Meeting remotely. Members of the public who are calling in, the number is 4156550001. Access code, 24855929788. Followed by password 7221. Press pound then pound govern and added to the pound and added to the line and listening mode only. When your item of interest coming up, dial star three to be added to the speaker line. If you dial star three before Public Comment, youll be added to queue. When its your time to speak, youll be prompted to do so and Public Comment is limited to three minutes per speaker and an alarm will sound when finished and speakers are requested but not required to statement their names. Sfgovtv, show the office of Small Business slide. Today shg well begin with a reminder that the Small Business commission is the public forum to voice your opinions and concerns of policies that voice in San Francisco. Before item one is called, i would like to thank Media Services and sfgovtv for coordinating this virtual hearing and helping to run this meeting. Call item one, please. Item one, roll call. Commissioner carter . Here. Commissioner dickerson . Present. Commissioner herbert. Present. President huie. Here. Commissioner cartagena. Here. Vicepresident zhou. You have a quorum. The San FranciscoSmall Business commission, an office of Small Business staff, acknowledges that we are on the ancestral homeland homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco peninsula. As the indigenous stewards of this land, and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. As guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the Ramaytush Ohlone community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. Please call item 2. Item two, board of supervisors, file 230313, skush side shared spaces permit and license fees. This is a discussion and action item. The commission will hear and possibly take action on an ordinance amending the public works and administrative code presenting, we have supervisor safai. Thank you for coming today, supervisor. Okay, good. Good to see you guys. Thank you, commissioners and president huie and did i say that right . Yes. Vicepresident zhou and all the rest of the commissioners for having me here today. Executive director katie tang and staff. We wanted to talk about a proposal to eliminate the fees that are associated with shared spaces. One of the things you all know better than anybody because youre on the frontline and many of you have Small Businesses, businesses struggled over the last few years and many of them are still struggling and trying to hang on by a thread and so, we came with some proposals in the past. One was a rent Relief Program that we had put forward to the mayor. It was a request for over 25 million, so Small Businesses could pay their back rent. The mayor chose not to fund that initially and then finally, we were able to get 2. 5 million. It literately, we have our director of Small Business, excuse me, director of of the office of economic and Workforce Development, when they put that out, it was gone like that. And theres that demand and need out there as you know. So, we came after talking with many Small Business and many restaurants and cafes and others, when we heard the program was going to be implemented, they felt strongly the fees associated with this, somewhere in many businesses, it can be between ten and 20,000 just for the fees them self to legalize and to stabilize this program. Thats not including the fees thats associated with rebuilding the spaces completely because now the city, ada, fire, building, planning, all the stuff you all already know, that is causing many of them to have to be completely rebuilt, so without these shared spaces, without these parklets, many of these businesses will go under and we have heard that loud and clear and i know commissioner ortiz has been out in my district, in particular, talking to the Small Businesses and they have said, a, we wont pay because we cant pay. We dont have that cash and b, youre asking us to choose between money that we can help to keep staff that we can help reinvest back in the business and keep our doors open. So we saw this as a shortterm Small Business stimulus. We think that it will be, have a Significant Impact and so, what were proposing is, and you can see on the screen, for public movable and commercial parklets to waive the First Parking space and any additional parking space fees associated with that and then on an annual basis, the annual fees will be still and people can, and at that point, pay the annual fee. So, thats what were proposing. Were waiting for the budget and legislative analyst to come back to us and give us a final analyst of the cost and this program is up and running and already operating and i think that the impact to the budget would be minimal, if any because theres not money already in the budget. This is money that will be realized going forward. So, were looking for the bla and others to come back and tell us what the actual cost will be after talking to the departments, but again, were framing this and we believe this is a shortterm Small Business stimulus. We think its better to keep the money in the pockets of Small Businesses rather them paying the fees to the city. So. Thats my presentation. Happy to answer any questions or hear any comments or constructive criticism. I know commissioners zhou likes to give me constructive criticism. [laughter] just kidding thank you. Lets see. Commissioner herbert. Thank you, i just want to say, first of all, thank you