welcome to the small business commission meeting on may 22nd 2023. the meeting is being called to order at 4 30. pm this meeting is being held in person in city hall room. 400 broadcast live on tv and available to view online or listen to by calling for 156550. the small business commission thanks media services and sf gov t v for televising the meeting, which can be viewed on sfp t v two r livestreamed at hgtv dot org. we welcome the public's participation during public comment periods. there will be an opportunity for

general public comment at the end of the meeting, and there will be an opportunity to comment on each discussion or action item on the agenda. for each item. the commission will take public comment first from people attending the meeting in person, then from people attending the meeting remotely. members of the public who will be calling in the numbers. 4156550. the access code is 2609605. 9462 followed by 7 to 12 to 172 to 1. press pound and then pound again to be added to the line. when connected, you will be muted and in listening mode only when your item of interest comes up dial star three to be added to the speaker line. if you dial star three before public comment is called, you'll be added to the queue. when it's your time to speak, you'll be prompted to do so public comment during the meeting is limited to three minutes per speaker. an alarm will sound once the time has finished. speakers are requested

, but not required to state their names of tv. please show the office of small business slide. today we will begin with a reminder that small business commission is official public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about policies that affect the economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco. before item one is called. i'd like to start by thanking media services and sf tv for coordinating this virtual hearing and helping to run the meeting. please call item one. item one roll call commissioner carter. here commissioner dickerson is absent. commissioner gregory here. commissioner herbert here. president huey here. commissioner tease cartagena here. vice president, says eunice president, you have a quorum? thank you present the san francisco small business commission and office of small business staff acknowledges that

we are on the unseated ancestral homeland of the rahmatullah aloni, who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula as indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the repetition aloni have never seated, lost or forgotten their responsibilities as a 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 raw materials aloni community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. please call item two. item to san francisco metropolitan transportation authority presentation. this is a discussion item the commission will learn about and discuss sfm tias new extended meter hours policy plans for outreach etcetera presenting today we have ted graph with sfm ta thank you very much for coming today,

ted. thank you. i'm joined today with the by andrew buffer with our chief of staff office. my name is ted graph from the director of parking operations and management for the sfm to a , uh, we're here today to talk about a project to monitor modernized francisco's parking meter hours. this project, which the smd a board directed staff to pursue an approved the agency's budget back in april of 2020. the pandemic pandemic intervene, but our board urged us to bring this project back today because there's an urgent need for the sfm data generate revenue, which this proposed project would do. before i get into presentation. i want to let you know that i hear you. supporting san francisco's businesses and the city's economic recovery is top priority for us. we would not have proposed extended parking meters if we did not believe it would be good for san francisco businesses. we also support president peskin resolution and economic analysis is a good idea. and we've heard your concerns. we know you have

concerned about parking for your employees. we know you're concerned about the rollout plan. but we'd like to ask you to also hear our rationale for modernizing the parking meter hours which are going well which we're going to briefly allowed in this presentation today. extending parking meters. ours is difficult. people don't like to have to pay for something they used to get for free. they also there are also a lot of misconceptions about how this changes going to impact our city, and not many people know about the benefits of extending the meter hours. we're going to cover this information. the presentation today. still, there will be a lot of objections as policy change and extended meter . ours is exactly the kind of decision the architects of the smmt were thinking about when they made sure we had an independent board of directors. modernizing parking meter hours by extending them to evenings and on sundays makes good policy sense. media hours should reflect the business hours and they are the best tool. we have to encourage turnover and create

parking availability. parking meter hours in san francisco, have remained largely largely unchanged since the 19 fifties, when stores were closed in the evenings in on sundays, a lot has changed in san francisco. parking meter meters are operating. it makes finding parking space easier. easier parking means less circling, less congestion, less air pollution. extended parking meter hours raises funds that are needed to support money. public transit is an essential to a vibrant and functioning city. unions facing a large budget deficit. as they're all being area transit agencies were facing $130 million deficit in fiscal your 2025. that's the monetary equivalent of more than 20 immunity lines. without additional revenue, meaning service will have to be skilled back, which is the opposite of what san francisco needs for his economic recovery cuts like this would be devastating to the nearly 400,000 people who rely on money every day. 50 57% of writers or people of color 70%

of riders make less than $50,000 a year. s 50 is pursuing other sources of funding, such as gap funding from the state were also limiting our hiring two priority and operational positions. revenue from extended parking meters hours can partially help fill this gap. a major misconception is that extending parking our meters were hurt will hurt local businesses. in fact, this policy helps local businesses. demand for demand for on street parking is highest in the evenings on sunday, when parking meters are currently free. which results in parking occupancies that are often higher than 100% because of double parking. providing a monetary q to pay the meter encourages stall turnover, which makes parking spaces more available, so it's easier for customers and employees to find parking. these customers and employees will spend less time circling and looking for parking. everyone in san francisco can think of a neighborhood where they can't find parking in the evening. this policy will change that,

and people return to neighborhoods once what they once avoided. president peskin proposal moves ahead and we hope it does. we'll have an analysis of the economic impact of this policy, which will be helpful for everyone. there are already some studies of the impact extent of extended parking meters in san francisco and seattle. san francisco stays done before and during the time we had sunday meters in 2013 showed that extended parking meters made parking spaces more available and we reduced time for drivers spent drivers spent circling for parking. in seattle parking meters were extended in the evening in 2011 sightline institute studied the impact on these businesses. they found that after paid parking hours were extended in seattle. gross revenues for restaurants went up by 5.4. extended parking meters also benefit people who get around on many walking or rolling. these folks also our business customers. modernizing parking meters will improve beauty, speed and reliability

because of less congestion and less double parking. for pedestrians, people ride bikes, scooters, wheelchair users extended parking meter hours increase the street safety. it reduces public double parking circling, which all present hazards to road uses. it reduces the amount of distracted driving , which can result in car crashes, and it will provide funding meaning so funding for municipal service doesn't have to be cut. extended parking media hours. san francisco will be joined numerous cities in california, other states that have already had extended hours. this slide shows a partial list. san francisco already has evening meters in fisherman's wharf, the embarcadero, south beach, south beach, mission bay and on 18th street in potrero hill. this slide describes our proposed plan. we plan to extend meters into the evenings on mondays through saturdays. previous media hours were 9 to 6 . the new hours would be 9 to 10 p.m. this would align with the hours of restaurants, bars and

other businesses, which stay open past six pm we are also proposing to operate meters on sunday. sunday hours will begin later in the day to align with demand. the sunday meters would run from noon till six pm there would be no time restrictions during the new meter hours, so no one part of the meter would have to, um, leave to pay the meter leave a church service, a work shift or a restaurant dinner to feed the meter. demand responsive pricing are data driven method for changing rates , based on actual parking demand will continue. at the outset of the program, even media rates would start at the same 4 to 6 p.m. rates and sunday rates would be the same as a saturday rates implementation be done in phases, starting as early as july 23 and continuing through december of 2024. we have four kids forecasted this policy would generate an additional $18.5 million in gross revenue to fund money. we're proposing to extend meters in phases beginning as as early as july this year and continuing through

december of 2024. this slide shows the neighborhoods that will be affected by the first two phases of project project. these neighborhoods were extended or these were extended hours were rolled out in the fisherman's wharf and dogpatch area first. the reason these neighborhoods were going to be first is because they are already accustomed to extend a meter hours meters and fishermen warfare operates seven days a week from seven am to seven pm meters and dogpatch operate in evenings or on sundays whenever there's an event at chase center. additionally we're in the process of replacing and upgrading every parking meter in the city. the phasing in of extended meter hours falls behind the installation of these new meters. which will have bigger, brighter and easier to use screens. they also operate in english, spanish chinese and are more resistant to vandalism. to take into account historic inequities in san francisco implementation will come to lower income neighborhoods whose residents are predominantly people of color last not because it will hurt businesses and his neighborhoods, but because it will require adjustment, both for businesses and community members. the following three

phases of rollout will continue until spring of 2024. in the final phase of rollout would be implemented in the second half of 2024. we began outreach about extended meter hours in the spring of 21 are birds are board first approved the policy. at the time was about 20 merchant associations in the city. we know that was a long time ago. now we're initiating another phase of outreach to educate community members about the need for this policy. our outreach and education efforts will include meetings with merchant groups, neighborhood groups prior to implementation. a public education campaign with outreach to media in multiple languages. updates to the smb website blog posts on street signage, such as the graphic shown on this slide. social media outreach and paid buys on instagram, twitter, facebook and tiktok. we will also not issue parking tickets on day one. enforcement officer will be leaving notices for at least the first few weeks. we understand

the phasing may be adjusted as we go through this outreach process, and the initial implementation may be somewhat delayed as we allow the city to conduct an economic analysis of the program. i really appreciate you listening. i know this is a difficult topic. i look forward to hearing any comments, questions or ways we can roll this out in a smooth way. thank you. thank you very much, ted. commissioners any comments or questions? commissioner ortiz cartagena. thank you, mr graf for the presentation. um i have a series of questions so bear with me and i appreciate you in advance. i know this must not be easy, but thank you. um just initially, especially coming from the mission and our historical noncommunicative ways with s f m t. a hmm. where was this idea of birth? who birthed it and what was like the equity

matrix as you guys devised this plan. so originally in early 2020. this plan was discussed as a way to, um as i mentioned, reduced, circling, reduced gene , the pollutions in the air and to create availability on the curb parking meters are our best tool to do that, but but who? who like it was a you your team who actually birthed it? what was the community outreach during this process of the conception of this idea? sure well, the parking meters originally were rolled out in the city in 19. 50 the hours. the businesses have changed since that time, so staff um yeah, reviewed the city and said right, sizing those hours to actually conduct the meter hours during the time of operation of the businesses would be a good way to actually help. adrenaline. one staff. i thought it would be great. was there outreach. what was the equity

matrix like? staff came up, said this is a good idea. what was the outreach to communities? small business? what was the equity? you know, especially with the city having the equity , you know, charter. how did that filter in the decision right this time. this was in 2019. i believe, um, and when we brought it forth to our board ah , um they thought it was a good idea to pursue at the time we were considering it as a pilot rollout to see how it impact communities. um times have changed. we're now coming out of a pandemic. um our board is strongly urging sfm ta to identify ways in which we can identify funding and this is one of those ways to identify the funding, so the plan was pre pandemic. we asked correct. second question. um. what other either cost cutting measures or revenue generating measures. how's the sfm? ta curbside off street parking viewed study

analyzed. in addition to this yeah, we were looking at a lot of different options. this is our first one that we're bringing forth we are going to be reviewing and policy discussions to bring to our board to consider. okay, um correct me. i'm sorry if i might be mistaken speaking here. did not. the meters recently go. through an rfp, and they're outsourced now to the private sector. no no, we just we took an rfp to procure new meters. so we're replacing all the hardware in the city right now, um, we're still in house. someone else? yes. and then lastly, um, what's the annual budget for curbside off street parking? as far as the revenues produced from parking um, off street right now is around. i'd have to. i'd have to double check my notes, but it's around 58 million gross. uh on street meters, i think projected to do around 52 million gross. um yeah. so this

