BMA Blog

General Membership Meeting Notes

December 13, 2011

Union Bank

3801 Third Street

San Francisco, CA 94124

Vice President La Shon A. Walker, chaired the meeting

Information shared included:

1. Small Business Week discussion

Key discussion points included:

• Small Business Week kick off with Flavors of San Francisco – May 14, 2012

• A question arose as to whether Small Business week is useful for attracting business to local neighborhood merchants; consensus was that it is not helpful, and the City needs to spend some money (which we were told it does not have) on more advertising for the various neighborhoods.  Regina Dick Andrizzi did offer to create links from the OSB website to the marketing or any website(s) created by various neighborhoods for Small Business Week.  This is the same as in the past, and has not been very effective

• The American Express sponsored event – a day of shopping – has been very successful in the past.  That day for 2012 is Saturday, November 26, 2012.    We will provide more information about how to participate early in the new year.

2. Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector Presentation:
• Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector made a presentation about the City’s plan to consolidate billing for licenses and permits.  The strategy will be one bill per business, which will be sent to the address used for the business license. It will no longer matter how many locations a business has or how many licenses or permits are associated with that business.

• Four departments are participating in this consolidation effort – Fire, SFPD, Entertainment, and DPH.  The only department that is not participating is DPW

• A letter will be going out to all merchants in January to confirm that licenses and permits the City has on file for that business

• Goal is that the bills will go out March 31st of 2012, and will be prorated until March 2013, when business owner should be on the same schedule.

• Payments can be made on line

• Officials understand that while having one bill is easier to manage than many bills with differing calendars, they realize that one bill will be more money having to be paid out at one time.  To that end, they are considering a pre-payment plan

3. New Legislation:

Doorway/Entrance Code Compliance Legislation (Source – Supervisor David Chiu)

• David Chiu has introduced legislation that requires landlords to bring entrances and exits of all ground floor commercial spaces being leased for public accommodation into compliance for all pre-existing access laws. This will be true for both new leases and lease renewals.

• In addition, landlords will be required to provide notice to tenants with a “Disability Access Notice” before signing the lease.  This notice will inform the tenant both of the work having been performed by the landlord on the entrances and exits, as well as the degree to which the interior of the commercial spaces is ADA compliant (or not)

• No real property is exempt, as the ADA requirement is federal law (there is no “grandfathering a property in”)

• This provision does not create any new ADA obligation, it just prevents landlords from shifting all responsibility for compliance onto the business owner alone, and requires written notice

• Property owners can obtain ADA inspections by Certified Access Specialists-information about how to find them on the Office of Small Business website

• Once inspections are completed, the business owner is given a confidential report containing information on the current accessibility of the spaces, as well as a list of the things that can be done to make it more accessible.

• Should a business owner receive a letter from someone saying they were denied access based on the condition of the business, and are considering a lawsuit, having one of these confidential reports prepared by a Certified Access Specialist, can temporarily halt that lawsuit process.  For more information contact the Office of Small Business at (415) 554-6134.

Restaurant Consolidation Legislation (Source – Planning Commission)

• There are currently 13 definitions for the line item “eating and drinking uses” in the Planning Code.

• Uses are divided by how food is served, what types of food is served, seating capacity, and total share footage of space.  Coffee stores are not permitted to have on-site food preparation.

• The goal of the legislation is to simplify the total number of line item definitions to three:  Restaurant, Restaurant-Limited, and Bar.

• Also part of this transition would be provision to standardize the conditions between all the eating and drinking uses.

• For more information on the proposed changes, contact the legislative office for the Small Business Commission via Chris Schulman @ (415) 554-6408 or chris.schulman@sfgov.org.

4. A BMA Service Excellence Award was presented to Police Sergeant Howard Weathersby
5. The BMA sponsored a Christmas Tree on Mendell Plaza as part of their neighborhood beautification program; additionally lights sponsored by P.G. & E. were hung on the trees in the Plaza including the large Palm tree. Renaissance/Lisc and State farm hired workers to install and remove the tree. On December 26, 2011 a Kinara was installed followed by a seven-night celebration.  (Report to follow).
6. The Holiday mixer was hosted by Union Bank, refreshments were provided by Adam’s smoked meat

Bayview Merchants
General Meeting Minutes

Tuesday November 22, 2011. 6 pm to 8 pm
Location: USbank 4947 Third Street, SF CA 94124
(Cross Street Quesada)
Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 p.m.

