Will take Public Comment first from people attending the meeting in person and then from people attending remotely. Call 415 6550001. Press pound and pound again to be added to the line. When connected, youll be muted and in listening mode only. When your item of interest comes up, dial star three to be added to the speaker line. When youre called for Public Comment, please mute the device youre listening on. Public comment during the meeting is limited to three minutes per speaker and an alarm will sound once the time has finished. Speakers are what is that . Speakers are requested but not required to state their names. Sfgov tv, please show the office of Small Business slide. Today we will begin with a reminder to the Small Business commission. The office of Small Business is the best place to get answers about doing business in San Francisco during a local emergency. If you need assistance with Small Business matters particularly at this time, you can find us online or via telephone and as always, our services are free of charge. Before item one is called, id like to start by thanking Media Services and sfgov tv for coordinating this virtual hearing and helping us run the meeting, helping me run the meeting. Okay. Please call item one. Clerk item one, roll call. [roll call] Vice President zouzounis, you have a quorum. Vice president zouzounis okay. Is somebody else reading the i am. Got it. Okay. The San Francisco Small Business commission and the office of Small Business staff acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco peninsula and 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, elders, and relatives of the Ramaytush Ohlone community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. Okay. Item two, please. Clerk item two approval of legacy businesses and applications. This is a discussion and action item. The commission will discuss and possibly take action to approve legacy business industry applications and today, we have richard curlow with the office of Small Business presenting. Vice president zouzounis thanks, rick. This is a real exciting packed house. Good afternoon, Vice President zouzounis, commissioners, city staff, members of the public. I am the Public Services manager. With me is michelle renolds who helps with the legacy business program. Michelle was instrumental in helping review, correlate, and review the ten applications processed before you today. I would like to welcome commissioner carter to the Small Business commission. Its a pleasure to meet you. Sfgov tv, i have a power point presentation. Before you today are ten applications for your consideration for the legacy business industry. Each application includes a staff report, a draft resolution, are the application itself and the case report and resolution from the Planning Department. The applications were submitted to planning on march 9th and heard by the Historic Preservation commission on april 6th. Item 2a is buddha lounge incorporated. Buddha lounge has a charm and welcoming local tourists. The bright neon sign proudly illuminates its name. Inside, patrons enjoy buddha beers in buddhashaped glass bottles and chinese maitais. The bar also features a mural of buddha which was painted in 1951. The core featured tradition must maintain on the legacy business industry is bar. The businesses and iconic cafe roekted in the russian hill neighborhood that located in 1891 under the name buena vista saloon. The buena vista stood the test of time surviving major eventses, prohibition, and the covid pandemic. Widely known as the business that produced the popular irish coffee in the united states. The served san franciscans and tourists alike for a century. Item 2c is far east cafe. The business is a Chinese Restaurant and banquet hall located in chinatown. It was established in 1920 when banquet halls were quite common. Today, far east cafe is the last remaining restaurant of its kind in the neighborhood. Its interior and inperson capacity have made it an ideal capacity for almost all the special occasion for almost any special occasion including community weddings, Community Meetings, fundraisers, and holiday celebrations allowing friends and families to gather around large tables. Much of the artwork displayed was brought over from china more than a century ago. It purchased its ingredients helping to support other local businesses featuring chinese cuisine. Item 2d is hallman palace located on van ness avenue. It served traditional, halal, afghani, and traditional food and much loved recipes handed down from the original owner. Their food is a modern interpretation of classic dishes and they only serve highquality iningredients. Recognized for their fresh, home stile cuisine and exceptional service. The business much maintain is restaurant featuring afghani cuisine. Item 2e is latin jewelers. The business is a familyowned jeweller store located in the heart of the mission. Latin jewelers includes retail jewellery and watches, jewelry and eye glass repair. The business carries products specific to latino culture. They pride themselves in keeping latino traditions and culture alive through their jewelry. Theyre noted for their personal service and fair prices. Latin jewelers is also known for their creative Financing Solution offering creative financing for individuals with low or noincome credit. The business must maintain its jewelry store. Item 2f is paxton gate. Located in the mission has a large collection of treasures and oddities inspired