storefront

businesses . establish a punchcard promotion to patronize legacy businesses and provide prices to or highlight people who photograp themselves at legacy businesses and use the hashtag sf legacy biz . implementation of the short-term projects will begin in january 2022 and the office of small business is in the process of hiring atemporary unity development specialist as a marketing generalist . interviews will occur over the next two weeks. the position will likely begin january 2022 and the new hire willhelp some parts of the strategic marketing plan . thank you. this concludes my presentation andi'll be happy to answer any questions . >> commissioner adams. thank you richard. this is an awesome

presentation. you are my hero with all this and i really like everything i see here. you're taking the legacy business program to the next level . i'm really happy that you're usingthe hashtags and everything . this is taking the program to the next level and i really want to say as someone who's been here since thebeginning of all this , i like where this is going. so i just want to say congratulations. i like how you've broken it up into short-term medium and long-term because we all know that getting everything all upfront you've got to get it all in. i really like the plaques. i will tell you one of our legacy businesses in the financial district, he's got his stuff up.

cable car clothier's, it really struckme during the pandemic . it's one of the things that people come in and they all have their legacy business stickers on and they say people come in to the legacy business program so you should feel very proud of yourself , richardand i really like all of this . thank you. >> thank you, commissioner hui . >> i just wanted to congratulate you onthat wonderful plan and an amazing presentation . i think we organized it , everything and it's completely on point. it's such a exciting step for the legacy business program so i'm excited to see all of this be executed. and you know, of course amazing that you need for me if you think i can be of any support

for the program obviously as a commissioner but i am here and i love the program and i can't wait for people to be like, talking about it.and talking about legacy businesses in the city. i think it really gives our city some grounding when sometimes we feel like we are just some brand-new tech city i think to recognize that we have brick and mortar's and service and all these people who have been around and have created what we consider san francisco. the heart and soul of san francisco . i think this does a really important program and it's an important time for us to take that next leap so thank you very much for putting that here at this time and i'm super excited to continue supporting it . >> thank you.

commissioner keith ortiz-cartagena. >> i want to say like everybod else, amazing, amazing . just awesome. so happy you'rethe one in charge of this program . and to carry all these businessesthrough the process and the plan , i mean you even have the charges that if you go to the website, it just matters. the little things that you do that i don't think people even realize the amount of work that just you. so thank you, just amazing job and ialso had atechnical question . i've just been in my head . if the landlord effects legacy tenants is that for the incoming tenants? i know i used to say that and i wanted to make sure i'm the incorrect. >> it does and in position.

i'd have to find an area i believe that's in district 3. and only if the used changes. >> .it. >> if it's a restaurant that goes out over a legacy business , it doesn't triggerthe same . >> thank you. director dickinson. >> the president i believe commissioner dickerson has the floor. >> you are so right, i apologizecommissioner dickerson . >> thank you. i just have to sayrichard, this was such a well thought out . i'm so impressed. i have to say. what i love about this is just how well thought out but it just feels like there's emotion behind this.

the love and respect and honor for these businesses that have been operating for so many years. it brings such validity to them and just affirmation that hard work really does pay offand the acknowledgment of being a legacy business is evident . one of the ways we can feel the history and legacy of san francisco is falling into thes legacy businesses .it's as thoughsome of them are time capsules . you can like feel and love the history of sanfrancisco by going into these legacy businesses . ilove everything about this . i brag about it everywhere i go and i look for the legacy businesses so i'm sure i'm not the only one but iwant to say thank you . thank you, thank you so much for this. i feel like i can feel your heart in your love for these businesses . sothank you . >>.

>> president: thank you director . you are on mute again, directo . >> thank you. through the president, thank you president laguana. i want to acknowledge rick's great work . i am happy before i depart we are able to complete the marketing plan, not necessarily be able to fully implement it. it's been both a frustration both for rick and i that we haven't had the bandwidth to start this earlier because so much focus was on the grant program. the grant program, the grant program and so for us to really develop a stronger next loop of this program or for you all you

know, developing a greater nexus of this program to the businesses and to what san francisco is is something that will be exciting for me to be watching from the outside. and i know moving forward with the future director, some of these may require some budget asks and advocacy to give that into consideration. but i do think you know, i'm really pleased with the company design media that we've been working with and really helping us think through and really communicating the legacy businesses in the program to ensure that we are really developing a marketing and kind of broader branding program for these businesses and you know,

