to learn more how to submit a reimbursement visit sferh. . >> one welcome to the small business commission meeting on january 27th 2025. the meeting is being called to order at 4:31 p.m.. this meeting is being held in person in city hall room 400 and broadcast live on s.f. gov tv. the small business commission thinks media services and s.f. gov tv for televising the meeting which can be viewed on s.f. gov tv two or live streamed it s.f. gov tv.org. we welcome general public comment at the end of the meeting and there will be an opportunity to comment on each

discussion or action item on the agenda. public comment during the meeting is limited to three minutes per speaker. an alarm will sound once time has finished. speakers are requested but not required to state their names. s.f. gap tv please show the office of small business slide . >> today we will begin with a reminder that the small business commission is the official public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about policies that affect the economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco. please call item one. item one roll call. commissioner benitez. commissioner cornett. present. commissioner dickerson. present. commissioner herbert is absent. president. he here? commissioner he's cartagena is absent. vice presidencies in us present. 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

unceded ancestral homeland of the promoters aloni who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula as indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions. the dramaturge aloni i have never ceded lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. as guests we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors elders and relatives of the armitage's aloni community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. >> please call item two item two approval of legacy business registry applications and resolutions this is a discussion and action item the commission will discuss and possibly take action to approve legacy business registry applications. presenting today is richard carrillo, legacy business program manager with the office of small business. >> so good afternoon president

eui vice president business commissioners, city staff members of the public. i'm richard carrillo. legacy business program manager. i would like to acknowledge michelle reynolds, my colleague in the office of small business who provides beneficial assistance to the legacy business program. as a cover tv, i have a powerpoint presentation before you today or for applications for your consideration for the legacy business registry. each application includes a staff report or draft resolution the application itself and documents from the planning department. the applications were submitted to planning on december 18th and heard by the historic preservation commission on january 15th. item two a is cha cha cha cha. the business is a restaurant in the haight-ashbury and mission neighborhoods that was established in 1984. they offer a caribbean tapas

world famous sangria, local beers, craft cocktails, entertainment and catering and they have a great venue for events. cha cha cha cha creates a unique caribbean inspired atmosphere providing their patrons with the restaurant experience that fear feels more like a tropical escape. >> the mission location has a rich history independent of cha cha cha cha. it was an irish restaurant and pub called original mccarthys that was founded by irish immigrant dennis mccarthy. dennis was one of the first businessmen to begin legally serving alcohol after prohibition ended in 1933. to recognize the legacy of the mission location it is sometimes referred to as cha cha cha cha at original mccarthys. the core feature tradition the business must maintain to remain on legacy business registry as restaurant featuring caribbean cuisine. >> item to be is city optics the business founded by dr. jeffrey rich in 1988 is the

preeminent optometrist office located in the marina and cow hollow neighborhoods. city optics carries a wide range of high fashion frames from the best designers in the industry including prescription glasses and sunglasses. their experience two optometrists are on hand to assist clients with comprehensive eye care services and high quality eye exams. they emphasize personalized customer service blending medical expertise with fashionable eyewear to meet the specific needs of their clients . the core feature tradition the business must maintain is optometry. >> >> item two c is golden gate park band. >> the organization was founded in september 1882. the golden gate park band provides free concerts to the people of san francisco in the spreckels temple of music at the music concourse in golden gate park. they offer classical band favorites operas, marches, broadway show tunes, orchestral

transcriptions, novelty tunes, folk music, big band swing music and original works for concert band. throughout the season the band features soloists from within its membership as well as guests artists, guest artists. >> the core featured tradition the business must maintain is music. item two de is san francisco flower market. >> the business established in 1912 is the largest wholesale flower market in northern california with products coming from all over the world. it was founded by two immigrant groups the italian-american san francisco flower growers association and the japanese-american california flower market inc. both of which played pivotal roles in shaping the market's legacy san francisco flower market's esteemed vendors with years of dedicated partnership bring unique expertise to the marketplace and offer a global array of cut flowers potted plants, blooming plants

and floral supplies. just this month the san francisco flower market moved to a state of the art facility at 901 16th street and patrol the core featured tradition the business must maintain to remain on the legacy business registry as distributor of flowers and plants. >> all of the businesses met the three criteria required for listing on the legacy business registry and all have received a positive recommendation from the historic preservation commission. legacy business program staff recommends adding the businesses to the registry and has drafted a resolution for each business 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 and there are businesses represented to present who may wish to speak on behalf of their applications during public comment. >> thank you very much, rick. anybody any commissioners have any questions at this point?

no questions. um, i'd like to open it up for public comment to anyone present for a public comment. >> you can line up if you want to my left your right or just come forward. >> hello? commissioners, i have here binder with publications regarding cha cha cha that goes back to 1985. i thought you guys might enjoy taking a look at it. >> oh well that. >> how often do you take that out? just to the last hearing that we had to come to it two weeks ago. >> all right. so i'm here to speak about the inclusion of cha cha cha into the legacy business registry. >> cha cha cha cha was started by my father phillip barber and his business partner leon peck in 1984. originally he started it to bring puerto rican and cuban food that he had grown up eating in new york to san

francisco. >> but eventually it evolved into a top us hotspot with long lines, loud music and flowing sangria. i began working at church of cha around 15 years ago during the summers off from high school and until then it was just a restaurant i grew up in. it wasn't until i started working there that i realized how renowned it really was. my teachers all ate there. my friends parents all out there. i waited on my childhood crush kelly kapowski from saved by the bell. >> it became clear to me that i was not just working at my family's restaurant but rather i was part of a san francisco institution. a lot of the people who were working there at that time the ones who showed me the ropes of the restaurant industry are still there to this day. the chefs have been there for decades, the bartenders as well. there's a host who's been working thursday nights there for about 30 years. cha cha cha has hosted politicians and celebrities.

mayor frank jordan had his birthday there in the 90s and has been recognized in local, national and international publications. but to me that's not what makes it historic. it's the fact that residents of san francisco have been eating there for over four decades. >> parents who used to eat there with their children now visit with their grandchildren and enjoy the same cajun shrimp dish they had 20 years before. >> i'm extremely proud of what my father's built and how cha cha cha has persevered. i'm also very happy with how the new owner oz has honored the history of the restaurant while also working hard to continue its legacy. i think we all know how hard the restaurant business is in this city and the fact that cha cha cha has had continued success for over 40 years solidifies it as part of san francisco's history and deserving of legacy business status. >> thank you very much. and this is us. he's going to say a few words. >> he's the new owner here. thank you. >> hello, ladies mandelman.

my name is on earth sky nicole and wrote such a i'm here to celebrate cha cha cha cha this san francisco institution that has enriched our kids cultural fabric for over four decades. >> what says cha cha cha cha apart is its resilience in a constantly evolving city. it has weathered challenges and remains steadfast. after temporarily closing in 2022, the mission location reopened in 2023 symbolizing the restaurant's enduring commitment to the community and its role in revitalizing the neighborhood. cha cha cha cha is more than a restaurant. it's a cultural landmark. for decades it has brought people together for celebrations, first dates and family gatherings all while championing local artists and musicians. its signature sangria chicken and plantains have become icons

of san francisco's diverse and are seen recognized by artists like the san francisco chronicle, rolling stone and sunset magazine. cha cha cha has run pace for its bold flavors a welcoming ambiance cha cha cha cha significance aligns perfectly with the legacy business registry criteria it has operated in san francisco for over 40 years contributing to the city's identity preserve the traditions and spirit of the heart and mission districts foster creativity and inclusivity. fortune by recognizing cha cha cha cha as a legacy business we honor its rich history and ensure its future as a beacon of san francisco's culture. this preserve this vibrant piece of our city's story. >> thank you. thank you.

>> good afternoon. i'm vance. you shared and i serve as the president of the california flower court llc, which was a previous owner of this franciscan flower garden. i also serve on the board of the sale. this is going flower from art's new nonprofit corporation. >> my grandparents who immigrated from japan had a nursery in oakland and they sold their flowers. >> this is in sysco flower mart when it was their fifth mission in the early 1900s. when my father and his two brothers took over service they continued to sell their flowers at the flower market. from the time i was eight years old i remember going to the flower mart at 1 a.m. with my

father and with my uncles. the flower market continues to be a place for many first in an asian family from all over the world to start their business and thrive. >> the flower markets contain gardens are family owned businesses and the owners are first generation or children of the immigrants. i urge you to get the flower market like good seasons starters so it can continue to help many first generation families and the flower industry in northern california to thrive. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon commissioners

and thank you for this opportunity to speak to you. my name is rose robinson and i've been working at the san francisco flower mart for nearly 30 years and in this time i've met many small business owners. some of them have been second and third generation flower growers flower wholesalers and florists. this community has deep roots in the bay area. >> over a century ago italian immigrants, chinese immigrants and japanese immigrants gathered at lotus fountain to sell their blooms and then together they formed a partnership that became the first flower market. >> and these families didn't just do business together. they helped each other. like in world war two when the japanese weren't and weren't internment camps it was the italians who took care of their farms for them. and you know, when the war ended, these communities kept thriving. they grew flower market into one of the oldest and largest

flower grow flower markets in the united states. >> they've brought a lot of jobs to the area. but it's not just jobs. it's a heritage and it's a heritage that we don't want to see lost because it means something to work with flowers. you can't get flowers just like that on amazon. somebody has to grow them. they cut them. they design them. and that's not something we want to lose. we don't want to lose the tradition or the history. our market is a cultural and economic cornerstone that serves over 4500 small businesses. it provides jobs for 250 workers and fosters committee sorry community events like tulip days in union square. >> generations of san franciscans have relied on the flower market to sustain their businesses. celebrate life milestones and beautify our city. flowers bring pleasure to so many people.

they brighten our lives and the businesses, the small businesses who toil day to day. make a lot of sacrifices to do this. they get up early. they weather the seasons. and they're here doing business on holidays when the rest of us are enjoying the holiday. as one of the last wholesale flower markets of its kind, our designation as a legacy business is not just about preserving our history. >> it's about honoring the contributions of immigrant families, small businesses and workers who have shaped san francisco's unique character. time can i keep going? >> oh this designation ensures that our story rooted in resilience and community can continues to inspire future generations. i've stayed at the flower market for almost 30 years because i thrive in this community. i know the people. they are my community. thank you.

>> good afternoon commission. i first like to say thank you to rick because he really helped us get our application together and did a fabulous presentation. my name is jeannie taggart bowes. i'm the executive director of the san francisco flower market and it's an honor to stand here before you as we started to celebrate our 113th year in san francisco in a brand new home in petro hill. for more than a century the flower market has been a cornerstone of our city a place where growers, florists, grocers, interior decorators and event designers have come together with the beauty of flowers. today our vendors compete on a global scale navigating intense challenges from internal disruptors and online marketplaces. despite their pressures, they continue to innovate and adapt. >> all we preserving the community spirit that defines the market.

now managed by s.f. flower market inc a501c3 nonprofit and a proud supporter and supporting organization to the san francisco wholesale produce market we are deeply committed to sustaining northern california's floral agriculture community. we're supporting our small businesses that are our vendors and fostering educational connections. legacy business designation is not just an honor it's an essential. it will enable us to provide for our 22 plus vendors safeguard livelihoods of over 250 blue collar workers and maintain affordability and vibrancy of this cherished institution. the san francisco flower market is more than a business it's a living legacy. flowers do more than brighten places they brighten lives. scientifically proven to boost dopamine, flowers bring joy. they reduce stress. they connect us to all. as supervisor aaron peskin so

beautifully said recently san francisco flower market is as quintessentially san francisco as its cable cars and the golden gate bridge. with your support we can ensure this historic institution continues to thrive providing opportunity and inspiration to our city while helping our vendors overcome the immense challenges of a global market. together we can carry the legacy forward and secure its place as a vital part of san francisco for generations to come. i thank you for your consideration of legacy status . thank you. any other public comments? seeing no public. >> no further public comment public comment is closed and any commissioners like to make comment. commissioner dickerson, first

of all, thank you so much for bringing i know the gentleman left the. the cha cha cha cha history. that was that was great to look at. there's some real heritage there. wow. so that was that was wonderful. that was a great experience. and what do you say about the flower market? >> like i remember in 1992 when i was getting ready to get married we my mom was like we got to go to the flower market . >> i have six sisters. we all came to the flower market. >> like what are you thinking? when i think about the flower mart i want every single person that i know that has gotten married. >> it doesn't matter where they live in california. they came to the flower market. so i say that to say i am just so grateful to first of all it's an honor to meet every

single one of you who have put so much hard work. i can only imagine what what that is like to handle such a vast i mean there's so much involved in that. so i just want to say more than anything thank you so much for being a part of so many people's lives. i don't think you are i don't think you all really realize how many lives are impacted by having that space in the opportunity to go and literally create dreams and visions and memories that lasts forever with this space that you all have diligently provided for this city. you definitely agree with peskin for that one so thank you so much and i just appreciate every single one of you have put so much work into your businesses all of the businesses. >> so thank you. it's an honor. >> thank you, commissioner benitez as well.

