Transcripts For SFGTV Small 20240704

[applause]. [music] [music] about 20 years ago the port was look to develop a network of open space and parks and to bring the art network and access to the bay to the entire 7 and a half miles of waterfront property. This location, 7 acres, identified a very important place to make a park for the community. The park was used very much for ship building. It was a very important location in the citys history. Iot best part of the water front was heavy industrial and did in the have opportunity for the public to get in and enjoy will bay and connected to the bay. They incorporated the historical value of the area people can learn what was here before, what is here now and then really be able to understand the community that they live in. This was a vibrant ship building area here for years and years. And you know here we got a slip away and for us to have an opportunity to teach our children the old way specials incorporate them in the new ways, it is endless. This will be an upon upon wonder uponful addition to the southeast sector of San Francisco it is green and clean and beautiful and access to the bay from a park is just going to be incredible. Jot things planned is going to make this a destination for the folkless in the upon community. Ability to come out and have a picnic on the grass. And to come out and use the picnic area with the tables and bbq pit and movie night and food trucks has an open space is exciting. We dont are much of it in dog patch. I think this will be a family and Community Based type park. The port is good about talking with the local people about things they might like. The whole place is a play ground they will not see anything like this before. I feel blessed have been part of the commission and the process of bringing this park to the community. This has been a Long Community lead process. Open space is something we have been doing in San Francisco for a long time. Connectivity we have to the waterfront and San Francisco is important. I cant wait to experience it as a residents and district supervisor. [music] hello operators, im jeff tumlin recollect director of transportation. Im jour San Francisco fire chief jeanine nicholson. First and formost, i like to thank you for everything you do to help our passengers get around the city. It is safety in mind we like to talk about what to do if you encounter any kind of emergency scene while on your route if you see a ambuljs and fire engine on the side thf street, this usually indicates there is some type of medical emergency. The first thing you should do is look out for Emergency Personnel in the area. If there is room to proceed, do so, if you cannot pass safely, contact the Transit Management control center for instructions. Active fire scenes meanple while may appear static but can become dynamic in seconds. You may see engines trucks and vehicles with flashing red lights. The best course of action is call the tmc and give as much information as you can, including the site and nature of the emergency. There should be a captain or Public Safety officer on the scene who can tell you what is going on. Then let you know whether you have permission to take a dudetore. If you are caught in the middle of the scene only proceed once directed by fire personnel. A Public Safety officer will guide through the emergency scene, tell you to wait or recommend that you go out of serveess if the emergency is prolonged. Be sure in this situation to give all proper notifications to the tmc. It is important to note that if you see a fire hose on the ground, stop. Do not drive over it. You never want to drive over a fire house. Firefighters have been serious injured. Remember the best course of action is notify your supervisor and the tmc and wait for instructions. Explain to passengers what is happen. If you cannot detour you have to stop and possibly go out of service as you waitd for direction from fire personnel. The San Francisco Fire Department understands and appreciates that muni has timelines to adhere to, but no schedule is worth risking the safety of our City Employees and customers. Thank you again for all you do, and are thank you for keeping muni San Francisco is a positive impact on my chinese business. Im the founder of joejoe. Im a San Francisco based chinese artist. I grew up in the bayview district. I am from china i started at an early age i started at age of 10 my grandfather my biggest inspiration. And i have followed with my traditional art teacher in china i host educational workshops at the museum and local library. And i also provide chinese writing in Public Middle School and that way i hold more people fall in love with the beautiful of our chinese calligraphy. It is a part of our heritage. And so we need to keep this culture alive. Hand writing is necessary field that needs to be preserved generation toieneration. This art form is fading away. But since covid i have been very dedicated to this art and i hope that my passions and serving this art form. There are many stores and Shopping Centers and companies that are interested in chinese cal iing ravi. I feel motivated to my passion for chinese calligraphy in todays world. So people can always enjoy the beauty of chinese calligraphy, from time to time i have a choice to traditional chinese calligraphy to make it more interesting. We do calligraphy on paper. I can do calligraphy different low. My inspiration is from nature and provide calligraphy that was popular style of persons time. I will invite to you check out my website or instagram. And there is some events and updated Upcoming Events that you can participate. Welcome to the Small Business Commission Meeting july 24, 2023. The meeting is called to order. This meeting is held in person in city hall and broadcast on sfgovtv and available to you online or by caller 4156550001. The Small Business commission thanks Media Service and sfgovtv for televising the meeting viewed on sfgovtv 2 or sfgovtv. Org. We welcome Public Comment. There is a opportunity for general Public Comment at the end of the meeting and opportunity to comment on each discussion or action item on the agenda. For each item the commission will take Public Comment first for those in person and then from people attending the meeting remotely. Members of the public who are calling in, the number is 4156550001. The access code is 26649937037 fallowed by password 7221. And again to be added to the line. You will be muted. When your item comes up dial star 3. If you dial star 3 before Public Comment is called you will be added to the queue. When it is your time to speak you will be prompted to do so. Public comment is limited to three minutes. An alarm will sound once time is finished. Speakerers are requested but not required to state their name. Sfgovtv, please show the office of Small Business slide. The Small Business commission is the afinancial public forum to voice opinions and concerns about policies that effect the Economic Vitality in San Francisco. I are like to thanking Media Service and sfgovtv for coordinating the hearing and helping run the meeting. Item 1, roll call. [roll call] president , you have a quorum. Thank you. San francisco Small Business and office of Small Business staff we acknowledge that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco peninsula. As the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone have never ceded, lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. As guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors and relatives of the ramaytush community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. Small business staff we acknowledge that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco peninsula. As the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone have never ceded, lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. As guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors and relatives of the ramaytush community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. Please callite 2. Approval of legacy business applications. This is discussion and action. The commission will discuss and possibly take action to approve legacy business registry applications. Presenter before you is Richard Kurylo with office of Small Business. Thank you good afternoon president huey, Vice President zouzounis, commissioners, sitdy staff, members of the public. Richard kurylo. I like to acknowledge Michelle Reynold who assist with the process of legacy business registry applications. Sfgovtv, i have a power er point presentation. Before you today are 7 applications for your consideration for the legacy business registry. Each application includes a staff report, draft resolution, the application itself and documents from the planning department. The applications were submitted to planning june 22 and heard by the Historic Preservation Commission July 19. Item 2a is adventure cat sailing charters. Provides private tours of San Francisco bay on two custom built sailing. That hold 47 and 90 passengers respectful. Adventure cat was built by the owners of the business. After receiving full u. S. Coastguard certification thaw kicked off aperation at pier 40 in 1991. Moved to pier 39 in 1997. Hosts around 40 thousand guests a year and spends 95 percent of the time under sail, power or indiscernible the feature the business