Agencies are going to accomplish our goals, to help our Small Businesses and streamline the efforts. And also with the s. F. Shines program, the Program Manager with that program has been working closely with ria in our office, with Accessible Business Entrance Program and our grant funding. Were really trying to align and maximize all of our funding efforts and supporting each others programs, so that were really making it much easer for businesses as far as helping them. So thats its really great to see how were really working closely together. So accomplish our goals. Great. Well, thank you so much, commissioners. If i may, i just wanted to say thank you very much for the positive responses. Were looking forward to doing more. We know that theres more work to be done. Were certainly not stopping or resting on any of the achievements that weve shared with you so far. I think that i think that were we are living in a very complicated environment for Small Businesses, which is why the effort that director regina dickendrizzi is talking about is so important, to make sure were out there and supporting a diversity of communities much more proactively. We started with the job squad, the arm of the office of Small Business. We know theres more opportunities to convene, not only directly with existing merchant groups, but also convening our own conversations with Community Members to make sure that entrepreneurs at any stage are aware of the resources that we have, so people can gain more understanding about the positive impacts of partnership with the city could actually lead to. Were looking forward to talking more about that this year as well. Well, theres one thing that you forgot on here. But im going to give you some credit, which you should have a big shoutout for. And that is your fire mitigation. If you go to west portal and youre standing at uola and west portal avenue, right outside of the muni tunnel. Its open. You and, in fact, i remember when that fire happened. You guys were down there. And within a few years, thats all rebuilt. Same businesses are back in business and thats something that you really should be proud of. Because i know you, joaquin, were a big part of that. And you streamlined everything and you got those people back in business, the lions shop, everybody. Everybody is back in business there. And to me that was a miracle. Because every time you had some tragedy like that, it would just stay vacant or Something Else would happen to that spot. I do believe, through oewd, not only on west portal, i know on ocean avenue a lot of those businesses wound up going to other parts of the city and thriving more. , you should be very, very proud of yourself for the actions that youve done when it comes to those type of disasters. I hate to say it that way. You rose to the occasion and took care of those businesses. And you go there now. You cant even tell that building was totally gone and leveled. You know, it looks the same, but cleaner and nicer. So you should be very proud of yourself for i think that program is one that really, really has helped like invest in Neighborhoods Program and everything. Thank you so much. I really think its reflective of an incredible team. And so i just want to thank again jorge and laurel and ben for all of the work that theyre doing and i know that jayda will be making a presentation later on today, or to this commission. Its really extraordinary, committed, passionate staff that makes all of this work happen. We can all have a vision, unless we have the people around us who really do care about the Small Business community and about the small they provide to our neighborhoods, we dont see the results we collectively want to see. To all of them, just a huge thank you. And i really do appreciate all the time that you individually take at this board level and Commission Level to take extend your thanks to all of them. I know they appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Lets open this up now for Public Comment. Do we have any members of the public who want to make a comment on item number 4 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Again thank you. And thank you, laurel, jorge and ben for your comments today and for your hard work. And everybody else in the office of oewd, you guys do fantastic work there. So thank you. Okay. Next item, please. Clerk item 5. Oewd presentation. Construction mitigation. The presenters are jada, jackson, prospect manager and jorge rivas. Great, welcome. Hor lay rivas. I want to go ahead and set up the topic today. So weve been having construction mitigation for a few years now. And it wasnt until lately that with jada jacksons support that weve been able to get this program off the ground. I want to go ahead and introduce her and ill stay around for questions as well. Great. Thank you. And you have a very thankless job. We have a you have a lot of symphony from my from me. Ive been with the department for about nine months. It is the birth of a whole little baby here. As you know, theres currently unprecedented amount of both public and private construction going on throughout the city, especially in our city system of working infrastructure, streets, sewer, power, water and transportation. City Construction Projects have the potential of stimulate longterm economic benefits for the surrounding areas, but in the shortterm these projects might have negative impacts and challenges to area businesses. And some of those challenges are often seen as reduced