doing. it's so important. i just had a question and then, do you have a way of measuring how you're affecting employment or unemployment in some city? do you have a way of reflecting and looking at numerically, seeing a direct correlation between the work you're doing and how it's affecting the job or unemployment in the city? >> yes. we have a few ways and one of the things we do is, it's the unemployment rate, so even though we have seen something of an uptick in recent months, we're able to do a few things. one, when an employer of a certain size and scale, it's usually large employers, if there's an instance that is of 75 or more workers laid off, we get a warn notice. and i have a

feeling you're familiar with the warren act which is a notification by the state and federal office that they are laying off workers so those letters are required to go to the mayor of the area, so it goes to mayor breed and required to go to the workforce director and the state of california. we log those and we have seen obviously, it was much publicized layoffs within the tech industry, thousands of individuals, unfortunately losing work with about two months notice but we have been bracing for what that's going to do to the economy and to the unemployment rate. thankfully, a few things happened. lauren and her team, mae tang is her response -- when we get the notice, we offer resources and services, support, alternative means of employment and covered california and all those things you need if you're going to lose your job. we have seen those workers transition into other

tech firms or other employers who are with the next phase of technologies and industry you're seeing. a lot of employers may not be in the tech industry want tech skilled workers and they've been hiring folks in their offices and we make the match smaller. because we're able to get a sense of how many people we get through the reports on the workforce link or service providers who on any given year are serving about 7,000 individuals a year, during covid, it was larger, like the essential resource hub and bay view and down into visitation valley and served up to 12,000 individuals when unemployment was as high as 13%, so the number 16,000 -- 17,200 is the number of individuals looking for work as of march. we're able to see some kind of section of, do we have a relationship, do we

have, through our service providers or workforce link platform or our direct services staff, what is known as our community engagement team, we're able to know based on resources such as our hotline and other services, who is working and not working and we can put boots on the ground to make sure folks have options, if they know about small businesses that's hiring or anyone at all that's hiring to help make that match. i think, we're able to point to the data shows the second lowest rate in the state. when you look at san francisco, despite changes in the economy, still keeping an unemployment rate that's again, second lowest in the state, it's because we're working together in this way. even though employers have experienced some, releasing of their workers, we can work together and collectively to get them rematched and the best

example i think which is work which is the janitorial union. that's due to remote work and businesses releasing their releases. but at the hiring event for example last week, with all the work available in hotels which is a booming industry, we were able to work and have shuttles from the janitor's union over to the ferry building and a lot of those janitors got on the shuttle and went to the hiring event and walked away with jobs at different hotels so i think there's the anecdotal and knowing we're doing everything we can and then when we see we're able to hold and not see what we would have thought thousands of new individuals who's looking for work who were laid off, we're seeing a few hundred per month. we want it to be nothing and go back down to

2% where we have been, but those are the ways we can track empirically the impact of our collective efforts. >> great. thank you. >> thank you. >> well, that was a very good story, by the way. the janitor, i mean, i feel like we need to -- [laughter] -- we need to release it with that one. you know, i also wrote down here, oewd with lots of exclamation marks so i want to commend this team and ecosystem you're building and i'm looking at director -- and director tang as well, i want to commend you as a resident and a small business owner. you know, like, thank you for kind of seeing how this whole system comes together and how it is all

interconnected, right. like you were saying and i think it's not about, like, solving for a time but making the whole thing come together for everybody. thank you so much for having that perspective and point of view. it's making a huge difference in the impact of life, you know, for many san franciscans. so, thank you. >> thank you, president huie and are thank you to the director and having the foresight to make this connection. business leaders and -- we feel we can do everything. thank you, president huie. >> thank you. that brings me to a few questions that i had. how many employers do you have currently on workforce? or workforce link? >> it's interesting you say that because i was literately loading just in case we get the job seeker --