if i saw the presentation greek , so this will bring $18 million in additional growth to the website of meter parking side. it would it would bring in $18.5 million additional revenue to the agency to fund munich. correct what would be is that net new, meaning that's their positive after the additional payroll hours, etcetera, or is that gross gross? gross gross. the actual net profit? yeah, we're anticipating to be around 12 point 5,000,013 0.5 million. i'm sorry. after expenses of hiring new pcos, for example, new equipment um ah, i maintain those meters later in the day, paying fees for maintaining to run the meters. transactional fees things of that nature. thank you, mr graff. thank you. commissioner carter. thanks for the presentation. i think. i'm a

little disappointed that this is a discussion item and all the action item. um i think the small business community should have had a staying in this before it sounds like it's already set. um i don't like the idea of this coming and squeezing are already um the small business community and services co. has already suffering a lot, not just small business, but big business, too. so i am not in favor of this at all. i'm also my restaurant is on golden gate and i see meters . um when people sitting in cars, you know, maybe they suffer from substance abuse or whatever the issue is, and i see your to guys drive right past i see it every day. so this is an issue with, um you know what the what? the meters. it doesn't seem like you guys. i mean, i don't know what's going on with that. so i definitely have my concerns, and i don't like the idea of extending the hours for already. um community that's

already suffering here in san francisco. so i would like to you guys to think of other ways to find money for your for your budget. commissioner gregory. yes. thanks for your presentation. i also have concerns so i didn't know if you answered the question before you decide to implement this. what was your outreach to the small businesses and the merchants associations? i heard that before you roll it out. you're going to talk to them. but before you guys came up with this what was your outreach to the small businesses there was there was light outreach. we pre pandemic there was around 20 businesses in merchant groups that were reached out to and your response from them. sorry i just wanted to add to that this is the interview buffer, so there were 20 merchant

organizations that we did presentations to and there were 27 groups that we reached out to send information. asked if they wanted to presentation and their feedback was. did did you find small businesses and support of this? not in support of this like it was mixed. it was mixed . um once we had conversations with the small businesses and were able to discuss some of the some of the realizations we found with curb availability, the opportunity for sales receipts to possibly increase when there is additional parking available and the fact that we're not taking away what we heard a lot was where of our employees going to park? and when we explain we're not taking away parking, we're actually going to be introducing a nominal fee will actually probably find additional availability rather than less availability. in addition, there's about 26,000 parking meters in the city. there's around 900,000 parking spaces in the city. this is around. i think it's around 5% 6 5.5 6% of

the total parking availability in the city. and so it's relatively, um, a small amount of parking that we're actually talking about. and if you get off the commercial corridors into the side streets, there are generally free parking, um albeit time limited parking, generally, rpp and things like that. but after a certain time that enforcement does cut out so if people didn't want to find either. free or discounted parking, they could go around the corner. or they could also utilize. um uh, different parking lots and things in the neighborhood. though i'm sorry. so you were saying that you gave the presentation of what was going to happen, but did you ask them? what? what they would like to see in their community. did you ask them like? is this something they wanted? is this something they don't want? i just don't see like now you have a waitress. who has to now pay

to go to work at in the evening to me, i just don't see how that's gonna work out for somebody like they get. they get to find parking, as we all know that we've been in several restaurants in the evening. whether it's extended hours or not. it's hard to park and almost anywhere in san francisco, so i just i'm not too sure how this is, um going to benefit small businesses. but just like commissioner carter said, yeah, it would probably be better to open it to the public to see or in the small business commission and offices. small business to see. would this is this benefiting small businesses? thank you. commissioner carter. yeah i also just add that this doesn't seem like it's making it friendlier to do business and want to support business in san francisco at all. commissioner herbert. first of all, thank you

for your presentation, and, um it's definitely a hot topic, so i don't envy your position. um i was i own restaurants and itunes concerned about my workforce having to plug the meter. um, it's really the two hour parking is really challenging. um and so the meters seem like they might be more challenging. um did you say there was a time limit on them or there is no time limit or because of the feedback we've heard doing our outreach, we would not have time limits. so what does that look like? what is not having time minute so, for example, from 6 to 10 p.m. as opposed to having a two hour time limit, so if someone paid the meter at six and have to move their car at eight, there would be no time limits. they could pay for the entire four hours, either by phone so they wouldn't have to leave their shift or the restaurant that

they're out of the movie they were seeing. they could go out and actually physically pay a meter. or they could repay all beforehand if they knew that they're going to be there for a longer period of time. and did you do a study about who uses the parking meters most or anything like that, uh, i'm not sure. well i think anybody visiting the business quarters are the folks that are typically using those meters. um during metered our times after hours. we're finding a high percentage of people that are parking in those meters are typically people that live in the area or people that work in the business is sometimes as well. they might pay for that last hour of parking and then leave their vehicle in that spot. and so those vehicles are parked and not available for customers or guests of the businesses to actually come in in park. okay it just to me. it just seems like the timing is off. i know. sfm tia is really eager to fill the gap financially. and at the

same time, this is kind of falling on the backs of small business in my opinion. um, and so it would be great if there was just something else that could supplement. the sfm ta budget. um or if it could be delayed. i just while we're getting past this last. hopefully this last wisp of, you know financial challenges that everyone's facing. and we're also trying to attract more people to the city. so this is just one more thing for people to san francisco now that they did you know, there are parking meters ago till 11. you know, i'm just i understand the need and i wish there was another solution. so you know, i wish i had a million dollars to so thank you for your presentation. thank you. commissioner ortiz cartagena. director. graph. um

on average, and you don't have to say exactly but what's the lowest cost per meter per hour? you would say your study? your dad is halves on curbside here in the city. it's 50 cents an hour, so that's that's the lowest average floor. okay, what would you say is the average i should know that after matt, it's round 2 40. i think an hour to 50. so for these additional four hours, that's $10. so somebody, usually in the restaurant business that gets paid minimum wage half of one hour now goes to parking. that's one to me. i'm from the mission 20/4 street. i go to theo. kilos i go eat now i have to reduce whether do we buy beers there or not? because that's $10. or i used to go shopping to misquote where i buy indigenous wears in that and maybe i don't spend those $10 and then lastly, around out the night where i go to dona carmen's legacy business handles coffee. so one of those three items i have to not spend

at my local small businesses, so that's extraction right there and again to follow up in one of the initial questions, i asked this is your first idea. pre pandemic idea that your staff devised what other ideas because it's really only $12 million, right? for the budgets. it's percentage wise is not as huge as impact as it is to like a cultural district because i probably can't go there. i could go to south city now. and how that same effect because $10 is a lot. it's a lot right now. you know, we're we're in one of the greatest downturns, especially for people of color, like i don't gotta like that. you know other people might what are other initiatives either to reduce costs or to generate revenue. like you said, you had some ideas. what are some of those potential ideas? i think we'd be happy to bring back some of those and discuss them with you at a at a later time. but we it is absolutely something we're pressing for. the other trade

off that we are considering having to do is cut meeting lines, which serve this city. um and currently facing the deficit. we would have to start cutting those media lines if we cannot find additional sources of revenue. um by this summer at attuned to 12 month, one community line per month. up to? i think it's i believe it's 20 million lines that we have to consider. consider cutting um, so there's absolutely trade offs. have we explored maybe cutting executive salaries and the management level in house as opposed to actual uni drivers and money lines. absolutely we are looking and we have. as i mentioned the presentation. prioritize those operating positions, um, and essential positions as well. thank you, director gref. and i appreciate you because i know it's hard like you know, we're advocating for our small business. i understand you. you don't have a job, necessarily. at the moment, that's you know. the biggest

fans in the city. but appreciate you anyways. thank you. president zuma's. thank you appreciate you, um, coming before us today, and, um thank you, um, tourists staff director for putting this on our agenda. i wanted to just kind of start by hoping you could give us a snapshot of, um. um younis kind of standard operating deficit or standard, you know, like baseline deficit that it operates on so that we know, um what makes this an extreme circumstance as where we're at? yeah i wouldn't be the best person to speak to that. i'm not sure if andrea could provide or that something would have to come back. to you with. i can tell you what i projected deficit is. it's 100 and 30 million in fiscal year 2024 25.

um i believe that our budget is supposed to be balanced. um we're revenue generating agencies so we typically wouldn't have any deficit. um, of course during the pandemic. that that whole has been filled by federal government bans and they're about to run out, which is why transit agencies throughout the bay area and california are facing such a difficult situation. okay. thank you. i guess i asked this question to help us frame i think this is the perfect example. that helps us. um imagine what the role of the government is and really help. the citizens understand the. brown drees and provision of that of that role. um historically, i see public transit as a public service. which is in my mind not supposed to be revenue generating. it's supposed to give its part of the public agreement for our tax

money. we get these staple this infrastructure and that is kind of historically, my understanding of the role of the government and public utilities , um, such as transit. so the fact that we're dealing with a revenue generating agency. let's start there. small businesses, i think are tired of being told that it's our responsibility to run this city. um i think it's time that we question what is the city's role and what is our role, and let's be clear about that differentiation. i think it's unfair that this is framed as small businesses pinned against. working communities like drivers. and low income riders. we should not be told that it's us or them that is very short sighted and inappropriate way of framing this in my opinion, um, because we are all the working

communities of the city and we are intertwined, and it shouldn't be the small businesses and small business workers responsibility to provide a revenue generating public transit agency. um. i think with that being said um. if this is the system were working within and we need to make compromises across the board. um. i believe that very fair compromise would be implementing a similar permit system that residents and residential districts have, um, to allow them. street parking allowances. we should be. this has been brought up. every time we have a m t a presentation. it's been crowd sourced from small business listening certain. you know, sessions, um you know, city owned parking garages and union square where there's not a lot of other parking. why can't we make some

kind of worker permit for business for small businesses there, same thing with with street parking meters. i think this would be an idea that should be taken seriously since it's been brought up year after year. um. and yes, specifically areas like fisherman's wharf i know has been in the media about how they're um, there's not a lot of you know, visitors and so particularly, i would love to hear from that merchant association. um, i know it's probably one of our more old school ones, so we probably need to do the work as merchant groups and making sure that that um, feedback from that association is reflective of all the demographic of businesses working there, but, um fisherman's wharf. i'm a little scared for because of given the already low torres. great over there. um. and yeah, that that's kind of where i wanted to just frame things is small businesses

contribute monetarily a lot more than we can measure because of how of our our budget is skewed with our enterprise. and um you know, big business numbers. we often can't kind of hone in on what our fiscal contribution is, but i think it's sorely framed. that it should be, um, our responsibility to pay for a public service. thank you. yeah i just wanted to let you know we're meeting with the fisherman's wharf community benefit district tomorrow. ah um i hope i didn't imply that we are generating revenue to make a profit. it's just to cover the expenses of providing the services and the transit fares or the thing that used to provide a lot of that revenue, and that's not happening right now. um really appreciate the idea. that you put out and i think again. we want to reiterate we are hearing loud and clear that the issue of