by the gardens and natural sciences. Founded in 1992, paxton gates sells garden merchandise, unique plants. Taxidermy furniture, books and curiosity through conservation and local economies. Paxton gate is thrilled to have found a community that loves to share, learn, and grow with the business. The core featured business is curio shop. Item 2g is a vietnamese restaurant. Serves genuine food and many of the same recipes that have been used at restaurant for the pass four decades. Size vietnamese restaurant recently lost its lease but will remain in its current location. The core featured tradition the business must maintain. Item 2h is San Francisco carts and concessions ink. The business operates businesses throughout the city and the slogan is fine pedestrian dining since 1974. The original owner is still the current owner 48 years later. San francisco carts and concessions started selling their pretzels when food peddler permits werent available. San francisco declared their pretzels to be works of art and a year later, they obtained the very first peddler permit. Their foods are made from the highest quality of ingredients available. Their hot dogs are 100 Grass Fed Beef and their pretzels are still baked fresh daily and still works of art. The traditions the business must maintain is restaurant street food. Item 2i is small frys childrens store. The business is a Childrens Clothing toy and gift store opened in 1984 in noe valley. A variety of clothing for babies and children, gifts, birthday presents, books, toys, and other items. They offer products in a variety of other prices to make shopping for children easier and enjoyable. The store usually has the most sought after items in stock to many to be parents industry. Small frys committed as well as supporting many young people with their first jobs. The core feature the business must maintain is Clothing Store featuring kidsware. Item 2j is valentino market. Stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, beverages, wine, toiletries and over the counter medications. A market has been located in that store front since 1917. Valentino market contributes to the local fabric of the neighborhood not only as a neighborhood marked but as a Community Gathering place. The store features photos of regular customers and drawings by neighborhood children. Certain items of the store are named after local children such as graces pharmacy. Driving a decorated chief with neighborhood children. Valentino market is a True Community help. The core feature addition the business must maintain is grocery store. All ten businesses met the criteria required for listing on the legacy business industry and all from the Historic Preservation commission. They recommend adding the business to the industry and has drafted ten resolutions for your consideration. Motion in support should be framed as a motion in favor of the resolutions. Thank you. This concludes our presentation. Were happy to answer any questions. There may be business representatives, there are business representatives in the room who wed like to speak on behalf of their applications during Public Comment and there may be business representatives online as well. Vice president zouzounis thank you, richard. That was a great synopsis. Commissioners, does anybody want to say anything before we hear Public Comment . Okay. Well go to Public Comment. Were going to take whos in the room first and then well look on whos called in. Hi, good afternoon. My name is shannon kwaun. Thank you all for your time. Im the owner of buddha lounge. And i would like to thank aaron peskin, the chinatown and for the San Francisco business industry for considering my application for the legacy program. Its been a long, hard struggle for us these past few years and all of you are welcome to come and see. So thats all i have to say. Thank you so much. Vice president zouzounis thank you. Secretary if you want to provide Public Comment, you can line up on this side. Thank you, commissioners. Im here on behalf of supervisor mandelman who nominated two of the businesses on your list this evening. Paxton gate and small frys childrens store in noe valley. I wanted to speak briefly to nominate those businesses a little further. A changing San Francisco for 30 years. 1 on stevenson street and since 1999, their current home in the mission. Paxton gate offers a range of opportunities, home decor jewelry, and accessories to provide a truly unique experience. A pillar of valencia street to ensure its reputation. And also i want to note that paxton gates contributions extend beyond their presence serving as president of the valencia corridor from 2013 to 2020, shifting gears to noe valley. Small frys been a part of the Community Since 1984. At 466 24th. Currently owned and operated by Mother Daughter Team carol and asia yenny. Small frys has served as an anchor even through the challenges and there were a lot of them of the covid19 pandemic. As important as the valuable services to families in noe valley that are provided including childrens games, clothing, and accessories, the continued presence of noe valleys favorite childrens store sends an important signal to the community that children are welcomed and valued and small frys commitment to local hiring only deepen their presence in the community. Id also like to note it runs beyond running the store and was a Founding Member of the noe Valley Community benefits district in 2004 and her husband builds books including San Franciscos