Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240713

Of Face Recognition Technology and i think supervisor peskin in our office wants to work with the city to exercise our purchase power and try to find alternative devices without that embedded feature. For now, its a stock feature that is impossible to remove, its necessary to preserve the citys standing. Great, any questions . Thank you so much. Were going to open this item up for Public Comment. Any member of the public wish to speak . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel] is there a motion . Excuse me, there are a number of clerical amendments. I apologize. Theyre throughout and clean up things to make sure what were talking about here is city issued software or devices and essentially to provide that for these software and devices, they would be subject to the rest of the chapter. Do i need to be more specific about that . Okay. So we would request those amendments to be made. And you submitted that paperwork to the clerk . I did. Well, heres for the clerk. I submitted copies to each of your staff. I do have one copy additionally here and the red line for the clerk. Wonderful, thats what we needed. The red line. Thank you very much. Im happy to make a motion to adopt the amendment without objection, that motion passes. [gavel] ill make a motion to move this item forward with positive recommendation. Without objection, that motion passes. Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk can you please read item number 6. Item number 6 is the ordinance amending the administrative, police, health, planning, business and tax regulations, and campaign and government codes to change the name of the office of cannabis to the office of cannabis regulation. Thank you. Good morning chair ronen, supervisors mar and walton. Im the director of the office of cannabis. Before i sfart my remarks about the Cannabis Clean up today, i want to make all aware of an amendment at the request of the mra Mayors Office to split the item. This will allow more time to discuss the proposed name change. It is my hope that we can move the rest of the items forward today. If you want to briefly go through the summary of the legislation. Yeah, in my remarks i will go through all of it. Do you want to address the split first or do you want me to Read Everything . Go ahead and Read Everything. Well decide whether or not to do that motion after Public Comment. All right, thank you. First i want to thank everyone for having the office of cannabis to this hearing. This is referred to as Cannabis Clean up legislation, not to be confused with cannabis 3. 0, which is much anticipated this winter. The subject of todays hearing narrowly addresses some administrative technical changes that would clarify provision 16 of the police code and align this code with state legislation. My remarks will list the items introduced in my presentation. This ordinance which create as new cannabis business permit type for cannabis nursery, mirroring the license nursery code under state law. The state no longer allows applicants to apply for a cannabis business license as a member of to apply under this framework in order to conform a state law. If state law were to change on this topic, we would be happy to revisit this item. For existing operators, this ordinance would further clarify the processing order of permits as outlined in section 1606c of the police code, for temporary permit holders and article xxxiii permit holders, m. C. D. S as Priority Group 4. In addition to further the goal of enhancing Public Health and safety, state in section 1601 of the San Francisco police code, this ordinance would require cannabis distributors to notify the office within 48 hours of learning cannabis products in their possession failed testing standards. As this Legal Industry matures, enforcement will become a priority and more focused core function of the office of cannabis. This ordinance would further support and encourage the individuals who have elected to transition from the unregulated market to the regulated market by providing a tool to the office of cannabis to thoughtfully address violations associated with equity applicants that have pending permit applications with the office. To conclude this presentation, i like to reiterate that this ordinance is being referred to as Cannabis Clean up legislation, different from cannabis 3. 0, which will be a completely different conversation, including a whole host of exciting topics and is anticipated by stakeholders this winter. The purpose of bringing this Cannabis Clean up operation to you is to refine our regulations to reflect and align with the spirit and intent of our process here in San Francisco. While todays presentation is more narrowly focused to the items before you today, i hope you will listen to the broader equity interest that may be shared by members of the community during Public Comment and im happy to answer any questions. Thank you so much. Great, thank you so much. Any questions . Nope . Thank you. Were going to open this item up for Public Comment. Anybody who would like to speak, please go ahead and come forward. You can line up to your right, my left. Good morning. All right. So good morning supervisors. I am speaking in front of you today, representing a diverse collective of cannabis business hopefuls, soontobe operators and allies to the equity group s. P. C. We convened a meeting this past saturday to discuss the clean up legislation brought forwath tod with over 25 black and brown cannabis stakeholders and few allies. At the end of the meeting, we asked ourselves a few questions. One of them is why is the city concerned with making minor changes when we have bigger problems . The office of Cannabis Community Reinvestment Fund has not been funded yet. In order to benefit these minor changes, we need the funds to be funded. According to the Reinvestment Fund, the dollars should be used in order to address racial disproportionate arrests, generational poverty, community degradation, loss of education and employment opportunities, and burpdens from the failed wa on drugs. Also Workforce Development, access to commercial real estate and access to investment financing. The access to commercial real estate and investment financing is crucial during this time period where we have our operators draining out their capit capital without being operational. We ask to have more support in getting money into the fund and we can set up our community for success. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning again supervisors. Im from the engleside community and our community has been left out of the equity justice when it comes to cannabis. Im here today speaking in opposition of item 2 of the cannabis regulation, not allowing equity applicants to apply for a permit as a cooperative. Forming a cooperative is the only way that the 200plus equity applicants can own anything in this cannabis industry. Theyre all monopoetalized by the wealthy investors. 1. 3 million was given to the community by the state, and it should not be siphoned off through administrative fees to the city and torattorneys. Congress is going to have its first vote to remove cannabis from the controlled substance coming this month and descheduling cannabis as a schedule one substance. Im hoping that this ordinance that you guys are working on will allow cooperatives. Thank you. Hi, just the last note to anybody in the overflow room, there is seating in the Committee Room and we ask that anyone in the overflow room please come up to the Committee Room. Thank you. Good morning supervisors. Thank you for having us. My name is braham goodwin. Im one of the founders of the San Francisco social club and the democratic club. Weve been working to get access for people for medical cannabis and access in general. I just like to speak to something important, which is we worked with the office of cannabis and they done a good job. The resources they have, relatively speaking, are limited. Theres a queue of about 300 applicants. I would just mention to all three of you that a lot of jobs could get created that arent getting created. A lot of revenue could come to the city that would help in some of these areas that are not available because of the lack of resources and importantly, there are many storefronts in many communities that live on hate, that could be used as businesses for cannabis and operations like that. I really urge you to look at this because i think the investment that you would make by expanding the resource of the office would come back big time and help you in a lot of these other areas, and lot of the issues that people are talking about. Thank you very much for your cooperation and for your look at this. Thank you. Thank you, next speaker. My name is perry jones, im a San Francisco native. First of all, i would you tell me like to give thanks to the office of cannabis for allowing the work theyre doing and the Community Group in the audience thats been showing support towards the development of upcoming operators and entrepreneurs such as myself that have been impacted by the w. O. D. , the war on drugs. Mainly i hope that it doesnt be tok tokenizeked when it comes to those who live in this community, and Business Owners, being able to contribute to the committee and give back, and some of us who have been taken away from the community to have the opportunity to give back. Having a collective with the permitting, we all know that San Francisco is expensive to live in and to start a business. When it comes to planning and commissioning, it seems that its red lined. What it takes to get through a conditional hearing, it takes a lot. It makes us investable. Who will want to invest when you have to wait a certain amount of time. Just as the terms are permitable, i think it would be a good idea to have people in these groups to do business with each other and we nvr had a chance to do that. I think it would be a good thing and way for us to contribute back to our community. There is money that could be made, opportunities that could be made and also showing the different face of business when it comes to cannabis, which use to be a taboo. Thank you, next speaker. Hello again. Even though everything has already been said, i would like to say and let the record reflect and let the city know that i am also too impacted by the war on drugs being born and raised in bay view, Hunters Point but im not necessarily looking to be a dispensary. Im not looking to be a cultivator, so im being left out of the movement because those are the only things lined up. I am an educator. I have spent 30 years of my life going to school trying to be an educator, an activist and voice for the community. The funds released could help me start the california lets talk cannabis movement. I didnt initiate that. That came out of california. Thats the movement that california, the Public Health is using to get the conversations going so that we can educate the youth, so that our youth wont be thinking they can drive around smoking weed. I dont need to be a dispenser, but i do need to benefit from the aftermath of the war on drugs. Thank you. [applause] good morning, my name is rami. I am an equity applicant. The citys concern for this piece of clean up legislation is in vain until funds are dispersed from the Community Investment fund through the office of cannabis for the purposes of Workforce Development, commercial real estate, and investment funding. Thank you. Thank you. If there are any other members of the public that would like to speak, please line up so we can go one right after the other. Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning supervisorser terrance allen, served as your three year chair of the Cannabis Legalization Task force. Ive been taking time to build my own equity business in the castro. I come before you because there are three legs that youre hearing the Community Speak of. One is the need to release and invest in the equity programs that you all established so carefully. The second is one that i thought i would never stand in front of a public body and say, the need to begin the conversation about moving those that remain in the unregulated market into the regulated market. We have a very draconian policy that says if enforcement hears that youre in the unregulated market, then youre banned for 10 years. That draconian policy does not afford the opportunity of the cannabis, the office of cannabis to move people into the regulated market. We need to give them the power of coercion, suggestion, and the beginnings of enforcement for that to happen because those who have been waiting in line for the regulated market are running out of resources to do that and those who maintain 1 foot in the unregulated market seem to have an unlimited amount of money due to black market sales. So, with those two things, i urge you to move this forward and the third, the office of cannabis was never designed to handle 300 permit applications. We have to give them immediate resources to get this project moving, whether a City Department can give up those resources after they have them is a question for the future, but if we dont afford those resources now, this entire Program Continues to grind as opposed to ushering forward a new day for San Francisco and their equity members. Thank you very much. Thank you, any other member of the public wish to speak . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel] supervisor walton. Thank you. First of all before i make a motion, i do want to say that i share the same concerns about not allowing cooperatives, but in this case were bound by state law so were making a change and hopefully that changes in the future. This is definitely administrative to being in line with state law. I do have a quick question. Can i move to duplicate the file and amend a new file with the circulated amendment or do i have to do them one at a time . You can duplicate the file as a single supervisor, you dont need to make a motion to that. Just say i like to duplicate the file and then you can amend either one or the other. I like to duplicate the file and amend the new file with circulated amendments that strike the reference to the name change in the new file. Thank you. Oh, to amend. I wanted to make a couple comments. Thank you. I, i just wanted to i do think we have to make these amendments in order to comply with state law. I wanted to echo a lot of the concerns i heard from the public, particularly the Community Reinvestment fund, anxious to get that funded and distributed so that we can make equity real in this industry and right the wrongs of the failed drug war that has decimated so many communities. So i just, you know, i dont think we should stop these cosmetic well not cosmetic changes, but these changes to comply with state law, in order to get to the meaty work we need to do in order to have some reparations injustice in these communities, but i just wanted to make that comment that im anxious to get that work under way and its a huge priority as well. With that, i will second the motion to amendment the duplicated file and without objection that motion passes, and then the original or that duplicated file is the one then that we will send to the full board and im happy to make a motion to send that with positive recommendation. Without objection, that motion passes. [gavel] thank you very much. And the action on the original file . And the original file, if we could leave it in committee to the call of the chair, that would be great. That will be continued to the call of the chair. Thank you, we are very encouraged by your remarks over the Community Reinvestment fund and funding it because i think its very important and needed. Thank you. So. So much. Make sure i have this correct. The file has been duplicated. The original file has been continued to the call of the chair. The duplicated version has been amended, and referred as amended to the board. Yes, thats right. Thank you. Thank you so much. And if you could please call item number 7. Item number 7 is an ordinance amending the administrative code to affirm the county agricultural Commissioners Authority under state law to certify and inspect Farmers Markets and producers, and to enforce state law governing the direct marketing of Agricultural Products to consumers. Thank you, claudia, the director of the Real Estate Division. Before you is an ordinance amending the administrative code dealing with Farmers Markets, including the city owned and operated a main any flea and Farmers Market. Its the longest operating Farmers Market in california. Most are operated by nonprofits and receive public funds or private fundraisings efforts. The Real Estate Division, which took over responsible from the parcel and the operations of the mark over a decade ago increased fees because they have not been increased for over a decade and cover expenses for the operation of the site and the markets because it runs as a deficit. That would close the gap, but it wouldnt completely get rid of it. We did a survey of other markets in the area and for example, a heart of the city, which is in the u. N. Plaza, a nonprofitly run but received a lot of gifts and private funds charges 55 a stall per day. Thats