parking for employees um, is something that we all need to work on together and come up with some ideas for how to address that. commissioner herbert. um, wondering, is there an opportunity to pursue additional federal funding? yes yeah, yes, again. i wouldn't be the best to speak to that. however i know our director is desperately seeking additional opportunities for funding both federal and state. thank you. commissioner gregory. so i'm sorry. you said you're reaching out to fisherman's wharf. uh, um , association tomorrow. there's a meeting scheduled tomorrow. okay so and you said you're going to reach out to other merchants associations before you roll this out. so if you get feedback that this is not what they want, and this is not going to work for them or their

employees. are you guys open to changing things. or is this set and no matter what they say, you guys are rolling it out anyway. right well, we have an implementation plan that is phased in over six phases. um we are going to support super supervisor president deschenes economic report so we are going to be rooted at obviously, if it's going to be impactful to small businesses in a negative way, it's something i'm sure we would we re looking at and reconsidering. so if i could strongly suggests something, and this is just not for this city department, it's a lot of city departments throughout the city of san francisco before you guys start to roll out changes that are really going to affect small businesses. you might want to reach out to those small business leaders and those certain communities and ask them. what what is the feedback for all of this? thank you. thank you. um i have several

comments. um and perhaps their questions as well. um. you know what i'm hearing? obviously is that you know you've heard that employees need parking. um that's one major concern for our small business community. my concern is, um, that there are probably several other concerns . i think that we've all brought up. how do you weigh your, um you know your stakeholders. because this was a pre pandemic. you know, um. priority at that point, and now we're bringing it back without real regard to the economic landscape. i mean, i think what we experience as residents is that everything in san francisco affects everything else where one ecosystem right same as the whole bay area, so

for you to recover your revenues, that's fantastic. but we haven't no you know, like what impact on small businesses . is that going to look like and what is san francisco going to look like? so i mean, i guess. going back to my question. we can help gather input as we have , we can get our community together and say this is what we perceive as as a situation. but you know what i've gathered so far from your presentation is that you perceive those as unfounded fears. so i'm wondering at what you know? where is the prioritization of the small business voice? i can tell you, um, that our board is directed us to roll up this policy. um and 2020. they

approved the policy to roll this out. in pilots in certain areas. um they re asserted the fact that we need to right size or budget and they have directed us to roll this program out. in the phase that it's been brought. bad shown. hmm. now i imagine as we do this outreach and it was we're hearing from you. we are going to reanalyze and bring back to our board considerations outweigh employee parking is absolutely something we're hearing loud and clear. we're hearing concerns that this is a subsidy for small businesses. we're hearing that loud and clear. i'm hearing that there may be concessions made by customers going. if i'm going to spend money here, then i'm not going to have it to spend at the small business. so i'm here and we're hearing that. so this is all feedback we are going to be taking in. i appreciate that. um another small question is what is the demographic of the people who are making decisions? that s f m t a. in terms of your entire

department. what is that demographic look like, are they san franciscans? i wouldn't be the right person to answer that. i don't think i mean, i think we'd have to get back to you on the composition of our executive team. or just all of the people like who work in sfm ta. i'm just curious. yeah i think that would be. you know, i had the opportunity to, um help coordinate a meeting and chinatown with some, um planners as well as other people from sfm ta, and it was fantastic to show them the neighborhood and for them to be able to see the street not from an outreach level, but from a real like these are the businesses that are on our street. and i would just i think when you have the experience of being on our on our streets and meeting the people who are actually in the neighborhood. the humanization of the work that you do on paper. i think changes

perspective, more more impactful e than any other. thing that you could possibly do, and so i'm my curiosity is how many people who are making decisions on paper actually have experienced the community. the life the activities that activations that were planning how many of those people actually have seen that and we'll be able to understand the nuance that like their decisions will effectively. impact yeah, i can't tell you what the percentages. um and i'm not a decision maker. but i live in san francisco and many of us who who worked at sfm ta do live in san francisco and feel really lucky to live here and we have an outreach team that's constantly going out to neighborhoods and meeting with people and communicating with people. um and commissioner ortiz was talking about the mission. um we, you know, i'll just speak for myself. i go to

the mission all the time. um and i, um i also like other san franciscans can think of neighborhoods were like there's a restaurant. i really love and i want to go there for dinner. and if i'm thinking about driving, i'm like, nah. um because it's super hard to find parking in that neighborhood. so you know, since i take public transit to i'm like i'll hop on uni. um, but, you know, all of this feedback and all the feedback of the people in the public comments. um, it's all going to inform what comes next . and i mean, i think you know that we know these are really hard decisions. um and the city is in a very difficult, difficult situation right now. i understand. um another question i have is, you know, i know that through conversations. i'll let you finish. no, that's okay. um in conversations with sfc, t a,

um my understanding is that there are climate goals, right? i mean, i think we all know that we have climate goals to reach a certain level of, um alternative transportation transit, um meaning not car, tram transport. um. with those goals in mind. i'm wondering like, okay, so now we're switching kind of priorities to bicycling, perhaps as well as like, you know, i mean, walking and other types of things, but i haven't really seen the same level of like interest in like permitting. bicycling like bicycle, parking or bicycle, you know, kind of like lanes or things like that. like those have not been, um have not been. something that we have attached fees, too, and my curiosity is kind of like well,

now that we're shifting that balance, you're going to have less and less drivers on the road who are going to be paying more and more for the driving. it essentially is like a punishment, right like a fine in a way, and i feel like that's oftentimes away that city hall kind of looks at, um ah, how we promote better behavior or changed behavior is through this act of like gatekeeping and fee making. i mean, that has been our experience a small businesses. if you look at the number of fees that we have to pay for things, it is out. it is like astounding what you could possibly pay a fee for in the city. so i'm wondering at what point does that shift began? where perhaps we lay off a little bit on the drivers because we know that eventually we're going to be taking them all off the road. but or, you know 80% of them. let's say and

then and then we start to even out the balance of like what you're allowed to. what you're allowed. how you're allowed to move around in the city. is that . is that part of a plan like i don't know. i follow. i follow what you're saying, um again. i wouldn't be the right person to speak to that. but we could bring you better send you something back or bring something back to you about that. um let's see. so the other thing is, i think. really that some of the questions have not. banana surged right because i know you all work in different departments and you're not the right person to speak on these things. what are the mechanisms in the future because we're finding out now at this point that, um that everybody would

have liked to been part of the feedback process prior to a decision being made, and i know that you have multiple kind of things. you know, set up to help with the remainder of the deficit. um what are the mechanisms that we are small business owners and then different residents, groups and different like all different stakeholders can actually give feedback prior to decisions being made. yeah i think that's something that again andrew being with the agency now and our community p ios that are out there. we can do a better job. more engagement. more outreach. i think that's something we're constantly trying to improve upon. and i and i hear you. i did want to, um, correct something that just that we had spoken about earlier. the staff doesn't make policy. we take the policy to our board and our board. creates the policy. um so i just wanted to correct that, and in our board is all san

francisco. natives barber president live here, so i just wanted to correct that. statement i think we made earlier. thank you very much that topple for us, i think, um , in terms of like your policy recommendations, um do you show them? the full slate of everything that you're working on. and then they kind of like how do you shape what you're going to show the board? like, what does the landscape look for them as they're making these decisions? yeah, typically, we have, um in reach into our organization, but we also do some outreach generally, sometimes on depending on the policy. what we're doing, um, prior to taking items to our board. we have a poet plan that we use that we do engagement, public outreach and engagement, um, to inform the policy and then we have open discussions similar to here where the policy is, actually, um, voted on and in light of the questions that

you've heard tonight, and the ones that you know, have been uh , not appropriate for you to answer. who would you recommend would be the best person for us to speak to next, given the concerns that we have about sfm ta and our relationship is small business owners with transit. transit in general. you're yeah , i think i think you're talking to two great conduits here that can get information for you. but as we go forward and forge relationship and work more with engagement with you all i think we should probably do better at assigning someone to actually before we engaged with that. and andrea. in other words, one of us can be a point of contact between you and the executive director of the agency, the board members um so we're happy to do that. okay so some of these follow ups like we will.

yeah. continue that conversation. does any other commissioner? uh oh. since this was a pre pandemic with the mayor's plan, and in all of our concerns about the downtown quarter. how does this factoring like the occupation? the activation of downtown? all those class a assets that are recent, and we just had a building that prior in 2019 was valued or up for sale for 2 50. it's an escort 60. we're working under the mayor's initiative, another capacities to activate the downtown quarter. is charging meter till 10 pm is that part of the plan? is it is it in unison with that overall strategy here in the city. i mean, we fully support the economic recovery of downtown and actually munich services totally critical to that. and i think the mayor's office you

know well. i'm sure comment on you know how they feel about how this interacts with the downtime recovery plan, but we would never have proposed this if we thought it was going to be harmful to the economic power of san francisco, where to small businesses, but it seems more important than ever that this economic analysis is going to be done. you know, so that everybody can take a look at that. not just like, you know, take our word for it. um i just have one more question before i, um pass. pass it on to director tang. but um, you know, i also noticed that when i was, um when i've been in chinatown that we have the electronic parking meters where or i know, i mean, they're all electronic, i guess you know, but like the ones where you have to pay with smartphones, um what is your solution for people who don't have smartphones like how does that work? i don't know all the beaters. um the old legacy meters. i'll say the ones that were replacing right now and at the current meters, there's

option for coin credit card. um touch and pay. or contact list or you could use pay by phone, so there are options seen them where it's like, covered, like where you can't like. use the actual like my thing like there was something over it, i think like like a cloth bag kind of thing. and then it says, like paid part. we had recently gone through the upgrade in chinatown have been during that transition where the new meters may have not been turned on yet, and the old legacy meters were still there, because otherwise it would have been covered. our up time on the new meters are very high, so there's not as much vandalism on these new leaders. okay, so everything so everybody has the ability to be able to pay no matter what correct method. okay, that's reassuring and then also who would be in charge of like considering having some of the parking signage. um, in. perhaps chinese

or in spanish, because i was trying to like, figure out how to park and i don't actually, i'm actually not fluent like i can't read and either of those languages very well, but i assume other people can and i couldn't even figure out like what when and how i should be able to park like looking at it in english, and i was and you also have to be somewhat of a mathematician or whatever it is like to be able to calculate. like what time it is like, how long i'm gonna be here what is happening? and what day like i don't know which day it is of the month and so is there any opportunity to simplify that and then to add that into other languages to answer your point about the language is the new meters. one of the things that we're very proud of where they actually are in english, chinese and spanish. our legacy meters did not have that. and we are supplementing that with signage that has those languages as well, so there's going to be

increased. there um, yeah, and so in the end, as far as legibility goes, and that is one of the things that when we approached even this policy and recommendation to the board because of some of the issues you raised, that's why we're intending to go citywide from nine am to 10 pm whereas if we were to if, for example, do different hours and different neighborhoods or it would be very hard for people to understand. you know, where do i need to pay? when do i need to pay? it makes it very simplified. yeah. i mean, i would say that. it would be equally as important to do large , you know, to do the signage as well as like meter kind of area, because if you're driving, you're going to see the sign, right? more so than like, stop get out, read the meter. and, um, if possible, like this is just a really i don't know. basic note. but like i took a picture of one of the polls where it shows all the signage. and if somebody who's not at sfm

