Any opposed. Okay. The minutes will be approved. Item 12. Review and approval of the minutes of the special joint meeting of the planning and Building Inspection Commission of june 20, 2019. Move to approve. Second. There is a motion and second . Any Public Comment on the minutes. Seeing none are all commissioners in favor . Any opposed . Thank you. Our next item is 13. Adjournment is there a motion to adjourn . Move. Second. You are now adjourned at 110 4 00 a. M. Thank you. 1 10 47 a. M. A way of life in San Francisco. When the next major quake hits, the city hopes a new law requiring seismic upgrades to five story buildings will help keep more residents safe and sound. Tell me a little about the soft Story Program. What is it . Its a program the mayor signed into law about a year and a half ago and the whole idea behind it was to help homeowners strengthen buildings so that they would not collapse. Did you the soft Story Program apply to all buildings or building that were built in a certain time frame . It only applies to buildings built in the time frame of 1978 and earlier. Its aimed at wood framed buildings that are three or more stories and five or more units. But the openings at the garage level and the street level arent supported in many buildings. And without the support during a major earthquake, they are expected to pancake and flatten ~. Many of the buildings in this program are under rent control so its to everybodys advantage to do the work and make sure they protect their investment and their tenant. Notices have gone out to more than 6,000 owners of potentially atrisk properties but fewer than onethird have responded and thousands might miss an important deadline in september to tell the city what they plan to do. Lets talk worst case scenario. What happens in a collapse . Buildings have the tendency of rolling over. The first soft story walls lean over and the building collapse. In an earthquake the building is a total loss. Can you describe what kind of strengthening is involved in the retrofit . One of the basic concepts, you want to think of this building kind of like rubber band and the upper three floor are very rigid box and the garage is a very flexible element. In an earthquake the garage will have a tendency to rollover. You have to rubber band analogy that the first floor is a very tough but flexible rubber band such that you never drive force he to the upper floors. Where all your damage goes into controlled element like plywood or steel frame. So, here we are actually inside of a soft story building. Can we talk a little about what kinds of repairs Property Owners might expect . Its a very simple process. We deliberately tried to keep it that way. So, whats involved is plywood, which when you install it and make a wall as we have done here already, then you cover it with this gypsum material. This adds some flexibility so that during the earthquake youll get movement but not collapse. And that gets strengthened even more when we go over to the steel frame to support the upper floor. So, potentially the wood and the steel it sounds like a fairly straightforward process takes your odds of collapse from one in 4 to one in 30 . Thats exactly right. Thats why were hoping that people will move quickly and make this happen. Great. Lets take a look. So, lets talk steel frames. Tell me what we have going on here. Well, we have a steel frame here. There are two of these and they go up to the lower floor and there is a beam that go across, basically a box that is much stiffer and stronger. ~ goes so that during the earthquake the upper floor will not collapse down on this story. It can be done in about two weeks time. Voila, youre done. Easy. For more information on how to get your building earthquake ready, welcome to the epic center did you know you may be eligible for a 3 thousand redefeat beating hell learn about the Stay Safe Program hi, everybody im patrick chief resigns director for the city and county of San Francisco welcome to another episode of stay safe im here with jennelle for the California Earthquake Authority shell talk about brace and bolt good to see you. Earthquake brace and bolt the first Incentive Program of california Mitigation Program as jointly managed by the Earthquake Authority and the california gvrnz of department of emergency services. And what is the mission. Brace and bolt is 3,000 up to a homeowner that retrofits the equivalent in a singlefamily. Were down owe epic center the public demonstrates weve built a mock house so i dont in the take a look at it and and show you what were talking about were in a model house in the epic center to demonstrate a variety of things jen i will i want to focus on the portion of the house and tell us how brace and bolts help to keep the home safe. This is a particular foundation and that mockup shows the first floor right here and, of course, this one is the concrete foundation and this short wall that is in between those two youre first floor and the concrete foundation is called a cripple it is a short wall this is a particular vunltd in 0r8d homes theyre designed before metamorphic coddling codes and will slide off the foundation. If you come to my home look at the previous work. So see if any anchor bolts between the wood and this mud and concrete foundation that is a collar bolt. What if i dont have enough space power a think collar bolt and we have Foundation Plates made by a company where a flat plate that is bolted to the concrete foundation and screwed into this flat mechanism. If i applied to a bolt what is a it coffer what type of work should you do in my hope. Up to 3,000 funding with the collar bolts or Foundation Plates and plywood up to the top of the short