Nominate commissioner for another term as the president of this commission. I do that for any number of reasons but they include her un failing good humor. Particularly at very long meetings. Her commitment to the department , herren enthusiasm learning everything a department does. All of the challenges that it faces and her willingness to get in there and try to solve or to advance ordeal with those challenges all the while maintaining her wonderful sense of humor. And because i think this is a job that takes well more than a year to master. Ive been really impressed by the degree to which she has mastered the jobs and the inns and outs of the department and the commission and the confidence she shows now in running meetings with lots of people in the room, compared to when she did it in the beginning i think that shes earned another year in this position. I think she deserves another year in in this commission. I think we will all benefit from having her as our president again. I am so humbled. We need a second. Commissioner. Do you accept the nomination . I do, yes. Thank you. [laughter] gladly. I was surprised. Thank you. Any further discussion . It would be wonderful to have you serve another year. Thank you. Commissioners at this late hour speak into the mics. We move slowly back. So, is there no further discussion, is there Public Comment on this item . Seeing none, all those in favor of the im going to do a roll call. On the nomination of the commissioner as president commissioner bermaho. Aye. Commission commissioner waltz aye. Oyoys. Stevenson. Aye. Stevenson aye. The nomination passes. [applause] im very proud. Thank you so much. Did you hear what she said . She has i love this place. And now commissioner stevenson. We are on the next nomination, ok. So as she always does, commissioner waltz takes all the good words and makes them sound perfect. Which is part of why i would like to nominate her to continue as our Vice President of the commission. I think that her lifelong commitment and this category, her devotion to this commission for how many years now . Um teen. A lot. [laughter] has just done nothing but benefit this city day in and day out. Even though she will always steel the beautiful articulate way of saying things, i would like her to continue on as our Vice President. Thank you. I would like to accept. Ok. Is there any discussion . Second. Discussion or second. Id like to second the motion ok. Is there any further discussion . Seeing none. Is there any Public Comment . Seeing none. We will do roll call vote on the nomination of commissioner waltz for Vice President. Aye. Waltz. Yes. Yes. Yes. Commissioner stevenson. Yes. Commissioner juan is excused. Nomination carries. [applause] congratulations. Could i just say something. I want to thank you all. And i also just want to say that i know, this is a very unusual time. Were all in it together. And well see as we march forward with our new mayor and what will happen in six months, i think that the things that i know i want to focus on is the future of the commission and making sure that everybody in San Francisco knows the great work that we do here and how we reach out to so many communities and we dont leave anyone behind i think thats the best of San Francisco. And i look forward to continuing with all of you. So thank you very much. [applause] i just want to say ditto for me. Ok. Thank you. I see no further discussion. We will now move onto the next item which is item 13. Highlights of the january 17th, 2018 Operations Committee meeting and the december 11th, 2017 and january 8th, 2018 policy Committee Meetings. Ok. So we had a meeting last week, most of which you got the highlights today. We did a big dive into the budget and we got to talk about short falls, funding and we went through Department Area by area and saw how the funding was working there. We did our homework. Im glad we passed everything today. We had a great presentation on help me remember the name of th. A presentation but the name of the the Equity Initiative is a cross Departmental Initiative in the city to make sure all of our communities are being considered with all of the different deficient were making as a department. So what i loved was that they now every initiative we undertake as a department there are questions that we have to ask and the questions are things like who does it serve . What are we not thinking about . Making sure that the equity lens over lays everything so we dont have Environmental Justice program that is mostly thinking about Environmental Justice but that everything we do as a department has a justice lens over laid. The several of the staff have been trained in it and the training will be on going over the next year and its actually happening across the city and all the departments, that was very exciting to see that. Thank you. At our december 11th meeting the policy Committee Heard a presentation on the programs or the Movement Towards use of Renewable Fuels and by city agencies in addition to hearing from the department. We heard from the sustainability with the support of San Francisco and San FranciscoInternational Airport discussing their various contributions to december. We also had a presentation by the citizens climate lobby regarding a