. ta could like review that as a lay person for you and give you feedback because oftentimes like we all work in our own businesses, and i see my life like i'm like, why doesn't anybody else get this because i get it. but it's like i wouldn't expect you to get what i see every single day. so if there's any way to get kind of lay feedback about your signage, i feel like that would perhaps help our experience as residents because the rest of us aren't like it's not as intuitive as you may believe it to be. so that's my comment. that's great. that's great feedback. thank you because as we are putting out the new meters and moving forward this proposal um, we will be supplementing that so we will take that in the signage that is take that and make sure that we're reviewing it, but we do go block by block, and it's very labor intensive. but, yeah. thank you very much. vice president zuma's thank you.

sorry, director day, which is real quick question. um is the enforcement piece we haven't really talked about. and is that part of how you're doing and planning on doing kind of a skilled enforcement like you're not going to have you're not gonna be ticketing the first day , can you? can you explain to me specifically if enforcement revenue and tickets are part of your calculation of revenue in this they are they are included in that 18.5 growth and that 13.5 net. do you have an estimate of how much ah of those numbers. hmm. do not stop my head. hmm. okay. um, and are the ticket price is going to be different or. the ticket prices . um, did you go through during our budget process? they go through review. i don't. um we there's a one of my peers is the

director of enforcement and they take it through and our board reviews and approves. and then it goes to the board of supervisors as well for their review and approval. okay and the current, um ticket price from. our friendly meter maid is can you give me a sense of if that fluctuates or if like, what is the price now? and if you're expecting it to change? yeah i can't speak to if it's going to change. we haven't gone through a budget process. but will the end of this year we go through a two year budget cycle? um and i don't know if that is expected to change or not, um so right now, i believe, like an infraction and unpaid ticket. mhm. mhm pull it up before maybe andre could while we're here. i believe it's around $70. okay? and i know that, um going back to our equity mandate and even what pre predated our equity mandate is something called the

feed justice project and kind of a quality of life. um, nexus looking at. specifically parking tickets, and that was a big priority under under our current , you know, mayor mayoral administration and so i want to understand if we're rolling back any of those types of, um easements on parking tickets or if, um yeah, where that kind of landmark equity legislation of the fee. justice and parking tickets falls within this scheme. yeah. yeah i'd have to say about the person that would speak to that. but we can follow up with you on that, um yeah, but they the revenues are for the citations, as mentioned are baked into the 18.5 million gross in the $13.5 million net. anticipating those costs are the same or fees are the same. okay i think you did have a question earlier on about yes, the intention is to not enforce for a period of time the enforcement officers would actually go out

and right. just um, notes, okay . just letting people know that the meters are extended to a certain amount of time. it's not a fee, but just just a note. um and we would be having to increase staffing. of our enforcement officers to work those, um, extended meter hours evenings on sundays. okay, ramp up period of time on that as well. okay, so you that's an area, for example, that we could come to some compromises with the small business community on the implementation of enforcement you guys haven't had put in stone yet. it has not been put in stoned. okay, thank you. dr tang. thank you, um, just following up on commissioners as soon as his question about enforcement, um, went to hire the additional pcos . are you going to have them mostly focused on parking, meter enforcement or other issues other violations, for example, uh, worked with businesses that have complained that they have

nowhere for their loading trucks to park because they're constantly being filled by either private vehicles or um maybe other businesses that don't you know? don't have their trucks leave. um so just wanted to follow up on what other enforcement that could generate revenue like double parkers and other dangerous activities. that's a when we do go out and have these conversations with businesses and even residents. one of the things we hear, surprisingly, is that there's not enough enforcement. we hear this often, particularly around folks that have either loading zones or meters in front of their businesses or in the rpp areas where people are parking their vehicles for longer length of stay, and they should we hear that a lot that there's not enough enforcement. we get calls to enforce. we are working desperately to hire pcos is we are understaffed. for our pcos, and we are actually going through a large hiring process right now to hire additional pcos that can help with those

type of, um, enforcement challenges that we have in the in in different areas. okay so all that to say, you know, i think what we hear from businesses is the need for enforcement of existing laws that would help right with the business situation, whether it's for customers or further loading trucks, um and also again dangerous activities. i know that has been brought up in the media, but, um, wanting to see that level enforcement and then of course, now they're hearing about the parking meters and, um you know, citing customers, right potential customers. potential workers. um i'm sure you can imagine that irritation on that, um, the other thing i just wanted to bring to your attention around. um you know what we've been hearing from businesses over time is that you know, it's not just about the parking meters. it's about project after project after project layered on in different communities over time. that you know again, we understand the mts policy goals. we get that

and i read many, um, quite often. so um, i totally understand the need for reliable transit. on the other hand, though, the businesses that have experienced whether it's a bus, rapid transit project or better market streets. um or right now , i know gary boulevard is going through, you know of discussions around the project and has been for probably more than a decade . um all of those things layered on top of each other is what we're hearing that ultimately has not. necessarily left the business in a better place and that there is no other way for them to recover like you can recover revenues as i think one of the commissioners, i said, but they cannot. it's their livelihood. and so, um, i just wanted to bring a little bit more context about where what we're hearing and why the businesses are so frustrated. it's not again that we are trying to pit our communities against each other. but truly, the business owners have no other recourse if their business fails because of lack of foot traffic or whatever else it is. so i just wanted to bring that

up. um to the group here. vice president zones. thank you. one more piece that the director ryan did me up. um city vehicles . thanks so is there. he designate, can you give us a sense of where city employees with city vehicles are allowed to park in the city if they have designated areas, um and if there's any mitigation that the agency can do, and these contemplations of helping move city vehicles into a more controlled space because my family's businesses in south of market and they're all of us. most of most of the available street parking is city vehicles that do not move. and they told us that that's you know that there's nowhere for them to go. so i feel like that's a on you

guys like that's your fleet. so how are you if we're talking about making space on commercial corridors, why is this like the elephant in the room? that's a question so as the m t a. i don't know how many nonrevenue vehicles we actually own our release. but we're a portion of those city vehicles that are probably experiencing there is no free parking policy in the city for anybody, including employees, those vehicles to legally park in certain areas have to have permits located so it could be a function of lack of enforcement that we were just speaking to and some of those areas may need to be enforced. so there's no designated like this is a garage we've designated for the city parking so that we can free up this corridor. is that something you guys could bring back? maybe that have to be clear on what? what those vehicles are doing. it sounds to me from what i'm understanding or hearing you is that these are probably during

the day when they're out working. um not necessarily when they're parked and not being used. it sounds like when someone's on duty or something like that. there are at least for the m t. i can't speak for other city departments. there are designated areas where they might park. our media fleets have their money yards without go back and in the maintenance vehicles. are there the operation units that i oversee the paint shop the meter shop sign shop? um sign shop have doesn't need spaces when they're off duty that that's where that's where they're going to park. okay, but on duty designated parking is not something that, um just i'm trying to think of a way that we can free up some of that spot for the uses that you've explained in your presentation. we're happy to look at some of these areas that you have concerns on to see if it is, in fact, in an abuse issue, maybe an enforcement issue that needs to be addressed. um but otherwise they need to have a city permit. to actually park and say, a meter or residential

parking area for longer than the amount of time that's posted. um if not in. typically if not, then they could get a city a citation. just like private vehicle. okay, thank you. um one other question i have is about, um, new transit trends right? like i think. in the last 10 years, we've seen a rise of, um, you know, third party delivery. um abs during pandemic? definitely. we've seen a rise of restaurant deliveries. um, one of the things that i was. kind of floating by with our merchants association is could there be designated like loading and unloading zones that are more, um, intentional, right? and perhaps they are kind of like the corner of a residential street or someplace like off of the commercial corridor. where you know, perhaps the delivery apps need to hire like a runner. to be able to go. you know, like

you have the little buzzers that tell you when you're ready. your seed your table's ready or whatever it is. perhaps there's some sort of mechanism that is on the onus of the delivery company to be able to, um help with some of this congestion that we're seeing, because a lot of it is the double parking and things like that. so i guess my question is in light of the new , um, ways that we function. how has um uni taken that into consideration for its future planning? yeah. there has been in the past. four or five years. hi huge growth in t. n. c. s. uber's and lifts. there has been a huge lift, uh, increase in delivery vehicles may or may not be of the same names that are using those pick up services and things like that. um we have occurred management team that does reside under me. that goes

in when engaged in communities and actually will do a full crew management plan. um with engagement with the community may be in part, maybe as part of a transit plan. maybe not. um we will actually look at those loading zones and determine are they in the right area? do they need to be moved? are they creating safety issues in a daylighting? maybe not, you know, they need to be an area where it needs to be daylight at an intersection. um so absolutely. it is a long process . that's a full poets program where we're actually going out and doing public outreach and engagement to get this area legislation will take it to our board for adoption. um potrero hill. we most recently what we did a number of years ago. that was a larger plan. we're working on treasure island right now is the streets are being turned over. um uh huh. and two from the private developers that are out there were also working in northeast mission right now on a neighborhood parking plan, which , um, will introduce some time

limits some meters. some rpp zones. some loading zones, absolutely. valencia um, was mostly a transit bike lane. but we did. my career management team was engaged there as well to help with the relocation of some of those zones to make sure that they're in the right areas to hopefully mitigate some of those issues. you're referring to. and actually, um, i know you're you're parking, but, um, going back to the question i had about bicyclists. and perhaps you know, this question may be better directed to somebody else . but um, is there any discussion about perhaps bicycle riding kind of like training programs in the city. that would lead to some sort of licensure because i feel like we do all have to share the road and often times it gets you know, it would be more um i would feel more comfortable. i think writing if

i knew that there were certain rules of the road that had to be adhered to, um, for both drivers as well as like bicyclists, like if there was equal onus, like on on all of us to understand how we're going to behave together, you know, because as a driver sometimes i don't know. if people are going to stop and then as a bicyclist, i don't know if people seem you know, there's just certain things that writing in the city is very different than writing in other places. um so i'm just wondering like is there is that perhaps a revenue? you know, peace for sfm t a yeah, i don't know if we've looked into that, um and i don't think probably andrea andrew doesn't either, but something i will take back to the team. i have a colleague that works in liverpool streets that works on the bike portion of our strategic plan. um and i will raise that to him because i feel like that would you know increased safety? like this

