industry where the drivers are subject to exploitation quite frankly and low wage workers. i think that we are concerned that the price -- i mean, the congestion pricing would actually go on to the drivers. >> chair fewer: and we're trying to get at a company, a multibillion company to pay its fair share. and so this is why we've been grappling with the congestion pricing in one of your recommendations. i think another thing that was interesting well, that i really want to dig deeper into is the fact that, you know, they aren't able to actually explain about safety issues because they're at the mercy of people rating them arbitrarily. this puts a crazy system that

you would drive someone in your own vehicle while you're driving and so vulnerable -- we know that taxi drivers have put in a lot of protection such as cameras and everything else because they have -- it has been ripe for them to be actually assaulted, right? and even though the drivers in these cases aren't really carrying cash and money as a lot of taxi drivers did in the past, it is still the fact that you have your back to somebody, and you are busy driving, and it could be in a very serious situation because you don't have any idea about the people that you're picking up. but i wanted to know when you were talking to folks about this if people have been assaulted or have had physical harm done to them, have they actually filed police reports? >> i'll let sergio speak to

this and i'll have some other thoughts, as well. >> of the driver that brought it up, like i said, they called me up after the interview and said this is embarrassing, but i want to tell you this because i think it's important. so after that -- he didn't report it to uber or lyft because in other instances, he's seen what the investigation process looks like. he's been reported for supposed intoxication. he was not, and so lyft deactivat deactivated him, and he was like, this didn't happen. what they were like was, okay. it was, like, 24-hour suspension, and they were like okay, this is fine. so his disillusionment with what the process looks like, he just believed that uber and lyft was not going to do anything about it. and no, they did not file a police report, either. >> chair fewer: okay. commissioner mar -- >> could i add an additional

thought? >> chair fewer: yeah. >> yeah. in combination with a number of driver leaders with gig work rising, this issue came up. and one story or one concern that was shared is if someone wants to file a police report per se, it can be difficult to get from uber or lyft the actual identity of their passenger. so uber and lyft might turnaround and say oh, you're going to need a warrant for that, so that makes a structural barrier for someone getting useful information into that police report. >> chair fewer: yeah. good point. commissioner mar, do you have any questions or comments? >> supervisor mar: thank you so much, guys, for doing this really important initial study, and i really look forward to the follow up study that's going to happen through lafco. i did have a question just whether you found that drivers were aware, you know, of the -- you know, the issue of independent contractor status

versus, you know, permanent employee status and the dynamics, decision, and the state bill, and now there's the recent nlrb ruling on this issue, too. so i was, like, wondering where the drivers were and whether you have any -- what kind of perspectives or -- that you got from the drivers on this question about independent contractor status. >> oh, yeah. we actually, a few days ago, had a follow up phone call with another driver leader with bgi workers rising, and they specifically said half of drivers don't care, aren't interested in knowing what their status or rights are and another half are passionate about it. the reason being that they explained that they're just focused on driving and earning their income. and part of the inherent nature of driving for a transportation network company is you're often

very isolated from other drivers, so it's harder, except on an on-line platform with real intention to go about sharing your stories and share your intention, and sergio's got something else to add. >> yeah. so i just, like, want to add in the slide that we had on work-life balance, it shows that two thirds of drivers appreciate the flexibility that they have with their schedule. how flexible is really is might be up for discussion, but when we were speaking with someone from uber and lyft -- well, one of the drivers, they were saying that if it means losing that flexibility that we become employees, we don't want to become employees. so that part is really important for them, and that's why the drivers are really split between do we want to stay independent contractors or become employees. >> chair fewer: did you also get an idea of how many drivers are driving full-time and how

many part-time? >> so from the survey itself, it seemed like -- from what -- the number that i remember, it seemed like half of drivers were driving full-time for uber and then a quarter were driving full-time for lyft. >> chair fewer: okay. >> the other thing that i mid might add in response to your question, commissioner mar is in the united kingdom, there's litigation over the subject that we're talking about, and that's some of what drivers are seeking is to be classified in the middle. but as we said, the independent contractor status is being abused here and it seems on a pretty large scale. so the question is do we categorize people as employees now and create a third category later and that's something we should consider on this

subject. >> chair fewer: okay. thank you very much. now when is your class -- is your semester over? >> yes. >> chair fewer: okay. i want to thank you, and i think on behalf of the whole lafco, thank you so much for this. this is as i said the tip of the iceberg but really gives us food for thought on our next steps and this information to be added also to the further studies that we're doing. thank you so much. we totally appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you for your time and consideration. thank you very much. >> chair fewer: so let's hear some public comment on this item. are there any members of the public that would like to speak? you have two minutes. >> all right. first of all, these situations where the drivers are considered contractors, it's a trick and device that's used by the management of the taxi drivers.

