Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Land Use Committee 20240712

Any inaudible . Clerk yes, due to the covid19 Health Emergency and to protect board members, City Employees and the public, supervisors legislative chamber and Committee Room are closed. However, members will be participating remotely. This precaution is taken inaudible state wide stay at home order and all local and state federal orders, declaration and directives. They will continued through participate in the meeting to the same extent if theyre physically present. Public comment will be available on each item on the addenda. Both channel 26 and sfgovtv. Org are streaming the number across the screen. Each speaker will be allowed two minutes to speak. Comments or opportunity to speak during the pluck comment periodd are by calling 408 4189388. That number is 408 4189388. The meeting i. D. Is 1467992222. Again, thats 1467992222. Press pound and pound again. When connected, you will hear the meeting discussions but you will be muted and listening mode only. When your item of interest comes up, dial star 3 to be added to the speaker line. Best practices are from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly and tun down your television and radio. You may submit Public Comment. You can reach me at erica. Fmjor sfgov. Org. If you see a card a email it will be forwarded to the supervisors and part of the official file. Items acted upon today are expected to appear on the board of supervisors agenda of july 14th, unless otherwise stated. The planning code to allow the consolidation or merger of groundfloor storefronts in north beach special use district for R San Francisco Police Department functions or Space Associated with such use and appropriate members of the public who wish to revise Public Comment on this idea should call the number 408 4189388. Meeting i. D. Is 146799222, press pound and pound again. Press star 3 to lineup to speak. Supervisor peskin this is a drafted piece of legislation to allow the merger of two storefronts to merge two properties that both have been leased to Central Station to allow those twostore two storeo consolidate during the covid19 period to give a little bit of breathing room to the inspectors that habitat at that spot. This is part of a piece of property that has 34 singleresident occupancy hotel rooms above that the city has expressed center in purchasing that is by way of full disclosure and the Planning Commission waved its 90day period to review this pursuant to the charter i would like to open this up to Public Comment. Seeing no questions from members, are there any members of the public would who like to item on item number 1 . Clerk operations is checking to see if there are any callers in queue. There are no callers wishing to speak. Supervisor peskin this is been without controversy in district 3. Seeing no Public Comment, Public Comment is now closed. And colleagues, if theres no objection i would like to send this item to the full board with recommendations. Madam collect, could you please call the roll on that motion . Clerk on the motion as stated by supervisor peskin, supervisor preston. Aye. Clerk supervisor safai. Superivsor safai aye. Clerk supervisor peskin. Supervisor peskin aye. Could you read the second and final item. The reenacting of emergency ordinance number 620 to temporarily prohibit rent increases that would be permitted under the administrative code due to covid19 pandemic. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this item should call 408 4084189388. The meeting i. D. Is 1467992222 and press pound and pound again. Supervisor peskin this committee voted on this legislation, which is emergency legislation that lasts for 60 days and is expiring on june 23rd. It was approved unanimously by the board of supervisors this will extend the norent increase for 60 days during the covid19 period. Do you have any questions or comments colleagues . No. No, mr. Chair. Seeing none. Supervisor peskin. I just want to thank you for renewing this and asking to be add as a cosponsor as i was on the original legislation. Thank you. Thank you, supervisor preston. Supervisor safai. This is your opportunity to be a cosponsor. Superivsor safai yes, please add me. Members of the public would would like to comment on this item . Mr. Chair, operations is checking to see if there are any callers in cue. There are no callers wishing to speak. Thank you Public Comment is closed and i would like to make a motion to send this with recommendation as a Committee Report for hearing at full board of supervisors tomorrow, july 7th. On that motion a roll call, please. Clerk on the motion as stated supervisor preston. Supervisor preston aye. Clerk supervisor safai. Superivsor safai aye. Clerk supervisor press kin. Supervisor peskin aye. Clerk you have three ayes. We are adjourned. The meeting is being called to order at 2 00 p. M. The Small Business commission thanks sfgovtv for televising the meeting. Members of the public who will be calling in, call 888 2733658. The access code is 3107452. When prompted dial 1 and 0 to be added to the speaker line. This is the Public Comment period. If you call in before Public Comment you will be added to the queue. When called for Public Comment use the device you are listening to the meeting on. When it is your time to speak you will be prompted. You are limited to three minutes unless otherwise established by the presiding officer of the meeting. Speakers are requested to state their name. Sfgovtv please show the office of Small Business slide. Hello. Today we start with reminder the Small Business commission is the official publicly forum to voice your concerns about policies affecting the Economic Vitality of Small Businesses in San Francisco. The office of Small Business is the best place to get answers about doing business in San Francisco during the local emergency. If you need assistance with Small Business matters, particularly at this time, find us online or via telephone. Our services are free of charge. Before item one i want to thank Media Services and sfgovtv for the live stream and a specials for monitoring the line. Please call item 1. Call to order and roll call. Commissioner adams. Here. Commissioner dooley. Here. Commissioner hule. Here. Commissioner laguna. Here commissioner zouzounis is absent. Yoyou have a quorum. Item 2. Board of supervisors file no no. 200214. Come use review and approval process priority possessing and reduced application fee for certain uses of commercial space. Affirming the California Environmental quality act making findings of consistency with the general plan and the eight priority policies of planning code and adopting findings of public necessity, general welfare under planning code. Presenters are lee hepner and aaron starr. Welcome, lee. Thank you for being flexible with your time. We appreciate that. Also to aaron who will present on the Planning Departments recommendations. Lee, you have the floor. We will start with you. Thank you very much, commissioners director for facilitating this hearing this afternoon. Good afternoon. I dont see the Vice President with us but hello commissioners. I will jump into a presentation on this file. Pardon me while i get that going and share my screen. I am wanting for a goodlooking presentation. The information that is here, i am here to present on the Small Business legislation out of supervisor peskins office cosponsored by ronen, fewer and haney who are working closely with the amendments and moving this through the stakeholder process with merchant groups and neighborhood groups. By way of background, neighborhood commercial districts, this is from 1983. It is just about when neighborhood commercial districts were created and article 7 of the planning cody signed to provide an approach to gentrification. They have evolved over the past 35 years to become interesting and unique zoning regulations for neighborhoods from north beach to the castro to the asbury to outer mission. There are a total as of early this year a total of i believe 28. That expanded by 12 earlier this year for a total of approximately 40 neighborhood commercial districts in San Francisco. That is the zone we are talking about here. Neighborhood commercial districts and transit districts are uniquely zoned to prioritize active ground floor commercial uses and limit the size of the spaces to incentivize Small Business growth. This is giving the merchant corridors throughout the city the very unique granular feel and allowed Small Businesses for the large part to flourish. Moving forward additional contact where this comes from as this commission is well aware earlier this year voters approved the storefront vacancy prop d on march 7th ballot. It is funny to me to think that we werent thinking about the coronavirus as a variable on march 7th. There was talk but this passed by 70 on that date and suggested the named neighborhood districts if they are leftvi cant more than six months. The reason the number of districts expanded from 28 to 40 because of the word named right there. Significantly, district 10 got its first neighborhood commercial district as a result of the Bayview District this year and a handful of others. The storefront vacancy created exemptions. Two year disaster period after fire or earthquake. Construction period if there are tenant improvements delaying the application of storefront. Significantly a six month conditional use exception where in a storefront is not being vacant for six months following the application for conditional use authorization. Over the course of the election cycle earlier this year, we heard and investigated ourselves how long does it take for a Small Business to get a conditional use authorization . We learned in that process six months is actually a very optimistic view of that process. Often times Small Businesses paying rent on the space they intend to activate sitting longer than six months waiting for that conditional use authorization to be granted. Why do we talk about conditional use authorizations at all . As this commission knows, there are tables across the city, various uses are in some instances not permitted. In neighborhood commercial districts in areas like chinatown governed by article 8. Office use is not permitted. The logic there being there are parts of the city zoned for office use and we do not necessarily want that dead ground floor space in the vibrant commercial corridor disrupting retail and restaurants. There are not permitted uses which are designated by the code. Those are uses we want to incentivize, Hardware Stores, for instance. Then there are uses subject to public hearing pursuant to conditional use authorization. Those are uses that have demonstrated predictable impacts on neighborhoods, they tend to gentify neighborhoods for a number of reasons are subject to standard of review in planning code that is necessary and desirable before they are approved. Who decides what is desirable . The Planning Commission. It is a critical opportunity for Community Input and the groups over the course have cautioned us not to for go the process. It is one of the most important tool goes to create gentrification. They can appeal to the board of supervisors. It is extremely rare to appeal to the supervisors. We see a hand full from time to time. More often about large building developments. The c. U. S still serve a purpose to put the project sponsor to meet with neighborhoods and come to agreement on the lines of i am opening a nightclub, i promise not to have amplified noise past 10 00 p. M. There are conditions communities and project sponsors and entrepreneurs arrive at so that they are not so they avoid that appeal to the board of supervisors. Small businesses seeking conditional use authorization should be entitle to a timely hearing and not suffer extraordinary delays. That is the basic principal under this legislation and for which i will ask for your support today. A quick worse case scenario. Over the past year a county 526 columbus in north beach when we look at the six months is long enough exemption. They didnt get the c. U. Hearing until 326 days after the application. It is hard for us to determine if that is an outlier scenario. They would have been eligible for priority possessing and we hope to avoid situations like this. A little more background. Sorry i am talking so much. I will try to get through this. The community possessing program is the basis for what we are attempting to legislate today. This was a resolution passed by Planning Commission in 2015. Streamlines the conditional use process for certain small and Midsize Business applications, eligible uses include a lot of the Small Businesses that are subject to c. U. S in the corridors. It requires the submission of separate application. One of the problems we noticed is that as we track certain c. U. Applications that would be eligible for this priority possessing they werent aware there was such a thing and havent been able to avail themselves because they never submitted a separate application for it. This is the announcement of this legislation. Supervisor peskin requesting we meet for months around these issues. This is one of several ideas around Small Business needs. To the legislation. Eligible uses for priority possessing under our c. U. Permit streamlining. We are talking about nonresidential uses, no commercial uses on ground floor that do not form retail. If they form retail uses subject to c. U. It would be subject to c. U. Not able to be in priority possessing. Uses that do not result in the consolidation of storefrontses the neighborhood commercial districts for Small Businesses to occupy storefronts, and businesses that do not propose to sell alcohol unless it is conjunction with bonafied eating place, restaurants. These are types of uses that would not be eligible for priority possessing. Adult entertainment, bars, cannabis dispensaries. These are the uses that have predictable impacts on the community in which we wapell weo make sure there is a thorough opportunity for community vetting. Everything else is. For those eligible businesses they are entitled to expedited hearing before Planning Commission on consent calendar within 90 days of application submission subject to onetime extension of 60 days triggered by the Planning Commission or a neighborhood organization. There is a list of neighborhood qualified organizations maintained by the Planning Department. No separate application is required. As we track the implementation of this ordinance, one thing we intend to work within the Planning Department is to ensure that eligible businesses are screened for that eligibility and priority possessing upfront without having to separately submit an application to avail themselves of priority possessing. In addition to streamlining the process as much as the applications are put on the consent calendar without rigorous staff report analysis, we are reducing the application fee by 50 . If the Planning Commission does not hold a hearing to the timeline set forth in the legislation, that applicant be is entitle to full refund of that application fee. Planning commission this is backward calendar. Heard this on may 28. Forwarded with positive recommendation. Today we are at Small Business commission. From here it will go to the land use and transportation committee. That date is to be determined and eventually the full board of supervisors. I want to thank this commission for its input on this legislation. It is still at the stage where we can work to modify this proposal, and i am available for questions and eager for your input today. I will turn it back to you, mr. President. Thank you, lee. Commissioner adams. Thank you, lee, and supervisor peskin. I know and kathleen, we both worked on the cp3 deal. I really like what you did about cleaning it up here. I am very, very comfortable with these changes. I think you did a good job. This is stuff that i feel should have been addressed awhile ago. I want to make sure we need to get this out to people because you said something that was very key in your presentation. There is a lot of people who didnt know about that program. I could Say Something and i dont know if aaron is on here or not. When you have your intake with planning, they should tell you this. That wasnt happening. We have to make sure that if this gets passed by the board that we have got to make sure that people who want to open up Small Businesses in commercial districts dont have to figure this out, you know what i mean in this is very good. I want to thank i know you worked on it and supervisor peskin. This makes my day. Thanks. Any comment. No, thank you. Commissioner ortizcartagena. Thank you, supervisor peskin and the outreach in my neighborhood on 24th and Mission Street. I appreciate you taking the time for 24. We were concerned. The work in our neighborhood is contingent on the c. U. Process. You excluding the cultural corridors i appreciate that. Thank you. Commissioner dooley. You said hard core. I need a beer. I wish i could pass you one through the screen. We thank you. You have done a great job. My only comment is that having the personal experience of having to wait two years to have a c. U. Hearing about the cannabis dispensary from my neighborhood which is outrageous. I am wondering if there is any way to add things that arent available for the new legislation could have some kind of limit. We had Staff Members quit at planning and find out they hadnt done any of the work, a and, you know, i dont how many deep pockets are out there. We have been paying rents for several years now. You know, just a thought for the future is that even though like the cannabis dispensary is not part of this. There are those out there who have had terrible problems. My neighborhood is waiting to get the dispensary open on a block that is half empty. It is a thought to maybe push this a little further because that is just unacceptable. Thank you. If i may address that comment. I fully appreciate that, commissioner dooley. Just to let the commissioners know this legislation i hope is a starting point as we try to in a lot of delays on the city side. The bottleneck around cannabis dispensaries is region at this point. I think a lot of the delay commissioner dooley experiences is that legalization made everybody cautious. There are, of course, approval that need acquired through the office of cannabis. With respect to whether this is going to solve every problem for every Small Business, absolutely not. As we found that applications approved by the Planning Commission and passed to the department of building inspection for Building Permits there is an opportunity for delay there. I should phrase that as another opportunity for us to reduce delay once things get passed from the Planning Department. That is a conversation ongoing with the departments in our office. Mr. White house is doing great work to streamline and to coordinate round table discussions. We are now in the d. B. I. Quagmire with no idea when anything will move forward. Commissioner wrec. What causes it to be under 26 day long delay between application and someone being heard . That is a great question. Maybe a question that planning staff is better suited to respond to. With accounting homemade i think at one point there was in the citys defense a response that was required from the private sponsor or tweak that restarted the clock. In any event our sort of provocation with this legislation and the provocation is that no Small Business even if there are tweaks in the plan should it is there for that long. I am not sure i have the best answer to your question. How long do you and supervisor peskin think a business should wait to be heard before the Planning Commission . What is the optimum amount of time to be heard . For that category that require conditional use authorization, which is a small percentage of the permitted usage in any given district. What we set forth in the legislation is 90 days. Three months you are entitle to that hearing. There are a host of other uses that are permitted which we could talk about and how long it should take for something that doesnt require a hearing to be turned around and permitted should be shorter. 