>> president adams: do we have any member of the public that would like to address the commission? seeing none, public item is called. next item, please. [agenda item read]. >> good evening, president adams, commission, small business staff. richard kurylo, office of small business manager. sfgovtv, i have a powerpoint presentation. before you today are three applications for the small business registry. the applications were reviewed by me for completion, submitted by department staff on december 18 and heard by the his torque preservation commission on january 13. there are copies on the table in the public binders. item 3-a is dianda's italian american pastry company. the business is a bakery established in 1962 in the mission district when spouses bought the italian american pastry company. note that dianda's extends back to before 1962, however, we do not presently have information about the original italian american pastry company. the family was from luca, italy, with the hopes of opening his own bakery. t in 1979, dianda's constructed a new building in its present location so the bakery could meet the growing demand for its cookies, pastries, and cakes. the new building continues to demonstrate loyalty, integrity, and an unending passion for commitment and quality to detail. item b is new delhi restaurant. it is located in the former hotel ramona, built in 1914, two blocks from union square. the owner started his career in the food business at age 14 at calcutta's park hotel as a vegetable cutter. after high school, he worked in calcutta, new delhi, and hong kong before settling in the united states and opening new delhi restaurant. it is a hub of the bay area indian community. named one of the finest indian restaurants in the united states by the new york times and featured on the galwill lo gourmet television show, the business continues to thrive. the last is pearl market, established in 1982. it stocks a wide range of products. pearl market has provided continual market services to most of the community's low-income residents, specifically low-income people of color, serving as a community focal point and anchor bringing together all races and income groups. many long-term low-income and senior residents rely on credit from pearl market to subsidize their monthly shortfall and purchase basic food supplies. the current owners emigrated from syria. it recently underwent improvement, including new registration units, with new fresh food items, and gourmet lunch items were introduced. all three businesses received a positive recommendation from the historic preservation commission. after reviewing the applications and the recommendation from h.p.c., staff finds the businesses have met the three criteria to qualify for listing on the legacy business registerly. there are three draft resolutions for considerations by the small business commission, one for each of the applicants. your support of the businesses should be a motion in favor of the resolutions. in the resolutions, please pay close attention to the core physical features or atritions that define the business. the businesses must maintain these features to remain in the registry. this concludes my presentation, and i'm happy to answer any questions, and there are business representatives in attendance who would like to speak on behalf of the applications. >> president adams: okay. do we have any questions before we go into public comment? okay. we are going to go into public comment. anybody want to make public comment on any legacy businesses? come on up. >> dottu, we're still very proud of you and your accomplishments, and we love you very much, and we hope that we can be the next generation to continue your business. tell you you love him. >> i love you, dottu. >> president adams: next speaker. mayor agnes, come on up. >> is it my turn? i like this commission. >> president adams: we like you. >> well, good evening and thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you in a very timely fashion. let me start a little personal. i'm 82 years old. people ask me now, what are you doing with yourself? what are you doing since you left the mayor's office, and my answer is a very respectful one. it is anything that i want to because i'm not running for anything, i'm not looking for anything, and so when i come to an event at 5:30 in city hall, and i've just left my five-year-old grandson, it must mean something, and this application is an important one for our city, and that's why i came. because on november 3, 1988, i cut the ribbon for the new delhi restaurant, and frankly, i wondered, how is he going to do it? he took this old, kind of beat up place, and turned it into a magnificent facility, aesthetically speaking, and the food was outstanding. and he started to reach out to the community right away. in fact, sara, who's here with those little children that are hers, she was, like, that age when i cut the ribbon on this facility. so i go back a long time, and every five years, they come to invite me to celebrate another milestone. so here we are today, seeking another important milestone for the future of this business. the food is great, they have turned this facility into an iconic space to go to, and the only argument i've ever had with them is over who pays the bill. he always wants to pay, and i refuse to do that because i want to pay my way for this facility, which is so outstanding in this city. but the most importantly thing that brings me here is not what he has done with the decor and the presentation of this magnificent facility or the great food, it's what he's done with the community, especially the compassionate chefs program, where he works with poor kids in india and poor kids in the tenderloin and works with them so they can begin to develop a world citizenship. i think whatever else you're hearing that is more timely than perhaps i am is worthy of your legacy preservation. thank you very much. >> president adams: thank you very much. any other public comment, and any other businesses? >> thank you. if you have been involved in the restaurant business as long as i've been, time comes in your life when you wonder, man, is it really worth it? today, at this moment, is one such milestone which says yes. it is rare for the restaurant to honored to become a part of the historical legacy of an iconic city like san francisco. i'm humbled that all the trials and tribulations has been worth it. i'm looking to embrace the chaos that's coming towards me in the morning and being okay with it. the success story comes with many unseen sacrifices, especially from my wife, codi, and my daughters, sarah and kaitlyn. they are the ones who went without many important things in their lives so the restaurant could come first. it was with a lot of sadness that i had to make that decision so this recognition is shared by all of us in the family and all of us that worked in the extended family in new delhi restaurant for over 20 years. since our opening day, we have been honored and blessed to meet and form lasting connections with amazing personalities like former mayor, art agnos, who cut the ribbon on the 5th, tenth, 15th, 20th, 25th, and 30th anniversary. what began as an indian restaurant focused on serving incredible indian cuisine with a san francisco twist quickly turned into an irreplaceable stitch in the fabric of the community. we continue to serve incredible recipes while serving as a bridge to the wider san francisco bay area. we are humbled to be considered for the honor of the only indian restaurant and the only indian business receiving legacy business status in the whole history of san francisco. thank you very much. >> president adams: thank you. any other members of the public? >> good evening. i'm the owner of pearl market. thank you for bestowing pearl market with this great honor. as i stated before, we thank the city of san francisco and their support of small enterprises in the fabric of building a great city. thank you very much. >> president adams: thank you very much. any other members of the public? okay. seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners? commissioner ortiz? >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena: new delhi, years ago, i worked in the area, and you were always in the oasis of what could be a ru rough patch in the neighborhood. us in the industry, we can work some crazy hours, and you were always there for us. dianda's, i'm from the mission. you're a staple. every time a communion, baptism, wedding, you're there, so i'm really proud that dianda's is getting the recognition today. >> president adams: thank you. commission commission commissioner zouzounis? >> commissioner zouzounis: dianda's, you're there at everything. i'm proud to see three generations on the registry. it's great to see a corner store on the registry. >> president adams: commission commissioner? >> i'm very happy to see dianda's being honored today. d >> president adams: any other comments? i just wanted to say thank you, everyone, for being a legacy business. each and every one of you, as one of our speakers said, is part of the fabric of this city. it's such an honor -- this is one of the funnest things that we get to do up here is hear about all these businesses. today, we have three distinct businesses, and each one of them plays a very important part in the one each one of them are at. so with that, do we have a motion to approve our three legacy businesses? >> i'll move. >> i'll second. >> president adams: who wants to second? >> i'll second. >> clerk: motion by commissioner dooley to approve all three businesses as legacy businesses, seconded by commissioner zouzounis. [roll call] >> clerk: motion passes, 7-0. >> president adams: great. congratulations. [applause] >> president adams: we're going to do a quick picture in the corner, then we need to resume our meeting. >> president adams: okay. so we are going to switch item number 4 and item number 5, so we're going to hear item number 5 first, and then item number 4 fifth. so with that, please call the next item. >> clerk: presentation, san francisco police department small business advisory forum. presenters are deputy chief david lazar with the sfpd. >> good evening, commission. as mentioned, i'm david lazar, chief deputy with the san francisco police department. one of my duties is to be the chair of the small business advisory forum. just to take you back briefly, in 2016, department of justice collaborative review with the san francisco police department. if you remember in 2016, there was a complete department review, and the department of justice had 272 recommendations for us, and one of the recommendations was recommendations 48, which stated that the sfpd needs to develop a robust, broad