i am sheela nickolopoulos, planning department staff. as laurel said, there are three parts of this small business recovery act. one is to cut through bureaucracy by cutting through prop h and other elements by opening a neighborhood business. second, by implementing flexibility to support short-term recovery and the long-term viability of our neighborhood businesses. this will also support our shared spaces goals, and finally protections and opportunities for businesses our arts. performance and art spaces were some of the first businesses to close at the start of the pandemic and will likely be some of the last to reopen. so i just want to give you some context of some of the precovid challenges that businesses were experiencing before the pandemic hit. so in the past year, with the option of on-line shopping, consumers want to buy locally what they can't buy on-line, and there were costs for retail establishments, including start-up costs and on going costs, particularly in an area with high cost of living, and we had several city rep

with that, i would like to turn it over to my colleague, sheela nickolopoulos, who will outline the details of this legislation. >> clerk: sheela, i believe you're still muted. how about i unmute you from my end? >> thank you very much. oh, it's late, and we're all feeling a little rusty. good evening, commissioners. i'm sheela nickolopoulos from the planning department. this is a small business recovery act, and i'll be walking you through the phases. there's three goals in supporting neighborhood businesses here. to further cut bureaucracy, enhancing flexibility by implementing recommendations from the city's economic task force to support short-term recovery and long-term recovery of our businesses and to support the shared spaces goals that you just heard robin talk about, and supporting the arts. performance and art space were some of the first to close during the pandemic, and they'll be some of the last to open. in the past decade, with the rise of on-line shopping, brick and mortar has shifted to less transactional and more consumer retail. prior to the pandemic, retail start-ups an

i am sheela nickolopoulos, planning department staff. as laurel said, there are three parts of this small business recovery act. one is to cut through bureaucracy by cutting through prop h and other elements by opening a neighborhood business. second, by implementing flexibility to support short-term recovery and the long-term viability of our neighborhood businesses. this will also support our shared spaces goals, and finally protections and opportunities for businesses our arts. performance and art spaces were some of the first businesses to close at the start of the pandemic and will likely be some of the last to reopen. so i just want to give you some context of some of the precovid challenges that businesses were experiencing before the pandemic hit. so in the past year, with the option of on-line shopping, consumers want to buy locally what they can't buy on-line, and there were costs for retail establishments, including start-up costs and on going costs, particularly in an area with high cost of living, and we had several city rep

i am sheela nickolopoulos, planning department staff. as laurel said, there are three parts of this small business recovery act. one is to cut through bureaucracy by cutting through prop h and other elements by opening a neighborhood business. second, by implementing flexibility to support short-term recovery and the long-term viability of our neighborhood businesses. this will also support our shared spaces goals, and finally protections and opportunities for businesses our arts. performance and art spaces were some of the first businesses to close at the start of the pandemic and will likely be some of the last to reopen. so i just want to give you some context of some of the precovid challenges that businesses were experiencing before the pandemic hit. so in the past year, with the option of on-line shopping, consumers want to buy locally what they can't buy on-line, and there were costs for retail establishments, including start-up costs and on going costs, particularly in an area with high cost of living, and we had several city rep

i am sheela nickolopoulos, planning department staff.s of this small business recovery act. one is to cut through bureaucracy by cutting through prop h and other elements by opening a neighborhood business. second, by implementing flexibility to support short-term recovery and the long-term viability of our neighborhood businesses. this will also support our shared spaces goals, and finally protections and opportunities for businesses our arts. performance and art spaces were some of the first businesses to close at the start of the pandemic and will likely be some of the last to reopen. so i just want to give you some context of some of the precovid challenges that businesses were experiencing before the pandemic hit. so in the past year, with the option of on-line shopping, consumers want to buy locally what they can't buy on-line, and there were costs for retail establishments, including start-up costs and on going costs, particularly in an area with high cost of living, and we had several city reports that go into detail about these

i am sheela nickolopoulos, planning department staff. laurel said, there are three parts of this small business recovery act. one is to cut through bureaucracy by cutting through prop h and other elements by opening a neighborhood business. second, by implementing flexibility to support short-term recovery and the long-term viability of our neighborhood businesses. this will also support our shared spaces goals, and finally protections and opportunities for businesses our arts. performance and art spaces were some of the first businesses to close at the start of the pandemic and will likely be some of the last to reopen. so i just want to give you some context of some of the precovid challenges that businesses were experiencing before the pandemic hit. so in the past year, with the option of on-line shopping, consumers want to buy locally what they can't buy on-line, and there were costs for retail establishments, including start-up costs and on going costs, particularly in an area with high cost of living, and we had several city report