line or listen to by calling for 1565500. the small business commission. thanks media services and sf tv for televising the meeting, which can be viewed on s f t v two or livestreamed at sf gov t v .org we welcome the public's participation during public comment periods, there will be an opportunity for general public comment at the end of the meeting 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 numbers for 1565500. access code is 2591265 . followed by the password 72 to 1 press pound and then pound again to be added to the line. when connected, you'll be muted and in listening mode only when your item of interest comes up, they'll start three to be added to the speaker line. if you dial star three before public comments called, will be added to the queue. when it's your time to speak, you'll be prompted to do so. public comment during the meeting is limited to three minutes per speaker. an alarm will sound once times finished. speakers are requested, but not required to state their names as a tv. please show the office of small business slide. today we will begin with a reminder that the small business commission is official public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about policies that affect the economic vitality of small

businesses in san francisco. before item one is called. i'd like to start by thanking media services and sf gov t v for coordinating this virtual hearing and helping to run the meeting. please call item one. item one roll call. commissioner carter is absent. commissioner dickerson president commissioner gregory present. commissioner herbert present. president huey present. commission ortiz cartagena is absent and vice presidents dizziness, president president you have a quorum. thank you. the san francisco small business commission and office of small business staff acknowledges that we are on the unseated ancestral homeland of the rahmatullah aloni, who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions. the rahmatullah aloni, who have never seated lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place. as

well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. guests we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders and relatives of the raw material aloni community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. i also want to acknowledge that we have a new commissioner tricia gregory, joining us and. i think we can go ahead and call now item number two. welcome. item two approval of legacy business registry applications and resolutions. this is a discussion and action item presenting today is richard carrillo, legacy business program manager with the office of small business. good afternoon, president huey, vice

president zuma's commissioners, city staff members of the public and richard carrillo legacy business program manager. i would like to acknowledge michelle reynolds, my colleague in the office of small business, who assists with the review coalition. and processing of legacy business registry applications. as i've covered tv, i have a powerpoint presentation. before you today or three applications for your consideration for the legacy business registry. each application includes a staff report. a draft resolution. the application itself. and documents from the planning department. the applications were submitted to planning on march 22nd and heard by the historic preservation commission on april 19th. item two. a is my tree compassionate care. the business is a nonprofit residential care facility in post triangle. founded in 1987 and officially established with the california secretary of

state. on april 14th 1993. my tree is sanskrit for compassionate friendship. the organization is the only aids specific residential care facility in california, focusing on the underserved community of those dying or severely darling of or severely debilitated by aids. 80% of my trees. population are homeless and 60% are affected by mental disease and substance use disorder. guests are cared for by nurses, attendants, social workers, physicians. and mental health clinicians and can join in on enrichment activities such as music art, animal assisted therapy. meditation yoga, therapeutic bodywork and social outings. recently my tree expanded their services to include short term medical respite and restorative care. for people who are recovering from gender affirmation surgery.

my three also offers branch after care to support former residents as they transition into independence. the core feature tradition, the business must maintain to remain on the legacy business registry is residential care. item to be is in kinky inc. the business is a print shop in chinatown that has provided the community with printed books, magazines, movies and music in chinese. he key is one of the earliest businesses to wholesale and retail. hong kong published chinese books and magazines. over the years, the business has evolved and expanded. during the covid pandemic in kinky was approved and authorized to process vehicle registrations. title transfers and other approved services by the california department of motor vehicles under their business partner program. the on site service

saves the public from waiting in long lines at the dmv or making special trips out of the neighborhood. the business also sponsors a variety of entertainment and cultural events and partners with organizations. to serve as a convenient location for ticket sales. in hinky inc incorporated also has on site shipping services for customers to ship small parcels overseas to friends and relatives. the core feature tradition the business must maintain is multimedia store. item two c is pirro's pizzeria. the business is a restaurant in the park side district. established in 1967 by fred pierrot. an italian immigrant. their traditional recipes used appears pizzeria were brought over from sicily. and pireaus remains committed to tradition and classic taste, which endures with their distinctive brand of old style hand spun pizza. the business

uses local and sustainable ingredients. sources sourcing ingredients from local farmers and suppliers. supporting local businesses. thank you attributing to the local economy. pirro's pizzeria serves as a gathering place where friends and family create treasured memories on birthdays , anniversaries, dates, engagement, parties, championship games and holiday celebrations. piers has sponsored sports teams, pageants and softball leagues. and provided first employment opportunities to local high school students and members of the community. the business believes in contributing to the sunset community and a meaningful way while providing a high quality dining experience. the core feature tradition in the business must maintain his restaurant featuring italian cuisine. all three businesses met the three criteria required for listing on the legacy business registry, and all three

received a positive recommendation from the historic preservation commission. legacy business program staff recommends adding the businesses to the registry and has drafted three 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. i'm happy to answer any questions. there are business representatives in the room. possibly online would like to speak on behalf. of the applications during public come back. thank you very much, greg . um commissioners any comments or questions? um i guess we'll open it up for public comment. if people want to just line up on the side of the room here, please come forward and speak. good afternoon, everyone. my name is rose. and i'm a native

of chinatown. i grew up there so i am a customer and friend of yoko, who owns the key store, so i started out going there just to buy tickets to go to the thunder valley casino, but i got to know her and, yeah, thank you for you know, letting me get the best seats in front and then i eventually got chinese medication. you know, my lunar new year decorations. um, you know, used her parcel delivery service and even her she gives, you know beautiful, wonderful beauty products. i renew my car registration. so, yoko before i met her, too. i knew that she was also very generous to r ap family support services and donating books for our clients and also to recently when i knew her when i told her about our lions club dinner i just invited her as a guest, and she brought all these products to give to the guests like the hand sanitizers and stuff. so i just want to say that yoko is really

a benefit to the community. she's a smart businesswoman who pivoted during the pandemic and definitely deserves to be recognized as a legacy business. thank you. good afternoon, president huey and other commercial commissioners. um, i wasn't prepared to speak today. but then i know i need to say something about in kinky mingei . um i remember when i was only 15. i was a new immigrant to san francisco and i don't know any english and to make me feel more comfort that i'm away from, uh, comer language. and then i went discovered in kinky. that was on upper jackson street above grand avenue. so i was there almost every day after school, and then i was looking at the books and the magazines and no. at that time you call, um she's been cantonese, saying don't rip the

book. you can read it, but be careful. we have to sell it. so i have. i have to be very careful reading everything. um and i have to be very nicely put it back because i was very grateful that she didn't kick me out because i was there almost every day. but now she says she can't recognize me. but that's fine. um and after a few after years, and then we get to know each other, and i know that she does all the video books. um v. c r. c. d s and in concerts and at that time i'm not. i cannot afford to buy tickets. but then i was just very delighted that we have some common, um, knowledge and culture. that's actually here in san francisco rather than hong kong and china , so i was very delighted with the bookstore and one day she was telling me that. hey i'm interested in applying for legacy business. should i do it ? and then i say, heck, yeah. you've been in the business for how many years over 40 years and

i think in which at least three generations in san francisco and i'm sure that the people in my age they would recognize this bookstore very well. and even in hong kong people know about this bookstore in in southern california they know about this bookstore, so it's really like passing on a culture for the younger generation to carrying carrying on some chinese characters. and that's why i can read chinese steel. so i'm very grateful and i want you to approve thinking key as a legacy business. thank you. thank you. that's ending. kiyoko hi. my name's in my lip names your call . thank you. two of my sure fan , and they gave me the comment and my am i am the mile my loyalty women to working with this bookstore over 47 years actually says to generation um, my father is working in hong

kong for wholesale this one. when i'm really, really young. i'm not that old and really very young at that time, my father have them dreams that if i kept overseas companies, same name is brand name is really good. okay, then i try to make his stream okay? and i just thinking i will do a couple of years. i will quit. okay, but well by the time the time find rest over 47 years. oh it's really set pass it to three years ago, and then we have a call wet. okay but i still donation a lot of books, letter, old lady old gentleman that they can kill the time at home. okay then i can say speed. make some space to go into the other kind of business to help the community. okay that's all right on the top. thank you very much. thank you.