[laughter] >> so, as of today, currently, we have a little over 700 employers in workforce link that's teams that that engage with this past fiscal year. >> okay. that's super helpful because then, i mean, on the scale, it's how many businesses we know are out there. we can try to get that number up and maybe we can kind of credit how, in just our regular communications. we have just finished a survey, that could have been an opportunity for us to encourage people to sign up and things but going forward, that would be really, i mean, the presentation, i think, showed me how simple it is, which i think in my mind, i think i didn't realize how easy it is because this is really something that, like, when you talk to people in neighborhoods who have actually tried different types of workforce programs, they are, like, this didn't work out. it's hard. it's a match making kind of, like,

thing, right. so it doesn't always work but the thing that i find really interesting about your presentation, it showed that if we just all kind of get on it and use it as a tool, that's where the strength comes from, right. it's kind of, like, the whole, like, mapping situation before. you need everybody to get on and start using it and so, i'm excited to see that type of, you know, activity. the other thing that i've noticed is, for a lot of employers or a lot of small businesses, i think consistency is really good. having these job fairs consistently, whether people are coming or not because i think things kind of flow, but that has been a real key for a lot of things that people can count on it when it happens. like you were saying, i wish i would have known about it but the way the business goes, it's

like we'll always be in that cycle, so to know this is a reliable, you know, support is really great. oh, and then the cbo's getting on, i think you've mentioned that, because i've been getting -- i ran a merchants association in the richmond district so talking about neighborhoods as trying to get the little people. that's what i -- that's who i am. i'm the little person, so -- [laughter] >> that's funny because our team, we're developing a walk-through mission of (indiscernible). they put the sign [foreign language] so we're going to go in with some ipads and we're going to -- because mont lining fwal and sign them up. >> what does that mean? >> like, a lot of people put help wanted for a cook or chef. the old school. on the -- >> they put it on a piece of paper. >> so the team, they are going

to walk the corridor and signing people up working for them because it's not the language as opposed to technical aspects so partner with the cbo's and we did a lot of work through the employment hub and bring going into the neighborhood, just, coming out there and sign up. >> yeah. yeah. i think your grass roots approach is how san francisco likes to operate. it's well-aligned with how we move through the world. and i forget what i was saying now, but the students. i was wondering about, you know, what your -- i talked about cbo's and we -- but there have been several cbo's who come and approach me as a merchant association. if they are not signed up, they should sign up with workforce to be on there,

right? >> they should. the one thing i was going to say, we purchase licenses annually for, up to two and if folks, some of the community partners need a third because their staff is so active in doing the work we fund them to do in terms of recruit job seekers and help them get placed and they use this to get them working. we're happy to provide this for free. this is for workforce development systems partners and mostly having that license, it allows us to go into the information, like the client file information, like the personal and private information about the individual's journal and their skills and things that's more informative for someone who is helping to make the connection as a job developer and the employer, what we're looking to do is make sure communities we serve are presented just as qualified as

anyone you might recruit off indeed or resource and partner what we do is because our business concierge or employer concierge and first place hiring staff are doing prescreen and might say to someone, hey you applied to that position, it might be a stretch. could you look at this instead of that so employers are seeing folks we hope they will find qualified and this isn't the only platform we would encourage employees or job seekers. lauren thomas at the golden gate restaurant association, sometimes it's a snap shot in time and you might get a lot of folks that apply and may not get many and you may get more through craigslist or applicants through other tools but it's a free platform that's really quick and easy and back

to your economy, president huie, about the community partners, there's nothing that should hold a community partner from two things at a minimum. one, an introduction with us. we would love that because we can work together and help to support the individuals that they are supporting in their job search. and two, nothing stops that community partners from helping the individuals sign up for free on the workforce link. it's free to apply and post as an employment and the service provider partners who we have grants with have access to the licenses to do the work to facilitate an application and log in and see if an employer followed through with hiring offer, if one was made available or maybe to encourage an interview or pick up the phone and say what happened to the applicants. what can we do to support? how is it going? that's the work on the back-ends on the sales force license we grant to the service provider

partners. >> that's helpful. so, oh. speaking of students, knowing there are many students who are often times looking for work, i feel like that would be a great neighborhood or different sector or whatever kind of spot. [laughter] so, we have some students here. [laughter] >> it's an example. they were part of the programs and they are employed at the cbo. that's case and point working. >> there it is. congratulations! [laughter] >> yeah. actually, one of the things we have partnered with the human rights commission around the opportunities for all program and the different of children and youth and families, it's something we've talked about, executive director sofus mentioned it, as of this morning, reestablished a citywide committee on workforce alignment and one of the things we've talked about was to develop a system whereby the programs for youth that we're

investing in helping to create success in terms of careers long-term with our students, that we have the ability to know an individual is looking for their paid internship that's available to every student in the city and count and simulate if we're working with employers and saying, can we send folks your way to go into a similar platform. maybe it's us or a platform. there's talk about family youth and families and the work they do with students. our office with transitional age youth and adult and older adults to try and find one system to where we can make it easy for someone to say i'm looking for an internship or something this summer or part-time job or doing any -- any of these things or someone looking for work,

