This is the April 15th, 2024 Rules Committee meeting.

I'm Supervisor Hillary Ronan, Chair of the Committee.

I'm joined by committee vice chair, uh Supervisor Shimon Walton and Committee Member Asha Savay should join us shortly.

Our clerk is Victor Young, and I'd like to thank Jamie Echibeti from SFGov TV for staffing this meeting.

Mr.

Clerk, do you have any announcements?

Yes, public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda when your item of interest comes up and public comment is called.

Please line up to speak.

Alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways.

Email them to myself, the rules committee clerk at VICTOR.yo N G at SFgov.org.

If you submit public comment via email, it will be forwarded to the supervisors and included in the file.

You may also send written comment via US mail to our office at City Hall, one Dr.

Carlton B goodlit place, Room 244, San Francisco, California 94102.

Please make sure to silence all cell phones and other electronic devices.

Documents to be included as part of the FAR should be submitted to the clerk.

Items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors' agenda of April 23rd, 2024, unless otherwise stated.

That completes my initial announcements.

Thank you.

Can you please call item number one?

Item number one is an ordinance amending the public works code to streamline the enforcement of vending requirements and restrictions, clarifying vending permit applications and compliance requirements require certain vending permittees to register with a tax collector and pay related fees, prohibits stationary sidewalk vendors from vending in residential districts as defined in the planning code, limit permissible vending times and streamlined approval of vending regulations and affirming the planning department's determination of the California Environmental Quality Act.

Thank you.

Street vending has been a rich part of the culture of San Francisco and especially neighborhoods like the mission.

Our permitted merchandise vendors have sold artisanal goods, flowers, jewelry, clothing, and household goods to our residents and visitors, celebrating Latino culture and bringing a vibrancy to our streets.

For the past two years, however, legitimate street vendors in our neighborhoods have been under attack from illegal fencing operations that commit theft and then sell stolen goods on our streets.

These operations have made life untenable for legitimate vendors who face constant harassment and extortion.

It also includes the vendors permitted hours of operation.

Second, it strengthens San Francisco Public Works enforcement of the vending law by removing written warnings prior to issuing issuing a notice of violation and requiring unpermitted vendors to clear out their merchandise within a defined period of time.

Our public works enforcement officers have found that multiple written word warnings are ineffective at deterring fencers from selling stolen goods.

Also, when an SF public works officer determines that a person selling goods needs to vacate because of a safety hazard or an emergency or the vendor's lack of a vendor permit, fencers take advantage of the undefined period for clearing out to move uh at a snail's pace.

One person can take up to a big chunk of the enforcement officer's time, valuable time that could be used, ensuring the street vending program is running properly along the rest of the corridor.

This legislation defines the time period for clearing out as 10 minutes.

Third, it allows SF public work staff to make adjustments to their operating regulations as conditions change on the ground without having to go to the department's commission.

The commission sets policy directives, evaluates departments' performance, establishes contracts, and approves the department's budget plan.

Establishing operating regulations has traditionally been the responsibility of the department.

And finally, it reiterates key measures that the San Francisco Public Works already requires administratively.

It requires vendors to have receipts for the used and new items they sell.

It reminds sidewalk vendors that they cannot operate in purely residential zones, vending in other zones such as neighborhood commercial districts continues to be permitted.

And vendors are required to, by law, register with the San Francisco tax collector.

Following conversations with the Mission Street Vendors Association, I would like to make a non-substantive amendment that restores a portion of a sentence previously stricken from the code.

On page 14 lines 13 through 14, we will add back into the legislation the line and shall urge the vendors to make every effort to remove the items, or cause their removal.

It has taken nonstop work to organize the vendor population to reach consensus on what vendors want and then to negotiate with our office and the city and the mayor's office to come to agreements.

This is not easy work.

And Rodrigo and the vendors have been participating in good faith, fighting for themselves, but also understanding how difficult this is for the city.

So I know we're not always on the same page, but I can say with a hundred percent respect how much I appreciate your leadership and appreciate working with you even when we disagree.

It's okay to disagree.

But it's uh it's a pleasure to have someone that's honest that truly represent this the voice of the vendor community to be able to work with.

So I just, Rodrigo, especially to you, I want to thank you so much for your leadership, but really to all the vendors.

I want to thank you so much uh for working with us in our office and Kletch and Gaia 24 Latino Cultural District and the Mayor's Office.

Uh it it really is an honor to be able to uh to work with you all.

So thank you.

I also want to thank Clecha Si Alma here and William.

I want to thank Gai 24 Latino Cultural District.

I want to thank Bobby Lopez, particularly from the mayor's office and Andres Powers.

And then a massive thanks to my former legislative aide, Santiago Lenma, who's now at the Department of Emergency Management, and a very extra special thanks to Sheila Chung Hagen, who has spent countless hours on this issue.

Uh, has done so with such care and compassion in a very working on a very difficult problem uh to fix.

So just want to thank the whole team uh who has been working on this.

And then last but not least, I want to thank DPW, um, Michael Lennon uh and the whole team who not only are working on the permitting side of this issue, but also on the enforcement side.

And again, this has not been easy.

So this has really been uh a huge team effort.

Uh all parties are not always in agreement, but all parties have been very respectful of one another, and I really appreciate that.