triple wall that going around. What are the tips. You want to make sure the Capital Improvement plan emancipation proclamation he will the short wall is less than 4 feet tall youll use the provision to adopt it to the city of San Francisco so a contractor can use that. So if i have a typical house over a garage and did that quality for the program. That would qualify for the program you need an engineer to design the riefrt it is not specific for that kind of house it is really theyre looking for short cripple walls maybe a couple of steps up. So jen i will if i want to find out more information. Earthquake brace begin . Good morning. Today is wednesday, july 17th, 2019. This is a regular meeting of the abatement appeals board. I would to remind everyone to please turn off electronic devices. The first item on the agenda is roll call. President , here. Vice president lee . Here. Commissioner clinch . Here. Contribution commissioner mccarthy . Here. Commissioner walker . Here. Commissioner konstin is excused. Next item, b, is the oath. Will all parties giving testimony today please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony youre about to give is the truth to the best of your knowledge . Yes. Thank you. You may be seated. I wanted to state for everyones information that the department will present its case first and the appellant, each side has seven minutes to present their case. Next theres Public Comment and members have three minutes each to speak. And then lastly theres rebuttal time of three minutes for the department and then the appellant. Our next item is actually i wanted to make a brief announcement that case number 6861 has requested a continuance, so that case will be continued for 30 days. Is there anyone here to speak or Public Comment . Okay. Seeing none, our next item is item c, approval of minutes. Discussion and possible action to adopt the minutes for meeting held on april 17th, 2019. Okay. Are there any corrections or comments regarding the minutes, as presented . I move. I accept the minutes. Second. Okay. Moved and seconded. Thank you. Theres a motion and a second to approve the minutes. Is there any Public Comment . Seeing none, all commissioners in favor . Aye. Any opposed . The minutes are approved. Next item is case number 6862, 2945 becky, nancy and stanley. Action requested by appellant to obtain a 90day extension to do the work. Would staff like to come forward . Good morning. My name is mauricio hernandez, chief building inspector for Code Enforcement process. So the summary is work without permit, over excavation and removal of a retaining wall, at the rear lot and hazardous condition. A notice of violation was issued back in august of 2018. Number regards to the excavation that was observed. Two building permits, one for shoring and the other one for remediation to comply with a notice, repair the retaining wall. And also provide [inaudible] in regards to the damage done to the foundation. As you can see on the back, theres some picturing showing the damage. This is the foundation of the existing adjacent property. The retaining wall is the one on the already removed and thats the exposed soil conditions of the adjacent property. Staff issued order of abatement. And 3 20 2019 the owner was given enough time, he was also given an extension of the hearing, in order to correct this. Theres only two permits filed to correct the conditions. One for the retaining wall. And then the other is to comply with notice of violation prior to shoring and all of the repairs done to the foundation. The staff recommendation is to uphold the order of abatement and impose [indiscernible] commissioner clinch . Can i ask a question . Are you done yet . Do you know the condition today, since its been about a year. I believe its still the same. We havent gotten any progress. I was reviewing the file and we havent had any action from the owner, since we issued the order of abatement. Okay. Has the neighboring property weighed in on this at all . Yeah. We actually issued a notice of violation for the neighboring property. But we have that on hold, because theyre not at fault here. So we are working we are actually trying if you look at the whole chronology of the actions, we are trying to work with them, because we know that theres a civil matter to all this. A civil dispute in all of this. Theres two properties involved. But at the same time we still need those permits to be issued, we need the shoring, we need the assessment report. And by looking at the file, the assessment report was never given to our inspector. I see. Thank you. Is there cooperation from the other neighbor . And these are the pending issues that they actually have to sign a waiver to allow them to perform the work. Has that waiver been issued . I apologize. I dont have an answer for that, because i know at one point we had a meeting with the owner. And, you know, again there was more of a civil dispute saying we didnt cause the damage, so why are we needing to be doing the work. Yeah. Well, i dont think thats the question is obviously its very clear who has to do the mitigation work. But it needs the cooperation of the person that is affected by it. So the question is is there a situation where the neighbor is not given the legal autonomy, to go ahead and get the work done . Assuming they are. Like i said, we had a hearing for the other property. Yes. Around the same time as this one. We did send it back to staff, because they were yes. But there is cooperation. Is there the signed letter, which is what the Department Needs to process a set of drawings from that neighbor . Maybe mr. Sweeny can tell me the exact name of that form thats needed. Well, its a building permit. But