let ladies and gentlemen of the commission. thank you for giving me the opportunity. to share with you about perils, pizzeria a restaurant is not just another piece of joint but rather a unique dining experience that it's that celebrates the joy of food and community. firstly our pizza is made with only the first ingredients. sourced locally whenever possible. we took pride in our commitment to quality from the hand tossed. oh too, though homemade sauce and toppings are menu features a range of classic sicilian and creative pieces as well as salads. appetizers and bears to satisfy pallets. but what truly sets us apart is our emphasis on community. pizzeria is designed

to be a gathering place for friends, families and neighbors . we have a cozy dining area with plenty of seating, as well as a welcoming patio for outdoor dining. our staff is trained to provide exceptional service, ensuring that every customer feels uh, welcome and valued. in addition to the regular menu, we also special offer special events and promotions that brings people together from sports nights leak celebrations. to charity fundraisers. we strive to create a fund and inclusive atmosphere that fosters a sense of belonging. finally i want to highlight our commitment to sustainability. we use eco friendly packaging recycle whenever possible and partner with logan farms to produce our carbon footprint. we believe that businesses have a responsibility to contribute. to

the well being of the community and the planet and we took that responsibility seriously. in summary perils. pizzeria is not just a place to grab a quick bite, but rather a destination for delicious food, warm hospitality and meaningful connections. we will be honored to have the opportunity to the to have the san francisco legacy business destination as well as to serve you and show you what made a special thank you. thank you. thank you very much. good afternoon commissioners. jackie thornhill, a legislative aide and supervisor, rafael mandel mons office here to speak in support of the nomination. for my treat compassionate care. we are so glad that my tree is in district eight that they have been there doing this important, not easy but important work for 36 years. we hope they will continue doing that work in

district eight for many generations to come. we want to thank their executive director michael harmon trout, everyone at my tree who does the work and we are glad to support this nomination. thank you. thank you. are there any colors on the line? to be added to the queue, please press star three there are no colors online. okay. commissioners any any other comments or questions. commissioner dickerson. thank you. thank you all so much. for doing what you do. i think this is when i think about, um the approval of the legacy businesses. it always it does

something to me. i think i think just the idea that you all have been serving community for as long as you've been serving this community, i'm sure that there's countless people who could come and fill up this room and probably this whole. this whole building with the care that i hear and the compassion that you have for your community, even down to the pizzeria i loved the comments you were making. this is not just a place to come get pizza. this is a place you come and you're gonna find community and you're going to find camaraderie and all of the benefits of being able to come to a place that, of course, serves pizza. which we all love. but also i don't want to mispronounces matri. did i say that correct. my dri. um. i'm really glad to see that you are on this, um, approval for legacy business. um the care that you

are providing is untapped. um um what was just stated by the last comment about how it's not easy. not easy work is not easy work and to think, 36 years doing this type of work shows the heart and care for this sitting for your community and for people so i just want to say thank you. thank you. thank you so much for all that you all have done. it is not going on. no, this is actually have real privilege to be able to be here and to be able to vote on. um such a legacy businesses as you all have presented today, so thank you. thank you. thank you. um, any other speakers? well i just wanted to recognize this thread. it's so hard for me. i'm sitting behind this monitor, so maybe don't you just hear me?

but, um i. i just wanted to recognize his threat of deep connection and community through all of your organizations and your businesses. i think you know, um especially during this time. i get asked a lot by different people like, um, how are small businesses doing? what is what is going on with small businesses, and i think you know, a lot of people want to you know, they want to hear what they want to hear. but i think the true reality of things is that we are really coming together as a community, and i think small businesses anchor our neighborhoods. they anchor the people in our neighborhoods and they give us. you know, place for us to gather and actually be with one another. and i think that's a really special thing. that, um that maybe in the past we used to take for granted because you could just go down the street and like do your do your things like your regular, you know, pick up a newspaper pickup. whatever it is, but now, i think, um life. requires a

little bit of effort, right? and i think the effort spending time with the people in your community as well worth it. i think these relationships are really special. so you know, for all the questions that people kind of ask about small businesses, i would say like this. this little piece of what we just heard right now is what small businesses like in san francisco. so you know, thank you very much for all of the time that you spend in your businesses all the time that you spend with community members listening to them, and because people generally come in and have things to say about their lives, and you actually listen, which is why why people keep coming in, so thank you for taking care of one another. and, um and yeah, thank you, rick for bringing forth all these wonderful legacy businesses today. so, um yeah. all right.

well um, i guess hearing no further collars or comments. public comments is closed. does anyone want to make a motion? i'll make a motion. to approve all of these legacy businesses today. a second. motion by commissioner dickerson to approve these applications seconded by commissioner herbert i'll read the role. commissioner carter absent. commissioner dickerson. yes, commissioner herbert. yes, president huey. yes. commissioner tease cartagena's absent and vice presidents. dizziness. yes. motion passes. congratulations. yeah that's right. film production. thank you continue

working up to. to come. all the society and the community. thank you. oh blessings on you. yes. bye bye. bye bye. thank you. oh one fuzzies. a really good job of that. do you want me to just jump? yeah go ahead and call number three. yeah. item three downtown economic recovery update. this is a discussion item. the commission will hear presentation on upcoming activations and initiatives to revitalize downtown san francisco, including a discussion about office vacancies and public safety presenting today we have catherine daniel, director, economic recovery initiatives with the office of economic and workforce development. okay? oh,

is it on this? this one. it'll it'll come up. okay hi. welcome. director daniel. thank you so much for having me commissioners. um i was here. i think nine months ago to with a very preliminary sort of, um presentation about how we were thinking about economic recovery for downtown specifically based on the impact of the covid 19. pandemic and their work from home that has sort of become ubiquitous. i'm here today to give you an update on and what has transpired on the strategy, the more robust

strategy that we've that we've created. um and a couple of the initiatives that we have put forward so, uh, as a reminder, and i mean from nine months ago, so, uh, what economic recovery and regeneration does. my team? uh is sort of three pronged. we were formed after the pandemic in order to sort of be the central repository of data and information about how san francisco was recovering and what was going well, what was not going well and what was just really fundamentally different and we expected to remain so uh , second was to coordinate. the city's response to economic recovery because economic recovery really is a city wide effort. there is no one department that is probably not doing economic recovery. um but we are trying to sort of wrap our arms around it and make sure that we are all moving in the

same direction at the same time so that we can maximize the impact. uh and then three is to really lead the initiatives around. uh that don't already have a home in another city department. so which brings me to the road map to downtown san francisco's future prior to the pandemic downtown was really not something that needed a lot of intervention. um, and so there was. there was no pre established team or department that was very focused. we were delivering basic services. public safety cleaning, you know, all of the things that a city does, but there there was very little extra that we were doing. and now what we've seen is that downtown is really bearing the brunt of a lot of what sort of it's hanging on as a result of the pandemic, and this work from home sort of sort of change. and so my team is very focused on downtown. uh, in

