Geez, itd be nice if there was a way for more local neighbors, residents, whatever, to create more of a Community Space and that would i think be beneficial to the Small Businesses in the area. Whats drive the need for the foot traffic. Whats the thinking there is the parking is so valuable that i guess i shouldnt put words in your mouth but what is driving that. The question is how to create more of these spaces sometimes i have worked the excelsior in the Mission Corridor and there were a lot of vacancies and we were looking how to have incentives to attract traffic and its what comes first the business or amenity but its particular to each case. Its very dense and businesses are constantly changing and thats why we get all the foot traffic. Weve had people complain about parking and its the amenity thats an extra value for them. We had tons of parking in the mission when i moved there in 91. I dont think anybody would say that businesses were doing better back then. Its been largely beneficial. I think the parklet is not the solution for everything and that it comes with a labe in the past years its the icon to gentrifying neighborhoods but its also one thing weve tried to fight back and keep in public but something we know for sure they dont want it in the mission on Mission Street. To answer the question, its the parent programs goals theres many different ways in which more Community Spaces can be achieved. We partnered with sfmta to have the spaces even if theyre one day to have the Community Come out and create the strength of the community so they can then plan how can we make up for the gaps in open public space. Last question and an appreciate your patience. Theres 59 parklets in the city right now. Is there a sense of the maximum number you guys could sustain with your current resources . Like do you have a sense we have to stop at 65 or 70 or you know, whatever the number is. I think once a parklet is installed and ready to go, theres no time unless theres an issue. The biggest portion of staff time goes to reviewing the proposals and the designs and once its out there its kind of taking care of its own and the Community Helps us be the inspectors of anything. And one last question because that triggered another one. This echoes back to my first question. Is there a percentage of the time the neighborhood or community or local businesses are like we thought it was cool but it was totally not cool and hasnt been helpful. Wed rather not have the parklet. How long does that happen . My sense is thats a small minority. Of course i wouldnt see that if they just showed up and disappeared . I think its a very small percentage and its more of an investme investment. I can think of a couple on 18th street between south van ness and mission. The ramen place. They used to have a parklet there. We thought that corridor was going to be much more activated. So the building across has been vacant for a number of years and that didnt help the situation and we didnt have uses and the embassy were spending a lot of staff time at the beginning of the day to clean up the parklet and they decided it was not worth it. Thats why we logged theyre reversible and tried to keep the applicants conscious about the design so if and the time comes theyre able to do that without a lot of resources. Thank you so much. Commissioner dwight. Thank you for your presentation. I remember when the program started. Im a supporter of it. How have you seen the application process. You dont have a proactive program so it has to be people who become aware on their own behalf and come up with enough money. Whats the activity like now . Below where its been in the past . In mission we used to do rsp cycles. I think it would be 30 days when the rfp was open. It was building momentum. We had a couple open houses to make sure everybody knew about it and saturation and wed get 100 applications and end up with maybe 15. And that was in 2015 we had the last one. Then after that there was staff changes and we couldnt spend that many resources on that. Now that we released the rolling application all year round we were getting 50 inquiries from people and we were like were almost there and didnt hear anything from october of last year weve had five applications so we know people want it and probably trying to figure out the requirements in getting the funding and getting the Maintenance Plan and making sure they have a designer on the back end stuff that goes into that. I think thats whats keeping people and like i mentioned, we would like to do more outreach. Weve done a little bit with supervisors. Thats help because theyre in close contact with constituents. I think that would be the strategy to kind of have the program do you have limited applications how many projects could you work on a year with your current staffing . I will add in the first few years of the program i think there was a lot of pentup excitement because its a new thing. Commissioner it was novel. Exactly. There were a lot of applications many of which didnt pan out because the applicants didnt realize what it entailed. And the price tag. And the cost and all the maintenance responsibilities. I think after all of that initial excitement and novelty has peaked, now were getting a more consistent level of applications that is like the stasis. What we would expect Going Forward in the next few years like probably five to 10 a year. And how many projects would you handle with staff time in five to 10 a year is where our current staffing could sustain that. Commissioner commissioner ortizcartagena. Thank you for the presentation and your time. I had a few questions regarding specifically the Mission District and Mission Corridor. Im from the mission so i represent a lot of businesses there. Ive had feedback from some businesses especially on the 24th