based community forum for policing across all communities. essentially, we needed to meet with different parts of the community, and we needed to have a sit down, dialogue, a conversation, so that we could receive input as a police department from the community as to what our strategies should be, how we can help others, etc. well, a lot of the forums were built, but this forum was finally built in the summer of 2019. and the chief is essentially the chair, but because he can't chair 12 selected meetings, he's picked us to serve as his designee. henry corneliowicz, is a chair, and another president of the council of district merchants association. we meet every -- once a month, on the first friday of the lunch. -- month. it used to be a lunch, sponsored by the department, but now, it's a breakfast. we invite a captain or foot beat officer or some sort of designee. our goal is to provide a voice to the small business community. we receive input regarding policing goals and strategies, and we develop crime prevention measures. and really, our goal as a police agency, as the sfpd, is to work to keep our small business community safe. and we remain safe, we believe, by having the ongoing conversation about safety. we also develop projects because we think crime prevention's important, one of the strategies that we can agree on. and one of the strategies that was agreed on was when to call police. modelled after japantown, and the work that goes on in japantown with grace and the community advisory -- community benefit district, i believe, in japantown, we've taken that model and we're building something out for the small business community. the other thing that we're doing is the small business program, a decal in your window, so if you need some help, you've got that, too. the other thing we want to do is participate in ride alongs, so we can have our small business owners ride along with a police officer for a day just so that he can see a day in the life -- so that they can see a day in the life of a police officer, attend a day of our police academy so they can see what we put our police officers through. but really, the go al is to hae a diverse group of business owners -- we want the same group to meet on a monthly basis to stay consistent and to really continue having the conversation. so in conclusion, our advisory forum is still new. we've met during the summer, so we meet once a month, and we're just continuing to explore ways to make our community better, our small business safer. i know the topic comes up quite often about theft and shoplifting and consequences how we can deal with that. in 2020, i think we're going to link with the district attorney's office to figure out a way that there can be some accountability for individuals who continue to shoplift and steal from the various businesses. i think the other thing we need to do is to figure out how to stream line reporting of crime. many people like they don't want to wait a long time for the police, but how can we use our on-line tools like cop logic or 311 to really get a feel of what's happening in a community in terms of theft or crime? so that's what we can do, and we're excited to have that conversation, and as time goes on, we feel we're going to make a big impact partnering with the community. >> president adams: thank you. commissioner comments? commissioner laguana. >> commissioner laguana: chief, it's great to have you here. just a quick question. how can the small business commission help you and the small business advisory forum? how can we make this grow? is there anything we can bring to the table or contribute here? >> yeah, there's a couple of ways. one, if you feel there are individuals that should be on this advisory, i really well come your suggestion on what should participate. we have a really good group of individuals now, but as you know, sometimes people will move on, and there will be vacancy. and secondly, i think it's important that we're looping you in, letting you know what we're working on. and then, the two-way is to have this commission share what your concerns are in regards to safety and crime prevention and let us work on something together so we can come up with new and innovative ideas to deal with some of the issues that come up in our city. i think this is something new in the police department that we're kicked off. >> president adams: commissioner dooley? >> commissioner dooley: yeah. thank you for coming and presenting. i think it's a great idea. you've got a good group working and on board with all the different communities, so kudos for you. thank you. >> thank you. >> president adams: commissioner huie? >> yeah. i just wanted to say thank you for coming and presenting to the commission. i think it's exciting this is happening, and it's great to here about some of the projects listed so far, and i think it'll be exciting to see how more dialogue building can help more of our neighborhoods. as a retail shop owner, i've dealt with some shoplifting and things like that. as a merchants association president, i've heard of a lot more in the neighborhoods around me and at other businesses in different -- you know, varying degrees, and you know, we've always kind of struggled with that, i think, in terms of how to -- how to make it a priority for somebody, knowing that it is a -- you know, it's a property crime, right? and it might not be ranking on the highest of somebody's attention, but it really does hurt the community. it creates a real sense of insecurity, and i think it really jeopardizes how much people want to be in the neighborhood. and as a business owner, you do feel very violated. and so i think this is a wonderful step towards really talking about it together and seeing if we can find some solutions to some very tangible issues that i think many business owners are dealing with. >> i thank you for your comments, commissioner, because it seems like every meeting, that item comes up with shoplifting, how do we deal with theft, how do we deal with the recidivism? how do we deal with the prosecution? what should be the punishment, and what other creative things can we do to prevent shoplifting from happening to begin with? and tonight confirms that i think that should be a project we work on in 2020, is to come up with some good ideas, so that -- yeah, thank you. >> president adams: commissioner ortiz? >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena: deputy chief lazar, thank you for your time. they sent us a blessing because we know you are very innovative, and i know you have an open mind. i'm excited because i know things are going to get done. this is not a show and pony. you're a smart man, and i know henry and the guys over there, so i'm excited. >> this is an honor to be a part of this. thank you very much for your kind words. [inaudible] >> -- to the meeting. i'm also still trying to figure out the mic. my business is on 16th street, at the corner of 16th and valencia, and one of the things we did early on was develop a relationship with the beat officers that work our part of the mission. and it's been illuminating to really hear from them and also speak to them, specifically, brandon rock, officer paul rhodes, the folks that work 16th and valencia and mission street every day. you know, a lot of the citizens complain about what's going on in this city, and it's the small business owners that are exposed to the suffering on our streets every day, especially those with brick and mortar businesses like mine on 16th street. so i'm heartened to see that the police department is working with businesses to develop an eyes and ears relationship. beat officers can only be so many places at so many times. also, for many of us, we are developing relationships on the street with the same people that officers develop a relationship with. i think this could be a very important partnership with finding out who is having a bad day, and who is intentionally trying to do harm. a strong working relationship between the police and the small businesses can assist with that somewhat, and i'm heartened to know this is happening. i just want to say i've been very impressed by the folks who work the valencia street corridor. i only hope that this grows and gets stronger, and that there can be a real honest dialogue between the small business community and the police. >> i want to thank you very much for your comment because you hit the nail on the head in several of your comments. the relationships between the small business owners and the community and police is essential. i don't want the small business owners to feel deflated, i want them to feel encouraged because we're working together. the other thing i want to say, especially for those watching tonight, is if you're a small business owner, you need to get to know your local beat officers. you need to meet your police captain. you need to attend the monthly meeting that the captain hosts, and you need to continue to form a relationship so that we can form trust to build a relationship and work on problems and solve problems together, and that really is the key. when we're isolated, we're less safe, so thank you very much. >> president adams: commissioner zouzounis. >> commissioner zouzounis: thank you, chief lazar, for your comments. first of all, i've been looking forward to this presentation for a while, and i'm excited that you're here. the commission has been hearing small businesses complain about their quality of life issues because they are at the street level, so i do like the idea saying that small businesses can be a sanctuary, as well, because we do play that role, and i think we need to do everything we can to not continue to pin different vulnerable communities against each other. so the main questions i want to get into, in the spirit of fee mitigation, and we've had a lot of presentations around fees facing small businesses, where sfpd is connected in some way, you know, whether it's on a regulatory license-holding business or whatnot. so i'm curious, what are the most fees that -- or kind of intersections that sfpd has with department of public health or other agencies in which they're regulating small businesses and administering fees or violations? if any of those have come up as a theme in conversations with businesses. if there's off-the-top-of-our-head ones that we can get rid of, maybe graffiti violations or something like that. >> yeah. i'm glad you mentioned that. besides the police department, small business has their role with department of public health, and graffiti, if the owner doesn't take the graffiti off their businesses within a certain amount of time. i'd have to get back to you with the department and what the fee was. definitely, that's something i can get back to