theres a letter stating that your Structural Engineer has power. Theyve filed two permits, both should have been over the counterrer. Theyve been sitting there now for 11 months. Why are they not processed . They havent come in to do it. Its a simple overthecounter permit. They filed two permits. Why have the permits not been issued . Theyre here. You can ask them. If to file the permit, you have to have a letter from the neighbor. Or we wouldnt have accepted it. So what were trying to establish here, if this is procedurally not the procedural problem, because both parties are not cooperating. Just trying to establish this. Its suppose to happen immediately, not within a year. Thats very Important Information here. We need to know who is holding it up. There is two permits. Both the permit for the adjoining neighbor wouldnt have been accepted, but it was. Because its on filed status. But this is sandy conditions, out in the sunset. So is the delay because the permit applicant has not come in to pick them up . According to what i saw on the board, these are just form 8s. Theyre overthecounter. If they would like to. What they did, they went in and they filed it. Often times we see that as a way of delaying enforcement action. I see. One more time if you look at the screen, there was actually a note provided to them on the permit. If you look at the note on 8 29 18. Temporary fix is not efficiently compensated for the loss of support under foundation. So one thing they never provided more information on the permit itself. So i dont think its something that the other owner is actually stopping the job or the permit itself. The nextdoor neighbor is not here, right . No. And the actual notice of violation was actually two things. Obtain the service of a structure engineer to assess the situation and how to proceed in a safe manner. That was one of the items that we asked for. [bell ringing] the second was obtain a permit with plans to cover this work done as intended. Okay. Any other . Im still trying to ask the staff, do we have the letter allowing the neighbor to work . I mean, i know we were given other reasons, incomplete set of drawings. I just want to know. Is the cooperation and letter approved the neighbor to do the underpinning work on . The permit thats being shown up there was accepted. We would not have accepted it without a letter from the neighbor giving permission for the engineer to file it. Okay. So, yes, it has to be there somewhere. We dont have it here with us. Okay. Thats okay. Thats important. Thank you. So were were thinking this as incomplete set of drawings right now at this point, based on the information thats on the application . They went before tom lee. Tom lee asked for more information. They never came back. Okay. Thats important. Thank you. The appellant can come forward. Use the mic, please. Okay. I want to show you what we were trying to do. We were trying to clean up a planter box. So im going to put a picture of it right here. This is the planter box that we were trying to clean up. We just hired a handyman and he just used a shovel, bucket and the back of his truck. He had no intention of breaking this wall. The wall fell down on its own, after he excavated it. Now were trying to fix it. We contacted officerrertore officer tora who tried to full the first permit, because he was not successful. I guess thomas lee requested calculations and albert advised that he didnt think we needed calculations. He said we needed photos of inside the neighbors property. So ive been in conversation with the neighbor about that. And he absolutely refused to give me photos of inside his property. Hes okay with us doing the work on the outside, as long as you do the work outside, hes okay with it. I have correspondence showing that he wants all of the work done outside. Im happy to share that with you guys. Okay. Any questions . Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right. Is there any Public Comment on this item . Theres no Public Comment. The department have rebuttal . Appellant have anything additional youd like to say . Im sorry. Mauricio is coming. Thank you. So the violation that was issued provided clear protective action to the owner. If you look at the whole scope of the investigation, we did provide enough time for the owner to work with the department. Even the fact that we provided an extension of a hearing. And we refer back to staff, so they can work with us, but again we still have the unsafe condition. We still have, you know, permits on issue. We still have no, you know, corrective action done at this time. Okay. So for the record, just go over again the sequencing of dates. I mean, i know its in the packet. Yeah. The first action, extensions and the like. Okay. The case was opened last year, in august of 2018. Note was issued. The same day the next day that we were out there. We gave them 30 days to comply. On december 11th, we referred to Code Enforcement. January 15th we prepped for the directive hearing and on the 23rd of january, it was a continuance was requested. To march 5th, 2019. So we we consider that continuance and we worked with them and provided a continuance of the hearing. After that, you know, the case was prepped for the hearing again. Thats when we provided the order of abatement, because we have no again we have no issued permit and we still have no shoring. I mean, if we had a structure engineers report, then we can work with them and say, okay, look, yeah. We can work with you. At this time on the file we never the owner never provided that first item, which was that report. Okay. Thank you. Any rebuttals . This is the photo that shows i met up with a Structural Engineer. Albert was going to