>> thank you again. just to ride on the coattails of commissioner dickerson, a amazing presentations and love to hear the stories with cha cha cha i've got many a memory. we could be here for another five hours if we needed to now i'm just kidding. >> but many a celebration, many a birthday and many a job promotion many have spilled sangria but it was so much fun and that place is still such a great time that i send friends and family who come to visit to both locations so such a wonderful place to create such memories and i loved hearing that it's so generational too so fun to see that families upon the families continue to go there and and the chicken pilot and the chicken wings and the calamari as i go to the top was there. >> i love it. in addition to the flower market, same thing we send friends and family you know, we want to go to fisherman's wharf. we want to go to golden gate park. well, they also make sure that the flower market is also on their itinerary and just love to hear the stories. >> you said something about brightening and brightening places and brightening lives

and i just wanted quote that i live by is we have a store we used to have two stores but one of the things that i always like to say is that we don't build stores, we build stories and i think what you do at the flower market and just what we were talking about about families going through and generations of whether it be weddings and birthdays and you know, just event you know, life events that people go there for. i think it's wonderful that you continue to serve san francisco and keep doing what you do. >> thank you. thank you commissioner ortiz katona thank you. it's not cha cha we i can't even i shouldn't even tell all the stories so i've been there like me let's let's start with there but you're institution you brought cuisine you were always welcoming so whatever walk of life and i always hold you special you know it's like i've grown up with cha cha cha so i appreciate i didn't have kids before i used to go now i have kids and i'll probably be a grandpa one day and will be cha cha cha cha to the flower

mart i want to give a special out to our former commissioner kathleen dooley. you know may may she be looking at us and i'm so honored and this is like a privilege that i'm part of this moment something you're a steward of san francisco like it's something special. of life whether it's a birthday

you know, a wedding and even funerals like and you support economies from monterey to half moon bay and i feel honored today it's something special and you're stewards of something that is san francisco to its core and feel honored and we feel privileged. >> so thank you. thank you. commissioner cornett first i want to start off by congratulate and you guys this is huge and i hope you're all proud of yourselves.

>> it's so inspirational to see the strength that you guys bring up bring to today but also like their different generations that you've touched and lives have changed and i think that's very, very important market that's where i get my lilies all the time and they make me smile every morning. and cha cha cha i've had some nights i remember some nights i don't know the best. >> thank you. so congratulations again and thank you so much for sharing your story, sharing your passion and also inspiring us. >> thank you. vice president, this is dennis . thank you everybody for coming and thank you richard for preparing our legacy businesses so well. >> yeah. congratulations on all your years of service and thank you for your dedication to this city as a south market girl myself, my family's business, ted's market so i definitely

grew up going to flower market and it was it was a staple of of of of our the to environment in south a market and uh yeah thank you for for speaking to your history i think it's so important to mention communities and struggle and how they come out with you know mutual aid to each other and then that creates that creates enterprise and that's really the story of small business. >> so thank you for speaking to that and yeah, look forward to voting on all of you. oh i would if we're going to move i would love to dedicate this vote to a former commissioner kathleen dooley who we went to her services at her memorial at the flower market and she made it her mission to make sure you all sustained.

>> so yeah, that would be my motion. >> can i ask the second i'm going to say one more thing before we vote. okay. i um i just wanted to congratulate all of you. i think all of the commissioners have really um well encapsulated many of the things that i was you know, that i was feeling while listening to your presentations and you know, i just wanted to kind of i guess notice out loud the passion and the commitment that you all have made for like what you do every day which is really so interesting to me because i think like you know, a lot of young people a lot of people in general are kind of asking these big questions like how do i make the world better? you know, all like what do i do? how do we save things like how do we do you know, i don't know

how do we change things right? and i think the answer sometimes is by just doing the thing that you're passionate about and digging into that thing, creating that scrapbook for a charter across you know, over time like creating places that people experience joy and like making friends around that i feel like those kinds of things what you've done is essentially answered many of those big questions by just being yourself and being authentic to the thing that matters to you most. and i couldn't, you know, congratulate you more but i would love to amplify you know, this um this act, this act of just being yourselves and being an amazing legacy business for the city and you know, i commit that, you know, as a commission i will continue to um, think about how the legacy business says like fit into all of all of what we do.

you know you're such an important part of now you're part of you will hopefully after this vote you know be a part of a longstanding club of people who have really committed themselves to san francisco. and i think it's it's a very unique part of our city and our community. and so yeah, i would love to amplify all the things that you do all that just on a daily basis. so thank you very much. um, i think we had a motion as well as a second already. can we preserve those and a motion by commissioners as soon as was the second. i think commissioner ortiz carter now start to hit i thank you i will read the roll this is a motion in support of the resolutions. commissioner benitez yes. >> commissioner cornett that's right. yes. commissioner dickerson that's right. yes. a commissioner roberts absent

president huey yes. >> commissioner ortiz kurt dana yes and vice president is eunice yes. >> motion passes. >> congratulations. congratulations. all right, see item number three, please. >> item three fiscal year 20 2526 and 20 2627 budget priorities. this is a discussion and action item the commission will review and may take action on the office of small business and small business commission strategic priorities for fiscal year 2526 and 2627. i can put it up on the board. >> all right. well carrie is bringing the

document here. >> i'll just kick this item off. so per our city's admin code we are responsible for holding two public hearings by a certain date in february to talk about the budget. this is our second hearing. unfortunately at this point in time though, although there is the date that is set in the admin code we really don't have a whole lot else to share. >> so but what i will share since there has been a change of administration since our first hearing is is relay to all of you the directive from the mayor's office which has really emphasized fiscal discipline in light of a looming budget deficit over the next two fiscal years spanning i think one of the largest deficits that we have seen in recent times. >> and so when mayor breed was still in office there was a directive given to all city departments that we needed to over the next few years reduce

our general fund support by 15% in each year. so mayor lori has indicated to all the department heads that that will continue. so that is the exercise that we are currently undergoing. it is still in progress where we do all the departments need to identify again a reduction in general fund support by 15% and each year over the next few years. in addition to that you probably heard in the news as well that mayor larry has put in place a hiring freeze. and so that has been that took effect immediately. and so we are all the departments are trying to figure out how to continue to offer either same or improved level of service while while living under this hiring freeze for this moment. >> so those are the two updates given the change in transition of administration or you know, office of small business. just as a reminder, although we

are a department, we are also a division within the budget of the office of economic and workforce development. so we're or a bit unique in that way or both the department and a division. >> and so because of that we i will be working very closely and have been and will continue to with our director of sarah dennis phillips and the rest of the divisions that touch upon small business services and resources to figure out how it is that we can holistically again still offer either same or improve service. how can we be more efficient at what we do given fewer resources funding wise as well as potentially personnel wise? so so those are the updates. >> and then also wanted to as you can see on the screen here you can see some updated well it's really the same essentially in terms of our strategic goals and priorities from the commission that we've applied towards fiscal year 25,

26 and 2627. and i wanted to check in with the commission to see if there's anything from this last fiscal year that you feel needs to be changed or edited amended in any way. if you believe so this would be the opportunity to share with the commission and have an open discussion about what you might want to see different or the same. so wanted to give the commissioners that opportunity and of course available to answer any questions. i'll just start the

conversation. i don't think i don't think i have any particular changes but i do see that like some of the priorities maybe i might have some new ideas on like kind of how to get to those priorities ,you know. and i also feel like with the strategic goals i think all three of those are very important. but i'm starting to see some kind of i'd like to see kind of some delineation in terms of like you know, when people have conversations about small businesses as i think we tend to lump kind of small business priorities into one priority and and that's really not the case. there's there's attracting new small businesses that's a different i mean i see that they're separated in terms of strategic goals but attracting

new small businesses like that is a whole different subset. you know that's a whole different subject than how to support existing small business is and retaining small businesses and then even growing small businesses as a whole and other things. so i kind of feel like right now we kind of like make small business almost like too small in a way like where we kind of just talk about, you know, 1 or 2 measures that will help support small businesses. but what i'm seeing in my community is on the ground is that there are still people who need help with, you know, all different types of things because of the stage in which they're at with their small business. does that kind of make sense for that? i kind of just feel like um and that doesn't necessarily have to be reflected in the in

the goals and priorities those are just kind of thoughts that i had in terms of like how how to think about small small business. well like all of these seem to be titles of i see what you're saying so when you're when we're looking at the priority like when we're looking at the strategic goals support small business retention and growth attract new small business by making the this is their strategic goals but are you looking for like are we trying to like have the the plan for

these subjects? >> is that what you're referring to or try what i'm because i understand what you're saying in the sense of all of these have different directions that they go you can't put them all under just one title okay you know these are just the goal because each one of them are different. i'm trying to i want you to elaborate a little bit on what the expectation would be based on those categories. is it to be more to have more definition of what these goals what it would take for these things to take place or are you just saying in general looking at the priorities these priorities don't align with the goals i, i feel like so i feel like the document itself is is good for me. like i think that it's reflective of like how i kind of see like in terms of our

goals and our priorities. so i don't really have a critique of the document itself . i think mine is just my comment is really more on i think as we use this document as a guiding principle right or as a guiding i don't know as our guidepost right like that we not lump all those goals together or like they are separate right now but i just want to be clear that like because i think for us we understand that because we talk to small business all the time and we are in small business but i don't know if like general public understands like if you've never run a small business before you don't understand■x that like the thins that are important to you on day one are very different than the things that are important to you 113 years down the line, you know or actually they might be similar at that point but like five years down the line

it feels different and so i guess my and then like you know the things that are important in terms of economic vibrancy are going to be different for somebody who's yeah who's starting and versus somebody who's several years been in the neighborhood so certain things i just kind of wanted to note as we start to use this as a as a guiding document and that's less so for our commission because we're in it but more so for the people who may be listening or be part of making legislation based off of what they believe our small business priorities are. does that make sense? does that kind of help if okay, just to make sure i'm hearing this correctly is are you saying that in terms of the kind of like so these are our strategic goals priorities but then we also have kind of like our work plan how we execute,

how we implement some of those ideas you want to make sure that they are kind of separated into appropriate bucket based on business stage? >> i think so based on business stage and other you know, other things that might you know, i, i guess my goal is that okay like right now i see that there are a lot of small businesses who need help for whatever reason. right? there are a lot of people who have cited you know, that they feel like they need assistance and i think there are a lot of people who have ideas as to like how we can help. right. there's like and and there's kind of this like okay, well we got rid of all these permit fees so everything should be okay. like i don't think that's necessarily the case for somebody who isn't applying for a permit, you know, so i kind of i guess what i'm trying to say is that you know, i think

as a commission i like that we have a variety of, you know, several goals. i like that we have a list of priorities and i guess i just want to highlight that all of these things are important all at the same time because our constituents are in different places all the time like they're just not a single type of small business and so for the people that we are giving console to or that we're providing you know for the legislation that we're providing oversight for to know that there isn't necessarily a silver bullet but there are all these different people that you know even though we we are able to do one thing there might be other things and that's why we still have businesses who need help. >> and so i guess that's i don't know if that's makes any more sense.

>> um, vice president as in us you know thank you president hui for for starting this dialog. yeah i think while we have to vote on this as you know for in the record and and we worked hard to develop this and had some good conversations over it last year and the year before i think i think maybe we make an internal document for us and we can continue this conversation to and you know the next agenda item but um i think we can do bullet points under each of these priorities that are relevant to the demographics we work with and the actual tangible issues that we we want to work on because we've been in response mode for for a minute, you know we haven't we haven't as a commission really you know, come up with with a

bottom up policy suggestions. >> i mean our our staff and our our director have been going really hard on that and working with other departments and and electeds on policy. >> and so i think our our commission has been represented well in that priority but i think we're still dealing with a lot of equity issues that we haven't been able to codify into to maybe the mitigation and and you know the policy areas that we wanted to um i think that there's still a lot of work that we can like a work plan like you alluded to that we can develop uh for us as a commission and encourage uh, you know, our base to come forward with suggestions for those different working items and see what we can move to

towards a tangible result. >> and i'm i'm for that conversation if you want to continue at present here we thank you commissioner cornett so i think everything on the presentation is good and it checks out. i just want to make a point just for us to keep in mind that when it comes to i understand what you're saying like you know, trying to meet them where they're at because one year versus five years versus ten years your needs are gonna be very different to continue to thrive. so making sure those tools are there but also to with data and research and developing these tools. let's not forget too that every business is very different so it's kind of a microclimate. so really like understanding trends in different markets for whether it's a salon or this type of restaurant or experiential retail or um types

of hotels if things are going to be looking like for san francisco more like entertainment based with a little bit of like a more boutique approach is just kind of keeping you know that in mind for what trends are looking like and also creating the tools that would fit best for the city. >> mr. benitez yeah, i think hello. i think that the document is pretty straightforward from a tactical perspective and this is just me kind of coming back from my old corporate role but in terms of strategic goals being able to show like from the priorities where do they fall under maybe some of them might overlap, some of them might be very specific to that if that's the way it was meant to be as well. and i think the stretch goal eventually would be you know, are there quantified numbers that you would want to see to make this goal be met? i'm just kind of just throwing this out there but maybe that's a very long term kind of stretch goal from that. but i agree with the other two

commissioners as well that and just in terms of maybe having a constituent facing document versus a internal document that we can speak to, i think you know, would be great and then just really understanding yeah, there's different categories of business and you know it's going to be very you know retail will be very different from a hospitality kind of thing but you know that's very long term overarching but overall i think you know, the points are there and just you know how you can easily, you know, attach the priorities to the goals i think would also just be one way to show how you can continue to support and grow fiscally year by year■8 . >> yeah i mean i think i think for sure i'm in agreement with the document i think yeah i'm ready for people to be really excited about starting a new

business in san francisco. so um, any other commissioner and comments or questions on this? is there anything else? director tang i like so this is an action item should to adopt the there's a draft resolution that formally adopts this document so the motion would be on the resolution. >> okay so would anybody like to make a motion to adopt? oh actually you know what public comment is there anybody here who would like to give public comment on this item? >> no, no pressure. sorry. thank.

