Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Government Audits And Oversight Committee 20240713

Commission. But as long as there is a sponsor it goes through a legislative process for a zoning change to that table that exists in the planning code saying what is allowed, what isnt allowed, requires conditional use, neighborhood notification. Any change comes to the Planning Commission for recommendation as a proposed ordinance or zoning change, and then from there it goes on to the Land Use Committee and board of supervisors and finally the mayor. And its all done as a proposed piece of legislation. And from there the Planning Department makes the change to the map and from 30 days after the mayor signs it, that is what become it is new zoning in that district. Because its an individuallynamed district, thats the part that makes it easier because you dont have to change it for all of them. You can just change the one little thing. Correct and one last question for jen since she is here. You dont got to get up. Is that little bit of yellow, is that monterrey . Sf gov tv . Which yellow . Thats monterrey. Thats where safeway is. Oh, thats where safeway is . Yep yes, we did not include monterrey. But we can happily do so in engaging some of the commercial tenants there. We intentionally for district 7 looked at areas that would have the characteristics that are distinct. Monterrey was up for consideration but given that it is a smaller strip, theres not really i think it was something we wanted to engage the neighborhood on and not too hastily do so without their input. I think that makes perfect sense. Totally agree with that. I do think its like it sort of speaks to me of like an opportunity that is just kind of needs more love and attention, i think. Absolutely. I think this is not the be all end all. I think this is a way for us to create more tools in our toolbox. If this works maybe this is something to talk about, to expand or to use in the future for other parts. This is not i dont think all the n. C. D. S are reflective of all the different commercial corridors of the city. Am i right to say so . I mean, its a good majority of them, but its not universal. And i think right now its a good this is a good kind of test. Thank you. Commissioner. So i probably am the commissioner that has most recently gone through a planning and building process in that my business got its approval just a little over a year ago. And i probably looked at and considered to submit l. O. I. S in 15 locations where after reviewing the n. C. D. Restrictions with o. E. W. D. , realized that my what my Small Business wanted to do was not allowed or basically not allowed because it would have had to go through a c. U. And thats just both financially and temporally a huge obstacle for a lot of Small Business owners who dont have money they are paying themselves while they are building a Small Business. You put here in the explanation that this that land use controls could be either made more liberalized or stricter depending on needs with these named n. C. D. S and i guess thats the key point in my mind. If the individual naming of all of these streets makes it that much more difficult for young folks, folks without a ton of money, folks with a bold idea that hasnt been tried yet could be more difficult to be put into a corridor that they are a part of, i think it could and commissioner you maybe mentioned this as well, it could make it harder to open up Small Businesses in San Francisco. So the key in my mind is how do we make sure that once this is all done that we dont actually make the process of if i recollecting out if your Small Business of figuring out if your Small Business can fit into a commercial door is even more difficult. You mentioned the process that basically anyone can propose adding in additional restrictions to a named corridor. And the process that it goes through to figure out if thats going to be okay is land use and planning and the board. Those are all bodies that may or may not have Small Business owners on them. Maybe they are, maybe they arent, or people who have tried to open up Small Businesses in our city. So thats troubling to me, because that experience is important. Unless im missing something. So all im saying is i think it will be important for all of us in this room to watch how this plays out in the future, and we are sitting here in a couple years and all of a sudden there are 31 new set of rules on whether or not you can open up a bookshop on bernal or coffee shop in cole valley, i think it could make things harder. I would like to make sure i clarify that you are absolutely right, and it is something that we would say is a possibility. And we have seen controls in certain n. C. Districts become stricter over the years versus less strict. I will say in order for the Planning Commission to recommend approval, it does have to meet the guidelines of our general plan which has a very strong commerce and industry element that it must meet. And so generally, i cant say 100 percent of the time because it is discretionary at the commission, because but generally, we are for anything that will activate the street front and will bring activity to these districts. And so thats kind of what these districts are designed to do. And it is in their definition in both the planning code and our general plan. So theyre certainly not in risk of becoming, for instance, residential districts or becoming entirely office space, because my bidefinition, they are by definition, they are to be Commerce Centers within a neighborhood. But they are something to watch. An example. Some of you may not know this but valencia street is its own commercial corridor. I found this incredible space on 17th and valencia on the second store of harringtons. A huge space, hadnt been activated, the landlord liked it. It was just sitting there vacant. I worked with katie at oawd. We had come up with a set of terms that was going to work. She went through the planning code and it turns out that on valencia, second floors of valencia street frontages are not allowed to have food and beverage specifically. So we had to crush that. And actually after that point i thought i might not be able to open up the space because we couldnt find a space big enough. So i think its great we are removing n. C. D. S for everything. This is a great step, and we should all monitor it in the future and make sure as things are proposed to change that Small Business voices are heard. Thank you. Commissioner huie. I had a few questions. One was what are some of the criteria that your supervisors went through in order to identify these additional named commercial districts . And also when was the last time more, i guess, last time one of these districts was added to the list . And why these, basically . So he we dont have all six of the districts here, so