>> welcome to the small commission meeting on october 11, 2022. this meeting is held in person in city hall, room 400 and broadcasted live on sfgov tv and available to view online or listened by calling 415-655-0001. as authorized by california government code section 54953e and mayor breed's 45th supplement to her february 25th, 2020, emergency proclamation, it's possible that some members of the small business commission may attend this meeting remotely. in that

event, those members will participate and vote by video. the small business commission thanks media services and sfgov tv for televises the meeting on sfgov tv dot org. we welcome the public's participation during public comment. there's an opportunity for general public comment at the end of the meet and an opportunity to comment on each discussion or action item on the agenda. for each item, the commission will take public comment first from people attending the meeting in person and then from people attending the meeting remotely. members of the public who will be calling in, the number is 415-655-0001. the access code is 24832908494. press pound and then pound fen to be added to the line. when connected, 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 public comment is called, you'll be added to the queue. when you're called for public comment, mute the device you're listening to the meeting on. when it's your time to speak, you'll be prommed. to do so. public comment is limited to three minutes and a timer will alarm. speaker was are requested to state their name but not required. >> the san francisco small business commission and office of small business staff acknowledges we're on the unseated land of the ramahash

people. [reading land acknowledgement] please call item two. >> item one, roll call. >> commissioner carter? >> here. >> commissioner dickerson? >> present. >> commissioner herbert is absent. commissioner huie? >> here. >> president laguana? >> here. >> vice-president zouzounis is absent and commissioner zouzounis -- >> next item. >> next two. >> this is a discussion and

action item. the the commission will discuss and possibly take action to approve legacy business registry applications. we have rick with the small business of -- >> good afternoon, president laguana and city staff and members of the public. i'm richard, legacy business program manager. i would like to acknowledge michelle reynolds who helps with marketing and communications for the office of small business. michelle was instrumental in helping review, colate and process the business registry applications before you. sfgovt tv, i have a powerpoint presentation. before you today are six applications for your consideration for the legacy business registry. each application includes a staff report, a drafted resolution and the application itself and case report and resolution from the planning department. the application were submitted to planning on august 24th and heard by the historic

preservation commission on september 21st. item 2a is blazing saddle and bike rental tours and it's a bike rental and tour company with multiple locations in fishers mans wharfing. blazing saddle was found theed under that name in 1994. in 2002, the business was sold to american scooter and cycle rental inc which was founded in 1988 and has a history that extends back to 1982. the official lien age of the businesses consider the blazing saddle lien age, and the americans scooter and cycle rental is a critical component of the company's history. playing saddle has the largest fleet of rental bikes in california and the recognized leader in bike tours over the golden gate bridge. riders can follow self guided tours or join guided tours led by blazing saddle staff. the businesses actively involved in the

community and has been partners for many events. four featured tradition, the business must maintain to be on the business legacy is tour companies featuring bicycle rentals. item two b is cafe la boheme and the business was founded in 1973 for poets, dancers, politics and activist. it's a driving culture -- experience the living art of the mission through poetry performances and local art exhibitions. cafe boheme offer food and beverage menu item that's have changed throughout the years. sometimes referred to as a living room of the mission, cafe boheme attracts a diverse

base and popular for tourist and the population alike. it must be maintained as coffee shop. item two c is club deluxe. the business is a live music and cocktail bar founded in 1978 near the intersection of heeight and it was a gay bar. it was renamed club deluxe and it's an important part of the live music scene and it retains the 1930s to 1950s oasis with wood panel walls and circular mirrors and cafe style mirrors. and dior style. they announced their closure due to then ability to agree on a fair lease with their landlord and after mediation with district five supervisor

preston on august 22nd this year, which included mentions of the legacy business program, club deluxe on the property owner reached an agreement allowing the jazz and blue club to remain in its home and the core feature tradition of the business must mean tame as bar. item two d is hotel boheme. it was established in 1991 and inspired by -- with the interior of the hotel designed as a recreation of the late 1950s. recreation of the late 1950s. the rooms are thoughtfully arranged with cast iron beds and large mirror am mores and beach generation. there's 35 museums taken in north beach in the 1950s and 1960s by jerry stole. the building that houses hotel

boheme was constructed after the earthquake in the architectural style and the tradition and business must maintain is hotel. item 2e is lrarkins brother company and established in 1950 when found, they sold new and conditioned tires until 1967 many the business expanded to include full ought motive services and thanks to a loyal customer base the store is open six-days a week to serve the san francisco bay area. many of these employees stayed with the company for 20 to 30 years. the business has been able to establish a customer account with the city and county of san francisco, servicing their service vehicles. the core feature tradition of the business maintained is automotive services. item two q

is mayor po that yacht lub and the organization is a nonprofit membership club dedicated to selling and community service in the greater san francisco bay area. mariposa hunters club was established in 1974 when mariposa ramp club and hunters point yacht club consolidated under the goals of promoting good sportsmanship and providing docking and arranging cruises for (indiscernible) and other activities that increase interest and small craft boating. the roots of the yacht club date back to 1932 in the mariposa book club and ramp club was pounded. mariposa hunters point yacht club represents 30 to 40 members and guest per day that may utilize the club's boating facilities, patio and atmosphere clubhouse to host or attend indoor or outdoor events. the organization is a member of the pacific inter club yacht

association which fosters communication cooperation among the 100 yacht in northern californias. the court featured tradition the business must maintain is recreational boating. all byes met the cry tear -- all businesses met the criteria and received positive recommendation from the historic preservation commission. staff recommends adding the businesses to the registry and drafted six resolutions for your consideration. a motion in support of the businesses should be framed as a motion in favor of the resolutions. thank you. this concludes my presentation. we're happy to answer any questions and there are business representatives in the room and possibly online who would like to speak on behalf of the applications during public comment. >> there we go. great. thank you, rick. commissioners, do we

have any questions? >> okay. is there anyone -- if there's anyone who would like to make public comment on item no. 2, approval of legacy business registry. >> stand up on the line until it's your turn. >> i would like to welcome small business commissioner steven adams. please steven. >> good evening, president laguana and it's great to see everybody back here in city hall. commissioner dickson, i get to see you live and in person. it's great to see you. and executive director tang, welcome. it's a pleasure to be here and also to rick curlio, i'm in support of larkins brothers tires and south van ness. jason here in the room purchased the business from his father who bought the business from the larkins brothers in the

1980s that business starts in the 1950s but the business itself goes back into the 1860s. that's truly a san francisco legacy business and i'm so proud of jason and all his four barriers are looking down, that he kept this business in san francisco and most of his employee was from the neighborhood and from san francisco. it's awesome. and so, i'm here that you approve larkins tire as a legacy business, thank you. >> thank you. >> is there any other public comment? please. >> hey commissioners. i'm jess from blazing saddles, bikes and tours. first i would like to say thank you to supervisor peskin for nominating us for this legacy business dez nag and

thank you richard and michelle for helping us navigate through the application process. they really did a good job. thank you very much. i appreciate it. and back in 1978 when i was in high school at george washington high school, my mother was able to get me a job at fisherman's wharf as a crab cracker to help pay the bills and do my share and that was my introduction to the tourism industry in san francisco. my wife and i were married in the early 80s and immediately started a bicycle business shortly after that down at the wharf and we've been there ever since. our son has recently taking over the management of the business and he and his lovely wife, sean, they are expecting their first