proposed carbon feet and dividends, its bipartisan support in congress this issue is going to come before the commission shortly. And then just earlier this month on january 8th, we received an update from chris giger and his colleagues regarding the departments december hearing on the implementation of the 2017 reduced risk pesticide list and we received the first version of the 2018 pesticide list. We reviewed a document that summarized the issues raised in Public Comments to date as well as the departments responses and we heard from chris that there has been a 95 reduction in the use of the most hazardous herbicides within city limits. We also began a discussion of the new restrictions under the reduced risk pesticide list and those of you who had been here before, but not you, know that this will come before us as well but not until may, right. July. Ok. We have some work to do. It will be a few months before we actually are finished with the recommendations for you to take action on. Questions for the Committee Report . Thank you for all the hard work. I had a question regarding when the c. C. L. Carbon fee and dividend issue will come before the full commission. Do you know when . I think in march. March should be the earlyest. This Commission Meeting had been full and the february meeting was full so march would be the earliest. Ok. I cant make a comment about it can be . Why not . I just think its interesting i think we need like its a policy Committee Meeting it was one of those passive presentations where you hear what they have to say. I just do know that car been feet and dividend is taking the carbon revenues giving them to the general public like done in alaska around fossil fuels. Theres other groups out there including the 350s of the world and a lot of groups that dont think its the best use of the money. I am a little reluctant to we can have that discussion thats the protocol but i love the opportunity to engage it more before we have to take a vote. I dont know what the process or path pathway is. I dont feel like we got asked at the policy Committee Meeting or did we have a chance to invite other people who feel differently. Theyre smart, committed, aggressive, they got on our agenda. Plus it already passed here a while ago, which is also interesting. Sure. In this conversation it would be kind of a recaping of the conversation that was had in the Committee Meeting. The conversation of the merits of whether or not the action item should come before the commission would be a conversation for new business. Which is later. Which is next. Rafael. I agree with you commissioner at the end of the policy Committee Meeting the policy committee did not affirmly act. He was hoping you would but you did not. I feel like theres room here to talk about whether a resolution would come forward and what it would say. We have not started crafting anything. So if we would like to, we could revisit perhaps at the next policy Committee Meeting. To have a discussion. Id like to do that. Theres a lot of ways to invest carbon revenues and lots of wayt interrogate the other ways and a lot of those ways are ways Environmental Justice allies prefer. Which is investment into low income communities and those kinds of things. And there are other environmental groups have other ideas. New energy. Im going to interrupt the conversation. This has to be just a recap of the conversation that had happened in the Committee Meeting. Again, if we want to have a discussion about the merits of whether or not this discussion should continue at the commission that would be for new business. Which is next. Which is next. Any Public Comments. Or any other comments . Or next item. Seeing no Public Comments seeing no further discussion, well move onto the next item. The next item is announcements. This item is for discussion. All right. Meeting tomorrow. Well meet tomorrow and what is the address . The retirement. Market. Into the microphone. Ok, yes. Let me pull out my calender. I believe its 1145 Market Street on the sixth floor. Ok. Thank you. Seeing no further discussion an announcements, seeing no Public Comments. We move onto the next item, item 15 new business agenda items. The speaker is anthony val december this is for discussion and possible action. Excuse me. Commissioners, the next meeting of the commission will be a special meeting on wednesday february 21st at 2 00 p. M. And we are having it at the port of San Francisco offices bay side Conference Room peer pier 1 weve had a flurry of meeting here at city hall so the department has decided the offer the opportunity to take the meeting out into the community into one of the city facilities there at the beautiful offices there at the port of San Francisco. So at the commissions request the department is doing a deeper dive into the information that was received at the community meetings. So, the Outreach Team will present more of the data received during the community meetings. The commission will also be considering the annual report, the commission on the environment annual report, followed by a discussion with the City Attorney also at the commissioners about meeting laws so if there are any im sorry meeting laws. The brown act and sunshine act rules surrounding meetings. So if any of you