noe valley and noe valley past and presence has built a sense of identity as well. Once again, supervisor mandelman continues to feel that small frys and paxton gate are deserving of the legacy business and respectfully urges your approval of the legacy business status this evening. Thank you very much. Vice president zouzounis thank you. Welcome. My name is stan roth and i own the carts. I wanted to thank the commission for this and also working tirelessly to make this happen. And i wanted to just tell one story that when i met my wife at a pretzel cart and our first location was hiden beach and wed drop our cart off in the morning, and virtually every morning we would have breakfast there and either have an irish coffee or a bloody mary. Its really Pretty Amazing and i want to congratulate all the other nominees and know my wife will be visiting us in the coming weeks. Its really an honor. Thank you. Vice president zouzounis thank you. Hello. Welcome. Can you put something on the overhead. Im Devon Johnson and i just want to say a few words theres been a Corner Grocery store in fib alert for over a hundred years and and its a Corner Grocery market that basically satisfies everyones needs in the neighborhood for all the items they come running over for, but other than that its really a Community Meeting place. Hes got a bench outside. Everyones important, but the v. I. P. S are truly the seniors from the neighborhood and also all the children that come over for a treat. So hes been absolutely wonderful for the neighborhood. There are pictures of various people up inside the walls and since evidently all the roads lead to the buena vista, used to be our neighbors. So his photos up on the wall as well. I want to thank you for your support and thank you for the consideration. Vice president zouzounis thank you. Anybody else want to provide comments on their application before us . I see we have some spdc reps in the audience. Hi, lauren. Thank you. Welcome. Good afternoon, commissioners and ladies and gentlemen. I would like to speak on a few words on behalf of my client, the owner of halman palace. He is not a english speaker and so hes not comfortable coming up and speaking a few words, but i do want to Say Something for him. Ive known him more than three and a half years because when i got to know him his restaurant is located on van ness and Everybody Knows the construction there so he got into a lot of difficulties, but this man is really hardworking and during those timeses, his restaurants, Everybody Knows that all the businesses there have hard times. But he managed to work long hours, when theres not enough revenues from the restaurant, he worked two jobs basically. Early in the morning and to the end of the day. Day by day, day in and day out. And so he hads working so hard and he wants to keep the restaurants especially the legacy business that he has taken over from his last from his former boss which he worked for this restaurant for over i think yeah. I thought 20 years. But more than 22 years. Hes deserves to own this business and keep this legacy going for San Francisco. And thats how much i want to say on behalf of him. Thank you. Vice president zouzounis thank you. Does anybody else want to speak . Nows your time. Great. Hello everybody. My name is charles wong. First, i want to thank you rick and michelle. Thank you, commissioners, for, you know, making this happen, you know. Its a special place to be in San Francisco, ive got to tell you that. I must say i didnt feel as apart of the community until this process really happened. You know, being a Restaurant Owner, we go in there and do our work, we dont think about how much we mean to the community and recently in the past few months, it really made sense for us to continue this business to not give up and to stay as a century restaurant, you know, continue the generations forward. But, yeah, i just want to thank everyone and say how much this means to us. Our family that works in the restaurant, our friends that we developed throughout the years and we have employees that have been here for 20 years. 30 years actually. But i just wanted to say how important this was for us. Vice president zouzounis thank you. Welcome. Okay. Im the owner of halman palace. When i came to america 22 years ago, i started halman palace. So i worked with him since like 2000. So day by day, i started working as a dish washer in that restaurant. And i started from dish washer to kitchen helper, the shift chef was still there. He never tried to teach me, but i was learning to cook so i became a kitchen helper and then the chef and then i became the kitchen manager. I became the chef of the restaurant. [please stand by] refer me, like help me with the website and ideas to keep business running. These are when they offer me why i dont qualify. Im here today to see if he can help me keep the restaurant open. Thats the onlyhope that we continue to have. Thank you thank you. Good after commissioners, thank you for helping us out. Im speaking on behalf of far east cafi. Thank you for this opportunity. This business has been serving the Community Since 1920 opening itsdoors as a restaurant and is continuing to do so. Its a stable for our community and its important that as diverse as we are as a city that we need to appease not only the people here but the communities and businesses that represent us and this has represented chinatown for many years. It not only shares food but it became a steppingstone for