february at the state of the city. the mayor released the roadmap to downtown san francisco's future where she laid out a nine strategy sort of, um plan. that supports how downtown is going to evolve. and how the city was planning to support that evolution. ah and that is what i wanted to sort of brief you on today. uh and update you on some of the initiatives that have moved forward to should i just advance just okay. and you all will be able to see it. okay? yes it's working. okay, so, um a lot of people ask why downtown san francisco is such an area of focus and one is because it is such an engine of economic activity for the city and for the entire region, uh, it and you can see from these stats sort of really, really does drive a lot of the job growth. a

lot of the, uh, the economic output and economic activity of our city and a lot of the tax base of our city. um, it is also a really unique area where you know it is the central sort of convening place for the region, so it is fed by local and regional transit. um and it is, uh, and you know, it is sort of the concentration of all of our offices and, um and his and an ecosystem of businesses that support those offices and all of the people that are in them. um and it is also bearing as i said, sort of the front, so uh, office attendance remains at 40% even now, even in the best performing cities office attendance has not gone past 70% of what it was. pre pandemic and we expect that you know, it will be a very, very long time before we see people reporting to the

office five days a week, um, at scale, so there's just a fundamental shift that is happening and this is obviously taking tolls on some of the systems that really like bart and mu ni that we're driving people which is into downtown and into those offices. ah which is causing a lot of sort of sustainability issues within these departments. um. and i would say there are three. there are three big factors contributing to the reduction in people and economic activity in downtown and in the rest of san francisco. so first is the office attendance. second is tourism and our tourism numbers are doing much better than our office. attendance numbers. we are we are about 80% what we were prior to the pandemic. but tourism was a huge pillar of our economy. and at 80, there is still a big dearth. of um of

people in san francisco. and then the third is just the out migration. we lost about 6% of our population during the pandemic. most of those people moved to other places in the bay or in the broader region. but it was a net loss of people in the city and all you know, obviously, that has economic impacts as well. um and like i said, you know, this has serious ramifications for the city's tax base. it also you know about 43% of the city's small businesses were based in the downtown area . those businesses largely relied on the people who were circulating throughout and are struggling mightily. uh, in the absence of those people um, this is just something to give you a visualization of our sales tax activity so that you can see you know that while. there are areas

of the city that, um, particularly in our neighborhoods, because as people are not going into work, they are able to sort of support their neighborhood businesses go to lunches and copies and whatnot while they are working from home, but because we have experienced such a net loss of people and economic activity in our city every neighborhood is really impacted. um and downtown . most acutely, so. uh i also wanted. you know, this is a small business commission and so the vast majority of san francisco's businesses are small businesses. i think that it's 98% and so this slide just really shows the business formation in san francisco since the pandemic. um and you can see you know the trends where we are it's not it's not a good trend. we don't have a clear trend line yet. um it has ticked up. it has

gone down. and so it's still pretty bumpy. um but we are hopeful that that you know that that that is changing the roadmap also put some ideas forward for how we can support that. and so for all of these reasons, we needed to create a strategy for how to move downtown into the future and into like a strong position in a post pandemic context, and that is, uh that is what the roadmap to downtown san francisco's future attempts to do. i think the last thing before i just dive into the strategies and hopefully make time to answer a lot of questions. is um, is that we intend this is a very dynamic situation. no nobody knows yet how this is all going to like. pan out. um and exactly what the strategies are so every city in the country is grappling with this san francisco in some ways, acutely, so um but it is dynamic

. and so this is not intended to be like the plan. it is intended to show sort of how we're thinking about things. what strategies we are putting forward and begin a discussion around what we're missing. as things change, and as we get more information, what we need to tweak and adapt and pivot on ourselves. um but i welcome this conversation with you because we can start to do that. okay, so we have a website and this is it. um as i said nine strategies. ah it's more than 50 initiatives. and um, and the first one is sort of the foundation for it all, which is to ensure that downtown is clean, safe and inviting. with the understanding that if people do not feel comfortable coming to downtown, none of our other strategies are going to work. ah and so over the last several

years, there has been a tremendous focus by the mayor and by the city on ah, how to really. uh support the public safety, the street conditions and people's feelings of safety in downtown and throughout san francisco. ah at this point we have created probably more than 10 new programs that are supporting you know? increased public safety appropriate responses to different situations. uh and the like, and so now this strategy now is very focused on coordinating those responses so that they are working together to address all of the gamut. of, um. of different challenges and different situations that are arising in the city in an efficient way that is important, coordinated way. uh and also

that are the members of our public know what they are and how to access them appropriately , so that they can also report report situations. um, and make sure that uh, that the issues that arise that need to be addressed are are known that they're that they're able to, uh, you know, contact city services and feel confident that they are contacting the right city services, according to the situation. and so that is a lot of what a strategy one is focus on at this point. the second is really, you know. really recognizing that prior to the pandemic, san francisco was an extremely competitive office market. uh probably the most competitive in the country. and we still have a lot of those assets. um mm. many businesses were not able to access our office market because our

vacancy rate was so low prices were so high and now with a with a much higher vacancy rate, we have the opportunity to proactively reach out and fill offices with businesses and industries that that might not think of san francisco as open to them anymore. and so we're doing a couple of things in order to sort of signal to those businesses and industries that we want them to take a look at san francisco. so first we're doing a study to sort of identify. what are those competitive industries so that we can proactively reach out? and those are the ones that san francisco really has a value proposition for and then two is to you probably heard about the legislation. that the mayor introduced around tax incentives that was aimed. one at pausing a scheduled tax increase for those industries that were most impacted by the pandemic in terms of like lost revenue

losses, so that right as they were trying to sort of stabilize and regain ground, we didn't hit them with a tax increase and then to create a new tax incentive for offices that moved into san francisco new offices that moved into san francisco to give them a three year discount on their gross receipts tax in order to sort of again sort of incentivize and signal to offices that san francisco is open and one of their business. um and so a lot of focus is going on filling these office vacancies with offices. but we also recognize that at this point in time, there are going to be spaces in our downtown that are no longer competitive as offices and we need to get we need to lay a policy framework that allows those buildings to evolve and adapt to the reality that there's just less demand for office and particularly in

certain kinds of building stock. so we can remove the regulatory impediments from conversions of those spaces from office to other kinds of uses, whether that be housing or something that is conducive to other kinds of industry, like life sciences or or manufacturing things like that. we also have a very large amount of office and ground floor commercial space. to fill . and again if we are going to fill such a big um, a big pool. we need to make it easy for businesses to open up. and start operating in san francisco so that we don't have these problems and timelines where people are sitting on leases but not able to operate. um, a lot of the smell of the officers, not business has been working on this and you probably are aware

of many of the things that we are driving forward in this area. um so i think that but it centers on regulatory changes, streamlining of permitting and inspections, just adding a whole lot of technology tools and customer service so that it becomes a much more transparent , easy, uh, less time intensive and um, and hopefully cheaper and faster process for businesses to go through. um one other thing that is sort of another program that is part of this. is the vacant to vibrant program, which is focused on pop ups exclusively and opening our downtown ground floor. to new ideas by local, uh. entrepreneurs arts organizations , etcetera that want to try new concepts we see retail was struggling prior to the pandemic that has been ah sped up that's

been accelerated during the pandemic. and so the thought is that with, um by giving. access to ground floor spaces for on the short term for no rent that we can try out and prove new concepts and seed. what is going to take? you know the place for a lot of these spaces that don't have obvious tenants, um, going into them at this time. one of our critical assets. has been our productive workforce. so san francisco, according to our economist, is the most productive workforce in the world. and he says he can prove that, um and that has been a huge attractor to business in san francisco, and we need to make sure that we continue to, um, allow that work for us to be here. and so this is sort of a