baby. that's four generations here. and we're exciting that they are expanding their family and we look forward to having them run the business and us having a little more free time, so thank you for considering our nomination. >> thank you. is there any other public comment on item no. 2. >> we have callers online? >> if there's a person in the room, please come up. >> okay. >> take your time, no rush. >> good afternoon, i'm margarita tourist, the accommodate of the yacht club. we're 90 years and we do, besides the boat and maritime which is what we're focused on, we do a lot of community outreach and donations to, once a month to a particular charity and i'm proud to say this month, last saturday, we

raised over $2,000 for muttville so our charities range from red cross, muttville, junior giants, women on water and all these other maritime thing so we're very proud of our thumb print and want to stay by the water and be part of san francisco. thank you so much for considering our application. >> thank you. are there any other public commenters in the room? okay. we'll go to the callers, please. >> hi. my name is saleba abdul. i'm speaking on behalf of cafe la boheme t. was established in 1973 and the few san francisco coffee houses left in the mission. my family (indiscernible) just a year

before i was born and on the night of my birth, my father was hosted what would be the poetry readings. and since our ownership, la boheme has been a place for not just my family by the san francisco community. a place where poets, activist and politicians alike all meet and prepare for their readings, marches and campaigns and (indiscernible) embody the roots of our city and everybody is welcome and everybody is family and everybody needs to stand together. we believe (indiscernible) against the massive gentrification that's happening in the mission district. as we continue to (indiscernible) to be the original 1973 living room that was established. as immigrants themselves, my parents, (indiscernible) and jackie built la boheme as a place for everyone to feel welcome and safe from book choreographers and examines and a place for

everyone to come and put amazing work enjoyed by people in the city and country and around the world. la boheme has been the backdrop for my families and extended families memories from weddings, to wakes and community knows they have a place at our table at la boheme. thank you. >> thank you. are there any more callers? next caller, please. >> hello, my name is carolyn monte and president and ceo of san francisco heritage. san francisco heritage is proud to support club deluxe legacy business application. this is a well-deserved recognition of their contribution to the cultural heritage of the height neighborhood. we were honored to partner with the city's legacy business program and supervisor dean preston's office to support the owners of club deluxe with

their business application. we fully support their joining the legacy business registry. thank you for the opportunity to call in and provide this testimony. >> thank you. next caller, please. proceed. >> hi. hi name is luna and i'm calling to support wawad and his family and cafe la boheme. i want to say how much of a staple it has been to the mission, myself and at latino community. when i first moved back to san francisco, i want to say back in 2007, it was a space that my parents found community, joy,

last ter and more. we made lifelong relationships with those who came religious to la boheme. it's afternoon place to my self but those finding a home far away from the home and the community gathers there to have beautiful events that are later shown at la boheme or shared through the rest of the neighborhood which is really important. it's a safe space to plan and execute community gatherings and wada and his family given back to the community by letting us gather there and be amongst each other. i could go on about how this is a staple to the community but anyone who has grown up in the mission has worked and will tell themselves how this has been a safe space for artis -- event planners and thank you for listening. >> thank you. next caller,

please. >> hello commissioners, my name is la lay and i'm the daughter of (indiscernible), the owners of la boheme. they have been serving the mission district for a little over 45 years and out of those 45 years, i'm blessed and honored to be present for half of that time. my family took ownership of this cafe and i was three years and for the last 27 years, we call this our second home and my dad loves to call this place his third child and cafe la boheme raised me in so many ways and i have met poets and authors to politicians and professors and businessmen and women who had a hand in building who i am today and the woman i am today. if it weren't for this cafe the community and the culture, i would not be as rich in knowledge. getting the cafe to be a legacy business would mean the world to not only my family but the san francisco and bay area as a community. a community i would like to refer

to as my second family and acquiring this legacy bid would be the icing on the cake to the -- thank you for considering our application. >> thank you. is there any other caller. >> >> there are no other callers. >> okay. commissioners, do we have any comments on our legacy business nominees? commissioner ortiz cartagena. >> i just want to thank all the applications, all the people that called in, all the people who took the time. two special shout outs, cafe la boheme and i mean, that's our babysity hall on 24th street. like, so much stuff gets born, gets activated out of that space and the ownership, i mean, that family has been always beautiful to the community and that's what, that's what small businesses, like a place where community can

thrive, have a place to be nourished. it's just a beautiful space, so i'm so excited that it's here today. larkins, i met the owners and it has been a staple. and i hate to say it, i peel out once in a while so i need tires. [laughter] y'all have always been there and since i was a little kid, that was a place to get your tires so i'm excited for both businesses and all businesses here today. >> thank you. commissioner huie. >> i also wanted to congratulate all of you for being in business for so many generations and i work and have always kind of worked in family businesses in our family businesses and it's a special place to raise my kids, kind of starting from, i think as soon as you can start doing anything, you're kind of tasked

to do something and you know, it really shows them what community really is and i like to be able to come into the store and into the office or into the shop or into the restaurant or wherever it is and feel like all those people around them are home is a real gift, so thank you very much for thriving in san francisco, growing your business here, being committed here and yeah. it makes me excite and proud and i love this portion of our meeting. thank you very much. >> commissioner carter? >> i want to congratulate the legacy visitors here today to make it this far in san francisco and being a part of the fabric of what makes san francisco san francisco. this is my favorite thing to do. i'm a city kid and i love mom and

pop's so congratulations again to all of you. >> thank you. commissioner dickerson? >> definitely congratulations to all of you. as a small business here in san francisco, you all are like the people that we all look up to, the small businesses that had been open for two years, five years, ten years and i want to just honor your persistence, your commitment. i know sometimes it feels like i got to do the job because i've got to pay bills but i want to broaden your perspective of these small businesses, you no, they by a lot of value to the community and for people to be able to keep coming back, being able to depend on you, being able to know that when they need that bike to ride or they need that coffee to sip, they can come back and see the same people and you can ask about the kids and the family and the dog, all of those things are so

important to the city of san francisco especially, so i just want to say congratulations, thank you for your persistence, perseverance and long suffering and the joy you bring, the assets you bring to the city of san francisco. so, thank you. >> thank you. you know, i think, first i'd like to give a shout-out to the two companies that are really on this list that are helping to attract people to come to san francisco, blazing saddles and hotel boheme. blazing saddle in particular, you have such a visible presence in this city and makes a huge contribution to the experience that visitors have. you can't drive down golden gate bridge without seeing your bike fall all over the place and even in the salsaly dough and it gives visitors something to do. it's on the leading edge of bike

culture and more sustainable future for this city so i can't commend the work that you've done enough making the city a more fun place to visit and i appreciate everything you guys have done. i want to echo commissioner ortiz cartagena about cafe boheme. we're so lucky to have these community spaces that help bring people together, to connect people together. it has been an extraordinary contribution to the mission community, so many ideas as commissioner ortiz cartagena mentioned, have come out of there, so many important changes to our city. so much important community building and it's so lovely to see that kind of business thrive and succeed for such a long time. with respect to hunters point yacht

club, i want a job there because i want to become a commodore. that's the most exciting job i heard here. it's so rad and it's an amazing place for people to gather and for san francisco. certainly in my mind, not least, if there's one busy have personally probably spent more money at than any other business, it is larkins brothers tire company and i want to give a big shout-out to jason and his brother-in-law randy who, you know, for those that don't know, i run a little van rental company and i've been, our vehicles have gone there for tires off and on, now approaching two decades. i recently seem to be running over nails over the time so i take my personal car there all-time.