you've got a different preferential treatment of different drivers, like the medallions. i'd like to ask the students to study and ask the opinions of the medallions. they're being charged $250,000 to drive a taxi where other drivers are not being charged. it's differential treatment and it's discrimination based on race. i come to another hearing to speak on economically disadvantaged people, and before i know it i'm surrounded by 15 indian and arabic drivers that want me to speak out on behalf of them. as a result, when i get up and speak, i say it's a violation of their protective rights in the civil rights act of 1964 and equal rights pertaining to due process under the law. you've got a situation that some taxi drivers are not paying $250,000 for a medallion and other drivers that's paying

that much money in order to drive a vehicle. as far as employment discrimination law, can't be applied because the contractor, it's a loophole. you're using the wrong type of law. the true and correct law to use on that is corporate law, contract law because you signed a contract with the owners of that company. you violated the contract because you're not dealing in good faith and never had any intentions on reaching a legal agreement on this matter because you're undermining the drivers and they're paying all this money and you're red lining the areas where they can drive their taxis. you need to ask them about personal injuries, too, because a lot of them are paying a lot of money to drive the taxis. >> chair fewer: thank you, mr. wright. >> good afternoon. eric brooks with the local grassroots group our city.

thanks to the students for this excellent research and presentation. i want to add another crucial deeper layer to the iceberg, and that is the potential for a city -- a city issued cryptocurrency to solve this problem. all the problems that were raised in the presentation and all of the solutions can be programmed into a new type of cryptocurrency with something that uses a smart contract. if that was issued by the city and was required to be used by anyone that's working as a driver or anyone that's calling a ride, has a rider, you could program into that -- that sets up an automatic relationship directly between the driver and the rider. there's an automatic exchange. that eliminates the need for uber and lyft. it would just make those companies go away if it's spread all over the planet. there are already private

companies that are working on creating cryptocurrencies like this. but if it was a city-issued cryptocurrency, all the current rules that you put in the currency that are mandated in the exchange would be mandated by the city. by the way, this currency does not have to have the high energy use of bitcoin. this is a different type of currency. so the city could issue this, and i would actually urge some urgency on this because as i said, private companies are working on these type of cryptocurrencies to disrupt uber and lyft and airbnb, and if a private company does it first, then we have to deal with them skimming money off the top of the process. so i would urge you folks that are -- >> chair fewer: thank you, mr. brooks. seeing no further comment,

public comment is now closed. [gavel]. >> chair fewer: so madam clerk, can you please call item seven. >> clerk: yes, and for the record, there was no action tick taken on item four. item seven is director's report. >> chair fewer: mr. goebel, would it be okay if we continued this to the next meeting? okay. let's take public comment on item number seven. >> i want to talk about current events. i spoke up and demonstrated that 144 unit apartment

building complex can be built in the embarcadero for $66 million, and a 66 unit apartment complex can be built for $57 million. i demonstrated that 9 times 3 is 27 and each of these building is 27 stories tall. you get more bang for your buck building a 27 story apartment complex side by side with each of these two buildings which is already being built in mountain view and san mateo. you take a chunk of about 1,900 homeless people off the street by using this technique. and by using that technique, the homeless rate would decrease, and if you apply it to each and every location you want to build a navigation center, you'd have a less

amount of people on the streets. sf viewer, please. will you freeze my time?