Al Williams, Corresponding Secretary Chaired the meeting

1) Welcome – Al Williams, Corresponding Secretary welcomed those present and a Round table of introductions
2) BMA administrative updates
• Meetings are once a month: Officers also meet as an executive committee once a month
• All staffing is currently volunteered
Discussion: A brief discussion on how other merchant associations operate included information on whether or not they were open to the general public. A member of the Potrero Dogpatch Merchant Association shared that there general meetings were open to the public. Another participant shared that it is possible to hand out written reports that included financial information but that the handouts were not provided to non-members.
• ACTION: In the future a financial report will be provided to the treasurer by the BMA Bank Manager. Additionally the BMA coordinator will provide an excel spread sheet of expenses to the BMA officers at their meeting.
• ACTION: Motion passed that the executive committee come up with a report/policy on the procedures of financial reporting to the general membership in general membership meetings
• Recommendation: Use unanimous consent to move the agenda faster when decisions are needed.

3) Merchant survey regarding general/open meetings
a. 8 surveys were returned
4) Membership Committee:
• A membership committee was formed composed of: Dan Dodt, Chair, Shamauda Bishop, Hanley Chan and Joe Boss
• Training dates were provide, Dan Dodt to follow up with committee and with the trainer
5) Holiday mixer: The merchants agreed to host their mixer at Old School Café pending permission from the owner. Additionally, the merchants would coordinate their mixer with the holiday lighting event.
• Discussion included engaging our District 10 merchant associations with the same approach as the Mayoral Forum
• BMA coordinator to follow up
6) Mendell Plaza – Holiday lighting: A tree and Kwanza Kinnara was discussed as part of a kick off campaign of utilizing Mendell Plaza as the town center. Permitting was discussed and the name Officer Bernadette Robinson was suggested to request permits for the installation of public art.
• BMA Coordinator has secured funding to work on the project funding would pay for time and installation.
MOTION passed unanimously – Dan Dodt, Hanley Chan, to approve up to $2,000.00 of BMA funding subject to the to approval of the executive committee.
7) Meeting adjourned

Bayview Merchants
General Meeting: Minutes
Date/Time Tuesday, October 25, 2011. 6 pm to 8 pm
Location: Frisco Fried restaurant- 5176 Third Street, SF CA 94124
Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

1) The general meeting was called to order by the Vice President at 6:20 pm
2) The Vice President reported administrative changes: Changes included the loss of funding from the redevelopment agency for the merchant association’s coordinator role. The position was terminated as of September 30, 2011 by the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center. The individual committed to volunteer on behalf of the merchants association. Regarding the Mayoral forum:
a. The volunteer coordinator stated that she had belatedly submitted the questions from the audience to the candidates and heard back from one candidate. The coordinator will call all candidates that participated in the forum by November 1, 2011 to encourage their response.
3) Treasurer’s report: The Vice President reported that BMA had in the past shared member-privileged financial reports at the general membership meetings. However in recent years as membership drives were in force, guests – who were not members – had been invited to attend the general membership meetings. As a result of the presence of non-members financial reports had not been provided. Members were asked if they wanted to close the general members or if they wanted to share this information with the general public. Suggestions were as follows:
a. Consider splitting the meetings into two sessions membership business and membership meetings that are open
b. Consider hosting general meetings that are closed and special occasion meetings that are open to all business owners, stakeholders and interested parties
c. Merchant business should be restricted to merchant members: Members pay dues to carry on the business of the association, therefore merchant business should be restricted to paid members.
4) New Business: America’s Cup 2012-2013 Opportunities – the San Francisco African American Chamber of Commerce has established a relationship with America’s Cup organizers. On Monday October 24, 2011 a community meeting was held to inform the Bayview Community of the process for accessing business opportunities as follows:
a. Event organizers have established a business portal. This portal is a location for business owners to register their local businesses on line with America’s Cup. The web address is: www.americascup.com/connect to get engaged.
b. The City of San Francisco’s Office of Small Business will be the central point of information and referral for the small businesses registered in San Francisco. Contact Regina Dick-Endrizzi for help at 415.554.6134 or regina.dick-endrizz@sfgov.org. The address is: City Hall, Suite 110, SF CA 94102.
c. More information will be e-mailed to BMA members
d. A motion was made by Al Williams, seconded by Brigette LeBlanc to create a subcommittee that will serve as a liaison with the San Francisco African American Chamber of Commerce. The motion was unanimously approved.
5) BMA Discussion: Action plan – this item had not been fully discussed by the executive committee and was not addressed.
6) Other items: Christmas mixer: BMA members supported a mixer that engaged other merchant associations in the district. A volunteer committee self identified to work on this event they were:
i. Andre Larrimore, member
ii. Harrell Powell, member
iii. Sheila Glenda Holmes, member
Sharon Miller, CEO of Renaissance attended the meeting and requested to share information as a member:
• Renaissance can be the fiscal sponsor for the BMA should the it choose Renaissance
• The circumstances resulting in the loss of funding were disclosed on September 14, 2011, one day before the contract end date. Because of the status of the redevelopment funding (funding has been frozen until a judge can hear and make a determination – likely in January)
• The CEO apologized for the loss of funding/staffing explaining that Renaissance had received organizational cuts without notice.
• Funding was still in place for the Third Street Corridor Manager.
• The Bayview office will remain open, however services and classes will be considerably reduced.
• Classes will be offered through the 5th street office at the same pricing level as the Bayview office.
Comments/concerns included the following:
• What is Renaissance doing to identify funding?
• Why has there been no communication from Renaissance to the community?
The CEO shared that Renaissance is seeking funding and that a communication providing information on the changes would be forthcoming.
7) Acknowledgement of the host: Frisco Fried
Announcements: Treat and eat event information was shared by the Third Street Corridor Manager
9) Meeting adjourned

