major to the businesses. i cannot emphasize it too much and to say please do that outreach and. >> we will come back to you and come to the district merchants and to the geary merchants if there will have us. we would like to have direct communications with the merchants and we're doing so in the van ness corridor. let's see how that goes. it is a fair model. we will work closely with the small merchants all the way of to the cpm sc's. all of us need these projects to be successful and be sensitive to the needs of stakeholders. we will try to model a program for the city through the bemis project. -- van ness project. they would like us to look at -- many of the features they describe are things that are in the project. things like relocating bus stops to the far side. things like low for buses which will come with the new set of buses. that is not the exact same thing as level boarding. it takes the creation of a station that comes to the level of the floor. it means you do not have to step up. they have desc

community, especially the small-business community? in t eight, that type of thing? -- mta, that type of thing? >> the mayor does intend for the $13 million to go to the development of affordable housing. i think it would also put on the table that providing affordable housing for your work force is a benefit for small business. more than probably any other type of business. you are the ones and fleeing those living in these moderate income places -- you're the ones employing those living in these moderate income places. we're not talking about the housing type side of the spectrum. you are the ones putting those folks to work. i think it does give a benefit to the small business community. >> looking at the two ordinances' is there, it in your opinion, and-impacts, or what would be your outcome? >> thanks, commissioner. supervisor avalos has worked with the different coalition of stakeholders to come to the $40 million #. he had a process. i think i will withhold comment on that. what i will do is say what the mayor before word with pr

a discussion of the unfairness of those businesses that have had to shoulder the burden and a lot of small businesses that have been in more labour intensive industries. in 2010, i have asked the commission to consider when possible variation of the payroll tax which we considered and debated for a number of months. mayor lee and i asked our city controller and chief economist to spend a number of months researching in detail what for possible alternatives to the business payroll tax which has led us to the conversation that we're about to have today. i think you know the gross receipts tax is used in over three dozen cities in california. i want to thank our controller and our chief economist and their staff for putting together a proposal thing makes an awful lot of sense. you'll be hearing about the proposal in greater detail but the gross receipts proposal that is being put forth, that is quite different from our current flat payroll tax is a much more progressive tax in that the rates set by industries kehl-scale up with chris recedes. with the twiggs we saw last year, we saw an

this is really the small business of the year for northern california. every year, we look for great, you need small businesses. all small businesses are unique in their own way. the challenge is to find a business that represents the things small business does for the community in ways everyone talks about the only one small business gets the chance to be recognized and honored this year. if i could get rebecca and john up first, so i can make sure you know who we are recognizing here. for sba, we try to recognize the business that is unique in a couple of ways. we look for a business that is financially successful. at the beginning of the 2000's they were doing $10 million a year. they hope to do $60 million a year this year. around a turn-of-the-century, they had a little over 100 employees. now they have 300 employees. it is now a nationwide coast to coast operation with locations in five places across the country. financially, operations best wide -- operations-wise, and hiring. it is a woman-managed manufacturing business in an industry that is not

we need to balance the business license fee structure as well. we're looking forward to working with the supervisors on a package that is fair, as i said, equitable, broad-based, and brings the city some new revenue necessary for economic development of the mayor's office. it should have a dedicated revenue source. from the business community to ensure we have a viable and active group in san francisco. this would be a way to help find that as well. a look forward to working with this commission over the next couple of weeks and come up with a package that the entire business community can support. thank you. >> thank you. jim, before you sit down -- you brought up an interesting point. fee versus tax. the fact is the fee is a tax. i think there is a huge marketing issue here, this idea that there is a class of businesses that do not pay a tax. you actually get oa fee. that part is covered and you pay incrementally. i wish there would be disc ussion. this is not about the flat tax. then at some level, you kick into a progressive tax. once you hit

that could be an additional burden in the future on businesses. under our current system the industry burdens are the 1.5% rates on payroll. we can shift the burden to promote job creation. the second criteria is administer ability -- administerability. the current payroll tax is something we know how to do, something businesses know how to pay. this tax is very complex, but we do not want to oversell this point. there are 40 cities in california that currently have some form of gross receipts tax, including l.a. and oakland, which are comparable high tax city's. and they are able to administer the tax. we can use them as examples. the third criteria is stability. from a budget and tax policy standpoint, better have a stable revenue source said they can ensure the continued services. we have found the payroll tax is extremely volatile. we believe the gross receipts taxes point to much more stable -- additionally, we will have a standard gross receipts tax. and the last criteria will give us ways to a body weight your tax system based on at wettabil