i've heard from several legacy businesses that they sort of think of a legacy business program now as still more of a grant program andthey don't need it . so this will help elevate the stature of the program and also help bring in more businesses that also can sort of help elevate the stature. so thank you and for your input and you will have continued guidance along the way. as this begins toroll out . >> president: thank you director. rick, i want to add my comments to everyone elsethanking you forall your hard work . a couple quick questions . have we put several of the ideas were great ideas and they

talk about requiring morebudget . do we have a sense of how much more budget would be required to accomplish those or any attempt yet has been made to put a number on it? >> we haven't yet attempted to put numbers to any of those medium and long-term goals but we can do all the short-term with thepresent statute . we figure as we go along in the future, we can look at those individually and figure out what we can do, what we want to do at that time and then include that in the budget. >> president: great. and then you know, one other thought i had in terms of long-term. it would be great if i don't know how doable this is in terms of the plan i give but something that people walking

into a store could be conveyed. the short one paragraph histor of the business . something to educate the folks walking in. you know, the kind of things w all enjoy reading when we visit . >> there's a qr code project kind of along those lines, maybe a qr code on the storefront window and they can click or scan the code and it gets the history of the business. that's what we're thinking about. >> president: that's interesting. >> the historic preservation committee liked that idea . >> president: i see. i like the qr code.i guess i'd also like to see something for the folks that didn't have a phone or you know, that isn't

quite so phone centric. i love qr codes as much as anyone else but it is an annoyance sometimes to have to pull it out. >> we do have the bronze plaque. sorry i'm going to steal your thunder.the first 19bronze plaques have been manufactured .their installation is going to begin aweek from today on november 29 . >> that's super exciting. >> we will keep everyone poste . the schedule hasn't been announced yet. we're going to do it geographically and let the commissioner knowwhen the schedule is . >> president:please do. i'm sure we'd all like to attend . okay. are there any other commissionerquestions or comments ? okay. any public comment on the legacy business program

strategic marketing plan? >> there is no one on the line for comment. >> president: seeing nine, publiccomment is close . next item please. >> clerk: approval of draft meeting minutes, this is an actionitem . >> president: i moved to approve the minutes. >> you can have public comment. >> thank you. >> one of these days i will learn do we have any public comments on the minutes ? >> there is no public comment. >> i moved to approve the minutes. >> motion by president laguana. commissioner huie, do you want to second again? yes, seconded by commissioner huie. i will call the role.

[roll call vote] i think you are muted. [roll call vote] meeting minuteshave been approved . with six commissioners voting yes. >> president: go ahead. >> clerk: item 7, general public comment. this allows members of the public to comment on items within thebusiness jurisdiction but not on today's calendar and suggest agendaitems for future

consideration . >> president: any members of the public that would like to comment onsomething not onthe agenda ? >> no one in line for public comment . >> president: next item please . >> clerk: directors report, update and report on the office of small business and business department programs and legislative matters, announcements fromthe mayor and announcements regarding small business activity .this is a discussion item . >> president: director, the flooris yours . >> good evening commissioners. i'mgoing to start off by giving a brief update on legislative matters . i mentioned last time supervisor mandelman introduced legislation to temporarily suspend the san francisco tax on cannabis.

it's another tax on top of the state taxfor an additional year . that would be through december 2022. and that initially was referred to us by the 30 day hold was waived so it's being ushered through pretty quickly. it will be heard at the full board next tuesday. the board is off this week so it will be heard next tuesday and it's anticipated to be passed in time for the next calendar year so that attacks and treasurer's office does not note that the tax needs to be collected. also, we did have some discussion last time around graffiti abatement . and again just a reminder that if commission had adopted a resolution during covid and supervisor ronan drafted one

that waived the notice penalty forgraffiti . and so currently right now the department of public works is not issuing notices of violation to businesses that have graffiti on their exterior or and so supervisor peskin introduced ordinances to lift that suspension ofthe notices of violation and the collection of fees . so you will be hearing that in thefirst of the year .in january sometime. so carrie is working with supervisor peskin'soffice to schedule that . next, our next meeting we will be hearing the neighborhood commercial district. planning code changes to allow

bars, new bars to come into th castro neighborhood. with conditional use . and then supervisor haney's resolution regarding small businesses facing lawsuits. his resolution has been referred to public safety and neighborhood services so i'm working with kerry to find out if there will be a hearing on this for the end of the year because both rhea and i predominantly handle most of the ada work will be on leave and i won't be here. so wanting to make sure that all the work this office has done is able to be communicated andcovered should there be a hearing . and then so that is pretty much it legislatively.

