(a) The Office of Small Business shall establish and maintain a registry of Neighborhood Anchor Businesses in San Francisco (“the Registry”).
(b) For purposes of this Section 2A.244 and Section 2A.245, “Neighborhood Anchor Business” means a business that either (1) is included in the Legacy Business Registry under Section 2A.242 of this Article, or (2) is designated pursuant to subsection (d), below, and meets all of the following criteria:
(1) The business has been in continuous operation in San Francisco for 15 or more years at the time of nomination, meaning there has been no break in San Francisco operations exceeding two years, provided that a period of non-operation during the COVID-19 pandemic shall not be considered a break in operations;
(2) The business has operated for that period in at least one physical location within a Neighborhood Commercial District (Planning Code Art. 7), Historic District (Planning Code Art. 10), Conservation District (Planning Code Art. 11), or Cultural District (Administrative Code Chapter 107), or in a location that has subsequently been recognized as a Neighborhood Commercial District, Historic District, Conservation District, or Cultural District. For purposes of this Section 2A.244, “Neighborhood Commercial District” shall include a Neighborhood Commercial Transit District and any other class of district established by Planning Code Section 702.
(3) The business has a total of 100 or fewer employees across all locations.
(c) A business shall not be eligible for inclusion in the Registry if there are any pending complaints against the business related to the violation of any worker protection law filed in court or with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE), the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), or the California Division of Workers’ Compensation (hereinafter, “labor enforcement agencies”); if any court or labor enforcement agency has issued findings within the past five years that the business has violated any worker protection law, unless the relevant court or agency determines that the misconduct has since been corrected or resolved; or if the business has any unpaid judgment against it based on a finding by a court or labor enforcement agency that the business violated any worker protection law. If a court or labor enforcement agency issues such findings of misconduct against a business already included in the Registry, the inclusion of that business in the Registry shall automatically be suspended until the court or labor enforcement agency determines that the misconduct has been corrected or resolved.
(1) Any business nominated to the Neighborhood Anchor Business Registry must first, as condition of that nomination, submit a signed, sworn statement under penalty of perjury, in a form to be provided by the Office of Small Business, that the business is in compliance with this subsection (c). The business shall also disclose as a part of the statement whether it has any pending complaints against it before a court or labor enforcement agency for violation of a worker protection law.
(2) Any business included in the Registry must notify the Office of Small Business of any subsequent change in circumstances that would render its previous sworn statement inaccurate within 30 days of becoming aware of those changes.
(d) The Office of Small Business shall enter a proposed Neighborhood Anchor Business in the Registry as follows:
(1) The proposed Neighborhood Anchor Business must first be nominated by a local merchants association representing the neighborhood where the Business is located, nominated by the Small Business Commission, or recommended by petition signed by 25 or more residents who live within a one-mile radius of the Business. The Executive Director of the Office of Small Business may, by regulation, identify additional community-based organizations that may nominate businesses for inclusion in the Registry, where the Executive Director determines that such organizations have an established connection to the local business community and that the addition of such organizations would advance the City’s racial equity and language access goals.
(2) No merchants association or community-based organization may nominate more than 10 businesses for inclusion in the Registry in any year. The Small Business Commission may nominate no more than 10 businesses for inclusion in the Registry in any year. There shall be no cap on the number of nominations by petition permitted in a year;
(3) The Executive Director shall determine whether the nomination meets the requirements of subsections (d)(1) and (2), above, and whether the proposed Neighborhood Anchor Business meets the requirements of subsection (b), above; and
(4) The Executive Director specifies in the Registry the location or locations of the Neighborhood Anchor Business that meet the requirements of subsection (b)(2), above.
(e) In order to remain on the Registry, a Neighborhood Anchor Business must continue to meet the criteria set in subsection (b).
(f) In addition to its duties under Section 2A.245, and subject to the fiscal and budgetary provisions of the Charter, the Office of Small Business may develop and submit to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors for approval programs to preserve and grow Neighborhood Anchor Businesses, including programs for business and technical assistance, lease renewal and acquisition assistance, public education and commendation initiatives to recognize and honor the contributions of Neighborhood Anchor Businesses, and additional business stabilization and neighborhood continuity initiatives.
(g) To ensure that the implementation of the Neighborhood Anchor Business Registry program comports with the City’s racial equity and language access goals and that the Registry includes an equitable balance of industries and types of businesses, the Office of Small Business shall, by October 1 of each year, prepare and submit to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors a report on the characteristics and demographics of the businesses included in the Registry. The report shall include a breakdown of the businesses by industry type, the method of nomination to the Registry, the geographic distribution of the businesses, and the number of any requests for financial assistance or lease assistance made by the businesses through the Office of Small Business. The report shall also include summaries of how many people are employed by the businesses in the Registry, the race or ethnicity of those employees, their gender identity, and the languages spoken by those employees, and summaries of the race or ethnicity of the owners or operators of the businesses, their gender identity, and the languages spoken by the owners or operators.
(Added by Ord. 80-21, File No. 210303, App. 6/17/2021, Eff. 7/18/2021)