it's a quick turnaround and great staff and everybody there is fully professionally. what i really appreciate about you guys coming up today in particular is it has taught me i should never rent a van to commissioner ortiz-cartagena. [laughter] because my goodness, that's our worst nightmare. so, with that, congratulations to all of you. it really does -- as some of the other commissioners mentioned, this is the highlight of our work here. oh, and club deluxe, before i forget, the legacy business appointment for that business in particular was critical to that business's survival because they were on the verge of losing their lease with their landlord and i want to give a shout-out to supervisor preston and the

legacy business team for working very hard to get them through the processes as quick as possible. so rick, thank you for all your hard work on that but this legacy business appointment soon to be, hopefully, pending a vote, was a critical part of them being able to renegotiate a lease with their landlord and continue on as a business and that was very much in doubt and for the music community, of which i consider myself a member, that would have been a terrific and horrendous loss so it's legacy business at its best and i want to thank bos staff, supervisor preston and rick and your team on the legacy business team. thank you. and club

deluxe, we're very excited that you're here before us today and excited to see you downpours. so with that, do we have a motion? >> i make a motion to approve all the legacy business -- >> sorry, i didn't see your name. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena, did you -- oh, okay. got it. >> should i -- >> go ahead, please, i'm sorry. >> i make a motion to approve all legacy business applicants. >> uh-huh. >> i'll second that motion. >> i'll call the roll. >> commissioner carter? >> aye. >> commissioner dickerson? >> yes. >> commissioner herbert is absent. commissioner huie? >> yes. >> president laguana? >> yes. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> yes. >> vice-president zouzounis is absent. motion passes. >> great. thank you, everybody. >> congratulations.

[applause] >> next item, please. >> item 3, board of supervisors file no. 220970. waiver of permit, license and business registration fees for certain small businesses. this is a discussion and action item. the the commission will discuss and may take action on an ordinance amending the program established in ordinance no. 143-21 waiving certain first-year permit, license, and business registration fees for certain businesses, retroactive to november 1, 2021. and we have anna, ledge slabtive aid to supervisor ronan. >> hello. >> welcome. >> good afternoon. first time here. i'm getting used to this echo. >> yeah. >> good afternoon commissioners, thank you for having me. my name is anna herrera and legislative aide for hillary ronan and i'm

here to talk about legislation that supervisor ronan introduced to expand the first free program. you heard about it last month when amanda freed and (indiscernible) from the treasurer and tax collector's office presented to you so hopefully this is a hopeful refresher. as you know, first year free is a program to support and reviefsh small san francisco businesses as the city recovers from the pandemic. the program waived the cost of initial registration fees, lie fees and first year permit -- license fees and first permit and the program enrolled 1700 businesses and waived over $375,000 in fees since it began last november. by all accounts, the program has been very popular and successful and supervisor ronan would like to expand the program so even more businesses can qualify. based on feedback from the treasurer and tax collector's office along with the office of small business, the legislation will

do the following, it will extend the qualifying enrollment period through june 30, 2023. it will also expand eligibility for small businesses from $2 million to five million and max gross receipts and it will eliminate the ground floor limitation so businesses such as food trucks can also qualify. the treasurer and tax collector's office estimate that over nine hundred businesses will benefit from the changes and we're excited that -- we're excited for this and overcoming the pandemic can be done in one year alone and we know several of you on the commission have been great supporters on the program from its inception and provided feedback and outreach when it first began so we're looking forward to your continued support and i'm here if you have anymore questions. >> great! commissioners, do you have any questions? >> commissioner huie?

>> thank you very much. thank you for being here today. i don't really have any questions necessary, but i wanted to just kind of share, i guess, recently there was a, i guess, an aspiring young business who had reached out and she has this, like, almond butter business she started during the pandemic and she was excited about it and she was hoping to kind of formalize her business even further and somebody, like, her -- she hasn't found a kitchen, like a commercial kitchen yet but she wants to become a small business and so, i was encouraging her to look into san francisco as the place to register her business because you know, she kind of has choices, right. she has choices to be able to register in south city or daly city or other municipalities and but her hope is really to grow a

business in san francisco. would her business be a first year free business in the expansion? i have a question. sorry. i had a story and then question. >> yes. because we're -- currently, it's slated to end this month, so this will expand it through june 2023, so i think as long as she registered within this period and files during this period, she would qualify. >> okay. even though she doesn't have a brick-and-mortar, i mean, she -- she's hoping to -- i mean her business is best catered for farmer's market or other types of collective selling probably since it's a product. >> yeah. i don't, oh, amanda is here. i was thinking, i wish amanda was here. [laughter] >> hi. good evening, sorry. i came in just a little late.

amanda freed from the treasurer's office. yes, with the proposed legislation, the definition is expanding so currently, it's very specifically for ground floor commercial use, which is really more like a retail or restaurant kind of defined. there is a proposal to expand that more generally, so something like a commercial kitchen as long as they are under the gross receipts threshold would likely qualify. i say likely because there's always specifics, so there could always be a reason and we're happy to go through some -- a specific case with a business but we just want to make sure they register within the time period is the most important thing and that they, you know, don't say i actually started in 2020. that would disqualify them. >> no, yeah. i think, you know, after having had this experience speaking with her and, like, she seemed really excited about this

program and i just kind of thought about how businesses of her scale and starting in this period, it would be like an ideal kind of situation to attract a business like that, you know, because waiving the first year fees would be really significant for somebody who is just kind of taking a leap and you know, she may not have a straight site presence but she's going to be in farmer's market so in your expansion, i was hoping to put that in your ear that there's a lot of business in general where in the past, san francisco has felt like a hurdle and i would love for them to be more just attracted to the idea of coming to san francisco and registering their business here, not to take away from any other municipality, but i do love san francisco, so.... thank you. >> thanks, amanda.

[laughter] >> are you done, okay. commissioner ortiz-cartagena. >> ana, thank you for the presentation. i want to thank commissioner ronan. this has been a dope program and i know sometimes the fee seems nominal but it helps a small business like you know what, it must be a team. it's a sign. if the fees are waived for retail and it doesn't have a big financial impact but it's a push, like, if the city is with me on this. and my organization especially restaurants or cafes, this is a huge financial burden is lifted. like those $20,000 that -- dpg and all the run around, that's significant. that's really significant and it has been really the, just that little extra help, that little extra push that the city needs and

needed at such a critical time and you know to me in my head, it's not even like we lost fees because for 1100 businesses, let's say half probably won't have started a business without this legislation and think about the sales tax revenue we generated and the jobs we have created and the vacant storefronts with very activated in the mission. this has been huge. this has been huge and i wish we could do more but this is just awesome and i want to say that. >> thank you, commissioner. >> thank you. commissioner carter? >> i just want to say how much i love this ordinance. this is great for marginalized community and for my nonprofit, sfgov black street. we're starting on our third cohort and this will mean so much to very small

businesses to not have to worry about those fees and we also should be doing more to make san francisco easier and welcoming for small businesses for people to want to do business in san francisco so that we can have more legacy businesses. you know, it also diversify what our small business, our small businesses look like in community, so i would love to see this extended. i would love to see, where is it, number three. where did it go? number three, yeah, to remove the requirement that the business be located on the ground floor. i would love to see that removed. but yeah. >> hopefully if this happens, it will be. >> this is really great, so thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. >> thank you. director tang. >> thank you. i really just wanted to echo everyone's comments here and appreciate supervisor ronan office and you