and the small business group meeting, we had 25 attendees. there were a handful who did not sign in, so these are low estimates of the people we have spoken to. we have the second round of entry proceedings. at the small business meeting, there work 10 -- there were 10 to 15. during that time, we felt that the representation of small businesses that are currently not paying the payroll tax was inadequate, so we held a special meeting for that group. so, since the introduction of legislation on june 12, we upheld two meetings. they were lightly attended, and with the second one we had a larger group interested in the issues around the technical legislation. in total, we have heard from 200 local businesses, and of those 200 local businesses come up about 40 were small businesses. so, i'm just going to go through a quick highlight summary of our gross receipts. as you know, the rate structure of the gross receipts tax generates as much revenue as a payroll tax. the business feed is designed to generate new -- business fee is designed to generate

the vast majority of jobs are created by small businesses. it is especially the case that small-business is have a unique commitment to job creation in specific neighborhoods. what i have seen in my district, and whether it is the mission, is that when the small business owners in those neighborhoods higher, they hire people from the local neighborhood. it is not just about creating opportunities for them to hire new people. it is also to deal with the issue of underemployment. what this legislation does in addition to allowing them to raise the payroll by hiring new people, it also allows these businesses that might be on the fence about giving an employee more hours to work, it allows them, incentivizes them to actually give that complete the additional hours. it is not just unemployment, it is under employment, that is a big concern. i appreciate the approach that supervisor farrell has done because it reflects the reality of what is happening in these communities. the numbers we have seen in terms of the numbers of businesses we have the n

that makes sure the business tax is fair, so the smaller businesses are paying much less. some of our unions, like the american federation of teachers, and jobs with justice organization members and, and coleman advocates -- we are looking at how we can have a tax system that is fair and looks at how we can recover our local economy, as we are seeing the tax cuts done at the state and federal level begin to limit the services we get funded from those levels. we need to make sure we have transit and the road work that needs to get done in the city, to make sure we have a city that works for everyone. as we are needing more resources and getting less money from the federal government, we need to shore up our resources from the very entities that are perhaps getting taxed at those other levels. our economy has been struggling and small businesses have been struggling. we have seen fees increase over and over again on small businesses, getting nickeled and dined by our budget. this is a weekend build flexibility into our budget, to make sure we can have continued support for sm

the same. commissioner riley: we don't want to lose any business. to put the burden on 946 businesses, i don't know what the impact is going to be. would they leave us? >> in our initial findings, it would nedda's 3000 net new jobs -- net loss 3000 net new jobs. obviously, we're going to reduce that benefit a little bit. we are expecting a under the mayor's proposal -- and it is probably lower under supervisor avalos's. >> i think it is vitally important that both camps find a single place to land before the legislation goes before the voters. the last thing we want is two ballot measures. i hope there is a lot of working to narrow the gap so we have a single piece of legislation and if there is anything we can do to help with that process, i think we would all be happy to do it. it will be very difficult to support these two things going forward independently. there is a tremendous amount of work that has to go back to all the financial calculations. the sooner we get there, the sooner we can do legislation to fix the situation. and it seems that we

recapitalize the small business revolving loan fund. we are bringing staal to the neighborhoods -- city hall to the neighborhoods where it belongs, to support small businesses. my proposed budget includes $4 million in smart capital investments and $441 million in smart capital investments in our city's 10-year capital plan to improve and invest in the city's infrastructure. [applause] over the next two years we'll invest in and improve or water system and continue investing in our waterfront. we will also continue to invest in our parks. and i've joined the members of the board of supervisors to introduce $195 million bond measure to keep our parks clean and safe. [applause] all told, over the next two years enterprise departments will spend more than -- will actually support more than 8,700 jobs in san francisco by infusing $1.3 billion into our local economy. as our economy grows and as we add jobs, we must redouble our efforts to expand housing opportunities and build more housing for people at every income level. i get it. i know th

our business was developed by a group of grad students at the villanova school of business. ho were trading up for the macromarkets were not ready for the big beers with the high avvs and here a evil genius we have full session craft beers that appeal to both the craft connoisseurs and the craft beer dr drinker simultaneously. we are seeking $2.5 million capital to construct a brewhouse. 75% of the capital goes to assets and ingredients and packaging and the investors should expect two to three times of their invest. to learn more you can go to the website at evil genius.com. >> and my favorite line is the entry level craft beer drinker. that is fantastic. i think that you did an amazing job and i think that you did a great job, but i don't count. did he get everything, carol? >> well sh, no, but he came acr as confident as a story teller, but what is missing is distribution and marketing. anybody can start a craft beer company, and the way you grow is through distribution, and i wanted to know more about distribution. >> i love the passion and it is clear that you love this