i am working with kerry on, it's nearly completed on developing a resolution. so i don't know if i've mentioned this to you all the senator duckworth has introduced a bill twice during the trump administration to increase the tax credits for small businesses to be able to use to make accessibility improvements and of course it didn't go anywhere so she has reintroduced it. there is a companion bill in the house. and so we're drafting a resolution for you to adopt at the next meeting and then we will be requesting the board of supervisors adopt a similar

resolution so that we can officially move forward with the city and county of san francisco support for increasing the tax credit which is ... it would basically go from a $5000... the tax credit is 10,000 but you are able to take 50 percent so it's going from 10,000 to 20,500. so then there is the tax deduction that is an official 15,000 of a tax deduction that one can take. these are annual. so this is important to help our businesses be able to deal with the remediation. it's also my understanding that the cost of doing that can be taken either as a deduction or credit .

so you know, knowing the expense of making remediation in the built environment in san francisco, this will be important to see it move through. and then they're moving on to programs so i had mentioned last time i had hoped that for the legacy business program under proposition j which created a historical preservation fund the controller's office was to do five year report . to do an analysis as to whether these 2 grant programs derived benefits and holding with the preservation ofbusinesses . so we are a year behind on having that report completed and that is due to covid so the

controller's office is working on itnow . rick and i have an initial review. there's still more work to be done so it will not be completed for the december meeting . which i had hoped that would be done before my departure but i think it's more important to have a really goodsolid accurate report . to come from the controller and so it's going to likely sometime in the first quarter ted is working part-time right now so hopefully in january but it could be february. and then as rick noted, the bronze plaques are going on the 29th. throughout the city and i will have him follow up with you to let you know the 19 businesses that are receiving this class. they range from manufacturers to our neighborhood restaurants and bars.

and bookstores i think, so that you can and he will provide you with a schedule as well.one issue that is, so that's all my notes for business. one issue that has arisen is it's starting to sort of rear its head over covid. it predominantly reared its head around support with bending on thesidewalks . both food and nonfood bit vending. and so the court developed a program which was adopted in august and it's being implemented now. they're creating special places on the board in which these

small businesses can vent kind of like the street artist program. there's very particular spot. and so they developed a permitting system. martha has been going to their orientations on how to ... she's been attending to help small businesses inform businesses on what they need to do to comply. this would be both if they wanted to do food bending and or you know, merchandise bending. there is a lot that would was passed in 2018 called sb 964. that said that no municipality can punish or penalize kind of threw the police and either have infractions or misdemeanors for anyone's vending on the sidewalk.

and so the city had to programs. there is the food bending which is operated under the mobile food programand that program is permitted . it does exist. public works permits the mobile food entity and dph also permits the mobile food entity. on the sidewalk there is very limited things that you can do on the sidewalk. and of course the mobile food courts are not what we see with some of the vending that we are seeing for food on our sidewalks currently. the cards are a little more extensive and so martha is there to help talk the businesses through what are the

requirements and how to do it and they are interested should they come down to the office she can help them through it more. then prior to sb 946, we had a thing called the peddlers permit which was operated by the policedepartment . you wanted to do shoe shining or sell goods that were separate from a streetartist program , then you could apply for a peddlers permit to be able to sellyour wares on the sidewalk . because of sb 946, let me step back. any permit that the police, under the police department doesn'thave administrative penalties . there are infractions or misdemeanors. there are criminal penalties. so sb 946 says there should not

be any criminal penalties so we don't have and nor can anything be enforced by the police department. so we haven't really worked out a really good transition to the peddlers permit. the energy to be put into sort of solving a replacement program, we didn't have the time or spacefor that . i do know that a lot of agents have been expressing their concern as to activities that have been taking place . and i'm just reporting on this because this may be something that will come before you in the next year. our big challenge is when prior to sb 946, the police were able to go because the police is out