many immigrants who come here to train them new skills, hopefully they move forward, move on and get better jobs. Thank you so much. Do we have anyone else sitting in the room or should we open up the call lines . Looks like we willopen up the call lines. Do we have any Public Comment or item number two . No Public Comment. Thank you everybody for your comments today and for being here. Do we have any commissioners wouldlike to say anything . Okay, commissioner ortizcartagena on a Small Business owner so i know what effort does takes being in the shop. I salute you and to the buddha lounge many times when i used to be a valet at north beach , i learned so much. I know about your business mister roth and that was great. Atlantic jewelers, i got my first cross as a kid and talking about community, they even helped me even though i wasnt getting a ring done when my mom passedaway they helped me size and work with the jeweler and no monetary gain buthelping the community. Everybody here, youre part of San Francisco. You make me proud to be a san franciscan so thank you all. Commissioner dickerson. I want to say i really appreciate this story. I think they are important to hear because we can hearthe heart of your business and what it has meant to San Francisco. The heart of San Francisco is Small Business and you all, i reallycelebrate you. I am also a Small Business owner here in San Franciscoand i was thinking my three years , ive had my struggles as well but i mean, my hat goes off to all of you. I dont want to mispronounce yourname, sir. Yes,you. But you were very articulate and please dont ever be bashful. We can hear your heart in what you were saying and i appreciate your story because i understand the process of what people go through when they dont feel like they have anything and all they know how to do his work hard and it just says a lot about the characteristics of you and everyone else in this room that has pressed through the most difficult challenges that we have faced as humans. I think everyone has faced challenges but ijust want to celebrate every single one of you and its an honor to sit before you hear the stories and i will be seeing all of you. Commissionerhuie. I wanted to congratulate all of you. Even though we havent made our motion yet but the stories and things youve done to make San Francisco the placethat it is is really incredible. And just noting down things and reminding myself of the things that come up for me i think our recently i went to buddha lounge before dinner and i had a drink and i was like, this place is packed with also to people from outside the neighborhood and within the neighborhood and it was a wonderful environment to be in during this time to see people having a joyful experience. Ireally appreciate that your doors are open and it really is a welcoming place for everybody. Thank you. When a vista is a place that i bring all my visitors from out of town and i can only have like maybe one and a half irish coffees. Something about it, but theyre so delicious so thank you so much for continuing to serve and being a place for us to bring ourfriends. I also wanted to note far east cafi is a pillar in our community. Its a place ive been too many times for many gatherings. Youve posted a lot of Community Organizations. Mostly like family gatherings. Those are important and im hoping we can see you know, that kind of come back. I miss being all 400 of my family. And for the retailers to, i had a Retail Business for about 10 years and retail is not an easy place to be. We were just talking briefly before about just what retail is now but its such an important part of our lives, really. Not just to get stuff but to be inspired and really be interested in things. I love that its a curioshop. We should be curious. I love shopping personally. I think Everybody Knows that here. But i go not just because i want to consume stuff. Like, things. But i want to be inspired about whats next or inspired about the people around me. I think walking through our retail experience, walking through a retail shop and purchasing something quite frankly is very important. I commend you for being here and you know, continuing to do what you do. I also pledge to come to all of your businesses. That was something i wanted to do especially prior to our last couple of years. I dontknow if we were allowed to go together. Well go on our own time. But you know, im excited to visit your business again. Thank you so much for beinghere and taking the time to share your stories with us. Commissioner. I wanted to thank you all for reaching this level to sit here for legacy status inSan Francisco. Im a city kid. Im very promom and pop shops. So ill always beon that side of the bench. Buena vista cafi is so iconic. I havent beento buddha lounge, i cant wait. All of you guys, i want to commend you for reaching this so thank you and i love the stories. Im also a Restaurant Owner and its so inspiring to learn about you guys, youve been in business longer that ive been on earth so i want toapplaud that. Director. I will keep everyone too long but i want to thank you for taking time out of your busy day. I dont want to say jobs, i know that its much more than a job to all of you. Its your likelihood and all you give back to the city so i want to congratulate you for making it through at 30w7, like dog years. Its not just one year at a time youre experiencing and i want to thank my staff for all their work in trying to curate all your wonderful stories