of course, ana, for spearheading this expansion and extension legislation. we probably, and i also want to thank my permit center team because this is the top question they ask of every business, have you heard of first year free and they check their eligibility and it's a life saver for many businesses and an incentive. we were thrilled when we heard supervisor ronan was going to introduce this to continue the program. we're grateful for your partnership and working on additional amendment to broaden the scope to be covered even more than the current program. thank you and thank you to amanda and the treasure and tax collector's office. >> thank you. commissioner ortiz-cartagena. >> i want to say amanda is god sent. you have been the only one in your department that has the empathy to understand a small business so it's like you were the perfect person from your

department to do this and i want to highlight this because if anyone has dealt with your department, they know. thank you. >> so i want to echo everybody's praise of supervisor ronan and the work that she did getting this legislation across the finish line. thank you as well for your work spearheading this on behalf of the supervisor and for coming down and speaking with us today. a big thank you to amanda at tax and treasury for all the work that you've been doing even while on vacation when i pestered you about stuff, so that is very much appreciated. you know, a couple things, first of all, the expansion is absolutely very much welcome. i also appreciate your receptiveness to possible amendments. i don't think, i

won't speak for my other commissioners but i think we're inclined to be supportive in this hearing, knowing those conversations are on going. but i will say, i think for benefit of the public some of whom might be listening in or review this later, the fees that get waived by this are typically not the lion share of the fees. it's -- there's some pretty significant fees that are not waive-able under this legislation. five million was originally budgeted. 12 but before it passed -- by the time it passed, i think it was at 5 when the budget was finally done, so you know, spread across 1700 businesses that applied for this, it was an

average of $220. the expansion of 900 would potentially, i mean, assuming that average held up which it might not, i mean, presumably businesses with larger gross receipts might have larger fees but if we extrapolated that same 220 across 900, we're talking about another 200,000. we're still under one million. if that five hundred or five million was the final budget, we actually have room to include or cover another 20,000 businesses if we could expand it to just all businesses that were applying for these permits. now, giant caveat, i recognize the fees aren't always going to average out to $220 but you know, i think that there is a lot of room for expansion here. also, you know, i think

you might have heard about this but i become aware of businesses, even some in of the supervisor's district that had started the permit process before the pandemic but weren't able to complete and then the pandemic interrupted their plans for lack ever a better word. interrupted all of our plans to be honest. so they put everything on hold and when they heard about this program, they got inspired and excited and thought that it would be a good time to pickup the (indiscernible) again. because they filed for the original permit prior to the dates on this time, that they weren't able to avail themselves of it. and even though the benefit is fairly modest when you're looking at fees. every little

helps and it's critical we get our economy back and going and encourage every business that we can to get back up and going because we are trailing the rest of the country in terms of new business openings. we're still, i think, operating at a net loss, that we're losing more businesses than we're actually gaining so i had a conversation with controller rosenfeld earlier today. he recommended, amanda, that i speak with you and that maybe we start to zero in on what the total universe of fees that we collect, how much does that total out to. like, over the past, i don't know, trailing over 12 months. and start to get our heads around the fact about whether we can afford or potentially have room to expand it even more than

what's contemplated. but again, just kind of putting this out there because i know there are some folks paying attention to this hear and i want them to know that they've been heard and that we're engaged with this process. i can't commend you and your office enough for your willingness to listen, supervisor ronan absolutely led on this issue. i have sung her praises from the high heavens, you know, as much as i can and will continue to do so because i think this is absolutely the right direction for us to go right now. given the current economic climate and everything that you all have done has been wonderful and appreciated and i hope i don't seem like i'm gifting like (indiscernible) towards the mouth but i do want to take advantage of the opportunity to try and do everything we can to make it as invite and enticing as possible for new businesses to open

because we're still struggling. >> yeah. i appreciate the feedback and we've been having conversations with director tang about additional amendments and we're working with city attorney's office on those so we're hoping to have additional language by next wednesday when it's budgeted and finances. >> there's a legal aspect and administrative aspect so you have to make it possible for the departments to execute on this stuff so i know it's -- you got zeroing in between those three things can be challenging but again, thank you very much for all the work that you're doing on this. is there anybody else? okay. is there any public comment? >> there's one caller on the line. >> okay. caller, please proceed. >> hello. my name is joey mucia and i'm a small business owner here in the mission district. i

run an arcade rental business. i started about ten years ago so it's inspiring to hear these legacy businesses talk about their 40-year anniversary and i'm just part of the way there but i have been renting arcade games out to the bars and restaurants for the last decade and the game plan has been to open my storefront and i've actually kind of been working on a permit since 2018 and met some red tape at the discretion of review and then the pandemic hit and people weren't allowed to go into bars and restaurants and touch arcade games so i got put on hold and then helped to serve on the business of merchant organization and i heard about this program and it got me fired up and i'm a big megaphone (indiscernible) so it's inspiring to see this support from the city of small businesses. but then i went to look at the verbiage and found

out and i applied and (indiscernible). i haven't gotten the building permit yet. i'm waiting on the invoice from the city but my rough calculation says just my permit fee might be in the six-figure range which is wild because it's just a tenant improvement inside of an existing building that's 2600 square feet, so just, you know, i'm really inspired by the first year fee program because kind of in this we're spot where i won't benefit from it so hopefully there's an amendment to accommodate my business and keep pushing this program forward, thank you so much. >> thank you. so, commissioners, i think it's a time for a motion. i'll move to approve the ordinance amending the program

with our banks and gratitude to supervisor ronan. >> motioned by president laguana and seconded by commissioner ortiz-cartagena. i'll read the roll. commissioner carter. >> dickerson? >> yes. >> commissioner herbert is absent. commissioner huie? >> yes >> president laguana? >> yes. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> yes. >> vice-president zouzounis is absent. motion passes. >> thank you, ana. >> thank you. >> i appreciate you coming and thank you amanda as well. next item, please >> item 4, draft rules and regulations of the legacy business historic preservation fund. this is a discussion and action item. the commission will consider the adoption of amendments to the rules and regulations of the legacy business historic preservation fund grants to landlords. presenting today we have richard, legacy business program

manager with the office of small businesses >> hi rick. >> hello. good evening commissioner laguana and commissioners and staff. my name is rick, business legislation -- sfgov tv, i have a presentation because i don't like the camera on me. >> grants to landlords. administrative code section 2a243c, grant to landlords is commonly known as the rent stabilization grant and the amendment was minor but it's important to ensure that rules are monitored regularly and improved when needed. article one section two of the rules of order of the san francisco small business commission requires a ten-day public notice for all rules and regulations prior to action. and we did do a ten-day

public notice hearing for the amendments. rule 11, notification of funding allocations to prior year qualified landlords. we are proposing to change the date from july 30th to august 1st, so the rule will read, on or before august 1st of each fiscal year, the office of small business should notify qualified landlords from the prior fiscal year of the grant -- (indiscernible) will notify the legacy business of the grant amount the landlord will receive. the annual city budget is passed by the board of supervisors by july 31st, not july 30th. and it makes more sense to reach out to the rent stabilization grant landlords and legacy business tenants the date after the budget is adopted which is why we're picking august 1st. rule 12, receipt of grant payment. we're changing

the world vendor to supplier, making grammatical changes and the vendor has to -- the rule will read, to be paid, grantees must be city suppliers and the legacy business program manager may assist application in completing registration requirements for becoming city suppliers as needed and when the city went live with the new financial system five years ago, vendors became suppliers and becoming a supplier is the only way a landlord can receive the rent stabilization grant. we don't always have a third-party. so getting setup as suppliers is mandatory. i would like to take this opportunity to say that the supplier setup process has proven to be difficult and time-consuming for many business owners which is not consistent with the city's equity goals and they hire third-party so grantees can get paid easily.

city departments go through time-consuming procurement and contract processes to hire third-party organizations, then spend city funds to pay those organization to get through the city's difficult process. sometimes that means less grant money available for small businesses and a simple solution is to have a financial system called grantee. in addition to the existing supplier and better categories and the third-party organizations we're paying are requesting w the from grantees so why can't the city department do it selves instead of using third-party to do that. it would be an easy fix in the financial system in my opinion so it might be perhaps the small business commission can take up this issue as an action item in a future meeting. rules regarding the historic preservation fund is subject to disapproval of the board of supervisors. the board of supervisors can introduce an ordinance within 30 days of delivery to the clerk of the board and act on it within 90

days or the rule will go into effect. i'm available for questions, thank you very much. >> >> commissioners, any questions? is there any public comment? >> there is none. >> >> rick, i want to thank you for your work on this. it's a set of rule change that's will make the program he can kwbl -- more equitable and sufficient so i'm inclined to support this. i will make a motion to approve the regulations as drafted. >> second that. >> >> moved by president laguana and seconded by commissioner carter. commissioner carter? >> yes. >> commissioner dickerson? >> yes. >> commissioner herbert is absent. commissioner huie? >> yes.

