vimarsana.com

Applications and the recommendation from h. P. C. , staff find the businesses have met the three criteria to qualify for listing on the Small Business legacy. Your support of the businesses should be as a motion in favor of the resolutions. In the resolutions, please pay close attention to the core physical features or traditions that define the business. Once approved by the s. B. C. , the businesses must maintain these physical features or traditions in order to remain on the legacy business registry. For academy of ballet, its ballet school, for li po lounge, its bar. For lyra, its type casting or letter and book binding. For home together San Francisco, its renovation project, and for zazie, its restaurant. That concludes my presentation, and i have individuals that would like to speak on behalf of the organizations. President adams okay. Were going to go right into Public Comment now. Dont be shy. Hi. My name is zori carr, and i am the director of the academy of ballet. And i would like to, of course, thank you for helping us maintain the legacy of the academy of ballet. You made a the 85yearold janet zouzouin very happy. Id like to thank supervisor yee and mandelman for their assistance in this designation, as well. Id like to tell you why we did become a legacy business. After the building was viewed by the architect and chose it as a city legendary business, they told me why they chose a legacy business, and i didnt even know that it even existed. And then just because of turn of events that we had problems with the Open Bible Church that used to be next to us both businesses were sold separately, all of a sudden, we need to find another way of egress. We got letters from the department of building inspector, i couldnt get any replies from them. Thank god for tom temprano who came in and said lets put all these people together and see what we can do. The last estimate for the exit is going to be between 150,000 and 250,000 which is not going to be feasible for the academy of ballet. I actually had to get a law firm for it. [please stand by] by the way, our deadline was november 30th. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello, my name is kathleen walkup. Thank you for the opportunity for me to speak on behalf of the Lyra Corporation as a legacy business. As a young printer in the 1970s, m h foundry was our lifeline. In fact, just as my press partner and i had decided to open the first womens letter press job shop in San Francisco, since the late 1800s, we found out that m h might close. That was such a serious employee to us, we reconsidered our ability to open a business in the absence of the foundry. Luckily for us, the foundry was rescued from oliveon and it went into successful operation. In 2001, therefore, when a member of the presidio commission phoned me to ask if i could speak on behalf of m h foundry and the move to the presidio, i was more than happen to support this application, since i had firsthand knowledge of its importance to the business and Cultural Community in the bay area. Since the late 1970s, i have been professor of book art at mills college, where i have had the privilege of teaching new generations of students the arts of Letter Press Printing and fine book making. Once again m h foundry is critical to our ability to provide type for the students work in the presses. Our annual pilgrimage to the press, which by the way is tomorrow, and foundry, is the alltime favorite field trip for our students where they can literally see history in action, while also viewing the highest level of achievement in bookmaking. Our current studio manager mark was trained at mand h and has been a central part of our team for four years. This year m h welcomed the first graduateern intern as part of our new initiative, bay area partnerships. Personally, i feel as if a loop that began in the early 70s, with my arrival on the book scene in San Francisco, has been closed with this internship. I am proud and grateful to speak on behalf of this continuously vital institution. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello. My name is kelsy hall. And i work for rebuilding together San Francisco. And since 1989, rebuilding together has been bringing san franciscans together to fulfill our mission, which is repairing home, revitalizing communities and rebuilding lives. In those 30 years, weve brought together 30,000 volunteers and done repairs on over 4,000 homes in San Francisco and 380 Community Spaces and nonprofit spaces. The neighbors that we are lucky enough to work with, on average are 74 1 2 years old, have lived in their home for over 30 years and have an annual Household Income of 13,333. 82. And these are families who have lived in their homes and in their neighborhoods for a very long time. And their property taxes are low, but they cannot afford the critical maintenance and safety modifications on their home, while keeping up with what you need to get by. I was thinking about what it means to be a legacy business and have a legacy and to preserve the heart and the character and if the diversity of San Francisco. And and i was going through thank you letters we get from our letters. And one of our neighbors charlene mentioned legacy in her letter. And charlene has lived in her home for 58 years. She lives there with her sister and her son. Her father built that home for her. And he passed away and shes unable to keep up with the maintenance of that home. She wrote to us and she said what a joy you have brought to our home and family. I could never thank you enough for all of your expertise and selfless hours you have so willingly given to make sure the armstrong legacy continues that my father put his sweat and life into. I hope the universe returns to you 3,300 what you have given out. So these critical repairs and deferred maintenance and safety modifications are often the difference between a family getting to hold on to their home and losing it. [bell dings] and so we preserve the legacy of families, like charlene and her family, and we also preserve the safety of our older neighbors, so they have grab bars and they dont fall in their home. And after 30 years in San Francisco, we are trusted in the communities that weve been working with. And its certainly a legacy that im proud to be a part of. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Mas [applause] good afternoon, commissioners. My name is paul gray. Im a longtime volunteer with rebuilding together. And i want to give the perspective as a volunteer. When i say long time, ive been there for a solid 10 to 11 years and a smattering of days when it was christmas and april. Oddly enough im considered a kid when it comes to the volunteers. There are many tradespeople that have been there 20, 25 and a couple that have even been there since the very first year. The volunteers are very loyal and its a wonderful organization. Ive been part of probably 20 large projects and a few dozen small projects. And one thing thats always for sure when i walk out of that job is the homeowner or the facility well, well stick with nor a second. The homeowners lives are drastically improved improved fa health perspective, a safety and a comfort. The things we can do in one day on larger projects a couple of weekends are phenomenal. As kelsy had laid out, were providing critical upgrades to homes, that are keeping the seniors in the city ages gracefully. And its really truly the Affordable Housing, keeping that set of elderly in their homes and being able to pass it on to their children. We also do repairs on nonprofits. San francisco is getting more and more difficult for nonprofits to be able to stay, as we all know the economic pressure not only of residents, but of nonprofits. Rebuilding together does something no one else does. They fill a market from a business perspective that no one else does. We help other nonprofits, who are just on the edge of leaving, provide services to their Community Centers and to their businesses, so they can in turn do the missions that they were set out to do. So i know theres many businesses and many entities that are need, in which to keep homeowners and Small Businesses here in the city. Everyone together does something again truly unique. So i urge you to do everything in your power to keep rebuilding together here, because other businesses will have the domino effect, if were unable to do what we the Critical Services we do. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. [applause] hello. My name is zai. And im the outreach and volunteer manager with rebuilding together San Francisco. I came to rebuilding together as an americorps member from a really small town in tennessee. So small that the people that i started kindergarten with are the same folks that i graduated high school with. So im really used to a pretty tightknit community. And like knowing my nextdoor neighbors. When i moved to San Francisco, i was horrified that i wouldnt know anyone. I moved here all by myself and started with rebuilding together, you know, just scare of the of this giant city that ive been dreaming about moving to since i could remember. Working with rebuilding together has given me an amazing perspective about the heart and the spirit of san franciscans. I have met people who raised their families in their homes, got married in their homes, gave birth to grandchildren in their homes. And its just amazing to know that those people are so willing and ready to stay in their homes, and still volunteer and help people who live next door to them come together and just really feel like theyre not alone. So i urge you to push rebuilding together into a legacy business, place or whatever its called. To make sure that were able to stay here and revitalize under moos and help this huge place feel smaller, safer and like you can call on your neighbor for a cup of sugar. Thank you. Neuromuscular next speaker, please. My name is misty palmer. And i live in the mount limb bus neighborhood and i have lived there for 36 years. Im here on behalf of zazie. I knew katrine. In fact, i knew the person that owned the restaurant space prior to her. And under katrines leadership, the menu really flourished. When jen came, they she expanded on that. And i have always just felt that shes shes been a real focal point for the neighborhood. Coal valley is a real neighborhood. I hear people talking about the rebuilding and the sense of community. Well, thats what we have in coal valley and mount limb bus. Its mount olympus. I admire jens ability to higher wonderful staff, to keep them, to pay them appropriately. Theyre very loyal. Shes very good to every single employee working with them to accommodate their needs. And it builds on the sense of community, because you go in and you see the same restaurant people. I have a lot of national and international guests. And i always take them to zazie for what i consider a real neighborhood experience. And when they come back to visit, if they go nowhere else, they have to go back to zazie for at least one meal. And so i think that shes unique in what she has brought to the neighborhood. And this is what we all hope to happen in a large city, to have that sense of community. And she certainly fosters that. Thank you. Next speaker, please. [applause] hi. Im jennifer, the current owner of zazie. Although owner sort of implies that somehow its mine. In many ways its not. It is the neighborhoods. It is our employees. 