have any questions, please submit them to me so the City Attorney can prepare. You may also ask questions at the meeting but just in case theres any particular issues that you would like covered, please let us know. And the commission is also planning on having its regular meeting in march. Right now the date is march 27th , 2018. But we are in the process of polling commissioners to find a date because theres a conflict with that date. So just a headsup we will look to change that date as well. Thank you. So this is new business. So to pick up where i left off. I think i just want to be clear that i feel like we need to investigate, interrogate if you will, examine, other carbon investment pathways before inviting one where theres just a very active and engage organization pushing for it. City resolutions and Commission Resolutions are part of the strategy so they sought us out. I dont think thats a valid reason to invite them to present it here without looking at other investment pathway through revenue and considering the constituency. I am not saying i oppose it but groups and other environmental groups have other investment ideas about how to use carbon revenues. In the state of california has been a leader in an equity based Investment Strategy and its distinct from what citizens lobby is proposing. Having said that, they do really good work around around the bipartisan solution caucus and other exciting things but i didnt feel like we can leap frog from the policy Committee Meeting from this meeting without a broader examination of other policies. Or whether we want to take action on that. I think its just something we have to realize that they were pushing an agenda and we have to discuss what our vision is. Comments . New business. Can i have a clarification question. I understand just, i thought that they said that the supervisors several years ago, had supported a resolution in support of the end dividend. Is that correct . In which case, it might already be on the books and i dont know why we would need to renew that commitment. That is my recollection too. I do agree the chair of the committee can decide whether or not to calender this item at all for discussion or to go deeper and that will be something that we can discuss at the policy committee under new business as well. Ok. Think about it so that you have a view. My view is that i definitely would want to invite other groups up to the plate. I understand that. I just meant whether or not you have a view on whether or not we should do this. Because it doesnt make any sense why think. To begin this process if at the end, you are going to feel that it isnt worth it for us to do it. I dont think its a high priority. Especially if we can get the question answered about whether theres already action on the books a few years ago in which case it doesnt seem like the best use of our time, i feel like we can discuss this at the policy Committee Meeting but theres a lot of other things where we are moving the ball or where are we on the waste questions weve come up with or just a lot of things. So could we ask you director rafael to at least find out the answer to that. Certainly. And would it be possible for you to email me and lisa and maybe we will not write that. I will let anthony know and he will figure out how the best way to get the information out. With the answer to that question. Has the city already gone on record on that matter. Yes, we will find that out. Thank you. Any other items under new business . Future agenda items . Any Public Comment . All right. Ok. I know were late. I guess one question i have is about i guess in the state of play around where we are in zero waste, not for something that has to come up right away, i know its an issue that comes up with the policy Committee First. Its an issue that continues to be vexing and theres been technological upgrades and good things that are happening and at the same time, theres still issues and so id love an update there. At some point in some venue that makes sense. Our plan is to actually do a fairly deeper dive on the zero waste plan and what kind of metrics makes sense and get the Commission Guidance on that. We havent determined how best to do that yet. Is it the policy Committee First and the full commission or is it some separate meeting were trying to workout right now with the best way is to first frame the questions and the problem statement and figure out how to engage the commission. But you are absolutely right. Its time this year in 2018 is the time to really look into zero waste policy. It would be good to take up our climate summit, how we are going to engage around that. I know that jennifer was dealing with the Mayors Office on it. But it might be nice to take that up in mayor something so its a few months out. Ive asked you about that before. And there was still a lot of things that were up in the air but maybe by may. I wasnt trying to no, no, no. Why think that maybe not the next one or the one after that i dont know the right time but id love an update on green purchasing now that we have the new Technology System in place and were supposed to be able to track that appropriately now. So id love to know how thats going. See no further discussion. And seeing no Public Comments. We