>> president laguana? >> yes. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> yes. >> and vice-president zouzounis is absent. motion passes. >> thank you. >> thank you, rick. next item, please. >> item 5, resolution making findings to allow teleconference meetings under california government code section 54953e. this is a discussion and action item. >> commissioners, any comments or discussions on this resolution? seeing none. is there any public comment? >> there's none. >> seeing none. public comment is closed. i move to approve. >> >> i'll second. >> motion by president laguana and second by dickerson. commissioner carter? >> aye. >> commissioner dickerson? >> aye. >> commissioner herbert is absent. commissioner huie? >> yes. >> laguana? >> yes. >> commissioner ortiz? >> yes. >> vice-president zouzounis is absent. motion passes. >> thank you. next item, please. >> item 6, approve of draft

meeting minutes, this is a discussion and action item. the council will discuss and possibility take action of august 12, 2022, and august 22, 2022, draft meeting minutes. >> commissioners any questions or comments on the minutes? okay. seeing none, is there any public comment? >> >> yes. >> please proceed. >> hello. i'm mike patrelis and i want to address the draft minutes. as you know, your first attempt at the draft minutes from august 22nd, you totally omitted what the public had said. that was unacceptable. and the buck needs to stop with the

president, sharka luna. it's outrageous that the minutes or were prepared without our comments and i believe if i had not shown up at your next meeting, that you would have okayed the minutes where all you did was list the names of the public speakers without the content of what we were saying and of course, what we were addressing was the castro theater and effort by the people at another planet entertainment to rip out of the seats of the orchestra at the castro theater and my sign refers to saving the seats and i really don't think the minutes adequately reflected the trauma of those of us who were here from the castro trying

to save the seats. that's really outrageous that our trauma was not recognized and that the president said things like, oh, this is just a placeholder, don't get too concerned about the language of the draft. it really added to the trauma that was in the community at that .7 months after the announcement was made that a was taking over the castro theater. so, ooip i'm glad you have corrected the omission and have included the content of what we were saying. i want to address the minutes from the following meeting and it says that i read a written statement into the record. i gave you a 150-word written statement. i did not read it

into the record. and i do not see that statement here in your minutes as you are required to include it by city law. so i hope that you will take all of this into account and better preparing your minutes in the future. thank you. >> thank you. >> noted. just, i have the minutes and i have injure statement on the website -- i have your statement on the website from the meeting. >> okay. i'll make a motion to approve the minutes. >> second. >> motion by president laguana. seconded by commissioner carter. i'll read the roll. commissioner carter? >> yes. >> commissioner dickerson? >> yes. >> commissioner herbert is absent. commissioner huie? >> yes. >> president laguana? >> yes. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> yes. >> vice-president zouzounis is absent. motion passes. >> great. thank you. next item, please. >> item 7. general public

comment. this is a discussion item. >> is there any member of the public who would like to make comment s items not on the agenda -- comments on items not on the agenda. mr. patrelis. >> how i want to show one-page from the br-a- newspaper. should i do it here or the web? >> could you start the clock. hi, michael patrels again. i'm asking the sfgov tv to show the bay area newspaper and i'm going to read the headline from their october 6th story. castro

merchants group declines to endorse another planet theater plans. this appeared on the bar website and in the newspaper this week. back to me, please. sfgov tv, so, what we have here is proof that sharky laguna misspoke. he may have lied when he said the small businesses of the castro were in favor of another planet. they, the businesses did not endorse another planet letter calling for support of them ripping out the seats, so it really needs to be addressed by this commission. what you were attempting to do on august 22nd on behalf of the

small businesses in the castro was, as i've said, traumatic and as we see, did not have the support of the small businesses. on october 6th, the castro merchant's association rejected another planets proposal. if you guys had passed your resolution, it would have been at raul odds to put it mildly with -- real mildly what the businesspeople in the castro feel like. i'm asking luna to resign and he was appointed by the mayor to submitted an updated residential nation letter. why did he do that? it calls into question his independence from the mayor and calls into question the integrity of how he has

conducted himself as the president of this commission. it's really unacceptable that he did not disclose his submitting an updated letter -- un-dated resignation letter. regarding another planet, one of the things that was in sharky luna's resolution, he misspoke and said that another planet was having town hall meetings. they've held one. since then, they've not had any transparent communication with the community. they had a serious setback at the castro merchants association. they've also received a six-month continuance from the historic preservation commission because they don't have community support. they don't have their

act together and we in community are asking for the historic preservation commission and the planning commission to put the castro theater on their agenda now. we have waited in the castro, in the gay community since january to have the matter of apes plan abated here at city hall. right now, we are going to wait another six months, march of 2023 is when the historic planning commission will finally consider the matter. that's six months of more trauma, of more controversy, and as we had seen since the beginning of this year where ape has not shown movies,

there aren't going to be movies shown at the castro theater. we're not going to have folks coming there going to the bars, going to the small businesses and spending money. this is really unacceptable. [timer] so, if this commission wants to make a mends, i don't think sharky is going to give me the apology that we deserve but if you would like to make a mends for what has been wronged up to now, put it back on the agenda. ask the small businesses of the castro to come here and explain why they rejected apes proposal. finally, here's my new statement to be included in the record, 150 word statement to be include. thank you. >> thank you, michael. i'm note for the record my last name is

pronounced laguana. item or yeah, there's no action required. next item. >> item 8, director's report. this is a discussion item. >> good evening commissioners so a couple of updates. one regarding legacy business programs especially since we have legacy businesses here. early october the mayor signed an ordinance that we had worked on with the (indiscernible) peskin to waive the $50 application fee so you won't have to pay $50 to apply to be on the legacy business registry, so that was exciting news, so thank you rick and michelle for working on that in our office. the second update, just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of shared spaces program and somethings happening coming up soon, so this week starting this week, businesses are supposed to start receiving the compliance advisory which many of you got a

presentation on this and it was called a clean bill of health at that time but now it's a compliance advisory so it will go out in batches this week but we hoped this will go out to businesses earlier so they would understand what they needed to do to meet the design guidelines and then as a reminder, november 11th the deadline for businesses -- november 11th the deadline for businesses to submit an application to say they would like their shared spaces continuing on a permanent bases and there's concern and the compliance advisory going on so close to the november 1st deadline, so just as a reminder that march of 2023 is actually when businesses need to comply with the design guidelines for shared spaces. that was in the ordinance, however, november 11th to submit the application. so that you're paired with a case manager from the sheriff's spaces team that will then -- shared spaces that will communicate with you and