workforce link dot org is a great place to go. >> that's one sector we don't give enough credit to. they should have that work experience. lastly, this is not so much a question, but really i guess, words of encouragement from small business is that, i think in the future, i would love to see young people, jock seekers, whoever, have that entrepreneurial spirit and think about themselves as their own small business and be able to move through the world, like, feeling empowered that they are going to find their next opportunity and that their time is valuable. see so i think if there's a way to help job seekers not feel like they are under the control of finding, i have to find that next piece that i'm empowered to figure out what my next move is going to

be. i think that would be beneficial for all of us as small business owners because we have people working with us, verses feeling like they are working for us, you know and i think that would be a really nice place for our city to be in as we use words like cocreate and collaborate and things like that, to have young people as well as people looking for their next opportunity to feel like they are excited to be a part of our businesses. i think that would be great, so anything we can do to kind of help with that and promote -- promote entrepreneurial spirit and i'm speaking on behalf of all of us. >> that's a great idea. thank you, commissioner huie. >> any questions. director tang. >> thank you, lauren and the entire workforce division for all you do. one thing

commissioners, you may not be aware of and i want to add how we collaborate on a regular basis, there are situations where there might be a fire that has unfortunately destroyed a business or for some reason, there's? catastrophe that happens and director arce mentioned mae ing who reaches out and figure out what unemployment benefits there are and resources and we collaborate on those, i mean, unfortunately, there's some situations that's terrible but the wraparound services we provide as an oewd program. for your partnership and the team. >> thank you, director tang. thank you all, commissioners. >> thank you. >> i think we have to take public comment, right? yeah. >> public commenters on the phone, dial star three to be

added to the queue. i don't see -- oh. we have one caller. go ahead. >> good afternoon again. this is janet from the glen park merchants association and also the san francisco council of district merchants association. it's nice to hear our association mentioned at the meeting today and i just wanted to expand on a couple of the comments made by the commissioners, so commissioner zhou, really, what i think is an excellent idea, which is to bring job fairs into the commercial corridors. i think that's an outstanding idea, but

i also think it might be worth thinking about having job fairs that are industry specific. so, restaurants or brick-and-mortar retail. these industries are really, really challenged by the low unemployment rate, trying to find a reliable workforce is a major drain on resources. so having a free opportunity to access job seekers is, it sounds like a really great thing. i was at the meeting that was referenced with the power outages and everything and i hope that resulted in some of our members with the council reaching out for more information. but another thing i

wanted to make a note of, president huie mentioned about fostering an entrepreneur y'all attitude or spirit amongst job seekers and i also couldn't agree more with that. i think job seekers need more help with financial literacy, with self-advocacy skills, with placing themselves, selecting jobs that will be good for their careers and their futures and (indiscernible) with their family life and things like that and i think there's generally not enough attention to that for job seekers, so otherwise, it would be a good job match made.

thank you for allowing me to comment. >> thank you. any other callers? >> no other callers. >> great. so, hearing no further callers, public comment is closed. and thank you so much for your presentation. >> thank you, commissioners. >> yeah. >> thank you -- executive directive tang. >> shop dine san francisco presentation. this is a discussion item. he commission will hear a presentation on the rebranding of the shop dine san francisco initiative. presenters: marianne thompson, small business engagement specialist and michelle reynolds, small business programs and communications manager, office of small business >> welcom -- welcome marianne and michelle.

>> hello, thank you. >> you know how to get us happy. >> i know. [laughter] >> thank you. >> okay. good afternoon, commissioners. director tang, president huie, vice-president zhou. my name is marianne thompson and i'm with the office of small business. yes! so, i'm going to do the history of shop and dine in the 49. michelle is going to do future. so, two of you, commissioners, have had presentations from me in the past. it was started in 2014 with mayor lee, who used to have a quarterly roundtable with small businesses and one of the things they came forward with is

they wanted a buy local campaign. at that point, it was, how do we get people to shop in the corridors and i'll say we partnered with emc research in 2014 to actually do some research for us and it turns out that people understood by local, but there wasn't a thing that resonated with them to buy local. it turns out jobs was not a good talking point. poor josh. he's going to go, oh my god. when we talked about what resonates with residents and what resonates with folks, it's the vibrancy of our corridor. that hits people and gets them to shop local. i want to share this one fun fact that came out of emc research. most people 50 and older really understand buy local. they really understand the value of shopping in their corridor. they know their merchants. they know their grocery store person. they know