Mark your calendars!
The NEXT BMA meeting is: November 22, 2011 at 6:00 p.m.

Join District 10 Merchants as we ask the Mayoral candidates how they will help to develop business support and opportunities targeted to our district.

We encourage you to invite all District 10 business owners to this historic forum that will focus exclusively on business and merchant issues.

Date: Tuesday September 27, 2011
Time: 6 pm to 9 pm
Location: Southeast Community Facility (Alex Pitcher Room) 1800 Oakdale Avenue (@Phelps)

For more information call: 415.647.3728 ext. 6407.

"Talking Business with the Candidates!"

If you are interested in hearing from the Mayoral candidates about business in District 10, this forum is for you! Join all four merchant associations and attendees as they share their business concerns for the district.

Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: Southeast Community Facility
Alex Pitcher Room

Bayview Merchants General Meeting

August 23, 2011

6 pm to 8 pm

Southeast Community Facility

1800 Oakdale Avenue (at Phelps)

San Francisco, CA 94124

Learn about City Car Share’s program coming to Bayview! Learn about San Francisco Housing Development Corportation’s services and their work in Bayview.

Join the Merchants at our next meeting:

DATE: Tuesday, August 23, 2011
TIME: 6 pm to 8 pm
LOCATION: TBD

Refreshments will be provided!
For more information call Kathy Perry at: 415.647.3728 ext. 6407

Merchant Meeting Minutes

July 26, 2011

US Bank

4947 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94124

6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The meeting was chaired by La Shon Walker, Vice President

1.        Welcome and Introductions provided by La Shon Walker, Vice-President of the Merchants Association

2.        Acknowledgements:  The Vice President acknowledged and thanked our host, John Soares of US Bank and our caterer for the event, Marcel Banks of Frisco Fried a local merchant member.

3.        Guest Speakers:

Cheryl Smith, Director of Community Affairs – LENNAR

•  A brief history on the project was provided.  Key points included:
• Lennar is the Developer for the Hunters Point Shipyard Project and the Treasure Island Project (Two of the largest projects in California.
• Currently Lennar has completed the entitlement process for Phase I of the Hunters Point Shipyard Project.  Lennar began and completed the entitlement process for Phase II which included the Environmental Impact Report. The process was approved and later challenged by two groups, POWER and Green Action.

An update was provided on the impact of the Judge’s ruling on a lawsuit that has held up progress for the Phase II of the Candlestick Point -Hunters Point project. Key points included:

• July 11, 2011 a Judge’s tentative ruling found the Environmental Impact Report which had been completed and approved by the City to be compliant with the California Law.
• However included in the plan was an early transfer of Parcel B and Parcel G.  It was expected that Lennar would have had oversight for the remaining clean up requirements.  This component was not approved.
• The ruling declared that the NAVY must complete the clean-up process prior to transferring the land to Lennar for development.
• The next step after receiving the “tentative” decision is for each party to provide further information supporting their case. There after the Judge will review their arguments and make a final decision.
• P.O.W.E.R. (People Organized to Win Employment Rights) and Greenaction can file an appeal. If an appeal is filed, Lennar will respond.
• If no appeal is filed then the ruling becomes final and Lennar can move forward.