two pronged strategy. one is to make sure that we have adequate housing because our workers need to live here. um and so we need our families to be able to grow and stay in san francisco. we need people who are seeking new opportunities to be able to move here and find housing. and we also need to make sure that the residents are san franciscans who are here are prepared and ready for the next ah! the next wave of growth. so as we are attracting in these new businesses and industries to make sure that our workforce development programs are preparing people for those jobs that are going to be growing in san francisco, and that they can harness that wealth as well. um . we also recognize that. when people have a choice as to whether or not they're going into the office. instead of being mandated to come into the office every day. ah, that the

more interesting and compelling downtown is the more often people are going to choose to go downtown, whether that is to go into to report to the office that day because they have a networking event or an art opening or a new restaurant that they want to try out afterwards. or having people who don't work downtown. they're not based in jobs and downtown, but they want to come to downtown for reasons other than work, and that we need to support sort of the layering in of new reasons for people to go downtown beyond work. and so a lot of initiatives that the city is trying out is around activations and public space and creating this, you know, exploring and creating the idea of an arts and culture district. within our downtown area. um i know that

you all were particularly interested in some of the ideas that we have. we have tried already. and so, um and so i brought just a smattering of activations that we've done to date. we started with streets, world cup viewing parties during the world cup. those brought up to 5000 people into downtown just for you know that those, um watching those games we have tried reoccurring art markets and culture markets, uh, that celebrate different different cultures within san francisco. uh next this friday. in fact, we are launching our bhangra and beats night market. uh, which is a reoccurring sort of, um, market and we have tried to make sure that these are reoccurring events recognizing that like bringing people into downtown

one day in a year is great, but it's not going to really move the needle for anybody. um, but if we can establish a rhythm and a momentum then we hope that we can that we can really build interest and attraction and connect with people that downtown is about different things. um this one is related, which is just to enhance our public spaces. downtown has incredible public spaces. and um, and it's really an asset. these alleyways and these plazas and these po po's that that are so unique and interesting to san francisco and really offer a scale that people enjoy if it's a nice place to be and so hand in hand with public safety, you have to feel safe and comfortable. but part of that is also having like greenery and lighting and seats and so that you feel invited into, um are public places. um we mentioned

this before, and i'm almost done . but we mentioned this before. but one of the really incredible sort of assets of downtown also is this transportation network that beats it you can downtown is the only place in the region that you can get to easily from any neighborhood in the city and from any city in the bay area, and it can serve as this convening place for people to meet from all over. um in order to do that we need to preserve our transportation systems, which are under dire stress right now. and so, um and so really committing to serving downtown with our public transportation systems and committing to our transportation systems to support them through the fiscal cliff that they're facing. right now. and then lastly, ah! there. there has

been a narrative around san francisco that has taken hold. at the national level, that is a very big liability. for us and for our ability to attract new business, new interest and really retain our existing businesses. um. that narrative is founded in one of our most challenging aspects. which brings us back to the public safety into the street conditions. but it is also a very one sided narrative that does not capture all of what san francisco is. and so we need to reclaim that narrative to tell people the whole story about san francisco that we do have this really incredible city. and incredibly productive workforce.

so much creativity and innovation. just everything that san francisco is so that people again are reminded about the opportunity that lies here. so that we can begin to grow and recover. that is the road map and a nutshell. i'm trying to run through it at a high level so that we could get into questions, but i do welcome any questions and thanks again. thank you very much. um i'm gonna see commissioner herbert. thank you very much. it's not an easy topic, so and it's a very broad topic. so appreciate your coming forth and giving us the big picture. i was wondering about federal funding and how realistic that is or possible that is for san francisco, and, um would we or with the business

community with the city have to have a very specific plan in order to get that federal funding. i'm just curious about how that would work because it seems like a lot of things need to happen simultaneously. yeah. yeah that's a great question. and so there are a couple of federal funding buckets that were watching that are sort of being, you know, developed now, um, to support specific strategies or initiatives. uh early on in the pandemic, the e d. a released a recovery grant proposal that we did not get funded for. i think that it was, um it was maybe too early, and people didn't really realized the toll that our urban centers we're going or the challenges that our urban centers we're going to be facing. um and so at this point, i'm not aware of federal funding that is aimed at recovery generally and could

support the entirety of the recovery plan. we're looking at things like, you know. transit assistance and infrastructure support. you know things things like that, um to date. okay actually look a little more and see. maybe if we can get our lobbyists on it. i heard some in conversation is something that you know new york city getting funding at one time so new york city did get funding. um new york city got again what i am aware of for new york city, uh, for the covid pandemic and their recovery, which funded a lot of their recovery fund. they used arpaio funds, so the american recovery. uh i can get you the actual what our bus stands for. um but we also san francisco got that we use most of that funding for homelessness and for building you know? permanent

supportive housing that really deals with the situation in our in our streets. new york used a lot of that money on incentives on a on a branding campaign and a tourism attraction campaign. they used a lot of it on sort of yes. incentives in order to pull people into new york. as that is my that's my understanding of where that funding came from. okay? i the next? my next question was, um what are some examples of businesses that i wanted to get into before but couldn't that might be? you know that you could approach? yeah. um so a lot of it is prior to the pandemic tech was coming in. it was very well financed. it was cash rich, and it was able to pay very high prices. it displaced a couple of our companies we saw mckesson move

out. we saw chevron move out. we saw delta dental move out. and so i think that there is it's just sort of like the tear under text still office like i think that we would love to explore. um some of those health healthcare industries. professional services outside of tech advertising, marketing, communications, things like that. um i think even some of our ah! yep within the banking industry. there have been sub sectors that have sort of stagnated and we might be able to offer like a more there were seemed to be gaining competitiveness there. and so i think that those are the those are the kinds of industries that we're seeing are complete. ah! that the competitive our competitiveness sort of tweak up

a little bit. great. thank you. yeah. thank you. thank you. so it's not really a question and i'm new. it's kind of a comment, but thank you. um i just wanted to you have you guys considered when you are rebuilding downtown and changing buildings into homes or office offices? ah to maybe, um. have requirements for local construction companies. because those local construction companies hire within the community, so it's a win win for everybody. get to keep the community employed and money going back into the community. just consider it. thank you. thank you. what about green energy? there just seems to be a

huge but, you know, untapped market for sort of like the new deal of the yeah. whenever the new deal was, you know. yeah but you know, like that is an emerging market. just like biotech is an emerging market. so yes, attracting definitely looking at climate resilience and green injury energy companies. i think that there's a we want to really want to look at it, but there is a big it is an emerging market. california is sort of that is where the market is located. and there seems to be a lot of advantages. so we're absolutely looking at that. thank you. vice president zuma's. thank you. thank you, director for coming before us today. um, i wanted to just throw out a couple of things that i talked to a small businesses that are in the

greater downtown, which, like i would particularly described as from the embarcadero to like fourth street and off of market and a lot of, um a lot of businesses that state alive during the last couple of years were small businesses. um when i had to work out of the s b a office down there, you know, um i saw the big formula. retailers leaving and i saw the small businesses staying, and a lot of the small businesses are hidden out there like they're within the business parks within the like kind of financial district, alleyways and stuff, and i noticed, um, businesses taking i mean, if their business model if it made sense, they would, um create like addendum businesses and, um, be more in the foot traffic area so like because they weren't getting like this one lady who has a flower arrangement business, which has