provide a free consultation that date to me. But he said you need to do emergency shoring right now. So we got a contractor out to do the work. And then this is the emergency shoring that he did and submitted to the city for approval. And then i followed up later on, per the city, with another inspector to get permission to do the shoring work. So i sent a letter to the neighbor, will you give me permission to do this work. And i guess at that time, a week later, he went to the city and said does he need to sign my letter. And he was told he did not need to sign my letter, because all of the work is suppose to happen on my side. And, you know, so he didnt sign my letter to get permission. I think the inspector was joe mcduffy and he called me and told me so directly. So, therefore, we didnt get any permission from the neighbor on the emergency shoring work. But i know that hes happy that its done. So his property is secure. So were working to install a new retaining wall. This is this was 2 feet and 20 feet long. Were planning to install a new Structural Engineer, 5 feet tall retaining wall in place in the back. So thats what were working on trying to get approval on. So thats it. Thank you. Commissioner clinch . So a question for you. So the picture you showed, how long ago was that . This was done august 28th, on the day i met up with albert, for my free consultation. He called a contractor he knew that curry construction to come over to do the work immediately. So we did this correction pretty much a few days after the notice. And the intent you have is to tear that out and put in a proper retaining wall, is what you want to do . Right. We need time for him to draw it out. And yeah to do a proper wall later. So to buy us time to do that. So that was the purpose of this wall. Its a temporary wall. Okay. Commissioner walker. What have you been doing for the last year . Thats my understanding. I mean, you seem to buy time with that. Were not trying to buy more time. Were not able to get a permit from the department of inspection to do the work. Were not trying to buy more time. Im ready to do the work. Weve been trying. Were not trying to buy more time. Right, i understand that. Why arent you down at the department with the engineering report. Weve been told we need to talk to the neighbor, get their permission. They have not given the permission. Circular here. One moment. The way the way it happens is their engineer would come down and dispute that pictures are needed from inside of the house. That all of the work can be done from outside of the house. From what ive seen from the pictures, they probably grouted the sand. And then they added more grout to fill in the portion that was missing. In the temporary . So really the work underneath that house is probably already done. So why their engineer isnt coming down and showing documents of what occurred, i have no way of telling you. Yeah. If you get hung up by one of our engineers, you can go to a supervisor. Have you been down with the Structural Engineer to the department . Yeah. Are you the engineer . No. Have you been down to the department with the Structural Engineer or a report, as requested by our department . We have not been down here with our engineer. Theyve been coming directly themselves on their own. So, no, we have not come here. But they have come down . They have come down. Michael has been he said hes been talking directly with an inspector on his drawings, to make sure that it gets approved. We dont know where it is at this moment. I know that he filed for a permit and he hopes to get the permit in 30 days. Commissioner mccarthy. You have to help me out here, im getting two different versions of the story here. One is im getting theres calculation. Im being told there suspect calculations. Now im being told the permit has not been processed because you need to get inside the property to photograph the interior of the other owner, who weve been told is cooperating. But now were hearing isnt cooperating. So, i mean, this is i mean, im sympathetic to these people, because i see what happens with these. But weve got a real problem here. This is a project thats been undermined for a year. Well, its not. Theyve done the work without a building permit. According to the pictures they just showed. They went ahead and did the work without the permit. Theres been nothing pulled from it. Weve asked im coming from the point of view that that doesnt exist because we had no permit i have no idea the integrity of that shoring job that was done. So this is the problem the the problem here. Were trying to get to who is stalling this. Im getting two different versions here. Thats all im saying, you know. Because i as somebody who has had these situations before in the building world, if you have a neighbor who is not cooperating, it really becomes a situation where if youre doing everything on your side, and theyre not doing it, we have this standoff. And we need to this is going to help me in making my decision here. Im trying to get to the bottom of this. It would appear that the neighbor is cooperating, but with the caveat that i dont want i dont want people in my house making a mess. I dont think you have to do the work on the other side. I think all of the work can be done from their side of the property. Okay. Were assuming. Can you explain to me what the neighbors exact objection is as to why they wont let you into the house, so you can complete your permit, that youre telling us that theyre cooperating for you to get. We know theyre not cooperating with giving access to inside their house. They didnt say why. They wont give access to their house. But weve been asking, you know. We said it would probably