90 days, three months for community negotiations to take place and that is what we hope for. If we can do it more quickly you might see an amendment a year or two down the line to shorten that time. Two questions. Why the 60 day ability to extend by any one member of the Planning Commission or a lot of other people . If the idea is to grant ex peed de yen see to businesses why build in the 60 days as extension, what is that about . We are envisioning the rare scenarios where three months is not enough. We tried to limit the scope who can invoke that extension to a limited number of folks. That is the planning director, who i would hope with evoke take extension very, very rarely as well as Planning Commissioners and neighborhood groups. It is t to account for. That is not a small group of people you said the entire Planning Commission, planning director and neighborhood groups. That is a lot of people who could unilaterally extend by two months. Who is missing from that equation . That is pretty much everyone. To clarify i totally appreciate the reaction, by the way. It is worth discussing whether we can further taylor that if that is a recommendation the commission would like to make. We are open to that. The neighborhood groups so we know, that is a codified list of eligible neighborhood groups, not any individual under the sun. There are institutionalized neighborhood groups to invoke that extension. One irritable neighbor is not to invoke take extension. There are many irritable neighborhood groups to utilize that extension. In we all agree this process should be you brought up the example of a business taking a year to be heard. We want to solve the problem to make this easier for businesses. I think adding an extra two months out clause for commissioner or planning director makes it relatively use less. Now it is five months. I dont know about you but five months, i think, it is subjective. One should be able to work out kings and issues of the community in three months or less. If you cant work it out in three months that should be the maximum. Adding two months makes this weaker and would mean that it is something i wouldnt support. Last question. What is the Planning Departments guidance currently on this right now . Through the president. This might be a good time to instrike aaron star from the Planning Department to do his presentation and provide the information. Is he going to be here or are you hop on and hospital off . I am present. We will get to aaron. We wanted commissioners to have the opportunity to give their questions to lee immediately after his presentation. Anything relevant to aarons presentation we can ask aaron afterwards. Just a quick question. Do you not agree with the Planning Departments. Perhaps i could encourage you to hold that question until after the planning has made their presentation so the public will understand what planning has recommended. Lee, dont go away. He cant. Heap is here for the next item as well. I am done. Thank you, mr. President. Commissioner ortizcartagena. Nofor the mission. That means 24th street and and e mission are carved out . Thank you for that clarification. It bears on the question that commissioner was asking as well about why we could invoke a 60 day extension to the 90 days. We have gotten some feedback and you know meeting with the commission on this legislation we received some input. They raised some instances where they have requested for extensions of c. U. Hearing multiple times while they workout m. O. U. S with the community. This is fundamental to the Mission Every assisting gentification of the districts. This is a proposal to exclude the special use district and commissioner Ortiz Cartagena. I dont know what the boundaries are. We are talking mostly 24th street. That is an ongoing conversation with other cultural districts and maybe the compromise where we will land on this is if we take the commissioners suggestion to take out the opportunity for neighborhood groups to extend that would probably come with proportion at consideration for the cultural districts who asked for an exclusion from this in the interest of not inhibiting their tire less work. Those two things are very lated to each other. To your question why you need a negotiator. Yes, there is a deep need for negotiation between community and neighborhood groups and proposed uses, and in many instances over the past couple years they were able to cite that resulted in m. O. U. Around staffing and neighborhood consideration to make sure there is a welcoming integration of the new business into the community. Right now the legislation is written are they excluded yes or no . They are not excluded in the current legislation. We are working on those amendments with the city attorneys office. We will continue to work on that amendment language. We are also working with district 9 supervisor to make sure we come around to a suitable language to serve that purpose. Thank you. A couple questions. When did the process of drafting this legislation start . Was its conceived in a precoronavirusser have or drafted in reaction to the Current Crisis . The first thing i would say is that, you know, at the inception this is about Planning Commission action in 2015 with the planning staff creating a lot of this program. When w we started the implementation that was around when we were talking about the vacancy and the six months exception. That is when we tried to zero in on this to make sure implementation was as effective as possible to ensure that we were facilitating seamless implementation of the vacancy as well. I am sure you can understand why first of all. My overall reaction. The legislation is welcome. Thank you and thank to the supervisor for your work on it. I know most people in the commission appreciate the intent in spirit of the legislation. I think what some of us are nudging you guys to do or to consider is push harder, go faster, do more because the Current Crisis demands speed and flexibility for Small Businesses to get up and going. You know, for instance one thought i have is you are at 90 days. Why not 30 . These are largely setting aside cultural corridors in commercial districts, which i am completely supportive of a higher level of Community Input there, but elsewhere in the city is there any reason for a business use that is already largely determined to not be an adult establishment or cannabis or bar largely uncontroversial retail use. Cant we get to the bottom of that within 30days or 45 . Is there any way to accelerate the 90 daytime line . What is the commitment to 90 days. To me that seems like an excessive amount of time. I can probably anticipate how aaron star would reply to that and how i would reply to aaron starr and we can have that conversation. The way i would respond is that we are talking about a small subset of proposed uses in commercial corridors. There is no reason why a business shouldnt be overthecounter permit granted quickly. We are talking about businesses subject to commercial use authorization. Conditional use authorization. It is to facilitate communications with community, neighbors to apply conditions that meet the needs of the neighborhood, and i think that communication in most instances i think there is no reason that should take more than 90 days. I have heard where it doesnt take longer. I am not sure 30days is long enough to get it on the Planning Commission calendar, a, and to ensure that neighborhood groups and Community Organizations and merchant groups have an opportunity to weigh in, b. Someone it is allocated when we dont want to incentivize that use in the first place. There is a high profile where the building at the corner of vallejo and colum coup bus. That he on he o columbus. That facilitated the neighborhood conversation and organizing required for the first and only hard wear store in north beach under that space. It is a Community Serving use for thousands of residents in the neighborhood. When we talk about c. U. We are talking about subset of uses we dondont want to rush into it d for go the first ever Hardware Store in north beach. This legislation is saying we believe the c. U. Should take 90 days and no more. That is also there is no reason why that should take over a year. We are if that makes sense we are getting at both angles. To push back on that a little bit or challenge that assumption. I can imagine how important it would be to get the first Hardware Store in north beach, however, in the current climate with restaurants dropping left and right like flies, i am not sure that communities are harmed by having somebody deciding to dip toes into the water. I think our failure rate is greater than success rate. I guess i would just encourage you and your boss to consider liberalizing this a bit more. I think what this moment calls for is a tremendous amount of flexibility and to give the Small Business community as much room as they need to move forward. I guess, you know, i wanted to echo commissioner wreck commissioners comments about cultural groups. Outside of that area i have personally observed a dedicated person who has an officer position in one of these groups cant enforce a hecklers veto on business that, you know, would otherwise be well received by a majority of the community. I tend to agree with commissioner yekutiel that is getting them an additional 60 days to me seems unreasonably burden some when they have 90 days to make their feelings known. That is it as far as my questions and comments. Is aaron here . Ready and waiting. Perfect. Welcome, aaron. You have the floor and please feel free to make your presentation. Good afternoon, commissioner, aaron starr manager of legislative affairs. The Planning Commission heard this item may 29th. Voted to recommend with modifications in lou of codifying the Program Principal uses of vitality as the first story for a period of three years, two, maintain control of specific uses on restricted use districts or other measures quantitatively limiting them. Rationale is twofold. First the existing program that this ordinance seeks to could cy is working. It will not help the Small Businesses. It processes 18 cb 3b applications per year. It takes staff 68 days from application to Planning Commission. This is within the 90 daytime line. It is rare for the commission to deny the application. Second. Codifies will remove the commissions ability to respond to Small Business needs. The planning policies the program can be amended by a resolution. It only takes a couple weeks under the discretion of Planning Commission. Codifying requires changes through legislative process for five or six months and places control under the board of supervisors. We dont have the benefit of being involved with the decisions on the weekly bases. Rather than codifying the process working, the commission instead proposed modifications to keep the spirit of the ordinance, streamlining approval for Small Businesses and providing a more certain timeline for approval. The Commission Proposes this by permitting uses o on the ground florto compete in ecommerce. Uses like restaurants and entertainment and gyms. In recognition of the planning work the Commission Recommended keeping existing limits on specific uses like eating and drinking within the mission. The Planning Commission shares the goal to reduce permitting time and costs for Small Businesses. Lessening regulations rather than codifying the existing process would be more effective. That concludes my presentation and i will answer any questions. Commissioner yekutiel. If the goals are the same of making this process simpler, easier and less time consuming, why not just follow this Planning Departments guidance versus codtifying the existing process . I would respond to that in two ways. The Planning Commission did recommend support of this legislation. I would rather clarify that i dont think it was the Planning Commission not to codify. They did support the legislation with modifications. The recommendation as to a different approach which amounts to removing the c. U. Requirement altogether instead of proceeding with legislation to streamline that process is going to be a different conversation really. The conversation that needs to be had and not exclusive and can happen separately and in tandem with this legislation. Our approach is not to dictate what is afforded c. U. And what should not. It is counter to underline premise of the districts which evolved into unique zones throughout the city. To talk about things that activate the commercial corridor like nighttime entertainment use are subject to c. U. In the broadway neighborhood commercial district. If folks are familiar with that step of broadway between columbus and embarcadero, everything is a nightclub. That is where you have everything from hooters to condoor. The suggestion to start alleviating the c. U. S is a worthwhile but separate conversation and not what this is trying to address. Did the Planning Commission approve this legislation . Did it vote on this legislation and give its approval to it . No. It said in lieu of the first story uses for a period of three years. They were not endorsing codifying this program. They were saying in lieu this is what we should permit these things on the first floor . Yes. That is different. Here is the thing. The legislation gets tough, lee. If there is a lot of carveouts, if we add nuts and bolts to allow two months extensions here and there, i actually worry it might make the process harder. When i was going through the planning process i am probably the Small Business owner on the Small Business commission that went through planning and building. I sat down with my adviser in oewd and they explained the cb 3p program is filled with pitfalls as well. There is a lot of paperwork, issues. It is expensive, and there are not a lot of assurances. It is the Planning Department which administrators the programs. To make this easier why not go with what they want to do . I am assuming that is a rhetorical question. No, not rhetorical. What we are getting at here is that what we are trying to do is take away some of the flexibility of Planning Department to allow eligible businesses to fall through the cracks. We are cutting the fees that the Planning Department gets by 50 . I understand where planning staffs recommendation is not to do that and why they resist the added pressure. Frankly, what we are doing by codifying this, removing requirement for separate application, cutting fee 50 is broadening eligibility for a priority process conditional use application. Whether uses should be afforded c. U. Or be permitted is a separate conversation among neighborhood groups, merchant groups citywide. I believe in neighborhood commercial districts. I am not going to district what the castro does from the destruct 3 office. Aaron, does the Planning Department take issue to cut fees by 50 and eliminate them if they are not heard within a certain amount of time . No. Like i said we only had 18 applications. It is not a huge hit to our budget. I dont think it is the cost so much we are concerned about. There is not a fee study done. It is random 50 they are taking off. It could be less or more. We are cost recovery. We are to charge based on how much it costs to process the permit. Wif people dont know about the program that can be implemented through Planning Department changing to make sure we ask every applicant. Do you fall under these or catching them better. That is more implementation. It doesnt mean this Program Needs codified in the planning code. It is something staff developed that we are proud of, commission endorsed and we have been doing for a couple years and working fairly well. We dont quite understand the need to do the coddy fiction if we are meeting the goal and