corridor and Mission Street theres been hesitation associated with gentrification. Im glad you brought that up. What do you vision along those two corridors and what Community Input would be involved from the various nonprofits and Business Associations . I think we had inquiries from boys and girls club. Wed love to facilitate those but application initiated by the community and the organizations so we dont have a say on who gets to apply. But if a Community Organization would oppose a Small Business from getting one on mission does it matter or is the permitting process black and white. Like in conditional use. I think its heavy on Community Input. Like Everything Else in the city. I think its up to the hearing officers but weve seen pushback and john has worked with a community and they recently came up with guidelines for that. I dont know if you want to add anything. The one thing i would add is were very aware of some perceptions in certain neighborhoods of parklets and what they might represent. In particular in those communities if we got an application from a potential sponsor wed be particularly inassista inassistant inassistant on a community insistent that the community is in support and if they can do that wed be happy to work on a great design that benefits the community. Great. My second question was part of the nonprofit component. I saw museums and schools but has a nonprofit ever done a parklet or can they die parklet . Do a parklet . The community on fulmer you worked on that application. Fulmer and webster. Yeah. Weve had a few like the African American cultural center. They submitted applications for various reasons i think part was funding. It didnt pan out. But we have the museum of craft and design has a parklet. Theres two schools. All nonprofit organizations. So yeah, like maria said earlier were open to any type of sponsor. Most important is that they get Community Support and can maintain the parklet and be good stewards over the long term so the parklet stays a Community Asset and doesnt become a burden. My last question is for nonprofits like sometimes in Small Business we have waivers for permits. Is there a consideration to waive fees for nonprofits or even Small Businesses that meet certain criteria . We dont have anything in place but the ordinance was meant to cut the fees in half to increase accessibility to all people. Right now we dont have a mechanism in place. I dont know if they have any. We couldnt administratively waive a fee based on the code but if there was legislation supported by a supervisor to absolve an applicant of a fee its something we can work with. Theres not a direct route to make that happen but there are resources that would be available at their disposal and wed put them in touch with Economic Development and try to work through the process with them as well. Okay. Up in thank you. One Organization Partners with others and they have a Strong Partner and the burden is not put on them. Thank you. Commissioner commissioner riley. Thank you for your presentation. I think most my questions covered by my fellow colleagues. Of the 59 parklets you have, how many are coffee shops or cafes or restaurants. I know many are right outside the restaurants is like an extension of their business which is okay. It mentioned no Table Service but people go and buy coffee and sit there its all right, right . So how many parklets are sponsor restaurants . 48 currently out there are restaurants or cafes. 48 out of 59. Its high, yeah. Im sure its great for the restaurants and cafes but do you get a lot of complaints from the neighborhood businesses. Having a parklet could take away Parking Spaces which is scarce begin with. Yes, i think weve seen cases that theres concern over parking loss but weve seen businesses that Work Together with their neighboring businesses and talk about the benefits of having this as a community. I can think of the rolling out bakery in the sunset. They sponsor the parklet but their neighbors were supportive and they actually now take care of it between the three businesses that are there. And they see it as a neighborhood asset thats good for foot traffic in the corridor. Its not an issue then . It hasnt been a major issue. Theres been some complaints when the parklet was approved there were some articles out there some people were complaining with the parking lots and a little bit of the same side of a park near nearby and its liberate the sidewalk for the pedestrian rightofway as well. What outreach effort do you have to educate the businesses, the process of applying for the parklet and what they need to do and if somebody has a question, who do they call . All the information is on the website on parklets. Org. We assist with any questions even before. Sometimes you dont want to spend all the time putting together an application that maybe is not going to be feasible for a small issue like a water valve on the street. The am applicant can contact us to make sure theres no Capital Project coming in the coming years to apply without the fear. So they should check the website then . Thats pe the best way. Commissioner zouzounis. Thank you for your presentation. A couple questions is there an mta cap on how many parking spots can be turned into parklets . Not as policy. When theres a yellow curb for commercial loading its always recommended its replaced somewhere else. If it works with the corridor we usually dont allow it on curbs and we make sure its accessible. You said theyre cityinitiated parklets. Who pays for the cityinitiated parklets . Definitely partners with cbds but are there others . Sometimes groundplay projects are initiated. So that slide was talking about programs like living innovation and play streets. The Market Street prototyping festival. Those were initiated with partners in the city and Community