the u.s. small business administration. the small business administration covers not only san francisco proper but the bay area. the severed his third district is responsible for a business loan portfolio of 12,000 loans worth $4.2 billion. in 2009, the sba approved $500 million in lending. next, we have the executive director of the san francisco small business office. she was in san francisco in 1986 to open the buffalo exchange limited store, and in the 13 years she worked for buffalo exchange, tennis district manager, she held her open the company from four to 11 stores. in 2009, the mayor appointed her as executive director to the office of small businesses. next, we have the ceo of opportunity funds. he has combined his background as a community organizer with an education from stanford to develop an innovative, not-for- profit financial incision that uses market principles to affect systemic change. it operates one of the nation's largest individual development, programs, a leading provider of micro loans in californi

the folks who have put this together have focused on the fact that our small businesses are the heart of our local economies. this measure will exempt small businesses of less than $1 million. the small businesses will pay roughly $50 registration fee. also, i am submitting something that will help equip and line 71 tennis courts in our city that are 10 and under, to improve physical activity for our youth, who we need to be away from their tv's, playing tennis and other activities, like i did when i was that age. also submitting a reauthorization of our san francisco food security task force. food insecurity and hunger is growing in our neighbors -- neighborhoods. this task force has analyzed the barriers to food access among the lowest incomes. the last item i have is the introduction of a resolution that improves our city and county public safety realignment and implementation plan. because of the great work of the california county advocates, including the aclu, we will have a better realignment for funds. $7 million will come into many of our criminal justice programs. i am looki

i really resent the word that this is a burden on our businesses. taxes are an investment in our city, in our schools. they are an investment in our streets, in our trees. many of the services we provide for seniors -- none of us want to see people go hungry or not get the job training they need, our kids not getting the proper education they get. the paper that through the taxes you invest in our city. that benefits all of us. the mayor is interested in generating $13 million for an affordable housing trust fund. that is critical. in district 6, we are still not able to meet regional development goals. in our tax sector, we need to see continuing commitment from our private sector to keeping our city the world-class city we all talk about. supervisor of the los reminded me that this is an issue we had been talking about since 2004. for many years, when we were part of the people's organization, i think a key part of what we have been talking about is how you raise revenue for a city to provide more equity, lowering the "burden "on our companies. i t

but for black businesses specifically, i think the reason you're seeing less small businesses is the education component first and foremost. how do i start a business. where do i go to access the capital. what is an angel investor. where can i go to get venture capitalists investment. those are some of the issues. and we're beating up on sba today. but i have to give props for sba for one of their main focuses, and that's entrepreneurial development. they offer free advice in their partnerships with small business development organizations and score centers which stands for service core of retired executives. and there are private partnerships all over the nation that a lot of black entrepreneurs have no clue about it. i'll give national urban league props as well because they're working with some of these centers to be able to provide free education to anyone who wants to start a business. >> d.j., what about in the house? because we keep talk about education. it seems like we start with adults. congressman west talked about his father and what he taught him. the richest man in the w

this business will be highlighted there. the top 2012 small business renovation award goes to g and k grocery. [applause] congratulations. we have certificates for all of you. congratulations. great renovations. the judges were very impressed. thank you for all that you do. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] my english is not so good. today i am very happy and very excited. i am really lucky and very happy that i come here to get this award. i am 56 years old. i have never gotten an award. the first time. [applause] i am really excited. thank you. i am very happy they support me. he is here on stage. [laughter] i am very -- >> nervous. [laughter] >> he is very nervous. he does not know what to say. [laughter] [applause] >> thank you very much. [applause] this is a very happy place to me. very happy. thank you very much. [applause] >> congratulations. now it is my great pleasure to introduce our next speaker. he is at the forefront of small business in san francisco meeting overall economic development and job creation. earlier

the body? >> that concludes our business for today. t chiu: ladies and gentlemen, we are adjourned. >> good afternoon, everyone. welcome to the regular meeting of the government audit an oversight committee. i am the chair of this committee. i would like to thank our clerk and the sfgtv staff covering this meeting. do we have any announcements? >> silence all cell phones and electronic devices. items act upon today will appear on the supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. >> can you call item number one? >> ordinance amending the business and tax code. >> we have a few people who will be speaking on this matter. i want to make a few comments. this is something that i have sponsored with a number of co- sponsors. this bill creates jobs and supports our small business community. we have done a lot here in city hall in terms of job creation over the last year and a half. we have not done much in the way of small businesses. i believe this is changing here in city hall. this legislation is a big step in that direction. this will allow