clear but they wont provide it. Just simple pictures of a wall or a doorway would be helpful. But they havent provided anything to us. Weve had emails, you know, talking to them, asking them to sign a release of the piece of paper that you guys from the department of building inspection. They dont want to sign the piece of paper. We made an offer to them. But they said no way. So thats we gave them the deadline to july 5th. But theres emails here indicating they dont want nothing to do with us. Its your testimony that the permit that youre trying to pull and your engineer is trying to pull has all of the information it needs to be issued, except youve been denied the permit hang on one second, inspector. You were denied the permit because the neighbor is not cooperating. Right. Right. Okay. Well, thats thats where were at. Please. Okay. Inspector. Well, we can all we have is tom lee, who is retired now, he did 30 years with us. And 8 29 18 he says overthecounter review, but not approved. Temporary fix is shown on plans is not efficiently compensate for the loss of support under existing foundation, due to overexcavation. Comments noted on plans in exchange directly to e. O. R. At counter. Engineer of record at counter. Yeah. The engineer was talking to them, almost a year ago. Yeah. Hasnt come back. And im not im not coming from the point of view it was done correctly anyhow, right. So i think we need to go fast forward now. You have a neighbor thats not cooperating. Thats the question that was asked at the very start of this hearing. And you an n. O. V. On that neigh. You should be forcing that n. O. V. Based on the testimony were hearing exactly. Weve said that in the past. Through the chair, and whats in front of us here is the n. O. V. Of a neighbor, is that you have on hold. So what the testimony here today from your side is doesnt make sense. Isnt adding up here. But the reason not too long ago, our policy was give notice of violations to both parties and take it all the way through the process. Weve been criticized by this commission often by why were attacking, why we go after the person that didnt do the work. So weve changed up. So now we give both sides a notice of violation. But we but we only go on the enforcement on the people that caused the problem. If i can make a comment, we pushed the other case to the directors hearing. The hearing officer actually was the one that referred back to staff. It wasnt the staff that send it back. Second, the owners were actually willing to work with the other owners. But again thats more of a civil dispute, that if something happens in between them, i have no control over. But they were because they were actually able to file the application. The other item that we have issues with is the owner, even if they had an engineers report, never reached out to the inspector, saying we have the engineers involved now in the process. So that we can submit a report, so they can submit a report. And we can say, okay, look, give me a sketch, a stamp, a sketch with the engineer. We can approve that shoring for now. But nothing of that happened. Nothing of that nature happened. So we did actually enforce the other notice of violation. We went up to the directors hearing and it was a hearing officer that made the ruling and that decision, sending it back to staff. So whats in front of us here today is the temporary sorry, through the chair, is a temporary permit to protect the property, not the actual undermine not the underpinning permit. So there was two permits that they were suppose to get. One was the shoring and one was actually the remediation of the work. Okay. Whats in front of us is the shoring permit, right . Yeah. And that, like i said that could be issued . Yeah. And the bill was flexible enough that if we had an engineers report saying, yeah, this is imminent hazard right now, heres my corrective action. I need to do this work within three days. Honestly as a chief or a senior could say, yeah, sure. Show me an engineers report, show me the stamp and well work with you and you can provide some emergency measures right now. And then we can move forward with the retroactive permit. But didnt happen on this one. And we have given enough time. And as well, like i said, weve issued the other owner notices of violation. We send it to the directors hearing and it was per the hearing officer that was referred back to staff. Okay. Commissioner walker. Thank you. This you know, it helps us see through the different layers of this. Firsttime recalling past hearings where we actually had all parties come together at this hearing, which seemed like a good thing. I mean, i think that the discussion, as i recall it, was yes, were inconveniencing people around. But there needs to be some sort of forced negotiation. And its not going to happen necessarily, whats holding it up is an engineering drawing that includes an interior assessment of the neighbor. If you need to see that, its not being forced. So i would say that theres no reason not to uphold the violation. But im i get that there needs to be more time involved. Its just i have the concern that president mccarthy does, that weve been sort of allowing this to sort of linger for so long and arent really aware of whats going on under that foundation. So i think that we need to do something really quickly. And maybe its splitting the cases here and dealing with the shoring, as an emergency as a temporary thing. And, i mean, either way this has been going on way too long. And i dont know yet why that is the case. So i still need to sort of discuss or hear from the other commissioners about that. Because i dont know how that affects our access. Commissioner walker, perfect. Okay. Any