so we can preserveyour legacy in San Francisco so congratulations. I want to say its an honor to chair this meeting. The legacybusiness registries are always some of our favorite parts of the Small Business commission meetings. Thank you for your patience. I was coming from my families business and it was a wind tunnel walking from soma but getting to city hall as a Small Business is a big deal to so we really appreciate you all packing the roomand sharing your comments with us. Congratulations on getting here and i just want to give a shout out also to elia. Ive got to represent the Corner Market so thank you for everybody in and the legacy that you contributed to the city and we hope to celebrate you for many years tocome. If theres no more comments then we will take a motion. Does anybody have amotion for this item . I make a motion to approve the resolution. For all 10. Moved by commissioner huie, seconded by commissioner dickerson. [roll call vote] motion passesunanimously, congratulations. [applause] congratulations. Thank you all for being here. If you want to hang out were going to talkabout the Meeting Minutes but otherwise you so much for being here. Okay, thank you. Are we giving these out right now . Okay. Are wetaking a break . Oh, youre going to go outside everybody followrick outside. Thank you. Okay. The next item not asinteresting. But we will call it. Item 3 approval of draft meetingminutes. This isan action item. Commissioners, anycomments or questions on our Meeting Minutes . Thank you. Seeing none, do we have any Public Comment on our Meeting Minutes . We do not. Anycolors on the line . There are no colors. Okay. Seeing none, do we have a motion . I move. Second. Second. Im just narrating. [laughter] lb the role. Commissioner carter. Commissioner dickerson. And Vice President zouzounis. [roll call vote] motion passes. Next item please. Item 4, general Public Comment. Id asked members to comment on items within thejurisdiction not on todays calendar. Does anybody want to, sorry. Anybody in the audience would like to make general Public Comment . Anybody on the line . Sfgov tv. Theres no publiccomment. I dont see any hands raise. Seeing none, public, disclosed. Next item please. Item 5, directorsreport. This is a presentation and discussion item. Good evening commissioners. It wont be asexciting either. Couple of updateson our end. We had a really great Merchants Walk in the mission. On april 13, thats to share information in person about the ada rent program we have just as a reminder from now to june 30 people can apply for a reimbursement for accessibility inspection for their storefront or either the entrance or the entire space. We did a Merchants Walk over the summer, our Commission Secretary has beenon all these and were going to do another one in fillmore thursday, april 28. I know youre all very busy. Then in terms of the rent Relief Program that the interest in Neighborhoods Division ran where letting you know the application period close forthat. It was a popular program. About 600 one applications were received with a request totaling 11. 4 billion interms of rents relief for Small Businesses but we only had about 2 million to get out. Last week about 160 businesses werenotified that they received. They were both eligible as well as were going to be selected to receive grants. A couple things they have to demonstrate first before receiving the Grant Funding but i want to note that we hundred 33 businesses have never received a grant from the city before they applied so that shows that were trying to reach businesses that have never received any sort of Grant Funding from oewd. In terms of Small Businesses impacted by fires, unfortunately there were some businesses in west portal as well as one on 24th street last week that were ready much devastated by a fire that had broken out. I wanted to let you know that staff have reached out to offer relief through the citys Disaster Relief funds to receive up to 10,000 after Something Like the fires theyveexperienced. Again, oewd has reached out to them. Workforce has also reached out to offer support such as unemployment information and of course our office will continue to engage as people need assistance with either permitting to help rebuild. Very sad to hear that about those businesses. And then just coming up at smallbusiness week next week , we have the board of supervisors are going to be commending in each district a Small Business tomorrow at their Board Meeting and thats one of the first event for Small Business week and we have a reception at cityhall 1 00 in room 278 so youre all welcome to come if youre able to. I think today we emailed out a list of all the smith Small Business activities happening through the week so if youre interested, please feel free to attend but we will be offering a couple of things like webinars and how to digitize your business aswell. Those are all updates on myend. Thank you thank you director. Do we have any commissioner questions before we begin . Did i skip . These are old, okay. I wanted to thank director and secretary. It was fun to do the walk in the mission. We were with other organizations guiding people who joined us and they were really thrilled to have our office out there and i think they made good relationships with the directorsso it was reallycool. It was cool seeing director in action to. I appreciate that and i love it so thank you folks, iappreciate it very much. Nobody else. Okay. Any members of the public have