, the most creative businesses. oftentimes with a direct line to the ceo. >> mark deveaux is a co-lead sponsor of national business week and talked to us about the main resource score provides. >> some people want to grow, some people want to exit their business so we are there to help them with that. >> exporting was also a hot topic. since the increasing demand for u.s. exports creates huge opportunities to grow business internationally. >> if growth is occurring around the world at two-thirds of overall global growth growing outside the united states, it's really imperative for small businesses to realize there's a lot of opportunity outside the united states for those sales. >> we decided that we wanted to do this international business. within the company we chose three markets and then we concentrated on those three markets and in a matter of three years we are doing a lot of market research, it basically had begun from there. >> and no discussion about growing your business connections is ever complete without

to support the business. also, they relied on home equity lines of credit, which in many cases do not exist anymore, also as a source for financing their business. as far as doing public contracting, one thing about public contract in that you can count on is the city of san francisco will stay in business and pay its debt, just later than you would like it to be. when you're doing public contract thing, if you will, cash cycle -- when you do the work and when you get paid is something you have to factor into your understanding of capital needs. so you have to figure that into the process. usually, that is figured into the pricing. but it is also the case that would you also probably need is a line of credit. depending on whether you feel your credit situation is where you want to go to a bank like wells fargo or another regulated bank, and line of credit, or work for a working- capital type of loan, which is something you look to do, the opportunity fund. you probably want to try both avenues. as far as your

>> we spoke to the small business commission and they were across between the small business commission. part of their community is not getting the permits, tying up space in front of their business frontage, where the other contractors with it the advantage are concerned about the change. they understood why we were moving forward with this. >> seems like different places in the city, while the situation in the tenderloin is a very dense population. >> i guess it is difficult across the city for enforcement, for different kinds of administrative, as well as having to identify which business is aware. looking at that, i am not sure what it would be. mostly constructive? from our perspective. >> i am sure that that is

kathleen and steve from the small business administration. sharon of the renaissance entrepreneurial center. melanie with the san francisco chamber of commerce. brigid from the san francisco african american chamber of commerce. jim from the council of district merchants. eric and pat from the golden gate business association. edith of the as the entrepreneurial center. susan, ella, a and katy from wells fargo bank, and adam and allison of strauss events. [applause] >> and thank you very much to our sponsors who make this week- long bigger and more meaningful to small business every year, starting with our title and presenting sponsor wells fargo, of entrepreneur sponsor sfmta. if you have seen that we have been able to promote small business to where we needed the attention. we wanted small business to know we were throwing a party and a weeklong celebration and a week- long opportunity to educate and inspire a small business. visa, at&t advertising solutions, a constant contact. recology, pacific gas and electric company, kaiser permanente,

committee and the committee colleges and in each region of the state the business community centers r our needs are will hire people with the haft retrained in specific skills and my business needs a survey conducted the business community and the committee college's and said that we rid purpose of our federal workforce training dollars and said its a one time offer for the next two years anyway you comes the door will be able to have their tuition paid for and a committee, which $5,000 per year up to $10,000 per person but you have to agree to be trained in an area of need it can get a degree in french or political science or trauma you have to get the degree an area of need in that caused the success rate from the program four times the national average because it was specific and relevant to the vacancies in the economy. >>> you also allow them to continue to collect unemployment which is vital. >>> and the governors to make three important points to one is the private sector does not care about workers it's not a moral statement or an attack its system but the fact. the private s

captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. >> thanks r joining us for a look at business and financece here in the washington region. let'ss do it the twist. ben bernanke comtting billions of dollars to operation twist. moody's took a whack at the credit rating of 15 major banks which could make it more expensive for you to rrow money. and turning sour over the worry about spain. in d.c., council members decided who would take over key positions followining the downfall of kwame brown. we wilill have those topics and more for a roundtable. first, we will focus o on the company that has become the ast of the beverage industry. arealking about total wine & more th largest independent retatailer of a fine wine. david and robe tro opened two win retailers and then opened several ofheir own. we are glad to have with u david and robert tronene. welcome to "washington business report." david, t oldldest, robert is the youngest. whose idea was it? >

>>> the nation's small business leaders talk funding and the economy. a minnesota brewery fights bureaucratic regulation to change laws that hinder its business. that plus seth goden on marketing mistakes coming up next on "your business." >>> hi, there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to "your business." where we give you tips and advice to help your business grow. well we certainly spent a lot of time asking how can government do things better to help small businesses, we also note that it does have a number of programs out there to help entrepreneurs. officials in the nation's capital tried to get the word out about these programs during the recent national small business week. >> the president talks about an economy built to last. and we know that small businesses are going to be a big part of job creation in the future. >> small business owners from around the country descended on washington, d.c., for national small business week to attend events and ceremonies held by the u.s. small businessed a nrgs. >> we are very, very excited. >> from b