back and forth about your particular shared space and the need so i wanted to make sure that was on your radar because i do imagine once the notices will go out that we'll hear a lot of questions and concerns from the small business community. and then also, i wanted to update everyone that as we continue to make additions and improvements to our osd website, we added to our starter guide section, two new starter guys and one for popup events and another 1 for street activations so it was our attempt to try to get our minds around all the permits required for the two types of activities and so i want to thank kerry and michelle and our small business permitting team, morgan and rachel for their help on this and working with different departments on getting this information and it's a work in process certainly, so hopefully people will benefit from these guides to get you started. on another note, i wanted to share

that at the state level, we had been working on advocating for a continuation for local jurisdictions to receive $4 of every business registration in the state. and this previously it was $1 that we received and it went towards the disability access fund, so we are thrilled to share that the $4 which was the increase in fees, it was going to expired and we advocated for it to be continued in perpetuity and what this means for us, we'll offer our disability access grants for small businesses, currently offered up to $10,000 in reimbursement for businesses to make accessibility improvements and we'll continue that for as long as the funds are available so we're really thrilled about that given the huge need right now for grant funding for

accessibility. to update on the legislative and policy front and you heard about first year free and expansion legislation and we're continuing to work on that as an office and through some of the commissioners to continue working on those amendments and then also i wanted to point out there was legislation recently sponsored to address the rolling gates that are on storefronts existing rolling gates. that may not meet planning code transparency requirements and those potentially would be grandfathered in, so i know there's been some interest on that front, whether grandfathering or moving forward but this particular legislation addresses those that's in existence already. those are my updates and happy to answer any questions. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> thank you, director for such an efficient report but those, you know the popup guides,

amazing and i want to give kudos for the street vendor things. that's what we use on the ground. that was so sufficient. i was in a meeting and somebody said look what dpw did. i said uh-huh, their was kerry from the office of -- this was kerry from the office of small businesses and it creates good content and we do tik tok and blast them and it's commonsense and people understand them. thank you. keep them coming because you're simplifying and demystifying the complexity of doing business in san francisco. [whispering] [laughter] >> thank you so much and again, great shout-out to kerry, our policy analyst to digest complicated information across agencies and uncover the mystery of doing business in san francisco. >> commissioner carter?

>> following a new business that opened on third in the bay view, we have talio coffee and tea open for business at 4732 third street and also cafe envious that's open for breakfast at 9:00 a.m. the old monte carlo. >> great, thank you. >> commissioner huie? >> yes, thank you. i was really excited to see the e-mail in my inbox about the popup guide and things like that, so straight activations have been my joy and my pain this year as we have been producing artwork sf and you know, my goal for that and our organization goal for that has been help communities build capacity create street

activation on their own and for street activations to be of different scale and sizes, right. because i think it's one thing to produce a big music festival and another to have a block party and they are all super important right now and i think what we have learned in the past year of putting these things together is one, it requires a tremendous amount of resources in terms of volunteer hours and even financial resources. so, you know, all of that information, i've kind of put together and i'm happy to share and continue to share. the other thing that i've learned is that people are so hungry for more of these, so we just finished 1 on clement street, and outer sunset. were you in outer sunset. i heard from many people you were there. [laughter] and you know, i think every politician who came to stage

that day was very excited to see more of this and to see more, six like, more frequency, more neighborhoods and everything so hopefully this guide will help not just this program but this type of activity to really scale. we have been getting from request from people who are neighbors and groups of neighborhoods who want to see their small businesses grow and thrive and so some of the best practices that we've seen is really to encourage people to have a meal in the restaurants that are nearby. simple things and you know, it actually really does help, so thank you very much for putting this into a format that can be shared with so many different groups and you know, then i don't have to go to 20 meetings each month to talk about these things. we can have a starting block for this. so

thank you very much. >> great. it looks like all questions are done. is there any public comment? >> there's none. >> okay. seeing none. public comment is closed. no action items here, so i guess next item. >> item 9, commissioner discussion and new business. this is a discussion item. >> great. commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> director, i had a question. i know the city -- citywide we have implemented equity in every department, our department as an equity subcommittee, commissioner carter and myself, we serve on the equity council for planning and what -- i just want to know, like, if we get updates from other department s their equity initiatives as it pertains to small businesses, planning is just like -- in our

eyes, it's leading the way and typically historically in community, planning has been one of our biggest them says for a lack of a better word and they are changing the culture from the director down and it's excite and refreshing and they are outlining planners to underserved communities and if we had an exan indicter or land use attorneys so it's -- it's nice and refreshing but what about our other departments, sf mta, the tax collector's office, dph. i'm really concerned or curious. i don't know yet, right. i would like to see if our office can reach out to these departments and just see and i know we're all at capacity so i'm not trying to, you know, put it in that or frame it that

way but i want to see what's going on. >> and if i may respond, perhaps this is also worth a conversation with the office of racial equity which is overseeing all department in our racial equity plans. if it's worth a conversation with them outside this meeting or here as well, wherever i think suits your interest level, so just want to put that out there. certainly that's what that office was created for. we are, obviously happy to have these kind of conversations and i think we were just kind of half joking about how kerry put together all this information, demystifying information. that is truly a part of being equitable in our services. if people can't understand it and get passed maybe english is not their native language, we have to make things simple and easy to understand, so certainly, how

should i say it, we understand that even if we don't see it coming from certain departments that our job then is to help play that role too. >> if i could encourage here. the more the merrier, the more times they come here. this should be an on going -- i feel our department, may i have a bias but i think we're leading wait, demystifying information. i know kerry personally, you fought to translate information around the street vendor legislation, so like things like that. i want to hold us accountable obviously because that's our purview by other departments because we intermingle and intertwine and like you said, director tang, most businesses are multilingual and what are you doing for us and i want to hear it here and hold people accountable on the

record. >> thank you. commissioner huie? >> just jumping off of that for a second. i also want to say that even just simplifying things in general, even if it's not a language barrier, i mean, i feel like there's so much jargon for people to understand that it is intimidating and like most people i don't think speak the same language spoken at city hall and i think, you know, our commission really does have kind of a unique place where we kind of operate in both spheres and so i find myself opt times kind of translating, okay, this is what is happening and, like, bringing that forth into the community and so, i think if we could, you know, kind of have some mechanism to run it by people and say does this make

sense and does it seem readable or understandable to you, i think it would be really -- it would make a world of difference. i do think that what we have is readable and for us to continue on that path. and -- >> are you saying our office is the best in the city? [laughter] that's what i understand. >> we're not.... not saying that. >> i'm definitely saying that. [laughter] speaking of our office, one of the things i was curious about because i have gotten a lot the inquiries about this and i kind of bring it up a lot in conversation, i'm curious to see how we can support the vacancy mitigation work that our office is doing? i would love to help support that, understand where there might be areas that we or

our networks could really help with that and is there a way to amplify the work that they do. and also wanted to get everybody up-to-date on the survey that the survey so far has been super successful, i think, in my mind. i think kerry, we have maybe like 700 plus respondents so far and pretty wide range of people and i'd also like to note that kerry has been (indiscernible). she probably called 700 and something businesses, so thank you very much for your outreach and you know, your persuasion, your gift of -- i'm excited the survey will close october 17th and after that, the team at san francisco state and our team here will kind of go through dissecting that information and we'll have some really nice