dramatically. i would assume you know, because people are actually all on the same page as to how we're supposed to. you know, interact with one another in terms of predictability. so, um okay. i think that's pretty much all i have right now. any other comments or questions from the commission? um i think it's time to take public comment for public commenters i'd like to limit public comment to two minutes, which is pretty customary for most commissions, so. if public commenters want to press star three to be added to the queue. it looks like we have three people already waiting. commenters he can go ahead as a tv, please. open up the line for public comment. hi my name is anne cleary and i'm calling on behalf of the golden gate restaurant association to strongly a part of the extension

of parking meeting hours. we are stepping up second to the label allowed until impacting the studied further until our small businesses have more time to recover from the economic devastation of the pandemic closures. we understand that significant 9 25 per hour. in addition, we're worried that this will discourage communities around them. francisco drive into the city to dine and shop at a time when we need them more than ever. thank you very much for listening. hello commissioner. my name is parker gay district three on the california street commercial corridor. and i'm on the board of lord talk neighbors, although today and speaking on behalf of myself, i strongly supported spending hours of metered street

parking. the block i live on is entirely metered parking in the evenings. there's very, very little part in turnover. parking uh, parking on turning over does not help our local businesses. it doesn't help residents in the streets like me. and it does nothing to revitalize our economy. uh the economy and our business corridor. california street currently under parted and undertaking. parking is not turning over during the most important time of day for businesses in the evening hours and extending our very conservative measure to help adjust this issue. thank you. by um yeah, for starters, i think that that's a pension plan is great. i think it'll benefit small businesses significantly and i want to make sure that everyone has full understanding of how this is gonna work and its benefits. so first of all, just one piece that helps prevent money from making cuts. um and i think your community

does have to make cuts. this will help in massive negative impact on small businesses across the whole city. uh much more than any of your worst imagined parking changes. secondly there was mention of concerns about employee parking . and i think that this meter change will have no effect on employees finding parking employees don't park where they're parking meters. they parked off the main street because the parking meter is for quick and easy access, not for someone who's going to be there for eight hours. um so i think that that's kind of a non issue next. this will increase foot traffic for businesses. literally more people will be able to go to businesses every day because it will be more turnover. it's a gift to small businesses. i'm surprised them all businesses didn't go to sfm to asking for this long ago. um this measure will increase available parking. it prevents people from hogging parking

spaces that are maybe going over to just fit in a friend's house nearby. providing no financial benefit to the street where their part so this is beneficial in that way. next with this measure, um, you will stop hearing people for saying i don't want to go there too hard to part. um and then, finally, if you drive to a restaurant, you can't buy as many drinks compared to if you take communi , uber or walk, so maybe we shouldn't be so focused on this parking stuff anyway. thank you. i don't see any other colors and like you, we can take public comment from people in the room. press star three if you are online and wish to make a comment are there any public commenters in the room that would like to speak? come to the micro stand by the side here. good afternoon commissioners. so i was doing the math. i went to

chinatown a few weeks ago and i paid for parking there and it was $4 an hour. so if an employee who is working there, one of the restaurants starts working at two o'clock gets off at 10. they're now paying for additional hours of parking. that is a total of $32 for someone who makes $136 a day that is almost 25% of their income that day. so i understand how for maybe, for some people who are making more money. this sounds like a great idea. which is obviously the executives of sfm t a who are not making minimum wage, but for someone who is making minimum wage. this is a big cut. as well as i understand that maybe take immunity there. but if it's a family of six they may not want to write in uni and nine o'clock at night or seven, or, you know, whatever. the hours maybe. and then you go have dinner and then

you go back at 11 when you can just drive, but that is now an additional cost of $32. that could essentially be going to these businesses. so i am definitely in disagreements of extended meters. thank you. hello commissioners. um thank you very much for coming from the m to and giving this presentation. uh my name is janet tarlov. and i am here from the glen park merchants association and the san francisco council district merchants. neither of those organizations has a formal, uh position on this matter, but there has been a great deal of discussion within our organizations, um about it. and a lot of, um a lot of people are, uh, very concerned. um the

thing that i wanted to come up and speak about is the issue of employee parking. um business owners want there to be? i think it's generally clear that there's they want there to be better solutions for their employees and their parking. we don't want them parking directly in front of our businesses because that will impact customer parking. but also, you know when somebody who is making a low wage comes in, and they have a $90 ticket for you know, parking over, you know, a few minutes, added two hours zone. it feels quite unfair. so i would really, um, just personally not speaking on behalf of my organizations. i think it would be, uh, a really good idea to put more thought into how to, um make it easier for workers in san francisco. so thank you. i believe we have one

more caller in the queue. hi my name is cyrus hall. i live in the seven and i'm calling in about the meter. our extension. just wanted to make sure that the commission was aware that sfm ta is facing 100 and $30 million hole in its budget, starting in fy 25 and that the intent of extending meter hours provided nearly $20 million in additional funding for operational expenditures. that would cover three bus lines, actually 3.5 bus lines in the city and i'm going to speak up for those writers who would be impacted. if we don't extend meter hours. there's no other plan on the table in the city right now to fund ourselves. mtr going forward. none. uh um. and we have to think about everyone else who would be impacted as well. i agree that late night money is bad. there needs to be a lot more service. it's

insufficient. so i have a couple of suggestions on how the city could proceed. one would be to include workers and rpp programs. allow workers to apply for residential parking permits near where they work include them in that. to a lot of workers to apply for geo fence. meter exceptions, exemptions. three extend the emergency ride home programs such like work because you're under served by public transit and call for a ride home. after hours and four just make community work after hours second, there's not a lot of evidence to suggest that meters reduce business revenue and in the city. it's almost the offices. it after meters turn off local residents park in metered positions and they don't move their cars. making it hard for actual customers to find spots. putting meters on later should help meter turnover. it should help actively stimulate the economy and help businesses stay active later into the evening. so thank you very much.

uh, that's my comment. there are no other colors in the queue. great thank you very much. um, so given that this is not like an action item, um, but we do have so many. you know, kind of follow up questions and things that we've discussed. what is the mechanism? i guess maybe director tang, you can help me figure out like what would be the mechanism going forward in order for us to continue this conversation and to be able to, um you know, move forward with us. i don't know that i have the answer to that. but i would like to just ask him to that. you know, i think there are a couple of suggestions put out here. so i heard about worker parking. um i heard about the rollout. i don't know that it was explicitly stated here today in this meeting, but i do know that there have been conversations around how you can roll out, perhaps not in six phases, because that is actually very

confusing for people, um, to go to different neighborhoods. different months. um while you're rolling out and to be subject to different, you know, um parking enforcement rules. um so. um and then, of course, the ongoing um, you know, conversation around, um, enforcement of existing laws. existing rules. um and. ongoing if there are other projects, how we can better communicate between our communities. um again, small businesses. there are people who write transit there. people who park and everyone like we're not all just cast in one bucket, right? we all play different roles throughout the day. maybe it's um again. driver at night. maybe money writer by day, um, biker in the afternoon. whatever it is , so, um, i think we hear over and over again that to just marches forward with these decisions without any input, because you don't actually technically need it. but it would be great to um to. you know, you're welcome to reach out to us, and we can share with

you who these merchant groups are and have that conversation before these decisions are rolled out publicly. so all that to say we're happy to collaborate. um, and have that dialogue commissioner ortiz cartagena. director graph. i want to thank you. i know we had some difficult questions. um but where your ally like you know me? i'm a native tiff is a native. there's a lot of frisco people. our kids are going to be here. our grandkids are going to be here. we could work with you. parking is a city asset. it belongs to us and our future generations. holler at us work with us. we can help you. you know what works in chinatown won't work in the sunset won't work in the mission. i'm multigenerational. so i gotta take my grandma. my kids. everybody can't hop on the bus. however my aunt's here from new york. guess what she's taking right now. the bus. right. so like we with you, we're not against you. we are an ally. so

please, people here. we're here to support you and make your difficult job. if we could, like alleviate anything of it. we would try seriously because we're here for you. great. i appreciate that. yeah i think that's pretty much what we have, but we would definitely like to continue this conversation. continue this relationship, i think and, um and yeah, i mean, we are small business owners, so we're used to dealing with budgets used to figuring out how to make things work and being very resourceful with, um you know how to how to get things done. so um, definitely i encourage you to take advantage of all of us as well as like the reach that we have in our communities for both residents as well as community, um, leaders, so thank you so much for your time today. absolutely thank you all commissioners for your time. i appreciate it. and

hearing no other comments. um next item, please. item. three border supervisors filed 220437 existing on amnesty program. discussion and action item. the commission will here and possibly take action on an ordinance amending the building and planning codes to create a temporary amnesty program for unpermitted awnings that streamlines the application process to legalize awnings. wave applicable fleas fees and confers legal nonconforming status for awnings that do not comply with the planning code. i believe director tang is going to review this item with you all and then you can make a recommendation. thank you, director tang. alright so you've heard a lot from me? probably wrote this awning emc program, which we collaborated with department building inspection planning department, um on and so the legislation that was

introduced, um, will be heard by the board of supervisors. one would create this temporary amnesty program for existing unpermitted awnings. so just for background, um ah, recently there were someone who had made some anonymous complaints against businesses for having awnings up that weren't um, put up with permit proper permit, so there are approximately 200 of those complaints outstanding right now, so this program creates a pathway for people. um who both received maybe a notice of violation. maybe received a complaint or didn't but they haven't existing awning. without a permit that they can participate in this um, so the legislation would also waive the permits and inspection fees for those again with the eligible existing awnings. they must submit applications before june 1st of 2024 for the fee waivers to apply. and also just a

reminder for everyone that every year in the month of may during small business month you can also apply for, um permits for your awnings, and the permit fees would be waived. um, currently it applies to replacement awnings but under new legislation from supervisor and cardio if you're installing a new one, it will also qualify as well. this will also require department building inspection to develop a streamline application process for the expedited review of permits during this embassy program. so under a typical process, you would need to hire a contractor or sign installer, and they would need to produce some drawings for you in order to even submit your building application. so under this temporary amnesty program, you would just need to submit some photos, um and incorporate the dimensions and there's a sample online and as long as you follow that that is how you get your permit through the process, so that makes it again a lot simpler for people. um it will also allow the planning

department to sign off on the building permit for an existing awning or sign, even if the awning is non, a non compliant structure or nonconforming use, so in other words, it doesn't meet planning code requirements that they have for signage. um, if you can demonstrate that you've already had your awning up, um, um, effective. as of the effective date of this program. um you can qualify or be eligible for this planning department sign off. um and you can demonstrate via photos or google maps or other documentation. um now, i will just warn that if you're going through this process, and then they find d b i in particular finds that your awning is not code compliant structurally because it might pose some sort of safety issue. then you will have to go through the regular process, meaning you will have to hire a contractor assigned installer. you will have to submit the drawings with your permanent application. that's all just to ensure safety. since these are items that are hanging from buildings. however the