so much for even thinking about this because its really important for all of San FranciscoSmall Businesses, but specifically as a restaurant owner, its really, really important that we get some of these fees waived. Restaurants are, you know, a vital part of the health of the citys economy, as you know, and restaurants can also help with revitalizing areas which we badly need in this city and so, i would propose that you take it a step further and waive, not just the application fees, but i think the permit fees might be waived already for two years. I think those were thats the same thing, is that correct . The permit fees are the annual fee . Yeah. Permit is one time and then, sorry, the license is every year, so i would i think its waived for two years, if im not i think thats right. Okay. And then i would raise the bar for restaurants in terms of annual revenue, also, because a lot of restaurants are in trouble even the ones that make more than 2. 5 million, so, again, i want to thank you for that and i think actually we can do more. Uhhuh. Obviously, im a little bias, but no, i understand. Just so you know, we did raise the with talking with the golden gate restaurant association, we did raise the gross receipts from 2 million to 2. 5 million in this legislation who would be able to be impacted. Thanks again. Really appreciate it. And i just want to say, we did work with the ggra on this. Thats great. Thank you. Commissioner ortiz cartagena thank you, president zhou. President safai, thank you. I appreciate your commonsense, legislation, it works, youre hearing your constituencies and hearing everyone around the city. This is what restaurants and Small Businesses need in general, so i appreciate you for bringing this forth and the work you d you really reached out to the ggr a Laurie Thomas and thank you. I appreciate it. We need more. More, more, thank you. Thank you. Lets see. Commissioner carter. Oh, there we go. Yeah. Supervisor safai, i also want to thank you for this legislation. Its really hard for Small Businesses across the board, so any support is, like, i think not only Small Business, all business right now in San Francisco. And i think ill echo what commissioner herbert said and taking it a step further because, is this fees waived for a first time parklet or is it just im listening. Is it people for just getting parking for the first time . No, its existing as well because right now, i think the fees havent kicked in yet, so it would be oh once it kicks in, they will have to potentially pay that onetime fee. Uhhuh. Okay. So, it would be for new and thats how we were contemplating. Great. Yeah. I would say extend it to the annual also, it would be helpful. Okay any other commissioner questions or comments . I know, oh no, no. Go ahead, commissioner zhou. Thank you, supervisor. I appreciate you coming before us with this. Yeah, i agree the gross receipts threshold going up makes a lot of sense because, for those who dont know, the food business is a high grossing industry, but small margins, so high gross doesnt necessarily mean thats the profit. And i just wanted to ask two things. Whats the timeline that you expect since youre waiting on kind of a budget and how can we support . So, we are because this was introduced and coming up close to the overall budget conversations, it might get folded into the larger budget conversations, but were working with the chair to get information, at least accelerate it from the budget and legislative analyst to see the impact to the overall budget and theres some additional legislation out there there was another legislation that was first year free for a lot of business registration. This is similar in that sense because its a onetime, you know, right, youre eliminating the initial fees for the parking spaces, which is similar to initiation fee for a business, so theres some theres some synergy between those two pieces of legislation, so were hoping to move this sooner than the budget if we can, but it does have budget impact, so the timing of it might be folded into the larger budget considerations, which are happening in june. Got it. When we do, well coordinate with you and let you know when its finally scheduled and i believe it will be at the, its an administrative and public works code change, even though it has budget implications so it could be in rules and budget but well let you know for sure. Okay. And then, how does that how does that wind up with when those permit fees are due for, by Small Businesses . I dont think i mean, i might defer the executive director, you i dont know if any of the fees have been collected yet. So, its not like Small Businesses are having to plan, whether they can do this or not, okay . I dont think they are due yet. The timing is making sure they know well in advance. Okay. That was my question. If we have to contemplate funds, whether we get there, well do that but hopefully we dont have to do that. Okay. Commissioner herbert. One more thing while on the topic, i know shared spaces funds itself with the annual fees, right . But isnt it possible for the program to request more funding for staffing from the city thats not uncommon, right . Thats a work around because i know thats going to come around. Yes. That is something that could potentially come up during the budget conversation, so again, i would think that right now if were thinking about waiting to keep businesses going and stimulating the economy, its better to keep the money in the pockets of