if there are problems with it, we are open to amending the program to find out where those problems are. This is my last question. I am passionate about this. The problem with this it seems to lean a lot on the belief and who is in the chair a bit and the hopes. The presentation you mentioned that you hope the planning director or commissioners or neighborhood groups wouldnt overly utilize the 60 day extension. You hope that with changes to the procedure the next aaron starr wouldnt decide to change all of these again. I think it is very important that whatever process is being built to make this easier that we actually make this a whole lot easier. If it is not actually going to filter down to Small Business owners, especially multi lingual not able to do it in a way respectful to the community. We need this process. We need to keep our eye on that. Not create too many exemptions to make it harder. Thank you. Commissioner hule, did you have a question . Are you still with us . Okay. She is fine. Aaron, i have a question for you. Legislation that has been drafted would primarily impact the cp3p applications, is that correct . Is that what this legislation is targeted to, in your view . Yes, it is basically the same. I think it includes a couple more that we didnt have if i can get the staff report. It includes massage uses, which we didnt include. General entertainment and Outdoor Activity areas, but the program also includes form laretail with 20 or fewer locations. That is really intended because we normally see that locally start up retails have 20 or fewer. It was a way to address that issue. So i guess in the presentation you had you mentioned you received 18 applications per year. I guess the first question beginning with lees presentation he spoke about italian homemade. Wouldnt that be one of the 18 . I dont know what italian homemade does. I assume it does qualify. I dont know why, i dont understand the reasons why it took over a year to do that. It is often between Communications Problems between applicant and planning staff. On average it takes 68 days to get to completion . That is what our numbers showed, yes. Do your numbers show the range on that distribution . For instance, on average 68 but the ranges from three days to 400 or 68 ranges from 20 to 70 . I am sure we could probably find be that out. I dont have the information in front of me. One of the challenges with bringing conditional use to the Planning Commission is the impact of scheduling. We do legislation at the Planning Commission, we do e. I. R. , conditional use, discretionary review. The more you add on to the calendar the harder it is to get on the calendar. That is why we are reducing the c. U. S in the planning code so things can move through the system faster. If the legislation was adop adopted, then this c. U. Process would move out of planning and into the board of supervisors or does it still stay in planning . Does it reduce your workload or is it neutral or does it now just add a new layer with supervisors . I think it may increase it, i dont know. They are adding a couple and taking away formula retail. Our office was in a wash on implementation. The issue is that the Planning Commission can add just their policy bypassing the resolution. All that takes is for us to agendize it and draft a resolution to change the policy. To change this it has to go to the board, transminute to us, hearing, back, land use hearing, board of supervisors, signed by the mayor and effective 30days after. That is a minimum five months process. If this legislation passes should we decide at a later date we want to change it, it could take time to enact those changes. Is that the correct understanding . Correct, yes. That is it for my questions. Are there any members of the public who would like to comment on this item . There are no callers at this time. Hearing no callers, Public Comment is closed. Commissioners, is there any additional thoughts or questions or comments you would like to make . Excuse me, sir, one did pop in right now. Would you like me to take it . Please, absolutely, yes. We would love to hear from them. Caller good afternoon, commissioners. I am with the San Francisco council of district merchants. I would like to thank all of you for all of your tough questions. This is what makes San Francisco work and this is what makes legislation more effective when things are presented and proposed for Small Businesses. We are struggling out here. You know that because you own Small Businesses. I want to thank you for everything you are doing and please keep the dialogue going if this is codified or amended. I encourage the dialogue. It was a delight listening to you today. Thank you very much. Commissioner. Aaron and lee, how do you think people will apply if so much work was done to have it expedite . I am happy to take that. I will say that it is our suspicion based on anecdotal experience tha that there are at more businesses eligible for priority possessing than coming through the program. That is why we want to legislate it to sort of perfect that. I will point to the two examples over the past year where i was personally acted as permit expediter. I followed an application from submission to application hearing and ultimate approval. Those were the homemade examples and the example of the proposed indoor childrens gym at polk street. Both of those applications would have been eligible for cp3p. They were not flagged. They did not submit the separate application required to avail themselves of priority possessing. It took our office to really push for a timely hearing date on that application. I dont know if better numbers exist. The two applications i followed over the past year both would have been eligible and were not routed through priority possessing. Are people at the information counter trained to bring this up a lot . Honestly, this is not necessarily a Planning Department so much. People when they get to pick, they made the decision how to apply or what they are going to do or maybe they go to planning information counter. Maybe this is oewd thing . It is osd that connected me to katie. If that hadnt happened i would not have known about it. Maybe it is something all of us can do better on, supervisors tells the Small Business applicant, mentioning the stuff at the table more than they are. Osb and oewd will help more people use the program. Sure, planning all i can say about the planning staff is they are trained. They are a planning staff, a planner. Your sound is cutting out. Sorry. Air pods are not the best for this. They cut in and out. You know, our planning staff sees Small Business people come in, and they understand that we put up a lot of hurdles to that. They are constantly trying to make the process easier. I know that from working on the pick and from people working on the pick. The two examples that lee has are not necessarily evidence of our failure of the program. If it is a matter of making people aware that we can do a better job. We can do a better job making people aware of things. I take issue with the fact that we would not want people to know about this. It is easier for us to process these things faster, to do shorter case report, easier to tell the public your application isnt going to take six months, it will take three or 68 days. We are committed to the process. We are the ones that developed it. We created it and brought it to the Planning Commission. We want to see it succeed. We think it is working fine. It can be improved. We want to make it better. Some. Some people at the planning counter extremely generous and want this to work. I had edgar who was incredible and amazing. Some people at the planning information counter seeming to make it want to be as hard as humanly possible and frustrating so that anyone who came there with hair leaves without it because they pulled it out. It is like the dmv where hopefully you will get someone to help you. I challenge you from someone who went through this. It depends who you get. Everyone knows that. It shouldnt be up in the air depending on the planner you get. I agree with you. I went through this planning process myself. The person at pick dropped my application and it took two months to get an answer. I brought this up to higher ups and no one could figure out why i couldnt get any answers or anything happened for two months. I will agree with 110 . I just went through this. My application took 10 months. That is all i am going to say. I agree with you, too, you are what planning should be, i love edgar. He helps everybody out. It is our version of dmv. This triggers a question, aaron. Is there any reason why this p3p process couldnt be automated. A business hits the criteria, it is automatically enrolled in this permit program and doesnt require any awareness or selection from the Business Owner . It might be a dumb question and i am sorry if it is. I am not sure i can answer the question. I dont know how it would be automated. One problem is change of use permits are Building Permits that originate with the department of building inspection and come to us as a referral or review agency. We have tried in the past five to seven years to get on the same system and it hasnt worked. It doesnt look like it is going to work anytime in the near future. Well, i will say broadly, generally i want to be supportive of any legislative attempt that would reduce the time for a Small Business to receive their permits, to get through the planning process, to get up and rolling and start making money. Particularly, in this time. There are elements about the legislation that make me a little bit nervous. Introduction of folks being able to extend it another 60 days, and i guess i am still a little unclear. It feels like there is an existing program. It seems to be working within that 90 day period. The average is 68. I dont know if that is reflective of reality or not. I guess, you know, i am not sure at least from my perspective that this is screaming for legislative input, but i am interested what other commissioners think. Does anybody want to make a motion . Commissioner hule, please go ahead. Thank you for your presentations. I was looking forward to this. Reading through it is different than getting the drafts that you were able to get into. I also appreciate the questions that were asked. I also just really didnt know what questions were going to come up. I really appreciate all of my cocommissioners and input and thoughts. I feel like i am in a very similar space as what commissioner laguna just said in terms of, you know, i am weary. For sure i want to see things streamlined. I also want accountability for that. At the same time i dont know i am not sure if legislation or adding more legislation to something that already exists is the right channel. I dont know how to put this in a question form. That is what i am struggling with right now. It doesnt have to be a question. You are not obligated to ask. I do think in the Task Force Meetings we have been in for the Recovery Task force there is a planning component. I am curious in terms of how does this all fit into this larger picture . It does seem like this is a very small thing going to affect i am not sure how many businesses. The overall picture is that i dont know how many Small Businesses want to open any time soon and rent space any time soon. I do think there is an opportunity right now to revisit and look at what we think ground floor retail should look like. It doesnt look entirely feasible it is going to look the way it looked five years ago. I dont think that is what ground floor retail is going to look like. I guess i am not sure how this fits into the larger picture of the situation right now. Commissioner ortizcartagena. One of the things i guess i would include the cultural districts especially the mission corridor. I need that on record if we do make any motion. I would say, commissioner, some of the cultural districts might want to make it easier for people to come in to create new businesses. I think rather than carving out every cultural district. We have one in every neighborhood these days. If there are specific cultural districts to include they should. The castro might want to make it easier or harder and not carve out. Just 24th and Mission Street is what i am asking. You know, i guess something i am dwelling on is what i think is most needed in the city right now is speed and nimbleness. We have got to make it easier for businesses to do whatever is needed to do. We also have to make it easier for government to do whatever is needed to be done. I guess upon further reflection i am concerned, you know, if we pass this legislation, maybe i am hopelessly naive and optimistic, i think i am inclined to want to give planning the benefit of the doubt in terms of being able to come up with processes to respond to this moment versus legislation that might be difficult to change later, but i am still waffling. If somebody wants to make a motion, i am all ears. I have to say i am torn right now. I see if there could be legislation that makes this process streamlined, easy and good and makes it a lot better and it is into law, we dont have to rely on the well run Planning Department to make it happen. I mean this with no offense, air aaron, but i am not taking that bet. This seems to create problems and makes it hard to support if there are carve outs to extend by two months. As proposed today, i wouldnt support it. If you cuts out the 60 day extension period then i would vote to support it. But that is a big problem for me. I am torn. If the plannings recommendations were in lieu of codedifying cp3p, it would they recommend permitting at did first story uses contributing to the retail vitality for three Years Limited restaurant, gym gm restaurant, social verse, health services, public facility, post secondary educational instruction and personal services. We could, i guess, i would be interested to hear from commissioners that they would want to support plannings recommendations. We could move in support because this would principally permit many of the uses that seem to be caught in this process. I have a quick. I am working on that extra 60 days. The premises when we did this was 90 days, and no more than 90 days. I have to get rid of that to support it. Commissioner lee has had his hand raised and kathleen has her hand raised. Sorry. Lee, please go ahead. You are welcome to jump in it it is your legislation. I want you to defend it. Respectfully it is your commission. Thank you for the opportunity. The path forward i would recommend for the commission. I have heard two recommendations that i think that our office can work with here. One, removal entirely of the additional 60 days or at least further restricting the parties who can invoke that 60 day extension. That is one recommendation. The second recommendation and conversation going on in the background relative to commissioner Ortiz Cartagenas request for the Mission Street as cultural district not a need would be a second recommend. My recommendation would be to recommend legislation with those modifications. Then you know, that is support if amended as opposed unless amended. I would appreciate that support with recommendation for those modifications. Quic followup. Commissioner dooley. In the ncds, the way it is now are the ncds have priority in terms of, for example north beach has 10 million restaurants so we need a c. U. For that. Will this superside that and force the neighborhood to accept yet another restaurant . I like to have clarification how farreaching these things are in terms of changing the existing ncds. So the north beach is peculiar. It is come plated with a lot complicated with a lot of regulations. It would be difficult for a new restaurant to qualify to be in the north beach. For some reason one did qualify to move forward, this would mean that it would be heard at the Planning Commission within 90 days like we would process any other application. It doesnt get rid of the c. U. Requirement, but, again, north beach you have to you can only have a restaurant in a space that was a bar or restaurant previously. Commissioner. I know we have other things on the agenda. I propose to accept a motion to approve with two recommendatio recommendations. Only if two recommendations amendments. To make it so no one can extend 60 days, not to give that power in the removal of the ability to extend. To allow individual cultural districts to be carved out if they desire. I think specifically on this commission the Mission Street. I would second that. You know we will do something new with motions. I had a conversation with the executive director over the week. Before we vote on the motion, we will have an opportunity to have a discussion about the motion being made. Any comments about this motion . Go ahead, aaron, please. Sorry. As much as i dont want you to codify this, conditional uses are not permitted unless the Commission Takes an active vote to approve them. If the commission feels cornered and they are at the commission and cant go past 90 days with 60 day extension they might be likely to disapprove it. I dont know if they will, but the extra time can give them time to let the community and the applicant Work Together to come to a resolution. If there is no resolution, then the commission may feel obliged to disapprove the conditional use application. That is my only concern about getting rid of that. I understand the comments about extending for no reason, but i think that is another reason they put that in there. So it is an extension that could be to the benefit of the business if enacted by a commissioner or the planning director . Correct. If something is before the commission because discretionary review, that use is permitted. If the commission fames to act fails to act it is approved by default. If they fail to act it is disapproved by default. Any more discussion about the motion in front of us . I am going to suggest that we go ahead and give the director and