other comments, commissioners . Okay. Thank you. Okay. Please just return to your seats. Okay. So we have a situation where, you know, we have a danger a potentially dangerous situation. Its gone on way too long. It does sound like there is reason to uphold the order of abatement. And we can enforce the fines. But getting to the point of separating this, so that we actually get a solution, that first and foremost, the temporary shoring or the emergency shoring be done under permit and with inspections is the first priority. We have to know that that was any work that was done there was done correctly. You know, clearly its a bit out of character that, before a permit was issued to do it, the work was done. So i would think that im sorry. Commissioner walker. Maybe we should take Public Comment and finish we did. We did already. I think that i think i would tend to want to uphold the order of abatement assessed costs and just, based on the findings of the actual violations, and the necessity to move forward around this emergency situation of the foundation. I think that staff usually goes forward finding a solution that satisfies the permits, as that plays out. Thats my feeling of how it goes. Correct. So it would allow the first part to happen and then hopefully the engineer would be engaged for the subsequent fixes of this. So i dont know that we need to hold an for this to happen, but we could. Maybe we can get a weighin from staff on that. Do you have any perspective on it . This work could be done, you could rebuild the foundation with that footing probably in a couple of weeks. Easily. Its not a big job. Yep. Through the chair, i think what commissioner walker and what the commissioners are thinking, we break this up into two parts. One is the temporary shoring of the property, to issue a permit immediately, where i would envision they would send their contractor or their engineer down, lets say tomorrow. Issue that permit because what you need for that is done. Possibly. Yeah. Okay. Tom lee, who wasnt happy with how they did it yeah. Have the engineer go down there and correct whatever needs to be done there. And then that would then we can send somebody out to see if the work that theyve already done does meet that criteria under that permit, right. We can do that. Then we as a commission know its stable. Then i think somebody needs to sit down with the homeowner to know we now need a detailed set of underpinnings drawings, to include the cooperation of the neighbor next door in full. Well, the emerging shoring permit probably is the same. Is it . And then the second permit is to put back the retaining wall that was moved. Right. Right. That permit would have the cooperation of the nextdoor neighbor, and get past this situation were dealing with. Commissioner walker. So i think that the question here is does the first part of reviewing the emergency shoring, does that require the neighbor cooperation or can we do that with just the engineer . Well, we already have we have a permit thats in play. So you just need to inspect it . I need an engineer to come down and sit down with our engineer and bring and bring calculations. And calculations i dont think they need to go next door. Okay. Yeah. So then first step. Yep. Okay. If their engineer wants to come down and meet me, i can bring him downstairs. But i need their engineer to come. Commissioner. If i may, through the chair. Sure, go ahead. Your engineer. I need your engineer to come down tomorrow and see me. Okay. What time . Im there at 7 30. Okay. Okay. Thank you, deputy sweeney. Okay. So i would move to uphold the order of abatement. Correct. Assess costs. Correct. Facts presented showing evidence of violation of our codes, sufficient to uphold this order. And work for a speedy resolution as discussed here. Correct. Perfect. Id second that. I have a motion and a second. Well do a roll call vote. President warshell . Yes. Vice president lee . Yes. Commissioner clinch . Yes. Commissioner mccarthy . Yes. Commissioner moss . Yes. Commissioner walker . Yes. General Public Comment, are there any members of the public here to speak for general Public Comment for items on the abatement appeal board agenda . Okay. Seeing none, item f, adjournment. Move to adjourn. Second. Motion and second. Okay. We are now adjourned. We will reconvene at 10 00 a. M. , the Building Inspection Commission. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Everything is done inhouse. I think it is done. I have always been passionate about gelato. Every single slaver has its own recipe. We have our own we move on from there. So you have every time a unique experience because that slaver is the flavored we want to make. Union street is unique because of the neighbors and the location itself. The people that live around here i love to see when the street is full of people. It is a little bit of italy that is happening around you can walk around and enjoy shopping with gelato in your hand. This is the move we are happy to provide to the people. I always love union street because its not like another commercial street where you have big chains. Here you have the neighbors. There is a lot of stories and the neighborhoods are essential. People have they enjoy having their daily or weekly gelato. I love this street itself. We created a move of an area where we will be visiting. We want to make sure that the area has the gelato that you like. What we give back as a shop owner is creating an ambient lifestyle. If you do it in your area and if you like it, then you can do it on the streets you like. Youre watching quick bite, the show that has San Francisco. Were here at one of the many food centric districts of San Francisco, the 