a brick and mortar but wasn't getting put traffic. she set up a little cart. um and so i was seeing that with a couple of businesses because of you know them not being found, right? and i know that, um a lot of those businesses to kind of feel like they're not engaged with the city, like the city doesn't even know they're there, either. so my question is, um you know, how can we engaged those small mom and pop and largely immigrant and largely, you know, southwest asian arab african greek businesses that are, um you know, not really part of traditional merchant associations, either. so, um, i would love to you know? support you all and how we can create some marketing and promotion for those, um, kind of off the beaten path businesses. and, um . yeah let them know that you're thinking of them that you know there. there um and yeah, i mean, i just i'm thinking back

to my time like before. commission. i my first body with the city that i sat on was a formula retail working group and i'm coming from the corner store community. so you know, i was out here rapping the low end retail and something that was really interesting while i was sitting with like bigger companies is the findings of that working group where that low end retail and high end retail experiences are the things that thrive and so we need to not forget about our corner stores and are like cleaners and you know some of the smaller, you know, niche service providers out there that are really small, um, or cheap services or just conveniences, convenience businesses and because they're the ones that have miraculously stayed, um and that's just my, uh two cents there, but thank you for being the one to kind of harness all of this, but i appreciate that

so much, and i would love to work with this commission and with the office in order to come up with, really effective strategies for reaching. i mean, right now, we are working with a lot of the sort of i mean, as you say, like the, um. the merchants associations and the community benefits districts, and you know a lot of the stakeholders who are sort of the hubs for information at the district level, um, like the neighborhood level within downtown, but i think that it would be wonderful if we could work together to sort of like, get you know the word out in a in a more proactive way. um and so that would be that would be great. did you bring in again? sure yes. um, one more thing. i was this conversation brought to

mind the highline in new york city. you know, that's like a hugely innovative. draw like it's a great project. i think it was privately funded. maybe i'm not sure. um that's something like that, you know. yeah like let's throw it a wide net, you know? yeah, i mean, ah! all ideas would be very welcome. we're certainly like within the improved public spaces trying to think about, you know, what are the enhancements that we could do within parks and plazas or even at like a broader scale? um that could be because they could be successful and then similarly around, sort of. our conference and tourism industry. there's been a lot of discussion around bringing the like south by southwest kind of event to san francisco. you know, there's so certainly within both, like, um within the built environment or

the public space environment as well as sort of industry conferences and events. what are things that we could do it as s scale that would really put san francisco on the map again. and then how do we find them? thank you. commissioner dickerson. yeah. turn my mic. i don't really know how to fram. i guess i'll just keep it more of a statement coming from a very optimistic perspective, i'd say. i really feel like san francisco. we have. we have what we need to rebuild san francisco. i believe it's here. i also believe that perspective of um. creating or or giving opportunity and i'm piggybacking

on what my other fellow commissioners were saying. as far as. giving opportunities to people who have shown they have been that stable, small business that have kept the city going giving these people opportunity . now i know there's a gap there because all the buildings aren't owned by the city. we're dealing with the whole rent and ownership and leasing. and i know those dynamics. i'm just thinking there's gotta be a way where the communication with these whether you're a building owner or your leasing out these um, some type of program when introductory. well, this business has been here for 10 years. they're looking to expand . let's create a pilot program where they're ready for expansion, and the program would allow them to expand in these larger spaces where they've

already shown sustainability by being a small business for a certain amount of years. you know, like we have a legacy business legacy business. you have to be in business for 30, plus years in order to qualify, there could be some type of program where small businesses that are looking to expand maybe an application or whatever. and then be able to open the door for established. small business for the expansion. so, um. and i've been privileged. i was a part of a pilot program where i was that, um and, um. and still to this day i have people come from whether b o w d or other representatives to come. look at my building. and i mean i'm a perfect example of that i'm looking for i'm not trying to plug myself. i'm just using me as an example that i'm ready for expansion. so you know, you take a candidate of someone who's had success in that. so i think that maybe um, an opportunity. to

present um and not be afraid of. you know the growth, the growth spurt that's gonna take place, you know, and not be afraid. of the risk. you know, we can. i understand being careful and of course, we're dealing with budgets and policy and legislation. but. i really believe that everything that we need is already here in san francisco. we just have to you know, make room for it and bring and make the invitation available for people. who are ready for that expansion. i think we already have it and i don't want us to underestimate you know, i get the whole outside coming in, but we've done that. i think that this is an opportunity for people who have been here born here raised here who didn't think they had opportunity because the tech world was so magnified that we now have the ability to kind of pushed everything to the same like ok city. let's rise up and

take our city and, um feel it with all the creativity and innovation in the arts and the all of the things that we have that already exists so uh, did that make sense? it did appreciate right. so like to work with you on that so thank you. i appreciate the opportunity. yeah. that was wonderful. there was a lot of verbal head nodding on the front. thank you. i mean to jump off of that one of the notes that i had was towards the end of your presentation, you know, talking about how, um, you know, hoping for people to invest in us, and i really wrote that we need to invest in ourselves right like and that means building. our business is like and, um, investing in the people who are ready to expand, and

perhaps like some sort of like i don't know. i was thinking i was picturing kind of like within our neighborhoods. you know where people are going out and like for us to be able to identify like, hey, i want like , you know, on clement street. we have giorgio's pizza like i would love to have giorgio's expand into downtown or something, you know. and how do we highlight like some of the businesses that we have existing or legacy businesses and give them incentives to be able to like move into downtown areas, and for that to be like the community saying, hey, i love like we love having legacy business presentations and to have community members champion one another and i think that type of like energy would be so good for downtown. and then that in turn, also bringing in, um you know, with your events and everything bringing people into the downtown area to have fun like that was something that, um , i really enjoyed. i was mentioning this to carry and

director tang, but i went to like the holi festival that was in the east cut and it was like it was so cool, you know, and really easy to get there, you know, obviously, by transit and things unfortunately, i did drive and so my car has a lot of colored powder in it, but it was like, you know, i guess i shouldn't have taken uni. um but, you know, i also i also got a lot of good feedback about the world cup viewing parties, different things like that. and you know for us who you know, live in the city for us to really learn how to go downtown again for fun and not just to think of it as a place to go for work really wonderful, so encouraging some of that. um. i also wanted to speak about transit a little bit. um you know there there is a lot of, um

discussion around transit in the neighborhood corridors. i think there's a lot of changes and a lot of things are, um are you know a lot of plans that had been kind of paused because of the pandemic are now coming back into the discussions, and i think a lot of those plans are based off of like, speed and efficiency. right. like we're gonna save x amount of time. um and we're just gonna have to do all these changes to the road and like, you know, x y and z i just would love to think differently about transit because i actually think that speed and efficiency are important. i think, however, i think there are certain things that are other types of barriers for people to use public transit that do not require such um. large scale interruptions to our commercial corridors throughout the city, so things that i can

identify just off of the top of my head are like making the platforms and the transit stations more like stroller friendly, you know. i think that would include, you know, 88 friendly like all these different things like making them just more. exciting to be in, like, have more art and not just billboards have music in the stations have different things that make the station's just much more like inviting and friendly and i think those types of things don't necessarily have to, like disrupt 10 blocks of traffic that doesn't have to take away parking a. i understand that parking is not the priority, but for some businesses, it's still something that. that they rely on for a bit for people to be able to come and use their business. and that's just the reality of the corridor. i mean, i think, um i