>> chair fewer: mr. wright, would you mind if we continued your public comment -- >> i'll tell you what? i'll just demonstrate the document myself. >> chair fewer: thank you, mr. wright. i appreciate it. >> that's okay. current events. in 2019, at the present time, there was a homeless census count. at the present, we've got 8,011 homeless people in the city and county of san francisco, okay? as you can see from the year of 2007 all the way up to the present, the numbers of homeless people population has been increasing. we have gotten statements from the mayor's office on housing, the mayor's office on homelessness that they're closing the gap on homelessness in san francisco. it's not true, and these

figures clearly stipulate that. >> chair fewer: thank you, mr. wright. so we are doing public comment on the executive officer's report, item number seven. public comment is next. >> yeah. eric brooks, san francisco green party, our city san francisco, and san francisco energy choice. so on the issue of renewable energy specialist and contractor, it would be good just to get a sense from the executive officer and maybe the commissioners that are in the loop on this as to the reason for the postponement. and i also wanted to say that when you hire or whatever firm you hire for this, it is very important that the first thing on the list for that contractor to work on is -- is the citywide local buildout plan, so i'm hoping that -- i've already spoken privately with executive officer goebel about that, and that's what the

advocates would like to see is for that to be -- as soon as we hire that person, then, the next thing they should be working on is the local r.f.p. for the planning. >> chair fewer: thank you very much, mr. brooks. seeing no more public comment, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> clerk: item 8 is public comment. there was no objectiaction tak item 7. >> i take it there was no action taken on item 6? >> chair fewer: mr. wright, we did take action on it. we approved it. >> i would like you to -- to see you get into public housing since you've got million to --

millions to spend. the way you're taking care of business by spending money only in shelters instead of permanent housing, you're only wasting money. it's been projected that you would have an additional negative cash flow again if you keep spending money like you're doing. $643.9 million has been forecast within five years if you keep taking care of business the way you're doing, okay? by housing the homeless people and giving them permanent housing, you'll cut down on the expenses as far as treatments and the medical services, going to san francisco general hospital, services by the sheriff's department, by the direct housing program, mental health services, and ageing services for the people of san francisco. i want to call it to your attention that he hyou had an 8 -- that you had an

$88.2 million cash flow last year. you had an $88.2 million cash flow problem when the current administration took over. the $9 billion in that account that came because of tax cuts and tax cuts regulations and multimillion dollar companies located overseas who were avoiding taxes came back to the united states is the reason why every state overall in the united states of america has millions of dollars in their account. if you don't start spending moneywisely, you're going to end up with that kind of negative cash flow again. >> chair fewer: thank you very much, mr. wright. seeing no further public comment, public comment is closed. madam clerk, can you read the next item. >> clerk: item nine, future agenda items.

>> chair fewer: any items? seeing none, let's open it up to public comment. mr. brooks? >> eric brooks, our city san francisco, and clean energy san francisco. it's up to san francisco to do this, and so it's crucial that we get the public -- we can be the first in public to get a public bank. if we did, it would be amazing. the cryptocurrency thing, the best way to issue that would be through a public bank, so i just want to bring that up and make sure that's on the table and hopefully we get that on a near term agenda because it looks like it's going to be up to san francisco and not los angeles to get this done. thanks. >> chair fewer: thank you, mr. brooks.

>> i'd like to see interest be put into the juvenile hall, as well. there's only 30 people that's in the juvenile detention center, and i object to minors who have a behavior problem when they're coming from a dysfunctional home. that that's not the correct way to treat people when they have an unfortunate situation in their family. places being shutdown, and on further review, i found out that place has the amount of square footage that's on or about the size of mission rock. i move to incorporate the fact that you could build on or about 1,000 to 2,000 apartment building complexes there, you can make a john o'connell-style vocational program for people,

adolescent kids who come from a dysfunctional family. and instead of them being in a situation like they're being a criminal, you can put them in a training program. it's made headline news about how the places being shutdown, and the amount of square footage that is located in that area and not being utilized with the type of homeless population that we've got of on or about 8,011 is no excuse for a city with the type of resources, land, and leadership that you claim that you want to help. it's counter productive. it's counter productive, so i had -- i'd like to have that included in a public agenda, and included in that, the response that i provided, you build the two towers and instead of having developers in

the process for profit. i did a demonstration with walton about that that saves -- >> chair fewer: okay. thank you mr. wright. thank you very much. seeing no further public comment, public comment is closed. madam clerk, do we have any other business today? >> clerk: we have no further questions today. >> chair fewer: on behalf of all the commissioners, i'd like to thank all the students. there's a small celebration in room 208. commissioners, i'd ask you -- you are invited to attend. i have another meeting that i have to get to, but i'd ask that you attend. thank you, colleagues. this meeting is adjourned.