must maintain to remain on the registry is sailing cruises, San Francisco bay. Item 2b is delano nursery inc. The business is largest wholesale provider of interior plants with San Francisco at the San Francisco flower market, wholesale nursery in daly city and indiscernible dulawny nursery established in San Francisco in 1922 and owned by three generations of the family. In 2022, present owner john, transferred 15 percent ownership to long time employer lauren indiscernible a queer woman running the business the last few yearsism they plan to coown the business. Delano nursery does not believe in rare plant harvesting in a way that damage or endanger indiscernible green house grown. When possible they source compostable non Plastic Packaging and nursery supplies and strive to be ever more conscious about how they run their business. Small steps create lasting changes over time. The feature tradition the business must maintain is flower shop, garden center. Item 2c is dubliner. The business is a neighborhood sports bar established in 1987. The dubliner feature classic wood ducore and soft lighting. As popular gatheric space, the business offers trivia nights, daily drink specials and full bar catering. Over the years three additional locations of it dubliner opened throughout the city. The three additional locations have been sold to different owners and not retained the same name, accept for west portal which goes by the name, the dubliner west portal and would not be included on the legacy business registry under this application. Today the dubliner remains in the original location serving locals and tourist as one of the few bars in noe valley. Must maintain as a business is bar. Item 2d is ellie and eva company. The business is Second Generation neighborhood music store well known for extensive collection of chinese classical, vintage leckric guitars, music memorabilia and pinwheels that symbolize good fortune and carry vilens cellos and guitars designed for young first time players and plenty accessories. The business was established in 1970 and combine would a second business by the same owners that was established in 1972. Ellie and eva company is committed to the chinese community. The feature tradition the business must maintain is music and gift store. Item 2e is enclosure international corporation. The business is a full Service Custom creating packing shipping and storage specialist established in 1977. Enclosure international is trusted by antique daleers, director, curators, interior designers, private owners and auction houses that due to highly trained team have extensive experience handling antiques, fine arts, pianoes furchture. Enclosure international is premier choice for transporting your treasures safely to anywhere in the world. Feature tradition the business must maintain is packing and shipping store. 2f is frascati. The business is italian style in russian rill. Features warm colors, high ceilings antique light fixtures and cable cars up and down hyde street. The Natural Light convey a lively spirit. Inspired from itanian roots with french, spanish and california influences. The menu shift frequently to utilize the best and freshest ingredients any season has to offer. Also they pride on all of the deserts and ice cream and wine list. The business participates in russian hill neighborhood events. Feature tradition must maintain is restaurant featuring itanian inspired cuisine. Item 2g is underglass custom framing. Custom picture framing shop and gallery established in 1985 in the castro neighborhood. Takes pride in the fact all the past and current owners were and are members of the lgbtq community. Their experience framers and artistic designers help customers make perfect decisions because they care for you and your art. Whether a family photos, piece of art, team jersey or sentimental piece you like framed or Gallery Artist or interior designer, underglass custom framing has the right framing solution for you. The business also features a gallery space used to host art shows providing a platform for emerging artist. Must maintain picture frame store. All 7 businesses met criteria for the legacy business registry and all received indiscernible Program Staff recommend adding the businesses to the registry and drafted 7 resolutions for your consideration. A motion in support of the businesses should be framed as a motion in favor of the resolutions. Thank you. This concludes my presentation and happy to answer questions. There are representatives on the room and possibly online who would like to speak on the applications. Thank you so much. Commissioners, any questions so far . No. We would love to hear from all of you, so can we open up for Public Comment . Speakers want to line up to your right and then come up to the microphone. You are welcome. Somebody has to go first. [laughter] want to cut the line . Im rebecca raider, this is my husband john. We are the owners of frascati restaurant. We are working owners. He does all the regular menu and wine list and im the patery shift. We had the restaurant 17 out of 37 years, and we really just would like to thank you for considering us in this program as well as all of the other businesses that are here, because San Francisco is a really great city and we could really use some positivity now. We miss places like beach blanket babylon and cliff house. Like tony bennett said, he left his heart in San Francisco, there is a reason for that so hope we can advertise all these wonderful people. Thank you for thinking of us. Thank you rick. Good evening. My name is bill perez. Im with enclosure international. I have been working there, established the company in 1977. We have been in the same neighborhood within one and a half miles of cesar chavez and third street and employ people from our district and use suppliers from our district. There isnt much to say. Im semiretired. My grandson nicolas is now running the business and i come in a couple days a week to help out when need be. Thank you very much for considering us. Thank you. Good afternoon. I want to start off by saying thank you to rick and his team for supporting us and supervisor peskin and his office. Im lillian the youngest of 5. My parents are the founders of lely and eva Company Since 1970. As growing up in china town, i remember that our shop was theit was like the emporium in china town because they sold many different products, different stages, all imported from hong kong and china. They really want to instill the richness of our heritage, culture and tradition and my parents continue to work really hard to provide for the family and keep the business afloat, but they always kept busy with promoting concerts, chinese opera, just trying to promote the tradition. Today we after 53 years of all these products and so forth, following by dad at 2013 decided maybe it was time to retire. My brother allen stepped up and said, i have a different plan, so now both of them are jamming a different tune. They are selling Musical Instruments and it is just a way to continue our tradition by selling and promoting chinese instruments, and my father who is right there, he has a plan to continue ordering because he hand picks out the instruments, so we are hoping with this program, it will aid my brother to continue the journey and would be very honored for your approval of all the businesses to be part of San Francisco history and keep San Francisco strong. Thank you. Thank you. [clapping] good afternoon. My name is kenneth. The father of ellie and eva company. Today is special day. For your support for ellie and eva company. Thank you. Thank you. [clapping] good afternoon. Im frank skillman. Im a artist, musician and writer and i was introduced to ellie and eva company in early 80s while shopping for Chinese New Year gifts for family and friends, and i have been a regular customer every since. I go there for picks, strings, musical accessories, and im always welcome there and amazed by their collection of everything from traditional chinese instruments to hand signed electric guitars. I thinki take my friends there when they come from out of town. Its truly an eclectic and unique place in San Francisco and in the world. I support the store being a legacy business in San Francisco. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is andrew wong, a native of San Francisco. Our family owned a indiscernible each day i would walk by in my younger years and he always had a kind word for me and piece of candy. Through these years he has also taken the time in my early days to teach me about chinese classical musical struments as well as lion dancing, that is lion, not line. To this day, i still lion dance. At 66, what he instilled in me im still doing today. I want to emphasize through these years he has always supported and encouraged the youth of china town to further their knowledge in music and culture. These threads of what mr. Leungs business has makes San Francisco San Francisco, diversity and makes it the city. This honor of being on the legacy business registry is so deserving of this business. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Good afternoon. My nay is charley bogue, general manager for adventure cat sailing. Thank you for your time and supervisor peskin and ricks office for the work helping in the process. indiscernible started 32 years ago. They will tell you it is a labor of love. They bill built the first boat and continues to be a labor of love. We are proud to share sailing on San Francisco with locals and tourists alike and proud to employ locals. We employ 1520 in the area and continue to learn about boats. We try to share the boats with youth groups and camps and all educational sides as well. We thank you for your assistance and look forward to many years on the bay. Thank you. Good afternoon. Eric indiscernible one of the owners of underglass custom framing. We have been around 30 years but feel like a newbeism. Thank you very much for your time and considering us to be on the legacy business registry. Thank you rick and thank you to supervisor mandelman as well for really making it an easy process for us. Underglass framing it isnt necessarily inexpensive, so when people decide to take or make that investment, we realized that it really is something of value and consequential to them and a lot more then a business because they entrust with these things that are priceless. There isnt another one of them. Children pictures, weddings, birth. A wide variety of things, and so we really do incapsulate those things to last a lifetime and it is a really great honor not only to be entrusted with everyones precious things, but also to sorry, i lost my train of thought. But also to be able to let them have enjoy it for the rest of their lives and hang on the wall. Once again, thank you very much for doing this for all of us and the other legacy businesses. It really does mean a lot to know somebodys behind Small Business in San Francisco. It is really important. Thank you. Thank you. Speakers on the line, press star 3 to be added to the queue. There are no speakers online. Anyone else in the room who would like to speak . Just in case. Okay, great. Public comment is closed. Commissioners, any comments, questions . Commissioner ortiz cartagena. Thank you president. I want to appreciate all the Small Business owners that came out today. Only you know the plight of Small Business. You have a sympathetic ear. You do it all, accounting, marketing, parents, grandparents, child, brother sister, city advocate so we appreciate you and this highlights what San Francisco is. The media paints us as a crazy town, but we are generational. Like the extractors leave, we are here and would be here and this makes the city great. I appreciate the comment of tony bennett. I got to see him when he was doing the 50th anniversary and it was amazing and know your spot, it is amazing and for you to be here in dedication for the city and everybody, this makes San Francisco great. Dont ever forget that and we are not going anywhere. Thank you. I dont know why it isnt popping up. I alsothis is my favorite part about being indiscernible legacy businesses. I love to hear the stories and what you meant for the community and the neighborhoods, and it is proof San Francisco is a strong city and i love to hear the stories. Thank you. Thank you rick for all the work. Thank you. Commissioner zouzounis. Yeah, i would just love to say thank you again for being here, joining us in the halls of our city and reminding everybody why we do what we do. I love the intergenerational Small Businesses and countnuity you bring to the city, so thank you for taking the time out of your evening and it is really our honor to hear from you, so thank you. Yeah, this is definitely one of my favorite times of our meetings and i really want to appreciate that all of you came out to celebrate yourselves really and celebrate our city. One little note is that, for ellie and eva company, thank you very much for continuing on this legacy. My daughter played indiscernible for a long time and to be able to see like, interesting it skipped a generation where my generation didnt get to learn a lot about our cultural kind of arts and Different Things like that, but then my daughter now has had the opportunity to be able to like kind of pick up again in a new iteration. Like, she actually speaks mandarin, she you know, plays a chinese instrument, all these things so it is really amazing to be able to kind of see that flourishing in our communities also, so thank you. One of the things i wanted to kind of just acknowledge is that, what is very clear is this sense of purpose i think that everybody in this room has and all of the businesses that youve created in the communities you have been a part of are really working on like preserving and sustaining and growing. Real sense of purpose. It is kind of like, i was thinking about this today in terms of like, the lines between what my personal lifewhere my personal life is versus my business, versus my Community Life. Like, they are all kind of blended together when you are a Small Business owner and i think it is one of the greatest challenges and one of the most beautiful parts of being a Small Business owner, is you get to drive you know, full force in a very holistic kind of way and so i agree that all us here know that and we are here to continue to champion it and like, support you all as well as you know, all the other Small Businesses that perhaps are in baby stages right now to grow to the place where you have been. With all that, i hope that all of you go home tonight and celebrate you know, the accomplishments that you had and the milestone this is. Congratulations and i like to see if somebody wants to make a motion . I move. Ill move to adopt all the legacy businesses on this item. Thank you. Is there a second . Second. Motion by Vice President zouzounis, seconded by commissioner gregory. [roll call] motion passes. Congratulations. [applause] thank you so much for all your work. Yes, thank you. Since the buttons are not working ill try to fix it. Thats fine. Thats why i look confused. Feel free to call item item 3, ab1347 solid waste, paper waste, proof of purchase. Discussion and action item. The commission discuss and possibly take action on California State Assembly bill 1347, which would on after january 2026 require a business as defined that accept payment through cash, credit or debt to provide option to receive or not to receive a proof of purchase. On after january 1, 2026 the bill prohibit a business from printing a paper proof of purchase if the consummer opts to not receive proof of purchase unless otherwise required by state or federal law. The bill would also exempt business from requirements to provide the consumer with option to not receive proof of purchase if a consumer opts in to prevent proof of purchase through the rules of association, warehouse or club to with chthe consumer belongs. The bill prohibit a paper proof of purchase provided to consumer by a business from containing bisphenol a on and after january 1, 2025. Presenting today is Marie Morales from Assembly Member phil ting office remotely and hillary mere, waste coordinator with office of environment. I believe we cancan you all see marie on your screen . Go ahead. Hi. Good afternoon commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to present on ab1347. My name is Maria Morales legislative aid for phil tang the author of ab1347 so ill present on behalf of the bill of the member in the office. The culmination of multiyear effort to reduce paper waste and protect consumers from exposure to toxic chemicals. Meets two goals by doing two main things. The first is to require all businesses to ban use of toxic chemicals in receipts. Starting in 2024, receipts cannot contain any dpa and starting in 2025 receipts cannot contain any indiscernible the second provision require businesses with over 25 million in revenue to offer consumers the choice between a receipt and no receipt. If the consumer does not want a receipt, a business cannot print one and this will take effect in 2026. According to indiscernible nearly 3 million trees, indiscernible create 302 Million Pounds of waste annually in the u. S. That is a lot of Environmental Impact for something that consumer may not want especially if you are just buying a pack of gum or cup of coffee to go. In addition to the Environmental Impact, the potential Public Health ringe indiscernible toxic to health and absorbed by touching receipts. The center for Disease Control and Environmental Working Group found that retail workers have 30 percent more bta or bts in their bodies then those who dont come in exact with the paper. Only 1 percent of receipts in circulation contain bta and 80 percent of receipts contain bts. Trader joes, tj maxx indiscernible showing there are alternatives available that dont have toxic chemicals. The data shows that majority of businesses indiscernible has been replaced by bts. To avoid substitutes bans the full class of receipts by 2025, puts a immediate stop to use of indiscernible this is very similar to what the state of washington is proposing since they are banning full class on all thermal paper. Important to note the bill does not ban paper receipts nor infringe on the business ability to provide a paper proof of purchase if legally required to do so for federal or state law. It simply requires a business ask consumer if they want proof of purchase and if no, it prohibit the default printing of the receipt. April 2022, cvs started asking customers if they wanted a printed receipt, digital or no receipts and within 4 months saved indiscernible [difficulty hearing speaker