will now move on to item 16, adjournment, the time is 9 46p. M. Thank you, everyone. To be. Hi, im average im a personal analyst that the Human Resources examining and recruitment unit and suffix i started my career as a San FranciscoState University and got my bachelors in psyched and orientational psyche if they had we have a great relationship that the San FranciscoUnified School District i exploded for American People interim Shopping Mall and become eligible for a permeate job. Okay. Perfect. I love working for our Human Resources services because of the agriculture were laidback with a professional mindset although Human Resources is a challenge were light a hearted started as a intern guided through the process eventually one day a a Deputy Director or staying with the puc is where i love it [gavel] all right. Welcome to our land use Committee Meeting on monday, february 5, 2018. Im katie tang, the chair of the committee. And were joined by new vice chair supervisor jane kim. Welcome. Welcome back. And, of course, returning member ahsha safai. Our clerk is victor young. And thank you to s. F. Gov tv. Any announcements . Yes. Please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices. Completed speaker cards and any documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. I would like to note that we currently have a quorum of the board constituting a quorum. I forgot to mention, were joined by fewer, yee, stefani as well. Im going to ask you to call item three out of order because we need to make some amendments. Item three, please. Item number tlaoe. Ordinance amending the planning doed accomplish the gear rimasonic special use district in the area generally bounded by the geary boulevard to the south, masonic avenue to the east and assessors parcel block numbers 1071, lots numbers 1 and to the north and west. Thank you. Supervisor stefani, the new sponsor of this item. Thank you, chair tang. Colleagues, thank you for hearing this item today. Im thrilled to put the final touches on this project that has taken over two years to get to this stage. I was ah aids when this first came to district two and it is great to see how far this project has come. This s. U. D. Allows it to go from 21 ewe it in units to 91 units while remaining the same size. It goes from three to 22, that is more affordable units than the total number of units in the original project. These are homes for 95 families to join the neighbourhood along the transit corridor. Thank you to the neighbours, Laurel Heights and antavista neighbours for being so great. We want to thank them for supporting such a dense project in a neighbourhood that hasnt seen any new housing, which i know is challenging for many neighbourhoods. So, thank you to those neighbourhood organisations. This project is a uniquely dense project that is labour and neighboursupported. It took a lot of work and i think the Broad Coalition of people who did work on this. Im very happy to be carrying this across the finish line here today. I do have a couple of amendments in response to the Planning Commission recommendation and ive handed those amendments out to my colleagues. First, the inclusionary rate goes from 18 to 23 . And that is broken down as follows 10 at 55 of a. M. I. 5 at 80 of a. M. I. 4 at 110 of a. M. I. And 5 at 120 of a. M. I. And then of course the appropriate a. M. I. Bands will apply. The second recommendation is around the car share spaces. The Commission Recommended four of the spaces be reserved for car share. So on the advice of the City Attorney, we have increased the findings regarding car share to require four of the 16 Parking Spaces in this project to be reserved for car share use. And those are all the amendments . Yes. Ok. Great. Thank you. Do we want a motion to move those amendments . Yes. Id like to make a motion to accept those amendments. All right. And supervisor safair, did you want to speak on the item as well . No, supervisor stefani summed it up wonderfully. Any questions or xhenzes, any staff . Rention nope. Well go to Public Comment on this item three and i have three cards richard, michael and colleen. And if anyone else would like to speak on item three, please come on up. Thank you. I just wanted to summarize the Planning Commissions actions from a couple of months ago. On november 30, 2017, the Planning Commission, after hearing and closing Public Comments approved the proposed ordinance with modifications, recommended by planning staff. The modifications to the ordinance increased the required onsite Affordable Housing provision from 18 to 23 for rentals at the a. M. I. Levels prescribed by section 415 of the planning code. This recommendation was made on the basis that the proposed s. U. D. Confers density increases that are commons rat with the level of increase contemplated in the home s. F. Bram and, therefore, an increased onsite affordable rate within the su. D. Is appropriate. Staff wants to thank mayor ferrell for amending the ordinance to include the commissions recommendations. At the same hearing, the Planning Commission granted conditional use authorization to demolish the onestorey building and construct a mixed use building containing 95 residential dwelling units above approximately 1700 square feet of ground floor