>> when i open up the paper every day i'm just amazed at how many different environmental issues keep popping up. when i think about the planet i want to leave for my children and other generation, i think of what contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. ♪ clean power sf is san francisco's key way of fighting climate change by renewable energy and offering it to san francisco customers. i'm from the san francisco public utilities commission. the program came about with state wide legislation in 2002 to enable people to take more

control over supplies. i first heard of the program when the organization was advocating to launch clean power sf. what i'm most excited about, it's going to bring 100% renewable energy to my home and reinvest into renewable energy infrastructure and jobs. i had gone to a lot of street fairs and heard from the staff at the san francisco public utilities commission to sign up for clean power sf even before it launched. >> we learned about clean power sf because our sustainability team is always looking for clean operations. linkedin is the largest online network. there are about 530 million members using our site.

in this san francisco office there's about 1400 employees working in roughly 400,000 square feet. >> after signing up for the program we heard about the san francisco program and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. i'm the co-owner of the new wheel electric bike shop. we opened this store in 2012 and the new wheel sells and services electric bikes. 11 people work here in san francisco and our store is about 2,000 square feet. electric bikes are fantastic for transportation in the city, they're clean and green and you get places faster than any other form of transportation. it amplifies the power, it doesn't replace it. it makes it easier to get places by bicycle and it's so enjoyable and environmentally friendly way to go and more convenient in san francisco. >> clean power sf requires two

products, green, 40% renewable and competitively priced with pg and e. for those who want to fight climate change more, 100% renewable at $0.02 per kilawatt. >> i decided to go with the super greens, after finding it only to cost about $5 more a month to have super green, that's a no-brainer, i can do that. >> we were pleased that clean power sf offers the super green 100% for commercial entities like ours and residents for the city of san francisco. we were pleased with the package of services for linkedin and now encouraging our employees who have a residence in san francisco to sign on as well.

>> clean power sf buys its power from renewable plants that feed the energy directly into the grid. >> there's a commitment to sustainability throughout the entire organization and this clean power opportunity reflects that. >> one of the wind farms we use is the shilo wind farm and that is large enough to be able to provide energy for up to 200,000 homes. >> our mission is sustainability, even though our bikes are minimal energy use, it still matters where the energy comes from and part of our mission in sustainability is how we run everything -- run our business. having the lights come on with clean energy is very important. >> the sunset reservoir has solar panels that take up about four city blocks covering the reservoir and the solar power

generates energy for city resources and clean power sf for residents participating in the program. >> it was easy to sign up for the program, i went online to cleanpowersf.org and i started getting pieces in the mail letting me know i was going to be switched over and it just happened. when i pay my bill, i still go to pg and e and i don't see any difference between now and a year ago. >> sign up online, just have your account number ready and it takes about two minutes and there's nothing to install. no lines are getting connected to your home. all the power goes through the existed power grid. >> we haven't had any problems with the switch over to clean power. >> it's super easy to sign up. our book keeper signed up online, it took about 15 minutes. nothing changed but now we have

cleaner energy. >> we see clean power sf as a key strategy to meet renewable energy goal, we have a goal of 50% renewable energy by 2020. currently we have enrolled about 86,000 customers across the city. about 20% of what we hope to serve in the future and in the next two years we'll offer service to all san francisco electricity customers. >> an easy way to align your environmental responsibilities and goals around climate change and it's so easy that it's hard to not want to do it and it doesn't really add anything to the bill. >> joining clean power sf is one of the easiest ways to fight climate change, receiving cleaner energy at low and stable rates, you're helping to support a not for profit that helps influence the energy grid and

produce more production. >> i would encourage any business to seriously convert to the clean sf service. it's good for environment, business and the community. >> you can sign up online our call and the great thing is, you'll have the peace of mind that you're doing your part in your household to help the environment. ♪ ♪ >> good morning, let's get this press conference started. hi, everyone, i'm mary of the city and county and san francisco, and also resident.