things, so i think also whatever information is kind of interest to you, feel free to bring that forth because i think we're just going to have a lot of stuff. from last time you can look at it one thousand different ways. >> yeah. i had a reporter asking me about that survey and i said it takes a while to digest because all the different ways you can cross tab the data is, you know, can really lead you in different directions. you know, commissioner huie, you and i were talking over the week about this but for the rest of the commission, we are seeking more outreach and involvement from the latino community, from the african-american community. we can use more native asian speakers. pretty much just everybody that is not an english speaker is highly encouraged and

english speakers are also encouraged but that's not where we're weak right now. maybe weak is a strong word but it's not as an big area of opportunity in terms of survey outreach. over the weekend, i reached out to several supervisors -- solidify their engagement. i echoed that call, i think would be very welcome. we have about a week or so, less than a week now, six-days until we're closing the survey. i think this last time around, as far as i know, the biggest survey of small businesses that has been done in san francisco, many attempts but ours was the biggest. their is going to be bigger than -- this is going to be bigger than that so i have a stretch goal of, can

we get it up to one thousand businesses which i think would be pretty significant. and i think we can do it if we just do one last big push, so i want to encourage everybody to help get the word out and because i think that this can -- this information is used by legislators and aides for coming up with ideas, last time around it has been a talking point for many bids ever legislation that came out of this survey and i want to thank commissioner huie for her leadership on this and doing such an incredible job of getting it up and going again and steering it and working with professor chateri and her team and creating that partnership to begin with. i think it has been a real benefit to the small business community, reflects well on this commission of which i'm very proud to be a member,

so thank you. commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> i was going to bring up something else but i want to tell you commissioners, thank you -- the last survey, that data was just, i have never seen data like that. i'm a data freak so that was really helpful. kerry has brought it to our attention about the latino community and we have brought it up twice in the latin -- latino task force and we did a tik tok. >> i want to see that tik tok. >> we're going to try and hit the floor because we need that data because if it doesn't represent us, then we're excluded from the data, so i want to make sure the population i represent is in that because it's a dope survey and when we have all the data, seriously, it guides policy and legislation. with that i was going to say, i don't know if

dr. (indiscernible) and maybe this is to director, this is changing from the survey but i know we have teddy, but he's an economicist but maybe reaching out to uc berkeley, business school of house, there's latino and african economist. i brought it up and bringing the (indiscernible) to speak here. she's local. why not. well, if you're saying the millions and millions of viewers, make sure your federal reserve comes to the small business of office to speak. seriously. our communities -- it's a different -- our inflation rates are higher than whatever the inflation are. our unemployment is always higher historically. and in our small businesses, we don't have the same access to resources, capital, et cetera. that would be great to have a different kind of presentation

and you know i love ted. when he speaks, that's truth and i love it but we need something for our communities. >> agreed. director tang? >> i was actually going to respond to commissioner huie's question about how the commission can support work in commercial, addressing commercial vacancies. so i neglected to mention we are in the process of hiring a commercial vacancy specialist that would be housed within our office. we've never quite had that position and i don't know that owd has a specialized dedicated position on -- on this topic so we're excited about it. the first step get the data points that's currently available which are not comprehensive on their own and really consolidating that and creating a much more comprehensive database so we can do better match making when entrepreneurs want to open up in a vacant space. we can look at

what is the business proposed use and what is on our list of vacancies and the zoning already allows for say someone who wants to open a restaurant and maybe there's already restaurant equipment there and we don't need to make that applicant or that business owner go through all these different hoops in order to get the business that they desire. so that's just one example of how we hope to use that data so i'll keep you posted once we are able to hire this position and start creating some of the tools that will help us with better feeling commercial vacancies in the city. >> great. commissioner huie? >> just speaking back to a possible guest speaker. do you remember, i attended that virtual conference or online presentation from, i think it was researchers in berkeley, right, where they did the, i think it was asset funders. it might have been and then i think

urban displacement project. they did a whole data survey on businesses owned by bi-pock owners and it's not ready available. this information is hard for them to find and so they kind of did almost like a heat map type of thing and they came out with all sorts of different types of information from that. i can find that, i know kerry, you have the presentation. we can maybe watch it again and see if there might be some things we can bring forth to this commission and see if they might have, you know, proceeded to do more research in that direction since then because that would be really helpful. >> definitely. i remember that helpful. just again to forecast because you know, as 2023 comes in, you know, (indiscernible) indicators, there's a lot of data and a lot of stuff out

there but not how it pertains to our community. usually we get stuff reactive after the fact but i want to show economic indicators before then. i know the doctor and her network and she's dope and maybe i'm asking too much. >> i think it's good to be proactive and i don't -- because if you start looking at economic kind of trending and for the general public kind of thing, small businesses are going to reflect the same kind of thing. i think it will be more polarized and we see that in our small business community now, so i think the more support, the more that we can kind of understand. because it's also nuance too, i think. things will not, i don't see that a blanket solution as everything is the way to go. so if we can tease

out the understanding it's to our benefit, i think. >> great. anybody else? so, i want to bring up something to everybody's attention. all out sf dot com. it's next week, 16th through the 23rd. on day two, we are having small business flash mobs. so, organizing flash mobs to go to small businesses and just buy the heck out of everything in there. super fun. super cool. you can sign up for it at all out sf dot com. and there's like an event bright thing and one in every district and there's captains and commissioner huie, are you a captain? i'm going to be an a

commodore. >> well, i don't know who ranks higher but -- [laughter] >> i like the sound of commodore. it was probably ranked lower but -- [laughter] one other thing. i don't have tik tok but i have instagram reel, so i thought for the survey, we'll start it right now. i'm at the small business commission meeting here with my fellow commissioners and director tang and secretary byrne bock whose name i garble. i want to tell everybody about the small business survey which we have over 700 responses but we need more, particularly from non-english speakers so if you're saying this instagram reel, we need you. >> (indiscernible). >> i'll figure out how to do that later.

[laughter] so, okay. >> i want to plug clement street since you're talking about all out. i'm going to be on flag mob and a captain. we'll be starting at golden hour and then we'll be moving to park life and then to green apple and having drinks afterwards at high treason. that soundses fun. i don't know where sharky's is going to be. >> i think i'm going to take the recommendation to resign. [laughter] and join your -- >> join my flash mob on climate street. >> i like the drinks in particular and green apple. i can't go into a notebook store without walking out significantly poor. okay. anybody else? commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> i would like to request if possible if we can make

memorandum for the victor hernandez who park passed a -- who passed away. >> brother of the mayor of the mission. i'll let you make that closing note. do we have public comment on the commissioner comments? >> we do not. >> okay. that item is closed. next item, please. >> item 10, adjournment. sfgovt tv, please show the office of small business slides. >> we'll end with the reminder that the small business commission is the public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about policies effect the economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco. and that 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, continue to reach out

to the office of small business and we will close today with commissioner ortiz-cartagena comment. >> this is for rual hernandez. you'll always be missed. thank you. >> thank you. meeting is adjourned.