more than what were proposing. We sent the proposed change in fees to the city attorney, who then under took and rewrote the entire sections because it hadnt been done in so long and there were things that needed to be cleaned up. It relasz places the agricultural commissioner. The agricultural commissioner is not a building or facility or Land Management person. It doesnt have the resources to operate and manage the facility in the markets. The Real Estate Division has been managing and operating the land for over a decade. It transfers responsibilities from the agricultural commissioner to the director of property to approve applications for permits to sell products at the city operated Farmers Market. It allows the director of permits or suspensions there of. It allow it is director property to impose fees and to appoint and form an Advisory Committee for the alamani Farmers Market and guidelines to rule the market. The heart of it is to increase the fees that an individual farmer and or flea market vendor would pay. Currently its 50 a day, just during the summer, we would like to raise it to 50 a day all year round. It wouldnt go down 10 during the winter months. If a farmer went everyday that the Farmers Market is open and its open every single day, every saturday of the year, they only closed once, that particularly farmer would pay an additional 240 a year in fees. The vendors, which are usually food trucks, would pay 85 a day, up from 60 a day, pretty much what theyre having to pay in other markets. Thats why we went to that. The fees for the flea market vendors would be 50 a day, which is just every sunday, up from 45. The revisions also increase the certification fees paid by the markets themselves. So the markets have to be certified. We are a certified Farmers Market. That certification is done by the agricultural commissioner under the department of Public Health. They are recommending that the Farmers Markets with less than 16 vendors stay at 500. Markets with 16 to 45 vendors go up to 1,000 per year from 500 and markets with over 45 vendors would be 1,500 a year, up from 500. The department of Public Health can wave the fee for city operated Farmers Markets. We would ask them to allow us to wave our fee. It also authorizes the agricultural commissioner to charge 113 per hour for inspections unrelated to the issuance modification or renewal of a Farmers Market renewial certification. And also fining the illegal use of the premises. There have been car shops and others that go on to the property because its a huge vacant space and actually set up businesses and try to run businesses on the market. We had to kick them out when there wasnt a law to do that, it was very difficult to have the police enforce it. We just asked them to do that. Were putting up gates, which we think will prevent anything from occurring in the illegal use of the site. The agricultural commissioner had to leave, he had another meeting. Im here if you have any general questions. Yes, im wondering what outreach you done to the farmers themselves. I know in the relative scheme of things, not the hugest increase, but it could be substantial. So there wasnt any formal. We dont have that committee anymore. It was years ago, i think it was when it first came over to the real estate commission. We had a committee which consisted of the various people that the mayor chose and farmers and the manager. People left, other people didnt want to do anymore and it was no longer in existence. Thats why were putting it back in the code so we can have it under the direct property. Both the manager on site and the manager, her supervisor walk the stalls every saturday, basically. So when we kind of did this, i think they did an informal test of it and they know who will be there during the winter and who isnt. Not all the vendors sell during the winter because they dont sell winter crops. They get other vendors that come in to do it. They didnt seem to be bothered and half of them felt they were paying that any way. They didnt know they were being charged less during the winter months. They didnt think it would be a very large issue. Supervisor walton. Thank you, just along those lines, why the additional 244 vendors that are there more frequent . It seems that you said vendors who are there more frequently well, thats just if a farmer went every saturday, the whole year round, that would be the additional cost. Most of them dont go all year round. You have summer ones and winter ones. Got it. Thank you very much. Really appreciate it. Thank you. We will open this item up for Public Comment. Feel free to come forward if you like to speak. Good morning, or good afternoon, i keep saying that. Good afternoon, my name is ashley. Im speaking on behalf of what this lady is just talking about. I lived my family lived at 376 bradford street since 1962. I was born i was raised right there at the alamanis Farmers Market. I feel this is overblown as far as the outrageous changes in the prices and the opportunities for people to have an opportunity to make some money down there or be involved in it. It looks kind of like shedding people, shedding vendors out and other vendors come in. I dont really know. I do believe that to do this, they do need some type of committee, some type of investigation to find out the difference in what is going and whats not happening there because it is something that really worked for the people that are there, all the people that come there on saturday is awesome. So, i dont know how the vendors i dont really know. I just happen to be here to hear this, but i live right there. I know about performance market. She also spoke about the sunday where they do the flea market there and my time is up, but a lot needs to be done in regards to the clean up, in regards to the stuff thats around there on sunday, if you would come by and see how that is. A lot more needs to be done and i dont know where, but ill see whats going on. Thank you. Thank you so much. Any other member of the public wishing to speak . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel] im going to comment because im the supervisor of the area where the Farmers Market is. In my conversations with folks at the markets, they seen increases for some time. I think it will be okay and its not going to dissuade people from selling at the market. I would also sorry, were not allowed to have a conversation. Im happy to talk to you after the Committee Meeting is over, but i also just wanted to let you know that this is a site in the district that i had my eye on forever. Its both an incredible blessing for the neighborhoods on the two days that its operating and can cause some issues on the five days that its empty. We are looking into the possibility of what we can do to activate that site all the time without ever disrupting the market because its such a historic and plays an Important Role in the neighborhood. To be continued, if you have a couple minutes to stay after. This is the last item. I would love to chat with you about it. Moving forward on this item, im happy to make a motion to send this forward with positive recommendation and it looks like theres no objection. Without objection, that motion passes. Mr. Clerk are there any other items on the agenda to . That completes the agenda for today. Then the meeting is adjourned. Thank you. [ ] what a great store. Thank you so much for inviting us into your home, your business. We know that this store is named after your great grandmother, and we really appreciate the work that you are doing here with the castro street merchants and all the incredible merchants that are here. Hey, richard. Good to see you. All the incredible merchants, im london breed, im the mayor of San Francisco, joined by the supervisor of district 8, supervisor mandelman to talk about the shopping and dining and 49ing, that didnt work. But the 49ers are winning. We are here today because we know that we are kicking off the Holiday Season. And there is nothing like nothing like shopping and hanging out at some of our great restaurants and other places in so many of our neighborhoods that really does put you into the holiday spirit. And so we want to encourage people to shop in places like stag and main, which is an incredible store as you can see, ornaments, furniture, bowls, plates, cups, you can come here and decorate your whole house for thanksgiving tomorrow. So this is one of the most incredible Small Businesses we have in the city. And i know its a favorite of the supervisor, along with so many unique neighborhoods. You can go to almost any neighborhood in San Francisco and discover something that you probably never saw before. Noe valley, the haight ashbury, the western addition, union street, so many great places that you can shop, you can buy gifts that will be unique gifts for our family members and friends, because they are unique Small Businesses in San Francisco. A lot of love and care goes into these places. And we want to make sure that when you are out shopping this Holiday Season, that you really look at your neighborhoods and different neighborhoods throughout San Francisco and support our Small Business community. Let me tell you. I still use a lot of the same places ive been using since i was a kid. Believe it or not, they are still here. I still go to the same dry cleaner. The lady who is been doing my nails for over 20 years is still doing my nails even though i didnt get them done today. The places i had the same dentist, a Small Business owner, since ive had teeth. Its so incredible to have these incredible relationships that you have because its a personal touch with the people who run these businesses. Because most often when you walk into any of these places, nine times out of ten, the owner of the store will be there and that is why he is here today because hes not only the owner, hes an employee. He works here every single day. So you see him on the news, come down here and see him in person. But part of shopping in San Francisco and so many incredible neighborhoods also involve making sure that we are being smart about parking. You know, theres no secret that we have a lot of challenges with car breakins, unfortunately, but i am proud of the work the San Francisco Police Department has done in reducing the number of car breakins significantly. And i know chief scott is here with us today to talk a little bit about how we park. I think that helps tremendously in helping to avoid becoming a victim, especially during this Holiday Season when we know people are paying close attention to what people are doing. We want people to have a great experience. We want them to come here to this store and hang out. Then we want them to head over to hot cookie and have a hot cookie. We want them to enjoy the amazing restaurants, castro, the Castro Community is our featured neighborhood this time around, shop and dine in the 49. And so we really wanted to highlight this unique place in our city and the supervisor will talk more about this amazing community. But if you can get out there and support our Small Businesses all over San Francisco, i know it will make a real difference. And youll have a good time. Because overall, we want your experience to be great from start to finish. We want the time that you leave your house to the time that you come to the castro, to the two, three, four, five, hours you spend walking up and down Market Street and castro street and all the bags that you are going to be carrying, you go and you get some food