commercial space, 16 off street Parking Spaces and 120s bicycle Parking Spaces. The commission added a condition of at least four of the Parking Spaces are dedicated for car share use. This concludes my friendsing and im available for my questions. Thank you very much. Any further questions . Ok. Nope. Seeing none, then well go back to Public Comment, actually. So, please come on up. Youll each have two minutes to speak on this item. Good afternoon, supervisors. Im Richard Frisbee with the Laurel Heights improvement association. It has take and lot of work as the supervisor pointed out but we have something that i think works for all three parties and id like to thank everyone for the work thats gone into it. Its not been receive but it has been useful and what came out of it is something we all think will benefit the neighbourhood. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is michael coholland. Im a 40year resident and Property Owner on wood street, just a block away from the project. Id like to echo my friend dick frisbees comments that the neighbourhood of which im a part of and also part of the Laurel Heights improvement association, is in support of this project. Id like to extend my welcome to supervisor stefani for coming back to district two. Were glad to have you. And i also noticed on the way in that the actual developers are there in the back and i said this at the planning hearing commission. I wanted to thank them for being so transparent and upfront with the neighbourhood. I think this is a key thing for this commission and the board and the Planning Department to Pay Attention to in the future. Because there is a lot of projects coming online that things work. They work when the developmenter is up front, transparent, communicative to the neighbourhood and we all get to have a conversation. So it has been a while. Really appreciate everyones efforts. Also chris mei is back here. I believe i got your name right. I think he is a staff person who has done an exceptional job at working hard to get the neighbourhood and the developer to get this project done. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. My name is colleen ryan and i live on emmerson street adjacent to the project. And i echo dick and michaels comments. Were pleased that the developer worked with us. We were concerned that the height would be overshadowing our properties. We thank you again for that. And christopher may definitely worked hard and called us back promptly. So, were in support of the promise and we appreciate the fact that things are working. We do understand that the city needs housing. It should be noted that cities should be proud of the fact that you took a 12,000 foot lot, zoned for 21 units and are creating 95 units. That is impressive. Our one concern is the concern of all my neighbours on emmerson is the fact that where gearymasonic funnel into, there is a small Little Corner and there can be a lot of traffic where trader joes is and we know that the developers trying to work out a plan. Were going to wait to see if the traffic is going to be ok getting home each day. Our kids take the bus. We walk and bike through there. And so traffic is really a problem in that corner. So, were really hoping that that part works out. But we are pleased at housing coming and were supportive of that. I walk in the neighborhood a ton. I have a dog and we never got a notice for this or saw one on any type of pole. Which we did a few months ago. And while we dont have a problem with this because we have an excellent negotiator for us, there was no notice. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. South carolina good afternoon, supervisors. Danny campbell with the sheet Metal Workers local 104 and my colleagues alex lanceberg and with electrical workers local six, john corso, local 38 plumber and pipefitters. Very excited about this profnlt its going to deliver lowincome, moderateincome and market rate housing to our citys housing supply. We worked very closely with former supervisor mark ferrells office. I want to thank him and his staff. Planning and not to mention the project sponsor. This project gives Community Benefits and Career Pathways for residents throughs our state aproved apprenticeship programmes. So, we look forward to your support for this su. D. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. And anyone else who would like to speak on this project. Good afternoon. Todd david on behalf of the San Francisco action housing coalition. Very excited to support this project. I really want to give kudos to the neighbourhood for embracing density and more housing for families in San Francisco. I hope it is a model that can be repeated many places on the west side of San Francisco because we certainly need more housing. As far as the traffic concerns, i know this starts to be an impetus for us to start thinking about maybe some subways to the west side or some rapid transit. But we certainly need to be making sure that we can move people around in San Francisco without having them get in their cars. Thank you. Were excited to support it. Any other members of the public who wish to speak on item three . Ok. Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Supervisor stefani, any other remarks . No. Ok. At this time, we had a motion to amend per what supervisor stefani said earlier. Can we get a motion on the item as amended. Motion to move forward with positive recommendation. And well do that without objection. Im sorry. Im sorry. Deputy City Attorney. Oh, to continue the item. Ok. Because it has amendments. Ill make a motion to ill amend my motion and make that a motion to continue. For one week. Ok. Great. Well is that ok . Deputy attorney. As amended. The motion you should make a motion to adopt the amendment and then continue the item one week. Yes. So, colleagues i heard a motion to amend. There was a second. So were going to amend it and then were going to we had a motion to continue for one week. All right. Thank you. Now mr. Clerk, items one and two together. Item number one, hearing on the efficacy of the citys vai cantsabandoned property or did nation and strategies for preventing vacant storefronts. Item number two, hearing on the findings of the 2017 retail study conducted by the office of economic and Workforce Development that reviews the state of the Retail Industry nationally and locally and provides an overview of challenges and opportunities for San Franciscos neighbourhoods and retail commercial districts. Thank you very much. I want to thank sponsor to the hearing supervisors fewer, ronan, yee, guest for the district two office. I dont know if supervisor stefani is taking over, but certainly although my name is not on, this its something that is a topic that ive been very interested in as well. I want to thank my colleagues for bringing this to our attention. We are going hear from many, many departments that are working hard day in and day out on this issue. The office of economic and Workforce Development, our department of building inspection, we will hear from our budget and legislative Analyst Office on the report and also we have planning staff as well and i forget if i mentioned d. B. I. , but department of building inspection. So, with that said, i know that there is a lot of work that we all do in our representive supervisors offices in conjunction our other city departments in trying to both recruit and detain businesses in our commercial corridors and i know that each of our corridors have their own sets of challenges or attractiveness. But especially when you throw into the mix the changing face of retail and that there is so much ecommerce going on right now. I know that its a conversation we all need to have as a city family in terms of whether we to reconsider how it is that we zone our city and commercial neighbourhoods. How it is that we deal with our vai cants and abandoned properties and so forth. So, with that said, id like to kick it over to supervisor fewer, the lead sponsor on the first hearing. Thank you, chair tang. Long before i ran for this office, vacant commercial storefronts had been a concern for residents and merchants of the rich monday district. In my district as well as across the city, storefronts left vacant for not only months but years can have a terrible impact on a neighbourhood. Long time antistorefronts contribute to blight as well as issues of safety and cleanliness. They wear down the pride that neighbours have in their neighbourhood. And empty commercial storefronts on the market may contribute to rising commercial rents. I want to thank in advance all the departments that will be presenting on this issue today and i understand that there are steps that have been taken, including legislations in 2014 from supervisor tang. I am really looking forward to todays presentations and the discussion about next steps because while there are many reasons that contribute to vacant commercial storefronts, what is clear to me is that we arent doing enough as a city to prevent themment. As i know well hear today our current mechanisms for track empty commercial store fronts and buildings are not capturing the true scope of the problem and enforcement seems to be nonexistent. For instance tb. L. A. Report states that the currently reported commercial vacancies none are located in the richmond district. And let me tell you i beg to differ. Just ask a neighbour who lives near balboa and 6th avenue. I hope this hearing serve toes eliminate the current status of our systems addressing commercial vacancies and some of the action steps we can take to minimize such vacancies and the negative impacts on our neighbourhoods. Our goal as a city should be to support vibrant corridors with store fronts that meet the needs of our neighbourhoods. I believe supervisor yee also has comments on this. Thank you. Supervisor ye, e . Thank you, chair tang. I ask the budget and legislative Analyst Office to prepare a report on commercial vacancies because like every other supervisor in the city, im concerned with the vitality of our commercial corridors. While we have many vacant businesses throughout our neighbourhoods, it is obvious when you stroll down our streets that some blocks have a chronic issue with storefront vacancy and can lead to blight and make our neighbourhoods feel run down and neglected. Though we passed building regulations in 2009 and again in 2014, we have not been seeing the kind of improvement that we had hoped for. This hearing is designed to provide us with information of