their bar owner. most people 50 and younger did not. so that was the key features that have survey. so, again. the goal was to get folks to shop in their local corridors. when we started this campaign, we went citywide with our images. mostly because it was a brand-new campaign and we couldn't figure out how to get people to understand how it applied to their corridor, but how it applied to the city as a whole. as you can see, a lot has happened with this. so, we've had many, many partners over the years. everything from the chamber, to sf loma and sf travel. every year, it grows in terms of our partnerships.? years, in 2020, our partner was the department of emergency management because our goal was to say, how do you shop local during a pandemic, right? how do you get people into the

corridors and shop safely? over this mast few years, 2022, 2021, master card, our cbd's met and shop -- it's important to understand that this is and you'll see it in the next slide that this really, this program depends heavily on our partnerships. every year the city funds it to the tune of $30,000 a year. that's what we get in our local budget, in our budget. what we raise, we get from the private sector and those are partnerships we have with shop-a-fy and square is an amazing partner all these years and they are always coming to the table and saying, what can we do and how can we support you? in 2020-21, we had great partnership with master card. we did the holly jolly trolley and came into a neighborhood corridor near you and brought

you a trolley cart and care letters and hot cocoa. a variety of different -- yes, yes. the one we did, so we did it by sector, so one night we went to the mission and have lens y'all -- valencia. this extends on our partnerships and we had a robust collateral. we had 300 (indiscernible) you have seen with an old expired campaign. we've had maps. we had a -- cable car that was theme to shop and dine in the 49. we press releases and do bus shelters in local newspapers and psa and i-heart radio. that de-- that depends on the partnership. the psa was with master express. we

leverage everything that comes our way. just a few of the partnerships we've had over the years. dear week, we partnered for a metallica partnership. we provided the small businesses that can pop up at outside lands. we've done things like bookstore week and just all sorts of different things. what i think most of you know know to be the key signature events about shop and dine is the city hall pop-up, which happens twice a year. okay. so, this gets us to our brand refresh. >> hello, everyone. let me adjust this mic. thank you for having us. michelle reynolds from the office of small business. i do communications and program management. as

marianne mentioned, briefly, so the shop and dine sf or shop and dine in the 49 has been under oewd and when marianne joined our office, oed came with shop and dine. very shortly thereafter, we worked on a brand refresh to modernize the look and feel and bring new energy into the campaign. and to do that, we worked with a design firm lower case production that has a long history with shop and sign in the 49 and so brought with them a lot of expertise and knowledge. and so here, you have the brand reveal and on the left is the before and the right is after. there's a new name that goes along with it. shop and sign in the 49 became shop dine sf. very simply. and that comes

along with it, a new website and new social media handles. next slide. so, in regard to the name, one of the pieces of feedback that we heard consistently was that shop and dine in the 49 can feel a bit like insider lingo especially for visitors who may not know that's referring to. and in the 49 can be difficult to translate into multiple languages so for those reasons, we opt for a simple name, shop sf. we chose a rainbow color palette. it has variations by the designer and i tended to be -- intended to be playful and vice blant and make you want to go -- vibrant and go shopping. there's also, within

the brand specifics and we can add names to the slide. when there's neighborhood projects that come up, we can customize them by neighborhood. the new website we have, sf dot gov slash shop dine sf is utilizing the city's own technology and digital services department and the benefits over the previous website which was shop, dine 49, shop and dine 49, so if hard to remember, it include that the sf dot gov platform is skew and free to use as a city department and automated translated into spanish, filipino and chinese. additionally, it is accessible to individuals who use a screen

reader or assisted technologies and one of the things we've started with utilizing our website with campaigns is those that -- we launched this in late 2022 for the holiday season, we did a shop and dine local campaign and then in early 2023, we created an online and social media campaign for the lunar new year and we're in progress working on a campaign for, centered around the mission district and carnival san francisco, so that will come out in a few weeks so all of those campaigns are designed to promote events that are within commercial corridors as well as shopping guides, neighborhood directories, that sort of thing. events, we also have. so coming on the coming upside of things is that we're officially rolling