Questions and answers followed:

• In response to the question of why Phase I building hasn’t begun. The economy has resulted in decreased home sales.  This has resulted in a slow-down of the project and an increase in activities related to developing capital.
• Lennar has promised 28% affordable housing for Phase I and 32% for Phase II which is beyond the 15% required inclusionary units in San Francisco.
• Issues identified by POWER and Greenaction included: descriptions and the way they were provided, liquefaction due to earthquakes or natural disasters, air quality and early transfer of Navy property (prior to clean up).

Police Captain Paul Chignell, Bayview Station and Lieutenant Mike Redmond were present.

Key Points the Captain made were as follows:

•  Communication is critical
• Being good service providers is also important
• The Captain wants to ensure that all officers hold that standard (as service providers)
• The Captain shared that he sends out a newsletter three times a week and urged everyone to sign up for the email briefs.
• Officers are interested in attending any meeting, regardless of the purpose.  Officers will be available to answer any questions and to address concerns.
• Recently police presence has increased to mitigate crime.
• The Captain’s directive is to have ethical police officers, that are respectful of community, interact with people with respect and can explain their conduct and be available.
• The Captain shared that he receives a lot of positive feedback, but wants to hear the other side as well.
• The Captain shared that he wants to decentralize the community policing process, he invited all groups to identify a sergeant they want to work with and once selected that officer would be charged with following through to work on identified problems.
• 24 firearms were confiscated, with 22 of them being automatic weapons in the last 52 days since he has been Captain.
• The Captain shared that he had officers working with youth and facilities, the purpose was implement crime prevention work and to address respect between the youth and police.
• The Captain assured those present that there would be a supportive and a service approach from the police department.
• The Captain assured everyone that he wants transparency in the process.  He invites everyone to ask questions and reported that regarding the officer involved shooting incident more information would be delivered within 72 hours.

Vanessa Dandridge, Project Manager SF Redevelopment Agency

• Brief update on the status of the SFRA agency
• Statewide the budget was approved and passed.
• Trailer legislation allowed for AB26 to eliminate all Redevelopment Agencies effective October 21, 2011 and a companion bill AB 27 that would allow exemption from elimination if they make a voluntary contribution to the schools and other agencies to help solve the state’s budget problems.
• In order to remain in existence, the local legislative body (in San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors) has to adopt a continuing ordinance committing the City to make these payments by October 1, 2011 or adopt a non-binding resolution expressing intent to adopt a continuing ordinance by November 1, 2011.
• Only those projects for which there have been formal agreements and significant work has begun will continue, but until such time as the redevelopment agency has been restored, modifications and decisions on proposed projects cannot be made at this time.
• The good news is that the SF Shines program is not affected and will continue as scheduled. This program was already work-ordered through the City. The program will wind down the current round of funding and will begin the next round which has already been funded during the next cycle.  However beyond that next cycle no decisions or planning can be made for future cycles.  It is expected that the next round will open in about six months.
• Question/Answer regarding the impact on funding. It is expected that the initial payout to the State will be about 25 million followed by 4 to 6 million annually, each successive year.
• The Bayview Hunters Point project area has been severely impacted by this turn of events.

4.        Business Spotlight

Jen Arens, Ministry Leader – Bayview -

Ms. Arens shared that the Salvation Army located on Third St. July 5, 2011 located next to Auntie Aprils.  Key points shared:

• The Salvation is an international company and has been around since 1865, they’ve had stores and a case working in the area, but they haven’t had an outreach outlet.
• The Salvation Army is currently listening and assessing community needs and to see where they may be gaps.
• Currently they have been serving coffee tea and snacks with the intent to build trust.
• The Salvation Army is looking at the need for programs designed for women or job training programs for women.
• The Salvation is currently considering starting a social business to help the community.  Currently there is no firm concept; however they do hope to serve women in some way.

5.        BMA – Web site Update

Thomas Kennedy, Kennedy Consulting

• The website has been completely redesigned from the ground up.
• The purpose of redesigning was to make the site friendlier to search engines.
• The site is designed to allow Google to find the site
• Additionally the BMA site is business directory which Google programming searches for. The benefits are the ability of merchants who are listed to be identified.
• Merchants were advised to obtain a web site so that their businesses can be found on line.
• BMA will provide each merchant member with a website
• BMA merchants were encouraged to fill out the application so that a web site can be created for them.  THIS SERVICE IS FREE TO MEMBERS.