permit be would permit fee waiver would still apply. um and then, lastly, and most importantly, this ordinance would wave db and planning department enforcement fines and penalties. we do know that people are businesses that received these complaints are noticed violations have been feeling very anxious and nervous about this, understandably. so. so um so those, um, enforcement again, fines and penalties will be waived under this program. so we are aware that be will be sending a letter if not already to all properties that have received either complaint or notice of violation, so they're aware of this amnesty program. and of course, if businesses aren't sure um, about whether their awning was installed with a permit or not. maybe they you know, inherited this awning. they can always contact our office and we're happy to help look that up so people can call her office at 6 to 86524949. again that's 6 to 86524949 or email. us at s. f o s. b at sf

gov .org so that's the summary of the ordinance and happy to answer any questions. commissioner herbert. thank you. that sounds really promising. um and so i guess i want to just just clarify that during the month of may um there's a temporary amnesty program even if you want to apply for a new awning. um sorry. i probably shouldn't have confused the two programs so the amnesty program applies to if you have an existing awning, and you don't think you've pulled a permit in the password, you know you haven't pulled a permit in the past, we would encourage you to go through that program now every year during the month of may, though, however, if let's say you just you know, you already have permits you didn't get a notice of violation can kind of complaint. but maybe you want to replace your honor because it's um, looking tired. or maybe you want to install a

new one? because you don't have one. the month of may is when you can qualify for a fee waiver, um through the city. during small business month and what is the typical feet so it really depends on what kind of sign you're going to install. but i'll just say when we went through an example of a new installation in glen park, um and we help someone through the whole journey of a new installation. the fees for both the permits and for the installation was a total of roughly 5 to $6000. but again, this is just one example. every building is different. every sign is different. so um, it could be. yeah i don't want you to just say oh, it's going to be five or 6000. it could. it could be less than that, too. or more. thank you. ensuring gregory. sorry i'm new to this. so um i'm just trying to understand. so if you opening up a store front right on, so actually, i was

surprised you even had to get a permit for the awnings. but so if you're opening up a store is there somewhere that is like a list like you have to get a permit for an ani? yes so we have found that most people don't know that they have to get a permit for it. or maybe they went into a shop and it already has a structure. and so they didn't even realize even to just change out the canopy, for example, that you actually need a permit for that, too. um so there's both the db decide for the structure as well as the signage under planning department. so um, yeah, i'll say that for the most part, a lot of people don't know that they've had to pull permits. um or maybe some people they meet the structural requirements because they've hired a contractor who knows what they're doing. and so they they're they're compliant. they just don't have a permit on record. so um, the may the special fee waiver program in may, was actually designed to bring awareness to that and to let people know that you actually do need a permit and that if you want to pull one you apply if you want to submit an

application for permit that we're going to try to help you during the special month. um i'm sorry. i think my question is like when you're opening up a store, right? is there on that paper like you need a permit to get an awning is overlooking or so when you open a store, you have two chances are you're probably going to file for a building permit application, and, um. i should say this. there are different checklists for different types of businesses. and so it's not always said that you need to have an awning. but now last year office started to new positions, which is their small business permits specialists who help people through the permitting journey so through that they are advising everyone of all the different requirements that we can possibly be aware of. um for example, if it's awnings, permits or even if its accessibility requirements we are trying to advise people up front that that's what they need, but there are certainly many existing businesses who may not be aware of it. and maybe

don't come to our office for help. so um, i'll say there isn't one neat place for checklists because it really depends on what you're doing with your business. thank you. i have one more question. um, so let's say somebody's awning doesn't meet the safety requirements. is there something that will help them help with that five or $6000 fee? because that's not really the permit, right? i mean, you have to pay a contractor to drop the drawings , which is a feat. is there something to help them with all the fees or it's just the permit. so that's a great question. um so we w. d has a program called sf shines of the very popular program but essentially, you can be if you are eligible. um and you get accepted into that program you can receive up to $5000 worth of design services. um so maybe someone helps you do the drawings. um and then also there's a track for construction , so you can also receive a reimbursement up to $5000. and

so that is how some people are able to get their permits and their awnings installed through that program. that's great. thank you. um, just for clarification, like a painted sign on a window. does that require permit? do you know? i think that requires planning department review. um i don't know if it requires a permit. but um, i think that most likely , yes. you probably have to let somebody know that you're painting as they look at font size and how much of your windows might be covered? yeah planning department does look at that. so. so with the best course for that be to reach out to our office or to planning. um either way, if you want to go directly to planning department certainly can. they have guides out there around their signage requirements? but if people want an advocate throughout the entire journey for permitting or just want our wraparound support

at the office, small business they can always contact us to. okay, because i've seen the guides. i just i wasn't sure what that and thing is like is there a sign off or is there like a, you know? yes you're in compliance like with the what with the coverage. yes there will be reviewing and they should be signing off on something, okay? um any other comments right now? um i just wanted to add to thank you so much. executive director tang and, um, carry for all of this leg work on trying to help support all of our businesses. i know many of them. you know there, there's a great deal of frustration. in the community over this piece, and there's a lot of finger pointing and speculation and all these things, and you really you know? went through this whole thing just to be able to help all of

these businesses get through it. and i know you've listened to many stories over and over and over again and you've talked to individual businesses as well as corridors and things like that, and it's this one. little thing turned out to be a months long process of negotiations, so. um i just wanted to recognize the incredible amount of work that you've done to try to help small businesses through this piece. so you know, as we all complain about city hall. i just want to recognize that this is also city hall. and um and you know, city hall is vast and diverse and sometimes it doesn't get things right. but sometimes they do. and there's been a lot of, um really incredible things that you both have done just during the time that you've been here, including. you know the permit. specialists and so many other

things, so i just wanna thank you for, um for all that you've put into things. and the opportunities that you see for us, so thank you. um, any public comment is there any public comment in the room? and there's no public comment online. i feel like people should call in just to thank you guys. what's going on? okay i see. i see one from janet janet. it's giving you big thumbs up. that should be when people call in. where is where is everyone? well, okay, thank you so much and seeing no public comment. um item is closed. next item, please. would you like to entertain a motion to support or oh, it's emotion. okay, this is going through. through the board of supervisors. so if you guys want to weigh in here, commissioner herbert would like to weigh in. mhm to support the

awning program. yes i'm weighing in to support the opening program. do it? yes, i'm making a move to support the ongoing program. anybody have a 2nd 2nd? motion by commissioner herbert seconded by commissioner carter. i'll read the role commissioner carter yes. commissioner dickerson is absent. commissioner gregory yes. commissioner herbert yes, president huey? yes. commission ortiz cartagena. and vice president zuma's yes motion passes. you. um item four approval of draft meeting minutes. this is a discussion and action item the commission will discuss and possibly take action to approve the may 8th 2023 draft meeting minutes. commissioners. any comments? seeing no comments. public comment any public comments in the room that online saying no

public comment, um public comment is closed. does somebody want to make a motion to accept the draft meeting minutes. i'll make a motion to support. thank you. any second. i'll second wonderful motion by commissioner carter seconded by commissioner herbert um, i'll read the role commissioner carter yes, commissioner dickerson's absent commissioner gregory yes. commissioner herbert yes. president huey yes. commissioner t start to hannah. and vice president susan yes. motion passes. right next item. item six. general public comment. this is a discussion item, allowing members of the public to comment generally on matters that are within the small business commission's jurisdiction, but not on today's calendar and suggest new agenda items. any members of the public

who would like to make comments on items not on the agenda today. there are none. any on the line or not not online. okay public comment is closed. next item, please. item seven directors report. this is a discussion updated report on the office of small business department programs. announcements from the mayor and announcements regarding small business activities. director 10 . all right. thank you. commissioners so, um, just wanna um, acknowledge our team at the office. small business as we wrapped up sf small business week. we know it was a lot of work for everyone to, um, promote activities happening. commercial corridors. organized events. um is a great week full of celebration, so i just wanted to acknowledge our staff for their work on that. um secondly , wanted to share with you all a new way where people can report commercial vacancies in the city

, so i know that this commission has brought this up a couple of different times. um so new website was developed and it was in collaboration with 311 and the treasurer tax collector's office. and the page or the link is actually hosted on the treasurer tax collector's office . so um, if you wanted to report something, i can certainly share out the link to everyone and email. uh but essentially, the reports that will be generated will be sent over to our office . so we will have, um, um, that information um, and then there's still ways where you can report through 311 vandalism or blight associated with commercial vacancy as well for case management and follow up so those will still exist and that will exist on 31 app. but the way for you to report just simply a commercial vacancy with no case, um, request attached would only be through the website, so i just want to clarify that. um so i just want

to thank three on one and ttx for helping to get that page up relatively quickly. um and so we can share that out with different community groups in case they wanted to help report commercial vacancies. um and then just coming up. um, for merchant walks well, continuing our outreach this week. we're going to go out to third street . um actually, my second time going out there officially in this role just there's so much, um, amazing things that have happened on third street in that corridor. a lot of new business opening, so we felt like it was due time for us to go back. and we'll also be out in the financial district. over at battery bridge area as well. last week we were out on valencia street in sacramento street as well, the week prior, um always love getting out and talking to business owners hearing about the issues that they're dealing with, or just hearing about how well they're doing in these neighborhoods. so um, again welcome any of you to join if you'd ever like, um to

come out on these merchant walks. um and i'm keeping it short today, so that's that's it for the updates. happy to answer any questions. commissioner ortiz. i just you triggered them. third street commercial quarter, man. they're doing it. they lit. they live like we need to duplicate whatever they're doing out there is light. just even the optics of it. they don't have that many vacancies and it was cracking. yeah when you talk thirsty, you know, i gotta say something. yeah. i mean, i love to see so many small businesses opening, but i do. i am concerned with the foot traffic like like, i don't know . it's not as visible to me so i would love to see how those businesses are doing and what we can do to make sure that they actually stay open and in are actually thriving in the corridor. um one of the things

that i had maybe i had mentioned to carry before was like i would love to see like a map like a google map or something of all the places that you've been to so far because i feel like it would be so cool. i mean, you have really covered so much of the city, and i think it would. it would feel good to see how how many places you've actually been to him, which areas and things like that. so um. i'm offering you can do okay, even create a nap right, creating up where's director tank? where is director ach? oh, ah, um yeah. so, yeah. um yeah, i don't have any other questions. does anybody have any questions regards to this? i think we all oh, go ahead. i just want to say

i went to the small business pop up and it was really awesome. i found a new beer vendor and i found a muralist for project that i'm working on. and i just kind of said oh, i'm gonna stop by and check it out, and it was really awesome. so i'd say we do more of those, so thank you for putting it together. yeah yeah, we need that more than once a year. is it twice a year? it is twice a year during the holidays so in december as well as made during small business month and this year we had, i think for, uh, sorry. half of the vendors were new this year. yeah it was great activities were wonderful. thank you so much. ah, um, any public comment there is none. seeing no public comment. public comment is closed. next item, please. item eight commissioner discussion and new business. this is a discussion item, allowing the president, vice president and commissioners to report on recent small business activities and make