out this new brand to start with small business week, which begins on may 8th, coming up in two weeks and so, with that, shop dine sf thanks to the hard work of marianne is hosting two events and one is that city hall pop up which is may 9th and a small business bookie, which will be at the ferry building on the evening of wednesday, may 10th. and for that, for those two events, there will be limited addition, screen printed shopping bags that will be given away to shoppers while supplies last. and also, next slide, coming up to launch during that re-brand launch week starting may 8th is a partnership with sfgovtv. we'll be rolling out a series of short pify social media media campaigns to

highlight small businesses. we're doing them hue mat i cannily this time around and sf gov t vr has been a great partnership creating businesses to highlight small businesses and this time, let's see, our first -- we're rolling out ice creameries and things like vintage shopping, bars, you name it. so that will be fun as it rolls out throughout may and into the summer. and that concludes our presentation. i want to thank you again for inviting us and marianne and i are both here for questions. >> great, thank you so much. this is and thank you very much for the swag. commissioners, any questions, comments? commissioner ortiz cartagena. >> thank you for the presentation. thank you for the work. we're happy to he sue,

marianne on this side of the force. the small business side. but you know, you gave me an -- you know, shop the 49 or whatever it was, yeah. it doesn't make sense if you're not from -- i love this new branding. it's, like, just, marianne and the work you do with those events, i don't know how you stretch, you should run some of my companies and stretch the budget. i don't know how you do it. the events are dope. i was carolling and yeah. it was -- [laughter] it was lit! i appreciate y'all. i'm excited for it >> director tang. >> i want to thank marianne and michelle for your work on this and this ongoing campaign to support our commercial corridors and small businesses and you'll notice printed inside the tote bag you all received, the

limited edition tote bag, they got this printed. we're trying to practice what we preach and supporting local businesses in the creation of the goods you have. thank you, both. >> oh. you know, i think we still have public comment and things, right. >> public commenters, to be in the queue, press star three. and there are no commenters. >> okay. i think -- i forgot to say what i was going to say. >> that's okay. [laughter] >> it's okay. thank you so much.

since their no public comments, i guess public comment is closed >> thank you for your presentation. this was wonderful. thank you. >> thank you! >> i was taken by the excitement, the shop and dine san francisco. [laughter] >> and the colors. >> i know. [laughter] >> and the great flyers. >> number, item no. 5. >> 4. >> no, 5. >> yeah. >> item 5. resolution declaring small business week may 8th through the 12th, 2023. this is a discussion and action item. the commission will review and possibly take action to declare may 8th through 12 small business week in 2023. >> thank you. director tang, would you like to provide some background on this? >> >> sure. every week, just

logistically, i mean, not every week, every year. we do promote small businesses everyday in our work, but through this commission, we need to declare small business week here. so, the resolution before you, simply highlights the importance of small businesses, that small businesses nearly account or approximately 95% of the total businesses in san francisco and employ hundreds of thousands of san franciscans and so, really before you, i think things you already know about the importance and the contribution of small businesses, so i think i'll keep it brief at that. >> great. thank you. commissioners, any comments? no. any public commenters? >> there are no public commenters in the queue. >> all right. hearing no further callers, public comment is closed. commissioners, would

anybody like to make a motion to -- >> i'll motion that. >> and somebody second. >> i'll second it. >> motioned by commissioner carter. seconded by commissioner dickerson. >> i'll read the college. >> commissioner carter? >> yes. >> commissioner dickerson? >> yes. >> commissioner herbert? >> yes. president huie. >> yes >> commissioner ortiz cartagena. >> yes >> vice-president zhou. >> yes. >> motion passes. >> great. thank you. next item. >> item 5, approval of draft meeting minutes, this is a discussion and action item. >> >> commissioners, any comments about the drafted meeting minutes? no. any public comment? >> public commenters please dial star three to be added to the queue. no commenters. >> hearing no public comment. public comment is closed.

