>> you're watching san francisco rising with chris manners. today's special guest is katy tang. [♪♪♪] >> hi. i'm chris manners, and you're watching san francisco rising, the show that's focused on rebuilding, reimagining, and revitalizing our city. with us today is katy tang, and she's talk to -- talking to us about assistance and services provided to local businesses. can we talk about the role of the office of small business? many small businesses are struggling to help. how can you help?

>> director tang: we are here as the city's central point of information for all things small businesses, so we can help people start, stay, and grow in the city. if you want to start a small business, we can pair you up with small business advisors, who can talk you through your business plan, help you develop it, whether it's regulatory requirements, business permits, and just help you understand the journey that was up ahead. and if you'd like to stay in san francisco and perhaps your business is facing challenges, we can also pair you with a business advisor who can assess your business needs and figure out whatside that would best help you. so for example, perhaps you need more marketing assistance or you need to be connected to a loan, a low interest loan or a grant program, if that's available. those are services we can provide to you, whether you're

starting out or trying to stay in san francisco. and of course, if you want to expand and grow into a new space, we can help assist you with that and help prepare you for the journey ahead. we have a team dedicated to assist you you with all the small business needs, all the requirements needed to help you establish your small business in san francisco. >> do you have an e.s.l. program for people who want to start small businesses? >> director tang: we have staff that can speak spanish and mandarin and cantonese, and we understand if english is not your first language, it can be difficult, so we want to be as helpful as possible. >> excellent. i know that s.f. shines was created to help with restoring

and improvement. can you tell us more about that? >> yes. it's run out of a sister development and it's much needed in the small business community. if you are trying to improve your storefront, whether it's outside, perhaps you want to make some interior improvements, a lot of times, that involves a lot of cost and resources to be able to do so. for example, you may need to hire an architect to submit drawings so you can get your work done. currently, s.f. shines is offer a pairing of business sign services. you can be paired up with an architect to get your drawings done to help you start to do the actual work.

we hope that people will stay tuned, and you can find out more information on our website. that's sfgov.org/osb. >> let's talk about the shared spaces program. it's been a huge success, and outdoor dining spaces are very popular. >> the shared spaces program, especially during the pandemic, really helped spaces survive. to have an outdoor space where people could safely gather was critical, and the office of small business has been working with these shared spaces during the pandemic. some may or may not have been up to the city's code regulations, so department of public works and other departments have been trying to

figure out what violations are and help businesses come into compliance. the planning department and the city have decided that they'll give businesses until 2023 to come into compliance. also in the meantime, for businesses that want to start new shared spaces, new parklets, that is still an on going program, a new program, so people can always submit their applications for shared spaces regardless whether they started one during the pandemic or not. >> do you anticipate there being other shared spaces programs in the future and how do small businesses go about finding out about them? >> small businesses can find out about it by visiting our website, sfgov/osb or you can

call 415-554-6134, and we can connect you with the planning department and other agencies that would be connected with the shared spaces programs. >> over the pandemic, businesses have been victimized by vandals and other crimes. how can you help them? >> the city offers a program called the vandalism relief fund, and this would allow businesses suffering from graffiti or broken windows to apply with the city through our neighborhood services division, and you could get up to 1,000 or 2,000 if you submit certain documentation, such as a photograph of the damage or a

copy of the receipt or document showing the amount you paid for to correct the incident. we are so excited that the city now has a centralized permit center, where people can come and get their business done, hopefully, in the same day where there are several different agencies, ranging from department of building inspection, planning department, public health, fire department, all here to help people, whether you're building a new business or even new construction, to be able to, again, fit all of your appointments in one day and get things done quickly. so starting in may, our office of small business has actually started working out of 49 south van ness at the permit center, and we have a team of two staff who are dedicated to helping small businesses through their permitting journey. so we do encourage people, you can come to the permit center

or you can e-mail us at sfosb@sfgov.org, and you can communicate with our staff dedicated to helping you with your permitting needs. we hope that people will consider consulting with us before you even sign a lease so that we can help you on the path to success and understanding the journey of setting up a small business in san francisco. >> well, thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming on the show, miss tang. thank you for the time you've given us today. >> director tang: thanks for having me. >> and that's it for this show. we'll be back shortly. you've been watching san francisco rising. for sfgovtv, i'm chris manners. thanks for watching.

you're watching san francisco rising. today's special guest is monique gray. >> hi. i'm chris mannis and you're watching san francisco rising. the our guest today is marquise gray. he runs out of the office of the mayor in the city and county of san francisco. and he's with us today to talk about the recent progress of the sunnidale hope sf housing project. welcome to the show. >> good morning. thank you for having me today. >> let's start by talking about the existing residents of sunnydale and their history. >> so sunnydale was built in

the 1940s for a workers. it's the largest public housing community west of the mississippi. it's about 50 acres. pretty huge. about 760 single story units one to four bedrooms. >> i understand it's an ambitious rethinking of the residences. can you briefly describe the scope of the program and hope sf's involvement? >> yeah. the work of hope sf is this idea of more than housing. that acknowledging that our public housing community, the levels of violence and poverty that are in these communities are not by accident. you know, it's our opportunity to address a system issue, you know, that people need more than housing. they need health services. resources. economic investment opportunities, jobs and things of that nature.