announcements. commissioner ortiz cartagena. last monday, our ambassador program during along the mission quarter was initiated so um, me and some of the stuff from the nonprofit i work with we we've been following up, so they've been reaching out to community to some of the small merchants. so it's an it's an emphasis station. i don't have too much report, but it's initiated and we're excited, um, to have that. i mean, there's a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed and worked on in the mission. commercial quarter for a small businesses, so that's really welcomed. um another thing i met with some attorneys. and they wanted to, potentially maybe meet with the city attorney regarding ada lawsuits here in the city, and if possible, maybe study case law and see a federally if there can be a notification prior to the actual litigation, so not a waving of

the mitigating circumstances, but if they could at least get 30 days like advisory and an opportunity mitigate the complaints. then those legal fees can be implemented to mitigation as opposed to the frivolous lawsuits, so he wants to know if we can explore that with the city attorney if that's even possible under federal law , so that's just something you know. couple attorneys brought up to my attention regarding that, and then glitch is here and just, you know, every second tuesday the activation of 20/4 street bar plazas. i think last friday, you guys had a mechanical bull. so like it's lit. um we work with all the city agencies. even dpw was doing an amazing job. say that again. dpw was doing an amazing job, so that's on record. um but it just, um every second friday

activation we do you know a lot of small vendors that are non competing with the commercial with the brick and mortar. so please, please come every second friday. usually the event starts at six pm we have low riders. we have some kind of event. it's very kid friendly. you know, either we have ponies, swans reindeers, you know, i always mentioned it. but please because it really does help bring activation to the quarter. so we appreciate everybody that comes out. so thank you. we had reindeers. i had never seen reindeers. we brought reindeers to the hood. vice president zuma's. thank you. i actually kind of had a follow up. addendum question to the vacancy. um support commercial vacancy support work that that our office and partners are doing. are we waiting? like i know that we had talked about part of it as you guys were going to help triage. potential.

like placements as part of this is that i'm gonna come after we get like a good amount reported or like, how does that piece gonna work? and um that's like my first question how we can like and you know involved with that and how that peace is going to work. uh it's already the work. it's already happening. so with our new commercial vacancy manager, we're constantly all of us. you know when we're encountering businesses, whether it's someone looking to expand or someone who's newly trying to start in a brick and mortar location and looking for space, or maybe they had a business challenge at their current location, and they absolutely need to move and downsize. whatever it is, they come in through our office through multiple channels, whether through our permit specialist, whether through our counselors at city hall. um and that work, it's been really instrumental to have our commercial vacancy position. so um, iris is the person who we heard in january.

and already, um, has been helping out with lease negotiations, helping tourist spaces with businesses and pointing out different features , or that would be appropriate for the business model. so um, yeah, the work has has been happening, and it's um i would say it's been super super valuable. that's great. thank you for educating me a little bit more on that. that kind of triage. i asked because, um, i know a lot of times. small property owners have a hard time trying to find tenants. um and you know, the bigger the commercial brokers are usually for the big guys. and so there's definitely a skill gap and terms of pure procuring. um businesses , first small property owners, so i think this is definitely something we should share with, like that community. um if they are on the landlord side can also like participate in this and be like, hey, officer. small business. can you guys keep this in your registry that this is

like an open vacancy like are you guys taking those types of outreach is to so we have, um, so we have been developing a listing of all the commercial vacancies. um and so as part of that process, you could see who the property owner or the broker is. um, and so whenever we think that there might be a good match where reaching out to the various parties to help out and also i should mention that, um iris is also a licensed broker. um by training, and so, um, there was an added benefit. it's not just about managing a vacancy registry. it's like i mentioned being able to tour spaces and look at your lease agreements. um so it's really multiple services in one, which has been really wonderful. that's huge. um if we can help you get the word out about this in any way. let us know. and, um i also asked because. are the merchant group. my family's business is part of one of our partner is mercy, housing and

mercy. housing is an example of, uh projects that are also like publicly you know they they're city funded to a degree so that they have to go through an rfp to get a commercial. lee seon there, which i think is an interesting, um, conflict because. for mercy housing that , you know they're having a hard time as an example like they're having a hard time finding businesses that way because small businesses aren't used to looking for something from the government to find a space. so, um, i just wanted to understand what, like commercial rfp s look like from the city and like if there's um restrictions around like how they're advertised, or like how to get those out to small business communities, and if that is also something that this our commercial vacancy program can help with so i'm not as familiar with the m o. h c d

or f p s, but some of the ones that have come across our desk include, for example, the sfp you see building and they have a cafe space below or city hall even has a cafe space in the basement. so once we get a hold of those rps, we have been pushing them out via social media or newsletters that we send out. um and so that's how we try our best to spread the word. and then, of course, you know there are the city regulations around how you advertise where you advertise, etcetera. okay that's really helpful. thank you. commissioner gregory. this, um. so i do have some concerns. and it is what commissioner dickerson said last meeting and commissioner carter. that it's great that all these small businesses are coming into san francisco, and there's like this big outreach to get more,

but i'm so concerned and i find this on the l b east side and the micro lbs. east side, especially is that. the ones that are barely surviving as it is. what is that support right? like, how do we support. them to stay open. like you know, as you know, a restaurant is like what ? two years? it's really questionable. they're going to stay open that long. um so i think i don't even know where to go with this. i'm just thinking out loud. is that like i hear it all the time, like, especially the micro lbs. they're so mad when they're like, oh, we have 10 new micro lbs coming in, and these companies are barely surviving. um so that's a big concern of mine is like, how are we supporting them to stay open? ah that and then with the whole mercy, housing, um it's great to know that they have are fps for commercial spacing. but what would it look like? like if

there is like commissioner dickerson was saying less last meeting that she is looking to expand right. but sometimes when you're in a certain neighborhood , what would it look like? if mercy housing did take a restaurant that was like from the babe? you and now they're giving them a better deal with their rent for third space. like, how can we. support those kind of companies to get like what when it'd be better negotiation with rent if it's like through, um, the federal government. i don't know i'm just talking out loud, but that's what i know. um, mission rock. same thing. right mission rock. they're having a whole bunch of commercial space. but what would it look like to take like a restaurant from mission or the babe you and put them in such a different area to help grow their business. that's it. that's my concerns. thank you. thank you. commissioner carter.

yes i think i'm in agreeance with commissioner gregory. like how can we? the city incentivized? these big companies. to do business and. support um small businesses. um especially minority and bipac. small businesses who are already struggling in a lot of ways and who are also discriminated against from getting retail space. so i would love to see the city step in and i incentivize, um, with mercy housing, mission bay and all of these people that's doing business in san francisco. and also saying, hey, you know, come do business in san francisco. just how we incentivize tech to come here and do business. i think we should be doing that in the business for small business owners. i have a couple of things. one is, um the permit process for, um. for food and

market vending. i was wondering, i know we've talked about this in the past, but like, is there a way for us to do kind of like an annual permit versus a per event permit? um you know fee i think now that we're having more street activations, um we're just finding that, like a lot of our vendors would say yes more readily. if they're if they're fees were already covered through an annual permit versus being kind of having you know, in this situation right now, where they have to pay per and then they are then weighing out like, well, do i want to try this new activation? because my may not be able to even make up. you know the permitting fees even if the booth fees are waived. so um, i think that's my question and response to all these new activations that just don't have the revenue. um you know historical revenues to be able to justify perhaps somebody trying it out. um. it's

definitely on our radar. i've flagged the idea of an annual permit. um a couple of times. yeah, ok, yeah, and there's you know, the there's multiple people who, um, are also championing that, um also thinking about like um, foot traffic and like, is there a way that should we maybe be in conversation with, like bart or other people to recover regional traffic like are there ways that small businesses and our transit agencies can talk more about how to get people to come to small business corridors? i know sfm ta has kind of like, um you know, mitigation, outreach people, and, um, instead of thinking about it in terms of mitigation, can we be in conversation with them and say, hey, we would love people from the east bay from the peninsula like whoever to come in, are there you know, promotional opportunities for us to be able

to work together to get people moving and same with, um other places for our residents to go. i know oakland is like a really popular place for people to go for, um, arts and food and, um, and things like that. so i think i've talked to other commissioners from other cities , and there's like an appetite to get people moving around regionally. so maybe is there an opportunity for us to be a part of those conversations? um. the other thing that i'm noticing in my neighborhood for clement street is that we have a very robust farmers market their their sunday farmer's market draws in about 7500 people every sunday. it's a crazy amount of people and what we're finding is that so they're going through. um they're they're trying to extend it. one more block right now. it's from arguello, too. fourth and they'd like to extend it from fourth to fifth. and you know, i'm asking that they do

really robust outreach and some of that outrages, um, for you know, for businesses that are like some of the chinese markets that are further along clement street, and so we've they've been, you know, uh, the farmers market has been really helpful and in shaping that outrage and really responsive and wanting to do what's best for our commercial commercial corridor, so i really do appreciate that. what what i was noticing. is that oftentimes businesses because i did my own survey for our merchants, and some people are like, you know, even though this activation is here, we're not seeing an uptick in business. and i think we see that in a lot of corridors where people feel put out by activations, and when the reality is that you're seeing 7500 people to 10,000 people coming on any given day to this activation. why are we not seeing an uptick in your small business? so you know, i'm wondering if our office can kind of, um help. close that gap a

little bit for some of these businesses and, um. you know, figure out if there are ways that we can just help people figure out how to advocate for themselves like maybe it's like putting out an a frame. maybe it's a special. maybe it's like, you know, but what are some ways that we can help. businesses. really take advantage of these activations so that we don't feel like it's a struggle. you know each time to say like, please, can we can we do this? because we know that this is going to bring life back into our city and i would love for everybody to be able to take part of that. um conventional, carter. yeah i think i'm just curious like are we actually talking to oakland? um, i think it's i mean being a san francisco bay area native that oakland is actually driving in san francisco is not like what's going on. like what's the what's

going on the word in oakland. like what? notes? can we take this? you know, obviously, i mean, i see the restaurant scene up there is like really thriving like so i'm just curious like are we actually looking into see what's going on in their neighborhoods that we can bring to san francisco and i just oakland, but, like just mhm. mr ortiz, cartagena. they probably don't have meter parking after six, just saying, right? but, um , commissioner, he triggered something i forgot to ask the department of public health around. mmh i know you were single events, but like to state legislation around mmf mobile food permitting. i know it's changed and they were gonna present eventually to us. like what that is. have. they followed up with us? you triggered so i have to before they're still internally, um, figuring out what that looks

like and they have to actually, like, adopt the state. um regulations into our code. and so there's sort of this. long press. i'm learning this to like sort of long process of how state law makes its way into um local jurisdictions, and my understanding is that they're still working on like internally that language with city attorneys and what that looks like. but i have. i have told them that we do want an update as soon as they're ready to go public with i just for the right materials going back to what you said. so the activation and captivating that audience, you know, we haven't gotten it completely right. you know, on 20/4 street because we're bringing about 2000 people, not as big but, um one of the things we did have to look really an honest is making sure like the vendors are not competing, so like we didn't have any pupusas tacos. you know, um, but it's hard because then it it's really