18th street corridor which locals have affectionately dubbed the castro. A cross between castro and gastronomic. The bakery, pizza, and dolores park cafe, there is no end in sight for the mouth watering food options here. Adding to the culinary delights is the family of business he which includes skylight creamery, skylight and the 18 raisin. Skylight market has been here since 1940. Its been in the family since 1964. His father and uncle bought the market and ran it through sam taking it over in 1998. At that point sam revamped the market. He installed a kitchen in the center of the market and really made it a place where chefs look forward to come. He created community through food. So, we designed our community as having three parts we like to draw as a triangle where its comprised of our producers that make the food, our staff, those who sell it, and our guests who come and buy and eat the food. And we really feel that we wouldnt exist if it werent for all three of those components who really support each other. And thats kind of what we work towards every day. Valley creamery was opened in 2006. The two pastry chefs who started it, chris hoover and walker who is sams wife, supplied all the pastries and bakeries for the market. They found a space on the block to do that and the ice cream kind of came as an afterthought. They realized the desire for ice cream and we now have lines around the corner. So, thats been a huge success. In 2008, sam started 18 reasons, which is our community and event space where we do five events a week all around the idea of bringling people closer to where the food comes from and closer to each other in that process. 18 reasons was started almost four years ago as an educational arm of their work. And we would have dinners and a few classes and we understood there what momentum that people wanted this type of engagement and education in a way that allowed for a more indepth conversation. We grew and now we offer i think we had nine, we have a series where adults learned home cooking and we did a teacher Training Workshop where San Francisco unified Public School teachers came and learned to use cooking for the core standards. We range all over the place. We really want everyone to feel like they can be included in the conversation. A lot of organizations i think which say were going to teach cooking or were going to teach gardening, or were going to get in the policy side of the food from conversation. We say all of that is connected and we want to provide a place that feels really Community Oriented where you can be interested in multiple of those things or one of those things and have an entree point to meet people. We want to build community and were using food as a means to that end. We have a wonderful organization to be involved with obviously coming from buy right where really everyone is treated very much like family. Coming into 18 reasons which even more Community Focused is such a treat. We have these events in the evening and we really try and bring people together. People come in in groups, meet friends that they didnt even know they had before. Our whole set up is focused on communal table. You can sit across from someone and start a conversation. Were excited about that. I never worked in catering or food service before. Its been really fun learning about where things are coming from, where things are served from. It is getting really popular. Shes a wonderful teacher and i think it is a Perfect Match for us. It is not about home cooking. Its really about how to facilitate your ease in the kitchen so you can just cook. I have always loved eating food. For me, i love that it brings me into contact with so many wonderful people. Ultimately all of my work that i do intersects at the place where food and community is. Classes or cooking dinner for someone or writing about food. It always come down to empowering people and giving them a wonderful experience. Empower their want to be around people and all the values and reasons the commitment, community and places, were offering a whole spectrum of offerings and other really wide range of places to show that good food is not only for wealthy people and they are super committed to accessibility and to giving people a glimpse of the beauty that really is available to all of us that sometimes we forget in our day to day running around. We have such a philosophical mission around bringing people together around food. Its so natural for me to come here. We want them to walk away feeling like they have the tools to make change in their lives. Whether that change is voting on an issue in a way that they will really confident about, or that change is how to understand why it is important to support our small farmers. Each class has a different purpose, but what we hope is that when people leave here they understand how to achieve that goal and feel that they have the resources necessary to do that. Are you inspired . Maybe you want to learn how to have a patch in your backyard or cook better with fresh ingredients. Or grab a quick bite with organic goodies. Find out more about 18 reasons by going to 18 reasons. Org and learn about buy right market and creamery by going to buy right market. Com. And dont forget to check out our blog for more info on many of our episodes at sf quick bites. Com. Until next time, may the fork be with you. So chocolaty. Mm. Oh, this is awesome. Oh, sorry. I thought we were done rolling. This is a regular meeting of the Small BusinessCommission Held on monday july 22, 2019. The meeting is being called to order at 2 02 p. M. The Small Business commission thanks Media Services for televising the meeting which can be viewed on channel 78, our live streamed