our Current Situation as well as recommendations on how we can improve enforcements of our current laws and ideas for dealing with this issue using new approaches. I it is not like San Francisco is alone on this issue. There are other jurisdictions that have taken different approaches to improve vacancy issues. They can be addressed through zoning and high rents and the rise of an ecommerce are challenging traditional retailers in San Francisco and elsewhere. Places like seattle has been taking it on for a few years now and id like to say that i appreciate the discussion well have at the end of this where there is some policy options that will be presented and many they have been work on this already, but the board of supervisors can request that, for instance, the Planning Department and Planning Commission to consider a report back on possible zoning and planning code changes. So, id like to say that ive been work on the issue that might change some of the zoning to benefit some of these vacant commercial propertis that were seeing. Were seeing that there is certain areas where they build these commercial spaces and it has been sitting empty, brandnew for two to three, sometimes four years. And so one of the things that im doing is working with the Planning Department and oewd to come up with one idea with helping solve some of these issues. And im hoping to present that some time this month. Thank you, supervisor yee. If there are no further comments, then we were going to have the budget and legislative analyst provide their report findings first. Good afternoon, chair tang. Members of the committee and supervisors. Excuse me. Fred russo from the budget and legislative office. And we prepared a policy analysis report for supervisor yee, preventing and filling commercial vacancies that was issued last months and ill provide a summary of it for you today. So, to start commercial vacancies, causes and effects, theres normal turnover, of course, which happens to all kinds of businesses and spaces are vacated and put on the market and occupied again. But there are other causes for commercial vacancies, including owners lack of information about tools and ways of finding new tenants, speculation to obtain higher rents or sales prices in the future. Sometimes buildings just stay vacant waiting for a tenant who will pay a higher rent. Neighbourhood conditions sometimes make property unattractive to a new tenant. Perhaps the owner is trying to lease it out. But as having difficultty atracting someone. City regular leighs and zoning can be a factor. Disputes among owners. Sometimes there are families, for example, that own businesses or a group of Business People and they dont agree on the approach to the property or what the rent should be. Or, you know, how to market it. So, sometimes they sit empty while there are just internal disputes like that. In addition, and it was mentioned in the earlier comments, the world of retail, of course, has changed dramatically in recent years. So another factor is the lack of demand. Some of the commercial space cannot be filled because a lot of retailers are curtailing their businesses or turning back entirely. And so the effect of all of this is prolonged particularly for prolonged vacancy and abandonments, not those normal Business Cycle types can be bliegts. Loss of Community ServingSmall Businesses and weaker neighbourhood economies. To address that, there are a couple of things the city has done. One is that has adopted two ordinances to deal with vai cants and abandoned buildings and vacant and abandoned commercial storefronts. They are embedded in the Building Code and theyre similar in structure in that they require owners of vacant or abandoned buildings. That can be residential or commercial to register with the department of building inspection and they have to pay an annual fee of 711 as long as the buildings are vacants. Then the commercial storefront ordinance, which was adopted in 2014 added, besides full buildings, just individual storefronts and it is a similar structure in that owners are to report to the department of building inspection and pay a 711 annual fee. One difference in that case is the fee is not due informal nine months after the registration to allow the owners time to market or repair the property. There are fines attached to lack of compliance with this. And they can vary based on the amount of time that has transpired. One thing that is important to point out about these ordinances is they exclude buildings and commercial storefronts that are currently under permit for repairs or are being actively marketed so they would not be required to register, but those that are empty and dont fit under those conditions are required to register and pay the annual fee. In addition to those ordinances, there are a number of programmes and services, administered largely by the office of economic and Workforce Development. Theyre aimed at preventing commercial vacancies or assisting tenants and owners and filling commercial vacancies. The programmes are listed here and aoen they are speaking later. We can probably give you more details on all of those. But we have description of the programme in our report. We started with this analysis in trying to determine how many buildi