>> go ahead. sorry. hello. hello. good afternoon, commissioners. >> my name is carly. i am here on behalf of a5a1c3 based here in san francisco known as fletcher. we primarily assist our many small businesses in san francisco from all the way from the formation to making sure that they have longevity within their business permits licenses getting at locations you know it really is very vast. >> i think that in terms of supporting small businesses in san francisco on the ground floor we see businesses day in, day out like a lot the commissioner says there's a wide variety of issues that we see similar to what commissioner cornett said there are many different types of businesses like you mentioned the salons and restaurants that all have different requirements and processes. i just want to comment that while there are some many

differences, a lot of similarities do lie in the information gathering stage for the small businesses. you know a lot of the ones that we work with while they may be very savvy in their own field, it's really in the compliances and mostly a lot of the taxes that trip up to small businesses those two things are primarily you know, someone once referred to it as like the achilles heel of small businesses. so i think that while you know, it is mostly an idea but for the office small business to consider that that while many businesses do thrive doing the business on the back end that is really what trips up a lot of the businesses and ultimately can force them into closure not understanding the compliances and regulations whether it be a local level, a state level and you know recently a federal level that ultimately can make or break a business. so i just wanted that to be noted and you know, thank you

for the time. >> thank you. >> thank you. i'm going to assume there is no other public comment seeing no public comment commissioners, anybody want to make a motion? um, i'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the resolution to adopt the uh priorities priorities. i'll second that motion. i motion by president hui seconded by commissioner benitez kushner benitez yes. >> commissioner cornett yes. commissioner dickerson. yes. commissioner roberts absent president huey yes, commissioner. it's cartagena. yes. and vice presidencies in us? yes. >> motion passes. thank you. let's see.

i forgot to thank you guys for for putting everything together . thank you. oh, um, and next item please. >> item for approval of draft meeting minutes as a discussion and action item the commission will discuss and take action to approve the december ninth 2024 draft meeting minutes. >> does somebody want to make a motion to move to approve? okay perfect. take public. i'll start. >> oh do we need to do public comment would anybody like to make public comment on on the draft meeting minutes being no public comment. >> public comment is closed and with some do you like to make a motion i move to approve our second motion by commissioner dickerson's seconded by vice president's

business commissioner buddy this yes commissioner cornett yes. commissioner dickerson yes commissioner what's absent president he you know i was going to ask and do i can i get to vote even though i reviewed them? you can vote on them. yeah. okay. yes. yes. >> commissioner t's cartagena. yes. and vice presidency dizziness. yes. motion passes right. >> next item please. item five general public comment. this is a discussion item allowing members of the public to comment on matters that are within the small business commission's jurisdiction but not on today's calendar and suggest new agenda items do not on the space that they're in is that they are subject to a lot of the for the commission's future consideration. challenges that may come from a lease agreement and so what we anybody like to make public comment? have been able to do through our amazing commercial leasing specialist where we only had one person so far is empower >> all right. seeing no public comment public small business owners to really comment is closed. understand one what they can next item please. item six director's report this negotiate. sometimes you see something is a discussion item. this is an update and report on the office of small business that's presented to you as a draft lease and you think that's what i have to agree to

programs policy and legislative matters announcements from the mayor and announcements but actually there might be room for further negotiation regarding small business activities. and i think that once we empower our business owners to >> thank you. all right so i am excited to share with you all today that understand what's in their lease and what and hopefully starting next monday our office is finally going to be able to sign one that's sustainable, we are both preventing vacancies add a new commercial leasing advisor to our office. from happening and also allowing these business owners so that brings a total to two to stay in tir space is people in our office who can help people with leasing and i longer. so in in fiscal year 2324 the think as kelly mentioned during public comment there are some first full fiscal year where we underlying issues that had this position our commercial leasing specialist transcend sectors and business stage and that is especially iris works on over 200 cases. that's actually a lot more for many small businesses that transactions and just 200 acres is a lot of back and forth or potential variety of different lease drafts that she reviewed and it resulted in 40 approximately 40 signed leases. so i think it was a really great investment and and fortunately that was recognized and so we were able to add one more because we found the service to be so valuable that we couldn't keep up with just

one person. >> so again we're very excited to welcome this person on monday and once they're on board i'm very excited to introduce you to this person as well. so that's good news. and we it was a buzzer beater for the hiring freeze so we're very happy we got that is at the last minute there and then other than that i just want to thank those of you who attended some of the training with regards to the new ethics regulations that came into place. if you have any questions or weren't able to attend some of the scheduled trainings, please reach out to me or carrie and we're happy to set those up for you because we know the material is very dense and there's a lot of a lot of rules and a lot of sections so and everything is case specific. so if there's anything that comes up, any questions or again you want to go through the training just let us know and i think that is it. >> thank you. great. thank you very much, director,

any questions from commissioners? yes. commissioner ortiz i want to definitely give iris her flowers. i mean besides those for like people to understand property owners try to don't like you know if there's a thunderstorm you've got to pay for it you know like just crazy stuff like there's elevators coming out the pipes you got to pay for it like the prevention of cost that she's provided. you can't quantify that like you said sustainable and then the leases that we didn't sign so you're just counting the ones that we sign but the ridiculousness that we told our business owners that no, you know like just that in the prevention is another unquantifiable you know matrix that we can't even quantify but you prevent a small business owner from wasting their life savings on something that is not sustainable. i've read leases where like you have to have open every single day except thanksgiving, right? like and just the prevention of

that because that's unsustainable that'll break the lease on the clause so yeah irish she needs her flowers like so shut out if you're watching you know the millions in the millions that watch the office small business commission you know yeah yeah no no pun right so but thank you thank you seriously like that that is pound for found the best value like torgan would you say kelly like across the boards like people doing releases and sometimes you get stuck with a really bad lease that already puts you behind before day one. >> mm. >> and i was so oh no, go ahead . thank you. >> i was it was time for me to renew my lease and i was reading over the lease and i know little bit i was reading over lease and i went 10% a year increase out i was like i did for some reason i don't

know why i mean when i first negotiated the lease it was no big deal because they had given me like a year free and then after that, you know, it was i mean it was way below market because we had so much work to do to the building so i didn't trip off. >> but when it was time to renew after the fifth year i looked at that and i thought 10% i get after all the work we didn't put in this building you won't ten percent increase a year i went back i said hey, hey, let's talk about this so we you know after you know, going in back and forth, back and forth negotiating they eventually dropped it by 5% which for a small business that was huge, you know, but just knowing that you have you know, you have leverage to negotiate you know, where you feel like you're trapped because oh please let me use your building so that i can know you have some rights and you have some bargaining tool. so just to have that but i'm

pro come on small businesses let's start owning our buildings so that's the next step that i'm going for. i know for me and everyone that i know that has opportunity let's start owning this is crazy. i'm director tank. i am curious whether with so many leases read and like leases negotiated are we recording or seeing patterns or data that we can use to kind of understand like the leasing environment like some of these things where you know like like you said what what can i ask for? i mean not to necessarily like make public but within the office to understand, you know, what are some of the trends where where some of the areas that you know we can kind of

also say to certain groups like these are some of the things that we've noticed and even letting property owners know that because property owners many of them are small businesses themselves. right? they're not all big corporations. i think they oftentimes are the ones who have the ability to kind of make, you know, maybe better lease structures or or change things because they they might own 1 or 2 buildings and just want want t s is this n that we can kind of share with them for best practice? yeah actually in this year we have as part of our goals for 2025 especially with another staff coming on board some recorded videos that give some general information about trends or things to look out for things you can negotiate as well as some participation in live webinars. so we're trying to do more of that as you can imagine with just one staff it was hard like the priority was on the individual kind of situation

and individual business lease review and now with a little bit more capacity we're trying to expand that more broadly so that people have some general knowledge and then if they need that additional support they can of course come for one on one help. yeah but if you're curious about anything else we're happy to connect you with iris on that. but we can also share information about when these webinars are either launched recorded video or life. >> okay that'd be great and can also add or it has like a parallel program with two other brokers like on the side specifically to the mission and outer mission again the same thing like what iris has done like signing leases, negotiating leases, preventing evictions like just this like pound for pound of value in these programs is like is phenomenal. you know and to your point when we always tell them small businesses the thicker the lease the worse for you to yes

i had a quick question director do you feel like i know we've brought up small property owners as kind of also a subset of small businesses in the city. do you feel like we have the opportunity with more capacity in this area to try to engage small property owners in this conversation? >> kind of actually we did so iris and i actually went out and contacted the small property owners institute of san francisco. we went to their general meeting. we've offered our services to also kind of help them fill any vacancies that they have and that we are here to offer support to kind of make that process go faster because i think a lot of them they would like to see their spaces filled more quickly. >> so we went out there i'm not sure you know how much it led to, you know, additional engagements but we've tried and we'll we'll will continue to try every year.

yeah. yeah that's that relationship i think is so important to have a landlord your property owner who's like supportive of what you do that like makes a huge difference for your you know for your business. so yeah anything that we can do to help with that i would recommend like there's a there's a group of attorneys for the small business owners there's not too many regarding landlords and you know property ownership and it's them they're the gatekeepers a lot of these properties are in trusts or you know, families you know, generational and unfortunately you know the stigma in san francisco like the laws are crazy and you know so there's super protective and they go overboard to protect so i think maybe even discussing with certain attorneys and they're not too many there's about ten in the city that protect most of the smaller landlords in the city and just telling them like

let let's let's do something this it's a new day you know what i mean? like and it's commercial like there's no like tenant protections in the sense of besides signing the lease so it's not like rent control. mhm right. great. any other comments or questions . oh any public comments and directors report seeing no public comment i think we can move on to the next item. >> thank you very much director tang item seven commissioner discussion and new business. >> this is a discussion item. it allows president vice president and commissioners to report on recent small business activities, make announcements and make inquiries of staff. allows commissioners to introduce new agenda items for future consideration by the commission. >> all right. i see that commissioner ortiz has an item.

you have three items. first, i want to thank mayor louie and his staff. they came out to the automation and did the commercial walkthrough with supervisor chen. so i appreciate that. we visited on when i think the last shoe repair he's a cobbler. i think it's been around since 1925 so it's about you know 1926 is next year 100 years so he visited he walked the corridor and i appreciate that and he was just outside and i appreciate you, mayor, for that to we're working with senator scott wiener regarding sb 295 that's regarding around street vendor retail nothing to do with food retail and i think we've we've worked with the street vendor association and the various organizations in the mission and we've come to a good place where like it's beneficial because again street vending has never been an issue in our culture. it's it's criminal activity as fencing so i don't want to

conflate the two so it gives city agencies a little bit of authority to to help our street vendors not to be harassed by the criminal activity in the neighborhood. and then lastly regarding our our national climate regarding immigration homeland security, ice raids and i've had several discussions with director tang regarding how can we assist our small businesses. now in my community there's a lot of subject matter experts regarding immigration law both for small business it's three factors that have to intersect it's immigration law, criminal law and small business law all at the federal level. so an example in a restaurant you have a public area so immigration can come to that public area would even without a search warrant as opposed to, you know, a residential or to a like a private sector building

where they could just close the door. and if you do have the warrant then kick in the door. right. and please don't call me because obviously this is why i'm asking because we don't know the law butt to assure our small business or equipped with the right thing to do right. if you're a small business owner, your manager, what do you do if somebody shows up they're already inside your restaurant. what do you do? i don't want somebody getting an obstruction charge aiding and abetting charge at a federal level. you know, that's one year of top idea for a time. so trust me, i get it. they don't play. we just want to make sure our small business owners have the facts protect us staff within legal confines like nothing extraordinary just comply with the law and protect your staff to the best of your ability within the confines of the law and it's really complicated because then it trickles into h.r. >> issues right? they can ask you for your i-9 and you should be having your

eyes ready on file. >> right. locked up. >> there's fire codes. you know, i've heard businesses like we're going to close the door but you can't because during business hours you're supposed to keep the doors open a not that's a fire, you know so we need help to like mesh those three legal aspects so we could just give our small businesses facts not not activism, not not my ideas, not my thoughts just what's the facts? what's black and white in the line and we've been working that director tang people in the community so and any any of my commissioners if you have any resources the gray lori thomas you know we've been in contact with them because it's it's scary it's scary because our small businesses if they're going for one and the collateral damages they take out your whole back of the crew a rush or let's say a restaurant that you can train a restaurant overnight the whole back of the stuff that will wipe you out in one shot.

