AGENCY SPOTLIGHT fourteen new businesses . The main reason for this is that our entire Board of Supervisors does everything we can to let people know that we want and support new business . We waive certain permitting fees ; we ’ ve approved a number of no-interest loans and grant programs – particularly during this pandemic – to make sure that our small businesses were able to pay leases and stay in business . We continue to push these types of policies .
Our office works very closely with our small business owners to support their long-term viability and success . For example , when we successfully fought to ban e-cigarettes in San Francisco , we also set up a work-business mitigation group to come up with strategies to support our small businesses – particularly those which had been selling e-cigarettes for a portion of their revenue . We are collaborating on some items with the Small Business Commission to try to make it easier for our small businesses . We also frequently refer our small businesses to both the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the Office of Small Business , both of whom are great at navigating small business policy and resources , especially with regards to LBEs . Our main goal is to make sure that businesses can thrive in the City , thrive in District 10 and to do everything we can to help them be able to compete and continue to be successful .
Ingrid Merriwether : All those initiatives are hugely impactful in terms of enabling businesses to sustain themselves . The EDOT façade renovation and small construction work that you mentioned are great opportunities to connect LBE contractors in the Bayview community with those projects and the work that needs to be done . Are there ways that those connections are being made with the intention to use some of the LBE contractors out of that community to do some of that work ?
Shamann Walton : Most definitely . In fact , we have EDOT , Bayview Merchants ’ Association and Merchants of Butchertown have a list of contractors and small businesses that they work with to do the work . We promote this in everything that we do . As the former Executive Director of Young Community Developers , one of the main things that I fight for is to make sure that not only small businesses have an opportunity to do the work , but also businesses indigenous to the Bayview Hunters Point community whenever possible .
Ingrid Merriwether : I suspect that you would agree with the premise that when small and particularly minority-owned businesses get contracts and opportunities and have to hire people , they are more inclined to hire people out of the community and to retain those people beyond the completion of just that one contract or opportunity . Is that something you ’ ve found to be true ?
Shamann Walton : Yes , it ’ s definitely true , we know it to be true . The data reflects that if you ’ re indigenous to a community , you hire within that community for your business and folks within that community patronize your business . The data demonstrates that our small businesses are the ones that hire folks from San Francisco , folks in the community , and make sure that we have a thriving local and micro-local community .
Were going to continue to support that . I was one of the ones fighting for local mandatory hire for construction and I am working on local mandatory local hire particularly for tech companies , legislation to increase the probability of those who are from and live in San Francisco getting hired to work for these tech companies .
Ingrid Merriwether : Excellent ! You talked about the 14B legislation and sustaining a sheltered environment for LBEs and small contractors to be able to compete with one another by keeping the larger firms out of the arena on small contracting opportunities . We
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