due to audio quality]. Preventing the west of resources if they dopet want one. We believe that the receipt provision which onlythe provision to ask the customer whether or not they want a receipt, that provision along with the provision that would prevent the use of chemicals on the actual receipt itself protects consumers from toxic chemicals and insure we dont spend valuable resources on a receipt consumer may not want and just throw away. With that, i conclude the presentation and happy to answer any questions about the bill. Thank you. Hillary, did you want to come up and say anything . Thanks. Hillary, the senior commercial coordinator for our department of the environment, and grateful to be here today and talk about 1347 related to the environment impacts of and benefit of implementing this. First, really fits within the hierarchy we try to implement, the rrrr. Reduce first. Trying to make option to prevent printing paper receipts even if they recycled. If within the Climate Action goals and global Climate Action commitment made to reduce generation by 15 percent by 2030, which is very ambitious goal for our community and we need every bit of material and opportunity to reduce and prevent waste. Second piece is that even if it can get recycled it can put our recycling infrastructure at risk. Those do accumulate in our Materials Recovery systems, and 7 generation recently, which is a popular household paper manufacturer does test for bpa and noticed one of the main sources is from receipt paper in their paper pulp they use to make and they dont intend to get that, they just want the paper pulp. The more we can change our feed stock we give them, the better. About 66 percent for example last year of our material recovered from here in the chambers as well as your offices and homes, about 66 percent is paper, so we still see thats the majority, but we see a lot of plastic package. Most of the material s are paper. Lastly, ill note that this fits within several other ordinances im in charge of implementing in many cases and communicating to businesses. The expectation is they ask customers and give them the chance to opt in or opt out and we have seen good effect. Meaning businesses get what they want and save money often, customers dont have extra things, like receipts, bags, straws that they dont want, so we implemented that in a series of ordinances. You might recall most recently the straw ban. The single use plastic toxic and litter reduction ordinance and it required food businesses to give customers a chance to opt in or opt out to accessories, conduments, usually in a selfservice station. I bring that up as a example. It is a pretty normal part of business and we havent gotten a lot of pushback from businesses about implementing the opt in option. Welcome the commissioners thoughts and questions. I think maria is here in particular to answer about the bill and implementation and are studies and my colleague is here with her experience in toxic reduction and impacts. Thank you so much hillary. Thank you very much maria as well. I think at this time can we open up for commissioner questions . Commissioner ortiz cartagena. Thank you president. Appreciate the presentation. Me personally, im all for it. It is like all most a nobrainer, but i would be remiss because of my purview as a commissioner through the Small Business lens, i had a couple questions. I saw in the support there is a lot of you know, green and recycling supporters. How is the feedback from Small Business associations throughout the state . Thats one question i have. The second one would be, in these studies, is there any burden particularly to businesses of color and under served communities, if any. I think not because you are printing less paper, less cost, but just under our purview and see what you say. I differ to maria. Happy to answer that commissioner. So, we have not received any formal letter from the Small Business association. We have though been in pretty frequent contact with the business stakeholders, including the retailer association, the actual paper manufacturers and i think all the environmental legislation has tried to be very receptive to how this would apply to businesses that may not have a lot of resources. I think thats why you notice the bill in these kind of two parts toxic chemical part and separate part, which is the offering of the receipt option to the consumer they are split, but Small Businesses wouldnt have to be burdened by the option to up grade their point of sale system to accommodate for the system not to immediately print something. It was indiscernible from the business stakeholders potentially impact Small Businesses. I think the bpa and bpf peesh piece in the conversations with the paper manufacturers, they have been supportive of the ban and they had asked just for the ban to say extended to 2025, which is what the bill does now. Originally the bill banned the use of both bpa and bpf by 2024, but given the feedback from stakeholders about the supply of paper, we extended the full ban to 2025 to insure there is enough supply out there for all businesses to comply since that provision applies to businesses large and small. Great. Sorry commissioner, i believe you asked if there is undue burden this places on businesses of color. It is to our knowledge this would. We do think that banning the use of toxic chemicals on the receipts would actually help protect a lot of communities of color from exz exposure to the chemicals. indiscernible exposure to the receipts by virtue of their jobs and believe data from a partner in the indiscernible showed 70 percent ofwe hope this protects the front line workers. Thank you very much. Thank you. Commissioner zouzounis. Thank you both for presenting to us today. My first question is kind of similar in the sense that i know this has been an attempt for a couple years now, so are there any changes that you see relevant to the Small Business community that have been made in this legislation to make it feasible that you havent already mentioned that you think would help us better communicate why this bill is here now and why its feasible now that we can kind ofyeah . I think the biggest amendment that is relevant to the Small Business community is the one mentioned about the 25 million cutoff. I think the other thing that is important to note is like you mentioned this bill is a multiyear effort. Attempted to do this in 2019 and there was a lot of pushback on the bill, particularly due to concerns about the supply of paper and also the cost to businesses to be able to accommodate for just asking a consumer whether they wanted a receipt. I think what we have seen since 2019 is this Market Movement away from using these toxic chemicals in receipt paper. I think the Ecology Center out of michigan released a report on receipt paper and indiscernible what they found is there is decrease in the use of bpa and bpf since the original study in 2017, and that since the original 2017 study they found 20 percent of receipts use safer chemicals. What we saw is that the pressure that was started in 2019 and also all the other Environmental Partners working on the issue moved the market in the direction where there is more supplyi think with the bill passes it show california has a vested interest protecting consumers from the chemicals and that will continue to provide the paper at a rate that is more affordable then 2019 when the supply was lower. We are hoping that would facilitate the ability for Small Businesses to comply with the specific provision of the bill specific to them. That was my next question i answered is how much more at scale is the alternative receipt paper and is it available in the commercial market and accessible to Small Businesses, because a lot of times Small Businesses are having to pick up their materials on their own. We dont qualify for the minimum of distributors and corporate producers so where it is at scale for a bigger business it might be harder to acquire for a Small Business. That was the question about the alternatives and if there is also a cost analysis about that you happen to have on hand of the difference and the Paper Products and also if you have done any studies to give us a sense ofi know you mentioned one about the kind of makeup of the majority of the receipt papers people are using, but i dont think its intuitive that a Small Business knows the chemicals in certain things like this, so is it going to blindside people or is there going to be a really easy way that the city will help point or whatever municipal or state body is doing the education going to point them to these alternatives . Anymore info you have on that would be helpful. I think on the cost analysis, i can get back to you commissioner. I dont have anything on hand to show the difference between the cost of bpa and bpf free paper versus others, but i think kind of to the point i was mentioning and what we have seen not just with this bill but the other bills we have done on toxic chemicals, when it is a larger mandate from the state to move away from using these chemicals in products that kind of gives the market an incentive to start developing these products that comply with state law, and because now it is kind of state law and they have to do it, they increases the supply and therefore makes it a little bit cheaper. I imagine by the