so it is a little scary for our small businesses and they have the least resources. >> so if you catch a case of fed case as a small business owner because you didn't know how to interact when this was happening, not only can of course you financially it could cost you your freedom so and i'm not and i'm not trying to scare you either because like if that's not happening i also don't want to like fear mongering all that because that's another portion we don't want to do that. we just want our people in our small businesses to know black and white was the law come commissioner cornett do you think the city or the office can maybe you know with all these guidelines to educate the businesses at a more like immediate on a more immediate level but also just reach as

much as we can reach as many businesses again maybe like your time like they are like a sit down on the news or just whatever omni channel that we can use to kind of just reach them and make sure everyone knows their rights at a faster rate. >> so then we could do yeah, i think i'm sure that all the commissioners and many others have questions about this and i like to, you know, discuss with you all in conjunction with the city attorney's office and our office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs and so just know that those two offices are resources and so i'm happy to answer any specific questions or connect you with those offices so that we can get additional information. i know that interaction with any level of government is scary. even people pulling up health permit probably you know that's frightening let alone you know, all the way at the federal level for other issues. >> right? so so we are very cognizant of

that and we also want to make sure that yeah, like commissioner ortiz said, we don't want to cause alarm and fear as well if if there are things not happening either . so i'm happy to connect with you all outside the commission meeting about that as well. >> and can i just add city attorney chu he did he he was amazing like i said like he came we were five samples of the various like he's been ahead of it is just for our small businesses that have public areas that's where the complexities of law get but like they community has been in front of sale so like i don't want to diminish because they've been in front and they have been providing resources and and guidance it's just us always you know the small business community we have complexities like that are unique to to our community vice presidents as us thank you for bringing this up commissioner. i think we had an idea in the

past to to do some kind of collab with the immigrants right commission they've been holding really important meetings on this topic and have garnered a lot of public attendance so i maybe that's a way that we can get it on have a space for businesses to come and it be televised and we you know like perhaps that's that's an idea yeah i, i think that was i forgot my my other point but thank you for bringing that up i'll also just share that i know there's there are public forums for those who are comfortable with coming to public hearing but for the majority probably a public setting is not quite the most comfortable for this topic. so we will do our best to engage and if you come across any businesses that have any either experiences directly or

just questions please do feel free to refer them to us and we'll try to get the resources to them. the answers yeah. thank you. any other commission report? so one of the things that i wanted to i guess maybe check in on was kind of thinking about you know, the coming year and now that we have a new administration we have a lot of new supervisor powers to still lot of kind of renewed energy and a lot of meetings probably coming up for all of us commissioners as well with people in our communities. you know, i think oftentimes we're we're kind of asked to to kind of be like well what are the things that we could do to to help small businesses

and this may kind of like go back to similarly like the budget priorities and things like that. >> and so i wanted to kind of like make space i think in this portion of i, i think i could just do it now right to just kind of ask like if there are some priorities like i like the way that you know you had like three items to kind of like share with us but just so that we can all kind of be aware of one another's you know, things on on one another's radar and kind of think about what are our priorities as we start to look at the year ahead because there are so many different types of businesses and and i do really want for people to feel as if you know, they're well supported by the city and not always feeling like well that's what you expect from the city.

you know, i think director tang and and carrie you've also you as you've been on so many merchant walks over the many years really trying to work on touching you know touching everyone because business individually and learning about the neighborhoods and understanding what people are facing and i kind of you know, it's kind of like the answer is everything but at the same time like what are some of the things that we can really make change on because i feel like there's an appetite for sure but i think we have the knowledge of what it really feels like to have a business so i you put it out there and then we can like talk about it another time. we don't need to come up with the ideas right now but um but i thought instead of me being the holder of like information

like we can kind of have some time for us to like talk about those things. yeah, that's great. mm yeah. i think we still have some like agenda item. do we still have agenda items from previous meetings and things? i mean i know we've kind of like talked about certain things but um i like our new business list. like i think there's so many things that are um that we can still work on so yeah we can we can resurface things that people have flagged in the past and it sounds like you want to make those so like a formal agenda item for a future meeting potentially or just a good discussion. yeah. okay. and with the just so i'm clear the like much of the discussion would be sort of individual like individually in each of your communities like what you're experiencing. yeah it doesn't have to be like

i don't think we're necessarily looking for or at least for me i don't think there is a singular like silver bullet that's going to like you know, change everything for everyone. but i think if if we could get an understanding of like what are some of the priorities in the in the businesses that we meet and that we talked to um that might be helpful because i think as as i'm having conversations with p■deople you know i, i think it kind of changes right? >> like what what certain priorities are and i want to know from our legislators to like what are their priorities and how do those align with like what we can what we can do with communities because if we're going to be able to give good counsel i have to kind of understand like where where we're all coming from. so i kind of feel like we starting with a good listening session in some ways might give us some ideas of like where we really align and like and what we can do because i feel like

having i feel like everybody right now is saying public safety and small business are our top priorities which i understand our top priorities but those are both very broad topics and they are and they are aligned with each other. you know, i think many of our small businesses like i always think small businesses are an interesting kind of group because you kind of don't ever hear from us unless there's like a problem like we are really self sustaining. >> we are not we are not seeking grants. we are not seeking any sort of like i mean maybe now people are seeking vc funding right? but like i think for the most part we kind of like wake up every day and know that you're going to hustle all day long until you go to bed and we're not we just don't even have a lot of capacity in our day to think a lot about like all these other things that are

happening. like i think it's amazing that we have so many of us sitting here right now spending, you know, three hours to to talk about you know, these things like this is not a common occurrence for small business owners but i think what are the things that the city can do and it's capacity to really make some movement and i think a lot of that has been done i think through you know, the easing of many permits changing kind of like the format of how how we do outreach. i think that has been huge just being able to go into businesses individually and talk to people and have a case managers for them to talk to at the permit center like so many strides have already been made. >> so i'm kind of curious as to well what what are some of the other things that we can do that will actually make an impact on the small business owners life?

and that's where i think i also think about you know of course it's a diverse community so everyone's going to have different ideas. >> madam president, first i'd like of vanilla ice first came in like yo we have a problem solved. >> that's us. like i don't know that that's the first thing that popped in my head straight vanilla ice but like i'm super excited like you know supervisor chain supervisor fielder. you know their fresh perspective and they're eager and i think we should just invite them because like they're fresh, you know and they're coming in and they have great ideas. like i've met them both and they're like, you know, let's do this in less. let's take advantage of that because women are sometimes you know, small business owners. we're always used to like our city's not going to help us or you know, some you know, we get into our thing and we got to figure it out. it's always we got to figure it out right. and i think you know, i don't

want to sound naive but i think it's a new day and and i'm optimist with new administration at the top. a lot of local supervisors and let's let's ride that wave. you know i mean this is the time you ideas fresh ideas you know new set of eyes so i like what you are saying. >> thank you. mm hmm. >> yeah, i agree. i think we should definitely do some reach out as a commission or introduce asians or find ways to meet the new supervisor and new administration staff. like we had a little today meeting greet more of those some some great once we have our priorities and some some roots we want to take them i think that would be make a lot of sense. >> um i guess something that just comes to there's you know comes to my head as we talk about different small business sectors facing distinct issues

and also different neighborhoods facing distinct issues and how the city addresses different neighborhoods in different sectors differently too. and as much as that is going to happen to degree because of the different variables at play, i think that we have kind of an unspoken spoken or barely spoken reality that is some businesses feel like they get it worse than others or some demographics feel like they get it worse than others. some neighborhoods feel like they get the enforcement or the more public safety support or less public safety support. >> and how we can try to feel like build that camaraderie around in our small business space so that we can better,

you know, show them the good sides of of of what the city has to offer and and that there is equal access but also where we can identify where there can be improvements. >> you know, i think i think a lot about um, you know, business like in the mission for example with um the department of emergency services and dpw coming to merchant groups there and saying hey look we want to do a culturally appropriate enforcement on vendors. >> can you be involved in this? um whereas you know we see in the tenderloin a different type of approach with with dealing with business malpractice um different than what's done in the excelsior. you know and i feel like we need to make sure business communities and i think one of

our priorities is also to help the associations right? >> so how can we support less funded less resourced business communities to organize themselves to be partners to the city and help bridge some of that? >> i mean we have groups like us of new deal and you know, all these well resourced organizations that could help incubate some of these more struggling sectors or neighborhoods or you know, like be we can be more deliberate i think in how we support the small business ecosystem to lead to more equity because i do feel like right now there's a lot of disproportionate enforcement going on in our city when it comes to small businesses. >> um well like like i've said before, you know we have now downtown is getting a lot of um liberties whereas other neighborhoods are getting their

liberties taken. >> so small businesses are not having, you know, an equal experience in this city and i think we need to recognize where maybe we can play a role in that. yeah. >> okay. so should we do we decide later on if how we agenda is this or like how we move forward with it. >> i mean it could it could i think it we'll defer to you. um, you know, as the commission president you could either have a discussion here in the commission reports or you can have a whole separate agenda item or discussion item. >> madam president, if we could at least recommend just to invite the newly appointed two elected supervisors and just like a meet and greet here like an appointment. mm hmm.

>> mm hmm. and or mayor, can we add that as an invitation to the supervisors? uh huh. okay. and the mayor? okay. it's a separately i also should say i think we're probably happy to connect people with those offices if oh if you think like a one on one conversation or just maybe a couple of businesses, a couple of commissioners obviously you can't you can't all meet with somebody in private the same time. but i think we're happy to facilitate like smaller conversations if you think those would be more productive than in a public a public setting as well. just something to put on the table. okay. yeah. thank you. agree with that? yes. >> um, i also have a question i guess certain. so you know some of the things that affect small businesses are not able to be changed on a city or county level when things are the way they are

because of, you know, the state or federal kind of legislation. what mechanisms do we have? like what how do we fit into that puzzle as a commission? >> so the in the mayor's office there is a person who coordinates federal and state policy and advocacy. >> so we do act as one city family and in terms of the positions that we would take on certain policies and so we would need to have a conversation with them if you want to have a discussion amongst commissioners again whether formally or or informally and without violating any of the brown act rules, you know, certainly that's possible for us to really flesh out in greater detail what it is that we would be asking for in terms of advocacy at the state or federal level. >> okay. can i add to that like just my experience as been to notify the mayor's office senator

states. it's been an amazing experience. a lot of outreach. just it's great. like the mechanisms there i think sometimes we just don't use the resource. i think like we don't know that we have access to that and it's powerful and it's very collaborative. >> mhm. so as individual businesses you can i mean your oh you're asking us for individual businesses. no i, i mean i think that's how that's how you're interacting with with senator we know it's a coalition you know it's a very eclectic bunch of people we have nonprofits we have supervisors the mayor's office obviously senator scott wiener and and you know, just getting a lot of people in the room in this particular issue because it's a little bit more complex and nuanced and hallelujahs to it. but what i'm just trying to get at is that it's there like the

mechanism is there and the experience has been great. mm hmm. that's that's what i'm trying to get at and i'm not even used to it at the state level so it was pretty cool. >> mm hmm. okay. well, um, i think that's all that i have. does any other commissioner? >> yes. this is for item the last item on the adjournment. if i could request that we do a memorandum of rosa lima. she was the director at beacon. we just went to her funeral today. mission mom. mission mentor like the whole neighborhood was out there today and rest in peace and we're going to miss you and i appreciate all the work you and your family has done like if we could do that at closing. thank you. >> all right. any other any other new items?