like you have to really get in the weeds until like the vet. what are you ending, you know is this gonna and it's still not. we don't have it down to a science. um another thing we did was like you are coding or collateral is just a cure code and then the vendor list, so we promote the small businesses along the quarter at these events. i think we could do a better job, like really focused like you gotta shop here like by a producer, right, but at least we try to incorporate it. but even then, you know, some is hit and miss. you know, sometimes the area falls out, and sometimes it doesn't and it's weird because why why some events? the taqueria does, you know 100% more gross receipts, and in some, we still haven't figured out so i mean, i think we could work in tandem and see how we could figure this out. i think so. i mean, i think part of it is demographic data, right? having our activations kind of give some demographic data. if it's something that's

been done before, and then yeah , i think figuring out some of those nuances because i feel like having so many people come on. one day, we should all be you know, like we should all be okay with that, like having it work out so um, i think education probably. i think if people knew how many people were actually there, that would be a big boost like that would probably be an incentive for people to stay open that day or to do something. so part of it is maybe just encouraging more activation. more outrage. and i think, um with these, like, especially the ones that the city you know, has a hand in or the ones that we individually have a hand in like we can encourage like maps like that, right, like how to do it. engage with the small business corridors and maybe we just have more conversation around it. don't be dope. um that also brings about like the idea of scaling. i think there's a lot

of like businesses who are, you know pretty solid in our corridors, but they maybe haven't thought about scaling. or they don't know how to scale their business into like a second location. i think as we're looking at downtown activations and other activations having some workshops or education on how to scale your business into these programs would be helpful, so that like because i mean a lot of times you wouldn't maybe you just don't think about like how how you could enter the downtown market. so um and i think oh, the other piece about transit was i'm very curious about you know, i know, um small business has had. is impacted by transit, and i would like to see if we can pursue, um, understanding that landscape from a small business perspective and having small businesses kind of lead our own. um path, you know, kind

of similar to the survey from san francisco state that we've done on small business in the covid impacts like to pursue. maybe, um like to pursue the impact of transit changes. from a small business perspective. um, i think those are pretty much the things that i had on my list. i probably have a bunch more, but we can talk about those things another time. any other comments from the commission. okay? great. um i guess any public comment. are there any public commenters in the room? online, you can press star three. being done. seeing no public comment. item is closed. next item, please. item nine adjournment as a tv, please show the office of small business slide. we will end with

a reminder that the small business commission is official public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about policies that affect the economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco. if you need assistance with small business matters continue to reach out to the office of small business meeting adjourned. (mus

>> i started the o was with a financing and had a business partner all ended up wanting to start the business and retire and i did was very important to me so i bought them oust and two

weeks later the pandemic h-4 one of the moments i thought to myself we have to have the worse business in a lifetime or the best. >> we created the oasis out of a need basically so other people bars and turning them into a space and when the last place we were performing wasn't used turned those buildings into condos so we decided to have a space. >> what the pandemic did for us is made us on of that we felt we had to do this immediately

and created this. >> (unintelligible). >> where we would offer food delivery services with a curbside professionalism live music to bring spectacular to lives we are going through and as well as employ on the caterers and the performers and drivers very for that i think also for everyone to do something. we had ordinary on the roof and life performances and with a restaurant to support the system where we are and even with that had terribly initiative and hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt had to pay our rent we decided to have an old-fashioned one we created club hours where you can

watch to online and or be on the phone and raised over one quarter of a million dollar that of incredible and something that northbound thought we could do. >> we got ourselves back and made me realize how for that people will show up if i was blown away but also had the courage but the commitment now i can't let anyone down i have to make the space serviceable so while this is a full process business it became much more about a space that was used by the community. and it became less about starting up a business and more about the heart of what we're doing. this

building used to be a- and one of the first one we started working on had we came out what a mural to wrap the building and took a while but able to raise the money and pay 5 artists to make a design around many this to represent what is happening on the side and also important this is who we are this is us putting it out there because satisfies other people we don't realize how much we affect the community around there when he i want to put that out there and show up and show ourselves outside of those walls more fabulous. and inspires other people to be more fabulous and everyone want to be more fabulous and less hatred and hostility and that is how we

change the

>> you're watching quick bite, the show that has san francisco. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> we're here at one of the many food centric districts of san francisco, the 18th street corridor which locals have affectionately dubbed the castro. a cross between castro and gastronomic. the bakery, pizza, and dolores park cafe, there is no end in

sight for the mouth watering food options here. adding to the culinary delights is the family of business he which includes skylight creamery, skylight and the 18 raisin. >> skylight market has been here since 1940. it's been in the family since 1964. his father and uncle bought the market and ran it through sam taking it over in 1998. at that point sam revamped the market. he installed a kitchen in the center of the market and really made it a place where chefs look forward to come. he created community through food. so, we designed our community as having three parts we like to draw as a triangle where it's comprised of our producers that make the food, our staff, those who sell it, and our guests who come and buy and eat

the food. and we really feel that we wouldn't exist if it weren't for all three of those components who really support each other. and that's kind of what we work towards every day. >> valley creamery was opened in 2006. the two pastry chefs who started it, chris hoover and walker who is sam's wife, supplied all the pastries and bakeries for the market. they found a space on the block to do that and the ice cream kind of came as an afterthought. they realized the desire for ice cream and we now have lines around the corner. so, that's been a huge success. in 2008, sam started 18 reasons, which is our community and event space where we do five events a week all around the idea of bringling people closer to where the food comes from and closer to each other in that process. >> 18 reasons was started

almost four years ago as an educational arm of their work. and we would have dinners and a few classes and we understood there what momentum that people wanted this type of engagement and education in a way that allowed for a more in-depth conversation. we grew and now we offer -- i think we had nine, we have a series where adults learned home cooking and we did a teacher training workshop where san francisco unified public school teachers came and learned to use cooking for the core standards. we range all over the place. we really want everyone to feel like they can be included in the conversation. a lot of organizations i think which say we're going to teach cooking or we're going to teach gardening, or we're going to get in the policy side of the food from conversation. we say all of that is connected and we want to provide a place that feels really community oriented where you can be interested in multiple of those things or one of those things

and have an entree point to meet people. we want to build community and we're using food as a means to that end. >> we have a wonderful organization to be involved with obviously coming from buy right where really everyone is treated very much like family. coming into 18 reasons which even more community focused is such a treat. we have these events in the evening and we really try and bring people together. people come in in groups, meet friends that they didn't even know they had before. our whole set up is focused on communal table. you can sit across from someone and start a conversation. we're excited about that. >> i never worked in catering or food service before. it's been really fun learning about where things are coming from, where things are served from. >> it is getting really popular. she's a wonderful teacher and i think it is a perfect match for us. it is not about home cooking. it's really about how to facilitate your ease in the kitchen so you can just cook. >> i have always loved eating

food. for me, i love that it brings me into contact with so many wonderful people. ultimately all of my work that i do intersects at the place where food and community is. classes or cooking dinner for someone or writing about food. it always come down to empowering people and giving them a wonderful experience. empower their want to be around people and all the values and reasons the commitment, community and places, we're offering a whole spectrum of offerings and other really wide range of places to show that good food is not only for wealthy people and they are super committed to accessibility and to giving people a glimpse of the beauty that really is available to all of us that sometimes we forget in our day to day running around. >> we have such a philosophical mission around bringing people

together around food. it's so natural for me to come here. >> we want them to walk away feeling like they have the tools to make change in their lives. whether that change is voting on an issue in a way that they will really confident about, or that change is how to understand why it is important to support our small farmers. each class has a different purpose, but what we hope is that when people leave here they understand how to achieve that goal and feel that they have the resources necessary to do that. >> are you inspired? maybe you want to learn how to have a patch in your backyard or cook better with fresh ingredients . or grab a quick bite with organic goodies. find out more about 18 reasons by going to 18 reasons.org and learn about buy right market and creamery by going to buy right market.com. and don't forget to check out

our blog for more info on many of our episodes at sf quick bites.com. until next time, may the fork be with you. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> so chocolaty. mm. ♪♪ >> oh, this is awesome. oh, sorry. i thought we were done rolling. ♪♪

fire department ems at station 49. i was born raise in the oak land my dad is mexican my mom is black i was playing soft ball this hayward and directly behind our soft ball field is an empty field. and almost every day at practice i saw this tiny woman leading

the big people in work outs and eventual low i look in the and found out she was teaching how to do physical trin to get people red to work in the fire department. that peeked my interest. the oak lan fire department was the first fire department i did. i did a firefighter one training program there. that got me into fire whim start the paramedic school i went to city college and fell in love with the city. i did nile internship at station 49. it was wonder. . i learned the san francisco wave doing things. like the wild, wild west, every day. i loved it was a family environment here. that made mow say san fan fire department, that's i didn't want to be. i avoided science my entire education up to becoming a paramedic. i failed my first time taking my emt registry.

i hope well is nobody out there that gets discouraged if this happens. you have opportunity to take again. i d. i came back. took it, passed and continued to paramedic and pass the my registry the first time. being a woman in the fire department i am a minority here. a minority in multiple aspects. i'm a woman. biracial i'm the only black woman paramedic in the ems position. it is insane and i hope i encourage other women to join this profession that does not represent the city of san francisco. i love to show up on a scene and i can see the comfort in member who men looks like me or my family members they see me and they are comforts. i hope there are women that see

me and see themselves in me and know they can do this job limp i have a 20 month old daughter at home. i would like to teach my daughter it is okay to say no as a woman and have and voice that opinion. and i did a good job of that already. >> i really hope that anybody considering this field schedule a ride along. go to your local deputy or knock on an ambulance window can ask to schedule a ride along. that is irrelevant how diit my first couple ride alongs i saw things that blew my mind and said, that's what i want to do with my life. [music]

5 o'clock. >> (music). >> co-founder. we started in 2008 and with the intent of making the ice cream with grown up flavors and with like and with tons of accessible freshens and so we this is - many people will like it and other people will like you my name is alice my husband we're the owners of you won't see ice cream in san francisco and really makes fishing that we are always going together and we - we provide

the job opportunity for high school students and i hired them every year and . >> fun community hubble in san francisco is my district i hope we can keep that going for many years. >> and i'm alexander the owner of ice cream and in san francisco and in the outer sunset in since 1955 we have a vast of flavors liar choke o'clock but the flavors more than three hundred flavors available and i am the owner of the ice cream. and my aunt used to take us out to eat ice cream all the time and what can i do why not bring this ice cream shop and (unintelligible) joy a

banana split or a great environment for people to come and enjoy. >> we're the ordinances of the hometown and our new locations in pink valley when i finished law school we should open up a store and, and, and made everybody from scrap the first ice cream shop any ice cream we do our own culture background and a lot of interaction and we're fortunate we can get feedback and serve to the king of ending and also

[applause] >> omg! [laughter]. can i tell you how happy