commissioners the opportunity to extend it. Perhaps language i cant think of a way to say extend for the benefit of the business and not to the detriment of the business. Certainly, that is what i am hoping for here. I think the issue from what i have been hearing from the planning process is the rules are annoying to people and seen like arbitrary and made up by angry individuals or groups. I am putting that question. That i understand. The other rules. The issue is how long it takes and how like how arbitrary it seems to take to move through the process. Even if it means that like it is shorter but you are likely to get a decision if you can do that. Most people would be okay with that than like allowing it to go for a long time on the hopes the interest of the business is kept in mind. I just dont know there is a way to put that in the way of the letter of the law. I dont know that we can solve for both. We want to say the city of San Francisco will tell you whether or not you can do what you want to do where you want to do it. They are not going to waste your time and make commissioner dooley pay rent for two years for the cannabis dispensary while three noodle on it. I agree with that. Any other comment on the motion in front of us . Seeing none, do we want to move to a vote . Can you read it back . The commission secretarys role. There is a motion by commissioner the hon. London breed good morning, everyone. Im San Francisco mayor london breed. Im joined here today with the director of the department of Public Health, dr. Grant colfax, as well as the director of the department of economic and Workforce Development to talk about the citys effort around covid19, whats happening with our reopening, and what you need to know. Today as of today, we have 4,020 new cases total cases, 68 hospitalizations, and 16 transfers from other counties, and 50 people have sadly lost their lives to covid19 in San Francisco. I want to take this moment, first of all, to really thank the people of San Francisco because we know that it is because of many people in this city the fact that you have been wearing your mask, social distancing, washing your hands, and staying home in most cases, even though i know it has been challenging. Because you have done that, we have not seen San Franciscos numbers increase like some other cities that are experiencing significant challenges. But i also want to be clear that we are seeing an increase. Our numbers, along with numbers all over the country, are going up, and we are not out of the woods yet. I have said in the past, dr. Colfax has said in the past, the covid19 virus, this covid19 is with us for at least anywhere between 12 to 18 months, and what we are trying to do is adapt to our new normal, and part of adapting to our new normal is that we not only want to keep ourselves safe, we want to keep the people around us safe. I cant express enough how important it is to wear your mask whenever possible, especially when youre around other people. Its not just about protecting you, its about protecting them, as well. And we, as you all know, are still having a number of challenges, and i want to talk a little bit today about our reopening efforts because i know that thats really been at the top of everyones mind is what is happening. Last month, i made an announcement about a timeline specifically when San Francisco was planning to reopen, and we were doing well in terms of our numbers. As we said, we will look at the data, we will look at whats happening in our city as far as hospitalizations and make decisions. So we moved up our timeline once the state provided us with the variance. We were planning to allow businesses to reopen as early as june 29, and then, something changed. We saw a spike, one that we have not seen in a very long time, and as a result, we had to put a pause on the opening of those businesses, and i know that it was very detrimental, especially since its already been so challenging for so many hair salons and nahair salons d a number of other businesses that were planning to reopen. And i know this was very challenging, but this was definitely a matter of Public Health. I know it was hard to make that decision on that pause for reopening, and the original variance was scheduled to be granted july 13. So i must say that as of today, on july 13, we will not be able to allow restaurants to be able to operate indoors, as we had planned, nor will we be able to allow bars to open outdoors on july 13. And we continue to evaluate and to make the decision. If we see the numbers stablize or decline in any way, we will reevaluate the reopen. But at this point, we have no choice. We are living in covid, and i think what i want to reiterate is the fact that we are all in this together. What you do or what you dont do impacts someone else, whether you know it or not, and thats why its so important that we follow the guidelines of the city to wear our masks, to socially distance, to wash our hands, to do everything we can to stay apart from one another during this time, especially as we see the numbers increase. So i want to, at this time, introduce dr. Grant colfax, who will talk a little bit more about whats happening. And i also as i said, Joaquin Torres is here because we know that our Small Businesses in San Francisco who have already been struggling continue to struggle. We started a number of funds and a number of things to try and help support these businesses. I know its not enough, but i want to be clear that, you know, this is not a decision that we are approaching lightly. We know that in order to protect Public Health, we are creating other challenges for Small Businesses. Were creating other challenges because we know that over 153,000 san franciscans have filed for unemployment. We dont make these decisions lightly, and this is why we want to reiterate how important it is for us to listen to the guidelines and to do our part. We need these numbers to go down. We need these numbers to go down, so we need not just people in San Francisco, but the folks who are also coming from other places to San Francisco, the people who are working in San Francisco. Folks who work for our nonprofit agencies, serving our homeless population, are coming from cities all over the bay area. People who are working in our hospitals, our Public Safety officials. What impacts one impacts us all, so this is not just about San Francisco, this is about the entire bay area, and our need to take this virus seriously and to all do our part to keep one another safe. And in San Francisco, as soon as we can allow things to reopen, we will be the first to do so safely. So i thank you all for your cooperation, and at this time, i want to turn it over to dr. Grant colfax. Well, thank you, mayor. Im dr. Grant colfax, the director of Public Health for the city and county of San Francisco. I want to thank all san franciscans for their sacrifices during this unprecedented time. The psychological, physical, and economic toll wrought by the pandemic are severe and continue to have major impacts across the city and region, particularly among communities already facing socioeconomic and health inequities. The virus has further exploited these fault lines, and so far, for the most part, we have managed to avoid the worst consequences of the virus and the pandemic, but that could change at any time. Today in San Francisco, we have 4,020 diagnosed cases of covid19, and unfortunately, 50 people have died of the disease. In the bay area region, there are over 30,000 cases and just over 600 deaths. In the state, nearly 250,000 cases, and nearly 6500 people have died. And nationally, we continue to see the pandemic surge, with nearly 3 million cases and an astounding 130,000 deaths. Leading up to the holiday weekend, we did everything we could to make sure that we all knew the safest way to celebrate, and that was to stay home this year. For those who did go out, we asked that people avoid gathering wherever possible, wear Face Coverings, stay 6 feet apart, and wash their hands frequently. Over the weekend, the city handed out over 12,000 face masks to organizations in the Latinx Community in recognition of the disproportionate burden of disease affecting the latinx population, and we are continuing to expand low barrier testing to communities most affected by covid19. And you may have received a phone call or a text from the city encouraging you to do your part to keep your Community Healthy and safe. Unfortunately, there were still dozens of gatherings throughout the city, and many people were not wearing Face Coverings or masks. But i want to thank everyone who did take precautions. You are literally saving lives and keeping covid19 from spreading rapidly in the city. And i especially want to thank everyone who skipped the usual july 4 fun and made sacrifices this weekend. We are in a period, we have been in a period, and we continue to be in a period of uncertainty, and i want to acknowledge that this is a really hard place for all of us to be. And yet we know what works, and we need to continue to do what works. We flattened, and some would say we crushed the curve once, and we can do it again. If we do not, the consequences could be dire. My commitment to you is that we will continue to follow the science, data, and facts. The results of the july 4 weekend behavior wont be known for at least two or three weeks, but we must continue to do all we can to flatten that curve again. Dont let your guard down. The virus is still out there, and its out there more than ever before. It is spreading throughout our community and the bay area region. We are working with scientists, researchers who are seeing that the reproductive rate of the virus is climbing above 1. That means that for each person infected with the virus, the virus is infecting more than one person going forward. The virus is increasing in our community. At this rate, it could potentially overwhelm our Health Care System and cause many deaths if we dont get a handle on this right away. I want to make sure that san franciscans, that you understand how serious and precarious our situation is. Lets look at our health ska indicators. They are published daily on the San Francisco Health Tracker that you can reach on the San Francisco health website. I invite you all to follow along with how the virus is impacting our community. The indicators are scored by green, yellow, orange, and red to understand where we stand. Todays indicators show that, unfortunately, we have reason to be concerned. Our case indicator is red. We are currently diagnosing on average 6. 1 cases per 100,000 new cases per day. Our goal is to keep that number to 1. 8, so rather than 1. 8, were at 6. 1. That is red. That is a serious situation that requires us to pause. Hospitalizations for people diagnosed with covid19 have seen a 25 increase over the past week. Our goal is to keep that increase less than 10 . Our Hospital Capacity, unfortunately, remains good. 35 of acute beds are available, and 30 of i. C. U. Beds are available for covid19 and other patients, but again, that could change at any time, and we know, when this virus takes off, it takes off fast. Testing, we continue to expand testing. Were currently conducting an average of 1762 tests over a sevenday average. Our contact tracing, we continue to follow up with 82 reaching 82 of cases, and 88 of their contacts, and our protective personal protective equipment or p. P. E. Is at 89 supply, status yellow. Now lets look at the bay area perspective. As we all know, San Francisco is not alone. We are a part of an interdependent region where people live, work, go to school and play across many counties at once. There are cases surging in communities across the region. For examp marin, 1774 cases in the past two weeks. They were put on the state watch list. Solano, 1662 cases in the last two weeks alone. They have been put on the sate watch list, and we see similar numbering increasing across the region. This pandemic does not, the virus does not know county lines, and we must respect that it is increasing across the bay area. So where does that leave us . Our reopening is still on pause as of june 29 as we work to bring the latest surge of cases under control. We can do it. Weve done it before, and its up to us. I know that this is an unsettling situation, and there are a lot of unknowns. I know and appreciate that businesses are and need to be able to plan, and that residents need to be able to get back to work. While it is so difficult, so difficult, as the mayor alluded to, to slow down the reopening that we all want so badly, the price we pay for moving too quickly is extremely high. Remember, this virus has no timeline. Across the country, the virus is surging back in florida, arizona, and texas. In california and right across the bridge the golden gate bridge, marin is slowing down reopening, and in Imperial County to the south, the hospitals there are full and patients are being transferred to other counties. In fact here in San Francisco, we have 13 patients have other counties that we are caring for in our intensive care units. At this point, we are not dialing back any of the activities or businesses that have reopened, but we are not going to rush it further ahead, either. I know that it is confusing to keep track of all these lists and schedules, especially when they may change. Here are some of the Public Health principles that we are using. You can use them, too, to guide your decisions. Again, everyone in San Francisco and, indeed, in the bay area has a responsibility and an opportunity to protect the communitys health. When you think about the risk of exposure and transmission, keep these things in mind. How risky is the activity . First, is the activity indoors or outdoors . Outdoors is much safer. Second, does it involve gatherings with people outside of your immediate household . That is riskier and should be avoided. Three, can you hear Face Coverings at all times during the activity . Four, can you maintain, and i mean can you really maintain at least 6 feet of physical distancing . I think some of us have found that harder than we expect in certain situations. Fifth, can you easily wash your hands and is the environment properly cleaned. Think about any activity in terms of the following four characteristics number, frequency, duration, and distance. Number. The more people who are together, the more interactions take place. This is riskier. Frequency. The more often people interact, the higher their risk of transmission. Duration. The longer the amount of time spent together, the higher risk of virus transmission. Distance. The closer together people are, the higher risk of virus transmission. Keep these principles in mind. Use your common use common sense. Use our common sense. Facial coverings, social distancing, think about the number, frequency, duration, and distance as you make decisions about how, when, and even if to engage. When we apply these principles and examine the Health Indicators and incorporate what we are learning about the virus and its reproductive rate in San Francisco and the region, we are forced to conclude that it will not be responsible to allow Indoor Dining or outdoor bars to begin on july 13. Indoor dining is an activity where people typically gather with those outside of their households, takedown their face masks, and spend time in close proximity. The simple pleasure of going to an indoor restaurant is something that we, and certainly i, all miss, and it is certainly a vital part of our cultures economy. I know from experience what it means to wait tables and live by the service tips that are provided. But for now, unfortunately, Indoor Dining is an opportunity for the virus to spread. If we let that happen, it will further delay our chances of getting back sooner to the things we love to do. We are not alone. New york city also has put Indoor Dining on hold and, eve west virginias governor has issued an order making indoor masks mandated when social distancing isnt possible. They are taking aim at the same things that we are. As for outdoor bars, they are currently restricted for 23 counties on the watch list. And although San Francisco is not on that list today, that could change. As i said, several bay area counties are on the watch list, and if any county in the bay area is in such trouble, we are all in trouble. In keeping with our regional approach, we are going to abide by that restriction since outdoor bars are an occasion for gathering, removing a facial mask, and can be a difficult environment to maintain adequate physical distance. Meanwhile, Outdoor Dining at restaurants and bars that serve food will continue to be allowed as long as everyone follows the precautions and the virus remains under control. We are continuing to evaluate the data and reconsider the reopening of indoor museums, zoos, aquariums, gyms, real estate open houses, and personal services. We will have an update on those activities by the end of the week. I cant emphasize enough how important it is that we do our part, that each of us does our part. Remember, even if you do not have symptoms, you could be carrying the virus, or your friend could be carrying the virus. Even though this virus has greatest consequences in general for people who are older, it can also have severe consequences for younger people. We must all do our part to keep as many people as possible from contracting the virus. Do not gather if possible, and not in large groups. Continue to stay home as much as possible. If you leave the house, wear a mask or a Face Covering, stay 6 feet apart, and wash your hands. These actions save lives. We have time. There is a window now for course correction, but if we dont do it, and we dont do it quickly, we could be looking at a surge of illness that goes well beyond what we are prepared to handle. We saw in march that our Rapid Actions mattered. Just a few days made a huge difference. The power to make things better is indeed in our hands. We can get this