6.        Mayoral Forum concept: 

• Members were asked to share their ideas and opinions on hosting a forum for Mayoral candidates.
• The forum can be presented in collaboration with other merchant organizations in the district.
• Members expressed an interest

Department of Public Works (DPW) Update on Third Street Corridor Inspections

Peachy Mathias, Public Information Officer

• DPW works with property owners to keep their sidewalks free of defects to improve safety and comply with City and State codes.
• The Community Corridors Partnership Program improves the quality of life on busy San Francisco merchant corridors by cleaning sidewalks, painting over graffiti, providing education and outreach; and repairing streets and sidewalks. DPW coordinates work between the city and merchants to provide increased and expedited maintenance.
• DPW’s Community Corridor Partnership Program began the Spruce Up by Sun Up Campaign in September 2010, which includes early morning visits to 300 of San Francisco’s busiest street by city agencies, Recology Golden Gate, and Recology Sunset Scavenger.  These early morning (5:00 am) visits ensure that city ordinances that affect the quality of life on our streets are being met. The goal of the program is to keep streets in the Community Corridors Partnership Program clean and inviting for residents, customers and other visitors.  DPW will posts inspection schedules on its website at:
• If merchant members have questions please contact:

Public Information Officer–Corridors Program

2323 Cesar Chavez Street San Francisco, CA  94124

415-641-2643, work

415-695-2001, fax

peachy.mathias@sfdpw.org

The next inspection dates for Bayview are as follows:

US Bank spotlight

John Soares, Branch Manager shared information US Bank business loan services.

• Quick Credit
• Credit Card or Line of Credit
• A U.S. Bank Credit Card or Line of Credit revolving account,
• Equipment Leasing
• Finance up to 100% for business equipment
• Term Loans for specific events
• SBA loans

 Announcements

• National Nite Out:  Merchants were encouraged to attend/participate
• Merchants were encouraged to attend the next Safety Meeting: August 18, 2011 at 11 a.m. located at 3801 Third Street Ste. 616.
• SPCA – Free pet vaccines for information call: 415.554.3030

When:  Last Saturday of every Month – through October 11:00 am to 2 pm

Where:  Bayview Playground baseball diamond (Keith and Armstrong Ave.)

Meeting Adjourned at 8 pm

Frisco Fried was acknowledged for their delicious food! Thank you!

This coming Sunday, June 12^th, 2011, between 11:00am – 4:00pm, Sunday Streets will roll through the Bayview-Hunters Point community along the Third Street corridor, linking up with the Second Annual Bayview Music Festival, a community-run offshoot of the larger event that will celebrate local music, local food, and the proud culture of this unique San Francisco neighborhood.

Sunday Streets’ mission is to promote healthy living and community pride by encouraging residents along each of its 9 events’ routes to get out of their homes and join their neighbors in riding bicycles, roller skating, skateboarding, jogging, walking, and participating in family-oriented activities along temporarily car-free streets.

And for the second consecutive year, the Third Street Corridor Project will host its annual “Bayview Music Festival” in conjunction with Sunday Streets Bayview at the intersection of Third Street and Galvez Avenue, which will run from 11:00am – 5:00pm and feature live music, local arts and crafts vendors, roller skate rentals, a “Shrimp N’ Grits” cook-off, and a church dessert contest. Musical acts will include Juan Escovedo and the Latin All-Stars, Ashling Cole of Graham Central Station, Rhonda Benin and the Soulful Strut, and Clifford Brown III and the Brewing Company.

Entertainment will be featured throughout the six-hour event.  The “People’s Choice Shrimp N’ Grits Cook-Off” will occur between 2:00pm – 4:00pm and will feature several local restaurants as they face off for the coveted distinction of best “Shrimp N’ Grits” recipe in San Francisco.   Tasting tickets for the contest will be sold at the event for only $5 and all proceeds will go to local non-profit Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in an effort to support its neighborhood entrepreneurship training programs. Students from the San Francisco Culinary Academy will be in attendance to help judge the contestants’ recipes.

The Bayview Music Festival’s final activity of the day will be a church dessert contest, held between 4:00pm – 5:00pm.  This contest is an opportunity for local churches to show off their baking skills while supporting the local community in the process. Event coordinators have partnered with the Bayview-Hunters Point Multipurpose Senior Services to support the legacy of Dr. George Davis, founder and advocate for the ever-expanding range of services for the older residents of Bayview-Hunters Point.

NOTE: Sunday Streets will close the northbound lanes of Third Street from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm; the street will open to vehicles promptly at 4:00pm.

For more information or if you’d like to volunteer, call 415- 647-3728 or email wendy@rencenter.org.