any comments on item number five are directors report . No members of the public here and noraised hands online. Public comment is closed. No more comments, next item please. Item 6commissioner comments and questions and new business, this is a discussion item. Anybody have any cool report backs . Okay. I have a couple things. Sorry. Thought those were the old ones. Commissioner ortizcartagena. You guys tricked me. Im the only male here. I guess. All right. How check my privilege next time. A lot of staff and stuff happening in the mission. As we anticipate the permitting from dpw, a lot of city agencies have been supporting communities such as quattro and establishing a program and being proactive so the mission has really taken an initiative and has been doing street outreach to the current vendors and giving them path on how to legitimize their street vending so one of the things either forming an llc or if youre going to stay a Sole Proprietor than getting them their Business Registration andagain in getting that a sellers permit which is free but its not as intuitive. So they had taken the initiative to do that so when the deployment of public works doesissue that permits it will be one more thing to add and be ready to go. American indiancultural district has also been doing a great job. Duplicating the efforts that weve done. And ive also director chang ive reached out for support to our office. Its just been cool to see city agencies and Community Organizations Work Together because for the most hardhit some people dont need street vending as a career path or theywant to open up brick and mortar, they just need extra bucks to makerent so its exciting to see the collaboration efforts. Commissioner. I just wanted to share a couple of things. I dont know how to make my microphone right now. I was able to speak with some of the merchants in the inner sunsetrecently , just had a small zoom meeting but they reached out to talk after we met one of the Merchants Walks and we basically just spoke about Member Engagement and they were able to give me just direct light, real questions. How do you engage members . How do you get more merchants involved in whats happening on the street . What is the value. . Some of these basic things and it made me feel like i am in between two right now. It reminded me that i think theres so much opportunity to really support our merchant corridors and merchant neighborhoods because theyre all generally volunteer run. Like, the vast majority of them are volunteer run and their bills off the extra hours but he might have after building their business. So its kind of like how much is that . You have this amount of timetable to go to then doing not only advocacy but marketing, like event marketing ofyour corridor or. Also making sure your members have resources in order to address things that might be coming up in terms of street permitting or other kinds of issues. Like, the laundry list of things that the Merchants Associations are tasked with i thinkcan be quite long. It alerted me that perhaps as a commission or as an office we tend to think about ways we can provide these resources notjust to the merchants themselves but to the Merchants Associations. Also to be able to help them disseminate some of those things. I was really fortunate that i got to run the clements Street Merchants Association and through that work it was like trial and error and all these kinds of things and figuring out what kind of works at least in that neighborhood and how that could perhaps translate into other avenues. So yes, im excited to see how an educational piece for that particular group could be beneficial. And theyre also doing many goodthings in their neighborhood. The other thing i wanted to speak about was i wanted to invite you all to Art Walk Program that were starting. Its called art walk sf. And the website is art walk sf. Com. Were launching the program on balboa in balboa village may 7 so its coming up and basically its like an Art Walk Program where several of us got together and really wanted to just revitalize neighborhoods through art. And kind of like the connection of art and commerce, art and business. So its all kind of being creative at the same time of us launching this. Its really exciting because it can shift depending where the neighborhoods, what the neighborhoods want. Its going to be the first saturday of every month and it rotates to a different neighborhood corridor or each month. So this month will be the castro i believe and after that will be divisive arrow. We have a few other neighborhoods lined up as well and our hope is that businesses will if they already have connections with artists they will reach out to their artists and give space for them to sho. If not we can help find people and help pair themwith people who would be a great fit for them. Well also have vendors in the front so sidewalk space. Some streets will have street closures and othersmaybe that do not have capacity for street closure may do something a little bit different. Its really kind of tailored towards the Merchants Association andhelping them build capacity. Our goal is not to build an Event Production business or anything. Its to help the Merchants Associations build capacity from where they are to build further events so like teaching them how to get a street permit. How to lineup or run a show for a day, how to pair up with artists and how those templates created so its an easy event and they can figure out where they