time the 2025 day becomes effective, the cost of the bps free paper will be cheaper then what it is maybe right now in 2023 because of the new market level. I think other to note, because we are not the only indiscernible state of washington and other states including illinois and connecticut and indiscernible have taken action on the use of these chemicals on thermal paper we think this is moving the market in that direction and hopefully make it more affordable, but if i can find the cost analysis of the difference between the paper, ill send it over to you. Okay. Thank you. The last one before i turn it over to director is, this is kind of the doozy for me because i went through the california litter and recycling reduction you know, cal recycle being the enforcer on our San Francisco small retailers having to assume the responsibility of crv recycling, and the enforcement in particular by the state was atrocious and i dont say that lightly. It was like, we had sting operations by cal recycle that were going into small stores in the middle of lunch rush and interrupting them with their responsibilities of you know, and then if they said wait a second, giving them violations. We had a lot of cultural sensitivity issues where cal recycle you know, enforcement was going into businesses that didnt sell alcohol and forcing them to take alcohol bottles back. My question is, who is the enforcement body for this . Where do the funds attained, are they going to go and what that kind of rollout to help businesses comply is going to look like . I think i can answer the enforcement and penalty question and differ to partners at the City Department of environment to see if they have any thoughts on the outreach part of your question. As far as enforcement goes, the bill specifies the attorney general or local council can enforce or assess a civil penalty for non compliance with the bill. It is not up to a department, so therecal recycle wouldnt oversee this, nor would the department of toxic indiscernible because it is a chemical bill. It is only the ag or local council wants to see a business might not be complying, then they can take action. The indiscernible would be collected by the entity assessing the fine so go back to the local council or ag. That our understanding of the law because it specified indiscernible okay. So, the field enforcement is going to be kicked down to municipalities . Yeah, it would be the ag or thespecifies ag, da, county counsel or city council. So essentially they have deference to go and confirm if a business is complying or not complying. There is no active monitoring. The ag is tip ped off . There isnt like undercover . Like the crv one . Yeah. Okay. The ag and all the local council office. My understanding is that would not be the case. It would just be if the ag wants to, they have the authority to assess fines for non compliance and imagine that would come after a investigation to confirm whether the business is complying or not. Okay, thank you so much. I apologize, we have to take a quick pause because we dont have quorum at the moment. One of our commissioners just stepped out. So sorry, maria. I think well take an official break, that way Live Streaming stops for a minute. [meeting reconvened] alright maria, go ahead. Do i need towe are back on. [laughter] game on. Maria did you conclude because i touch on education, the tactic we have taken in the past for statewide initiatives. You are done with that piece on the enforcement . I am. Thank you. Typically we rely on the market place moving with the attention, Something Like this might get. Newsom possibly signing it. That really does shift the market for what the companiesgiven Engagement Office with paper manufacturers. We rely on that up front and in as much as my capacity, my teams capacity, i do have connections with the Restaurant Depots and jethros. I can communicate with them and kind of it is more just a courtesy to see to your point, Small Businesses dont have capacity to hunt down is this compliant product, so i attempt to do that in that role and with the contacts that the bigger generators for our Restaurant Depot of the world. That is the extent of it. If there is a opportunity for maybe other capacity we might have or interest. We hear from members of the public so if somebody is interested or libraries that think of our municipalities that is something we take seriously the Environment Department and direction of the supervisors so thats something ill commitment to doing. Thank you. Director tang. Thank you. I think you both touched upon this a little bit, but wanted to get into it more in terms of the conversation with receipt paper manufacturers and the extent they are inge chaing practice. They place enforcement on the business, which isnt ideal so wondering to what extent the conversations happen with the manufacturers of the receipt paper and how much they are willing to move the needle themselves, because if the manufacturers dont change their practices it makes it hard for the business, so if you can elaborate on that. Sound like supervisor tangs office considered that. Happy to indiscernible our office has had a up couple conversations with the American Forestry Paper Association as well as a couple receipt manufacturer and they are supportive of the ban and just asked for more time because they are still developing thermal paper that doesnt have bps so we are confident by the time they indiscernible the supply will be there. I think it is also to note, since a lot of businesses on their own outside this bill have already moved away from using these chemicals we are hopeful that indiscernible to push all the manufacturers to start creating this paper, because indiscernible have interest in producting consumers. We are continuing those conversations right now. The deeper the bill in the process [difficulty understanding speaker due to audio quality] a couple considerations on changes to the bill to address stakeholder concerns. I think the only thing the manufacturers flagged is the use of unintentional and intentional chemicals essentially saying we are not adding this chemical to the product anymore, but sometimes the chemical can be found because it is contaminated in the process, and so we are working to make the bill as implementable as possible in a way that is feasible for them to produce the paper that retailers and Small Businesses need to comply, but also in a way that is capturing the intent, which is to kind of move away from using these chemicals all together. Those conversations are ongoing. Thank you. In terms of enforcement, assuming thatassuming it is handed down to local jurisdictions so most likely sf environment im guessing but know that is probably still in the works. I wonder what enforcement looks like . Would someone come in a business and how do you test for these things and is it on the spot or bring to the lab . I dont know how that works, so if you could explain that. Given the scale of the businesses impacted, especially with the opt in opt out, those two comclients i would anticipate partnering with some of our more statewide and National Organizations that maria quoted in the research because they have a vested interest so likely take the lead on that testing some mentioned Ecology Center, Environment Working Group and probably other state organizations that are leading on this as well. The manufacturers will see the writing on the wall and change will be requesting this and i anticipate that the market will shift. On the opt in opt out, that is a really local experience that i would anticipate customers will tell us about or i might just experience as a san franciscans seeing that they may need to adapt that option to give the customer the chance and like i said, we already have several ordinances that guide that interaction with the business, so we already get feedback from residents and i expect we can integrate in the communications so it wont be a huge priority given we havent gotten direction from the supervisors to take that on but it does have the environmental benefit so we want to communicate that to businesses. I think wellour team will take that into context and also take leadership from the Small Business community and you as commissioners how we communicate that best to businesses. I dont have any questions. Is therecan we open up for Public Comment . Any Public Commenter in the room . Public commenters on the line press star 3 to be added to the queue. No commenters. This is discussion and action. Should we take action . You can do another. You can officially take action or provide feedback or suggestions and whatever form you want. Okay. Can i ask one more . I know this might be this doesnt include business receipts, like businesses need to keep for their own records when they do a transaction . Not that i know of. Maria might point to the nuance language, but i understand it is around interaction with the customer and if the customer declines they dont print a receipt but doesnt say a food business that might need the receipt to fulfill a order as part of the workflow, i dont anticipate that restriction. Maria can jump in. I agree. It is the language the business is able to retain the right to keep are receipts for internal accounting. It is more the customer side. indiscernible the business are still able to retain receipts for record keeping. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that was on record, because i know if that want made clear with outreach, a lot of businesses would be scared. Thank you. Would it i can share context if it is helpful. Our department offered to the state legislative committee a support position and in communication with carrie, became clear it is great it consult with the Small Business commission and get your feedback, and so thats our plan now is to bring this to the state legislative Committee Wednesday with the support position, so i think you all can take action on it. Thank you very much. I think that is helpful to give context how we should maybe proceed. It sounds like we have some thoughts already around it. Im pretty comfortable with going ahead and asking for a motion , i think. A motion . Like asking for a motion of support from our commission to move this along. Is there a second . Can we like add language to that support . Like support and encourage specialized Small Business outreach . Can we add that to it . I think so, yeah. Is that friendly . I think it is helpful for us to have some sort of like something at the end of this because i do appreciate that you bringing this to us for us to be able to understand and talk through some of these things that i know our Small Businesses are going to be asking, and i like to be able to point back to our position on it at this point too. Ill second. Motion to support this with suggested additional outreach to Small Businesses about compliance. I think that do we vote on that . I can read the roll. [roll call] motion to support approved. Great. Great to talk with all you commissioners and ill be sure to reflect your support to the state legislative committee. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. Thank you all so much. Appreciate the time. Item number 4. Item 4, local Business Enterprise program presentation. This is discussion item. The commission will hear presentation and learn about the local Business Enterprise program which helps Small Businesses compete for city contracts. Presenting today we have stephanie tang, director of contract monitoring division. Welcome director tang. Great. Thank you. Stephanie tang, the director of the contract monitoring division. We are part of the city administrators office. Im here for this discussion item about the city local Business Enterprise program, which we call the lbe program, it is the first of many acronyms so ill try to spell them out for you. This is a Small Business Inclusion Program for city contracts and today ill explain why Small Business Inclusion Programs matter, help you ntds the lbe program and connect you to resources to learn more. The lbe program is one of many Small Business Inclusion Programs. These programs exist basically at every level of government. There is federal, programs, there are state programs, there are local programs. Each of the programs has its own set of requirements and process how it is operated. The federal Small Business association has a program, the state California Department of General Services dgs has a program, San Francisco, oakland are some examples. These programs exist because of a series of facts and realties that i dont need to tell you but important to get on the record here. Small businesses can be the life blood of the community, the backbone of a neighborhood and contribute to the economy and employ residents and participate in civic life. We have a bunch of Small Businesses here as a example of how Small Business owners contribute. We need to have a vibrant community and support the good Economic Health of the city through Small Business. The other realty as we heard from the previous discussion is that Small Businesses operate at a different economy of scale and often experience higher cost, the ability of how you can change the market is often different and purchasing power is often scaled to size so Small Businesses can be at disadvantage. As a result, competing for government contracts, governments intervened and created Small Business Inclusion Programs to insure that purchasing and participation in government contracts have a more level Playing Field and create equal opportunity and equity in public contracting. This slide is to situate within the larger historical arch. Many Small Business Inclusion Programs were often tied to racial and gender equity programs. San francisco had a minority and women owned Business Enterprise program called a mbe for minority, wbe for women administered through the human rights commission. After the voters of california passed proposition 209, this required policy change and ended the ability for the city to offer preferential treatment based on race, color ethnicity and National Origin and applied to public employment, education and contracting. The city of San Francisco had to change its m and wbe Inclusion Program and did so with the elevation of the local Business Enterprise, the lba the category of consideration and contracting. In 2012 the contract monitoring division, cmd, became the administrator of the local Enterprise Business program and then i added the final bullet so you can see that these equity programs are still a hot topic given the most recent Supreme Court ruling against a private University Racial preferential admission program. Im talking about City Contracting and that is where the city is the funder and the buyer of the program. Of the good. The city spends north of 2 billion a year on goods. It also spends more on Construction Services and we buy everything you can think of, but not actually everything. All most every City Department engage in some level of contracting or grants. If you think the city might be a possible client for you, then this slide is for you. The top link is about how to navigate contracting with the city. This is relatively new website and been up about 6 months to help you understand how to contract with the city and the links at the bottom of the page are how firms can search for opportunities that are currently advertised or forecasted for future opportunities and these are relatively new websites. Lets talk about the lbe certification program. First and foremost firms want to be certified because they are competing on the prime level or the subcontractor level where they provide services to a higher level entity. What happens is a firm applies, reviewed by the certification team, we do a site visit and determination is made. The certification duration is onbetween 1 or 3 years depending on the exact circumstances of the businesses and firm is eligible for a wbe, mbe or obe, women Business Enterprise, minority Business Enterprise and other which is usually neither women nor minority owned. As for the Program Criteria it is based on the principle place of business, headquarters. Must be operationally independent, exist for at least 6 months, have a license and category that you are requesting, for example california requires a license then the city wants to know you have a license before we hire you and then also prove your experience in the category you want. The city does want want to be your first client cht while this program is called a local Business Enterprise, San Francisco based firms makes hundreds of Million Dollars can be a local businesses and not certified as a lbe through the requirements through administrative code chapter 14 boo b. For each certified category, there is designation of of the size of each firm. We average gross receipts 5 years. Micro is the smallest. Small is the medium of the small and sba is the largest of the Small Businesses. These thresholds were increased in 2021. Lets talk about the program benefits. There are four major categories of benefit. The first benefit is the lbe discount. If you bid as a prime contractor, 10 percent. For the purpose of deciding who is the lowest bidder where cost is it only criteria, then you use the bid discount. If there is a rating process where you end with a scope then we use a rating bonus, so ill give you a example because it is a little confusing. So, suppose firm a is a Large Company and they bid a Million Dollars, and firm z is a lbe and bid a Million Dollars and 1 dollar, so if you look at face value you think the lbe is more expensive, however because they are certified lbe and this program exists what you do is the awarding Department Takes 10 percent off cost of the lbe firm z and their bid comes in at 9 million, 900 thousand and 90 cents. This exercise in discounting cost is just for determining who wins. It makes because of the cost disadvantage a Small Business doesnt end in a situation where they cant compete on cost. If this was a proposal base process they do the same process accept apply to scores. For example, if firm a got hundred points and firm z got 99 points, they would apply 9. 