right. We know what to do. We need to support each other in doing it. We can have a thriving economy in San Francisco with a healthy population and a renewed economy if, if we Work Together, remain vigilant, and hold our ground. Thank you. And it is my pleasure to introduce Joaquin Torres, the director of oewd, who will make additional comments with regard to where we stand with the pandemic and business and recovery. Thank you. Well, thank you very much for your leadership, mayor breed, and thank you very much for keeping us all safe and healthy during this time, dr. Colfax. I know that so many individuals in the business community, whether the businesses or their workers are happy that were doing so much to keep them safe and their families. We all know that these practices are what are allowing the businesses to move forward. We know that this is a very difficult time for you, for your employees, and for our city, but so much appreciate what you all have done for us to keep our city strong, lively, and our Economic Activity continuing. The issue for us right now around wanting to ensure that you have clarity is a commitment that our office of economic and Workforce Development brings. You can visit our website at oewd. Org to learn more about partnerships that we are providing with the city and Public Health so that you can continue to have best practices around measures, guidances, and reopening. That is your source for information to grants and loans that we are providing here in the city and county of San Francisco for all of you. We know that all of you are deeply excited about getting back to work. Please do stay in contact with us. We look forward to working with you to making that happen. As mayor breed and dr. Colfax said, the basics are what matter right now. Please do, when businesses are asking for your support, please be patient with them. Please continue to support them. They are looking at for your interests and our entire citys interest by asking you to wear your mask, maintain social distancing, use the sanitizer that they have at the front door when you come in. Please be respectful of that. We all need your support, and they all need your support in continuing to work to move forward to benefit our economy. Thank you to our Small Businesses, and thank you to the workers who continue to come in day in and day out who make sure that we can continue to provide for ourselves and our families. Thank you for all that you do and we look forward to working with you. Please visit our website, oewd. Org so we can provide you information on reopening and answer any questions that you may have whether youre a worker, a business, or a nonprofit in San Francisco. Thank you. Director torres, if you can stay at the podium, the first question will be for you. Okay. The first question is from chris reyes, abc 7. What can you tell the restaurants about the first goal of reopening . Are you working with the restaurants for the first phase of reopening . Yes. The answer is we are working very closely with the restaurants. Our staff are talking daily, if not every other hour, with the Industry Leaders and also individual businesses to make sure that were up to date on information and needs that people have. As you heard dr. Colfax mention, the realities right now are that we are not ready to provide a timeline in terms of when these next steps can be taken. This is contingent on what the data tells us. We look forward to more and to communicating more by the end of this week, but for the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and others, we will continue to work with you and continue to provide you up to date information. Thank you, dr. Torres. The next set of questions are for dr. Grant colfax, the director of Public Health. Dr. Colfax, your first question is from marco siler gonzalez, kesq news. Do you have a total number of patients that have been taken from san quentin to hospitals . Our latest number is 70, and that number has remained stable the last couple of days. Our last question is from [inaudible] on the virus spread in hospitalizations in the bay area, including San Francisco . Well, im certainly very concerned about the outbreak at san quentin, and we are working with our state and local partners to coordinate efforts to ensure that people, both the inmates and the staff of san quentin are getting access to care and the best care possible. That is being coordinated by the state. As i said in my opening statements, hospital beds in San Francisco looks good, so at this point, we will continue to support care for inmates and staff in necessary here in the if necessary here in the city and ensure that all patients inmates and staff get the care that they need. Follow up from kathy novak. Do you think that the crisis specifically is contributing to the delay in reopening . I think that there are multiple factors contributing to the delay. I truly cant draw a cause from the san quentin outbreak to our decision here in San Francisco to delay. I do think that we are increasingly looking across the region. As i said, if one countys in trouble, we are all in trouble. Were looking at both our local indicators here in San Francisco as well as indicators from our neighboring counties to make the decision that we did make to pause, and our indicators will continue to drive those decisions, along with the context of what other counties are experiencing. The next question is from heather knight, San Francisco chronic chronicle. San francisco families with children are frustrated that zoos, aquariums, and other places arent reopening. Do you have any date on when programs will restart . Its really this unprecedented challenging time where were trying to balance the need to protect children, their families, their grandparents with with the very issues that youre raising here. We have done a number of things that we hope will mitigate some of the concerns you raise. Camps are open with certain restrictions. We have child care guidelines out, and child care can open. The slow streets closing on jfk drive so families have more ability to get outside and exercise and get those kids out, and then were looking and working with the School District and private schools, as well, to potentially issue School Guidance soon. Still uncertainty still a lot of uncertainty, but really trying to balance the fact that kids need to get out, kids need exercise, their parents need a break with the fact that were in this unprecedented pandemic situation. And the final question is from felipe from kron 4. How close is the city from having to revert back to full place shelter in place in march that ultimately resulted in the curve being flattened . So were not at that point today. We are not rolling back what we have opened at this point. We will continue to follow the indicators and see. Again, i am hopeful, and i am even optimistic that if we all do our part, follow the guidelines, that we that we wont have to get to that point. Now certainly, its possible, but im hopeful that weve done the right thing in San Francisco by following the data, science, and facts. Moving congruent with the data, well be reviewing the data and indicators and will be issuing the facts this week. Thank you, dr. Colfax. This concludes our press conference for today. Been reae the amount of good faith everybody has been approaching this process with across the board. That is heartening. Before we move on to the next phase i think it is important the get Public Comment. I know there is a couple people who have relevant information for us. They are likely to be on the line. With that we will open it up to Public Comment. You have two questions remaining. Caller i am marie ray. I am the Public Policy and partnership at door dash which including caviar brand. The purpose of my testimony is to clarify the roll the commissions play in food delivery and express strong opposition to a cup. We support restaurants across the country throughout and prior to the Health Crisis with integrity and transparency. With our continued hope we can Work Together to find solutions to help local restaurants recover. Our c. E. O. And cofounder has seen the challenges of restaurants. He washed dishes in his moms restaurant and that led him to start the company in San Francisco and helping Small Businesses and strong earnings. The number of stops to provide relief to local restaurants. Voluntary account before the emergency declarations. Fees for 50 reduction. Those fees were below the mayors cap. 1500 San Francisco restaurants received that discount. We also eliminated commissions for pick up orders and delivery on saturdays to help the restaurants attract new customers and to keep delivery affordable. This amounted to 120 million in savings for local restaurants. We want the Services Affordable and accessible when the delivery is necessarity. We supported contact less delivery, two weeks of health assistance. They earn 28 per active hour. The partners with the central kitchen and sfmbo to power delivery of 1500 grocery boxes and 7,000 prepared meals to the medically vulnerabilities residents including seniors. The cap will negatively affect the restaurants that you hel hoo help. They agree to Pay Commission for services rendered. These have costs and they are expensive which is why restaurants do not have their own fleets. They pay for delivery worker pay and background checks, insurance costs like occupational accident insurance, auto liability insurance, credit card fees as high as 3 to 4 . Advertising and marketing costs. You have two questions rema remaining. Next caller, please. Caller this is lower rethomas, executive director of gold ebb gate golden gate restaurants. I would like to thank you for taking up this item and the hard work, lee, from jurors and getting together to hear our feedback. I think we all know it is a rough week and we anticipate it is going to get rougher for restaurants. We are worried the dine this is going to be pushed off for a long period of time. That is not confirmed foR San Francisco. We are concerned that is the direction we are moving in. With that in mind, it is more important than ever that we need delivery in order to keep doors open. That will leave restaurants with takeout delivery and limited outside dining as Revenue Generating options unless they are selling groceries or Something Like that. As we outlined in our letter. Predator repractices from the third parties need to stop. I experienced that and it was unintended consequence but we need to see contracted partnerships between the restaurants and the folks delivering the food. We have been in conversations for several months to work on the solution. I think we heard from door dash there is interest in working with the community and helping out on that especially during the shelterinplace. We appreciate that intent and that time. We are also very interested in and are happy to hear the temporary cap will continue. I would recommend we continue to take time. Now is not time for restaurants to be able to spend time negotiating anything other than how do we get workers back to work and stay afloat now that he we are not sure when dine this is available in San Francisco. We would like to offer the stay at the table. We would like to keep this temporary supplemental in place and try to come to whatever the correct negotiated solution is and i am happy to give input and answer any questions. Thanks. This is president laguna. With respect to the Commission Rate. From your perspective on behalf of the restaurant industry, how important is the Commission Rate as an overall part of this package . It is near the top, but some of these practices again are important as well. The delivery can has allowed a lot of restaurant members to come closer to breaking even and that is very helpful. I know a delivery cap is something that i am not sure how legally that works. I would like to see a negotiated solution. It is extremely important. I am supportive what lee and i discussed. The consumer to the degree they can should share more of the cost for the convenience. With respect to that if the restaurants had more flexibility with pricing separately away from the app as we mentioned earlier, does that have a Material Impact how you view the Commission Cap or no . Well it is passing more cost to the consumer. If we can raise the price. If you would have come to our restaurants and dine in and the entry was 18. If you had the ability to price that, a couple dollars higher for delivery, the restaurant is the one getting the passthrough price to the consumer. It helps. Again, the commission is a direct feed. I would like to see change where it is not based on percentage of what is ordered more the delivery component. Thank you. You have one question remaining. Caller this is ben. I am the founder of San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance and bar and Restaurant Owner myself. Chairman of the entertainment commission. My words are my own. I have been part of these negotiations and taking a harder line. I dont think delivery apps are in their current state are bad for the community. They set up a cycle for the Small Businesses. The people surged in San Francisco came here from all over seeking jobs. Their concern seemed to be convenience. They want to stay home and stay in the neighborhood. The delivery apps fed to the fear of interacting with others. Restaurants found themselves relying on the delivery apps to survive. Then the delivery apps started increasing fees and things were worse than that. They have had one thing on their mind. I am getting acquired by a Bigger Company or dominating market share. Small businesses are suffering. There are predatory repractices that echo those of the mafia. It is clear th the companies ubr included want to build ghost kitchens. Brick and mortar businesses care about the community. We are the community. We know neighbors names and the people next to us. They are relying on the delivery apps. Make it clear. The apps do not care about our community. They claim to but they dont. I will tell you how i know. Look at the people at the top. Who is the biggest owner of uber east. He had a columnist murdered. He does all of the marketing that they care about communities. He made 16 billion. Maybe they should have him for 30 commission instead of preying on Small Businesses. I celebrate this legislation. I will climb to the top of the twin peaks with a bull horn and sing praise. Thank you for drafting it. I encourage you all to approve it. Thank you. No further Public Comment. Public comment is closed. Commissioner ortizcartagena. Thank you for the Public Comment, especially the last commenter. Everybody knows i grew up the mission. To be honest what the App Companies are charging, there were loan sharks charging less rates. 30 . They even gave out turkeys. You are predatory reand we are stopping that. We over legislate Small Businesses and allow the predators to prey on Small Businesses. Thank you, lee, this is much needed. We hear you, Small Businesses. We will not let these companies bleed you dry. We promise you that. Something resonating for me. Who pays . One thing that i think from Public Policy is disserving. If you cannot raise the rates for the delivery side of your business and have to charge the same as if you walk into a store, you are basically the people that come into the store are subsidizing the people getting the deliveries is how that pencils out. We are encouraging now more vehicle car trips, it seems like that comes at a detriment to all of us collectively if a Small Business doesnt have the flexibility to decide how they are going to price things. You know, i happen by virtue of having participated in a lot of these discussions, i happen to know that there are active negotiations. They are moving forward in good faith. It does seem hopeful that everybody will get to a place where they feel comfortable moving forward, particularly the restaurant community. I have reminded the delivery App Community we are the Small Business commission, not the delivery app or tech commission. We represent Small Business. I think we all feel pretty strongly about supporting the restaurants and Small Business in whatever way we can. We all perceive this legislation as being an attempt to do so at a time when they need it more than ever. I would move that we support the supervisor moving forward with conversations with the community and working towards building consensus so that we can have a vibrant economy and so that everybody can move forward. I would move to support the supervisor moving forward. Is that us voting to officially approve or endorse this legislation . So the reason i couch that and i thank you for the clarifying language. Lee, correct me if i am wrong, there are still a few open points of discussion, is that fair to say or is it a done deal at this point . No, you were correct. Honestly, we are continuing to engage with all stakeholders. I think if you have specific recommendations that would be more constructive than, you know, support for the spirit of it. I dont think that respectfully to anybody who disagrees that supporting the legislation is any different than supporting the spirit of it. I think it will be more impactful if we can say we have the support of the Small Businesses moving forward to committee. Commissioner dooley. I want to support this. It is time to stop this predatory reactivity. I have to say that i was very inspired by the idea of perhaps getting the local restaurants to get together and somehow figure out away to bypass these type of Delivery Services entirely. In my neighborhood a Residential Group has been doing that. They say this week we will deliver if you live in the neighborhood from these three restaurants. I think clearly that is a great idea. In our community we need to move forward with that to take control back to the restaurants themselves. I guess we have to vote on the motion. Not yet. I would say propose a motion we endorse the legislation as written