24 seven. our department of public works at department of public health do not have inspectorson site , on call 24 seven. how we handle enforcement since the police cannot be involved with enforcement, that's kind of the big challenge ahead of us. so i'm just bringing it to your attention because i attended the council of district legislative committee meetings. this was a main topic of conversation with them this morning. and then i just want to do a reflection on heather knight. heather knight's article, i know isaid that an email . and you know, as i'm transitioning from this position and have been with the office as pretty much also

commissioner adams and commissioner dooley since the beginning of its inception from the ballot measure in 2007, the things that we've been able to accomplish, we've been able to accomplish incremental changes. and commissioner adams you'll remember this. and i know commissioner zouzounis and commissioner ortiz-cartagena if you were on thecommission at the time but we have five different definite definitions of the type of restaurant, zoning definitions . so it's react. do you serve on paper plates or do you serve withregular plates? is it takeout, is it not take out ? and so there was, we worked

with the planning department to narrow it down to the two definitions of restaurant and limited restaurant.then there's also the cd3 program was also a joint effort with the commission and planning commission. but we've been making incrementalchanges along the way . i really want to thank the mayor. i want to thank you and the planning department, staff to seize the pandemic to create something radical compared to the incremental leaps that we have had with proposition h and the small business recovery act in the first year or three. but we're still notout of the pandemic yet . so these things are going to have agreat benefit . you know, but just like taking

the definition of restaurants down to 2, that just immediately didn't appear and have significant changes overnight. things do take time and there' also other factors in place . in terms of how quickly businesses aregoing to start opening businesses . access to capital, the sense of confidence, access to hiring so i hope that we communicate like we have some really significant tools but we are not the only entity in charge of a business opening . we are facilitating one portion of the process. and so as we see the office of small businesses, with businesses coming to us there

in the early phases. and it may take them six, eight months before they even start thepermitting process because they'recoming in , gettingthe information . they have to develop the business plan . figure out how they're going, what their capital is that they're going to need to get their business open and having their startup capital all those things . but for their success after they gettheir business open . so we will ... you will get to experience the fruits of this effort will begin to see them months down the line if not even 2 years, thefull impact . so i think thinking of where things were when this office

first got created by the voters and i want to say by the commission at thattime . and at that time are now city attorney david chu was on the commission working with our then mayor newsom to place the ballot measure on the ballot to create the office of small business to help businesses. we've just you know, we are ata very different place and a very exciting place . so i just want to be reflective on that and it's always easy to go down thenegative route . but there were 21 businesses that were cited in the article that have opened and while we don't know if all of them have had great , have utilized property, we don't know if they were all open yet or what their experiences were there's always

a positive sign to. and we want to champion what we're doing for our city to help businesses open. so and you know, proposition eight only deals with a certain set of the city. it doesn't deal with helping small business recovery act helps build that bridge because businesses and the downtown financial district were able to take advantage of proper proposition h. just always rememberingthat language of what we're usingwhen we're using things like proposition h . it's a limited narrow thing . and lastly i do want to say that there are positions coming on for the office of small business that will be once trained you working with the permit center . this will be the experience

that this business had is a good opportunity for us to take a look at where it is that business falls through the cracks and i think probably for me the biggest thing is not so much what happened with the proposition hpermitting process but how come they didn't know about our office ? and have they come toour office , the information that they really needed to know the four they made proposition h would have been imparted on them . mark and carol, they all know the ins and outs especially for restaurants, the permitting process so i feel like that's really more of an area to take a look at is where is the gap in being able to reach businesses to know that there is a place for them to come to to get thesupport they need and information that they need . to be able to be successful and

not experience the hiccups that this particular business experience has been opening their business. so i'll just leave it at that . and then for our next meeting which is the last meeting of 2021, hard to believe. yes, where at the end of 2021. i wanted to make a couple of notes of highlights. this will be the december 13 meeting. not only will it be my last meeting but it will be the last meeting for both commissioner adams and commissionerdooley . so that will hopefully have a little celebration in relationship to that. as i noted, here in the castro street legislation more legacy businesses and the ada and then a big kind of an annual report.

so i want to thank you for beingwilling to start the meeting a little early . so that we can have time to do a celebration and acknowledgment. with that i will take any questionsyou may have . thank you director.i agree that there's always more work to do in terms of outreach and struggling to figure out ways to improve that board member stops . but i just want to say from my own personal experience, the job that you have done helping us navigate that and helping us become better as the commission and as an individual commissioner has just been absolutely exemplary.

i have no idea what i would have done during this pandemic without you and without your advice and you know, so much of where we're at right now is really comes directly out of the countless years and hours of work that you have put into the commission and i personally will forever be grateful. >> thank you. i will personally be grateful to every commissioner that i have worked with . also for theircounsel and advice and support as well . it's been an amazing pleasure and experience so we will talk more about that at the next meeting. >> president: indeed. is thereany other commissioner comments or questions on the directors report before i go t public comment ?