9 points or 99, 10 percent of whatever my example so firm z is the apparent winner. The next benefit, moving to the right is the lbe subcontractor and subparticipation requirement. Sets a requirement for the project team to use lbe subcontractors. Most projects end up between about 10 to 25 percent and this participation insures that the lbe participating at the prime level and the subconsultant level so it makes sure lbes can participate in all contracts. The next ill mention is the lbe, micro set aside program. These are informal contracts which means smaller dollar value and the department limits the bidding pool to micro lbe only. Larger firms are not eligible to bid. The final significant benefit is the Contractor Development program. Your office of Small Business advisors and oewd programs are serving generally the general where the client is the general public, and often times folks needs assistance in dealing with the city as a regulate and compliance entity. What is different about the Technical Assistance of this program, this is where the city is the client so the city is purchasing your service so the questions relate to bidding requirements and other things with the city as a client. Ill have a later slide to discuss the elements of the Contractor Development program. I talked about contracting where the city is laying out the contract but there is also benefit for non city contracts where the lbe program is also recognized and this is for projects such as ocii, the office of Community Investment and infrastructure and also other private public projects, these are mainly the Development Deals that are happening where other projects are going up where lbe can be included as the Small Business Inclusion Program. Lets return to the 4 prongs of the Contractor Development program. We can have Technical Assistance, which is similar to consulting like helping with marketing and estimating and cash flow. This is often related to construction so specialized knowledge. There is assurety bond program through office of Risk Management that provides bonding assistance and backs some of the bonds. There is also a mentor protozai program to pair with a larger contractor for a two year mentorship relationship and finally, the contractor accelerated payment program, which is a Pilot Program funded by the San Francisco Community Investment fund and it allows for construction firms to receive contract based financing, often called factoring or invoice based financing and improves the Small Business access to capital. Also working on other access to capital programs as it relates to city contracts which is a new frontier for cmd. Before i leave you, i wanted to make sure you knew how to get more information. The first is that if there is a actual bid there are a team of contract compliance officers at cmd who can provide information to bidders and they work with the City Departments, the primes, sub, lbe to help understand and help navigate the city process. There is also a lbe advisory mitty that meets every other month and the next meeting is august 3, 10 a. M. There is also a lbe directory so the firms that are certified are publicly searchable so they can be found for work and teaming. We also host regular workshops every month on the first wednesday every month, 10 a. M. We have a host of workshop how to obtain certifications and the second wednesday every month we host a workshop around requirements and bidding on city contracts. And this concludes my presentation. Thank you for the opportunity to share about the local Enterprise Business program and the potential benefit tuesday to the Small Business community. I look forward to answering any of your questions. Thank you so much director tang for coming in today with this really robust presentation. This is helpful for me where i have very little experience in the lbe program. My cocommissioners have much more experience in this, and soare there any questions . Comments . Commissioner ortiz cartagena. Director tang, thank you for the presentation. I want to thank you very thorough very knowledgeable. Long time ago i was a lbe business and this program really set me apart. I couldnt do the Community Work i do now if it wasnt directly because of the lbe program because that gave me mentorship with bigger primes and success stor y and now im here in community being able to afford to give my time to community. I had a technical question. The micro and the small, i know there is a cash threshold, but does it matter in participation . Do you get preferential bonus or just the designation of the title . Great question and thank you for the feedback about the program. The micro and small is very confusing because it is a certification by category not by firm. Depending on the category you are looking for, it is actually possible to be a micro, a small and sba depending what work you do at the same time. The particular micro benefits are a couple. One is that for the micro set aside contracts those are only open to micro firms. If you are a small for that particular category then it doesnt assist. In the code change there was a change to projects within the 25 percent for example to have a micro subgoal and small goal and sba goal so depending on the work you have, some of the primes may want tothey get more creditthe micro goals are often larger so theypt you in a particular category. In general as it relates to being a prime on the larger contracts, whether you are a micro, small or sba it doesnt have a material difference. Commissioner gregory. They thank you director tang. I appreciate the time you putting the great presentation together, and informing the office of Small Business commission what the lbe program is because i recently found out that City Departments through San Francisco are super unaware of what the lbes are or micro lbes are, which is shocking to me, but i guess i live in the lbe bubble i think Everybody Knows who we are. It is not really a question, it is just im wondering why there is such a disconnect between City Departments, likei was recently in a meeting at potrero yard project coming up, and as i was sitting in the room with minority lbes the leadership staff at potrero yard, they were laughing about how we didnt know what lbe were till two weeks ago, and then as one bragged about the Racial Equity training and how they are hiring so many people and if you dont make it as a lbe come work for us, i just wonder where is the disconnect . If thats the language that is being said in the city agencies, how can we inform them more about what this program is, what it does, what it does for our community because i see it as like a eco system when you hire the Small Businesses we put the money back in, rather then somebody from livermore coming here and taking the money out. I just dontam i missing something . Why does nobody else get it, and how can we get the other city agencies on board because you mention ocii and ocii has a sbe program and when the contractor or the gc come into the city, all they see is sbe. They dont look at anythingit is sbe well get somewhere chapeer. I know that isnt what ocii means, but i just feel like why is there such a huge disconnect . That really isnt a question, it is statement. And what can we do to resolve that or help it ori know at the bio solids, the sfpuc are probably the first agency to jump on board with the 14b changes and the legislation, and really are doing a wonderful job with doing the micro set asides, and you know, how great it would be if every city project did the same thing. They are talking about reparations, diversity, Equity Inclusion and this would be such a huge part if, especially the micro lbe where most are Minority Companies would have consistent work. I think thats it for now. Thank you. Sorry to hear my rant, but last week was a rough week for me and i just dont understand how the disconnect between the city agencies. Always hearing why they shouldnt hire a lbe or micro lbe instead of finding ways of putting them to work. Thank you. Can i respond a little . Yes. I think that youve identified what i also identified, right . And that as a City Employee sometimes the question around what is the mission of what we are trying to do and i think sometimes the departments have forgotten the mission isnt just to build the project or do this thing, but also to exist within a larger eco system of San Francisco, and i think as you heard abouti really make it a point to talk about the mission of the program and the why we exist, and i think Something City staff and my own team often do is that we get too much to what and have forgotten about why, and if you just get to what, it becomes all about enforcement and compliance and becomes about a form and making sure things are done right in that particular way. But we have to remember the why of what we are existing and if dont have that as the nort star how can you decide which form is most important and why the form is designed this way and that is something i appreciate you carry as a message which is ultimately it is my belief that putting people to work is one of the best forms of economic stimulus and thereis a enorming dignity in work and that is a way in which we can have our city be a great city by Small Businesses have people in the Community Working. You live in the community. You participate in Community Life and thats a belief i think be both share. Ultimately the campaign in order to have City Departments kind of take on this idea so they can carry the message also to the prime contractors is ultimately a organizing campaign, person by person, having people understand the mission and i want to thank you for what you have been doing in carrying the message and all these different places, and making sure that the community carrying the message not just on their own behalf but on behalf of the other businesses in the city, similar to your business. Those