or as proposed here in the conversation and take a vote on that. Second. The reason i am sitting here thinking about this. I am thinking about the conversations today. There is an opportunity to play a helpful and constructive role in those conversations as we indicated i think there is some interest in getting suggestions and input on moving forward. That is the only reason i am pausing for a second. I guess i dont think that one predisposes the other. No, not necessarily, but i would like the motion to be inclusive of our recommendations and our suggestions as well as our support. Put it this way. Our support is implicit. I think the legislation has broad support. The question is how can we play a helpful role here in making the legislation more effective and also getting the parties to have a meeting of the minds . What it sounds like, and i dont want to put words in your mouth, lee, it would be helpful for the Small Business commission t to support this legislation and it should be passed. In addition, if you believe, lee, that there are followup hearings or conversations or we should bring other organizations to this body over the coming weeks to make potentially proposed amendments or additional enforcement mechanisms. Talk to the city attorney, it seems like i dont want to speak for the commissioners. That would be helpful. The Small Business Commission Wants this to be passed and how can we be helpful, i guess . To that question, thank you, commissioners. The reality is what we have heard from at least a couple of the stakeholders, uber eats in particular have expressed they are committed to meeting us on the predatory reprincipal pieces. We have established that as the barrier to entree to get to the conversation what the Commission Cap should be. As a baseline we want the prapredator repractices, 10 , 2 , 15 whatever. I dont was president to suggesi dont want to suggest. I suggest we are getting further along in the presentation that i provided that reflects amendments that are not in your packet, not before the commission today but that indicate the direction we are going. I would like the commissions support of the legislation and if you would like to couch that as support with the modifications in the form of amendments set forth in the presentation, you know, that would be helpful, but i would appreciate the commissions support of the legislation and appreciate the questions for clarification. Can you correct me if i am wrong. When a motion is made and seconded is there a requirement the Commission Vote on that motion . There is a requirement, but there still can be discussion. At some point there will need to be a vote unless the commissioner who made the motion is willing withdraws the motion. Thank you. A couple things. One, lee, is there anything in the legislation that if a delivery app makes a mistake that the restaurant will not be charged for the delivery apps error . You know what i am talking about . When the driver screws up, goes somewhere else. Currently my understanding is the restaurant that gets charged the refund. I understand what you are saying. That is not in the legislation currently. That is not an issue raised in the constituent stakeholder conversations. I welcome input in there are other concerns. That is the other predatory repractices we identified. I have not heard about that so far. I did bring it up with you twice. Maybe as i think about it to the extent that restaurants are in some instances, and i am not pointing at a single platform are charging if the order doesnt result or changing gratuities after the fact maybe that is the same idea. Something not in the legislation yet. This is director. One point of clarification that i failed to mention in terms of dealing with the motion is that a commissioner may offer a friendly amendment to the original motion and the commissioner who made the motion can accept or not accept that friendly amendment as part of their motion. That is what i was considering. I think i am going to hold off on that. I am trying to recall one or two other sort of dangling issues. Maybe just the length of this hearing. They seem to have escaped me. I think we want to support the legislation as written. I think the motion is straightforward. I would add a couple thoughtful suggestions but now, i am drawing a blank. I am going to say lets vote on the motion as submitted. Do you want to read it back to us . I will do that. There is a motion to support the legislation as presented seconded by commissioner dooley. Roll call vote. Commissioner adams absent. Commissioner dooley. Yes. Commissioner hule. Yes. Commissioner ladoga in. Yes. Commissioner Ortiz Cartagena. Yes. Motion passes with two absent. 50. Thank you. Next item. Item 4. Approval of draft Meeting Minutes june 22, 2020. Action item. Are there any members of the public to comment on item 4, the minutes . No caller on the line. Public comment is closed. I move to accept the Meeting Minutes. Second. Motion by commissioner laguna seconded by commissioner dooley. Commissioner adams is absent. Commissioner dooley. Yes. Commotionner rule. Yes. Laguna. Yes. Commissioner Ortiz Cartagena. Yes. Passes 50. Two absent. Next item, please. Directors update and report on the office of Small Business and Department Program and legislative matters, announcements regarding Small Business activities, discussion item. Good afternoon. Director of the office of Small Business. I wanted to bring to your attention a couple updates. You are likely aware of them. The Health Officer issued new directives for Outdoor Dining, and this is a direct result of the spike that we are seeing to the coronavirus increase here in San Francisco. Of course, last monday the businesses that were hoping to open were not able to open due to the increase. I want to make sure that we have this acknowledgment and maybe have a discussion. I would like to hear from you as we are balancing trying to work with incentives around shared space and providing those opportunities. We are taking one or two steps forward and then unfortunately having to take a step back. The Health Officer did issue for personal services that we were hoping we were going to open on the 29th, we have issued those directives preliminary guidelines so that businesses can see what those Health Directive guidelines are and begin to prepare businesses so that when the Health Officer makes the announcement for the businesses to open they are able to do so. In addition, i do want to hear from the commission about their experiences with the Health Orders as they are coming, challenges in businesses are experiencing both in those that are trying to work with all the new programs such as the shared Space Program and those that are still challenged by not being able to open. I would like to solicit your feedback from that. Is there any feedback around experiences around the shared Space Program . Things to give consideration to . I see that commissioners have some comments. Commissioner ortizcartagena. Feedback on my experience with shared space in the Mission District. The rollout was too fast. Citywide i appreciate it was so fast. It wasnt culturally centered or equity based so a lot of communication was in english. There is a lot of artificial barriers such as spurn insuranch Small Businesses have trouble identifying the city and it is hard for Small Businesses. Oewd have helped rectify those issues. It is reactive as opposed to reactive. Small businesses of color are left behind and trying to catch up with other businesses of noncolor. Definitely as we roll on you things out we have to look through an equitable lens. I am a Small Business person and i want it speed of lightning. We need to look through the cultural lens and slowdown. Thank you. Commissione commissioner ner doo le commissioner dooley. I would like to make comments to the visitors to the shared visitors that they need to keep in mind they need to wear masks unless they are eating. They should not be hanging around on the sidewalk drinking alcohol, which is in violation. Just to be considerate of the fact i have heard from many residents they have to now walk in the street because some of these businesses have taken over both the sidewalk and the parking spaces. They just, people need to be more aware of the community. Not just make it so people are uncomfortable now walking down those streets. I think it is a great idea. The restaurants are enjoying it. It is adding to a better atmosphere in north beach. Please, there is no enforcement right now at this point of groups gathering and so before we have to be calling for enforcement, please be considerate so we can continue on and have success. Commissioner hule. I have almost nothing to report in terms of Like Movement in d1. We are still on directors report. In terms of shared spaces, right . That is what i mean. I think you know the last time i had mentioned if it would be possible to get some sort of the president laguna called it an open source kit, photos, resources, budget, things that other districts could use as a template so the rollout citywide for districts where we dont have that type of funding nor maybe like outdoor culture already as part of our neighborhood could easily look at it to see which portions of things we could use. I know that there are people who have offered services. I think having somehow all of it in one space so that every neighborhood has the opportunity to not have to start at square one but already have a Nice Foundation for the program. There are neighborhoods successfully rolling this out. That is my comment for the shared basis. I worry a lot about the equity issues that commissioner Ortiz Cartagena brought up. I worry a lot about the ability of smaller businesses and poorer businesses to take advantage of this. You know, i also understand and appreciate that we had to move forward quickly on this because of the urgency of the moment. I will say that commissioner ortizcartagena, i didnt mean to interject. Go ahead. One more thing. It is unfair just the General Health ordinances are not in spanish. Just talking about equity, come on. We have the capacity in San Francisco. Come on. We have people translate to run it through that in theory . Maybe there is a reason we cant. Couple things. One, i think one thing that came up during the erts meeting where we talked about shared spaces at length was that as commissioner hule pointed out. Some businesses might not know what to do, might need help. Dont know supplies or materials or dimensions. Somebody pointed me to a plan that is on an idea that baltimore prepared and director i will forward you the link to the plan that is beautiful. It is gorgeous. It has all kinds of different ideas can dimensions and how to build them, very inexpensive. People are doing incredible things with milk crates and items that would not be expensive to put out. To commissioner dooleys point about sufficient space for people walking by. I have heard from a number of people some concerns about that with social distancing and the restaurants and tables right up on the sidewalk and people dont have masks on because they are eating or drinking and people are walking by inches away. It seems to me we should prioritize the use of the parking spots as much as possible. If not full street closure wherever possible because that will enable people to create that space. I think it makes it for a moreen vitting space overall. I encouraged oewd to emphasize street closing over sidewalk and the sidewalk the fall back option is my personal take on it. I know there is an awful lot of considerations into all of those things, and i am not try to substitute my judgment for anybody elses. You know, from the perspective of trying to keep everybody safe, it seems like that is a legitimate concern whether there is enough social distance on the shareshared spaces. Commissioner wreck a yekutie. After a month of constant coordination, maybe six or seven coordinating calls with the mayors and the supervisors and Fire Department and Community Leaders and the Merchants Association, as well as individual residents and merchants that it is not official yet but we have moved into these Community Input stage of shutting down valencia on thursday to sunday noon to 10. Full road closure. I want to give credit t to everyone. S. F. M. T. A. Is figuring out how to make this work. They are trying to see if this works on valencia and will work in other parts of the city. I would propose coming up with a resolution to make the street closure process easier and less expensive for Small Businesses. We were happy on valencia. Having bun almost through it we are in the final round, the last part of the race. The homestretch. We are in the homestretch. This is very, very complex. As an example right now the way it is orchestrated for the street closure the Fire Department is requiring that both ends of the street be staffed the entire time this is happening. The city is not helping with the staffing. It is left to the merchants to be fully staffed. The Small Businesses can barely staff our own staff. Do we need to make it this complex and difficult to do this . If it is a short term pilot thing. What i will say with the extension of the Health Orders rendering Indoor Dining pushed out indefinitely. We dont really know, and other forms of indoor business, maybe indoor retail will be closed. Our outdoor spaces are overnight become much, much more value automobile. We are running out of bones to throw at Small Businesses. Right now the space outside is one of the few bones left. We need to help the Small Business community to make sure the space is easier and less expensive and less complex. We need the opportunity for shared spaces including streets closed is being promoted and facilitated in our cultural district. Places like 24th street. The city is helping a lot on helping us understand how to do this. But they are not helping do it at all including for the recordd i am researching barricades to purchase for this street closure. The city says it wants to help. I need them to walk the walk versus talk to talk. I propose a set of resolutions to make this Program Actually able to be utilized in commercial corridors across the city. That is very well received. I saw in the paper 48th street applied for closure including valencia. I was heartened to see that. To commissioner ortizcartagena, i am disappointed . There is not more shared spaces in d6, d10, g7. There is not a lot going on. Something has gone wrong here. I am not sure what it is. Is it an outreach problem, translation problem, is it facilitation, budget problem . Whatever it is, i think we need to work on that and we need to be active and engaging on that problem because my fear is that we are going to have some really nice shared spaces in the marina and mission and maybe some spaces in the eight, and not in the richmond and the outer sunset and excelsior. To me those accidents probably need it those businesses need it more because they dont have the foot traffic that valencia and 16th might have. They dont have the traffic that might be in the marina. I think when we talk about equity, that is what equity is about. The folks that have a harder hill to climb, give them a hand to get up the hill. I agree wholeheartedly. I think we should make some kind of resolution or recommendation and that is something we can look at between now and the next meeting. Commissioner hule. I am looking at a map of the district. It would be helpful to pinpoint on the map the once requested. If that could be done. I dont know if that is too onerous for something. S. F. M. T. A. Has that map. That would give us a much better visual in terms how many people have been applying for these. A lot of it in terms of feedback from the merchants in my area and i in d i in d and 7. Somehow taking away that time element because the city has been good about mitigating the fees since it is expedited program but really mitigating the time element for everybody so we dont have to start at square one. Many neighborhoods dont have the bandwidth and they need the visual. As a Business Owner we need to show people what that outcome could be so that there is an easy adoption. You are participating in that ertf call when earl from the third Street Merchants Group said how do we get this on third street, what does it take to get this on third street . I think the real answer to that is really you have to get a few Business Owners excited. You have to get a few Business Owners or Merchants Association excited to understand what could possibly happen in that neighborhood. I think once you have that then you have the momentum to drive it. I think it is really something that is key to unlock. When you get there you have people willing to work on the project and get to the outcomes. We need to do what you were saying in terms of like picking an easy district. We need to identify and help the city identify this street would be a Perfect Place for it. This section. Almost granular. That is what we have done in the richmond. We looked at each street and what are the possibilities to see if those workout. It really just takes legwork on the efforts of actual people. We have got to i agree and that is very well said. We have to find a way to encourage the city or directly through the commission somehow or some way or another help start that spark, help create that initial input of energy so that people can see what is possible and what that vision is. Maybe part of that is that idea guide that i mentioned which i am to send to the director to forward to you guys. That baltimore made that helped plan the seed what is possible. There is really a massive opportunity be here in front of us. I am worried that we are not distributing the opportunity as evenly as we could. I would love to see that map and we can see where the holes are and the gaps that need filled. I am happy to commit time to helping with that effort if you need it. Director, could we ask s. F. M. T. A. To provide that map to the