we can only speak to because the concerns that were raised for district 9 and then i dont know if jen wants to speak about district 7. The storefront vacancy tax the way it was written is that the only places that it applies to are named n. C. D. S as of the date that the voters voted. And i totally agree with what commissioner yekutiel is saying, the concerns about vacancies i think are growing, and the acknowledgment that some of the burdens that we are placing on Small Businesses has really become primary in a lot of districts thinking. So digging into what are the things we can look at in the future in terms of code and needing to be able to do that on a individual, neighborhood by neighborhood way is going to be a lot easier than doing some global changes. For our district, we have three named n. C. D. S already in place. Theres a mission n. C. D. In district 9, a 24th street n. C. D. In district 9 and then theres also half of the valencia n. C. D. , and so what really showed up for us was we were very aware of other commercial strips that were having trouble and that were of enough of a quantity, enough of a size that it made sense for them to be looked at. For district 9, we also have a bernal Business Alliance which has members of many, many, many of merchants on cortland and theres also a Mission Bernal merchants association, which has members of the merchants that are between shaves and randal on mission. And then theres less of a formal organization on san bruno but also the Neighborhood Association which includes merchants in a big way. And so we have someone to work with as we move forward, and we are really looking at this as a starting point where these were not named n. C. D. S before, but this is a possibility for us to work with community, work with merchants and be able to figure out specific neighborhood changes that we might be able to make, but in the meanwhile, we will make sure the storefronts qualify under the storefront vacancy tax, if the voters vote to approve that. Does that help . Okay. It really is a general, we looked at the map, we are familiar with the district, and these were the corridors that jumped out for us. Okay. Commissioner ortiz. Actually, i was wondering when was the last time there were new commercial districts added . And i guess my point i guess of asking this question is really wondering why these areas were not included in past approvals and why theyre being addressed now because specifically of the vacancy tax and yes, so i think off of my question of when the last time it was approved, i would like to also know what were some of the ramification and what were some of the outcomes of that last time . Absolutely. So to answer the question about some of the our more recent individualnamed n. C. D. S, the fillmore street n. C. D. And visadero street were approved. Before that we had the Mission Street n. C. D. And we had four n. C. D. S in the sunset from four or five years ago. The hayes street is another one. All of these are areas that the Planning Department or supervisor sponsored the ordinance has felt that over the years, they have developed more and more of their own individual identity as a commercial district, and therefore oftentimes the Planning Department, thats why we would recommend they become their own named n. C. District. Most of the time they are coming from a Zoning District that was already neighborhood commercial but more generalized, this is great because it gives it the ability to evolve into its own identity, but as these districts all become a little bit more specific in the clientele they are attracting and the types of businesses that they host, they find that its easier to split off and become their own. In terms of this legislation, the Planning Department and Planning Commission did not have a hand in choosing the specific 12 districts. What we did have a hand in was advancementing each that came to us to ensure they did seem to have the threshold we use, which is that they have evolved in the last few years. And that may be why Something Like the cole valley n. C. D. Wouldnt have been something we would have considered five years ago, but the street has evolved there, the businesses have kind of started to formulate their own scheme, and that is what caused us to recommend approval. If that helps. You had a question . Im wondering in the areas that are currently named already, are there is there a difference in vacancy rates on these streets versus like with the ones that you are proposing . I dont have an answer to that question, but this legislation doesnt change the likelihood of vacancy in these particular named n. C. D. S. What it does is apply the same strategy that is going to be applied to the existing, preexisting named n. C. D. S if the voters vote to approve it to apply it to these as well. So it makes it consistent throughout the city to an increased number of named n. C. D. S. But there is nothing in place at this point for the named n. C. D. S that would be specific linked to the vacancyies. Okay. Commissioner ortiz. I want to thank everybody for their time on the presentation. Im a real proponent of n. C. D. S. Like if it wasnt for the mission, we would have probably lost a lot of the culture, the eclectic little shops, because formula retail come could around. It is a stop measure, and i appreciate that. Now that i live in district 10, seeing the bayview getting that big corridor is much needed. Because as gentrification happens, Small Businesses get gent if id as well. I have a question, and maybe you cant answer in detail, but how is the outreach for the various merchants associations along those corridors . Again, i would only speak to my own so this has moved very quickly. And thats why we are not changing any of the underlying control, because we didnt, honestly we didnt have the time to do so. We know we needed to make a deadline in order to in order for the storefront vacancy part of this to take effect, we needed to make a deadline. For Everything Else we hope will come later, some real sensitive deep digging with the merchants, we would love to do that, and we would love to take the time and have the capacity from Planning Department staff to dig it into and work with Small Business commission. For our district, we reached out to leadership among the Business Associations for these three corridors. And got positive feedback and were told to yes, please do this. So. If i could make a recommendation along the lines with my cocommissioneria yekutiel, maybe a lot more resources or maybe make associations where a business in the corridor is about the im sorry, c. B. 3 program text. Those are tools in the tool bag to expedite conditional use process. I think its underutilized and maybe now that the corridors are new, we take time and maybe allocate resources to bring this to light, like say, hey, we can really do