commission, oh. i think we need to make a motion to adopt the draft meeting minutes. would anyone like to make a motion? >> i'll make a motion. >> i'll second it. >> motioned by commissioner carter. seconded by commissioner dickerson. [laughter] i'll read the roll. commissioner carter? >> yes. >> commissioner dickerson? >> yes. >> commissioner herbert? >> yes. >> president huie. >> yes >> commissioner ortiz cartagena? >> yes. >> and vice-president zhou. >> yes >> motion passes. >> great. next item. >> item 6, general public comment. this is a discussion item allowing members of the public to comment on matters within the small business commissions jurisdiction. but not on today's calendar. >> so, any members of the public who would like to make comment on any items not on the agenda

today? >> there are no commenter in the queue. >> anybody in the room like to make a public comment? great. seeing no public comment. public comment is closed. next item. >> item 7, director's reports. this is a discussion item. >> >> good evening, commissioners. so, a couple of updates for you. one is that i just wanted everyone to be aware as we're heading into quote on quote budget season is that, due to budget deficit outlook that's worsened for the city, that the mayor's office has asked all departments for additional five percent reduction in each fiscal year, so we're already asked for the upcoming two fiscal years for a five percent and then an 8% reduction. we've been asked for a five percent on top of that in each year, so just so

you're aware of the outlook and budget situation that we're in right now. but next, happier thoughts, the city launched a program called vacant to vibrant which you might have read about in the news on an effort to activate empty commercial store fronts in the downtown areas because they have been just, the return to the downtown and foot traffic and office workers has been much lower than we hoped post pandemic. if we can call it post pandemic so the incentives for this program include grants for entrepreneurs and artist and property owners up to 3 months of free rent and permitting and marketing support. currently applications are being accepted through june 1, 2023, so i would love to ask commissioners to spread word to everyone you know who might be interested in trying out a business concept downtown where they might not

have envisioned themselves previously but maybe this is a great opportunity with this incentive program to try out, maybe they are a new business or expand in the downtown area, so that's vacant to vibrant. i was going to talk about the job fair that we parted with oewd workforce division on april 12th, but i think our presentation earlier covered that. also i wanted to update everyone that on april 18th, the mayor and mayor breed and supervisor peskin introduced an ordinance to create an aunting amnesty program. this is a situation you might have read about in the news where they were 200 complaints launched against businesses for awnings installed without permits so we have worked with the for permit

departments for businesses to apply and get a permit on file. with a streamline process and it will be more efficient and save people money. so, while not neglecting the requirement to adhere to building code for safety purposes so, applications under this amnesty program need to be submitted to the city by december 31st and that way fee waivers for inspections and permits and this new process will apply, if you submit your application before then. but we always encourage people to submit an application during the month of may. every may is when your awning permit inspection fees are waived in the city under a special program. every may, small business month. this program applies to all existing awning owners so if you have an existing awning and you don't think you have a permit or file, you can contact our office and

we can help you look that up if you don't know or if you have a complaint lodged against your business or notice of violation, as long as you have an existing awning, you can participate in this program. lastly, we're continuing to do merchant walks in the community which are so rewarding and just really love meeting all the business owners and asking them what they need to put on and it has opinion helpful for our office to gather information about how we can be more helpful to them, so since our last meeting, we've gone out to noaga street and balboa street and this week, we will be out in dog patch and also in the richmond to talk about awnings, so those are my updates for today. >> commissioners, any questions? commissioner ortiz cartagena. >> i have two things. one

comment, whoever was putting the dime on our small business about the awning, whoever did that, come on. be kind to your local small business. you don't have nothing better to do. so, that's -- i had to get that off owe that unset me. and then too, thank you, director. you going out to the neighborhoods. that has been so, so welcomed, truly i always get feedback. even if it's not my neighborhood, so thank you for that. >> vice-president zhou. >> thank you director and to the office for all that good stuff. i had a question. i remember in the past that there was also sidewalk display permits or something that had to do with small business week because we put sandwich board signs or do activations, so is that still around? >> legislation was passed every year to waive the permit fees if you wanted to put your goods out

on the sidewalk during a particular week or maybe two weekends. it has changed over time. correct me if i'm wrong, kerry, there was legislation to make it legislation every year so it didn't come back before the board. i can't remember. >> it was around the hot days. >> we saw fewer and fewer sidewalk sales during small business week and the focus has become around the holidays leading sidewalk sales happen easily and i'm not sure if every year it's covered but i think it's in the works. >> yeah. we -- i mean, as of a couple of years ago when i was working on the permit fee waivers for the sidewalk sales, like kerry said, we noticed a decline in that, i think, generally touring small business week, we want to encourage as different activities and people haven't quite chosen the sidewalk sales as a route, so instead, we're trying to promote through the shop dine sf