commission . Yes, i will ask s. F. M. T. A. And i will also i will definitely take your feedback. I think i hear a potential resolution for the next Commission Meeting, but also articulate what the commission has identified and provide that feedback to s. F. M. T. A. , oewd and economic Recovery Task force. I am happy to take a crack at drafting. I am happy to draft a resolution maybe subgroup with three commissioners that have spoken about this in the conservation and propose at the next Commission Meeting. Bullet points, i think, would be helpful. I just dont want to come to the Commission Meeting with bullet points usually domminica would draft the resolution. The three of us can come up with what we think should be in it. If the proper format would be she puts that in the format it needs to be in and sends back the draft. That is fine with me if you are okay with that. I work with you. We Work Together. I would say commissioner hule and Ortiz Cartagena. I have a deep passion for shared spaces. I am happy to jump in if you dont feel u you have the time r cant slot the time. I want to make space for you guys. I will leave it up to you whether you want to coordinate with the commissioner wreck an tell on that. I commissioner yekutiel on that. I am happy to be the guinea pig there. Since i am in a district with an active and ongoing small Spaces Program that i can add a lot of expertise because we have done everything. We are still doing everything. We are way ahead and we can give people advice on how to go forward. All right. Here is the problem. We have the brown act. Clearly we have more than three people who feel passionately about this. I think we are going to have to take a two meeting process to this. Just to properly bring in everybodys input. Go ahead commissioner. I wonder if to avoid a brown act violation if we can maybe take the input that was today. Commissioner dooley since we have active street shut downs in our district and maybe just the two of us send bullets and we have a conversation on the resolution in the next Commission Meeting. Is that acceptable to streamline this. Yes. Commissioner Ortiz Cartagena we are working on this together anyway. Yes. Then commissioners, when the resolution is drafted and then posted, the commission can amend the resolution at the meeting and finalize it with amendments. If for any reason there is something that a commissioner determines is not included in the resolution and needs to be included, an amendment can be made and it is a resolution. Commissioner hule are you okay with that. Yes, i could be recipient of the information. I think that is great. Thank you. All right. Well that is fine. That sounds good. Do you have any more to your report, director . I do not have more to my report. I wanted to provide those updates to the reopening guidelines. I wanted to hear about the shared Space Program providing a great opportunity, and for our businesses. Also it is creating some communication challenges for our residents in terms of how to appropriately be covid safe in those environments. That is a work that both businesses and the city need to be doing. Thank you for your input. That concludes my presentation. Thank you. Is there any members of the public to comment on the directors report, item 5 . Yes, there is someone on the line. I will take the call. Caller hello. I am sandy kramer. A quick comment on the shared program. I am reaching out. Regarding the shared Spaces Program it is fantastic across the city. It is heartening to know there are different neighborhoods that havent got it up and running. My hope is that the program. You are only allowed to comment on the item that is discussed right now. He was commenting on public spaces. Shared spaces is part of the directors report. He was deviating. To ensure we hold up with the rules and the government rules we have to stop Public Comment for this commenter. Send it in written format to the commission if you go to the website. Thank you. Are there any members of the public to make comments or any other members of the public to make comments on the directors report . There are zero callers remaining. Next item, please. Sfgovtv please show the office of Small Business slide. We will end with reminder the Small Business commissions is the official public forum to voice opinions and concerns about policies affect the economic vitalities of Small Businesses in San Francisco. The office is the small place to get answers to do business in San Francisco during the local emergency. If you need assistance to Small Business matters reach out to the office of Small Business. Item 6. Adjournment. Action item. Motion to adjourn. Second. Roll call vote. Adams absent. Dooley. Yes. Hule. Yes. Laguna. Yes. Ortiz. Yes. Yes passes 520. The meeting is adjourned at 4 5. Thank you. Have a nice day, guys. Please type your name and your question exactly as you would like it to be read. Submit before the last speaker is finished. We will read in the q a portion. Thank you for joining us. Today we have doctor grant colfax, the director of the office of economic and work force development. Cheryl davis, james executive director of collective impact. Member of the Latino Task Force and Stefani Garcia. With that i will turn it over to dr. Colfax. Good morning everybody. Thank you for joining us before this long weekend. I just have a brief statement to make with regard to where we are in the covid19 pandemic. It is a Public Health message that is really that we need to send across the city, across the region, across various neighborhoods and communities. This fourth of july, th the saft thing to do is stay home. In San Francisco we have had an alarming increase and significant increase in covid19 infections and hospitalizations of the over the past few weeks, our rates have soared. We are in a situation where we could we seeing early signs of a surge. Our increases reflect across the region as increases across the state. As people know, we have put a pause on reopening. It is vital that everyone take the steps that we know stop the spread of covid19. Slow the spread of covid19. This means wearing a Face Covering, social distancing, good hygiene measures, and really limiting outings and staying home as much as possible. We know this works. We saw this work in the spring with our response in San Francisco. As we hit pause, we need to ensure we are doing everything we can to slow the virus spread. This weekend stay at home if possible, celebrate with people in your household. Use as much as possible a way to socialize virtually, socially distance, wear Face Coverings, keep your family and your neighborhood and community as safe as possible. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Colfax. Now we have the director from the office of economic and work force development. Thank you so much, dr. Colfax. I want to make a few brief comments about the importance of moving to this weekend. Like many of the Small Businesses and Community Members who were very much looking forward to a more aggressive reopening. We are thankful for the leadership of the department of Public Health keeping our Health Interests real and grounded during this significant time we are in right now. I think we are excited about the long three day weekend and what benefit that may bring to our struggling Small Businesses doing everything they can to provide a healthy experience and safe experience for those who visit them and patronize them, which is very much needed right now. It is important to remember the virus doesnt take a holiday, it may force one upon us if we dont take responsibility as Business Owners and Community Members to ensure we are adhering to the Public Health guidelines. It is important the progress we worked so hard to create in phased reopening, through our office, mayor breeds leadership, we want to continue to see the progress being made. It is only possible if you, as the public and Business Owners, do your part to be responsible during this week end as we continue to mitigate the Public Health crisis we find ourselves in. We have been doing such an extraordinary job ensuring to get to this place of having many Small Businesses begin to see light at the end of a tunnel to enjoy a little activity and seeing liveliness come back to our neighborhoods and commercial corridors. It is only possible if we Work Together to take care of each other, practice social guidelines. It benefits our health and economic health. We need to keep an eye on that. We all have a part to play in that. Over 153,000 residents in San Francisco sought unemployment. We have a rate of well over 12 . Our job is to add here to these Public Health guidelines to continue to battle the economic crisis we want to successfully address. Together with all of you, we know that we can do that. When it comes to the additional work to be provided, we have signage to be provided. Make sure businesses know there is collateral to collect and gain access to to help them Work Together with their patronizers and those who come in and patronize their businesses retail or otherwise. We want to thank the public for being patient with Business Owners trying to do their part to be successful in this environment. With that, i will take questions later on. I am looking forward to a safe july 4th weekend in San Francisco an and across the bay area. For more information about resources or tools available to you, reach out to our web site. Oewd. Org. Also if you are curious about the phasing going on and what plans we have, please visit sfgov reopening and you will find the information there. Thank you for the opportunity today. We look forward to working with you towards continued success and reopening. Thank you, director. Our next speaker is cheryl davis, executive director of San Francisco human rights commission. Thank you. You know, the director talked about the virus does not take a vacation or holiday. Dr. Colfax and i have been having conversations it is not equal where it is impacting communities and neighborhoods. We have seen the map where the virus is impacts greater numbers matches maps for red lining to highlight disparities in terms of economic and Health Issues and challenges. We realize in some ways we are battling two issues at this point in time. One is the pandemic and one is racism. These two things are very much closely connected. We are seeing a surge within latin x communities. Most recently the Africanamerican Community and challenges with folks in sunnydale with younger pops. We are trying to make sure folks are staying healthy, working with communities. The role of human rights is to engage with community and raise community concerns. We have heard from young and old people. There is a concern folks will come out this weekend and think everything is fine. They will be worse off as we go into next week. We encourage people to talk to their family and encourage them to stay home, healthy and be aware of the idea someone could have contracted the virus and not know it and be spreading it to others. As the human rights commissioners we have been working with collective impact to distribute Face Coverings, pass out sanitizer and pass out collateral that says stay home, stay safe and remind people to get tested. I am grateful for the partners here today to share and encourage others. Grateful for the work of the Latino Task Force. We have to think about making the messagthe mess o the messag. Those with Health Issues are more likely to contract the virus and have a harder experience or be harder impacted by that. We are trying to work with messaging around that so folks realize they are not mandated, we are encouraging people to stay home for safety of themselves and their communities. Our next speaker is a member of the Latino Task Force. Good morning everybody. I am with the Latino Task Force. Since the beginning of this pandemic we are working vigorously to ensure the Latino Community continues to thrive in the city. As director davis just indicated, there are a lot of challenges the Latino Community faces in San Francisco that run parallel with covid. Covid in many ways makes i would worse and highlights. One of the big pieces of advice to anybody that is listening out there, that is writing this down, ensure if you have the ability to shelterinplace this weekend, do that. If you have a need to go out because there is an essential thing you have to do, wear a Face Covering and face mask. As we saw in a mission study, we found 53 of the people who tested positive had no symptoms. People could have covid19 and not understand that they do and be fine and not have symptoms. They could give it to somebody they love that could have an adverse effect. We are reminding our people in the community to ensure that you stay home if you can. If you have to go out, wear a face mask and ensure you are keeping social distance that is appropriate. If you are listening to this message, then you are an ambassador of this message to those that you love and you care about. It is important for all of us to take ownership of this. It is only with all of us participating we will get out of this. If you are absolutely have to go out because it is essential, please use social distancing space or face mask. Cover your face and enjoy this as safe as you possibly can. Thank you. Our next speaker is the executive director of collective impact. I am not sure if you can hear me. Yes, we can hear you. I am working at the community center. I want be the community to understand. I am in the community to tell everybody to come to my community and ask where is james, nobody would know who you comcome to. Uncle stink they know who i am. I knew from day one when this pandemic started that we were opening the doors to the community. The resources were going to be hard for the community to get ahold of. We want our community to have a place to go, ppe, face mask, sanitizer and we did hot lunches here. I want to make sure the community knew that the door is open, they didnt have to go look for anything, it was right here. I have been all oveR San Francisco and hunters point, the mission, we are supporting everybody with ppe. I know everybody is feeling a little cramped up with the fourth of july coming up. Keep your butts at home. Please stay home. This pandemic and this covid19 is for real. I dont want you to be the person that carries it home. I know a lot of us go home and we have family reunions to get together during the week and go do the fourth and do the fourth of july and you go home and you have a mom, grandparent at home. You know, you dont know you are carrying the disease. Really as young people, you are the carriers. It is like looking out for the people around you at the time. It is not about you. It is everybody else. It is bigger than me or you. It is protecting the elders and seniors and our family around us when we think about it as we go out. Basically if you do have to go out wear a face mask. Make sure you have sanitizer with you. I think about social distancing at all times. Make it a habit that people keep their distance from you. Make sure that you take it serious. This is serious. I am saying this because when you think about it is a lot we dont know about this virus. To be safe just make sure you are taking care of your loved ones and your community. Make sure that you actually let everybody know that i dont want to get sick, i dont want you to get sick. I will stay at home. I will not be part of that. We are going to recover from this. Stay at home and be safe for this weekend. Please stay home and be safe. The last thing we want to do is sacrifice your family. The last thing i want to do is go to another funeral. At the end of the day it is for us to look out for our community to make sure the community is safe at the end of the day. Please, please, please, keep your butts at home. Stay home, you all. Another fourth of july will come up. We will be there next year. This year, please stay at home. Thank you. Thank you. Up next we have Stefani Garcia who is our final speaker, please submit your questions. Good morning, everyone. I am here to talk to young people specifically. I have a message for young people in San Francisco and around the nation. We the young people are intel get anchor intelligence and we can lead by example. I urge you to continue to practice social distancing and only go out for essentials, wear facings and plastic good hygiene. Covid19 affects all of us, especially those we love. Our moms, dads, grandparents, great grandparents and others with underlying conditions in our community. We as young people have the responsibility to act responsible and to leave our pleasures and fun behind. Coronavirus is real. I have had relatives test positive and lose their life to covid. I know what testing positive does to the family financially. In some situations we live in multigenerational homes. We live with the elderly, parents and grandparents. As young people we must remember we are not spared from the virus. We have seen how serious it could be fou for our loved peop. I urge you all to take action and practice social distancing, practice good hand hygiene and continue to wear Face Coverings. We all have the power to flatten the curve and stop the spread. Thank you. Thank you, stefani. We will begin our q and a. First question with rebecca. What percentage of cases tell contact tracers close contacts . Has that changed over time. Do they say why . That question is for dr. Colfax. Could you read me the question again. I didnt hear all of that. The question is what percentage of cases tell contact tasers close contacts . Has that changed over time. When they dont tell the investigators close contacts do they say why . Contact tracing is one of our key interventions that we employ as a result of pandemic. We have 100 contact tasers in the field working with people diagnosed with covid19. Right now we are reaching 82 of cases. Of the people that the cases report, we are reaching 88 of their contacts. We are doing relatively well there