and hang out and then you go home and feel good and relax. Thats what i want people to experience during this Holiday Season in San Francisco. So it is so great to have all of you here. Thank you to the Castro Merchants Association for coordinating and thank you, i know commissioner adams is here to talk on behalf of the merchants association. But shop and dine in the 49. San francisco is an incredible, unique place where there is something for everyone. And with that, your supervisor to talk about this community and all the great places that you can visit during this campaign, it will be supervisor. Come on up. Thank you, mayor breed. Small businesses in San Francisco today. [applause] it is gray and rainy. And i was in puert o vallarta yesterday. Its been a little bit of a gray time in this neighborhood for the last few weeks. There was an awful fire on castro street. And i know we have a number of businesses represented here who have been impacted by that fire. And i want to thank the mayor and the office of economic and Workforce Development, joaquin and your team for stepping up for those businesses. And i know you are going to be doing a little bit on that later. But the response from the city, the Fire Department that was fighting the fire to the folks who came in later to help out the residents and the Business Owners have been great. And i want to, on behalf of the castro, thank you for that. Thats an applause line, yeah. [applause] but i think we also know the castro has had some problems for a while now and some of it is reflective around challenges for retail across the city and the country and some of it is unique to the challenges we have up here, some of the street behavior issues and the real challenges of operating businesses here in the castro. But this is a, as you all know, this is a wonderful neighborhood. It is a neighborhood that is embedded in the history of this city and the history of this country. Worldchanging things have happened in this neighborhood, done by, starting with a castro Small Businessman, harvey milk and his camera shop downcast row street. Today is the anniversary of the assassination. Some of us will be at a candlelit vigil later. But this neighborhood is part of the heart of San Francisco. So even till today, building on that tradition of harvey milk, there are so many great local leaders, from the merchants, thank you for the work you do and andrea, and all the merchants and staff who courageously stepped in to open this business just about a year ago, steve adams made sure i was here. Thank you, commissioner. And youve brought this wonderful establishment to this block, other brave, courageous folks stepped forward every year to try to share their dream with this community and other communities around San Francisco. And it is so easy to go online and buy that thing. But i ask, i hope that san franciscans, if you love your neighborhoods, if you love your neighborhood Small Businesses, you know, today, take a break on the online purchase, go out and actually support the neighborhood Small Business and the folks who are working so hard like staff both to share their dream with you and to make these neighborhoods work. We need our Small Businesses so desperately. They are critical to the vitality of our neighborhoods and they are great. And so im just pleased, madame mayor and joaquin, that you chose to have shop and dine start here with this event. I want to thank miriam, wherever she is, the most extraordinary Public Servant who made this happen. Mary ahn gets a little bit of applause. And tom and my office are working to make this happen. And i want to thank chief scott and the Police Department for your Partnership Around some of the issues i alluded to earlier. It is challenging up here, but we are getting tremendous help, i know, and im enjoying working with you and looking forward to continuing to work to make this place where people are safe, have fun, and where we have a healthy, thriving community. So with that, chief scott. [applause] thank you, supervisor. And thank you mayor breed. First of all, happy thanksgiving, everybody. We have so much to be grateful and thankful for. And i want to start by thanking the mayor for her great leadership in this great city and the supervisor, the office of economic and Workforce Development, Castro Merchants Association. We have a great city and a great community. And so its my job and all of our sa San Francisco Police Department officers that you see here, to give you some reminders to stay safe during the Holiday Season. As the mayor mentioned, weve made a lot of progress in our park smart campaign, because one thing that we want to do is not make it easy to be a victim. We want everybody to step back and have a good time and do your shopping and enjoy your families, but dont make yourself an easy target. So theres a couple simple reminders. First and foremost, if you are going to shop, you probably are going to have packages and bags and all this great merchandise. Make sure you dont leave it in your cars when you go and dine afterwards in the 49, make sure you dont leave it in the car to make it easy for somebody to take it to you. One of the simple things in Crime Prevention is dont make yourself an easy target. So lock your cars, dont leave anything visible in your cars. If you have merchandise, if you cant carry it with you, put it in your trunk. Its always a good idea, oftentimes if you are going to be dining and you are going to go to the restaurants and take advantage of the great food in this area, have a plan in terms of how you are going to shop and do your merchandise. A lot of times the stores will hold things for you or you hold it and come back and purchase it after you eat. So theres just some basic