>> i am iris long. we are a family business that started in san francisco chinatown by my parents who started the business in the mid 1980s. today we follow the same footsteps of my parents. we source the teas by the harvest season and style of crafting and the specific variety. we specialize in premium tea. today i still visit many of the farms we work with multigenerational farms that produce premium teas with its own natural flavors. it is very much like grapes for wine. what we do is more specialized, but it is more natural.

growing up in san francisco i used to come and help my parents after school whether in middle school or high school and throughout college. i went to san francisco state university. i did stay home and i helped my parents work throughout the summers to learn what it is that makes our community so special. after graduating i worked for an investment bank in hong kong for a few years before returning when my dad said he was retiring. he passed away a few years ago. after taking over the business we made this a little more accessible for visitors as well as residents of san francisco to visit. many of our teas were traditionally labeled only in chinese for the older

generation. today of our tea drinkkers are quite young. it is easy to look on the website to view all of our products and fun to come in and look at the different varieties. they are able to explore what we source, premium teas from the providence and the delicious flavors. san francisco is a beautiful city to me as well as many of the residents and businesses here in chinatown. it is great for tourists to visit apsee how our community thrived through the years. this retail location is open daily. we have minimal hours because of our small team during covid. we do welcome visitors to come in and browse through our

products. also, visit us online. we have minimal hours. it is nice to set up viewings of these products here.. >> neighborhood in san francisco are also diverse and fascist as the people that inhabitable them we're in north beach about supervisor peskin will give us a tour and introduce is to what think of i i his favorite district 5 e 3 is in the northwest surrounded by the san francisco bay the district is the boosting chinatown oar embarcadero financial district fisherman's wharf exhibit no. north beach telegraph hill and

part of union square. >> all of san francisco districts are remarkable i'm honored and delighted to represent really whereas with an the most intact district got chinatown, north beach fisherman's wharf russian hill and knob hill and the northwest waterfront some of the most wealthier and inning e impoverished people in san francisco obgyn siding it is ethically exists a bunch of tight-knit neighborhoods people know he each other by name a wonderful placed physically and socially to be all of the neighborhoods north beach and chinatown the i try to be out in the community as much as and i think, being a the cafe eating

at the neighborhood lunch place people come up and talk to you, you never have time alone but really it is fun hi, i'm one the owners and is ceo of cafe trespassing in north beach many people refer to cafe trees as a the living room of north beach most of the clients are local and living up the hill come and meet with each other just the way the united states been since 1956 opposed by the grandfather a big people person people had people coming since the day we opened. >> it is of is first place on the west that that exposito 6 years ago but anyone was doing that starbuck's exists and it created a really welcoming pot. it is truly a legacy business

but more importantly it really at the take care of their community my father from it was formally italy a fisherman and that town very rich in culture and music was a big part of it guitars and sank and combart in the evening that tradition they brought this to the cafe so many characters around here everything has incredible stories by famous folks last week the cafe that paul carr tennessee take care from the jefferson starship hung out the cafe are the famous poet lawrence william getty and jack herb man go hung out. >> they work worked at a play with the god fathers and photos he had his typewriter i wish i were here back there it there's

a lot of moving parts the meeting spot rich in culture and artists and musicians epic people would talk with you and you'd >> you are watching san francisco rising. a special guest today. >> i am chris and you are watching san francisco rising. focused on rebuilding and reimagining our city. our guest is the director of financial justice in the san francisco office of treasure to talk about how the city has taken a national lead in this effort and how the program is comlishing the goals. welcome to the show. >> thanks so much for having me. >> thank you for being here. can we start by talking about the financial justice project in

a broad sense. when did the initiative start and what is the intent? >> sure. it launched in 2016. since then we take a hard look at fines, fees, tickets, financial penalties hitting people with low incomes and especially people of color really hard. it is our job to assess and reform these fines and fees. >> do you have any comments for people financially stressed? >> yes. the financial justice project was started in response pop community outcry about the heavy toll of fines and fees. when people struggling face an unexpected penalty beyond ability to pay they face a bigger punishment than originally intended.

a spiral of consequences set in. a small problem grows bigger. for example the traffic ticket this is california are hundreds of dollars, most expensive in the nation. a few years back we heard tens of thousands in san francisco had driver's licenses suspended not for dangerous driving but because they couldn't afford to pay traffic tickets or miss traffic court date. if they lose the license they have a hard time keeping their job and lose it. that is confirmed by research. we make it much harder for people to pay or meet financial obligations. it is way too extreme of penalty for the crime of not being able to pay. we were also hearing about thousands of people who were getting cars towed. they couldn't pay $500 to get them back and were losing their cars. at the time we hand people a bill when they got out of jail

to pay thousands in fees we charged up to $35 per day to rent electronic ankle monitor, $1,800 upfront to pay for three years of monthly $50 probation fees. people getting out of jail can't pay these. they need to get back on their feet. we weren't collecting much on them. it wasn't clear what we were accomplishing other than a world of pain on people. we were charging mothers and grandmothers hundreds of dollars in phone call fee to accept calls from the san francisco jail. we heard from black and brown women struggling to make terrible choices do. i pay rent or accept this call from my incarcerated son. the list goes on and on. so much of this looked like lose-lose for government and people. these penalties were high pain,

hitting people hard, low gain. not bringing in much revenue. there had to be a better way. >> it is important not to punish people financially there. are issues to address. >> sure. there are three core principles that drive our work. first, we believe we should be able to hold people accountable without putting them in financial distress. second you should not pay a bigger penalty because your wallet is thinner. $300 hits doctors and daycare workers differently. they can get in a tailspin, they lose the license. we dig them in a hole they can't get out of. these need to be proportioned to people's incomes.

third. we should not balance the budget on the backs of the poorest people in the city. >> financial justice project was launched in 2016. can you talk about the accomplishments? >> sure sometimes it is to base a fine on the ability to pay. consequences proportional to the offense and the person. other times if the fee's job is to recoupe costs primarily on low-income people. we recommend elimination. other times we recommend a different accountability that does not require a money payment. here are a few examples. we have implemented many sliding scale discounts for low-income people who get towed or have parking tickets they cannot afford. you pay a penalty according to income. people with low incomes pay less. we also became the first city in

the nation to stop suspending people's licenses when they could not pay traffic tickets. we focused on ways to make it easier for people to pay through payment plans, sliding discounts and eliminating add on fees to jack up prices of tickets. this reform is the law of the land in california. it has spread to 23 other states. we also stopped handing people a bill when they get out of jail and eliminated fees charged to people in criminal justice system. they have been punished in a lot of ways. gone to jail, under supervision, the collection rate on the fees was so low we weren't bringing in much revenue. the probation fee collection rate was 9%. this reform has become law from california and is spreading to other states. we made all calls from jail

free. the more incarcerated people are in touch with families the better they do when they get out. it was penny wise and pound foolish. now phone calls are free. incarcerated people spend 80% more time in touch where families. that means they will do better when they get out. we eliminated fines for overdue library books. research shows were locking low income and people of color out of libraries. there are better ways to get people to return books, e-mail reminders or automatically renew if there is no one in line for it. this has spread to other cities that eliminated overdue library fines. these hold people accountable but not in financial distress can work better for government.

local government can spend more to collect the fees than they bring in. when you proportion the fine with income they pay more readily. this impact can go down and revenues can go up. >> i know there is an initial group that joined the project. they had a boot camp to introduce the program to large audience. is this gaining traction across the country? >> yes 10 cities were selected to launch the fines for fee justice. they adopted various reforms like we did in san francisco. as you mentioned we just hosted a boot camp in phoenix, arizona. teams of judges and mayors came from 50 cities to learn how to implement reforms like we have in san francisco. there is a growing realization the penalties are blunt instruments with all kinds of

unintended consequences. it is the job of every public servant to find a better way. governance should equalize opportunity not drive inequality. >> quite right. thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming on the show. thank you for your time today. >> thank you, chris. >> that is it for this episode. we will be back shortly. you are watching san francisco rising. thanks for watching. >> hello, i'm shanna with the league of women voters of san francisco. along with the league and sfgov tv, i'm here to discuss proposition d, a billion on the measure which will be for the