for our indicator in yellow there. The goal is to reach 90 . With regard as to why people do not necessarily tell people about their contacts or perhaps refuse with regard to engaging with a contact taser, we have qualitative information. There is understandable concerns about providing information and how that will be used. That is why we have worked very much with multiple Community Partners to the train efforts by communitybased organizations to function as trusted contact tracers. It is about the information that is given. It is also about providing support for people diagnosed with their contacts. Across the city people are offered hotel rooms if they need to isolate and quarantine. Families are offered social support services, food and other key things that help people if they are diagnosed with covid19 if they are at risk and to help them get through the two week period that is most acute with people diagnosed. The other thing to emphasize is the information gathered is 100 confidential. It is only used to get people tested during covid19. The second question. How have moved to reopen San Francisco complicated Contract Tracing efforts. We are working in a cultural appropriate way to engage people who are diagnosed with covid19, to support them and their families, and to support the contacts they have had. It just emphasizes the need to continue to strengthen this work across the city. Next questions from ktsf for dr. Colfax. How do we celebrate the fourth of july with our families safely . I think as i said at the beginning of the call and my partners also emphasized. Best thing to do is stay home, celebrate with members of your household, and to be able to celebrate virtually with others. It is really a key right now we present the spread of covid19. If people go out to emphasize wearing Face Coverings, maintain social distancing which i know it is hard for me to do, but we need to emphasize that. As director about seized in the commenters, even if you feel okay that doesnt mean you dont have covid19. If someone looks like they are not sick, up to half of the cases can initially be a symptomatic. We have got to continue to prevent the spread, wear Face Coverings, social distance and good hygiene. Second question from angelina for dr. Colfax. Other counties allow social bubbles. What is your position on small gatherings of close family and friends . The safest thing to do is stay home with members of your immediate household. If there are times when people decide not to do that, it is very important for people to meet outside, wear Face Coverings, social distance, hygiene measures that i talked about. Be thoughtful how we engage outside of our immediate house old with people highest risk of dying from the disease, people older with chronic conditions. Given what we are seeing in San Francisco and across the state we are having increasing cases. San francisco knows how to do this. We did it and i am grateful for everyones contributions. We did it in march, april, may. We can do it for the fourth of july. Thank you. Next questions from cathy novak with k cbs for dr. Colfax. How willin how many patientsn quentin are treated in San Francisco hospitals . 18 patients transferred from san quentin to San Francisco hospitals. Second question for dr. Colfax. Are San Francisco hospitals preparing to receive more patients from san quintin . Is that going to affect Hospital Capacity. Right now it is good for indicators. People can find it on data sf website if you want more detail. Now the Hospital Capacity is green. We have a capacity to accept patients from other regions in the state. Obviously, we will balance the ability to accept with what is happening locally. We certainly want to support regions where there is an acute need and people are in dire need of care. We are in close contact with the state which is determining how patients from san quentin will be transferred to other counties. Next questions from christian with ktvu for dr. Colfax. Can you speculate about what is leading to the recent increase in coronavirus transmission rates in San Francisco . It is combination of factors. We dont have the precision to identify any one thing. This is not an outbreak in one specific facility or region. It is really what we know spreads the virus, which is people unfortunately in closer contact with people who may be a symptommic but can transmit. Covid19 the people who choose not to wear facial coverings which we know dramatically decreases spread of diseases. Then i think per the conversations and data from the past there are people who essential workers who need to work in settings. There is certainly a transmission risk in the workplaces even with proper precautions. The social distancing, stable coverings facial coverings, hygiene, access to testing, contact notification are all things to prevent further spread. We think over the last few weeks probably just a combination of more activity in the city. The more we move about and the more interaction there is socially in gatherings, the more likely the virus will transmit. Especially indoors if women dont if people dont take precautions we are talking about. Second question. Did we reopen too fast or too early. Are we likely to see restrictions reimposed . As we reopened in a very cautious and datadriven way. We followed the data and facts how to reopen gradually. We know the numbers would increase in our city and region. The goal is to slow the spread. We packed because the rate started to increase dramatically. We talked about flattening the code. It is really about the rate. Too early to tell whether we would need to potentially reverse any steps that have been taken with regard to reopening or taking a pause. We are looking at the data over the next few days and make a determination on next steps based on the data. Thank you. We have the time two questions from joshua at sf examiner. Question one. Please discuss the latest data raising concerns inlooking exact number of cases on wednesday. Most important data causing concern are around the increase in hospitalization rates. And in the rate of case diagnosis. Our goal for seven day average of new cases is 1. 8 per 100,000 residents. We are now at a rate of over 6 per 100,000. That pushed us into the red zone. That is one of the key indicators. The other key indicat indianadis are to keep hospitalizations in the green hospitalizations in the green zone. It is now at 61 increase. The key piece is our hospitalization rates overall for covid19 are low in the city. Thanks to the incredible efforts of san franciscans doing their best every day. The hospitalization remains relatively low, but that rate of increase means the curve is steep. We need to ensure we are doing everything we can to flatten the curve. As we saw this in china, italy and now in floridian arizona. Once this virus takes off at a high rate, it is very aggressive. We need to take this pause now and as much as possible stay at home for the fourth of july to get the curve flat in San Francisco and in our region. Question two from joshua. Can you provide any more specifics what trends you are seeing in terms why there is increase of cases and hospitalizations. Such as demographics location or other causes. I think it is a combination of factors. The data reinforce the continued and ongoing needed as others have spoken to on this call to focus in our approach to managing covid19 to supporting communities where covid19 is disproportionately affecting people, including latin and black african communities and we will do just that. Thank you. This concludes our press conference. Thank you to our speakers for joining us. A recording of this press conference will be available shortly. Thank you. [ ] i am the supervisor of district one. I am sandra lee fewer. [ ] i moved to the Richmond District in 1950 mine. I was two years old. I moved from chinatown and we were one of the first asian families to move out here. [ ] when my mother decided to buy that house, nobody knew where it was. It seems so far away. For a long time, we were the only chinese family there but we started to see the areas of growth to serve a larger chinese population. The stress was storage of the birthplace of that. My father would have to go to chinatown for dim sum and i remember one day he came home and said, there is one here now. It just started to grow very organically. It is the same thing with the russian population, which is another very large ethnic group in the Richmond District. As russia started to move in, we saw more russian stores. So parts of the richmond is very concentrated with the Russian Community and immigrant Russian Community, and also a chinese immigrant community. [ ] i think as living here in the richmond, we really appreciate the fact that we are surrounded three natural barriers. They are beautiful barriers. The presidio which gives us so many trails to walk through, ocean beach, for families to just go to the beach and be in the Pacific Ocean. We also also have a National Park service. We boarded the Golden Gate National Recreation Area so there is a lot of activity to do in the summer time you see people with bonfires. But really families enjoying the beach and the Pacific Ocean during the rest of the time of year. [ ] and Golden Gate Park where we have so many of our treasures here. We have the tea garden, the museum and the academy of sciences. Not to mention the wonderful playgrounds that we have here in richmond. This is why i say the richmond is a great place for families. The theatre is a treasure in our neighborhood. It has been around for a very long time. Is one of our two neighborhood theatres that we have here. I moved here when i was 1959 when i was two years old. We would always go here. I love these neighborhood theatres. It is one of the places that has not only a landmark in the Richmond District, but also in San Francisco. Small theatres showing one or two films. A unique they are unique also to the neighborhood and San Francisco. Where we are today is the heart of the Richmond District. With what is unique is that it is also Small Businesses. There is a different retail here it is mom and pop opening up businesses. And providing for the neighborhood. This is what we love about the streets. The cora door starts on clement street and goes all the way down to the end of clement where you will see Small Businesses even towards 32nd. At the core of it is right here between here and 20 tenth avenue. When we see this variety of stores offered here, it is very unique then of the any other part of San Francisco. There is traditional irish music which you dont get hardly anywhere in San Francisco. Some places have this long legacy of serving ice cream and being a hangout for families to have a sunday afternoon ice cream. And then also, we see grocery stores. And also these restaurants that are just new here, but also thriving. [ ] we are seeing restaurants being switched over by hand, new owners, but what we are seeing is a vibrancy of clement street still being recaptured within new businesses that are coming in. That is a really great thing to see. I dont know when i started to shop here, but it was probably a very, very long time ago. I like to cook a lot but i like to cook chinese food. The market is the place i like to come to once a year. Once i like about the market as it is very affordable. It has Fresh Produce and fresh meat. Also, seafood. But they also offer a large selection of condiments and sauces and noodles. A variety of rice that they have is tremendous. I dont thank you can find a variety like that anywhere else. Hi. I am kevin wong. I am the manager. In 1989 we move from chinatown to Richmond District. We have opened for a bit, over 29 years. We carry products from thailand, japan, indonesia, vietnam, singapore and india. We try to keep Everything Fresh daily. So a customer can get the best out a bit. Normally during crab season in november, this is the first place i hit. Because they have really just really fresh crab. This is something my family really likes for me to make. Also, from my traditional chinese food, i love to make a kale soup. They cut it to the size they really want. I am probably here once a week. Im very familiar with the aisles and they know everyone who is a cashier cashier here i know when people come into a market such as this, it looks like an asian supermarkets, which it is and sometimes it can be intimidating. We dont speak the language and many of the labels are in chinese, you may not know what to buy or if it is the proper ingredients for the recipe are trying to make. I do see a lot of people here with a recipe card or sometimes with a magazine and they are looking for specific items. The staff here is very helpful. I speak very little chinese here myself. Thinks that im not sure about, i asked the clerk his and i say is this what i need . Is this what i should be making . And they actually really helped me. They will bring me to the aisle and say this is battery. They are very knowledgeable. Very friendly. I think they are here to serve not only the Asian Community but to serve all communities in the Richmond District and in San Francisco. [ ] what is wonderful about living here is that even though our july is a very foggy and overcast, best neighborhood, the sleepy part outside on the west side is so rich with history, but also with all the amenities that are offered. [ ] [ ] i just dont know that you can find a neighborhood in the city where you can hear music stands and take a ride on the low rider down the street. It is an experience that you cant have anywhere else in San Francisco. [ ] [ ] district nine is a in the southeast portion of the city. We have four neighborhoods that i represent. St. Marys park has a completely unique architecture. Very distinct feel, and it is a very close to holly park which is another beautiful park in San Francisco. The Bernal Heights district is unique in that we have the hell which has one of the best views in all of San Francisco. There is a swinging hanging from a tree at the top. It is as if you are swinging over the entire city. There are two unique aspects. It is considered the fourth chinatown in San Francisco. Sixty of the residents are of chinese ancestry. The second unique, and fun aspect about this area is it is the garden district. There is a lot of urban agriculture and it was where the city grew the majority of the flowers. Not only foR San Francisco but for the region. And of course, it is the location in mclaren park which is the citys second biggest park after golden gate. Many people dont know the neighborhood in the first place if they havent been there. We call it the best neighborhood nobody has ever heard our. Every neighborhood in district nine has a very special aspect. Where we are right now is the Mission District. The Mission District is a very special part of our city. You smell the tacos at the [speaking spanish] and they have the best latin pastries. They have these shortbread cookies with caramel in the middle. And then you walk further down and you have sunrise cafe. It is a place that you come for the incredible food, but also to learn about what is happening in the neighborhood and how you can help and support your community. Twentyfourth street is the birthplace of the movement. We have over 620 murals. It is the largest outdoor Public Gallery in the country and possibly the world. You can find so much Political Engagement park next to so much incredible art. Its another reason why we think this is a cultural district that we must preserve. [ ] it was formed in 2014. We had been an organization that had been around for over 20 years. We worked a lot in the neighborhood around life issues. Most recently, in 2012, there were issues around gentrification in the neighborhood. So the idea of forming the cultural district was to help preserve the history and the culture that is in this neighborhood for the future of families and generations. In the past decade, 8,000 latino residents in the Mission District have been displaced from their community. We all know that the rising cost of living in San Francisco has led to many people being displaced. Lower and middle income all over the city. Because it there is richness in this neighborhood that i also mentioned the fact it is flat and so accessible by trip public transportation, has, has made it very popular. Its a struggle for us right now, you know, when you get a lot of development coming to an area, a lot of new people coming to the area with different sets of values and different culture. There is a lot of struggle between the existing community and the newness coming in. There are some things that we do to try to slow it down so it doesnt completely erase the communities. We try to have developments that is more in tune with the community and more Equitable Development in the area. You need to meet with and gain the support and find out the needs of the neighborhoods. The people on the businesses that came before you. You need to dialogue and show respect. And then figure out how to bring in the new, without displacing the old. [ ] i hope we can reset a lot of the mission that we have lost in the last 20 years. So we will be bringing in a lot of folks into the neighborhoods pick when we do that, there is a demand or, you know, certain types of services that pertain more to the local community and workingclass. Back in the day, we looked at Mission Street, and now it does not look and feel anything like Mission Street. This is the last stand of the latino concentrated arts, culture and cuisine and people. We created a cultural district to do our best to conserve that feeling. That is what makes our city so cosmopolitan and diverse and makes us the envy of the world. We have these unique neighborhoods with so much cultural presence and learnings, that we want to preserve. [ ]. President yee good afternoon and welcome to the july 7, 2020 meeting of the San Francisco board of supervisors. Madam clerk, will you please call the roll. Clerk tnk