common sense things that we can do to make ourselves not be easy targets. Heres the other thing. If you see something, report it. Say something, call us. We will have officers around this city thanks to the support of the supervisor, mayor breed and the budget we got this year. We have officers on the beat. We have foot beat officers out here in the castro as around the entire city. Call us. We are there for you. We want to be a part of your experience, and we want that experience to be a good one. So call us if you see something thats amiss. If you see somebody staring into cars and you think thats suspicious, we dont mind coming out. Thats a call you should make to us. Lastly before i wrap it up and turn it over to commissioner adams, Pay Attention to your surroundings. You know, we are so distracted in todays world. Everybody has phones. I think i have two me right now and im always looking at them, making sure i answer the mayors messages. [laughter] but when we do that, it distracts us from paying attention to whats around us. I cant tell you how many people have had their phones snatched out of their hands because they werent paying attention to whats around them. We cant prevent everything but we can prevent a lot of things. So Pay Attention. We know people have to make calls and you have to answer your calls, but Pay Attention as you do that because it just makes for a more vigilant and resilient San Francisco when you do that. So have a wonderful thanksgiving. Remember to shop and dine in the 49. Youll see many of us out there shopping as well. My daughter is here in town and i promised here i was going to take her shopping. [laughter] so thank you. With that ill turn it over to commissioner adams. [applause] thank you. Im going to be very brief. First i want to thank mayor breed, supervisor, joaquin, mary, jorge, for bringing this event to the castro this year. I want to acknowledge the president of the castro merchants who asked me to come in today. And i love this event. We also have several castro Board Members here, brian springfield, j. B. , and isaiah with body. Some of the some of these guys have had a rough time with the fires. So if theres anything we can do to come in and support their business. Body is back open so you can come shop, eat, drink in the castro. I also want to acknowledge rodney with the chamber of commerce and the s. P. A. Is also here today. Weve got everybody here. Castro, we need some loving here. I especially want to thank the mayor and supervisor for changing up some of the zoning laws in upper market here where we are now able to fill in second story businesses and ground floor businesses like this one to get them open, to get them open quick and for people to enjoy it. So thank you for that. So with that, happy holidays, everybody. We have our Tree Lighting on monday at 6 00 at castro and 18th street. So come shop, eat, drink and stay in the castro. Thank you. [applause] and andrea, come on up. Hi, everybody. Good morning. Yes, im andrea with the Castro Community benefit district. We are responsible for keeping the castro clean and safe. So have no fear, we will be keeping these streets clean for all the people to come and shop in the castro. I want to thank mayor breed for having us here this afternoon. And i also want to thank seth for inviting everybody and opening up his store and taking the risk of having all those cameras. Making sure nothing breaks because he has wonderful things in this store. And i also want to thank regina who is here this afternoon with the Small Business commission. So thanks so much, regina. [applause] so we all know that san franciscans love Small Businesses. And everyone here has appealed you to do the right thing to shop local and shop in the castro or the haight or wherever your best neighborhood is. But i want to remind everybody why the best reason to shop local, to get out and get offline is because shopping is fun. And its social. You remember how it used to be when you would go with your best friend and you would go shopping and get that special thing for your mom or get that special thing for your boyfriend or girlfriend or whoever it was or your dad, shopping is fun. And thats why its important that you remember you go back to what it used to be like. And i want to encourage everyone to take a challenge this weekend and not shop online. To get out and shop in the castro instead, because, again, shopping is something that you do with your friends and family, and you can enjoy your relationships and build on that and have an experience that is really fun and interesting and unique. And we have some really great, unique stores in the castro, as a matter of fact. Theres local take on 17th street where that little f line turn around is, local take. Sells handcrafted artisan kinds of things. So you can go there and you can support local artists, and at the same time you are supporting a Small Business in the castro. You can also shop here. You can shop at stag and manor. The castro has three home decor Small Businesses. Theres stag and manor, theres the kenneth winguard store that has really unusual and special gifts, and then theres this little shop that is hidden so if you like to explore the neighborhood, its down on sanchez street. Its called, i think the address is 286 sanchez. Its called s16 home. They have unique items there for that very special someone in your life or someones. Also right next door to this place is the incredible place called d h sustainable jewelers. This Jewelry Store is high end. So if you have a special person that you are looking for this incredible, unique piece of jewelry, its sustainable in nature, which means you are helping the environment, and you are also being able to purchase a really unique piece of