cando this again for themselves. Thats starting may 7 with the end of Small Business week. I really appreciate all the people that we have working on it. So the last piece was i just wanted to thank everybody for talking about thesurvey also. Last meeting when i wasnt here. I appreciate that and thats still in the works and im excited. I think one of the keystone pieces will be thekind of interviews and getting some more of that type of information businesses. So stay tuned. I will provide more later but i also, yeah. After this i guess. Commissioner carter. I wanted to put it on the radar, sf blackwall street, we have a new cohort of black entrepreneurs that will be starting may 5. And i would love to work with director chang with the office of Small Business tosee what support we can offer them. Just see what we can do so i want to put that on your guys radar. A lot of them are already in business. Some of them are Street Vendors and things like that so were looking to legitimize their business and helpthem grow their business. And add to thefabric of San Francisco. Anybody else . Okay. I had two different items i wanted to bringup , possibly for new business or investigation into something we want to learn more aboutas a commission. The first one is i got wind of some of the corridor or merchants concerned about a change of use planning. Something on the consent calendar for the Planning Department related okay. Oh yes. We will end with a reminder that the Small Business commission official public forum is the official public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about policies that affect the Economic Vitality of Small Businesses in San Francisco and the office of Small Business is thebest place to get answers about doing business in San Francisco during alocal emergency and if you need assistance withSmall Business matters please continue to reachout to our very willing and able staff. Thank you and meeting adjourned. That was weak. [laughter] iq. Hi, sandy, how are you . Hi, fine, thank you. How are you . Good. I want to ask you what inspired you to be a paramedic . Thats a good question. You know, i wanted to go into med school and after i found out how much time it took and all of that, i decided that that was going to be a little too much schooling, but i still wanted to figure out a way that i could provide medical care and doing that as an emt as well as a paramedic was a way to do that. Can you give me a break down of a typical day for you . I come to work and sit at my desk and then i respond to emails and try to figure out what are some of the issues we need to address. Can we hire more people. What kinds of policies we want to try to create that will help us do our job as ems. What does it take to be a female paramedic . You know, it takes quite a bit of schooling, but also required somebody whos empathetic. It can be a very stressful job and so we want people to be able to hand that on a daytoday basis. So whats your greatest satisfaction in your job . Trying to make sure that the work that we provide and the services that we provide to the community is the best that we can in ems so that when we go out to see you if you call us for an emergency, that well be able to treat you in the best way possible and that you get the care as quickly and as effectively as possible. Why is it important for young girls, women of color to see women in these roles . I think it really is important for us to be able to get into these roles because we are effective, we are able to reach out to the community. We are able to do the job in a very effective manner and to be able to relate to the community and be able to do that is one of the best things that we can do. And people of color and as women of color, you know, we are in a great position to be able to do that. Shop and dine on the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of San Francisco by supporting local Services Within neighborhood. We help San Francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant. Where will you shop and dine in the 49 . San francisco owes the charm to the unique character of the neighborhood comer hall district. Each corridor has its own personality. Our neighborhoods are the engine of the city. You are putting money and support back to the community you live in and you are helping Small Businesses grow. It is more environmentally friendly. Shopping local is very important. I have had relationships with my local growers for 30 years. By shopping here and supporting us locally, you are also supporting the growers of the flowers, they are fresh and they have a price point that is not imported. It is really good for everybody. Shopping locally is crucial. Without that support, Small Business cant survive, and if we lose Small Business, that diversity goes away, and, you know, it would be a shame to see that become a thing of the past. It is important to dine and shop locally. It allows us to maintain traditions. It makes the neighborhood. I think San Francisco should shop local as much as they can. The retail marketplace is changes. We are trying to have people on the floor who can talk to you and help you with products you are interested in buying, and help you with exploration to try things you have never had before. The fish business, you think it is a piece of fish and fisherman. There are a lot of people working in the fish business, between wholesalers and fishermen and bait and tackle. At the retail end, we about a lot of people and it is good for everybody. Shopping and dining locally is so important to the community because it brings a tighter fabric to the community and allows the Business Owners to thrive in the community. We see more Small Businesses going away. We need to shop locally to keep the Small Business alive in San Francisco. Shop and dine in the 49 is a cool initiative. You can see the banners in the streets around town. It is great. Anything that can showcase and legitimize Small Businesses is a wonderful thing. In 201,755. 