you. my mind is more on how can we address quality of life, how can we address shoplifting and petty crimes and vandalism, and how can we make our small business folks safe? but on the permitting sense, i'd have to get back to you on that. if you pose some specific questions to me, i'd be happy to circle back. >> commissioner zouzounis: okay. >> president adams: commissioner patel. >> it was mentioned in the hearing that the board of supervisors had around small business issues, and there's actually a fee -- the fee that's cost my small business the most money, almost $2700 in fees this year, which is the fa false alarm fee? so we have a progressive fee structure in san francisco, where if you have a false alarm, it's $150, and then, it increases, so if you have two or three, then it goes up to $200, and i think if you have three or more, it goes up to $250. and some of you watching may think, well, what's so big about a false alarm? especially for new businesses, trying to figure out their new vendors, trying to figure out their alarm systems in my case, it could provide some great relief for small businesses if we were given some waiver period, maybe in the first year or two, or in my case, not get thousands of dollars of false alarm bills. >> you know, not to deflect from the san francisco police department on this particular issue, but what comes to mind, and folks that may be watching will call me in about ten minutes and say i was wrong on this, but i think the department of emergency management may be point on that program, which is the 911 center and the non-emergency police and all that. so i should look into that and really personally circle back with you and let you know where that is, and maybe you could have a conversation about restructuring first time, second time, if you're a new business owner, been there six months. i'm sure you know why that's in place. it's two police officers responding to a call for service on a false alarm, diverting from other services, but i understand clearly what you're saying, and it makes a lot of sense to me. >> absolutely. my idea would just be to give folks a grace period for the first six months or nine months while they figure out the vendors and the hours and all those things. after that period, it should cost you possibly, but i think there should be a grace period to help folks learn their systems. >> yeah. i'd love to talk with you more about that. thank you. >> president adams: okay. any other commissioner comments? okay. i just want to say this is a great program. i think it's great that you're teaming up with council of district merchants because they are connected with every single district in the city. i know for a fact that you just had a meeting out in the sunset in december, and a lot of my staff at the bank participated, and they got a lot out of it, and i believe we're one of the new safe spaces out there on 26th and irving street. the one thing that i'd like to focus on, and i know that's always made a difference, is the beat officers. i know when i was really involved with the castro merchants, you know, three officers come to mind. lynn reilly, lisa frazier, and chuck limberg. back in the 90s, they were the fabric of that community. they were just so much part of our community. everybody had their personal cell phone numbers so if there was a problem -- and you don't have that anymore. when we get into the meetings in the neighborhoods and stuff, more of the beat officers and personal interactions with the merchants in the neighborhood, you know, i know officers move around a lot, but we had these officers, like, for ten years in our neighborhood, and it really, truly made a difference. but i think it's great, what you're doing. i'm really happy that the sfpd has partnered with the council of district merchants. it couldn't be a better fit, so thank you. >> thank you very much. >> president adams: okay. we're going to open this up for public comment. do we have any members of the public that would like to make comment on item number four? >> hi, commissioners. first of all, i'd like to congratulate the new commissioners. i'm the cochair of this forum. we're really thrilled when we were asked to join this forum and to be part of the police involvement of what happens in small business. there's no doubt that this is a partnership between then and us. without the police, we wouldn't be able to even stay in business, and they've been really great responding to us. we just -- as president adams said, the beat cops are the big thing. but the great thing we're doing about these meetings is we're having them in different places each time. we've had them in the sunset, we've had them in the bayview, and they bring the police and everybody else in there, so we get to know these folks. so when you get there, you can say officer, what's going to go on? the other thing, we have presentations, like jorge rivas from oewd, who was talking about security cameras, and i said hey, guys, we can do this. we can put this up. deputy chief lazar, thank you for coming to this. he's still a busy guy, and he finds time to come to our meetings. so thank you, and thank you, commissioners for being around to help small businesses. thank you. >> president adams: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good evening, commissioners. welcome to the new commissioners. glad to see you all here, and good luck to your election i think a little bit later on today. i'm sure what you all do, you'll do it for the best of the city. when i was first here, being on the council of district merchants, we're part of the problem. we can't just go say, well, we need theis, you didn't do this. we're just as much the solution, asking the city, and we're part of the problem just by being this way. we're supporting our police, supporting our commission, asking the hard questions. so i wanted to come here in support of chief lazar and henry, who's my ever lasting and contact of the council. so the council knows that, and that's why we want to be part of the solution and not just being there to ask for solutions. thank you very much. >> president adams: thank you. any other members of the public? seeing none, public comment is closed. any other commissioner questions? seeing none, this is a presentation. thank you all very much for coming this evening. it was excellent, and we want you to come back here very shortly and let us know what's going on. thank you. next item, please. >> clerk: board of supervisors file 190282, police code. existing exemption to paid parental leave code. discussion and action item. the presenters are daniel herzstein with supervisor catherine stefani's office. >> earlier this year, the state of california passed sb 83 which will extend the state's family paid leave program from six weeks to eight weeks. as you know, san francisco has our own parental paid leave program, and the state law has a conflict with our law, so the legislation before you today helps us close a small loophole that opened with the passage of the state law. just as some context, our currently policy only applies to businesses with 20 or more employees, so it applies to some small businesses, but not all of them. and currently in the law, there's an exemption that says if you provide equal family leave or more generous family san francis leave, our san francisco doesn't apply to you. it defines paid family leave as six weeks, and with the state law that extended family leave to eight weeks, it would allow us to do less than what the state asks. so the legislation before you today is just a small update to the family leave exemption from six weeks to eight weeks. i know that the office of labor standards and enforcement is doing a generous amount of outreach to work with small businesses. they have a meeting later this week, but for now, i'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> president adams: any commissioner questions? it's pretty straightforward. commissioner huie? sorry. >> i -- just one question. do i have any idea how many businesses are going to be affected by this? is. >> so i'm not sure. so the businesses affected by this particular piece of legislation are businesses that currently have more generous paid family leave than is required. so a business that might feel like a hardship from it wouldn't be applying for this exemption. it only comes across for someone -- a company -- could potentially be a large businessli business, like facebook or a tech company that gives more generous family leave than we do under our laws. >> president adams: okay. any other comment? do we have any members of the public that would like to comment on item 5? seeing none, public comment is closed. this is an action item. do we have any support for this item? >> i move. >> i second. >> move to support this change to police code to make it more compliant with the state. >> harmonize with the state law. >> and so we -- okay. you got it. [inaudible] >> clerk: commissioner, dooley, motion to support the legislation as written. [roll call] >> clerk: motion passes, 7-0. >> president adams: great. thank you. >> thank you. >> president adams: okay. let's go on, then, to item number 9 -- >> i think he's walking in now. >> president adams: never mind. >> clerk: item 6, presentation on community benefit district by the office of economic and workforce development. presentation, the presenter is chris corgas, senior development manager with the office of workforce development. [inaudible] >> good evening, commissioners, apologies. we were in communication. my name is chris corgas, i'm a senior development manager with the office of workforce development. thank you for the opportunity to present tonight on the program. thank you for that. i also have hard copies of the presentation for you, as well. so community benefit districts are private public partnerships between local government and property owners and business entities. the public private partnership functions as so the city and county of san francisco and collects fees, disburses funds to the nonprofit owners association tasked with the management of the district, oversees the annual reporting process, and provides technical assistance to established and forming community benefit districts in the city. the c.b.d.s implement the management under the owners association, provide day-to-dayfuls articulated in that management plan, provide oewd assessment roles every june for submission to the controller's office. these are formed by property owners. property owners come together -- sometimes these are led by merchants associations, but typically, successful c.b.d.s are led by business owners who are seeking to raise certain fees on themselves for certain benefits for themselves. important to