and so hope sf strives to work with our city systems to better serve our public housing communities. >> so recently, mayor breed and speaker pelosi toured the site to both put focus on a national housing initiative and also to highlight the completion of the first new building. how many units does it contain and when will people start moving in? >> yeah. it was an amazing event. honored to have the secretary here with us as well in our community. it's 167 units. it's about 75% going back to the original families that currently live on site. so the replacement. so i did forget to mention i want to say real quick, the beauty of hope sf is housing development, new development without displacements or anti-displacement initiatives. so, for example, the building is 167 units. 75% of those units going to families that have lived there in the community for generationings and the other

25% are tax credit units adding to the affordable housing stock here in san francisco and those units are up and running now. they're leasing them as we speak. people are picking their units each week until they're filled up. >> so was this particular building put on a new plot of land or did people have to move out so it could be constructed? >> that's a good question. our first building was vacant which you may have saw across the street from this building and then this plot of land is the way we kind of do it, we do it in phases. once one goes in, we're able to move families into the new unit and where they previously were occupying, able to demolish old buildings to build the new. so this area had some older units that were demolished. >> it's impressive that construction has been able to continue during the covid-19 pandemic. can you talk about some of the challenges that needed to be overcome and how the community

has managed during the crisis? >> that's a great question. you know, in san francisco, if i understand it correctly, i could be wrong, i believe housing was an essential service. the mayor made a strong commitment early on in the pandemic that we would continue to build housing as housing has been a critical issue in our city. so the housing part hasn't impacted us too much. 67 units have been going on its current time line. the bigger challenge for us was showing the families in our communities, low income families had the resources we need to survive the pandemic. many of our families didn't have the luxury of working from home, working in the zone and things of that nature. making sure they had access to covid testing and things of that nature. so i want to give a big shout

out to our resident leaders, our service providers across all four sites. for those that don't know, hope sf is four sites. sunnydale is one of the four sites. and so across those four sites, the most critical thing was making sure folks in these neighborhoods which have historically have been disconnected from resources have the things that they need to remain healthy, to, you know, survive the pandemic as we all had to survive the pandemic and we did pretty well. we were able to bring back scenes and covid testing on site. food distribution was happening all throughout the week. wellness services and things of that nature were all happening on site thanks to our resident leaders and our service providers across the sites. >> so, finally, when could we expect the next set of residents to be ready? despite -- i guess we just said covid doesn't have an impact on

the schedule. when will the next residences be ready? >> yeah. things are rolling. we have block a3 and block b3 to the building we were referring to earlier. and things are on pace. things are going really well. so we're looking at starting construction spring of 2022 and that will be 170 units and the goal is to have that lease up around 2024. >> well, thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming on the show, mr. gray. thank you for giving us the time today. >> thank you, chris, and i really appreciate your time as well. >> and that's it with this episode. you've been watching san francisco rising for sfgov tv i'm chris manners. thanks so much for watching.

>> today's special guest michelle ginsberg. >> i'm chris and you are watching san francisco riegz the show that focused on reguilding and reimagining our city our guest is the general manager of the san francisco rec and parks, with us to talk about new parks, music and other developments. mr. ginsberg, welcome. >> thank you a pleasure to be here >> nice to see you again. >> last time was during the pandemic and virtual. so it is good to be back here. >> indeed. before we get in specifics, let's start with a broad question, how can will park's system play a part in the

economic recovery? >> well, our parks system playing an important role throughout the pandemic. parks were here when people in san francisco needed them the most. a place where people could gather and could care for mentality health and fizz cat health and have a sense of community and a sense of place during a really weird time. and now that things are reopening and figure out how to recover, parks are going to continue to play a significant role >> people are out and having a good time. there are special events happening in parks. concerts and the weather is good. the best way parks play a role in our economic recovery is to motivate -- people to come to our city from other places and to motivate our residents to get out and enjoy themselves

>> exciting to her we opened a new park and there is another. what is special about the 2 new projects? >> sure. san francisco is going through, i think, a park renaissance. we opened the francisco park, which is just magnificent property that sits on top of an old reservoir dating back to the gold rush and has tremendous views of the golden gate bridge and bay and a place where you can bring kids. a cool play ground to bring dogs an amazing dog park. a meadow to watch the fireworks. fog willing. fleet week, community gardens, it is just such an incredible unique space. we are proud of it. >> and then right down the road in a few years, we will be pleased to welcome everybody to

india basin in the bay view in the southeast part along the southern water front. 1.7 miles of waterfront that until recently has been under utilized and under fulfill in the a community this needs it the most. india basin is really a feel moment for the bay view and southeastern part of san francisco. it is going to be san francisco's next great and one of the most important parks >> that's fantastic. now, we have a great history of having conference in parks. can you touch on the year's highlights? >> upcoming and on going. this is something i'm particularly excited about. i don't think there is ever have been more music in san francisco parks than there is right now >> so, let's go around the city and talk about music. stern grove, is in the 85th