campaign. the activations and events that's happening where it might incentivize you or motivate you to go to a commercial corridor and you shop and dine there instead. >> okay, thank you. >> commissioner herbert. >> i was just wondering about the five percent reduction in the budget? so, what kind of numbers are we looking at? out of curiosity. >> oh, for each department, it will be different and fortunately for our office of small business, we will not be making any cuts to positions or programs. we do have some fund balance that carried over from a program, so we're able to apply that towards the reduction target. now, our budget is also within oewd and so, unfortunately, they are going to have to put some cuts on the table to programs that are very

important to all of us and the whole entire small business community and we're hoping that maybe during the puj -- during the budget negotiations we can get more funding back for them. but we can certainly, when it comes closer to the budget hearings, that the board of supervisors have more updated budget presentation, not only from oewd, but oed in general. >> thanks. >> commissioner dickerson. >> in regard to the -- thanks, in regards to the budget, i was curious as well, does, i mean, do we understand why? does it have anything to do with the fact that we're coming out of covid now and that money was allotted for the support through the pandemic and we're coming out of that? what is the relationship between that? >> there's multiple factors for

the budget outlook thing. a couple -- certainly the pandemic had some affect on things in general. i think you've mentioned the federal support, right, for covid relief. so, yes. that has gone away. that was a time limited support that was provided to the city and that's why in the last two years, we didn't have to face these levels of budget reduction targets. it's also, you know, projections in terms of some of the investments the city have made, you know, just like everyone else who has made investments. there are some market forces there. you know, property transfers or property sales, you know, while they are still occurring, they are at a level, what is that, even level verses increasing, so there are a variety of factors and not just one thing that's contributing to the fact we have

to make additional reductions. >> i have to say, that's important to me especially when you talk about budgeting because it's one thing to say we have a cut. i want to know why so there's clarity as to, it's not just one, you know, thing. irk just imagine, my hat goes off to everyone that has to deal with finances right now in this city. i know it's challenging. and so, i think it's very helpful to know the reasons why. >> yes. certainly, despite that, we're advocating for certain things, right. permit fee waivers, right, but just know there's also that trade-off when we do advocate for those things and we are, as an office, so it has nothing to do with today's agenda item, but that means that there is less funding going into the city, right, for staff who might be working on these programs and et cetera. there are many of these types of

programs where we want to ask for these discounts or waivers, but they come with, perhaps, reductions in some types of resources. >> yeah. >> commissioner herbert, did you -- oh, no. okay. commissioner ortiz cartagena. >> i just want to say for the record, like, i've been through two budgets and we're the only department that generates budget, and we support small businesses. so we shouldn't be cut. we generate revenue for the city through our small business support, so that's where i would stand on that and any support i could do in anything, like, cut dpw. [laughter] >> i just had a quick question.

i was wondering the awning waivers and the awning legislation, does that apply to signs as well, like, blade signs and things or is it just awnings? >> right now, if you have an existing sign or awning, it will apply to you. for planning department, they are doing a five-year look back, so you need to be able to prove or demonstrate or goggle maps that you had awning for five years. >> so signs is included in that, okay. >> the protruding one? >> all those people who have signs should look on planning to see if they have, like, a permit on file? >> that's right. >> if they don't find a permit on file, they should go ahead and get a permit? >> we would encourage them to, yes. you can look up on the san francisco planning information map, sf tim for short. again, if that's confusing for you, just

contact our office and we are happy to help people look that up and see if there's a permit on file and chances -- usually the notices, the violations or complaints will go towards the property owner. it's sent there. so, businesses may or may not be aware of it until later on that there was a complaint or ov, so it's good to check in the system. >> okay. so, just to reiterate to all businesses right now, that they should look to see if there's an existing permit that is on file for their sign, awning, whatever it is protruded. sf are pin. >> uh-huh. >> i didn't realize signs were included. >> we should just look -- everybody look it up. and you know, talking about budget cuts and things, i agree. we are --

we are very good at being a self sustaining ecosystem or community. and i think one of the things that we can also advocate for is that, you know, the budget cuts and things, given our current economic environment seem to be an inevitable kind of thing on the horizon, right. i mean, that means that together we have to come together as communities to be able to do the work that we rely on other people to do right now. so, i mean, i guess, you know, my opportunity right now seated on this commission is encourage our community members to all come together and really think about how they can solve for some of these issues that arise within our neighborhoods. sometimes, like, it gets windy in san francisco and trash blows around the city. we don't need to pick up every piece of trash, but can we come together and do that together and sometimes community members need help with after school tutoring or help