any public comment on the directors report ? >> there is no public comment. >> public comment is closed, next item. >> item 9, commissioner discussion and new business. allows president vice president and commissioners to report on all business activities and make announcements of interest to the community and allows commissioners tointroduce new agenda items for future consideration. this is a discussion item . >> commissioner ortiz-cartagen . >> thank you president. i wanted to say thank you to all the small landlords working on leases or potential leases during the pandemic . i really want to just recognize that the small landlords which is a small business in themselves really took the

brunt of a lot of these losses during this pandemic and if it wasn't for them i can count at least 40 visitors that were displaced so i definitely want to recognize the small business landlords out there that are really keeping on guard and not selling to these big hedge funds and portfolios. they're doing all they can and they been accommodating and thank you for that. with that president laguana i want to say to ourlegislators out there hopefully watching we can do more. i'm on the street, we need more stuff . we need more grants. we just need more. whatever you guyscan come up with , we need more. it's getting like a desert out there for small businesses especially when it comes to bringing back and i do see new blood coming in the next year because the ports are jammed because it opens up in moratorium and a lot of smaller landlords don't understand the

commercial moratorium there's a lot of businesses that are in trouble and we haven't seen it yet and i want to be proactive. i just want to bring that to our attention. >> president: great. duly notedcommissioner adams . >> this is my annual plug for the castro holiday lighting celebration. it we will be inviting our annual tree this monday the 29th at 6:00 at castro and 18th street. so get the castro already for theholidays . that's it. that's my club. >> president: i like your plug. thank you. any commissionercomments ? vice president zouzounis.

>> vice president: thank you director. i wanted to bring up i believe calcium is programis now mandatory . can you comment on the directors? it's a state program that allows you to give your workers a retirement fund which i believe is like zero cost tothe employer's . it's something in our commission in the past when it was just getting started . so i think this is there now receiving information at the mandate which is a greatthing and i wanted to know if that's something we can help promote . >> i will definitely look into it and yes, we can promote it and i was not aware that it's mandatory.

we will look into that. it's something i usually see come by the way of the human resources newsletters and oman but we will look into it but regardless it's always good to read even if it's notmandatory optional to promote , continually promote such items . >> i think it's such an important program that i would love while the on the topic of training small businesses having the same benefits, businesses are larger. if there's any other state programs that make it facilitate a small employer providing benefits, i would love to make that something we do a new reachout about . in the past it's been a lot of

the healthcare benefits programs for small businesses to offer their employees are often more expensive than an employee just doing it on their own. i mean, this is a long-term conversation but if there's something similar to cal savers that we can share i would love to help increase the benefits to oursmall business workforce . and then of course an update on calorie cycle, the department of the environment is now touching base with stakeholders as they received the equipment that is going to be able to count the cans and bottles and they are now asking supervisors and merchant groups tips to meet with them, the department

of environment to explain it what this timeline is and process for beverage cans and bottle redemption. so i'm just putting that on our radar. hopefully we will get more information soon point i want to make here is a lot of times the city puts the burden on merchant groups to do outreach. and for programs like this, that was the city default on its state laws. as far as our small merchants need more support than just their own organizations that they're running. so the department is trying to take up like a structured outreach around this, we need to talk about how we're going to support that in doing that outreach because it doesn't seem like the city is providing

any new supplements to that except just the department of outreach so yes. they're not on our radar. >> president: thank you. any other commissioners? okay. is there any public comment on the line ? >> there is no other line for public comment. >> president: next item please. >> sfgov tv, show the office of smallbusiness slide. item 10,adjournments . this is an action item . >> president: hold on. show the slide and then i did the piece of the slide and then we do that action item. i feel like commissioner adams now. okay. there's the slide up. i have no way of seeing.

>> i believe it is. >> we will go with that it is. we end with a reminder the small business commission is the official public forum to voice your opinions about policies that affect the economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco and that during the office of small business and the office of small business isthe best place to get answers about doing business in san franciscoduring the local emergency . if you need assistance continue to reachout to the office of small business .and now we can call adjournments .>> moved by commissioner ortiz-cartagena. second by commissioner adams. i will call the role. [roll call vote] motion passes

by six commissionersvoting in favor, one absent . the meeting is adjourned at 6:14 p.m. >> good night everybody.

. >> chairman: would the secretary please call the role. >> secretary: [roll call] this is the recreation and park commission meeting of