a lot of good things here. We can help Small Businesses, make it a positive, and make its allocation of resources. I know there was a deadline but maybe you could go back and reach to those various merchant associations and let them know the resources they have. I just wanted to say and thank you, commissioner, i do know for a fact that you guys were reaching out, because i get involved with a lot of i have branches in most of these merchant corridors, and i know supervisor fury reached out in the richmond, march reached out in the sunset, and supervisor yee reached out to the merchant corridors. Because thats where they could really make changes. I like the fact here because when the visador street, as soon as that change happened, they were able to get the group hubs on the street into those second stories to take care of like what you experienced on valencia. But i do know some of these others, there was outreach, and i know rowland was doing outreach. We have a branch on san bruno avenue. And i think thats going to make the world of difference. I agree with you. We got to stop the parking thing. Sidebar, but i think you can really make, you know, Going Forward, i know this was intended for the vacancy, but each neighborhood is its own individual person. And i know the people down in cole valley, i dont live too far from there, and im there a lot, they were very, very happy about this. I know supervisor brown did a lot of outreach and dean preston was in there agreeing with it. So i actually think this will make a world of difference Going Forward on a whole bunch of different levels. So supervisor laguana . I just wanted to second what commissioner ortiz said. Theres an opportunity here i think as we are looking at this and reexamining this. When we come out on the other side and hopefully the measure is successful. Theres an opportunity here to open things up a bit. And loosen some of the strangle hold on Small Business and particularly the young businesses just trying to get up off the ground. So im sure well have all of your cooperation and engagement on that. But looking forward to that and your comments are wellsaid. And i totally agree with what you just said, because thats what actually happened on divis adaro. Things loosened up where i didnt think it would. And if you go down there right now, you dont see a lot of vacancies on that street between haight street and going up to geary boulevard. Past geary, yes, but in that new second right now, its like where theyve opened up those upstairs and stuff, its effective. It made a difference. Okay. We are going to open this up for Public Comment. Is there any members of the public who would like to make comment . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Do we have a motion, commissioners . Or not . Maybe this could be my first motion. Go for it i make a motion to approve the item. Seconded. Motion by commissioner yekutiel. Im so sorry. Commissioner yekutiel. Second to approve the ordinance as heard seconded by commissioner laguana. Roll call vote. [roll call] motion passes 60 with one absent. Great job. This is going to be awesome. I think this will really be a difference. Thank you for your time. Thanks, guys next item, item 7, approval of draft Meeting Minutes, action item. And there is one correction to be made under item 6 on decembe, there was an incorrect spelling of commissioner rileys name, so i will make that correction. Okay. Do we have any members of the public who would like to make comment on the draft Meeting Minutes of december 9 and december 20 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Im going to motion. Im going to motion to approve the draft Meeting Minutes for december 9 and december 20 with the correction of irene rileys name. Do i have a second . Seconded. All in favor, voice vote. Aye. Any noes . Item 7 passes. Item 8, directors report, update and report on the office of Small Business and Small Business assistance center, department programs, policy and legislative matters, announcements from the mayor and announcements regarding Small Business activities. Discussion item. Good evening, commissioners. Im passing down the report. Want to bring to your attention one of the highlights, i shouldnt say highlights but sort of recent issues that our business counselors are experiencing at the Small Business assistance center. And im sure youve probably heard, but theres a lot of confusion around a. B. 5, the employment status. And much of the materials and information seems to be discussed and spoken of around either the employer or the worker. But theres a lot of misinformation for people who are independent contractors but actually selfemployed and so weve had individuals come in and say, well now i need to register as ive been advised to register as an l. L. C. , i cant be a sole propryter. So im letting you know that we are significantly seeing an uptick in these kinds of questions and looking for support. Legal services for entrepreneurs will be providing a workshop. The california, the e. D. D. Is going to be doing a workshop on this wednesday. And we are hoping to see if we can get some of our other Economic Development organizations to provide a workshop and information. The e. D. D. Does have not the e. D. D. But the California Labor and Workforce Development agency does have some guidelines. So we are directing individuals there to see if their questions can get answered. But its a little unfortunate for us that for our counselors on our calendar that we feel a bit unequipped to be able to handle this. And so but to handle sort of being able to give very we cant give specific guidance in this direction but really have a clear place to be able to direct individuals except for the e. D. D. Excuse me, the California Labor Workforce Development agencys website. So we are exploring how we can figure out and meet this need more. But just letting you know that theres still quite a lot of confusion around ab5. And just sort of speaks to the unfortunate sort of consequences when bills and laws are written to really handle one particular issue and not really thought through about the broader implications. So i also do hear that theres potential amendments coming, because it cast its net too wide. So anyway. And then last year the state updated its pregnancy and family leave work policies. So the office of labor standards enforcement along with the California Department of fair labor and employment in housing and the e. D. D. Are conducting a workshop on january 28th for employers that are required to comply with the pregnancy and family leave. And how the state and local law applies. We will also be hearing legislation at the next meeting, and dominica will be working on that legislative review to provide more details. That is going to help bridge th. Next and i guess a couple things i want to just because weve