welcome to the lower hate, everybody. i am here with sorrow who is the owner of café international, which is really an important legacy business that really holds this community together, and your supervisor, vallie brown. [applause] >> you know, this café is one of the small businesses around our city that are more than just a small business. they are spaces for our neighbors together across close-knit communities, they are where young people get their first job opportunities, and they are an important part of our workforce. as i said, they are where zahra, the owner of were of café international, and in immigrant who can create new opportunities for themselves and countless employees. well we know that small businesses in san francisco employ more than 350,000 people,

and make up 95% of our businesses, and generates millions of dollars for our economy, what i love most about our small businesses is the opportunities that they create for the people. the opportunity to grow a community, grow our skills, and grow our people -- our future. from here in my home district of the western addition, lower hate neighborhood, out to the excelsior. we have hosted roundtable meetings with small business forms to provide faces -- spaces were businesses can talk about their concerns and their challenges. today, i am so excited to announce that we are working to

make it easier for small businesses to not only survive in san francisco, but to thrive in san francisco. that is what today's announcement is all about. is not just for people to open and run their businesses, but for people to find employment at small businesses and for small business owners and employees to have a seat at the table where we are having -- making the decisions about our budget investments. first, let's take a step back and think about what it means to start a small business in san francisco. i hear from people all the time what a great idea and new innovation they want to do. then they are confronted with bureaucracy at city hall. it is such an incredible challenge. san francisco has loan programs in place that help people through our office of economic and workforce development. we have issued more than 20 million dollars with 90 4%

repayment rate, which is incredible. these loans have estimated to create 1300 jobs. this includes our revolving loan fund, the fund provides low interest loans with flexible terms and support for small businesses that help to keep them stable and to help them grow. with my proposed budget, we are adding an additional $1 million to this incredible program. this funding will support city sponsored small business loans that will help more small businesses to get out and run and create more job opportunities. finally a small businesses grow and thrive, sometimes they need key improvements. one like we were able to do right here at café international , which is now a.d.a. accessible, and i'm so excited about that. even though people have always found a way to get in there and get their coffee and their

snacks regardless of the barriers that existed, but heck, why not make it easier. so part of our investment will include new things like awnings and doors and windows, and upgrades to interiors, new equipment, or improvements to me businesses a.d.a. compliant so that people with disabilities can access those businesses easily. through our invest in neighborhoods and the s.f. sign program, we have business -- we help businesses cover some of the costs to make these upgrades because when our businesses shine, our communities shine. that is why i am committed to providing an additional and this year's budget $2 million this is with specific focus is in the excelsior, the bayview, the lower fillmore, and right here on the street. we know that when we make the small business investments that

our community succeeds. let's say, you open a business and you go through the registration process and many of your small business owners have told me of these experiences and only to have the doors shut in your face because of what you did or didn't have, and you're told you will have to pay hundreds of dollars for a permit or a fee that you didn't even know existed if you are a small business owner, right -- raise your hand if you have encountered that. exactly. if those registers -- for a permit for the fire department, for who knows what else and i want to be clear that these fees that the city charges is not intended to make doing business in san francisco harder, but we know that that is something that we need to address, so i was

really determined with what i heard from small businesses to eliminate all city fees, but my staff wouldn't let me do it. so instead, until we can basically do the report, do some more investigation, determine what is needed, in the meantime, i'm allocating in this year's budget, $2 million in funding for relief for small businesses for refunds for some of those fees that we know are challenging for people to do business. with our proposal, we estimate that more than 8,000 businesses, almost 9,000 businesses will qualify from some sort of reimbursement for certain fees that have really impacted our small businesses, and it may seem like a small amount, but it

will make a difference in our ability to allow small businesses to have the kind of support that they truly deserve, until we can eliminate the fees. when i think back, growing up in san francisco, i remember the small businesses. i still go to the same drycleaners that i have been going to since i could even afford a dry cleaner, i am still going to the same nail shop and the person who does my hair, my same dentist since i have had teeth. and when i think about san francisco, what i want to protect is what makes us a special and diverse city. it is our neighborhood. it is our small businesses, it is like knowing you can go to zara and she can basically give you advice on how to take care of your kids, how to discipline your kids, how to take care of your mom and give you a cup of coffee at the same time. this is what this is about and protecting businesses are so important we are also going to invest an additional $4 million

in grants for small businesses. grants to provide additional support for small business and nonprofit that want to relocate in places where we have a number of vacant storefronts. because we know that is another challenge that exists in our communities where you know that there are vacant storefronts and there is difficulty in accessing those storefronts. we have to do more, as i said, to make the kinds of investment that not only provide, you know, the support and get rid of the layers of bureaucracy, but we also have to provide the financial investments that are going to help businesses get into business, but also stay in business. these are some of the largest investments ever made in this city to support our small business community, and we still know that there's more work that we can do to better improve what is happening in san francisco,