oh, you know what wanted to just acknowledge that is the lunar new year coming up so we just had our flower market in chinatown. um, i and you know, it's been an incredible experience being in chinatown over the past few months and you know, mayor laurie's inauguration celebration and i was crazy. >> those photos are are nuts and you know, i think i, i definitely agree with commissioner ortiz about how i think a lot of people feel very excited and like a sense of renewed energy for this upcoming year. and so i think you know, this lunar new year is going to be this year's the year of the snake. >> and so you know, i, i don't know what that means for everybody but everybody will tell you something different is

what i've learned. so i'm not going to try to tell you what that means. but you know, i i'm excited for for the celebrations. but you know, i encourage everybody to celebrate the new year in some way because i mean we all can and like it's mostly just getting together with people that you care for and like and having a meal together really is like a really simple way to celebrate and so yeah, i wish everybody a happy new year and there's there's probably many other things that i'm forgetting but and i'll just throw one more in here we want to wish our commissioner rachel herbert happy birthday today. >> oh yeah happy birthday am so uh oh vice versa. >> i i forgot one announcement which also thank you to the office of small business newsletter for sending out the

opening of a refrigerant replacement program. very crucial because most of our small businesses are not going to be compliant in a state. >> speaking of state law in five years because of the refrigerators that most people have are, you know, not going to be compliant with air board chemical laws that are going to be in place. so please subscribe to our office the small businesses letters for those kind of opportunities the small businesses that can potentially get help to replace their refrigeration. >> yeah, i do encourage everybody to read the office of small business newsletter that is really full of really good information and i mean a lot of information that people do not know about so thank you to um i

think we have to take public comment on that. >> yes. right. any public comment on commissioners discussion and new business? see no public comment. public comment is closed and today we will be adjourning our meeting in in honor of roselle rosa lema of the mission beacon and thank you. thank you. today's meeting is adjourned. do i need to do anything? okay. just so you until i do this

>> the vibrant south of market neighborhood in san francisco is deep lee rooted filipino if fluences to shape the cultural identity. soma pilipinas known for [indiscernible] night life and art scenes is home to growing filipino community that thrived

for generations. >> soma pilipinas is a community, the village that has been over a hundred years in the making. this is home to many generations of filipino from the turn of the century, to the present. continues to be a gateway community for a lot of filipinos just arriving from the philippines. >> one of sth most prominent scines is filipino owned businesses become staples in the neighborhood. restaurants like manila bowl and jp restaurant offer [indiscernible] >> we call it [indiscernible] this is my passion. everybody's who came right now. we feel good right here. community is like a family. >> the eatery serve mouth watering dishes and provide a sense of home to the filipino

community, preserving traditions passed down generation. >> a filipino restaurant utilizing california ingredients we honor traditional family recipe [indiscernible] we shop in the market 2 to 3 times a week. we make the filipino cuisine proud in san francisco. >> along with the culinary deliteds, soma philippine ow is home to san francisco top mix aulgists. filipino artistry is a facet of soma pilipinas rich tapestry. the filipino cultural heritage district transformed public spaces into canvases that depict the stories and experiences of filipino americans. >> parlt part of the work we do is support filipino artists

to work with community to really create and develop community based art. this is murals and designs that really reflect the rich history, the culture and the struggles and triumps of the filipino community. >> the presence of the filipino cultural center which offer workshops, language classes and community resources is a testament to the community efforts to preserve and promote the heritage. >> features the [indiscernible] philippines which is a indigenous community weaving textiles and tapestry for hundreds of years so proud to feech were modern ones and very antique ones and showcase fashion from the community and we are inviting everybody to come experience that with us. >> the center not only caters to the filipino community, but welcome all who wish to learn about and embrace this culture. >> we want to develop a

cultural district where you have the young generation learn their history, language and culture and where you have also cultural and share their stories and their traditions, and continue to grow young in the neighborhood. >> the intersection of technology and culture in this part of san francisco provides a unique back drop for a thriving community embracing the past while looking to the future. the filipino influence ingrained in soma serves as remindser of the power of cultural diversity and importance of celebrating in our ever changing world.

>> i think there would be a lot more suffering. >> if i imagine san francisco without animal care and control, i know there would be thousands of animals every year who just wouldn't get that chance. whether that

means going home with a family, being released in the wild without this concerted thoughtful group focused on all these animals. the big picture view and daily care. so many animals would be lost. >> but i don't think people understand what goes on. they don't know how hard the staff works taking care of animals. >> it is just two people. one upstairs and one downstairs and the cleaning is total, 6, 7ish. one side starts off doing chemical, i close these all off so the dogs can't come in the back, and then i'm going to the back, (indiscernible) >> all the magic to rehome and work with a rescue network and all the medical care

and behavioral and enrichment, socialization enrichment, volunteers are amazing. so, i think if i had a waish wish, i wish that san francio ew more about what we do. >> san francisco animal care and control is a vital part of making sure animals in this community are protected and are cared for. we deal with those domestic and wildlife. one of the primary suction is serve as a shelter. when animals have no where else to go, here is where they come. we take in about 9,000 animals a year and the care they receive here and the ability to move from here if domestic on to permanent homes somewhere else, or if you are wildlife you come here and we figure which

wildlife rehubibitator to send to. that is the shelter aspect. we also have animal control officers who are available from 6 a.m. to midnight. >> ask them to give us a call, that would be great. the number is 415-554-9400, and you can just ask for rebecca. thank you so much. bye. >> we receive approximately 20 thousand calls a year for assistance, so a lot is wildlife rescue, lost dogs, dangerous situations. we also investigate animal abuse, animal neglect. got a lot going on here. >> without us, there would be a lot more (indiscernible) a lot more animals suffering. who would people call? the police? fire? they have their own jobs and don't

have resources or knowledge. they don't know how to help animals. so much hoar suffering. >> we took in 2800 animals last year. without a shelter where do the animals go? i think the community would suffer if we were not here. >> whether living on the street or (indiscernible) animals are very important to people, so we are helping humans also, and we are alleviating a lot of suffering by doing our jobs.

welcome to sfgovtv in person i am jeremiah estep. your host today. and we are here at the united players clubhouse. and we are celebrating their 30th year anniversary of serving the community, specifically the south of market here in san francisco. and united players is a san francisco based youth development and violence prevention organization and i'm very happy to be here to talk to rudy and the rest of his staff. so let's introduce ourselves. hi. my name is vanessa. i'm one of the program managers here at

united players. hi. my name is brandon jackson. i'm a program coordinator for middle school. hi. my name is maria fabia. i'm a k-2 coordinator and i'm rudy corpus, better known as the gorilla pino, aka rudy valentin. i'm the edd of up. cool, cool. so can you tell us your journey and mission, how you got involved with united players? so originally when i started united players, it wasn't even something that i thought about doing. it was it just all kind of happened organically. i was hired at a nonprofit organization in san francisco called bernal heights neighborhood center, which is in district 11. i got hired as a filipino gang prevention counselor, and so my mission was to go find the filipino gang members, right? in that district 11. there's 11 districts in san francisco. and so i knew who they was all at. i'm born and raised in san francisco. i was appointed at lifestyle, so i

knew they was all that went to balboa high school, which is in district 11. in 1994, it was off the hook. and so upon being up at balboa, sure enough, they're all there. big fight ensued, right between different ethnicities. and from there, nobody was able to learn because of the violence that was going on. between the big fight between filipinos, blacks, samoans and latinos. so myself and several other people, andre alexander, right, shouts out to andre alexander. he was the coach of the football team at bao. there was a brother named late. you remember late big samoan. excuse my language. around six four. you know what i mean? from frisco, north beach, one of my partners. he was a hall guard. and he had, you know, a lot of good credibility with the youngsters that was up there at bao. and so at the time there was a filipino principal, their name was mr. montevergine. she was looking for solutions

and the police couldn't stop it. nobody could stop it. so i got what all those dudes, they was able to come in the room they wanted to meet. and from there they wanted to make a club because they came up with all the solutions and the answers to stop the violence. the kids did. the youth. and so they said, hey, we should name this a club. this is our this is in october of 94. and i gave the power to the people. i said, what do you guys want to name the club that we got right here? because everybody was getting along in the room, you know what i mean? and so united players up october 1994 was born. and that's how the name came. and so boom, fast forward. we're here in 2024 in october. so they're celebrating 30 years 30 years. yeah yeah. worldwide baby. yeah it is worldwide. you have so many people supporting you like kaepernick and yeah steph curry everybody right. they they they yeah they they they all seen i

believe the spirit of what we do and what we're about you know which is based on love. everything that we've been doing from day one way back then. way back then we was at balboa high school. right. so i met that guy at balboa. right. these two sisters right here from the neighborhood that i'm from, you know, i ain't from district 11. i'm from district six. born and raised south of market tenderloin. and so all over the world. and people saw that the love that the youth. right. yeah. who were involved in it, spread it. and you know who don't want to get no love. yeah. so they all part of it i'm thankful. yeah. that's dope. so how did you get involved? well, so i'm born and raised here in south of market area. so, you know they had the rec center over there. and so that's where all the youth would come and just gather. just everyone from the hood, you know, would just play basketball, you know, meet up, hang out after school. so i was in the third grade and i

joined basketball for the first time. i was garbage, like totally garbage. didn't like i was not the best, but i had this mentor named tim and he. really. yes. and he really motivated me and kept me focused and really kept me in the game and say, like, you know, keep going, keep practicing. you could do this. so by the time i got to fourth or fifth grade, you know, i was balling. yeah. you know, and so without his guidance i wouldn't have made it you know that far in playing basketball. but you know rudy he's like the neighborhood hero. he's at the rec at the rec. you know he chopping it up with everybody. and you know he just made everyone feel welcome. and that that was even before there was like a headquarters to even be at, you know. so it was just the rec. that's a public place to be. and so, you know, he just built community there. and, you know, i just felt at home and you've been there ever since, and i've been here ever since. and she's still balling. she's still balling. and yeah, we got

to play ball then. so and you started when did you start? i started in sixth grade. i started going to bessie carmichael for thest didn't know anybody except for like my neighbor. and then i got introduced to united players by bqe. he was my mentor. may he rest in peace as well. he really introduced me to this. he pushed me out of my comfort zone because i was very much like a loner. didn't know anybody, i didn't i wasn't very open to being social with other people. but when i came here, he was like, go introduce yourself to everybody. like left me alone to go introduceelf and i did exactly that. and i mean the rest is history. it's like super fun. everything's cool. so i love it. and you've been with him since how many years now? i don't know, i think maybe 2009. that's amazing because that's

when i went to sixth grade. yeah, she was a participant and now she's a staff. yeah. but just just real quick, thank you for bringing up e. so eric, eric also is one of our staff who worked with us, who passed away, and tim was a mentor of mine. these are all filipino cats that we're talking about, the south of market. we're in here has over 120 year history of filipinos. so as you can see, right, it's filipino too, right there by heart. it's black, filipino, black filipino. you know it's filipino. we was black before we came right. but but but everybody they mentioned is actually been a part of the fabric with the love. tim was love, eric was love. and that's all they did was give out love. and look what we got here now. love, love. all right brother, when did you get involved with. i was at bell back in. oh four, and rudy wanted me to be a part of up. but unfortunately, due to, like, the gang culture i was a part of, i couldn't. because

basically the people that i really didn't get along with was already in u.p. so it was kind of like i couldn't be a part of up even though i wanted to. but due to stuff that transpired, i was just like, i can't do it, i can't do it. you know? and then how did i end up getting the job here? shout out to my mentor, mike brown. may he rest in peace. i got a call from mike brown. he asked me, was i open to working with kids still? because i was working with kids over there in my neighborhood and i said, yeah. and then he was like, call this man named rudy. and i was like, rudy. i'm like, i only know one. you know, one rudy in the city. so i happened to call rudy and then did an interview, and then i got hired down here, and i've been here for 12 years, and it's a blessing. it's a blessing to work with kids. you know? you a blessing, bro. to be a part, to just be a part of a positive environment. yeah. coming from a negative environment, to be a part of a positive environment is a blessing. yeah. you want to talk about that negative environment. negative environment was just growing up being a part of a neighborhood,

you know, doing things to feel accepted. you know, not getting the right nurturing love at hom. so you step out your comfort zone to go get it from friends or you know, to when you just want to be loved, bro. it don't matter what environment you're in. it don't matter if it's positive or negative because love can come from either environment. it's about what environment you choose that you feel like you can succeed in. and at the time, me being a negative thinker at the time due to my way of living, due to my environment inside my household, i chose a negative environment. yeah. so how did you what attracted you to want to come to up at that age? because it's hard for teenagers at times. it just seemed like a fun thing to do. like if i could, if i could go back in time, i think i probably would have been a part of up. but it was just like, you know, when you have to go there and then you still have to go back to your neighborhood and they're like, oh, you was over there with them. like, what are you doing hanging with them? like, you know, that type of stuff. so it was just more like chose a side as a kid. as a kid, i chose a side. and it was like to where i was from. but when you, if i can take it all back again, be honest with you. my message to the kids, it's okay to be the kid that get along

with everybody. yeah. that's right. like, you know, it's okay to be that kid to be different and you can get along with everybody without choosing a side that's real. yeah. hey, i just want to add this right. and it's based on a true story. brandon, when i first met him, didn't really want to be a part of anything but what he was doing. and he was caught up in that negative cycle right of the turf life, that death life, that money back and murder life. it was arrested development. but growing up now, you know his mindset has changed. he really wanted to get with our organization. when he was at bal, i used to try to get at him, but he was hardheaded, you know what i mean? he'd be in the gym shooting three pointers for money, you know what i mean? he was gambling and that's how i would get with him. i'll stand over there with him and chop it up because i come from the same cloth. yeah, but he was one of them youngsters, man. if he would not get involved in something, he'd have been dead or in prison. yeah, with that elbow. yeah. and looat him now. yeah. look what you mean. helping out the kids from neighborhoods that he had rivals from? yeah, on my mama and she in heaven. so, you know his his

his mindset has changed. and, you know, i'm really proud of all three of them. what they stand for and what they do for the people. yeah. is it because up is very relatable like rudy as opposed to other teen groups? you want to explain? yes. you know, you don't see too many people who look like you, who you know, talk like you, maybe dressed like you that are like walking a positive path. right? sometimes a lot of people are just like, you know, like, who can i look up to? right? and you know, kids, we embrace, encourage kids to take pride in their individuality. right. and sometimes kids are just lost and they don't know. they don't have any guidance. they don't have that guidance at home. i was fortunate enough to have two parents, you know what i mean? but not a lot of kids, you know, in this world have that, you know, or they do have two parents. one is just don't have the time or attention to give their kids and so i feel like we

fill that void for them. y know what i mean? is it because the community is i mean, it's the parents are too busy workin, so sometimes they kind of not around their children sometimes. so they don't have like, that kind of loving upbringing at times because they're so on that grind and hustle. yeah. my parents were on that grind and hustle. i felt like there was some gaps that i felt like they didn't feel for me. but then growing up, i also understood what they were like hustling for. that's right. and so and so like i've accepted that as i've grown older, but with some kids, you know, some kids, they have parents who, you know, who are like, you know, who are on drugs. you know what i mean? who are absent, who are not there. you know, some people are raised off love and some people are raised off survival. right? and so really, they're, you know, it's just kids trying to navigate their own lives. and sometimes they don't have that with their parents or their guardians or, you know. yeah.