already heard the legislation, but a couple things i just want to make sure as commission with there was discussion about how land use is controls are amended. And so probably the biggest bulk of legislative items that this commission reviewed is land use, changes to the land use code. And so any changes that would come up with any n. C. District will come before this commission. Though this commission is not cant mandate that the zoning go one way or another but makes its recommendations. But of course you are able to provide your input as to are we we can influence it. You can influence it and give the direction that its becoming more and more restrictive, which makes it more and more challenging. The beauty of the n. C. S is that you can sort of make it more tailored to the neighborhood and what have you. But the challenges as you spoke about, commissioner yekutiel, is that for businesses trying to figure out where they can or cant open their business, so for our counselors, having to navigate now if this passes, 30 no 42n. C. Districts of where they this one you can do this year, this one you you know, this one will require conditional use but over here it doesnt. So navigating that from a business perspective can also have its challenges, especially the more that the n. C. S get micromanaged. And i want to speak to kind of moving into section number two is that last week at the Planning Commission, the Planning Commission did speak at its time, they finally mentioned its time to revisit the formula retail. Can i jump in on that since it considers me . Yes. So you want to talk i was moving an office next door, and it was recommended no, because of zeroedin planning. And in an area where theres a lot of vacancies. And so my landlord, were done. Our lease is up. We have to move. And we just wanted to move next door. And principally permitted in both locations . Nope, it was not. And that was the thing. I had been in this location for 23 years. It will be 24 this year. And the way the planning worked, i couldnt move next door. So i went and i did win. I got unanimous approval. But what it did is we needed to start looking at, and the Planning Commission said you have to start looking at these. Because with vacancy and whats happening, things are changing rapidly. Not, you know, rapidly meaning what used to take a year or two years can take now a month, two months in these neighborhoods. And its happening in these neighborhoods quickly. Upper market is starting to become a ghost town. So its stuff that needs to be addressed and needs to be addressed immediately. And to speak to commissioner adams situation, it was because what was written in the planning code that there could be no more than x percentage of linear footage. Like sometimes these things get really micromanaged down. And so i think moving forward with the commission, when land use regulations come forward, a lot of times what happens is the District Supervisor is the one that is the legislative sponsor. And so the tendency is to just allow the legislative sponsor do what they are proposing in their neighborhood commercial district because theres an assumption that they worked with the Community Merchants association and the community to create this. And so they often get passed, you know, because one supervisor doesnt want to challenge another supervisor because three months down the road, they may be introducing something. And so i think it will be this bodys moving forward, sort of really, really taking a look at the details of whats in the proposed changes and looking at it in term of its overall impact and whether we need to say that x number of lineage square footage, you know, needs to happen. Quick question for you, regina. So the Planning Department, is there im thinking about mannys problem where you have an idea for a business and then and ive dealt with ive opened 15 locations, and you think its bad here, try to do it in georgia or some other crazy state across the country. What ive always sort of hungered for is just to be able to put in the naics code and a map lights up of you could open here, here, here and here. Is [laughter] theres a property map, and theyve launched a new, which well send out to you, program. You need to be careful not to take it too literally. But you still need to do your Due Diligence of cross referencing, but it does if you want to open a certain type of business, you can select it, and it will sort of pop up. But you still need to do your Due Diligence in doublechecking the local zoning code of the address of where you want to be, because theres sometimes a lot of nuances. A question go ahead. Does any of the bodies that approve increased ordy creased restrictions on named n. C. D. S require to have a voice of a Small Business on them . Any of the bodies they have to go through . Like, the land use is made up of boards. But does the Planning Commission have a seat that is typically held by a Small Business owner . No. So its this body, and i think for, yeah, you are on it. And so the job for dominica and i is to see a piece of legislation and go and weigh the impact. And so therefore there are times when the decision is we really need to try to hear this before the Planning Commission hears it so that the Planning Commission can really take the Small Business commissions recommendation under advisement. And then there are times where its more beneficial for the commission to hear the Planning Commissions advisement. So we try to weigh that. The Planning Commission generally schedules and theres generally a little more lead time in our ability to schedule the land use legislation before this commission, because the Planning Commission is allotted 90 days to be able to weigh in instead of the traditional 30 days. So it is this body that is to do the advisement and recommendations to the various departments and the board of supervisors. I just wanted to go on the record, because every time we get new commissioners, this is kind of like the nobrainer that pops up, and it kind of fades away into the night. Definitely. Why wouldnt there be a business, a Small Business owner on the Planning Commission and s fm ca. Although they sometimes dont even bring stuff to the commission, because they probably dont think it applies to Small Business. And as we know, they operate in silos, and they dont understand the unintended consequences of Small Businesses. The hand doesnt talk to the foot kind of thing. And as a Small Business person on these boards, it would make a huge impact. And i just, you know and that is an opportunity to draft a resolution to the mayor or board of supervisors from the Small Business commission with that recommendation. Because many of the commissions have particular seat definitions of what is to fill the seats. But some are some may be a little more open for an individual who can fill both the