especially when we make decisions, when we make policy decisions, and unfortunately sometimes, we lose a small business because of his bad policy decisions. as we work through the bureaucracy, as we work through making the kinds of changes that are going to make things better for small businesses, this is a first step towards demonstrating that we are committed to supporting our small business community, and we are here to receive feedback in other ways in which these programs are working and making a difference in your communities, and of course, there is still more that we know we need to do, but this is the beginning of what i think is a bright and prosperous future for our small businesses in san francisco, and i want to thank all of you for being here today. and someone who has been an incredible small business champion on the board of supervisors, who is working on legislation around vacancy controls, who is working on

making sure that we have opportunities to have more legacy businesses, and funding for those legacy businesses, which is equally important, is a committed former resident, but now living in another part of d5 , but you all remember her, because she used to pick up trash in front of your businesses, that is why we know, and we love vallie brown because of her commitment to the residents of district five. ladies and gentlemen, your supervisor, vallie brown. [applause]. >> thank you. i really appreciate everything you were doing, giving the funding forward so we can actually address these issues. i guess you i will have to legislate things to get that done, but i really feel that in these times when small businesses are struggling, the city needs to step up and do

better. we need to make sure that streamlining, when people get in , trying to open their businesses, it doesn't take them a year and a half to pay rent and open a business if they want to have a couple of businesses able to go into one bigger space , that should be easy for them. we need to make it easy. in these times are we have amazon and all the other home deliveries, we need to make it easy for businesses to not only survive, but to prosper. this was personal for me because i lived in the lower hate for 20 years. it is my heart. i have to join you -- tell you, at café international, over 15 years ago, and the patio, that is where we started the first neighborhood association. we also started the first merchant's association. we argued about how many trees should we plant, and how many

bar crawls should we have to get those money -- the money to plant the trees. all of this, the merchants were there, the merchants came forward with the residents, and said, your priorities are our priorities. the whole foods across the street, that is the original whole foods, everybody. there we are. yes, mike's barbershop has been there since the sixties, zara and café international, 27 years , has she been serving coffee to the neighbors, giving them advice, and also listening to their issues, and ricky records, two jacks, from 20 years plus. i mean this is the kind of businesses that we want and that we crave. when i say to my friend, let's meet for coffee or dinner, i don't say, come to my house, i say let's meet in the corridors. they are the extension of our

living room. they are an extension of our home. when we go out, i want to be somewhere when i feel like i am at home. where i can talk to mike at the barbershop or others. i can't imagine not being able to go out my front door and go to a store that i love, or a café that i love and then i can meet my friends, so i am here today to say, all of a sudden, we weave ourselves in the fabrics of these neighborhoods, and we need to be -- we need to support our merchant corridors because they are part of our home. i know you are nervous, but i told her, just pretend she is behind the counter, giving advice, and speak from the heart i want to thank everyone here today, and i, as your supervisor , will be working on creative ways, legislating them, to make it easier for merchants, and to make sure our corridor

thrives. thank you. i will introduce her. because she has given me advice many times. and even though i moved, i still come in here, and after a busy day, i sit there and say, tell me what is real. i will have few tell her what is real right now, and your beautiful café, after the renovation, it is amazing. i want you to come up and tell it from the heart. thank you. >> thank you, mayor breed and supervisor brown for the introduction and for coming to café international for this very important announcement.

through the mayor and supervisor vallie brown in the office of economic and workforce development, café international, we have received a lot of money. our beautiful interior and exterior, with has a san francisco shine. café international is not only a community hub. with the health and support in the city and the mayor, we continue to serve our community and keep it healthy and vibrant. mayor breed, thank you. supervisor vallie brown, thank you for all your support. these two people saved the café. thank you. and thank you everybody, and come and get coffee. [applause] >> now we will have comments from mario who is the president

