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Pursuant to Charter Sections 2.103 and 3.100(7), and Administrative Code Section 2.11, the Mayor shall answer the following eligible questions submitted from Supervisors representing District's 3, 5, 9, and 11. The Mayor may address the Board initially for up to five minutes. Discussion shall not exceed five minutes per Supervisor.
1. Mr. Mayor, in November 2007, the voters of San Francisco passed Proposition I, which created the Office of Small Business to support small businesses, among other things, in complying with the laws and regulations administered by the 14 City departments that impact small business. As drafted by the Small Business Commission, Prop I specifically stated that within four months of the Office's opening, the Office "shall issue a report that analyzes the existing laws, regulations, roles, procedures and responsibilities of all City departments that impact small businesses and make recommendations regarding the streamlining and consolidation of such departmental functions under the Office of Small Business."
However, as of today, four years later, the Office has not issued that report, nor made any such recommendations, and the executive branch has not yet engaged in efforts to streamline or consolidate the functions of the 14 different City departments from which 80,000 small businesses must seek approvals to do business in San Francisco.
Mr. Mayor, will you commit to carrying out the mandates of Proposition I to streamline City government to help small businesses, and will you commit to delivering a report within the next four months with recommendations that you will act on? (Supervisor Chiu, District 3)
2. With the dissolution of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency on February 1, 2012, and the new formation of the Redevelopment Successor Agency Oversight Board, what are your plans to ensure that community voices will be heard through the Community Advisory Committees in a meaningful way, despite the lack of staffing and shortage of resources? (Supervisor Olague, District 5)
3. There have been news articles claiming that you plan to attach strings to the release of any rainy day funds to the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Specifically, the articles claim that you will not release funds that will help SFUSD avoid teacher lay-offs unless the district sells off its surplus property. Whether selling surplus property is a good way of budgeting is an open question. Those of us who have supported the rainy day fund are concerned that these comments, if true, are inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the rainy day fund, which already outlines how the funds are supposed to be distributed. Can you please explain your position, and what would you say to the thousands of parents who may be concerned about what has been reported? (Supervisor Campos, District 9)
4. Although District 11 has some great parks and we are adjacent to San Francisco's second largest park - McLaren, our streets lack the robust urban forest that other districts benefit from. I have worked closely with the Department of Public Works and Friends of the Urban Forest to increase our district's green space and green canopy, however, there is much more we can do. Given that we just celebrated the 140th Anniversary of Arbor Day in District 11 this past weekend, I would like to know what the City's intention is towards completing the Alemany Street Greening Project. Currently, the median has only been greened from Lyell to Niagara. Does the City have plans to green the remainder of Alemany from Niagara to the Daly City border? And if so, what is the timeline for this plan? (Supervisor John Avalos, District 11)
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