are some things that i wish for and that i hope that we are working on our team to create a culture change so that there is that understanding around why Small Businesses matter, how the city can do its part to make sure there is inclusion in that, and how this ultimately benefit and help our city really grow and thrive and be the city that we are all hoping to make. Thank you for participating in that as we figure it out person by person. Speaking of cultural change, thank you for bringing that up because i think that is a huge part of what the city agencieslike i said, the last keep i sat in a lot of meetings where they keep talking about what micros are capable of doing. We have to make sure we are capable of doing this, instead of changing the word to capacity and that is the culture change and language that needs to be done because when you have higher ups in Development Teams carrying that language on down, it is in their mind of what these micros can do or capable of doing, so whatever i can do to support that, i know people are listeningtired of listening to my rants, but it is a huge part of San Francisco and the pride that people feel when they drive by 1550 evans and say i built that, i put the plumbing in that, it is huge for the community, rbs so thank you. Any ort comments . Ill just say, thank you for the contracting monitoring division. Your office has been i know trying to be more public facing. You had a really good forum i think it was last year where you did a lot of outreach to make sure that everybody was on it and i think traditionally it is like only if you know you know kind of office, so i appreciate that you all are trying to do that for that public facing education and Stakeholder Engagement and want to let you know it is noted and appreciated. If we can be a better resource to you, we can make resolutions here, right sfwh maybe nonbinding, but it is something that show our priorities as a Small Business commission to the agencies and the board and what not, so commissioner maybe something to think about if theres something that we can help promote or encourage within how the city does business, maybe there is something we can do there to support. Thats it. Commissioner ortiz cartagena. Maybe we tie to director salaries at these various departments. Commissioner gregory, i appreciate you championing. Again, i want toi know you not the departments that do not necessarily reach out for lbe, but your department is awesome and who ever is watching this, the lbe program, i just cant say enough, your department is welcoming, your department is easy to navigate, so we appreciate you and i think the city needs to do a better job to make sure we keep San Francisco dollars in San Francisco and thats what lbe does. It has a quantifying effect when you have a small minority business do a job, it stays in the neighborhood cht the money stays in the neighborhood. I we should be lbe every day. Thank you for always championing this. If we can help, we need to make this a priority. I really appreciate your presentation because it helps me understand like when you are bringing things forth i can now really visualize what is it that is the issue. This is a very basic question, but like, are there requirements for every project that a certain portion hasi dont know if i missed that. So, there arewhen you think about the requirements in terms of lbe participation, it depends on the type of solicitation it is. So, if it is a commodity solicitation you cant divide commodities, but if is a janitorial service, or landscaping or building a public works then there will be both the benefit for bidding as a prime as well as subparticipation requirement, where there will be a 5 Million Contract for 20percent needs to somehow be used for lbe and it is up for the prime to decide how to divide up that work. Some primes may decide if theres 10 locations maybe have a lbe be the lead at one location, or might decide there is a service they use across the 10 locations. The city doesnt requireallows the prime to decide how to meet the goal and doesnt set forth the best way of doing it because the city doesnt do the work. You need the Business Owner to decide the best way to engage the Small Business community. There are requirements and that is what i mentioned between the 10 and 25 percent in terms of what the lbe requirement is. I did want to mention that for the micro set aside contracts, they do not have lbe requirements because the prime is the lbe. Because the prime is doing the work, the only requirement is that they do at least 35 percent of the work so they are not just hiring somebody else to do everything where they name is just used but someone else is doing the work. There are requirements, it depends the type of project, it is scope of work specific and that is what the contract compliance officers do to understand what the scopes are and the lbe availability is and sets the goal based on that number. [coughing] sorry about that. Who is or how do you help businesses like build capacity to be able to engage in this process and engage in the work thats being asked of them . The Capacity Building question is great, because each business really has its own particular thing that it is facing in terms of Capacity Building. For some it is access to capital. It is making sure do we have enough money, i want to bid on something bigger but the money is tied up in another project. Other firms it could be a skillset maybe they dont have. For example, a lot of firms are wonderful doing the work but not great running the back office so they may need help running the back office stuff. For some it can be they are running the back office but so used to being the boss they need help with the coaching and retaining people and not trying to develop people because as Business Owner i am sure you experienced some point you also have to let go a little and some people really have trouble with that. It really we take a holistic look to see what is going on with you, which aspect will we work on as it relates to Capacity Building and then we move from there, and we also i want to thank the office of Small Business, their staff can also be very helpful in some of the Capacity Building and coaching and guidance and navigating in terms of understanding where you go from there. I wish there was a one size fits all because it would be so much easier, but once we start to find what is going on, there is often multiple things people want to work on and we connect people to resources, mentors, Technical Assistance, quick books class. It depends where they are at. It is like that slide that you had with the multiokay. Are there issues like in terms of like when people like grow, like i find this obviously like in a lot of like programs, right . You have a lot of benefit in a certain category, but like, the goal is to continue to grow and you grow out of that category and you are somehow penalize, right . Is there a sense of that happening . Thank you for raising that. There are some lbe who decide i dont want to every graduate. I want to stay an lbe. There are other lbe who say, i want to be as big as i can be, and one thingyou saw the slide of the three different categories . Micro, small and sba . There is no real benefit for being a micro or small, but being a sba is different in there are fewer benefits and the thought of creating the sba category was to create more of the offramp so it was a little gentler and you were not suddenly receiving no benefit through the program at all. I have to say somethat is ultimately the Business Strategy around do people want to grow bigger or want to stay within the program and then that is ultimately a Business Owner choice. I feel like thats where you know, as a larger question, right . Is like, how do you support growth that doesnt look like a linear type of growth . Like, what does growth look like when we start to take a look at it holistically and how do we keep the mobility and that movement available for people and incentivized as well . The other thing i will say about a lot of the lbe, we just did a mentorship meeting with somebody who had graduated from the lbe program who was meeting with lbes talking about it, and one thing that really struck me was how they had a Business Plan to grow out of the lbe program, but as part of growing out of the program they also had a plan how to diversify their book of business, right . And that through having a different more diverse book of business they could graduate because they know they were not just benefiting from the lbe program, they were gaining capacity and skills and getting client outside the city. Once again, a business choice. Some are from here and want to just work here and some firms say, im willing to drive across the bay or work on other projects that are not just City Projects and thats something that we kind of struggle with in that it isnt our choice but we try to understand where people are. But i have to say that, thats the best problem to have. The realty is that we have a lot of smaller firms that are just trying to grow bigger, that are not even close to deciding that one day i might be able to graduate, so it is for us i would say more pressing concern is making sure our smallest firms are able to get on projects and get bigger first. If i had to prioritize our limited resources that is probabwh