concert season. back after the pandemic. in this just fabulously treasured meadow. free concerts all summer long. in golden gate park, at the man shell not guilty music concourse free concerts 4 days a week. wednesday, friday, saturday and sundays. we have sing are song writer wednesday. jazz and seoul on friday. communities performances on saturdays of different kindses and sundays reggae it is extraordinary. and of course, later this summer we are pleased to welcome back outside lands for an exciting 3 days and 3 nights of incredible concerts and food and community. as we go across the city, we got wonderful performances in the jerry theatre in mc clarnin park a special jerry day coming back

to the theatre. on june 21st we had make music day appearing all over the city in park in civic center. on the marina green. again in golden gate park. it has been a great time for music and ties into the recovery and the tremendous energy where we are feeling and -- you know anybody who says san francisco is struggling needs to hang out in the park system. where well is joy and beaut and he inspiration every day. >> so, the san francisco board of supervisors passed legislation to make jfk drive in will golden gate park car free. how have residents responds. >> the san francisco residents responds positive. families. bicyclists, joggers, people with dogs and people from every corner of san francisco have

discovered that jfk promenade is a treasure. it enhances the parks so much. imagine a beautiful day in the park and weather on foot or on bike you are strolling down jfk, you pass sixth avenue and head to the music concourse for a concert or the museum; it is joyous and made goln gate park sproord. i have been hering about disk golf and pickle ball. can you tell us about and where people can practice and play. >> i knew you were going. pickle ball the fastest growing sports. you know across between 10 and is ping pong and may be with a whiffle ball. ping pong on a life sized course it is easy to learn about skill based people who are good are irrelevant good and it is easy to play.

it is fun and accessible. we are trying to accommodate sport. we have over 55 courts around san francisco. 11 dedicated just for pickle balt others per pickle ball and tennis. we have 5 or 10 space you can play pickle ball indoors and keeping up with the tremendous popularity of the sport. disk golf has a loyal following it is also going to continue to growch we opened our first disk golf course in golden gate park in 2005. and you know, whether you are an expert at disk golf or beginner, the idea of chucking a frisbee through the beautiful park and. it does not matter what you score t. is just a good excuse to be outside and enjoy a

beautiful day in nature. >> exactly. well, thank you. i really appreciate you coming on the show, thank you for the time you have given us tuesday. >> thank you, i hope everybody enjoys summer. get out and play in san francisco's parks. >> thanks again. that's it for this episode we will back with another shortly you have been watching san francisco rising i'm chris manners, thanks forrrrrrrrrrrrrr

. >> president yee: of the 26 neighborhoods we have in west portal, it's probably the most unique in terms of a small little town. you can walk around here, and it feels different from the rest of san francisco. people know each other. they shop here, they drink wine here. what makes it different is not only the people that live here, but the businesses, and without all these establishments, you wouldn't know one neighborhood from the other.

el toreador is a unique restaurant. it's my favorite restaurant in san francisco, but when you look around, there's nowhere else that you'll see decorations like this, and it makes you feel like you're in a different world, which is very symbolic of west portal itself. >> well, the restaurant has been here since 1957, so we're going on 63 years in the neighborhood. my family came into it in 1987, with me coming in in 1988. >> my husband was a designer, and he knew a lot about art, and he loved color, so that's what inspired him to do the decorations. the few times we went to mexico, we tried to get as many

things as we can, and we'd bring it in. even though we don't have no space, we try to make more space for everything else. >> president yee: juan of the reasons we came up with the legacy business concept, man eel businesses were closing down for a variety of reasons. it was a reaction to trying to keep our older businesses continuing in the city, and i think we've had some success, and i think this restaurant itself is probably proof that it works. >> having the legacy business experience has helped us a lot, too because it makes it good for us because we have been in business so long and stayed here so long. >> we get to know people by name, and they bring their

children, so we get to know them, also. it's a great experience to get to know them. supervisor yee comes to eat at the restaurant, so he's a wonderful customer, and he's very loyal to us. >> president yee: my favorite dish is the chile rellenos. i almost never from the same things. my owner's son comes out, you want the same thing again? >> well, we are known for our mole, and we do three different types of mole. in the beginning, i wasn't too familiar with the whole legacy program, but san francisco, being committed to preserve a lot of the old-time businesses, it's important to preserve a

lot of the old time flavor of these neighborhoods, and in that capacity, it was great to be recognized by the city and county of san francisco. >> i've been here 40 years, and i hope it will be another 40 yearararararararararararararar

>> good evening welcome to the august 24 meeting of the board of appeals. president rick swig will be the officer tonight and joined by jose lopez. commissioner tina chang. commissioner lemberg and john trasvina. >> >> the board's legal system and i'm jewelet board's executive director. we will be joined by representatives from the departments that will be presenting before the board. corey the zoning administrator and tina tam representatives planning. matthew green with depart