Small Business and another just seems to me that we empower every citizen to be able to independently change the zoning controls of a particular street in their neighborhood, but we dont require the body of Small Business owners to weigh in on whether or not thats a good idea or not. Neighborhood approval. They are supposed to go talk to your neighborhood merchants associations, Neighborhood Associations. Those are required. Its required, but i think even when talking to the counsel of district merchants, many of the merchant groups dont really understand how the land use and zoning tables work for their own district, their own commercial corridor. So thats an education component. But i just wanted to inform you that there is opportunity to be able to take a look at things as they come up and be able to question the need and often some of the mic yo management of the n. C. S come from more the residential individuals surrounding the commercial district. So. Was there an indication on formula retail . What way they were thinking of revisiting . They didnt give a specific indication, but i think that what they acknowledged is that while there was a hard and fast rule within the upper market n. C. District, that then ended up affecting sterling banks move. Particularly with vacancies that it just is in your situation you have eight. You said you have 15, okay. Im screwed. And i have 26. And i was being compared to wells fargo, chase, who has 5,000 or 4,000. I have 26 nationwide. Im not and im a community bank. And im put in that same category. You would be as well at 15. And you are not enterprise or any of these others. So when we look at Small Businesses like you and i, we dont get bundled into that. Or the blue bottles. Or the blue bottles. Exactly. [off mic] stones believe it or not is not formula retail. They are part of the independent grocers. And they only have eight. Oh. So, i mean, to your question, commissioner, is that they didnt give any more of an indication but just i think acknowledged that this overregulation, particularly in this around formula retail, its time to reevaluate formula retail. Thats heartening to hear. I hope we can have a positive and constructive conversation with the supervisors about this. Also how formula retail is starting to morph with all the cloud kitchen and ongo stuff. We have to get ahead of it. So that said new business. The new business item. So at the next meeting well be having the presentation on c. B. B. S and the presentation from the sfpd Small Business group that worked with the San Francisco council of district merchants. So deputy chief lazzaro will be presenting and will be asking the sfpdma to be part of that presentation as well. Dominica and i have just started having initial conversations i would like i think the best thing for with the commission is to develop have the commission, instead of having a presentation but to conduct a hearing. Yes. So around the delivery apps and companies and impact on Small Business. And it even kind of, you know, questions have come up around laundromats and various things like that. And so that, while not quite the same but, you know, theres a lot of online laundry in addition to new development doing putting laundry in the units. And so might need to take a look at that effect as well. But the fact that you can also send out your laundry and have it delivered. So well be working on a hearing. I dont have a specific date, but i think that we would like to make sure that yeah, that we have it in this first quarter. So no later than the last meeting in march. But it does mean that there will probably be back and forth that we may need to there will be documents and information that well be sending out. Because it will be up to the commission, when its a hearing, its basically having the departments come, make a presentation based upon some of the questions and initial questions and things that you want to address, but really be prepared to ask questions, because we are clearly not in the place where we need to be. So your ability to be able to provide them with really clear direction of where we need to go, what we need to look at, what we need to analyze to make any potential changes. Yes. Can we add sfmta, theres been a shift where a startup bought the Third Largest Parking Company in the country. And their intentions are so work out of these parking garages, which this particular company has about ten cityowned facilities under their management. So they definitely should be under they couldnt answer us. Remember . They were like private companies are buying Public Parking garages. Managing them, yeah. But they are still owned by the city and operated. So one of the Largest Companies in the country just got bought out by one of these cloud kitchen companies. Thats really weird, because i just heard from a dealership that is in a private garage that they lost space because the city is now paying top dollar to a private garage. So yeah, i think theres a lot to uncover. We need a hearing. So well be conducting a hearing. But it will be your opportunity to really be able to drill down and ask questions of those departments with the idea that what are we doing, whats the direction we are going, what, if any, are you thinking of the intended consequences and how are we evaluating it . Can i ask a followup question . Yes. I know that the office of emerging technology is becoming did it get voted on . It did. And i believe they are only going to be looking at technology that is landbased. So emerging technology that will be that you would see, like, on sidewalks or on the streets. They wouldnt be looking at things like thirdparty delivery platforms. Interesting. Thats in the mandate. I reached out. I found out via a supervisor as well. Thats what i thought. But no, does not apply to that. They just made it for the delivery robot that doesnt exist anymore . Are we inviting any of these companies to a hearing . Were you planning on it . Yes. So there are specific ones that you want to make sure to please email dominica. So. And to the public looking on tv, just to know we are advocating for you to our great pearl. These people are heavily financed. So if i end up missing, you know who it is. [laughter] im not playing. And then commissioner ortiz, the tablets, we are working with our Budget Office now on dealing with the purchasing. All right. I will donate the cost. So we dont get it budgeted, i will pay for it. I have to go to the board of supervisors to be able to accept that donation. But thank you. And then lastly, i dont know how many of you have ever been to the Small Business administration office. But would like to close the meeting in honor of Michael Chong who worked for the federal government for 50 years, ten years as a in the military but 40 years at the s. B. A. And he greeted probably everyone. Tens of thousands of Small Businesses over those 40 years. So just want to close the meeting in his honor. I loved michael. I took courses in how to write a business plan, how to do i took five or six different classes in preparation for opening up mannys, and michael was such an amazing hes not dead, hes still alive. Right . He did pass away. Oh, no, he died . Yes, just unexpecteddedly. Oh. He was really great. Okay. Lets open this up for Public Comment. Do we have any members of the public who would like to make comment on the directors report . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Any other items, director . That is it, unless you have any other questions for me. Were good. Next item, please item 9, commissioners reports, allows president , Vice President , and commissioners to report on recent Small Business activities and make announcements that are of interest to the Small Business community. Discussion item. Okay. I dont have anything this evening. Any others . Commissioner laguana. I was delighted to attend it, yes on d event in north beach in favor of we have to be careful about how we talk about that. Oh, shoot. Thats right. I didnt do anything. Sorry. [laughter] any other commissioner comments . Okay. Any members of the public that would like to make comment on commissioner comments . Seeing none, commissioner reports are closed. Next item, please. Item 10, new business. Allows commissioners to introduce new agenda items for future consideration by the commission. Discussion item. Anybody have any new business . I forgot to Say Something about the commissioner report. Go ahead. We need to close back out of new business and reopen. Lets go back to commissioner reports. So we are going to reopen item number nine. I wanted to give a quick report on how the economic Mitigation Working Group is going. And well probably have something more formalized to distribute to the Commission Soon since we are codifying our recommendations. But i think this body and for those of you who are new to give you some context, the Small Business commission wrote a resolution after the most recent ban on electronic cigarettes, and it was a resolution that echoed recommendations we made prior from the last ban, but asked for mitigation for businesses that are directly impacted and really asked the supervisors to make that a precedent when they do their letting, because a lot of legislating. Because a lot of the data that was gathered and a lot of the Industry Impact and analysis was actually done internally by our office, thanks to a lot of the hard work of dominica and the director. So this resolution has been adopted by the board of supervisors and turned into a working group called the economic Mitigation Working Group. And it has a seat for Small Businesses like smoke shop and corner store to board of supervisor seats, the chamber of commerce Mayors Office of economic and Workforce Development, our office. Its a precedent for how we really collaboratively come up with legislation that doesnt have these unintended consequences, these big policies that are putting legallyabiding businesses out of business without any recourse or transitional support. So we have had indepth presentations from departments that are directly relating to the businesses that this particular ban is affecting. So that has been really, really useful because we are able to identify fees, kind of the lowhanging fruit that can be wins for the supervisors and for Small Businesses that are just on the books that nobody has looked at. And so we are starting from kind of that immediate Material Support in terms of fee mitigation and also looking at Bigger Picture how we can look at heavilyimmigrant and minority demographic with a lot of folks that also want to retire and how we can help businesses diversify their revenue and even innovative ideas like popups or shared retail. So i think its a precedent for how our commission can impact policy and present really specific ideas to the supervisors, whereas they may not have a Reference Point for what exactly they can do to help a Small Business demographic thats directly targeted by legislation. So im really excited about it. Great. Thats awesome. A quick question. Regina, so is there a difference procedurally between a working group and a committee . Is there a different Public Notice requirement . Can you talk to me a little bit about, like, is there a different staff load, for example . Between those two . Well, i would say for dominica, the staff load is probably greater for the working group. But if theres any official committee developed from this body, the board of supervisors created this working group committee, our office. So but if there is a committee from the commission, then it has to follow the same meeting procedures and criteria. Yeah, and when i first joined the commission, we did did have some committees, and the committees when we met, it was like an open meeting. So we had people coming, Public Comment, the whole nine yards, and then we would report back whoever was the chair of that committee during this meeting would report back what our committee did. Did you find that helpful or can you speak into the mic . Sorry. Did you find that helpful . Yes. Yes. All right. Also just to speak to that as well. So this body produced a resolution to the board of supervisors like commissioner said, the board of supervisors then opined on whether or not they would and specifically supervisor waltons office, whether or not they would issue their own resolution to establish the working group or if they would issue an ordinance i believe was what happened to establish the working group and had they done had they established a working group through ordinance, it would have required many more layers of bureaucratic red tape in order to get lifted off ground. So everyone found that establishing the group through resolution was the best and most expedient fashion. We should follow up with another conversation about that. Because i am interested for us as a commission to, for instance, manny is experienced with having just gone through all the zoning stuff and to be able to put him in a room where we bring, like you were talking about, commissioner ortiz, where we bring people from planning, we bring folks from the Supervisors Office or whatever, and we get those folks with where its like its fresh for you. You just did it last year. So you are very intimately familiar. I went through it last week too. Last week yeah, even better. And then if we are going to make real structural change to be able to leverage that expertise and recent experience. Would you hold that thought . Because ill finish commissioner reports. And this is something to bring up under new business. Okay. Great. Exactly. So under commissioners report, im going to reopen up Public Comment. Do we have any members of the public who would like to make comments on our commissioner reports . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. New item. Item number 10. Reopening new business. Allows commissioners to introduce new agenda items for future consideration by the commission. Commissioner laguana. Finish up, because i like that idea a lot. Yeah, i would say simply the idea is to find the most lightweight and by lightweight, i mean as minimal staffing as minimal paperwork, bureaucracy, procedure, the most lightweight possible way that we can get to get the folks in the room together with the best information with an eye towards how this impacts Small Business, get them all in together, get the best and brightest minds together, come up with a series of recommendations that they can then bring back to our commission, to the Planning Department, but sort of key and central to this is making it as lightweight as possible so that we are not sort of burdening out we want to use for other things and not burdening staff in bureaucracy, but still getting the benefit of all this wisdom and just between the two of you, i imagine, the things could effd shop and dine on the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of San Francisco by supporting local Services Within neighborhood. We help San Francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant. Where will you shop and dine in the 49 . San francisco owes the charm to the unique character of the neighborhood comer hall district. Each corridor has its own personality. Our neighborhoods are the engine of the city. You are putting money and support back to the community you live in and you are helping Small Businesses grow. It is more environmentally friendly. Shopping local is very important. I have had relationships with my local growers for 30 years. By shopping here and supporting us locally, you are also supporting the growers of the flowers, they are fresh and they have a price point that is not imported. It is really good for everybody. Shopping locally is crucial. Without that support, Small Business cant survive, and if we lose Small Business, that diversity goes away, and, you know, it would be a shame to see that become a thing of the past. It is important to dine and shop locally. It allows us to maintain traditions. It makes the neighborhood. I think San Francisco should shop local as much as they can. The retail marketplace is changes. We are trying to have people on the floor who can talk to you and help you with products you are interested in buying, and help you with exploration to try things you have never had before. The fish business, you think it is a piece of fish and fisherman. There are a lot of people working in the fish business, between wholesalers and fishermen and bait and tackle. At the retail end, we about a lot of people and it is good for everybody. Shopping and dining locally is so important to the community because it brings a tighter fabric to the community and allows the Business Owners to thrive in the community. We see more Small Businesses going away. We need to shop locally to keep the Small Business alive in San Francisco. Shop and dine in the 49 is a cool initiative. You can see the banners in the streets around town. It is great. Anything that can showcase and legitimize Small Businesses is a wonderful thing. I view San Francisco almost as a sibling or a parent or something. I just love the city. I love everything about it. When im away from it, i miss it like a person. I grew up in San Francisco kind of all over the city. We had pretty much the run of the city cause we lived pretty close to polk street, and so we would in the summer, wed all all the way down to aquatic park, and wed walk down to the library, to the kids center. In those days, the city was safe and nobody worried about us running around. I went to high school in spring valley. It was over the hill from chinatown. It was kind of fun to experience being in a minority, which most white people dont get to experience that often. Everything was just really within walking distance, so it make it really fun. When i was a teenager, we didnt have a lot of money. We could go to sam wongs and get super soup for 1. My parents came here and were drawn to the beatnik culture. They wanted to meet all of the writers who were so famous at the time, but my mother had some serious Mental Illness issues, and i dont think my father were really aware of that, and those didnt really become evident until i was about five, i guess, and my marriage blew up, and my mother took me all over the world. Most of those ad ventures ended up bad because they would end up hospitalized. When i was about six i guess, my mother took me to japan, and that was a very interesting trip where we went over with a boyfriend of hers, and he was working there. I remember the open sewers and gigantic frogs that lived in the sewers and things like that. Mostly i remember the smells very intensely, but i loved japan. It was wonderful. Toward the end. My mother had a breakdown, and that was the cycle. We would go somewhere, stay for a certain amount of months, a year, period of time, and she would inevitably have a breakdown. We always came back to San Francisco which i guess came me some sense of continuity and that was what kept me sort of stable. My mother hated to fly, so she would always make us take ships places, so on this particular occasion when i was, i think, 12, we were on this ship getting ready to go through the panama canal, and she had a breakdown on the ship. So she was put in the brig, and i was left to wander the ship until we got to fluorfluora few days later, where we had a distant florida a few days later, where we had a distant cousin who came and got us. I think i always knew i was a writer on some level, but i kind of stopped when i became a cop. I used to write short stories, and i thought someday im going to write a book about all these ad ventures that my mother took me on. When i became a cop, i found i turned off parts of my brain. I found i had to learn to conform, which was not anything id really been taught but felt very safe to me. I think i was drawn to police work because after coming from such chaos, it seemed like a very organized, but stable environment. And even though things happening, it felt like putting order on chaos and that felt very safe to me. My girlfriend and i were sitting in ve 150d uvios bar, and i looked out the window and i saw a police car, and there was a woman who looked like me driving the car. For a moment, i thought i was me. And i turned to my friend and i said, i think im supposed to do this. I saw myself driving in this car. As a child, we never thought of police work as a possibility for women because there werent any until the mid70s, so i had only even begun to notice there were women doing this job. When i saw here, it seemed like this is what i was meant to do. One of