think any help in championing those types of like creative thoughts or, like looking at things differently would be really helpful. um the other things and speaking about transit to i'm wondering like with market street. what types of, um what? what do you envision for market street? given that there isn't like car traffic. through much of the downtown area now. in terms of transit. well, in terms of like, how do you see market street kind of like it used to be such a bustling street right like and that was when we did have the car traffic and we had all these things and we had a certain plan for what market street was going to look like, i think, um, pre pandemic and now i just don't know, like are there other plans to activate or to make the street more? i mean, i just feel like it's such a like important vein in our our city. totally um , i think i mean, i think that it's a really interesting question. and i don't know that i have an answer yet so better

market street was was the plan created pre pandemic when it was bustling to an a point that it was like too much, right. and um and i don't know what the plans are now in terms of what we expect and what the projections are around. you know, as we as we see our city recover. and we see new businesses. new offices . new people come, you know, come into downtown for different reasons. like how that plan also evolves. in order to, um like, really serve the new way that that the that downtown functions and that market street needs to function. but i think i mean, that's a great question that i think deserves a lot of thinking. i mean some some of the ideas in my mind, i think, are that um i think i i'm

curious about kind of like the existing demographic data for downtown residents, because i mean for me, i do a lot of organizing within, like neighborhoods, right and um and commercial corridor in neighborhoods and i feel like that's one of the opportunities that downtown could really benefit from is feeling like a neighborhood. and i think right now it's kind of like san francisco feels like okay here san francisco. here's all the neighborhoods that you can hang out in all these neighborhoods. and then there's downtown. but like downtown doesn't have its own like neighborhood personality. yet the way that like many of our neighborhoods actually have you know, almost like human like characteristics , right? like you can almost imagine. who was there, and i feel like the times that i've spent downtown so far. there. there is like a feeling, you know, and there are people who live there and who have invested their their you know, like that's where they are growing families and doing things and i think to be able to see that and

support. that would be really, um would be really cool because then they would be part of san francisco, and they could say, like worse, san franciscans. and i live downtown. yeah i mean, i think that that is the vision and the opportunity is for not is for downtown. right? to evolve. and use its its position . it's very unique position, as like. again bed by all of this transit. really dense. uh it is extremely walkable. two. to really bring in and showcase. all of the neighborhoods in san francisco. no where you can like you were saying, like bring in businesses that are institutions and anchors in our neighborhoods. into downtown, so that your experience in downtown as a consumer is that this is an

integral part of san francisco. and it reflects all of the diversity and the culture and like the uniqueness of san francisco neighborhoods in one place, and kind of teases you to want to go. and like, really go into each one of those neighborhoods, you know, um, while also. i mean, in the last sort of decade, right, there's been more housing built in downtown than any other part of san francisco by far and so i think that there are and it's been in different parts of downtown right where that housing has really concentrated in clustered, and so i think that the organizations were working closely with with a lot of the organizations that are sort of representative of downtown. um in order. to develop the events and that the

activations and the strategies that really respond to like to their neighborhood as part of downtown, so the east cut is different than union square and east cut and union square and mid market are all like very different neighborhoods. all downtown like all within this, like footprint of downtown. and so trying to develop these microstrategy's that all speak to this larger road map, you know, but in a way that serves their neighborhood and how it is growing up. you know? i feel like that type of micro like look at things. could be a really. successful way of making people feel seen and like, enjoy being in their own neighborhood , which then in turn, makes us want to like, actually go check it out. um i'm gonna go ahead and pass the mic to commissioner herbert. um. well speaking of

bart, piggyback on what you said, um it would be great to activate bart. as the channel that's bringing people to downtown. um and create commerce underground. um and art installations underground. all of that could like bleed up to the surface, so to speak. but if you're you know, if you're riding bart, you want to get some flowers on your way home or you want to get an espresso or you know you want to watch a game or whatever there could be a bustling underground. situation happening. um, that would match. what's happening up upstairs on market street. um and again that would take a lot of money and maybe some federal funding. but that's a that's an interesting opportunity that you know? could be very, very

concrete. project. and it would it would encourage people to use bart, you know, and then uni. and leave their cars. happily leave their cars at home because it doesn't take as much time to get anywhere. um, when you're on bart or muni, and it takes a long, long time when you get in the car, you know, but there could be a campaign. for vendors for businesses and for residents. um. yeah. and i think we could activate union square in a similar way. and i will not say anything else after this. thank you so much for your presentation. thank you. vice president zuma's. thank you. i know you've been with us for a minute, but i wanted to just chime in on the market street topic and particular. um yeah, i

think everything my co commissioner said about empowering who's here? i can't. i can't say that enough. and i think market street is a really good example of how san francisco hasn't done a good job of that in the past. um when we've when we tried to bring um . different types of businesses to market street boutique cyclist stores, coffee shops, that kind of thing, um i saw and an environment form of kind of like this. there wasn't a camaraderie with other businesses on market street. it became a honestly, a gentrifying snitch culture was formed and a lot of these, like newer businesses that had the city behind their back behind their back, you know, are pushing them helping them were tag, teaming with the city to go after businesses that maybe had people loitering in front of them or didn't have as nice store fronts and what we saw was instead of

taking a compliance based approach or an approach to help those businesses, um, maintain their storefronts and, uh, we. did like an imminent donate, and we got rid of one um, corner storm particular that, um was really the only place keeping the lights on on that block, and a week after it closed. somebody was shot on that block. and so for me, i'm like. now those businesses that push for that business that one business to leave aren't even there. because they you know, didn't have any more, you know? the neighborhood and so i think it's really important that as we're trying to clean things up that we do it in a way that's really community based bottom up, and it's empowering the businesses that are there and, um specifically i know we had sf shines that tried

to do neighborhood focused activations. i would love to see sf shines. or or a, you know, parallel program. go to the remaining kind of, uh, storefronts that are holding down market street. and say, help, you know? can we help you clean up your storefront, you know, and like, instead of penalizing them, let's let's do the hard work of we have a business here. we have somebody who's done the work to stay on that corridor. let's not push them out. let's try to help them improve. so that's kind of like i feel like this is been the growing theme of our commission in the last couple of years is how do we work with small businesses? um to get them to the standard that the city wants , as opposed to just punishing them for not meeting that level. no, that's great context and thank you. um, i think just a

couple more comments from me. i . one industry that i was interested in, was like education. i think some people have talked about universities coming downtown and then um, and i'm also curious about like smaller universities as well. yeah i mean, that is a real were very. education that i think that the chamber has said. i don't know. director, if you know this, but there are 30 colleges don't in san francisco. right now, um, because of like all the and, like wharton has it's an axon. um and so there are a lot of sort of educational institutions and they're they're small, and they don't necessarily like they, you know, they bring in their sort of like um master level students and above right because they're they're annexes. and so i think that that is a really interesting proposition to us. ah and the city is really excited about, you know, any

educational institution and sort of like might be looking into what what educational institutions we might be able to attract because i think it does play to our strengths, and it does certainly support recovery to have young people, you know, circulating around and being in downtown and, um availing themselves of all of the entertainment and the and the small business, micro culture or ecosystem. that is that is there already i mean, i think of even, um you know, some of the things that i've been mentioning for downtown would be like as you build housing right to also build childcare into it and like , and so when i think about education, i think about actually like all different types of education, right, like childcare as well as, like early education. and then even like even many of these schools operate like, um, kind of like satellite online. like, you know, there's all these online