38 employees and 38 families that rely on me and i take that responsibility very seriously. And thats in addition to the some 200,000 people that visit us every year. So i really applied for legacy status, even though we have a couple of years shy of 30 years, with the awareness that landlords are changing, the neighborhoods are changing. I want to ensure, as best i can, that zazie can still be there for all of the workers that i rely on and that have become family to me. As well as for the neighborhood and the locals and tourists alike that come to us for that moment when youre not looking at your phone and when you actually have an interaction with a human being, that has a life, has personality. So i hope that you can consider us a couple of years early, so that in two years, when my lease comes up, we have a little bit more of an arsenal behind us to stand for coal valley and stand for my employees. And make sure that this little tiny place, thats just one of thousands of restaurants in San Francisco. Its those tinies restaurants that really create our sign. Everywhere else has applebee central. Thank you very much. We appreciate your consideration. Thank you. [applause] next speaker, please hi, im sarah. Im the director of programming at Lyra Corporation and the grabhorn institute. We are really grateful to be considered for legacy business status, as kathleen walkup so beautifully stated. Weve been around for more than 100 years in various incarnation, teaching, handbook making and practicing type casting, Letter Press Printing and handbook binding. Were open to the public every week for tours at 3 00. It is a very unique visceral way to learn about handbook making and were really grateful to still be around, able to share that with people. And were grateful for your consideration, including us on the legacy business registry. Were also great toast s. F. Heritage for making us aware of the possibility and for advocating to create this legacy business registry. So thank you. Great. Thank you. [applause] any more members of the public who would like to speak . Come on up. Ill be really quick. I wanted to echo what everyone said about zazie. Living in coal valley, it is really the focal point of our community and neighborhood. Its where i go with my parents when im in town, where i go to celebrate anniversaries, introduce new people to the town. It really is a vital part of our community. And i cant express my gratitude to jennifer enough. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] any more members of the public . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Commissioner. I wanted to thank everyone for coming and for creating really killer narratives. These are great. I can tell you put a lot of time into it. It will give back to you. You can probably already tell, writing down your historical narrative, kind of reinvigorates things and, you know, restates the purpose of what youre doing. Its not lost on us. I hope its not lost on you how important you have for the city. Thank you for being here. Great. Commissioner dooley. One of the greatest pleasures of being a commissioner is to learn about some very unique businesses, that i may not have been aware of. And it just is really exciting to see youre here and youre going to stay. Ive spent many an evening at the li po and im delighted to see that its still going on. Thank you. Im just going to make a couple of quick comments. Academy of ballet, an office right across from you, the sterling bank. Youre right. The block in my 20something years being there, you know, its changed. I really appreciate your comments, especially with the Open Bible Church next door. You know, we need to some more changes up on our block of market street. And then rebuilding together San Francisco. I am very familiar with you and everything you guys have done. And you should be very, very proud of yourself for what you are doing and what youll continue to do. Theres been a lot of businesses that small profits and individual home ownerships that i know throughout the city, that these people, these families wouldnt be here if it wasnt for you. So you really, really should be proud of what you do and what your organization does. Okay. Because thats like the fabric of this city. And what were all about. And then zazies restaurant, i love your restaurant. I have been there not as much as i should. I have been there a few times. I live up near mount olympus. Youre right down the hill. We need to make sure you stay around for a while. So really appreciate that. So, commissioners, do we have any recommendations . I move that we nominate and vote for all of the businesses presenting here today to become our newest legacy businesses. I second. Clerk motion by commissioner dooley to support all five resolutions, seconded by commissioner riley. Roll call vote. Commissioner dooley . Yes. Commissioner dwight is absent. Commission laguana . Is absent. Missioner alexandriareer commissioner riley . Yes. Commissioner zouzounis . Yes. Clerk motion passes 50 with two absent. Great. Congratulations. [cheers and applause] were going to do one group photo with all of our legacy businesses over there with the commission. Rebuilding San Francisco. Lyra corporation. Zazie. All right, everyone. One, two, three. Im going to take a few of them. One, two, three. One more. Yep. Perfect. One, two, three. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. [laughter] thank you very much. Thank you very much. Awesome article. Thank you. Youve got to keep it going. [laughter] clerk item number 4, office of Workforce Development. Update on Small Business streamlining legislation anded d administrative reforms. The implementation of mayors Small Business budget investment. The presenters are joaquin torres, director of Workforce Development. Laurel arvanitidis, director of Business Development. Jorge rivas. Acting director of invest in neighborhoods. And bert correction, hes the director. Clerk director perform good afternoon, commissioners. As always, a big thank you to all of you for all that you do in support of our Small Business community. And our Diverse Communities of San Francisco. We just wanted to take a few moments today to provide an update on the work that weve been doing. Some of the policy direction that weve been taking. Some of the legislation that weve been enacting, some of the investments that weve been making and how we want to continue to engage both with you