note, these are supplemental to the services that are provided by the city and county of san francisco. also important to note that sidewalk cleaning is the responsibility of the affronting property owner or tenant, which is part of the state streets and highways code 5610 as well as our local public works code section 174. another important distinction for c.b.d.s is everyone within a community benefit district pays the special assessment so there's no removal of you from the district if you're within the district bounds, and these are managed by volunteers, typically existing business owners. an important distinction to make tonight, and i'd like to articulate is the difference between a special assessment and a tax. c.b.d. special assessments are not taxes, and this is really important to make that distinguishment. taxes are levees that are charged by the government and facilities that provide certain benefits. there does not need to be a nexus between the tax benefit and the tax paid. an additional form of revenue are fees which cannot exceed the cost of providing those services, and then, there are special assessments which provided for community benefit districts. they cannot be based on property value based off proposition 13. instead, in san francisco and state of california, property characteristics, including classification are typically used. they can only apply to special assessments to properties within the special assessment district, and the amount of the assessment must reflect the special benefit to the property that results from the improvements. so a little c.b.d. history. the first district was actually created in 1969 in toronto, ontario, canada, and they came to the united states in 1974 with the first business improvement district as they're called elsewhere, forming in new orleans, louisiana. and they came to the united states as a response to neglected urban centers and commercial corridors. in 1989, california statute allowed for the formation of c.b.d.s, and in 1994, the california legislature passed the property and business improvements districts law of 1994, which we call the 1994 law, to address some of those short comings. this coincided with mayor newsom established a program at oewd to help mixed-use neighborhoods form and maintain c.b.d.s. this led to an increase in community benefit districts in san francisco. other cities include new york, los angeles, san diego, washington, d.c., and boston. over 1,000 cities in the nation have this program. so the first main law when we're talking about c.b.d.s is the 1994 act, which is the california streets and highways code section 3600. this allows cities to fund business related activities, improvements by the assessment of levees that benefit that business. article 15 of the san francisco business tax regulation code reduces the percent -- it'll use san francisco status as a charter city to address the particularities of san francisco's commercial districts and particularly mixed-use neighborhoods with the 1994 law. it reduces the percentage required for petitioning from owners to initiate formation. it allows the district to -- to encompass a particular property. it allows for the recovery of assessments for costs incurred for formation. it allows for the establishment of a district on a vote of a super majority of the board of supervisors for any reason, and so the c.b.d. formation process is threefold. this is a very good overview of it. the first is feasibility and planning where there's a determining of what a potential services are for a potential corridor and mixed-use neighborhood, what the potential service area should be, determining whether or whether or not property owners and in the case of business districts merchants in the area want a c.b.d. and determining potential factors for an assessment formula. once that's all determined, it allows for the drafting of the legal documents and essentially petitioning. and within that, you'll see the finalization of the service area, engineer's report, petition package, and then, the eventual petitioning of potential rate payers to formulate a c.b.d. formation. you need 30% of the businesses to come together to authorize a special election. and once that special election is authorized, the board of supervisors has the ability to introduce an authorization of intention, which once that goes through the legislature process, it starts a special election period which must last no shorter than 45 days. at that point, on the 45th or 46th day, typically in san francisco due to tuesday board meetings, the election is closed and there's a hearing to determine what the outcome is, and the board of supervisors has the ability to form the district if there is no majority protest. oewds role through all of this is a to provide assistance to potential community benefit districts, and we walk them through feasibility formation and the post formation assistance. we provide technical assistance to current c.b.d.s which includes the assessment of the special assessment roles, ensuring they receive all funds due to them from the city controller's office and the city assessor. we oversee reporting, midyear reporting, and compliance. in 2012, a study was conducted with the university of california at berkeley to look into the effectiveness of these districts and what they found was after implementation, c.b.d.s outperform citywide trends on the ma erto of indicatoof -- majority of citywide services implemented. after implementing services, crime levels decreased in c.b.d. bid regions 68% of the time. during the 2007 to 2009 recession, c.b.d.s zones retained more value in their properties, saw less significant reduction in sales tax revenue and maintained lower commercial vacancy rates. in fiscal year 17-18 on average, 27% of a district's assessment revenue was raised through nonassessment sources such as grants, fund raising, and donations. they leverage signature community leadership to perform their work via their government volunteering board and communities, and finally, it's correlated with the level of improvement. namely put, if the special assessment investments don't equate to what the improvements are aiming to be, then that level of improvement is not going to take place. in fiscal year 17-18, we've finished the annual reporting period, so these are accurate numbers. we -- the c.b.d.s as a whole collected over 2,100,000 pounds of litter and debris from the streets, picked up over 400,000 needles and syringes that were on the streets or gutter. biohazard removal, i'm going to get you use your imagination what that is, but they cleaned up over 21,000 instances of that on the sidewalk, removed over 75,000 instances of graffiti. they addressed over 9400 overflowing public trash cans, and they collected over 7,000 bulky and illegally dumped items over their c.b.d. zones. this is a map of the current community benefit districts. it's important to note in fiscal year 17-18, not all of these were not active at this time. most notably, soma west formed. thank you, commissioner zouzounis, with your hope on that. castro upper market c.b.d., upper polk, fisherman's wharf, downtown, the east cut, lower polk, north of market, tenderloin, and yerba buena all were providing services in 17-18. i'd also like to note there were two business improvement districts which are sector based. one is the tourist improvement district, which is an additional assessment on hotel rooms booked in san francisco and that goes to fund programming via sf travel. there's also another hotel based travel, the moscone expansion district which went to fund improvements and expansion at the moscone center. so with our current c.b.d. portfolio, each c.b.d. has a director who is accountable to their governing board. and i provided you in the slide show what their fiscal year 19-20 -- so the current fiscal year, what their assessment role submission was to the city and county of san francisco. as you can see, our c.b.d.s bids have budgets that vary from the low six figures to the $6 million figure mark, and those -- that variation reflects differences in geography as well as where the district is located and services that are provided. so there are many different reasons to establish a c.b.d., but typically, communities, property owners, and merchants establish one because a c.b.d. can be a unifying tool for merchants in the neighborhood. a c.b.d. can support businesses in the area through commercial recruitment, retention, and promotion, and a c.b.d. creates a strong unified voice to represent stakeholder interest to local agencies, and they provide other services other than cleaning, safety, such as holiday decorations, public activations, and everything. i'm now available for commissioner questions. >> president adams: commissioner comments? commissioner zouzounis. >> commissioner zouzounis: thank you so much for your presentation. couple of questions. does the c.b.d. -- city use any of these statistics that are collected from the c.b.d.s? because i know that they're doing their own studies, whether it's the demographic of trash they pick up -- for any policy purposes? >> so thank you very much for the question, commissioner zouzounis. within oewd, we do use this data. it helps us to figure out systemic operations of the c.b.d.s. we also work with mayor's department of public works, the fix-it team, and other details upon request. i think one way we use city data interchangeably is with the trash pilot programs. typically, we use in partnership with the mayor's fix-it teams and public works, we look at 311 for overflowing trash cans, damaged trash cans, as well as hot spots based on 311 requests, and we look at that to determine where those okay. >> commissioner zouzounis: okay. okay. second question i have -- well, two part. correct me if i am wrong, but was there a measure several that took the responsibility of a tree -- tree -- if there was a tree in front of a business, away from the property owner back to the city? >> that's correct. >> commissioner zouzounis: so i'm curious. i am starting to see c.b.d.s play that role of increasing our urban forestry where there is none. so is there an instance where you can say that the city is tracking, making sure that they're not kind of letting the c.b.d.s take a responsibility that is in fact the city's? >> there was a presentation a few months ago between the public works department, specifically their street tree maintenance bureau and the community benefit districts to address this. they walked us through what the baseline level of tree maintenance is for the public works department. what c.b.d.s do, if they do have green or landscaping services in their plans, it's on top of what they do. they do not have to address that. >> commissioner