7 million passengers traveled through San Francisco international airport. We have on average 150,000 people traveling through the airport every day. Flying can be stressful so we have introduced therapy dogs to make flying more enjoyable. The wag brigade is a partnership between the airport and the San Francisco therapy Animal Assistant Program to bring therapy animals into the airport, into the terminals to make passenger travel more enjoyable. I amgen fer casarian and i work here at San Francisco international airport. The idea for therapy dogs got started the day after 9 11. An employee brought his therapy dog to work after 9 11 and he was able to see how his dog was able to relieve passengers jitter. When we first launched the program back in 2013, our main goal was to destress our passengers however what we quickly found is that our animals were helping us find a way to connect with our pang. Passengers. We find there are a lot of people traveling through the airport who are missing their pets and who are on their road a lot and cant have pets and we have come in contact with a lot of people recently who have lost pet. I love the wag brigade. One of my favorite parts is walking into the terminals and seeing everybody look up from their device, today everybody is interacting on their cell phone or laptop and we can walk into the terminal with a dog or a pig and people start to interact with each other again and its on a different level. More of an emotional level. I just got off an 11. 5 hour flight and nice to have this distraction in the middle of it. We look for wag brigade handlers who are comfortable in stressful situations. I like coming to airport its a lot of fun and the people you talk to are generally people who are missing their dogs. They are required to compete a certification process. And they are also required to complete a k9 good citizen test and we look for animals who have experienced working with other organizations such as hospitals and pediatric units and we want to be sure that the animals we are bringing into the airport are good with children and also good with some of our senior travelers. I think toby really likes meeting kids. That is his favorite thing. He likes to have them pet him and come up to him and he really loves the kids. Our wag brigade animals can be spotted wearing custom vets and they have custom patches. There is never a day that repeats itself and there is never and encounter that repeats itself. We get to do maximum good in a small stretch of time and i have met amazing people who have been thrilled to have the interaction. The dogs are here seven days a week, we have 20 dogs and they each come for a two hour shift. There is a lot of stress when people have traveling so to from these animals around to ease the stress and help people relax a little bit. I think its great. One of our dogs has special need and that is tristine. He wears a wheel around. He has special shoes and a harness and we get it together in the parking lot and then we get on the air train. He loves it. Little kids love him because he is a little lower to the ground so easy to reach and he has this big furry head they get to pet and he loves that. He doesnt seem to mind at all. Probably one of the happiest dogs in the world. Many people are nervous when they travel but seeing the dogs is just a wonderful relief. What i absolutely love most about it is the look on peoples faces, so whenever they are stressed and flying is stressful these days you get these wonderful smile. I am the mom of lilo the pig and she is San Franciscos first therapy pig. Lilo joined the wag brigade as our first pig. Wag brigade invited us to join the program here and we have done it about a yearandahalf ago. Our visits last 1. 5 to 2 hours and it does take a little bit longer to get out of the terminal because we still get a lot of attention and a lot of people that want to interact with lilo. I feel honored to be part of the wag brigade. Its very special to meet so many people and make so many feel happy and people that work here. Its been a great experience for me and a great experience for to toby. Its been an extremely successful program, so the next time you are here, stop by and say hi. This committee will convene remotely until the committee is able to meet in person. Public comments available on each agenda item and each speaker will be allowed two minutes to speak. 4156550001 and access code 24969762816 and pound and pound again when connected, youll hear the meeting discussion but youll be muted and listening mode only. When your item of interest comes up, dial star three to be added to the speaker line. Call from a quiet location and speak clearly and slow sxlee turn town your television or are radio. Submit your comment and is it will be forwarded to the committee and a part of the files and this meeting is recorded and available at sfgov tv dot org. Thank you so much secretary hom. Welcome to our city our hour oversight committee. Roll call