sidewalk access, loss of onstreet and offstreet parking, excess noise, dust and disruption, difficulty navigating to businesses, less traffic, and fewer pedestrians in front of the business. In november 2017, the city and county of San Francisco developed a construction mitigation program. This Program Provides departments with suite of actions to limit the negative impacts Construction Projects have on surrounding businesses on the commercial corridors. An m. O. U. Was signed by sfmta, dpdand oewd to create the partnership that adds the Business Support Services component to projects. Its important to note that departments oftentimes that lead construction already have construction mitigation plans in place. Yet now with our program, were standardizing these services, provided on project impact level and it impacts the service component. It takes it from simple tasks suchs at housekeeping, that the lead agency must provide. The objective of the business support component, led by our team, is to support Business Owners as they navigate through Construction Projects. Through my role as business liaison, im the point of contact for anything related to Business Support Services. Facilitating Technical Assistance, the corridorspecific Marketing Campaign and directed business support, which ill talk about a little bit later. The suite of services has been put together to support both the shortterm and longerterm needs of businesses, and some of these are available to impacted zones, when determined and funded by the lead project department. In my role, i have the responsibility to continue strengthening efforts pertaining to construction mitigation, with our partner agencies, other city agencies and merchants. And as a member of the project team, i have the opportunity to be more proactive with solutionbased approaches for merchants through a suite of services that include program coordination, marketing support and Small BusinessTechnical Assistance and support. Were able to provide outreach and have a greater presence along with our project team partners, with the community, whether its meeting with city leaders, individual stakeholders, or at a community meeting. So oewd has been utilizing a Wraparound Services approach for providing services and resources to merchants, by enhancing and el reportero vating the attention and responses that were providing to our merchants, affected by construction. And with support of the Small Business development center, were able to provide Technical Assistance and business action plan support. And key elements include being paired with the Small Business adviser to develop the action plan and then ongoing evaluation and support. So we leverage existing programs and services, as well as partnerships between city agencies and our nonprofit partners. Through oewds program and partner resources, were able to provide Business Education on various city programs, such as the legacy business program, the Small BusinessRevolving Loan fund, and San Francisco womens entrepreneurship fund. And working with sbdc, businesses are able to access for free the expertise of advisers there to receive training and oneonone consultation in a variety of areas such as business accounting, budgeting, cash flow management, were seeing a lot of lease negotiations assistance. Some assistance around legal issues, as well as social media and training. So now were going to talk about the open for business program, which is our corridorspecific Marketing Campaign. So to date we have developed six Marketing Campaigns. And one of the benefits that we provide, through this campaign, is utilizing the mantra of open for business. This provides direct marketing support, based on the corridors unique identity to attract residents, visitors and customers, reminding them that the corridor is still open for business while improvements are taking place. Open for business works in close coordination with the merchants and the Program Direction and priorities are guided by merchant leadership. The open for business program, in reminding residents and visitors that our commercial corridors are open for business, we take a focused approach on direct marketing support to neighborhoods. Our program has established templates that facilitate focus and customized marketing materials, advertising, wayfinding signage, social media, workshops and even event planning. Another area of Fund Discussion is our directed business support. When oewd implements a directed business support, which is a financial grant, a key component is defining affected businesses within a qualifying project. So often times were looking at businesses that have a direct impact or an indirect impact. And that leads us to the first time that we had to implement direct to Business Support Program and that was for the central subway project, which is a major impact construction project. Experienced extraordinary delays and we utilized best practices, looking at other models such as l. A. And seattle. We all know that city Construction Projects have the potential of starting late, longterm economic benefits for the surrounding area. However, when we see distress or challenges to the area businesses, which is what happened with central subway, the response was for the late mayor lee, supervisor peskin and sfmta so to identify resources in the amount of 395,000, designate for this direct business support fund. This was to support merchants impact by the construction project. The areas of impact included