and that's where you, sharp girl stay sharp. big facts. yeah. and that's where up comes in. you guys bring it out. you guys are the bridge that brings the families together. and you guys are kind of. well, you look at the name we're uniting players, right? and all players is people who are coming together who are doing something positive, productive for their people in the hood. right. you got united players and you got united haters. some people don't want to connect and get together and that's cool too. that's a part of life. yeah. but we choose man to live. we'd rather live than die. see, our whole thing is based on making it fashionable, making peace fashionable. right. and as vanessa was speaking, you know, most of us filipinos, we grow up right. i'm first generation, our parents, the way they show us, they love us is they out there grinding? most of them d't tell us they love us. they just do it. and you don't understand that. you know what i mean? till, like you said, you get older, then you realize why they was doing what they was doing. because my mom and dad, you know, they grow up. they ain't never told me to this day. and they both of them, you know, passed away. they didn't say it

out loud. right. and so you won't love if you ain't hearing it. you going to find it somewhere. yeah. so i was not i was even on the sidewalk on the porch. i was on the street at an early age. but all that time they was showing it by their actions. and now that they're gone, i understood. and now i know what they love was the way they was giving it to me. that's all filipino people was raised. that's true. my parents, my parents were like that too. but you said it very well, though, and that's why i felt you. that's real talk. thank you. yeah. with that said, how has this program evolved over the years since you started? i'm going to let them answer that. sure. so how has it evolved since you were evolved since you were a student and now you're a teacher? it's evolved a lot. like when i was younger, i wasn't, like emotionally, like prepared or like, knew what to do in situations where like, i was like lost or going through some things. i feel like now in the program, like we have us

having training with the trauma based intervention or trauma based relational intervention. yes. and a lot of letters on yeah, it's tbri basically in other words, what is that? can you explain like it's like a trauma based where like you, you're like repairing the bond that you have and like learning to like navigate through those emotions instead of like suppressing them or acting out against them. and i just feel like that is very helpful in today's like, age with the kids that we do have. and it's like a life skill that we're teaching them to take along the way. so they're not like acting up, acting out anywhere in the world. they can at least do it here with us in a safe space where we know how to, like, help them and give them like resources. and i think that's

like the major change that i've seen so far. and, and the community outreach that we do, we i mean, we did community outreach when i was in middle school, but i feel like we've, we've do we've done more now. yeah. and like even during like the pandemic, we were serving like the seniors. we were serving like the senior graduates, like when they couldn't walk the stage. we did a. i think it's changed a lot in like a positive way. yeah. do you want to talk about the mental health part of it? to me, the key of our mission is to help them identify emotions and feelings, because if you can't identify emotions and feelings, if you can't identify it, it's like, how could you control something you can't identify? yeah. you know, and the key is that if you can get the kids to identify it, the younger they are, the better off they will be in the future. you know, it's kind of hard when you get when you get a high schooler and try

to restore morals, identity, self-respect and stuff of that nature. you know, like it's kind of harder. so to me, what i identify doing this work is if we can get installed in them at like brandon was sayingond nurt, an early age, the better off nurture them where it's needed, they will be when they become you know, meeting them where adults. say that, then say that they're at. and then you know, being able to transform their then. and can you explain, like lives to where they can be the changes you've seen in the better people, you know, into kids you got in the beginning to the world. and so i feel like how they became later adults? yeah. so i just want to go off when we instill those factors like risk, respect, you know, on what rhia was saying about trust based relational integrity and all that, when we intervention. so that is a trauma informed approach to see that translate into our kids vulnerable youth that we serve and they're showing that and who experience adversity and they're ending up teaching their siblings and, and showing you trauma in their lives. right. and so that consists of three know, you see, you see something that you teach someone and main principles. that's empowering. connecting and they're actually, you know, putting it into action that's connecting. so with that, that's that's rewarding. like, you our investment into our youth is know, that you're doing the right thing and you know that taking delving in deeper into you're staring them in the right path like beautiful. and man, i their lives. right. trying to love my staff. i love y'all, you trying to identify like why they know what i mean? they are frontline soldiers, boots to the

moved, the way they move, why ground. and they deal with this they talk, the way they talk, every day. yeah, right. you guys why, you know, learning about articulated it so well. and what their upbringing. right. and then identifying those factors, y'all just said. you imagine us when we all grow up. we was taught not to cry. we was taught not to express how we feel. right. and when you grow up, you got to express what you feel. and you say, right. and if you do right, you get your ass whooped. you better not cry right. and so if you really think about it, man, our people, our black people, our brown people, way back in the days, we was the ones who cultivated all this, but it was kidnaped from us. and now, you know, you have people who are putting it into letters. but this is something our people always been doing from day one. it just got kidnaped. and so this is really natural for us to give out love and to give it back. yeah. and love ain't no soft word, you know what i mean? it's really spelled no. right. and so the things that we're that that we're learning, i'm still

learning it and that they're learning, we're learning from getting trained to teach these young kids who are growing up in a world full of hate. yeah. we winning. and you. right. that is what we have to do. install those values again because we ain't got them. and this is raising our kids. that's true. you dig what i'm saying? and whatever they scrolling through and they seeing. right. it's the soundbites. yeah. right. what do they call that when you go through there and it keeps coming back. the ads the algorithm. algorithm. no, the algorithm algorithm. right. if you're watching fights all the time and i like fights, but i know it's entertaining to me. i'm asking the little kid who's getting and he's seen it. that's all he's thinking, right? and as in brandon in your head, it's true. it's true. and so it's important that these letters that were taught that's already in our dna from way back in the days in the philippines or in africa, right, or whatever country you come from, or people been having this installed in them. that's why we're receptive to it, you know what i mean? and so when we're learning, we teach this. it's our duty. it takes the hood to say the hood. it

takes us to teach our people the truth, right? with the spirit of everything that our people, where we come from, for us to get by. because this world, man is toe up every day. it gets worse and worse. turn on the news. you see it. you know it's full of hate. and so man, i love what y'all do. y'all frontline soldiers. hearing them speak like this, i ain't used to seeing them speak like this. you know what i mean? yeah. now spitting game like that. that's why i talk about making peace fashionable. right? yeah. we making. we really making it happen in real life. and so man. and that's what makes us so, like, genuine and pure. because even us, we're still dealing with our own trauma, still trying to heal from it. and, you know, but at the same time, you know, we're helping others. we'll help. we're helping you deal with their own traumas and also helping them heal. and so i feel like that that feeds off of each other. and so, like, you know, heal people, heal people who say that, then what? heal people, heal people, man. healers need healing. man. my

brand is coming out soon, y'all. y'all go cop that i ain't lying. you know the crazy part is, yeah, the kids feel like they need us, but they don't know we need them more than they need us. ooh, beautiful. yeah. that's fire right there. true. i'm gonna explain. it's just like we can be having a bad day. but when we come to work, the kids uplift us. the kids, like, you know, take us out of a certain mode and put us in a higher spirit. yeah, spiritually, it don't matter if we play with them, if we laugh with them. play a pick up game of basketball or just crack jokes with them. it's just the interaction you feel me can take our mind off something we have going on outside of work, you know? and then it just put us at a peaceful place. yeah, yeah. kids is medicine true? true. we got we got cats who are coming home out of these penitentiaries who've been going 25, 35, even 45 years straight. right. and they're coming back and giving to our community. but what they fail to realize is what brandon just said. the kids is actually bringing life to them. their medicines to these cats. right. and so, yeah, man, you know,

shouts out to all them young kids out there, do you want to talk about big kid? do you want to talk about that program you do with visiting the juvie juvenile juvie? and you can speak on that. oh, so, so what's big for us is we have a reentry program, right? and right now we have we connected with the justice department at at juvenile, and we got two we got two caseworkers and both the caseworkers are lifers that came home from doing a lot of time in jail based off of making a rational decision, not being able to control their emotions and their feelings. so i think it's kind of big. when we got lifers coming home to connect with the kids in juvenile, and they don't just connect with the kids in juvenile, they come to the they show up at the middle school, they show up at the elementary school. they go to high schools and talk. they go to city college and talk. and it's just like, you got to kill the pipeline, man. the elementary to the penitentiary pipeline has to be killed. and the only way to kill it is people that actually been through it. because the people that been through it know how to

kill it, know how to attack it. it's like a tree. you look at the branches and you think, those are the problems? no, it's the root. what is the root of the problem? and that goes back to tbri being able to help people identify and control their feelings and emotions. yeah. so how did you guys start that program where you go this partnership with like the different jails to be able to talk to the inmates and change their lives and stuff like that. how do we start that? yeah. how do you start that was locked up in there with them. right. and so you know, that's our people. you know what i mean. and accountability is very important. you cross that line. and like beretta said back in the days you do the crime, you do the time. i come from that school. and so a lot of guys who are stand up cats who come home that we know who we've been incarcerated with, right, or we go back in there and we talk to them. they know about what we do because, you know, the streets is really inside them penitentiaries. so they know what's happening out here on the ground and they see all their people. right. who's out here putting in work? that's why i always take pictures, you know

what i mean? with all the homies, when they come together and we're talking about cats. when brandon was mentioning the two dudes, you're talking about a adamu and a kiwi. them dudes, man. when enemies. wow, right. and they're not even from out here. they're from southern california. and so we get all these guys together, north and the southerners, others, right. blacks, whites come together and they take pictures and it spreads everywhere. and so people want to be a part of something that's working. that's winning. yeah. they want to be a part of this player stuff. you know, it's that medicine man. yeah. yep. it's free to shoot. you pay for that. no it's free. come on man, how it's going to be on a shelf in a minute. diversify your portfolio man. that's what 40 taught me. how big is up at this point. shoot. tell them about it. how big is up at this point. how big is you p0i mean we have a headquarters here. i mean what do you mean how big. like it's worldwide, right. like you have

philippines. you have other places. yeah. one in new york, one in the philippines. am i missing any we in africa? yeah. you know what i mean. hawaii, baltimore. south. south bronx. yeah, yeah. how does that make you? good? god is good. god is good. how does that make you feel to see it? like, start from balboa to 30 years later? yeah, man, it feels really good to know that, you know, what started from the people, from the youth has blossomed and blew up, man, to go everywhere around this world and to touch people. yeah, yeah, it's amazing. that is amazing. and you're doing god's work and like. but why do you or why do youth join gangs anyways. i mean it's different now than it was back then, but it's almost the same. like, why do they join like, gangs? i mean, to be accepted. yeah. to be loved. it's more about acceptance and love. i mean, i can't speak for like as a whole. i can ask you, i can tell you why i did it. it was because i

didn't feel loved at home. yeah, my daddy did. 16 in the state. my mama raised four kids by herself, and i had the type of mom that go to work, bust her butt, come home, pay the bills, and it's like, have my house clean. but it wasn't like helping me go over my homework. it wasn't like the nurturing, the nurturing part didn't didn't come. you know, i love her to death, but the nurturing part didn't come. you know? so i ran to the streets and didn't get it there either. yeah, truth be told, didn't get it there. but that's what i was looking for. yeah. acceptance and love. you feel me? yeah. and i think a lot of kids just. it comes from making rational decisions. like, it's like, man, i don't feel the love inside the home. so let me go try to get it out here. and the whole time when you're out there, you're getting manipulated. you know, it's like manipulation is heartache. it's losing friends. it's bullet holes. it's doing stupid stuff. it's jail. it's like, you know. yeah. but to piggyback off what you said, i think it's just acceptance and love. when it comes down to it, you want to be