of the district council of merchants. >> good afternoon, everybody. mayor breed, thank you very much for having me speak here, and supervisor vallie brown, thank you for all you have done for this neighborhood. this is kind of my stomping grounds when i was younger, and i'm proud to say that as president of the council of district merchants, it is a member of the council as well as upper. the council stands to represent those who are underrepresented, as the mayor has said earlier, small businesses have been struggling. that doesn't mean we're down and out. we are not looking for a handout , but we do need to help out. when times are tough, community -- communities need to get together. i commend the mayor for having that roundtable that you had a few weeks ago. she gathered many of us businesspeople together and she hurried as speak, not only did

she hear us, but she listened. not only did she give our complaints and concerns, bed we told her what things we contributed to the community as a small business merchants. it is a symbiotic relationship. small businesses would not be there without the neighbors and the customers. we pretty much defined the neighborhood. most of us adopt our names based on our commercial corridor. it is something that is precious to us, it is unique to us, and if it is anything else other than that, then we become a suburb. then we are no longer a unique city called san francisco, which is one of the most desirable cities in the world. i would also like to say that i commend the mayor for not just listening to our needs, but responding to them. when it comes to the shine program, when it comes to the revolving funds, and also the assistance with fees, sincerely, mayor brown, i thank you, because we were heard. it was a gesture.

i hope it was just a start, and i hope if you need any help with that legislation, i've got your back on that, too, but the fact that we were heard, the fact that someone acknowledged that there is a problem, maybe we need a little bit of help, it goes a long way. i am one of those people that said, it is necessary, but also after that dialogue, we need some action, and we need follow-up. it is, it is a symbiotic relationship. we all grow together, we all sleep together, but it is important that we are heard and now we look forward to working together, not one-sided versus the other, but as one team holding hands and walking through this process together because it does take a village. on that note, i laughed when i heard of her story because i too am an immigrant. i beat her here by about 25 years, and i've acclimated quite well, but i walked up and i started chatting with her, and she started chatting with me in

arabic. or arabic was much better than mine, but what got to me is when the mayor mentioned that you came over there and she started to give advice, because 35 years ago, that was my mom and her little corner grocery store. should be sitting there giving these guys advice on how to run their marriages, their households, and a couple of them were esteemed attorneys and appointed judges on the federal court circuit, so it was kind of funny to see where some of our leaders know where to get the best advice. on that note, thank you very much. thank you for having me, and a look i look forward to working with you. thank you. >> thank you for being here. i also want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the new head of the san francisco chamber of commerce, rodney phone, thank you for joining us here today, because it has to be about protecting and supporting our small business communities so we are all working together to do that. now that we are wrapping this up

, a couple of things, get your food and your coffee from café international before you go back to work. if you need a haircut, mike will take care of you across the street. if you need groceries, you can go to whole foods, which is a local grocery owned place, and you will take care of their needs. everything you need before you go back to work, or you go home, it's right here in this neighborhood, at these incredible small businesses, usually staffed by the people who actually owned them and work day in and day out to take care of the people of this community. again, that is why we have to take care of them and make the right investment in our small businesses all over the city and county of san francisco so they cannot only survive, they can thrive, and we can be the city that we truly know how to be. thank you also much for being here todait.

>> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges resident to do their shop & dine in the 49 within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services in the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so we're will you shop & dine in the 49 chinatown has to be one the best unique shopping areas in san francisco that is color fulfill

and safe each vegetation and seafood and find everything in chinatown the walk shop in chinatown welcome to jason dessert i'm the fifth generation of candy in san francisco still that serves 2000 district in the chinatown in the past it was the tradition and my family was the royal chef in the pot pals that's why we learned this stuff and moved from here to have dragon candy i want people to know that is art we will explain a walk and they can't walk in and out it is different techniques from stir frying to smoking to steaming

and they do show of. >> beer a royalty for the age berry up to now not people know that especially the toughest they think this is - i really appreciate they love this art. >> from the cantonese to the hypomania and we have hot pots we have all of the cuisines of china in our chinatown you don't have to go far. >> small business is important to our neighborhood because if we really make a lot of people lives better more people get a job here not just a big firm. >> you don't have to go anywhere else we have pocketed of great neighborhoods haul have all have their own uniqueness. >> san francisco has to all oc

devices because they could interfere with the equipment in the room. [pledge of allegiance] >> commissioner taylor, i would like to call role. >> yes. [roll call] >> you have a quorum. also present is chief scott chief scott from the san

francisco police department and paul heno