chinatown, union square and 4th street, south of market. Small Business Owners received oneonone Business Assistance and directed support in the support of small grants ranging from 5,000 to 10,000, depending on the impact they experience. And this money went in support of represent and utilities, followed by additional improvements in marketing. Oewd administered the fund and provided it directed business support to 69 Small Businesses. This disbursement was to 61 businesses in chinatown and eight businesses on 4th street and union square. So since the signing of our m. O. U. A few years ago, oewd has become a part on several notable projects, which include previous projects of polk street, which was lower and middle polk, twin peak tunnel, west port on castro, some of our current projects central subway project, van ness, gary, and were in talks about better market, upper market, fullsome howard and a project on 19th avenue. So we have longtermed a lot of lessons, after nearly a year of implementation on various projects. Weve leaped to local businesses and so weve heard that starting earlier and being more proactive in the process it really beneficial, especially with our lead agency partners. Early engagement has been possible with giving an opportunity prior to construction beginning to begin hearing hearing hearing from the merchants. For instance, sfmta has included a question thats standard in the preconstruction surveys, that ask business if theyre interested in our free counseling and Technical Assistance. So once i get those surveys back, im able to start the outoutreach process, getting those businesses in the doors to sbdc before construction has started. Due to the early engagement and proactive planning, oewd has been working more efficiently so improve Small Business operations and encourage foot traffic during construction, while ensuring that the investments we make in our infrastructure today, do not come at the cost of our Small Businesses. And im sure youve heard all of the great news about the 5 million from the educational Revenue Augmentation fund, that will be coming from sfmta to our office. And weve heard from a lot of merchants as well as the Transportation Authority commission. And the allotment will go towards 4 million for the directed Business Support Program. And this program will be for a citywide directed Business Support Program. Providing grant awards to businesses impacted. And you have to be a major impact construction project, with some type of significant delay, in order to qualify for this funding. And then we have 1 million set aside specifically for the Revolving Loan fund for construction mitigation. And thats loans with 0 interest and zero risk for any project, with an sfmta scope of work. And the idea is that merchants would be able to utilize this fund as soon as the project commences. And that is the end of my presentation. Are there any questions . Commissioner dooley. I have a couple questions. Can you just run me through i assume this is in place on the van ness corridor. I drive down there a lot. It seems like no access at all for any of the businesses. I no longer shop on van ness. For van ness specifically, that project we did the open for business campaign. Theres an ad campaign on our buses quarterly that speaks to coming to the corridor and highlighting if its entertainment, the nightlife. We did have signage up to point people to where the businesses are. And we can even have banners that say this business is open. And so this project is unique in that its constantly moving. Theres different sequencing happening on both sides of the street. Where parking can open and there are times that construction is not going on. Signs are up saying no parking. Once we see theres no construction, were able to place a call and within an hour we can have those Parking Spaces reopened. Thank you. I think youre speaking to the actual conditions on the ground and how our office can play a role. I think our role is to hear from the merchants and relay the message to the project lead, which in this case is the sfmta. I think because of the close collaboration that our office now has, instituted with the m. O. U. In place, were able to relay those messages to the appropriate department. In this case the sfmta. And theyre the ones who can follow up on the actual actions that need to be taken around making parking available or moving staging, if appropriate. Thats the role that our office can play in that regard. Can i ask one more question . Of course. Do you have anything in mind that will help encourage Property Owners to lower their represents, if their tends are rents, if their tenants are in a Construction Zone . Thats a really interesting question. I think, you know, theres different measures that can be taken around education and reaching out to the Property Owners and setting real expectations. There are some cases where weve shared information with the Property Owner about going rents in the neighborhood. Of course, we cant force them to bring the rents down. We can provide support, Legal Support with, you know, somebody who understands how to negotiate a lease, when an attorney understands how to look closely at a lease and provide some advice to the Business Owner on how to renegotiate their lease, if if its a temporary basis, so they can get a rent decrease or a rent waiver for a few monthsing while construction is happening in their location. But im happy to explore that idea, with you further. I think there are som