and with the greater Small Business community in doing our work across San Francisco. Its especially important for mayor breed in doing this work, for the continued success of our city. When you talk about building Affordable Housing, housing Small Business and neighborhood commercial corridors, creating Career Pathways to goodpaying jobs. All of these pursuits are tied into a our larger goal of fostering a resilient, diverse economy, that creates opportunities for all san franciscans to thrive and succeed here. I know you all know the numbers, spa Small Businesses are a key economic driver for the people of San Francisco. They are the cornerstones of our neighborhoods. They define the culture of our city. They contribute to the character of every one of our neighborhoods, whether you talk about to the bay, view, to the outer sunset. There are Community Gathering spaces where residents get to know their neighbors and their success is essential, as i said, to advancing mayor breeds agenda on economic equity. I also just want to say that it really is an every daytoday conversation that we have, how reframe of the discussions around how we want to support Small Businesses. So please be assured that those principles, those values about the work and value that Small Businesses provide are present in our everyday, daytoday conducting of our business. Its a path to economic success that should be available to all san franciscans, regardless of their background. We also know that Small Businesses recently in San Francisco are he feeling the pressure, from a changing retail environment, from the easy veeps of echamber of commerce, from rising costs and, yes, from at times an overbearing, very difficult city bureaucracy. Starting and growing a business in the city can have its challenges. But we are working and we have been working to make it easier, in partnership with all of you. Whether it is by having more intentional forums and spaces for Small Business owners, to share their ideas and solutions to providing grants and access to capital, thats accessible to strengthen businesses and facilitate their growth, to introducing legislation to reduce vacant storefronts and streamline the permitting process. Whats more in this past budget cycle, mayor breed entrusted us with 9 million in new investments, to empower entrepreneurs and support our local Small Business community. Misses, i want to say your guidance, your leadership and togetherrer with your director regina dickendrizzi, benefits that work in the months ahead. As we continue to deepen our efforts to strengthen and uplift this industry thats a vital piece of our economy and culture. So today youll be hearing hearm a few members of our team. The results of the Small Business roundtable, when we first came together with mayor breed during Small Business week last year. And what the outcomes of what those principles have led us to. The resulting 9 million and where we are in terms of providing those dollars to benefit our neighborhoods and Small Businesses directly. Some of the recent and upcoming administrative reforms that are already in place. The Small Business streamlining legislation that we recently signed with mayor breed, together with supervisor vallie brown and later in a separate presentation, our construction mitigation efforts. I know youll be hearing later on. These are all collectively a result of very impassioned, dedicated people who want for make sure that theyre listening to you and your constituency and our constituency. So i want to thank you for this opportunity. For the partnership and we look forward to the further conversation. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, joaquin. Thank you, commissioners, for having us here. Im the director of Business Development for the office of economic and Workforce Development. When mayor breed directed oewd to help Small Businesseses and to find real process change to alleviate the needs and concerns of our Small Businesses, we knew that our first step was to solicit feedback. As such, we called together the Small Business able, during Small Business week of last year. 45 Small Businesses participated in two sessions each. We worked to ensure the many businesses we invited were ones that we had encountered over the past few years. These are individuals that worked with our Business Solutions team, connected to us to our Neighborhood Outreach or participated in our marketing efforts. Bringing new voices to the discussion and trying to cultivate additional voices, to participate in and inform our citys work. So what did we hear . We heard a desire to create a Small Business express lane. People asked for us to continue to find ways to build predictability into their process. They said give me a check list and then you need to follow it, too, city. They asked us to recognize the cost of compliance. How much does it cost to change your straws. How much does the Health Care Security ordinance and complying and recordkeeping cost for a Small Business. Whats the burden for professional drawings that must be submitted for a change of use to add line sales to your business. They asked us to educate them. They want to make sure that brokers and Property Owners have a more realistic vision of what potential rents should be. And the timelines for tenant improvements and permits that will be required from the city. They said they dont know what were doing and they want to find it easier to find out the great work that the city is trying to enact. They asked us to articulate whats happening at 49 south van ness, at the onestop permitting center. A feeling that our ncds seem out out of date. They asked how can they be reflective of todays needs. And they asked for a better and more proactive communication. They said that they dont know what were doing, they dont know what resources exist. And they feel like theyve given each department their contact info, yet none of us know how to get in touch with them. They