zouzounis: okay. so public works code 174, i know that's a hot button issue that most people don't even realize is the case, so is it safe to say that when we see power hoses on sidewalks, that those are all belonging to c.b.d.s, that the city is only cleaning the streets? >> that's an incorrect statement, and here's why. there's two different types of service as has been explained to me and articulated via public works. there's baseline city services and supplemental city services. baseline, as it's been explained to me, is something you can get in any neighborhood in san francisco. for example, the street cleaning trucks, that's one of them. recology going around to pick up trash from the public trash bins, that's another one, and street trees. that's another baseline city measure. public works does have folks that are pressure washing and doing this, but that is considered a supplemental service of theirs. >> commissioner zouzounis: okay. so when you see street cleaning trucks administered by the city, it's literally just the street? >> typically, the city is the curb to curb, where the cars are, and the sidewalk is technically the responsibility of the property owner. >> commissioner zouzounis: and supplemental city services. >> that means that the city might be doing something through public works -- >> commissioner zouzounis: what would trigger that? >> that would be a public works question, but they do operate in some areas of c.b.d. c.b.d.s are typically very well branded, so if you see something with a c.b.d. on it, t.l.c.b.d., something with bri bright colors, that would typically with a c.b.d. volunteer. >> commissioner zouzounis: okay. thank you. >> president adams: commission commissioner ortiz? >> commissione >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena: i'm just wondering how you can disestablish a district in san francisco. >> there are three ways. first, if the city or board of supervisors find malfeasance of any kind, they can disestablish the c.b.d. there's also a period of one month where the businesses can present paperwork representing 50% of the businesses, and they can start the disestablishing process. and the third way is through a disestablishment vote. the top of broadway chair came to us, and so at the worked with them to -- so we worked with them to disestablish a district. they have to collect 50% of what their property owner assessments are, saying they want to disestablish a district. at that point, we would work with the supervisor's office, in that case, supervisor peskin, to introduce a resolution to disestablish a district per the super majority of the board based on the majority of business owners and property owners on the board seeking to disestablish the district. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena: okay. thank you for that answer. i still have questions. i was wondering, is there any thoughts on consolidating citywide as, like, all the c.b.d.s, like, power washing vendors? do we go, like, through the city process bids and what's the l.b.e. process? >> l.b.e.? >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena: local business enterprise. >> so e.d.s are part of the process to select a service provider for a community benefit district, but they don't actually do the final selection. the selection of the contract is actually the responsibility of the governing board. so let's say three bids come in, they'll come in, they'll be reviewed typically by a committee of that governing board, and then, they'll go to the full board with a recommendation, and then, they'll ask the executive director their thoughts, and then, the governing board is the final vote on who the service provider is. i would have to take a look at their management agreement with the city and county of san francisco. they are subject to many ordinances in the city. it's a 40-page document. i'll go through that and get back to you. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena: if they aren't, i would suggest there would be some good faith efforts to include l.b.e.s as part of the vendor process. and then, one last thing, specifically as it relates to the mission district, i know there's been some issues on a potential new c.b.d. coming up, and i know through the vetting process or the initial process, i know that merchants are part of the process, but i was wondering about other stakeholders, like nonprofits in the neighborhoods. >> thank you for that question. back in 2016 is when we had the supervisorial election in the mission. oewd was provided an add back from supervisor campos for exploring an additional c.b.d. in the mission district. those dollars were awarded out to a nonprofit in the area. i believe it was the farmer's market. they started going through a feasibility process. there was efforts to reach out to folks. unfortunately, they realized they quickly that it was not feasible to move on with the process, so that effort is in fact no longer moving forward. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena: okay. thank you. >> thank you. >> president adams: commissioner huie? >> thank you very much for your presentation. i am just very lightly knowledgeable about c.d.b.s and how they work. like, i know japantown, but generally on average, i guess, how much does it cost a property owner or somebody to be a part of a c.b.d.? >> that's a great question, and unfortunately, there's not a great single answer i can provide you there, and the reason for it is due to proposition 218 and before proposition 13, we can't do an ad valorem tax in san francisco in addition to what the tax already is. so this is based off property characteristics and each formula for each c.b.d. are based on what the services are for that total c.b.d., what parcel characteristics are being utilized, and that's all put into a formula developed by an engineer certified by the state of california to determine everybody's assessment cost. so i can't give you a fair answer to that. i can do a much better job of giving you, like, a median or a mean for each c.b.d., but if you have a property with a lot of condos, that may go down. >> and how are you looking for this program to expand or grow or what do you have in plans for this program? >> so i'm solo right now. we're going through a hiring process, so hopefully not expand too much. we have one c.b.d. -- we have two c.b.d.s in renewal right now. noe valley is going through the renewal process for 15 years right now. another is the castro community benefit district. they're currently undergoing review with the city attorney. then they would have to go through petitioning. you would probably see an election for that in june and july. you also see the fisherman's wharf c.b.d. undergoing renewal. that's unique because on the land side of the district where san francisco city streets are, it's a typical district like noe valley, castro, union square. on the port side of the district, it's typically owned by the state of california, and we can't assess the state of california as a local entity -- or you can, but it's very difficult because it's the state. so there's a district that's geographically confined, but instead of focused on property characteristics, you're looking at the business and what they bring in in revenue. so that's a different type model of district, and we don't get those too often, so the city attorney and i are having some fun going through the process on that. we also have one going through process right now, potential c.b.d., in the excelsior. >> commissioner patel? >> thank you very much. so a couple things. one -- thank you, domenica, for sending this. i found thiss enthralling to read it. but this was done eight years ago. san francisco was very different eight years ago, especially as this was done right after the recovery of the recession had begun in full swing, and a lot has happened since then. my question is, is there a plan to do another study like this in detail in the future? >> absolutely. we are in discussions with the auditor to develop a program to analyze this. >> what's the status of that? >> i would have to get back to you on that. >> you don't have a ballpark on that? sooner rather than later? by the end of the year? >> i would hope by the end of the year. >> another question, do the boards have complete autonomy where the money is spent? >> no. so in each district, there's a -- you might if i use easy numbers? so let's say the total assessment budget is $1 million for a district, and they decide that 50% is going to be used on cleaning, 20% on marketing, 20% on admin, and 5% on some kind of safety, and it does not mean extra patrols, it could mean something like a safety category. they have to aim to do that in their fiscal year budgeting and fiscal year actuals. however, things happen. cities change, communities change, and the code acknowledges that, and the management code with the city and county of san francisco acknowledges that. so each year, they're allowed ten percentage variance points that can be moved around. so let's say 50% for cleaning, but maybe the streets are really clean, so you want to put more money towards marketing. well, you can lower the money used towards cleaning no more than 10% and use it elsewhere. >> okay. i have a small question and a more broad question, and i have no more questions. so at the end of this thing in the extra dates -- charts and data, there was one particular statistic that gave me pause, the selected data and charts. and that was in the castro c.b.d., when the study was done, it showed a 26% increase in aggravated assault and, so i'm wonderi i'm -- and a 26% increase in graffiti, vandalism, so i'm wondering if they're working on those figures? >> yes. they're working on a patrol special officer and other issues. we also work with them on other funding sources. >> great. another reason why this study is so helpful because it shows this is working. the broad question is how you think the c.b.d.s are going to be working with these new cultural districts, leather, the mission cultural district, the castro lgbt cultural district. so how is oewd thinking about what is going to be the interplay between the c.b.d.s and the cultural districts? >> thank you for that question. that's a great question. the first c.b.d. that we really had over reach in a cultural district was in japantown, and the collaboration and cooperation between both the japantown task force, other stakeholders, and the c.b.d. has been fantastic. it really is a model. in fact, the c.b.d. was one of the suggestions of the jchas, which was focused on maintaining the cultural visibility of japantown. obviously, the c.b.d. came after the formation of the cultural district, and now, we have cases where c.b.d.s come before the