a part of something? yeah. no matter if it's positive or negative. just wanting to be a part of something. yeah, yeah, yeah, they definitely just want to have, like a sense of belonging and like feeling like they have some purpose. like if you ask the kids right now, like, you know, where do you see yourself or you know, what's your future like? all of them just want to, like, get money and like, you know and have and like have a good life, good, stable life. they just want a good job, you know, have a house, whatever they had, have food on their table. really. that's all what they really wan. and so we try to strive to, you know, push them to their highest level. you know, some kids will say like, you know, i'm only going to make it to high school. but with us being here, like, you can go to college. yeah. you know what i mean? like, you can be bigger than that, but but it's just the simple things that they want, really, is to just be able to, you know, have a good life. yeah. that's true. and how do you explain to the parents or tell them what the signs could be, if that these kids want to join gangs or anything? i've

never been in a situation where a student would want to join a gang, but if it ever had to come down to that, it would just be a simple. it would be like a check in and like, show them like that. the actions that they're taking where it could possibly lead. and you know, and like the resolutions that we could do to prevent that type of stuff going down that road is very is very dangerous. you you never know what's at the end of that road. and, and your life could be cut short when you, when you do those type of things. and i definitely think it's just, just that extra support and the extra, like love and showing that there's a positive side instead of having to join like a gang for just a sense of belonging or, you know, i think they also probably joined for like protection or like, like he said, like no love there. and they find it out there, but it's

really not real love. it's just for that moment. yeah. and i think that's the best way we could do it. just set up a plan and maybe take them out and see a different world. other than, you know, the street life. yeah. what other effective strategies do you guys have for to help the youth stay out of trouble? like, maybe it's not gang. maybe it's not gang life. maybe it's like, yeah, go ahead. just helping them identify their self. a lot of kids like when you when you're in middle school, high school like you lost. like you're trying to find your own identity, you know, and to interact with them. it's like it's more it's just having a conversation. it's one you being a mentor or you being older. you open up to them and get them to open up. it don't matter if it's like just a quick check in. if it's a i'm coming up to your school bringing you lunch, or if it's after school and we're running a boys group, or we run a boys group at at school during school hours, it's just as far

as just checking in, helping them identify their self, you know, and letting them know like you're not alone and you're not the first person that's going to deal with this issue, nor will you be the last to deal with this issue. so when it come up, we help them deal with it. so when they come up and you become in high school and you see a peer dealing with it, you can help them and walk them through the process. yeah. is it and it's not like it's like kind of like a 24 hour job, right? oh yeah. we get calls at night too. when we're at home i get i get calls, i get like for therapy, like i'm gonna get real for therapy. a lot of kids, y'all gonna laugh, but they call me at nine, 10:00. tell me. jump on the game. let's play madden. let's play twok. like that's therapy. yeah, yeah. you know, like that's really therapy. that's the fact that they feel comfortable even calling you after hours and telling you, come on, let's jump on a game. let's play. yeah. you know that. to me that's a form of therapy. you know, it's like. or if they just calling it can be calling like, man, i'm dealing with the issue. it's 10:00 and i'm dealing with an issue. or could you uber me here? i'm stuck. i'm stuck outside. could you uber me here or. i'm at home. i ain't got no food. could you. could you uber eats me some food, like

all that is therapy, bro. and it's comfortability. i want the kids to be comfortable to call me because we're humans. we just don't deal with a 9 to 5. a 9 to 5, okay? it intensify after 9 to 5. i learned that from big dog because after 9 to 5, when the sun go down, that's what it's lights, camera action. yeah. real talk. that's community. big facts. community. right. 24 seven 365 baby. yeah. so speaking of community, like how have you worked with like, the city, were you working directly with the city to help keep up alive or working within that partnership with the city to help you guys with your program? so what i learned doing this work is it's important in anything you build is relationships. yeah. right. and so having a city relationships is important. they can get you in places and doors where you can't get right. i used to hate the police and i had a reason why. but now some of the police, i hold them accountable. when we

work together because they work for us. just like, you know, our whole thing is about safety and prevention. of course you're going to need them. it's diplomatic to have them at the table with you. right. and some of them dudes who i met now were officers became cool. you know, some of my best friends. the chief is my partner. yeah. yeah, you know what i mean? and so i learned about relationships and having to build in order for us to get what we need to get, especially in the neighborhood and area we're in. it's important to have those relationships. yeah. you know, i'm trying to build bridges, not walls. yeah. you know, and at the same time, if there's city departments or people who are funders who are not with the mission or our movement, they're not going to miss them altogether. man. like the hiv virus, bro. yeah. you know what i mean? yeah. i'm for real about what we do. we are not no sellouts, you know what i mean? we are for real. we are here. our boots are on the ground. you know, we make sure. i make sure as an ed, no matter if it's the mayor, the supervisor, whoever everybody's being held

accountable because we are the people we elect them to work for us. you understand what i'm saying? and so i want to make it real clear, you know what the city departments and all them who's in action, they're all part of that chess board that that's on the table that we all need each other to make things work. yeah, i mean, they collab with you. they do. they collab with you when you do the gun buyback program, you want to talk about the gun buyback program? sure. i mean, the gun buyback was started 2012, i believe, when sandy hook happened. right. and so y'all know sandy hook or anyway, from that point, there was people who wanted to figure out how to get rid of guns without having to go into all the red tape. and so the first monday that i had was able to get didn't even come from the city. it came from dispensaries in the neighborhood and district six. we got the most dispensaries, and they was willing to put their money up. and so we got that. but when it started working, we had to build relationships with certain organizations to make it happen. i can't just get a gun. you pull

up and give me a pistol and you know, i'm an ex-felon. i can't i can't even own a gun. and so i had to get the right, proper people to do that. who was there? it was the gun range people from sfpd. so jumped on board. i got the mamas who lost their kids to gun violence. right? i got ex-felons who did life sentences. we got the youth. we got all the pieces on the table to make it work. and now we've been getting over thousands of guns off the streets and destroying them. yeah, the number one killer right now in america for 19 years and younger are gun violence, suicide. right. domestic violence, black on black crime. brown on brown crime. a lot of people don't even know, man. how y'all was talking about the regulate their emotions and their feelings. right. first thing they do is go pick up a gun. they don't even know how to have a conversation with a woman when they argue and they just knock down, you know, and the number one rate of people growing, you know what culture is demographic is asians. is it. yeah. because,

you know, a lot of asians are getting robbed. that's true. they getting beat up. so they going to buy guns to protect themselves. get a gun. get a gu. protect yourself. they get the gun. but no. nobody tell them man. you got to put it in a safe lock. or when you get mad how you regulate your emotion, your feelings and guess what? when they get mad, they go right over and get their pistol man, go kill their wife, or they go to work and kill everybody at their job. yeah. so the high rate man of asians then rose up from gun violence, even though you're buying the gun to protect you and your family, you actually destroying your whole family and your community. wow. you know, so that's where the mental health comes in. like y'all doing the social emotional learning how to regulate everybody. we're all humans. we going to feel something. but how you going to deal with your feelings and your emotions when somebody makes you mad? yeah. you know how to go man. you know girl get you mad. your wife get you mad or your kid get you mad. you mad. you didn't worked all day. you upset and you, man, i'm going to go get my pistol. look at road rage, man. people going

crazy, man. they follow you all the way home. you know what i mean? and so? so it's a real high of mental health going on right now. that's true. do you want to talk about how how violence has evolved from. i feel like it was what was different because we're almost the same age, like physical and still physical, maybe. but now i feel like it's more mental. you want to talk about that? yeah. so yeah, i mean, you know, mental health is it's different because before you would just fight it out. so i don't think they do that no more. i feel like just it's like more mental. you make fun of each other, then everyone will gang up on that one person. it just messes up the bullying. the difference, the difference between the two is back in our day, right? like it's bullying, but it's only like 4 or 5 people. so if we fight only three, four people, this before the phones and stuff. yeah, yeah. only three, four people. then it's word of mouth. yeah. it intensified due to cyberbullying is i can be picking on vanessa, but now 50 to 100 people seen it. yeah. you feel me? then word of mouth spread and then a video. go

viral, you know, and then it's like, okay, now back, just go back to the tbe trying to identify emotional feelings. so now, i mean i'm more embarrassed because now you post a video of me up, now everybody can see a post of just one high school seeing it, and it's spreading through one high school. now, all the high schools in the city can see it because it's a video posted. right? so then that intensified the hurt, the anger. and then it's more like, man, how could i go get even how could i, how could i go get my lick back, you know, opposed to back in our era? it was just hard. we fight, we squabble. word of mouth. who won? he can say he won. i can say i won, but it's no. and it's just. all right. it gets swept under the rug. and then. and then you got a gun. you got access to guns where they're everywhere. you can make them off the computer. now. you got ghost guns, right? yeah. and you got war weapons. now you ain't got just regular the 38, you know what i mean? with the five bullets in them. you got something, man? with a clip in it and a switch, and you pop that thing, man. you gonna knock everybody down in this room with one squeeze of the

trigger, right? but i want to be real clear, though, jeremy. i am not against the second amendment. you got the right man to bear your arms. if somebody man runs up in your crib or harms your family, you got the right to protect you and your family. by all means. i'm not trying to say i'm getting rid of all guns. if i had a wand around this world and could do it all at one time because america got more guns here twice or triple times than we got people, i'd do that. but the reality is there's guns everywhere. that's true. you might be sitting on one. yeah, i might be. yeah, i feel i feel something. so for y'all like how has the experience of working. like what will you take with you for the rest of your lives working here and being a participant? would i take with me for the rest of my life, your life long lessons? i mean a lot a lot. you know, standing on your principles. you know, being true to yourself, you know, not selling your soul. you know,

just being standing on your toes. you know, standing on your ten toes, spreading love. just moving with the spirit of love. always like not operating off your ego and your pride and, you know, just spreading awareness and just being mindful. yeah. how about you? you. i'm a firm. i'm a firm believerf you're a product of the environment you choose. so by me coming over here, it was more of the family environment. i enhanced. i embraced it because i didn't have it growing up. you know, to a certain extent, i didn't have it growing up. so it's more of like the family atmosphere of it. the, the, the it takes a village to save it, to save a child like, you know, to raise a child like that's real. like, you know, because it's like when you're out there, you you can, like, get cold hearted because you're living in survival mode, not off love. you know, when i came here back in 2012, it was more like, damn, this is a

nurturing environment. this is love. like this is love. this is where people going to hold you accountable. people going to call you on your stuff, people going, people want what's best for you and people going to push you to do what's best for you. the key to it is pushing you to do what's best for you as a staff. if y'all pushing each other to do what's best for you, it ain't no doubt in my brain that we're doing the same thing for these kids. yeah. you know, and at the end of the day, those who control the kids mind control the future. it ain't no doubt in that hell. it ain't no doubt in that those who can control the kids mind control the future. rap songs and stuff that they listen to at times they control the kids brains and you see what the kids do. gang culture, pick up guns, shoot guns, ride around in groups, you know, and do that type of stuff. so i just feel like as far as here, what this has done to me, family atmosphere helped me stand on principles. morals helped me gain confidence in myself. not just in the kids, but confidence in myself and actually pushed me to actually want better for myself. my kids

come to the program with me. it was beautiful, like, you know, like beautiful. my kids come here with me. of course, if i, i would, i would always want my kids to be a part of something positive. you know? and due to the fact i made the wrong decision by not in high school, by not choosing it ain't no way in hell i'm going to let my kids do the same thing and make the same mistake i made. fax. that's beautiful. big facts about yourself. i think they all had such amazing points and i agree with that. i, i definitely also want to say like empathy and compassion. i feel like like everyone goes through some things and like, and that's oka. and just continuing to move with the spirit of love through everything. and, and that's, that's really it. and speaking of the spirit of love, how does religion play a part in if any? and you guys rule? i feel like that religion and believing in

something within this kind of like community always is very strong. i feel like it don't matter if you pray to allah. it don't matter if you prays to god. it don't matter what god you prays to because to each his own. but it is a god. you feel me? it is a god. and god woke us up this morning. god put us all on the same page and god bring us together colctively every wednesday to have staff meeting here based off for the kids. it all comes down to for the kids, you know, and spiritually. spiritually, you can feel the vibe. you can tell when somebody's vibe off based off body language, based off being able to read the room based off, oh, he acting different today. now let me go reach out to him. yeah. hey. how you doing today? you need help. you need a hug. you straight? how can i help you? i can tell your vibe off. and when you do a staff member like that, or even with the kids like that, that just let you know you're loved. yeah. feel me? so when you pay spiritually, it's just about being loved, you