want more resources from us. They dont need Technical Assistance, they dont need money. They need to understand how to comply. They need to understand what tools we have, so that they can just continue to operate. So these are commitments back to the community. If you are operating a business, our goal is to simplify and reduce your payments, to make compliance easier, to improve communication, to create new resources for your business, and to allow for Business Model flexibility. If youre a new business our goal is to reduce the time it takes to open, provide clear pathways from idea, when you come to the office of Small Business desk, all the way to operation. And to help you staff up. And if youre a neighbor or a resident, we want to support activation of vacancies and support the existing businesses in the corridors that you love. So how are we going to do this . For each of these columns, weve identified vacancies, we need to reduce the permit time. We need to activate vacancies so existing businesses dont suffer from vacancies on their street and implement vacancy assistance to understand the conditions of their streets. For permit streamlining, with he need to reduce the time. We need to implement flex retail to allow current businesses to engage in new Business Models and explore new ways to create revenue. And we need to get our businesses opened faster, for our neighbors and residents to enjoy. Can i ask you a quick question . Yes. On the vacancy issue, and if you can on the updated zoning, because you brought up how outofdate that is, which is like one of my things im carrying, because it hasnt been updated since 1987. I would really love to work with oewd. I know there was a gentleman who work used to work at planning scott sanchez, hes no longer around. All of the neighborhood groups worked with and we were already getting ready to change it. And then it went away. So thats something if we can tie those two together. Absolutely. That was like thats i think that would help a lot. I think its its a challenging one. Its one that oewd wants to embark on. I think we need to work closely with our elected supervisors and the mayor and the communities to make sure that we do it in a thoughtful way, that addresses all of the various concerns from the various stakeholders. Oh, absolutely. Were ready. So what are we pursuing with our sister departments . I talked earlier about how talking to our customers was step one. Now we need to work with our colleagues on step two. Were spending this year doing a deep dive into actualizing Real Solutions for our businesses. How can we simplify process . What are the ways to reduce referrals between departments, are there opportunities for coordinating inspections, how as we departments Work Together to improve process. How can we reduce costs, what fees can see economies of scale. What fees are obsolete and excessive and opportunities to discount fees in certain areas. How can we better use the info to get information out to businesses. For instance, if a business got an awning permit 15 years ago, and were about to reduce waive fees for Small Business we can week, how can we reach out to them and say the awning permit is 15 years old, do you need a refresh. Were waiving fees. How can we be more proactive, so businesses know what opportunities exist for them to take advantage of. Thats what were working on in the future. What are we doing right now . Jorge is going to discuss the mayors new budget items, targeted at increasing services and opportunities for our Small Businesses. Good afternoon, commissioners. President , thank you, laurel for that. Im going to cover this, the additional dollars that the mayor allocated to our budget. These are new, just a reminder these are new dollars above our baseline. Summary, theres 9 million. The mayor reallocated to the oewd budget, with onetime allocation of 1 million to recapitalize the Revolving Loan fund. 2 million over the next two years for the expansion of s. F. Shines. And ill go into more details of s. F. Shines in a bit. 1 million of a onetime of 2 million for Small Business fee assistance relief program. A onetime over the next two years, investment of 4 million in the program called Community Cornerstones, which is a pilot program, which ill share more details in a bit. Oewd supports various access to capital programs. One of those programs is a Revolving Loan fund. Since the program commenced in 2007, the Revolving Loan fund has actually allocated 177 loans for a total of about 5. 2 million. Of these loan, i the majority have focused in highneed neighborhoods and supported over 60 womenowned businesses and 53 minorityowned businesses. As you can see, the Repayment Program is pretty high. The additional 1 million will allow us to recapitalize the loan program. This will allow us to provide lowinterest rates to invest in corridors. Were looking at about 3. 5 rate. But the loan is also available to citywide businesses or businesses across the city. The last time we actually provided resources to this Revolving Loan fund was in 2013, under mayor lee. And main street lounge is our partner in administering the loan. Were currently actually amending their contract, so we can add the additional dollars. Next piece is the 2 million allocation for the next two years to expand the s. F. Shines program, into the bayview, excelsior and lower haight. The dollars support Small Business owners to make improvements to their storefronts and interiors. With the goal here is to make the spaces more appealing and accessible to patrons and contribute to the overall vitality of the neighborhood. We estimate that the additional dollars will support about 100 businesses over the next two years. Just quickly, just some history on the program. Since 2009, s. F. Shines has completed 203 storefront improvement projects and given over 3. 