BetterWorld recently co-hosted the first Market Street Forum, a new quarterly gathering of Bay Area leaders, with a focus towards the intersection of the broadband economy + future of work + the resulting benefits for our society and environment.
In collaboration with Varsity Technologies and the American Sustainable Business Council, BetterWorld launched Market Street Forum with featured guest speaker, President of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco, David Chiu.
Chiu was an excellent speaker to address current and future changes to the San Francisco business environment, specifically in the heart of the city. As companies and organizations from the Bay Area continue to lead the way towards the new Access Economy, there is a growing trend of tech businesses moving into San Francisco. This trend can be attributed in part to the work of Chiu. The widely publicized move of Twitter into the Tenderloin/Mid-Market area of San Francisco is a direct result of city policy championed by Chiu, through providing business tax incentives and the elimination stock options taxation for startup companies.
Chiu also sponsored recent legislation providing contracting preferences for Benefit Corporations.
Ushering the legislation through many rounds of fine-tuning, Chiu was ultimately successful in sending a strong signal to the private sector that San Francisco wants to do business with companies committed doing good.
The discussion was lively, with topics ranging from the resounding success of SFMade, B Corps, to the politics of city hall, eliminating red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy, the need for a collective voice from the B Corp community and the lack of processes to survey the business community to determine the most urgent pain points.
SFMade is an organization that has grown steadily in the last two years, promoting and supporting the value-add manufacturing sector in San Francisco and leading to both more friendly city policies and the creation of more manufacturing businesses. When asked for an example of red tape, Chiu highlighted the hurdles for new restaurants, who must deal with 11+ separate permit offices before being able to open, which usually causes a delay of 2+ months.
Chiu has passed several pieces of legislation that are first in the country including:
- Requiring strict energy audits requirement for commercial buildings
- Expansion of urban agriculture opportunities in San Francisco
- Decreasing the distribution of unwanted Yellow Pages phone books
- Greening nail salons by phasing out the “toxic trio” of chemicals in nail polish
San Francisco is a city that has historically been at the forefront of public policy nation-wide and the inspiring discussion at the Market Street Forum made it clear that Chiu is dedicated to upholding that precedent. Chiu is running for re-election in November, 2012 for President of the Board of Supervisors.
More about Chiu at http://www.votedavidchiu.org/