like master's programs and like different graduate programs. i think those could be really beneficial when they're in your own. apartment complex, you know, like if it was like if some other types of like technical, um i don't know. technical education kind of things were built into like the neighborhood. i feel like people would you know, people would go for that, like i don't know what people are learning now like coding. are people still learning coding? sorry i'm on the small business commission. i don't do you know so but like whatever people want to learn, um will be yeah. coding classes for babies. if you could have that felton environment, um other pieces that i was going to say in terms of retail because i know there's been a lot of talk about, like, you know, retail and you can square and all those kind of things. um, i'm wondering like i am pre pandemic had some time to be able to

travel like a little bit more and like in asia, they have all these like, um, type of like makers malls, and i think it's kind of similar to director tanks like push for flex retail. um, but i don't know. maybe i'm gonna put this out on this public forum. i don't know. maybe maybe somebody will want to do this with me. but i'm thinking like it would be cool to have this giant like makers mall type thing right, but it's like an interactive art. experience too. like i think whatever we gotta do, we gotta like do it like with heart and with like, like, really commit to this like i feel like we've seen a lot of makers fares, and i love them all and we all go to them, but they look like a maker's faire like let's up the next level experience and. and so i feel like internationally. there's so many different opportunities, like even like looking at other cities and things like that that are bustling. so i feel like san

francisco is just we're right there, and i think it's just a matter of us committing to apparently we all have to do this. so but. that is oh, vice president zuma's are you still on? oh, no, that's okay. i think that was pretty much all of my questions. does anybody else have any other comments or. okay well, thank you very much for your presentation today. oh actually, one last comment. um when people do have these random ideas like i got to talk to you and tell it to you? yeah but is there a place where, um, the public and all of our friends and family who have these creative ideas can like, um, share these? yeah. so this is i mean, the director tang actually brought up, i think six months ago, and we my team has been staffing up. um and so we are working on that now is went. it does not exist yet. but

hopefully when you go to the road map to downtown's future in the near future, there will be a way for you to sort of submit ideas. um for recovery or a sign up to get to get updates. on how things are going in the city. so that is coming. stay tuned. okay, great. um, i think now we have to take public comment. okay, great. thank you. any public commenters want to come to the front of the room? press star. three if you're online and want to speak hi. good afternoon commissioners. and um, thank you , director for your presentation . um it was very it was as a citizen. it was really wonderful to hear that there are plans being developed to address what is a serious problem in our

city, and it's um sustainability into the future after the pandemic. um i especially appreciated commissioner dickerson's, um, comments about that. everything we need is here . i really agree with that sentiment, and, um, i was interested in your presentation to see that. um for, uh, improvement of the business climate. the healthcare security ordinance was uh, addressed and that ordinance has been in effect for ah, i think maybe mm . well over 10 years, and it represents a significant. issue for businesses in the kind of tend to 100 employee level because it requires the employer

to provide several dollars. i think it's almost $3 per hour worked toward, um, healthcare expenditures. regardless of whether the employee um uh, needs health care benefits or not, so if someone is a high school student, and they have healthcare through their parents , or they are somebody who qualifies for medicare, and they they have, um healthcare that way they accrue. um uh hcs oh! dollars which the employer must spend or send the city. uh and, um, so anyway, i there's not a lot of awareness about that. i didn't introduce myself. my name is janet tarlov and, um i, um i'm here on behalf of the glen park merchants association and the san francisco council of district. merchants i didn't

mention that because those organizations the best number of our members have fewer than 20 employees, so they are not subject to this ordinance. but it is a it is a significant issue. for those businesses. i said as i said, between 20 and 100 because they are subject to it, and, um in a low unemployment environment, um, the demand for higher wages is significant. and for the people who don't need that benefit those dollars that could be going toward higher wages. go go toward that benefit instead. so thank you very much. there are no colors on the line. okay um, hearing no further callers. public comment is closed. um, thank you very much. um item

number four. item four approval of draft meeting minutes discussion and action item. the commission will discuss and possibly take action to approve the april 24th 2023 draft meeting minutes. commissioners any comments on the minutes and . we can open it up for public comment. there are no commenters in the room. known online. hearing no further callers or comments, public comments and closed commission or just want to make a motion to accept the to approve the draft meeting minutes. i'll make the motion. i'll second the most right? motion by commissioner dickerson seconded by commissioner herbert herbert. sorry um i'll read the

royal commissioner carter absent. commissioner dickerson. yes. commissioner herbert yes, president huey? yes. commissioner tease. cartagena's absent and vice president says yes yes. motion passes. thank you. next item. item six. general public comment. this is a discussion item, allowing members of the public to comment generally on matters that are within the small business commission's jurisdiction, but not on today's calendar and suggest new agenda items for the future. any public comment. any members of the public who would like to make comments on items not on the agenda. there are no callers on the line. or in the room. okay public comment is closed. next item, please item seven directors report. this is an updated report on the office of small business and small business assistance center

department programs, policy and legislative matters. all right. good evening commissioners. and first of all, i also wanna, um, welcome our newest commissioner , tricia gregory of so, yes, i know that the screen is blocking our view, but welcome. um so happy small business week here in san francisco, everyone, um, i know this is a really lovely time for all of us, even though we spent a lot of time advocating for small business every single day. um and many of you working in your small business every single day. this is a time for us to celebrate here in the city. so um, with that, as you saw last week, we have launched the rebrand of the shop. nine sf campaign really trying to draw people to the website as f dot gov slash shop , dine sf as well as the social media with those same handles to encourage and incentivize people to get out in their neighborhoods and really support their local small businesses instead of shopping online, so that's what we're hoping for. um

a couple events coming up. we emailed these to you, but also wanted just to remind you tomorrow. tuesday is the city hall pop up. so it is a maker's faire tomorrow at city hall from 11 am to three pm at city hall northlight court this year featuring a lot of new business about 50% of them are new vendors. um in, uh, this this city hall pop up, so i want to thank marianne thompson from our office for coordinating this event. also on tuesday, just channeling commission ortiz cortina since he's not here, but tomorrow is also from 4 to 6 p.m. the latino entrepreneurs celebration hosted by meta at 2601 mission street. so i'm sure if he were here he would want to invite you to that on wednesday evening is a small business boogie and that's from 5 to 8 p.m. at the ferry building in san francisco, which is actually home to many small businesses, so it's a great reminder for all

of us to support. um, those small businesses in that location. um so again, 5 to 8 p.m. it's a disco themes. so if you want to dress up, please, we welcome you to do so. and then, lastly, on thursday evening is the legacy business mixer, which is hosted by our office. i want to thank rick and michelle from our office for organizing this event, and that's from 5 to 7 p.m. at anchor. public taps. um all are welcome to join. you do not need to be a legacy business and i do understand rsvps are closed right now, but you can still just show up and have fun. um so that's for small business week. and, of course, um, the sf chamber of commerce is hosting a bunch of different events throughout the week. uh and, um , i also wanted to mention that the sf public libraries partnering with our office. and martha yanez from our team is hosting a workshop webinar online on wednesday at noon to help people who are just thinking about starting a small business. um also wanted to

share that you may have seen in the news today that there's a launch of the civic joyful fund. and this is, uh, an initiative with a $2 million project that will deploy five new arts and volunteer focused projects to engage with communities across san francisco over the next six months. so this is not city funding, but this is private funding. um in collaboration between tipping point community and manny's, and so just wanted to make sure we spread the word about this opportunity for different commercial corridors and businesses. and more information is available at civic joy fund .org. uh um lastly just wanted to share we continue to really enjoy getting to know businesses through our merchant walks last since the last meeting. we've been out at dogpatch and also chestnut street. coming up this week is will be out on sacramento street. and then after that on valencia street, um the week after so just continuing to do these every week and, um, really hearing directly from businesses. um also forgot we

were out on mission street as well. mission um, by seventh last week. so those are all of my updates and happy to answer any questions. thank you very much. director, tank commissioners. any questions? seem seeing no questions any public comment. there is none. okay well hearing no further comments. public comments is closed. um next item, please. item eight commissioner discussion and new business. this is a discussion item. allows president, vice president and commissioners to report on recent small business activities , make announcements and make inquiries of staff. see. any new business. for any commissioner. oh, vice president. thank you.