cultural district, or they come into being at the same time. the castro's currently undergoing renewal. they've been in existence since 2005, so i would expect a great deal of collaboration between the two, as well. >> are you worried about clashes between the cultural districts and c.b.d.s? >> i'm not. i'm a big believer that discussion mediates many conflicts. since the cultural district programming is under the auspices of the same division of oewd that i'm under, i think we can address that. also, it's really just about communicating. >> it's -- kind of to follow up a little bit on a question from my fellow commissioner, but it's relevant -- directly relevant, excuse me, to what you just said, which is you mentioned earlier that the funds have to be allocated according to the management plan, but periodically, groups can raise funds for outside the umbrella of ordinary annual assessment. are these outside funds likewise -- what's the word i'm looking for? are they required to be spent according to the same management plan or can they raise outside funds for a particular purpose? say, they want more big bellies? >> so that's a great question. there's a few plans that i've been articulating to community benefit districts. keep your assessment books separate from your nonassessment dollar books so you can showcase to both oewd and the board of supervisors that those assessment dollars are being spent in accordance with the grant management plan. all dollars received from the city and county of san francisco are not subject to the same rules of the management plan, but they are subject to the same scope of work for those development plans. they're also not subject to the various percentage points because it's outside. we're really focused on the assessment dollars. >> i think noe valley, off the top of my head, is a prime example of that. they are the fiscal sponsor of the town square over on 24 street, and they do have the grant there, but they have a small budget. they're about a $250,000 c.b.d. that budget is about $100,000, so that would completely mess with their grant formation, but because it's an active dollar, they can do the formation without messing with their variance points. >> okay. >> president adams: any other questions? i'd like to chime in. first of all, i can't believe it's 15 years for both noe valley and castro c.b.d.s. as you know, i helped form both of those and made the phone calls, especially with the castro, with paul moffat and herb cohen and evan dufty, a supervisor, who led that up. i just can't believe it's already been 15 years, and it has made differences, i believe, in both neighborhoods now. the crime study came out, and it did show there was more crime in the castro, but i think a lot of that had to do with reallocation of police from the castro and into other parts of district 8. but then, you know, the city came right back in on that. so thank you for your presentation. you are at the forefront -- i think you're one of the best city managers we've had on this in a long, long time because you are -- i know you are personally involved in each and every one of these and trying to get some new ones started right now, which is not easy. i know i've made those phone calls and getting ready to make phone calls for that castro renewal, which is not going to be as easy as it was the first time around, but it takes a community to get this all together, so i just want to say thank you for all you've done. this has been an excellent presentation, and just keep fighting like you do with these. i really appreciate everything that you've done, and i know the c.b.d. managers around the city all echo -- i know they say if they need something, they call you, and you're very responsive, so thanks. i know you've been a big help with both noe valley and castro, and someone who's involved in both, it works. we have flower baskets on 24 street. it's awesome. >> we don't have that in soma yet. >> they're working on it. >> i would say noe valley -- everything came together with noe valley, i think, and it's really, really -- i think because of its size is why it works. castro is spread out, and it has its -- every district has its different challenges, as union square does, fishermans wharf, and we're trying to get that. when renewals come up, you can change some of the allocations, because that's been part of the problem with a lot of them. you know, 15 years, you know, it may not seem like a long time, but 15 years, when you have certainly allocations, it does make a difference because neighborhoods scream, why don't you do more for that? why don't you do more for that, and you can't. and he knows the brunt of it, so thank you for taking that brunt. >> thank you. one correction, the mission is not making a renewal, it's the mission excelsior. >> president adams: mission excelsior. okay. public comment on item 6? okay. seeing none, public comment is closed. >> president adams, i think we do have someone that wants to speak, but they don't know the process. >> president adams: okay. i'm reopening public comment. >> i am a merchant from the excelsior, d-11. i've been working with chris now almost a year. we're still in the middle of creating the c.b.d., but i think it's very important for our district, our community. i just opened up a new business on the excelsior mission corridor. it's a gem. i want to say that there's a lot of potential for our neighborhood getting a lot of traction. we can learn from the mistakes of prior c.b.d.s -- not mistakes, but more so that are ahead of the curve than us. and we're the black sheep where now we're getting the attention, and now the community is growing. i think it's important for me as a merchant and resident of the 11 that we get some sort of funding or allocation towards this goal of ours, you know, i'm just thinking because our corridor is still growing, you know, there's about a mile, i want to say, worth, big -- big things happening. and i am lucky to be a recipient of the oewd grant. it does work, it does help for me. very thankful for that. i opened a shop called excelsior coffee on grant amis. the grant went towards the sign on the storefront. chris allocated and fought for these funds to -- to -- to bring new energy and to bring new eyes to the neighborhood. if it weren't for that program, that grant, the storefront improvement and equipment grant, i think i would have tapped out of this project, me being just a -- a new parent, a homeowner of the 11, and now a business owner. so i'm happy to say after the eight-month process -- actually, it was a two-year process, but now we've been operating for eight months, and i'm happy to be a part of the process. thank you, chris. i caught your presentation. i do want to attest it works for me, and a lot of attention and i'm advocating for the neighborhood to get this going, so thanks for your time. >> president adams: thank you. any other members of the public? now seeing none, public comment is closed. great. thank you, chris. next item. >> clerk: commissioners, before i read items 7 and 8, i am going to read for the public record the procedures for the election of officers for the president and vice president positions. so the commission shall vote to elect a commission president and vice president under separate agenda items for tonight's meeting. they are items 7 and 8. for each office, the commission secretary shall call for nominations. nominations require a second to be considered. nominees will then be provided an opportunity to make a statement in the order in which they were nominated. after nominees' statements, commissioners will be provided a chance to comment. following that, public comment. once public comment has been closed, the clerk will conduct a public vote in order that each nomination was made. the first nominee to receive four votes for each receptive office shall be deemed elected. if no nominee receives four votes, the process will be repeated. the president, after three rounds of voting, if no nominee receives four votes, continue the election to next meeting. item 7, election of president. an election of the president must occur at the regular meeting of the commission during the second meeting in january of each year. the president shall serve a term of one year and shall be elected on a vote of an action item. so is there a nominee for president? >> president adams: i'd like to nominate sharkey laguano for president. >> clerk: is there a second? >> i'll second. >> clerk: okay. are there any other nominations? okay. roll call vote. [roll call] >> clerk: the ayes have five, the nays have two. commissioner laguana, you will now be president of the small business commission for 2020. >> president adams: congratulations. >> thank you. it's an honor to be nominated by you, president adams. it's an honor to work with you. we're all volunteers, we all work long hours trying to make the city just a little bit better. i have a cold, so i'm going to be uncharacteristically brief. i don't think i have to tell any of you guys that the small business community is in a crisis, and we need to take bold steps to make big improvements in how our city functions. our job is to help policy makers make good decisions. that requires building trust with them, and it requires for us to build trust with each other, to develop a sense of community amongst ourselves, a sense of consensus, do our best to move forward in a way that will help the city and help our businesses and help our constituents. i accept this with a great deal of humility. i know exactly how much work it's going to be. i think it's a great opportunity. we have a great mix of folks that have extraordinary amounts of experience and knowledge that pale mine, no doubt about it. we also have extraordinary amounts of energy and new ideas, and i think when you harness those two ideas, there's an opportunity to really make a dent in how the city moves forward. so i'm honored to chair the committee for the next year. i hope to do my best. i'm here for all of you, whether you voted for me or not. and let's hope this next year is good. >> president adams: okay. thank you. and do we have any members of the public that would like to make comment on item number 7? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> clerk: item 8, election of officers. small business commission vice president. in accordance with the commission's rules of order, article 2, section 3, an election of vice president must occur at a regular meeting of the commission during the second meeting in january of each year. the vice president shall serve a term of one year and shall be elected on a vote of the commission. commissioners, do you have a nominee? >> president adams: i'd like to nominate miriam zouzounis as vice president. >> second. >> clerk: is there a second nominee? okay. >> she is asking for a second nominee. i second it, miriam. >> clerk: roll call vote -- >> president adams: we need to open it up for public comment. do we have any members of the public that would like to make comment on number 8 before we vote? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> clerk: roll call vote. [roll call] >> clerk: by a unanimous vote, the "ay"s have it. >> clerk: congratulations, commissioner laguana and commissioner z commissioner zouzounis. >> commissioner zouzounis: do i get to say something? >> president adams: yes. >> commissioner zouzounis: thank you very much. i'm really excited for the next four years. i've learned so much from my mentors on this commission. and i'm excited to learn with you as we move forward. i'm excited to have not just consensus but debate, and continue to poke the bear, as they say, and to stir things up in city hall because it's our duty because small businesses are in a crisis, and we know that firsthand, and we will continue to be that -- that face, and that conduit to the rest of the city, so thank you, everybody, and thank you to all the small businesses that support our commission, too -- and to our amazing staff. >> president adams: thank you. any other commissioners? and i've watched you grow in the last four years. i'm so proud of you. so with that, next item, please. >> clerk: item 9, approval of draft meeting minutes, action item. >> president adams: has everybody read over the minutes? do we have any members of the public who would like to make comment on our draft meeting minutes from our last meeting on january 13? seeing none, public comment is closed. do we have a motion for the minutes? >> motion to approve the minutes. >> second. >> president adams: all in favor? any opposed? motion passes. next item, please. >> clerk: director's report, discussion item. >> well, first, i want to say congratulations to commissioner sharkey on being the new president and commissioner s zouzounis being the vice president. i look forward to working with you closely and all of us. and a big shout out to president adams, that you for many years have provided great leadership and stewardship and guidance to me. so i just want to express my appreciation that you took that on for many, many years, the majority of your time as a commissioner. i hope you enjoy your time as a regular commissioner. and i also want to congratulate commissioner ortiz cartagena on his reappointment. it passed through the full board, so happy about that. and commissioner zouzounis was passed out of the rules committee today and the board -- should be at the board next week, so any way -- so i will say an early congratulations. >> commissioner zouzounis: thank you. >> few items i want to report on. i am very pleased, jeffrey tomlin, the new sfmta director reached out to the -- us and attended the last meeting. it's important that they think that small business success is very important to their success because they also rely on sales tax dollars, and so he very much really understands and articulated well how some of the past behaviors and actions have not necessarily fared well for small business. and while he cannot go back and correct those, but really wants to work on improving things moving forward. so it was a really great conversation. he wants to explore things like large businesses are able to buy muni passes in bulk purchasing because they're doing purchasing for a large company, and how can a merchant group still be able to do bulk muni passes? so he's really -- i think he's got his thinking cap on, is really looking at exploring ideas that can help small businesses save some money. so i look forward to, you know, what's ahead. and -- and -- and he also has met with the small business working group. so -- and he did say that he has not yet met with the vice -- or he may have by now, but as of the meeting with the sfcdma last week, he had not met with the biking commission, so he wanted to make sure that the small business commission was a high priority for him. i've provided you with -- we're getting into the legacy business -- and for the members of the public, if you want to review the report, it's here. our legacy business grants, so we'll be having further conversations in the next couple months about this grant program, but wanted to just show you that over the years, the grant program, the size of the number of grants that are applied for continue to grow and grow. it's an arduous program administered. rick is doing it. the program has been funded and has been stuck in the approval pipeline, so we have not been able to hire that person to take that burden off of rick, so what we're doing is we will just be slowing down the applications because he can't manage both the grant processing and doing the applications. so we'll see a slow down of the number of applications coming before the commission for the registry over the next couple of months. and i think i mentioned this at the last meeting, but tomorrow is olfd with -- a couple of the state labor agencies are hosting a workshop to go through the law that affected the piece of legislation that you heard today. it'll go in greater detail. the state family leave is mandated by any employer, though all leave is covered by the state. it's the city that adds on additional expense for parental leave. and if you have any questions, i'm happy to answer that. oewd is doing some budget outreach in different parts of the city. there was one last thursday. there is one tonight in the richmond area, and there will be another one on february 4 at the main library. i attended the one on thursday. it was very interesting. this was held in the bayview, and kind of one of the big sort of outcomes of what we heard both from small business services to workforce development is that there needs to be more direct connection out into that area? so i think from that, we'll have -- i'll have conversations with joaquin about how we can, from time to time, maybe get our services out there so that people don't always have to trek to city hall. i will let the commissioners speak a little bit more on this because with the vacancy forum at manny's, i thought it was very interesting. it was attended both by brick and mortar and on-line-based businesses. what i thought was interesting was there was a lot of discussion around the planning code, and -- a lot of discussion around the planning code and sort of the complexity around that and also a real interest in expanding the flex retail and really understanding what flex retail is and encouraging the expansion of that model citywide as a greater means of businesses to open and -- to open their business. but i'll let the two of you also elaborate during commissioner comments. i informed you, but i've just put a note here that commissioner -- i mean, excuse me, supervisor safai has also called for a hearing on on delivery companies to small businesses. it has some overlays with the hearing that we are working to schedule for you. we've outreached to the supervisor's office. we haven't had a chance to connect on what are his objectives and what he would like our office to report on. i'm hoping that we'll be able to -- the timing of it, that we'll be able to have our hearing first to get the outcomes from -- and the commission's comments and some recommendations from this commission to be able to inform the board of supervisors meeting, but we'll see. i don't know yet what his timing is. we'll stay the course with our timing. >> what was our timing? >> our timing -- domenica's going to need to reach out to you because i do think we're going to need to schedule this aside from a regular meeting, and maybe the end of february, mid-march. >> can i say one thing? i feel really strongly that the supervisors should take our lead on that, so if there's anything we can do to support that ask, just let us know. >> presumably, you saw the news items about the on demand delivery services basically sneaking up companies that never signed up. >> yes, there have been articles about this, and so, i mean, that's -- i'll also reach out to our city attorney's office to see if there's anything that the city can leverage in relationship to that, as well. but i think as more of this is coming to surface, this is more information that the commission can have in terms of developing your line of questioning for the different departments and agencies and how the city is addressing these types of situations. and then, i wanted to-gsh -- i've updated the overall timeline of projects because i don't think the new commissioners have received this, just what is on our list. i've included some of the new -- i included the new business items from the last couple of meetings in here, as well. they're divided out from hearings to special presentations -- there's construction mitigation. we did have a presentation, but at one point, i think the commission did express that they may want to have a follow-up hearing with departments, so let me know if there's any continued hearings that you would like to have around the construction mitigation? and then, just breaking it out by policy development, resolutions, policy matters -- legislative and policy matters that have been on our docket. we have been working with active space, and tracking that with the businesses. right now, that's still with the zoning administrator, affirming the zoning controls and authorizing the use -- the established uses. and then, we're working on the massage regulations. amendments to the planning code are with the city attorney now, and we'll be working with the department of public health regulations. the economic mitigation working group is still in process. and some of the o.s.b. programs that are ongoing programs that we have that need to be done for this year. with that, if there's any questions, otherwise, that concludes my report. >> president adams: okay. commissioner ortiz? >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena: i was wondering, since the item is cued up, if there's anything we can do to help? any delay in applying grants and registering new businesses? >> i will let you know if we need to have more help. i'm hoping to have a report back on the next stage this week, so if there isn't any movement, i'll let you know. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena: okay. >> president adams: okay. any members of the public that would like to comment on the director's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. any other questions for the director? seeing none, next item, please. >> clerk: item 11, commissioner's reports, as well as president, vice president, and commissioners to report on recent small business communities and items of interest to the small business community. >> president adams: i don't have anything to report. commissioners? you don't want to report on yesterday? oh, commissioner dooley? >> commissioner dooley: i had the pleasure of attending a discussion last night at manny's spot. it was very interesting and productive. there were many different viewpoints going on, and i think that's a positive thing. supervisor peskin and joaquin from oewd were there to kind of give answers and listen to comments, and i thought it was a great thing, and thank you so much for having such great -- >> president adams: commissioner patel? >> thank you, commissioner dooley. it was great to see you in the front row on my rust-colored velvet couch. it was a great group. it was probably 75 or 80 people on a sunday afternoon. there were folks from supervisor peskin's staff, and it seemed like there were a lot of district merchant leadership was there, as well, as well as i'd say a heavy majority of the room were small business owners. i asked -- i did a poll of the audience, and it seemed like almost everyone was a small business owner. it was supervisor peskin and joaquin torres. i took a couple notes. so the overall mood was -- i would say there was a lot of tension. it was a productive conversation, but there was a lot of emotions. a lot was expressed. we had just had 100 people in the room for a book club, so i was exhausted trying to keep it all together, but supervisor peskin talked a lot about the vacancy tax, and it seemed like most people were supportive of it, but it quickly turned to a conversation of concerns, consternation, frustration with the difficulty of the planning code and how forward it seems to be if you have an idea to figure out exactly if your idea is allowed in a certain area and why it wouldn't be allowed. director torres and supervisor peskin both agreed that a comprehensive approach does need to be taken on issues affecting small businesses. we talked about the fact that there isn't a silver bullet, as we all know. there are a lot of issues affecting our community, and if we're going to make a meaningful change, we have to address it on all fronts. there was a lot of conversation which, you know, we didn't obviously come to an agreement on, but how to get our fellow san franciscos to change their consumption habits to shop locally, to buck the trend of purchasing everything on-line. of course not just restaurant foods, but furniture stores. we had a couple retail businesses there, talking about how difficult it's been for them to navigate the move to on-line. and then, the move to get organized as a community. as a unified community, there was some feeling and i would add myself to that community, we need to do a better job of getting our voices heard. and we talked -- there was a really interesting conversation between some of the bar owners of the mission. the bar owners have immense emotional and symbolic power in the community. thousands of people come through -- and restaurants -- our doors every day, and if we had something that we could all work on together, it could have a huge effect. so we just talked about how we could be doing more to come together. and the last thing i'll say is, you know, the things that affect small businesses, it's kind of a death by 1,000 cuts. it's a little thing here, a little thing there. i had a conversation last night with my neighbor who owns a yoga studio, and i know this is controversial to put out there, but the city is making him install a complete new mechanical door, which is costing him $10,000 because the a.d.a. laws have changed since he opened, and $10,000 is a lot of money for a bottom line, and so that's just one thing. so there's no silver bullet, but if we're going to actually deal with all the things affecting small businesses, we have to have a multipronged approach to it, so that's what we all agreed on. and what's going to be the individual -- and who's going to be the individual or set of individuals that addresses all the multicuts, i think we're going to have a bigger role, as well. is this where i bring up the mo moratorium? okay. but that was the event. any questions about the event? it was supposed to be about the vacancy tax, and that was the main heft of it, but it kind of mushroomed into that. okay. i did want to -- i e-mailed -- >> oh, that's new business. >> oh. >> and so commissioner, you can forward the business at the yoga studio. we have grant programs for small businesses that are required to go through the a.d.a. assessment, the a.d.a. entryway. >> o.s.b. or -- >> o.s.b. >> okay. great. he'll be happy to hear that. >> president adams: commissioner huie? >> so i wasn't able to go to your event. i really wanted to, because i've been asked by everybody, how do i feel about the vacancy tax, and i just wasn't -- i can't really talk about that, but i wasn't able to go because of chinese new year -- lunar new year. happy new year, everyone. i've been busy for three days eating. so i did meet subsequently with different merchants and different people in regards to that. and i think i also wanted to just emphasize that -- i don't know, there are many, many things to deal with, and this is kind of the opportunity that we have right now to -- to talk about our businesses and talk about our communities, and -- and so i think -- i'm trying to figure out how i can talk about this, but -- >> well, i think it may be best, if there are sort of things -- because the whole vacancy tax thing is a little tricky because it's on the ballot. and so the discussion around it might be best taken offline -- >> but i do appreciate, you know, that you're providing space for it, and i'm excited to have learned more. i look forward to talking about fee reduction and fee mitigation and stuff coming up. is that something that i can share right now. >> mm-hmm. that's the council of district merchants. >> yeah. i've been planning on attending that meeting. i think that's part of the issue, too, this sparks, then, what else? and i think this is a good opportunity to talk a little bit more about, you know, some of the fees and really looking at that on a larger scale, too. and i think that i had reached out to mario, and i think it's great that we all bring our own evidence and our own anecdotal evidence. i think -- i also wanted to reach out to -- i have several b.p.a.s in my association and in my circle who specialize in small businesses of different scales, so looking at it in a more kind of, like, in a larger, you know, bird's eye kind of view, because i think we all have experience in businesses, but to look at it from different experiences and angles would be helpful, so that's something that i brought up, and hopefully, i'll be able to bring some evidence and i'm hoping to see some more data in terms of what's affecting, you know, a bunch of different businesses than just mine. >> i couldn't agree with you more. there is a distinct shortage of data with regards to small businesses. any of us that have spoken about it, i think we need to take steps to address that and try and get that data in our hands so we can at least establish a baseline and find out whether things are getting better or worse. >> yeah. i'd like to see some trends, like, in terms of when things are happening, it would be help c . so that's my plan, attending the meeting. >> president adams: any other commissioner comments? commissioner yucatel? >> i just met with -- i can't think of her. her name escapes me. >> lori thomas. >> and there was an advocate whose name also escapes me. you know, ggra is hearing the call of its many members. the restaurant industry is dealing with a lot right now. she wants to be much more involved. i think you're going to see a lot more energy from the ggra. they elected more members what are really active, as well, and any efforts we can do to support them would be greatly appreciated. >> president adams: incoany ot commissioner comments? any member of the public that would like to comment on commissioner reports? seeing none, public comment is closed. item 12, please. >> clerk: item 12. new business. allows commissioners to introduce new items for future agendas. >> president adams: commissioner yucatel. >> hello again. we've said multiple times that our small businesses are in crisis, and we've talked about vacancies, and our small businesses, sometimes they have lives of their own, and we create relationships with them. i thought it might be an interesting idea to adjourn this meeting and perhaps future meetings with kind of an in memoriam of closing in memory of them, to point out that we are seeing a lot of closures in our city. so with the -- if that's okay with my fellow commissioners, after any new business is done, i'd love to adjourn today's meeting with acknowledgement of amnesia, which has announced it's going to be closing. the clay theater has announced that it will likely be closing. noe valley cantina, and savor. >> and cafe flor. >> and cafe flor. >> and legacy business body on castro. >> have i missed any small businesses that closed or planned to closed in the last two weeks? >> well, i think you have. >> well, when it comes time, i would like to adjourn in their memory. >> president adams: excellent idea. do we have any new business? do we have any public comment on new business? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item. >> clerk: sfgovtv, please show the office of small business slide. >> okay. welcome. it's our custom to begin and end each meeting with a reminder that the office of small business is the only place to start your small business in san francisco and the only place to get your answers about doing business in san francisco. the office of small business should be your first stop when you have questions about what to do next. you can find us on-line or in person at city hall. best of all, our businesses are free of charge. small business commission is the official forum to voice your concerns about the economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco. if you need assistance with small business matters, start here at the office of small business. >> you need to pass that script to the left. >> you'll get it next time. >> president adams: item 13. >> clerk: adjournment, action item. >> president adams: i'm going to let you. >> i'd like to adjourn this meeting in honor of clay theater, noe valley cantina, and savor, which have closed or have announced plans for closure. >> president adams: and i second. okay. all in favor? >> clerk: meeting is adjourned, 7:47 p.m. >> at the meeting will now come to order. welcome to the january 301st special meeting of the joint city school school district and city college select community -- committee. i am