my bosses as ben johnsons had been a cop, and he i said, i have this weird idea that i should do this. He said, i think youd be good. The department was forced to hire us, and because of all of the posters, and the big recruitment drive, we were under the impression that they were glad to have us, but in reality, most of the men did not want the women there. So the big challenge was constantly feeling like you had to prove yourself and feeling like if you did not do a good job, you were letting down your entire gender. Finally took an inspectors test and passed that and then went down to the hall of justice and worked different investigations for the rest of my career, which was fun. I just felt sort of buried alive in all of these cases, these unsolved mysteries that there were just so many of them, and some of them, i didnt know if wed ever be able to solve, so my boss was able to get me out of the unit. He transferred me out, and a couple of weeks later, i found out i had breast cancer. My intuition that the job was killing me. I ended up leaving, and by then, i had 28 years or the years in, i think. The writing thing really became intense when i was going through treatment for cancer because i felt like there were so many parts that my kids didnt know. They didnt know my story, they didnt know why i had a relationship with my mother, why we had no family to speak of. It just poured out of me. I gave it to a friend who is an editor, and she said i think this would be publishable and i think people would be interested in this. I am so lucky to live here. I am so grateful to my parents who decided to move to the city. I am so grateful they did. That it never hmm. [cell phone beeps] hey [police whistle blows] [horns honking] woman hey [bicycle bell rings] turn here. There. Excuse me. Uh. Uh. [indistinct announcement on p. A. System] so, same time next week . Well, of course. Announcer put away a few bucks. Feel like a million bucks. For free tips to help you save, go to feed the pig clapping. in San Francisco the medical examiner performs the function of investigating medical and legal that occurs with the city and county of San Francisco from a variety of circumstances in San Francisco there is approximately 5 thousand deaths annually im christopher director for the chief mr. Chairman the chief my best testimony a at the hall of justice on 870 drooint street that is dramatically updated and not sufficient for the medical chairman facility ive Charles Program manager public works should a earthquake of a major are proportion occurs well not continue to perform the services or otherwise inhabit the building before the earthquake. Were in a facility that was designs for a department that functions and in the mid 60s and friends scientific has significantly changed weve had significant problems with Storage Capacity for evidence items of property and also personal protective if youre doing a job on a daily basis current little storage for prirjs are frirnlsz were in an aging facility the total project cost forever ever commercial is 65 million the funding was brought by a vote of go bond approved by the voters and the locations is in the neighborhood the awarded contract in 2013 and the im the executive director we broke ground in november 2015 and that started with the demolition of existing facility we moved into the foundation and january so Pile Foundation and then with second construction of the new facility. One of the ways that we keep our project on time on budget and were having quality to have regular meeting and the variety of meetings with construction process meeting as well as cost of control meeting and im a project manager for public works the office of chief commercial we want walk the project site when we sign up and also with a contractor insinuates for a change over we need to verify what or what was instead of. The building is 42 feet tall so it is two stories and 46 thousand square feet roughly were thats a great question to be on time and budget have the roof complete a the exterior moving with the site work. And as you can see weve got a lot of the interior finishes installed. In an effort of an differentiate the facility that designed to work for 72 hours. Not taking into account there was a lot of structural updates made into this building not seen in other construction throughout San Francisco or other barriers we have friday morning examiners from 8 to one Public Comment monday to friday because of air circulation we literally have to shut the doors and so the autopsy is done without staffing being able to come and go or exit the space and literally lock down the autopsy in the new facility we have bio build one door opens and closed behind you you can gown up and go through a second seizures of doors that has its own independent air supply and now in the exterior opt space having that middle space have greater flexibility of staff as they move in and out of the area. In the current facility Investigative Unit has small tiny, tiny place in the area of the new facility is almost doubled in all divisions from the current facility and the new facility. The planning we have here gives them the opportunity to have the pool needs to complete theirs jobs in a much more streamlined fashion. Were looking forward to have secured parking to minimize the egress of you know visiting and the members of the public but really to minimize the investigators remaining remains from our advancing and so the facility. We have a new visitors area were building that is a little bit more friendly to families. One thing you may notice in the room no windows there is no Natural Light not good for most autopsy but in the new facility at new hall we made that an objective they want to insure we were able to look up in the middle of exam and see the sky and see Natural Lights. Thats one of the things the architect did to draw in as much light as possible. We have staff here onsite we insure the design of the new design enables the investigators and other investigators skiefksz to consider to house on site this meant we needed to design and plan for locker room facilities and shower rooms the ability to sleep. Third of the construction going into the building has been by contributions of Small Businesses. Part of the project is also inclusive to the sidewalk have all new sidewalks and new curve cuts and landscaping around the building well have a syrup in front of the building and rain guardian. The medical Examiners Office has been a several if in their contributions of the understanding the exception and needs. Its a building that the chief medical examiner has been looking forward to quite a few of the. It is extremely valuable contribution to the, neighborhood address San Francisco as a whole. The building will allow is to have greater very much and serve the city and county of San Francisco and the neighboring