um. something that i wanted to flag and see if the office has gotten any uh um. concerns from small businesses around this, but i know the small property owners association. it how'd it in their news letter recently, and it's something that some businesses um and in my community are dealing with is that insurance? companies are not ensuring, um. businesses or sorry, um, brick and mortars that were built. like pre 19th, or 1917 yeah. and um, it's definitely something we need to flag because that means there's commercial businesses and old buildings that are, you know, dealing with not being insured, right? um and it's yeah, it's becoming a kind of an issue for a lot of small property owners who are in you know, single

story. old old units. so, um i wanted to know if that's something that came to your guys is played, or, um, we haven't heard anything of that. and i guess just to clarify the question, is it that the insurance companies not ensuring the property or the business tenant? if there's a business in it in the appropriate guess i'm i'm a little bit about both. yeah from what i understand, like, um there. like if you're if there's any changes that are made, and even if, at least in the couple examples that that i've been told tenant improvements were asked to be done. they were done. and then the insurance companies are still like, oh, if the building is from this era, so you know we're not going to deal within. i think i'm probably not the expert to explain this to you, but it was in the small property owners newsletter, so it is a kind of across the board issue right now. okay we can look into that. but our office has not heard anything of that sort. um

recently forever. yeah, okay. um and then the second thing that was brought to my attention is, um. to ask about the sister city program and where that lives and why has no nexus to our small business demographic community? um and i think it could be a really beautiful thing if we connected it, um, we have, like demographic communities here that aren't really represented by that program. um, it's it maintains, just like political ties, but it really doesn't disseminate into the community and to our small business ecosystem. and i think, um a lot of communities that, um. could be represented in in that kind of economic relationship that the city has with other cities. um i just think that it might be something that we could explore, like where it lives. and if

there is an existing nexus to small business, or if there's a way we can make that. um i think most of it lives within the mayor's office, and i think that small business is a component of the overall. you know, multi factors for what goes into a decision around whether we form a sister city relationship with another entity, so i've i've only been on one sister city trip over to cork, ireland, and you know, one of the things that they highlighted, for example, was their version of what we would consider like our ferry building. and um, the businesses in that, um in that space and what they were doing and how they activate that area, so i do know that small business is a feature and a component of, um these, but there are many factors that go into a decision around development of sister city relationship. so our existing sister city committees like for example, like do we have a small business representative on any of those,

you know, like that's kind of just like, how are we tying it back to our communities? here is my question. yeah and i am really not the right person to answer that. but again, i do know that it is one component of , um again like the visits or discussion points, so it's certainly a part of it. it's just there are many, many different, um, things that people are looking at when they're talking about sister city relationships. okay? thank you. cool that. that's something interesting to look into. thank you, um before i call on commissioner gregory. i just wanted to, um welcome you more formally to the commission. sometimes i get a little caught up in the things that i need to say, and i don't always know how to say them so thank you so much for, um, deciding to serve on this commission. i hope you have

you know, i hope you have fun, and i don't want to put you on the spot to have to say too much. maybe on you know today, but when you want to, i would love you know for you, too. have some time to be able to you know, share a little bit about yourself as well as, um like yeah, if you. if you want a few minutes yeah. well thank you. and i'm honored to be here. um i come from the construction part of small businesses. and uh, my huge advocate for that, so it's for me. it's like what commissioner did. dickerson was seen that we have everything in the city to help the city thrive and so especially construction companies when you hear about all this money coming into san francisco and getting new businesses, we are stuck about whether it's going to happen to us what is going to happen to the really small construction

companies who are really already struggling. to stay alive in the city of san francisco. um so i would like to see more discussion on how we can help those companies. um but that's pretty much the background that i have. um especially advocate in the black and brown construction because that um those are the people who really are not, uh developing their companies are not moving ahead. uh they're struggling a lot, especially in district 10. so. although i know a lot of my step is going to be questions towards that, because in my mind if you are in if the construction services are thriving, right and they're on almost every project in the city of san francisco, and as you know, they're putting billions of dollars into san francisco. so imagine if those countries construction companies had the contracts on those

companies. then your stores will survive. then your small businesses will survive. then your corner stores will survive because we are the people who hire the community, so all of our money goes back into the community. so that's right. that's my background. i'm a little bit passionate about it. so sorry. but i would like to discuss thing about the healthcare. um i do here in a lot of the construction companies, the small construction companies also that that is a problem. because a lot of them are union. guys and so if a small construction company has to pay into the healthcare but. the unions are already paying their health care. it is. it is a big issue for small companies, so i don't i'm new to this. i don't know how we discussed that or how we help the small companies with that, but i would love to see some

kind of discussion around that. thank you. thank you for having me. thank you. that's that's exactly how you bring it up. yeah yeah. thank you. we're so excited to have you on the commission. um let's see. i don't think i have anything else. yeah. and again. see i have no idea how to go forward after but any public comment there's one color on the line. alright well, public comment is closed. no no, there's one color on. sorry you said okay. i'm not listening. color. please go ahead. so i'm listening to you all you know. and. uh i heard the woman who just spoke about

micro businesses. and i know a lot about it. ah! at one time. my office was responsible. for creating the local business enterprise women business enterprise nonprofit enterprise. and submitting the models to the contract monitoring division. so the small business should work with common chew. who is the city administrator. because the contract monitoring division comes under her. and i remember participating. and asking that small business chaplin, seuin. it was a man. i don't see him there anymore. and he said, oh, you know, um, that small business doesn't ah got involved in. the grants. oh, has been the

businesses right kind of some policymakers, and that makes no sense. or like the other commissioner, who knows me? i was talking about. the variety. often businesses, small businesses from yemen. and from . maybe someplace jerusalem or ramallah. um, we need two. to have sister relationships with people. this this country's. we are sanctions. cisco where the united nations formed, but some of y'all need an orientation, so i got no orientation that the united nations was formed in sentence isco united nations plaza, but nobody knows what's

happening there, except like it was polluted and contaminated by the addicts. so. daniel have this commissions and the mayor pardons whoever she likes to have point on this commission. we all have to step up that represent san francisco at the highest standard. and the highest standard learn about it. united nation and you'll learn a lot about business and how to interact with communities all over the world. there is san francisco is unique because we embrace everybody. but if we don't embrace small businesses, especially those who who are in dire straits then you know this commissions are for nothing this pop up, said all that's something that you know the they are. the generation likes. but we need to pop up with the older

generation, too. thank you very much. all right. there are no other commenters in the queue. okay, seeing them. public commenters. no further callers, um public comment is closed. next item, please. item nine adjournment. as i've covered tv , please show the office of small business slide. we will end with a reminder that the small business commission is official public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about policies that affect the economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco. if you need assistance with small business matters continue to reach out to the office of small business. meeting's adjourned. s

>> good evening, everyone i'm assistant chief deeper dive la the chief and want to welcome, everyone to the first of our hoping many recognition at city hall open on behalf of our mayor london breed and we welcome you and we. thank you. >> hopefully that we do this ever quarter i recognize the