6 million in support. It has also allowed us to expand to various types of the program, not only s. F. Shines, the regular project that you think about the entire facade, makeover that comes with the program, but also a quick awning program that allows these dollars to spread further. Support of Small Business with an awning makeover, a quick paint job to their storefront. And also s. F. Shines is working with local nonprofits to incorporate art na their facades and make sure its culturally relevant. It could be around the holidays or particularly focused around themes. Out of the dollars we put out there, 35 have supported womenowned businesses. And about 65 have supported minorityowned businesses. And this year alone, weve implemented 73 programs. We just closed r. S. P. That allows this election for the next contractors to help us implement the s. F. Shines dollars that were allocated to our budget. Next piece. The next piece we have here is a Small Business fee rebate program. As ismael of the mayors as a signal of the mayors commitment knowing that fees are a challenge for our Small Businesses, but also recognizing the time that it would take for us to address them. Mayor breed allocated money this year to provide immediate relief in the budget. The rebates will target relief to support businesses that are subject to ongoing regulatory license fees in San Francisco. It will ensure that businesses receive a partial refund on their ongoing fees, beyond business registration, that are paid to the city for permitser such a Cash Register, print scanners, d. P. H. Or the Carbon Dioxide tanks for the soda machines with the department of public health. Oewd Tax Collectors Office is ensuring the money reaches businesses this winter. We are designing the program so there is no need to apply or request the information. If youre a Small Business and pay fees beyond the business registration, through our consolidated building process, you will simply get a mailin check. Get a check in the mail, excuse me. We estimate Small Businesses will receive a refund. 88. The next slide here we have is these San Francisco Community Cornerstones program, which is a pilot program. Recognizing San Franciscos nonprofit and Small Business is our Community Cornerstones or hubs for essential services and affordable resources that support lowincome opportunities. For this reason, this years 4 million onetime allocation will pilot the Community Cornerstones program. This program is a twofold program. It will support about 25 to 30 Small Businesses, with commercial, physical improvements and Technical Assistance moving into spaces, acquired through the Mayors Office smallsized division program. We estimate theres about we know about 13 buildings in the pipeline for now for the program. And we estimate about 34 commercial spaces are available to benefit in the program. Nice. For the nonprofit side, we expect support 10 to 15 nonprofits with Financial Assistance to complete tenant improvements in groundfloor spaces in newly constructed Affordable Housing sites. The timeline is we expect guidelines to be released in december of this year. The first application deadline will be february of next year. And awards will be announced, which nonprofits will be selected for the grant dollars in march of 2020. With that, im going to go ahead and pass it over to ben on our team to go over business streamlining. Good afternoon, commissioners. Ben van houten. Here with an update on permit streamlining. The Small Business permit streamlining legislation was introduced in december of last year. And it was adopted unanimously by the board and signed by the mayor in september. And it became effective october 11th. So were in the early days of implementation. But really excited about some of the new opportunities to come out of this legislation. Im going to do a quick overview, recap of the legislation itself. And highlight a little bit how some businesses are already looking to pursue opportunities based on it. And then talk about implementation and next steps, kind of where were heading from there. Just as an overview, this is a very technical package of legislation. But really all of these pieces, that were a part of the legislation, came from real world situations. Small businesses coming to the office of Small Business, coming to folks in economic and Workforce Development or others. And finding themselves stuck at some part of the process or finding themselves unable to do what they wanted to do, in order to strengthen their business, expand their business, moving forward. Four main buckets of reforms in this legislation. Bucket number one, enabling Retail Businesses to diversify their offerings. We have heard from Retail Businesses and informed by retail study as well, that in order to get patrons in the door, get them to browse the retail wares, get them to linger a little bit longer, businesses are interested in offering togo food, coffee, pastry, that sort of thing. Businesses are interested in hosting events. And so two pieces to this legislation, one, to remove barriers at the local level. Its really rightsize the local code with the state code to allow our Retail Business to serve that to togo coffee or pastries without building out bathroom access for the patrons. Second lie, on the events side, we reduced or eliminated food and beverage requirements from entertainment permitting or Retail Businesses that want solve some accessory entertainment use. Theres a Catering Company in south of market, that really wanted to have togo sandwich window to help activate that corner and the corridor and also to bring in some additional revenues for the business. They werent able to do that previously, because you would have had to walk through their kitchen, while it was in operation in order to get to the bathroom. So theyre really excited about this legislation and adding a new amenity to their business. Thank you. Another piece of this legislation, increasing opportunities for businesses to fill vacancies and enhance vibrancy. We really delved deeply into some of the more byzantine