Partners as well. Parklets are usually only initiated unless a supervisor is supportive. Got it. And so its good to know dpw didnt do enforcement and all that. Its largely when guys get call you go out, okay . Always when we do calls and well do an inspection after to ensure its installed properly and not interfering with furniture. Were so busy with all the other inspections were not in the business of hassling someone over a violation thats not life safety. Were responsive to any and all complaints typically we do correction notices usually they need a reminder and a tap on the shoulder and smile and thats what were there for. Thats great. With that, do you ever feel Business Concerns are placed and id like to know if you get sides from that side of the equation. The process is so thorough on the front end by the time it steps in the permit holder or sponsor typically has an understanding of what the responsibilities are as far as cleanliness and weve gone through notification and everything at that point. At that point, the questions well be assisting the Business Owner with as a parklet host is how i navigate the fees and permitting process with public works and thats not unique from any other permit. Were there to provide support for the permit and scope. We provide a lot of assistance because planning is the front door and were the back end, were less inquiry heffy that extent. If we did have to issue a correction notice or notice of violation wed be thorough in assisting the host understanding why they received that and what they need to do to correct it. Does that answer your question . Definitely. There are nuances in the Table Service question and i know its probably awkward for some businesses to have to not cross a certain threshold. Like how hard is that line . Is that something you guys kind of leave up to the information of this is the jurisdiction . Its prescribed in the code they cant do Table Service and engage in certain behavior and if we got a complaint pursuant to that behavior wed followup and look into it. Some businesses get creative. I know mojo cafe had a table that said no beers here or well get closed down and i know others will give you a number when you place your order but they will come and let you know your table is ready and get your to go box. Thats how theyre handling it. Thats still compliant as long as theres no actual Table Service. So youre allowed to take a number there. Yes. Theyre not allowed to serve you. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Commissioner dooley. I have one last question and thank you so much its helpful and i learned a lot of things. My last question is i get a lot of inquiries about putting up parklets on grant avenue in north beach which is a very narrow street. Is there some criteria about how wide a street is is there a limit to that or not . Thats an smta question but i do know if theres parking allowed on the street, that means a parklet can fit in that space. It would be allowed. What we do not allow is a street over 25 milesanhour speed limit we dont do that. Third street violation. Which one . Third street is like 50 miles an hour people travel. I would wonder why that parklet got out there out in museum. Its a hostile environment. Commissioner commissioner laguana. Thank you for sticking around. We appreciate it. I learned a lot. Very quick question. The original Parklet Program was like a popup park and i noticed with 3,000 fee on the front end and the average build out cost 30,000, is there an appetite, do you think among the people that come to you for like an oldschool popup parklet that is there for a month or two or summer months when its warmer or where the microclimates where its only going to be used for a couple months anyways. Is there an appetite for that and have you given that consideration . So i think so the places or people ordinance is meant to tackle all the in betweens we werent catching before the parklets used to be permitted through a directors order. Now we have a platform where we can know how to permit all these so theres a different permitting regime for that kind of thing . Right. Its a packet and you check the boxes where your specific type of idea comes and i do think they would still need a lot of documentation even for a temporary installation. Got it. Thank you. And a would encourage if you have the time to read the parklet manual has more information and in your packets youll see the design. Its very thorough in all the processes and we work really hard on that so i would love if you can take a look at that. Its on the website as well. The website is parklets. Org on the last slide of your packet. The website is right there. Thank you. I have one last question. If theres a construction project the city initiated and the parklet has to move, does the city pay for that . No, unfortunately thought. We make them aware of the beginning of the application it would be their responsibility and we encourage flexible design. Maybe some parklet sponsors could potentially store part of the parklet and come back when its finished though its also costly. Generally, no, we wouldnt. Thank you. Commissioner okay. Well open this up for Public Comment. Do we have members of the public that would like to speak . Come on up. Thank you so much. Thank you to your presenters. That was really informative and worthwhile to see and thank you to the commission for taking this on and the director for your leadership. My name is Joseph Sweiss a fellow commissioner on xhum human rights but but leer on the air American Democratic club because we work with merchant groups and merchants a lot of which are too busy to come to these kinds of events but were also appreciative for this. I love the parklets and ill be brief. I think theyre great for commercialppreciative for this. I love the parklets