If you have concerns or are curious about local business in the Castro, Supervisor Scott Wiener will be taking your questions next week.
The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the office of Supervisor Wiener are inviting the general public and local merchants to a District 8 Neighborhood Business Summit, which is set to discuss issues facing businesses throughout the district.
The event, which is scheduled for next Wednesday, January 14th, is being held at the San Francisco LGBT Center at 1800 Market St. from 5:30-7pm.
We reached out to Chamber of Commerce communications director Marshall Wilson to get a better understanding of why the general public was being invited to the event and what the specific event goals were. Marshall told Hoodline that nothing in specific triggered the summit in the Castro, other than that it is part of a series that the Chamber will be doing for other districts in San Francisco. The point, said Wilson in an email, was "to share information and hear what's going well and what can be improved."
"Neighborhood Business Summits are an excellent opportunity for businesses, residents and merchants to engage in informal Q&A with their Supervisor," said Wilson. "Our goal is to provide an opportunity for networking, business development, and merchant engagement in a neighborhood corridor while providing those attending with the opportunity to ask questions of their Supervisor in an engaging and open environment."
Officials from various City departments will be on hand to answer questions from attendees.
There has been a lot of focus on the Castro's retail climate within the past year, especially with the start of the Castro Retail Strategy Project in the latter part of 2014.
The Retail Strategy Project, led by the Castro Community Benefit District, Castro Merchants and the Office of Economic Workforce Development, is creating a retail strategy for the Castro through extensive surveying of residents and merchants. The project is hoping to answer questions like, "What new businesses would residents like to see in the neighborhood?" and "How can desired businesses be attracted to the neighborhood?"
The consulting team working on the project will develop a series of recommendations and present a retail strategy plan to the public in July of this year.
In the meantime, next week's event is free, so plan to attend if you have questions for Supervisor Wiener regarding business in the neighborhood.