Small Businesses rather than ask them to pay for operating a program that might not be operating for any businesses if they go out of business. I mean, right now, we dont want to push businesses out of business, so, i know that from what we have heard over and over again, a lot of these fees, thousands of dollars, they dont have it. And i know for the example on the sunset, the inner sunset, that was a significant blow to that business because it cut their seating in half, so which is significant. Thank you. Commissioner ortiz cartagena. Can i add to that, like, you know, ive been on the ground, so, just to revenue the revenue this is going to generate for the city conference by mitigating or adding, like an example, theres a business in your district that if they dont have the shared space, they probably go under. That means thats another vacant storefront. Right thats Property Values and reassessment because i dont have a tenant and and it goes on and on and in addition, the shared space on average employs one parttime person minimum. That creates jobs. It stimulates the economy, so were here to support you that they have to make this happen. This is essential for the economy of restaurants in the city, so. Thank you great thank you. Knowing, i have one question. Knowing that there is going to be some sort of budget, you know, conversation around this, are there opportunities that youve identified to be able to maybe offset, like, support for shared spaces through other programs . Because i know theres other people giving thought to how to make shared spaces just more templated or streamlined and easier to access and easier to say yes to Small Businesses because i think a three thousand fee is significant, but like you were saying, the cost of building a small shared space is often times, like, upwards of 25,000 or more. I would love to know if theres, because ive heard a few different programs thats thinking of ways to make, you know, the first step less of a barrier for Small Businesses and im wondering if theres things on your radar that kind of fit into this plan, like, on holistic basis . Thats a great question. Im glad we have the director of office of economic and Workforce Development here because the truth is that, that type of a request is in some ways, its looking for onetime capital sources, right, because if a business has to invest in a shared space, they might have to come out of pocket, you know, 10, 15, 20,000 just for the construction, but its a onetime fee and for some businesses its insurmountable and thats why its good for, thats exactly in the alley and the realm of the office of economic and Workforce Development. They have pools of money or they can create pools of money thats one time capital dollars that would go into helping Small Businesses. I know for example in this upcoming, we had a budget town hall the other night and we heard from Small Businesses thats looking for onetime capital sources of funding and that can be the, again, it can be the difference between a business expanding, staying open. I know that many of the empty storefronts we have that is one of the biggest hurdles, just in and of it, the dollars on the interior and doing construction on the outside for shared space. Yeah. Thank you very much, sir, for bringing this forth to us. Do we have any other comments up here . No sometime to take Public Comment. Any Public Comment . Are there Public Commenters in the room . Commenters online, press starhree to be added to the queue. We have one caller currently waiting. Caller, you can go ahead. Good afternoon. My name is indiscernible . Im calling on behalf of the golden gate restaurant association. Shared spaces as you know has been a program for the survival of many restaurant communities and offered to locals alike. Were grateful the city recognize this and its an ongoing program. Restaurants recover from covid and those brought by the inflation and the storms we strongly support attempts to reduce the one year, the application fees especially measures to indiscernible and to raise the threshold for the 50 discount for fees to 2. 5 million. We strongly believe that the longterm health of the program is essential to our industry and ensure the department supports this program and it needed to be funded and this program is [hard to understand speaker] again, thank you very much. Theres one more Public Commenter. Good afternoon, commissioners. And supervisor safai. Thank you very much for letting me speak. My name is janet talog and im calling on behalf of the Glen Park Merchants Association and i serve as president. I also, im in leadership of the San FranciscoCouncil District merchant association. For glen parks merchant association, i want to echo the sentiment that fees from the city right now are impeded our ability to recover from the pandemic and getting to a place of sustainability over the longterm and the Glen Park Merchants Association is in support of this legislation and we would like to call on the commission and the office of Small Business and the board of supervisors to onebyone find more and more opportunities to make operating in San Francisco more easy and reduce these as many as possible. Thank you. If theres other callers, press star three to be added to the queue. There are none. Great. Hearing no further callers, Public Comment is closed. Are we ready to take a motion . Would someone like to make a motion . I move to support. Ill second that. Motioned by commissioner ortiz cartagena