know? and that's going back to what we talked about before. everybody want to be loved. people make decisions based off of wanting to be accepted and who don't want to be accepted by love. yeah, i'll speak on that. like difficult times. and how does religion like it seems like people go through really difficult times become really closer to god. yeah. so to me, religion is a terminology and word that i feel is something i can't relate with because i've been through a lot of different religions, whether it was raised as a catholic or went to the kingdom halls, or even studied with the noi. right? i believe it's about a relationship with a higher power. like you said, there is a god. jesus christ is my lord and savior, straight up 100 million. that's who i accep. and to each his own. like be said, you know what i mean. some people serve man, you know, the

moon or the sun or the devil as my savior, jesus christ, i believe man that's. and i know for a fact that's what put me in a position where i'm at now with my purpose on this planet. and i'm very honored. i'm very honored that i'm very that i'm in a position i know where my purpose in my life is because you got to have direction. yeah. and it gave me life. it gave me direct. this is my life. saved my job no more. yeah. this is my life. all day, every day. you know what i mean? yeah. 365 24 seven. i live it, i breathe it, but i thank god every morning when i wake up and at night before i go to sleep. and many times in the middle, you know what i'm saying? and thank him and honor him when it's good and when it's bad. yeah. and so from the beginning, when all this transpired, you'll be surprised what i have seen god done to evolve the evolution of what up is now, you know, i'm a cat from the south of market who come

from the trenches, who now has an organization. i used to. i used to be the leader of my gang man. we were colored like this burgundy with skulls on the back. little kids all coming up. but i was the leader and i always ran. i always led with passion, you know what i mean? and i always led man with that spirit. yeah. and to this day, even when we started back october in 2000, i mean, 1994, we always prayed with all the thugs. that's who jesus was with. he was with the thugs. he was with the killers, the robbers, the steelers, the prostitutes. that's what the whole bible, the story is. bible basic instructions before leaving earth. that's the manual of life. and that's what he did, man. he gave the spirit to the thugs and all them. and they wrote that book the best selling book that's out that is free, that most people don't even open. see, we all guarantee one thing in life with two, pay your

taxes. and guess what else to die? because while death, life has no meaning. and if you do not have that spiritual food because you got people walking all around there, you see it. they alive, right? but they're not living. you have to have some spiritual food in your life because man can't live on bread alone. man, y'all got me sound like a preacher up in this camp. you know what i mean? but all the way from the begiing, jeremy, we praying in. and to this day. what do we do when we have our wednesday meetings? we pray in and we pray out. come on, man, it's always been god, god, god, the biggest gangster on this planet. because what's his name? start with b jesus christ g. god. yeah. that's why we're. that's why you're so blessed, rudy. and you're so blessed to have you. not a place i'm blessed, you know. and prayer really works. god is real. i've. you know, i've prayed. i don't go to church, but my relationship with god is

what's important to me. my relationship with my ancestors is more important to me. but like i've seen my prayers manifest into real life, and so just having that faith in god just keeps me going and keeps me blessed. amen, amen. you ain't sitting on a gun. you sitting on a bible because this is actually what we have. our service in this room. yeah, i can feel it on my mama. she in heaven. and speaking of that, like so, uncle rudy, how much has uncle rudy made an impact in your lives? i ain't uncle hold up, man, i ain't that old yet. hold on. i still outrun everybody in this room. i hear people call you uncle rudy. so i'm. yeah, i ain't gonna. i'm gonna say he touched more lives than you can imagine. more lives than you can imagine. and mine based off just being there for me, giving me opportunity. give me a second chance, you know, to work with kids, you know? and me working with kids helped me regrow my

heartso i don't even like adults. i'm a kid. i don't like adults. adults are manipulative. adults are conniving, and adults can can be very misleading. as far as kii do no harm for me. the kids can be corrected and i feel like it's a blessing. he gave me opportunity and i took it and ran with it, took it and ran with it. i'm forever blessed and, you know, just just having a positive person in your life, you know, you can be feeling down and you can go have a conversation with him. you're gonna leave out that room with high spirits. you feel me with high spirits? yeah. he's just based off the message he give you. yeah, he helped me a lot. he helped me a lot. and i'm very grateful. it's beautiful. far from appreciative. far from unappreciative. yeah. it's beautiful. yeah. yeah. uncle rudy, he's always be speaking life into me, into everybody.

and i feel like, you know that that really does take me to a higher place when i feel really down and stuff. and i feel like, you know, you give everybody an opportunity to, like, reinvent themselves and to be able to, you know, be a brand new person every day. and that, like you, you don't even like, look at the past of, like, who you used to be or who they used to be. you just see the greater good into people. and i feel like, you know, everybody's here for a reason. and you see exactly why. and like, yeah, like you've just been there. you be there when i'm down and out when i'm up and happy. even my mama call you sometimes, you know, you know it's all love all the time. you got the flip phone flip i want that call. yeah, yeah, i like that. thank you. thank you for your kind words. awesome.

beautiful. so, i mean, what would that said? like seeing how many lives you change. what are your what is your hopes for the future of united players? and do you have any other upcoming like works coming in like more partnerships with like what do you what's your hopes for the for up 30 more years to eternity for life by more buildings, by more buildings, maybe have our own recreational center one day so we can have our own creator up high school. oh yeah. you know how to play high, higher. that'd be cool. take a more global. that's right. yeah. wherever god takes us, that's where we're going and keep leading. so what i've learned from this, this conversation is that there is a definitely there's a definite future for the youth with you guys as the leaders and the of our community, especially soma. and you're in good hands with rudy.

i wish they had this when i was young. they didn't have that when i was growing up in in the east bay, like near richmond, vallejo, hercules. i mean, we had a lot of gang violence, and i had a lot of friends that were also, like affected by gangs and didn't make it out of their their teenage years. so it would have been beautiful to have that. so i'm so thankful that just for our community and for just for life, that we have something like up, because we didn't have that growing up. and to know that there's an organization like this that's going global, it's being recognized by everybody. yeah. and you're saving lives. i mean, there's still people that are going to fall through the cracks, but you guys are doing your very best to catch them. and so i'm very thankful to have learned from each of your stories here from everybody. definitely feel the love and just thankful. next time we do this, we'll have like a lechon and lumpia. we'll do a dinuguan. thank you for having us. yeah. thank you, thank you, thank you for letting our voice be heard.

yes. let me phrase it that way. yeah, well, thank you for being a voice for the community. it's beautiful. so. yeah. thanks again. for. as a society we've basically failed big portion of our population if you think about the basics of food, shelter safety a lot of people don't have any

of those i'm mr. cookie can't speak for all the things but i know say, i have ideas how we can address the food issue. >> open the door and walk through that don't just stand looking out. >> as they grew up in in a how would that had access to good food and our parent cooked this is how you feed yours this is not happening in our country this is a huge pleasure i'm david one of the co-founder so about four year ago we worked with the serviced and got to know the kid one of the things we figured out was that they didn't know how to cook. >> i heard about the cooking school through the larkin

academy a. >> their noting no way to feed themselves so they're eating a lot of fast food and i usually eat whatever safeway is near my home a lot of hot food i was excited that i was eating lunch enough instead of what and eat. >> as i was inviting them over teaching them basic ways good food they were so existed. >> particle learning the skills and the food they were really go it it turned into the is charity foundation i ran into my friend we were talking about this this do you want to run this charity foundations and she said, yes. >> i'm a co-found and executive director for the cooking project

our best classes participation for 10 students are mondaythey' driven classes we have a different guest around the city they're our stand alone cola's we had a series or series still city of attorney's office style of classes our final are night life diners. >> santa barbara shall comes in and helps us show us things and this is one the owners they help us to socialize and i've been here about a year. >> we want to be sure to serve as many as we can. >> the san francisco cooking school is an amazing amazing partner. >> it is doing that in that space really elevates the space

for the kids special for the chief that make it easy for them to come and it really makes the experience pretty special. >> i'm sutro sue set i'm a chief 2, 3, 4 san francisco. >> that's what those classes afford me the opportunity it breakdown the barriers and is this is not scary this is our choice about you many times this is a feel good what it is that you give them is an opportunity you have to make it seem like it's there for them for the taking show them it is their and they can do that. >> hi, i'm antonio the chief in san francisco. >> the majority of kids at that age in order to get them into food they need to see something

simple and the evidence will show and easy to produce i want to make sure that people can do it with a bowl and spoon and burner and one pan. >> i like is the receipts that are simple and not feel like it's a burden to make foods the cohesives show something eased. >> i go for vera toilet so someone can't do it orts way out of their range we only use 6 ingredients i can afford 6 ingredient what good is showing you them something they can't use but the sovereignties what are you going to do more me you're not successful. >> we made a vegetable stir-fry

indicators he'd ginger and onion that is really affordable how to balance it was easy to make the food we present i loved it if i having had access to a kitchen i'd cook more. some of us have never had a kitchen not taught how to cookie wasn't taught how to cook. >> i have a great appreciation for programs that teach kids food and cooking it is one of the healthiest positive things you can communicate to people that are very young. >> the more programs like the cooking project in general that can have a positive impact how our kids eat is really, really important i believe thatverybody should

venting to utilize the kitchen and meet other kids their age to identify they're not alone and their ways in which to pick yours up and move forward that. >> it is really important to me the opportunity exists and so i do eveer to keep it that. >> we'll have our new headquarters in the heart of the tenderloin at taylor and kushlg at the end of this summer 2014 we're really excited. >> a lot of the of the conditions in san francisco they have in the rest of the country so our goal to 257bd or expand out of the san francisco in los angeles and then after that who know. >> we'd never want to tell people want to do or eat only provide the skills and the tools

in case that's something people are 2rrd in doing. >> you can't buy aox psyche you have to put them in the right vein and direction with the right kids with a right place address time those kids don't have this you have to instill they can do it they're good enough now to finding out figure out and find the future for >> my name is raymond fong. i'm 1 of the owners one of 3. wine impression is a wine shop made of people that were probably dedicated their life studying line. we open august 1990, 34 years.

you wonder how wine impression came along? we couldn't figure the name. my wife said, i got it, you always make a impression, call it wine impression. i thought maybe she came up with the name because both of us our favorite period of modern art is impressionism. the buildings was built in 1948. it was one of the two, probably three buildings built first in the whole shopping center before they did the shopping center, there was golden gate park. this cemetery ran from masonic to [indiscernible] the building next door is jointly owned. [indiscernible] was a want to be [indiscernible] and they were digging new pipes and everything into it and the owner came to me and he

said, what are we going to do? what am i going to do. we are digging the pipes and found a coffin half way between the kitchen and i think your refrigerator. i told him what to do. i said you are not go toog say a word. if you do they will do a archaeological survey and you won't get anything built. all i know, it is still down there and [indiscernible] i saw the article i said, wow, i came back from a visit from china 2016 and they were there when you welcome this [indiscernible] it is similar to the--in japanese and day of the dead. i decided to do [indiscernible] i have food in there. i can do all the things --[indiscernible] and realize

the mistake. the problem is they want and need and a lot has to do is they don't dine iloan. alone. a average person is 3 to 4 bottles and don't dine alone, it is family squl friends and when they have social events they come to us. we this is how the community uses the wine and think where we are different. a lot of stores can sell a product and the product given by labels, we sell the product, but i always say, we don't just sell a wine or product, we sell satisfaction with this. - >> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges resident to do their showing up and dining within the

49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services within the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so where will you shop & dine in the 49 san francisco owes must of the charm to the unique characterization of each corridor has a distinction permanent our neighbors are the economic engine of the city. >> if we could a afford the lot by these we'll not to have the kind of store in the future the kids will eat from some restaurants chinatown has phobia one of the best the most unique neighborhood shopping areas of san francisco. >> chinatown is one of the

oldest chinatown in the state we need to be able allergies the people and that's the reason chinatown is showing more of the people will the traditional thepg. >> north beach is i know one of the last little italian community. >> one of the last neighborhood that hadn't changed a whole lot and san francisco community so strong and the sense of partnership with businesses as well and i just love north beach community old school italian comfort and love that is what italians are all about we need people to come here and shop here so we can keep this going not only us but, of course, everything else in the community

i think local businesses the small ones and coffee shops are unique in their own way that is the characteristic of the neighborhood i peace officer prefer it is local character you have to support them. >> really notice the port this community we really need to kind of really shop locally and support the communityly live in it is more economic for people to survive here. >> i came down to treasure island to look for a we've got a long ways to go. ring i just got married and didn't want something on line i've met artists and local business owners they need money

to go out and shop this is important to short them i think you get better things. >> definitely supporting the local community always good is it interesting to find things i never knew existed or see that that way. >> i think that is really great that san francisco seize the vails of small business and creates the shop & dine in the 49 to support businesses make people all the residents and visitors realize had cool things are made and produced in san