jewelry for that very special person in your life. What else . Oh, and i did want to mention theres this very cool shop on castro. We are in the castro, after all. And they advertise themselves as the dayest shop ever, the official name of the store is nobs, its 432 castro street. You can go there with your friends. They have a runway so you can tryon your newest styles try on your newest styles and model and experience what it would be like to walk around in those new clothes. The castro has really unique businesses and its a fun place to come shopping and i want to remind everybody the castro is open for everyone. We want to serve businesses business to everybody. So come and explore the castro during the day. You probably know the castro at night, but the daytime its a great place, and experience what shopping is like and purchasing those special gifts for you and maybe even yourselves. So thank you very much. [applause] and i know that seth from stag and manor wants to say a few words. So next up is seth. [off mic] i didnt even know i was going to be speaking today but i want to say thank you all for coming to stag and manor. Its such an honor to serve this community which is my community, the community ive lived in for many years now. Its been such an honor to have the shop open for a year this saturday with incredible customers coming through every day with so many wonderful things being a part of it all. And i hope we are all just sharing these experiences with all our friends and neighbors to get more people out, because now is the time to really support Small Business. Im so happy, andrea mentioned the friends i was going to mention to make sure they got a shoutout. Ill add crystal way, another long time Small Business that does wonderful work. Come out on next thursday for the castro artwork at one of our Wonderful Community events. Also the following saturday our neighbors are going to be hosting the rocket Dog Rescue Group next door as part of a promotional event to show our community and the way we work together. So again, thank you everybody, such a pleasure. Come on up. The cookies that [off mic] finally. So everyone gets one. These are from hot cookie . Yes wow, look at that. Doesnt look like a cookie, it looks like a cake. Wow. Thank you. All right. Thank you, again, thank you mayor breed. Such a pleasure to have you in the shop. Thank you, seth. [off mic] well, as was mentioned by the supervisor earlier, unfortunately there was a fire that happened just a few weeks ago. And the amazing men and women of the San Francisco Fire Department did an incredible job. And afterwards, the people from the office of economic and Workforce Development did a extraordinary job stepping in, meeting with people, working with the tenants as well as the Small Business owners to provide whatever support we could. We know that experiencing fire oftentimes you lose everything, but then its not just the people, its also maybe the employees and meeting payroll and how you get up and running. You run a Small Business, you know, youre probably you know, again, the person who is the owner and the employee and sometimes you are lucky if you are able to hire other people. And then to add a fire to a situation makes it even worse. But im really excited that the city has a Disaster Relief fund that provides an opportunity to support our Small Business community in a way that gives them what they need to not worry so much. I mean, its not a lot, but it is more than what it used to be, which was nothing. And this is an opportunity to support our Small Business community, because what we want during the time of rebuilding and dealing with all of this, that we provide a little bit of support that will help in whatever way possible to at least keep those persons on their feet as they go through this most challenging process. And so i want to thank Joaquin Torres and his office for working so hard. In bureaucratic years, this is really fast to happen. [laughter] supervisor, you know, to have checks ready to go. We are going to be presenting four checks today to osaki sushi. Mr. Wang, thank you so much. And they had to do work for this. They had to fill out a whole application and everything else. And sam from cafe mystique. Met sam on the way in. Thank you, sam. Thank you. I appreciate it. And let me tell you, some of these businesses, you have been there since who has been there . There was a business thats been there, body oil or body since 89. And body. Andrew. Come on up. Isaiah oh, who is andrew . [off mic] oh, well, body, since 1989 this business has been in the castro. And how amazing is that . So we are so happy that you were opening right away. So make sure you stop by and purchase some items. Im so glad to have you. And last but not least, q bar, john . Are you here from q bar . Here you go. Thank you, really. And let me just say how much more important it is that when these businesses that arent back on their feet get back on their feet, that we support them. And that we go and we visit and we spend money as much as we can, because this im sure was difficult. It wasnt just the merchants. There were other People Living in the building. I think four are back in their apartments. But there are another eight people that arent. So very difficult time for all of you. We are glad to have you here today. We are hopeful that the rest of the businesses will open and then that you would get a lot of business so the merchants association, the San Francisco chamber of commerce, you got work to do to advertise for this community, these Small Businesses, lets support our incredible merchants in San Francisco. Lets have a good time in the castro. And lets eat these cookies, because they look good. [laughter] [applause] thank you so much