aspects of the planning code around n. C. 1 zoning and limited commercial uses. There are certain parts of the planning code where the zoning for one neighborhood applies to other neighborhoods as well. And this was something that the business in coal valley found itself stuck by, that neighborhood cafe, wooden coffee house just trying to add beer and wine to extend his hours and offer live comedy events, which was a part of the neighborhood character and culture for a long time. He found his Business Limited by controls that were intended for haight street and limit new restaurants on haight street. We established more reasonable controls, again where the controls for the neighborhood, they apply there, but reduced the buffers that create these conflicts with other neighborhoods. Also we corrected or updated the code on the uses. It used to be in most neighborhoods an arcade, pinball, video games, that sort of thing was actually i think surprisingly restricted, owing to some 1980s fears about the impacts of arcades op young people. Theres been increased interest in arcades, without the commensurate, negative impact on young people. So we worked to revise arcade zoning. So as a result of this, arcades are permissible, permitted or with conditional use in a lot more many more zoning districts. Weve heard interest from people who want to start arcades without alcohol or anything. The final piece is supporting openair food service. Our code, our health code had said that you need to keep your doors and windows closed at all times, which was a real challenge for businesses that wanted to have the openair feel. And already, thanks to this legislation, a cafe in the mission, who inherited the business from or i talked to the prior tenant of this location, they said, oh, you know, if only a connection with the community. If only we had been closer to the sidewalk. And, as a result, of this legislation, that new cafe did not have to buy and install costly screens ford to keep their doors and windows open during business hours. Already saving businesses there. For our live music and other entertainment venues, we reduced duplicative requirements. Previously if you wanted to get an entertainment permit, you would have to go back to the Health Department or go back to the fire department, even if you already have your Health Permit and fire permit. If youve gone through the Building Permit process, you have to go back to the Building Permit. By eliminating duplicative inspections, where somebody has just gone through the process, this can save businesses up to 600 in fees. And inspection fees. And up to a month in processing time to get their permits. And then we also rightsized some of the requirements for food service at our entertainment venues. Final piece here is the most technical of technical legislation. There were a lot of places in the planning code where inconsistencies, migs in the code were leading to businesses getting different answers, depending on who they were talking to at the counter. Or required businesses to get letters of determination, to figure this stuff out and letter of determination means a few hundred bucks, another month or so of time. We really want to reduce the process and reduce the requirements to the extent possible. All right. A brief detour into the administrative reforms, that were announced as part of along with the introduction of this legislation last december. This is a these administrative reforms impact when a business has to go through the neighborhood notification process, to do a change of use, which in a lot of neighborhood commercial corridors, you have to do neighborhood notification, send out a mailer, post a sign on your property. That is a the notification itself is a 30day process. But the entirety of the journey that your permit application goes on, is significantly longer than 30 days. So theres the time before the neighborhood notification happens, after you submit your information and it gets assigned a planner and sent out for notification. And then after that, under the old system, your permit application would go from intake to intake and each of the permitting departments. So instead of being able to do it over the counter, it would go to the inbox over the counter and with all of the other more complicated stuff. We want to empower Business Owners to do as much of this stuff overthecounter as possible. If all im doing is neighborhood notification, but not doing any building work, or doing limited building work, i should be able to do that, that backend stuff over the counter at each of the departments. Its also better for the departments, because they dont have to have their intake inboxes full of stuff that could be approved overthecounter. So, as a result, of this administrative rwhich was developed in concert with the department of building inspection, following neighborhood notification, d. B. I. Can identify, haney, this is very limited scope of work. The rest of this can be done overthecounter. And that applicant can go from counttocounter. Saving people potentially two to three months in the permitting process. So final piece on implementation. Obviously theres a lot of a lot of small fixes and changes in this legislation. So as part of thinking about implementation, weve been meeting with each impacted department. And connecting with them about education of staff, permit applicants, other stakeholders. You know, i think that the outreach and education needs, for both this legislation and also theres been a range of new policies over the last couple of years, whether its flexible retail, temporary uses. All of these new tools out there. I think its incumbent on us to make sure that city staff, that Business Owners and potential entrepreneurs and other neighborhood stakeholders, Everybody Knows all of the tools that are out there. Were continuing to identify challenges facing San Francisco businesses. This legislation was developed out of discussions with all of the departments, collaborative discussions. Were continuing to do some of that work to hear from businesses and hear from departments about what the fixes are that we can do to smooth the process. And again were guided by some of these pieces of our retail study, that retailers are looking to do new things. Theyre looking to be adaptable and to expand their businesses in ways that might not have been anticipated by landuse permitting, Technical Rules and that we can find ways to have events and food and all of this stuff complement Healthy Retail environment. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Do we have any commissioner questions . I first want to thank you very much for this presentation today. One of the things i firmly believe is this commission really depends on oewd and what you guys hear on the street. What we hear on the street and working together in partnership to change things. And im going to go back to that legislation that the mayor just signed with the coffee house on coal street. And hes getting ready to do comedy now, which is great. I can go watch comedy, not take a bus. And i its stuff like that or its items like that that we are making a change for the better in Small Businesses, especially in these neighborhood corridors. I think if you tackle a lot of these issues and problems up front, youll save on that vacancy space. You know, youll prevent it. And youll help that Small Business thrive. And, you know, like the awning program that she brought up. You know, i cant tell you how many times like, you know, in april im going around to businesses saying, you know, guess what, in may you my want to apply for this. Theres no permitting fee on it. I have actually seen a couple of businesses change like that. You know, we always try to announce it here at our meetings. But, you know, we need to get that out with other people. But i will tell you in the last few years, i am so impressed with the job that you guys do and the outreach in the neighborhoods. When im out there in the neighborhoods, and i have offices all over the city, you know, its stuff that you guys do and they come up to me and, oh, thank you for taking care of this. Thank you for taking care of that. And, you know, im the were the office of Small Business. But i also feel like, you know, were all one great Big Happy Family and together making these changes. I really do appreciate everything that you guys have done. Thank you. Commissioner riley. Hi. Thank you for the presentation. And i just want to say that when the mayor mayor breda nounsed breed announced 9 million new investment and the people were very excited to hear that. So hopefully they can fund a lot of your good programs. Thank you. Commissioner ortizcartagena. I want to thank you as well for your presentation. And i also want to let everybody know that these are things that are actually happening. This is not just talk. You guys are really doing it. I mean, i see it on the ground in my neighborhood in the mission. This is really having an impact. I can name three businesses right now thats either part of the Revolving Loan fund, the awning program. I mean, you guys are on it. Like this is really happening. So this is exciting. This is real stuff happening. This is not just you guys are really doing stuff. I want to say thank you to all yall. Commissioner zouzounis . Thank you all for your presentation. This is really informative of exactly how these the mayors ordinance is being allocated to the work. I have a quick question about the regulatory fee reimbursements. Were there instructions . Do you have to apply for that . No. No. As Laurel Arvanitidis mentioned, that if youve been identified in our partnership with the treasurer and tax collector, as having one of the reoccurring fees and again were estimating about 8800, 8900 individual businesses who are currently having those reoccurring fees. Theyll simply see that reflected on their bill. Okay. Im sorry. As a check. Yeah. Okay. So theres no proactive work that has to be done, for many of the businesses. Male simply see it reflected. And is the Cash Register scanners, is that like the weight and measures see that youre associated with that . Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Commissioner dooley. Once again its great to see some action in this area. I also just want to add, perhaps i missed it in all of this, just the ongoing effort to get people to rent their spaces. I know in my neighborhood, there are a number of businesses, storefronts that will not lease for any reason for any price. It really drags down the neighborhood. And then we have a couple of really bad actor landlords, same thing. They own a lot of property. They either arent putting it for rent or they want a represent that is not at all in terms of what it should be going for. So any of these things that were going for, are really helpful. Lets also push those vacancies for, you know, that are being held off the market. Absolutely, commissioner dooley. I think that some of the investments that were listed can certainly facilitate those negotiations, when there are Additional Capital funds, that can benefit both parties, to get that lease signed and to fill those vacancies. We look forward to coming back with you and sharing the other proactive measures were taking to address vacancies, citywide collectively. I think that as you mentioned, some are much more problematic than others. Were looking forward to coming back to you and sharing more, either this quarter or the beginning of the new quarter next year. Thank you. Thank you. Director regina dickendrizzi. Commissioners, so i, too want to extend my appreciation to director torres and to laurel and ben and jorge. Were working in a very collaborative manner, both our departments and whats really important, thats been happening over the last year, is that were aligning the priorities and then

© 2024 Vimarsana

vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.