corp., and who is liable, for whose borrowing the money? >> as a micro lender, we expect the principles, the corporate form, to provide guarantees. >> personal guarantees. >> the same. 20% ownership in the company. [inaudible] >> [inaudible] >> i heard something about sba guaranteed loans. maybe i missed something. does that have to do with the sba guaranteeing the entity? >> the question on the sba guaranteeing a entity as the

order of the business, whether it is a corporation or partnership, for any small business lending, you should expect to be guaranteeing that long personally. as a small-business owner, from a lender's point of view, we want to see that you are as invested in the business as you are asking the bank to be. the idea that non recourse loans, the way you describe it, loans that you get without having yourself personally liable is not the way it works. you should assume you will guarantee the loan regardless of the structure of your business. the good news, though, for businesses like you are describing, internet business, is that the capital requirements for that type of business is generally small. you are able to get yourself

further along and share in revenues with a smaller amount of credit need. that is where we see a lot of businesses and personal service or internet business get started, and generate revenues and be able to show growth without needing any capital, like a brick and mortar business might. >> my name is terry said. i have a retail business in san francisco for 22 years. i have a 5 04 -- 504 loan. it took me three years to get. we need more capital. i tried to get a line of credit from wells capital. i was decline. where does someone like myself go? i have a loan, i need additional funding. >> did you try through the sba? >> i already have an sba loan.

i went to wells fargo for a line of credit and they would not give me one. >> i can speak to you about it. when we look at funds that are needed, the biggest thing we look at our cash flow. i can address that with you. unless there is an issue, at that point -- [inaudible] >> let's talk, ok. >> i have a couple of more questions. i know that the panelists have agreed to stay after for those who have specific questions. i do have one question for wells fargo. what are the typical rules for applying for sba loan of less

than $50,000? how much money do we need to have in your bank to apply for a loan? >> i am on the smaller side of the bank. i am a transaction guy. i do not technically require one to have an account to do a loan with. what i look for, i generally start at 100,000 and up. when it is a requirement of 50,000 or less, i tend to call of the micro guys to help me out. that is right in their box. for us, the capacity for us to do the smaller side is not there as much as it is for them. on getting a loan through my

side of the bank, i do not require an account to do that. we would like to have it, but i do not require it. >> last question for the opportunity fund and a critic representative. are you a cdfi? is san francisco and s.p.a. in support of cdfi's being established in san francisco? >> yes, we are. we were founded in 1999 with a small business loan. that is how we started our tenderloin office. >> opportunity fund is a certified cdfi, so we are providing a benefit to low and moderate-income communities. he is the city establishing

support for new cdfi's? >> mark wanted to address that, in support of cdfi's in the city. >> we have a wealth of partners in the city. s.p.a. is just now rolling out a program for r -- will be the case by the summer. let me get one last point and on the question about relationships to lenders. the question was, do have to have an account with a bank in order to get a loan? may answer is no, but the real answer to it is certainly want to do that. one of the things we see as an important thing for you, as a small-business person to establish a relationship with a

lender on a variety of levels before you look for funding. part of that is opening an account with them, letting a lender know about your business, understand your business, talk to them as you are growing your business. when the economy is strong, all lenders are shopping for transactions. in times are tough on credit, you want to rely on those deeper liberation ships with your lender. you want to develop a relationship with a lender. it is the case where you want to open up an account, while to have another bank services that you want to have a relationship with your lender with it because when you go to them for any loan requests, you want them to know about your business and feel like they are a partner of yours, not just that you are shopping them. if you are shopping, you are just looking for the best deal from them, rather than a long- term relationship. >> i want to thank everyone for

coming. hopefully, you have all signed up for our updates. we are going to be hosting these on a regular basis. the next two coming up will focus on becoming a government contractor, how your small business can partner with the government. the next one will also be on how to grain your business, with tax -- green your business, tax credits available with that. for non-profit, charitable organizations, we have a workshop coming up. that is helpful for those of you who are looking to access the committee on a durable basis. >> also, on behalf of leader pelosi, i want to thank our

panel and her staff. we are tenants in this building. i apologize for the security situation that happened upstairs. if you have concerns about it, please come and see me. i would like to convey those to the landlord here so that it does not happen again. thank you.

>> hello. welcome to "meet your district supervisor." we are here with supervisor cohen from district 10. she started her first term in january, so she is new to the board. we will get to know her and talk about the toughest issues facing the city. welcome, supervisor. thank you for joining us. tell us a little bit about your background, where you grew up, where you went to school, and the jobs you have work.

>> i grew up in the porthole and neighborhood. most of my childhood, i went to lakeshore elementary school. i love to talk a bell will -- about lowell high school. i studied political science with a concentration in public administration. i worked eight years, largely in the public sector. then, earned a master's degree from carnegie-mellon in pittsburgh pennsylvaniamy work . i spent time as an executive director for nonprofit on the hill. i was assistant to a wonderful person named julie middleton. the park that worked at was formally known as the hunters point community foundation. we did several programming for kids in the neighborhood. i also have a background in

politics on both sides of the day here in san francisco and oakland. i have done fund-raising for different candidates. i have work experience with the federal reserve bank of san francisco. i am most proud of the work i have done for myself. i started a business called power forward, a social media and public policy consulting firm. >> why did you choose to return and live in san francisco? what motivated you to run? >> what motivated me was my love of san francisco. i see the changes that are happening. i see people picking cans out of the garbage. i see that there is no neighborhood grocery store. i see that small businesses are coming and going. they have not been able to sustain themselves. from my work experience in working for the city come in

the mayor's office and in the nonprofit, i had a good sense of what the challenges were. as i looked on the horizon, i see more challenges coming. i thought i had a set of experiences and a passion and desire to serve. it started at 1 point when i was 8 years old. i took a tour here with my third grade class of city hall. coming into the rotunda, seeing the staircase, it is very mesmerizing, very memorable, and powerful. it was at that moment i decided i wanted to work here in this building. i had a short conversation with diane feinstein, the mayor then, and she spoke to the entire class. she spoke for a couple minutes. she planted the seed of public service, and to give of yourself selflessly, the giving of your time and talent. it was something my parents instilled in me early on. serving district 10 is an

extension of who i am and a general desire to help improve the quality of life for people in san francisco. >> where do you place yourself on the political spectrum? are you left, right? >> i am more forward-thinking. for me, it is less about being left or right, or moderate or progressive. it is about the issues and creating policies that will have a sustainable and lasting positive impact on the families that live here. it is costly and difficult to do business in san francisco, to raise your children in san francisco. i would like a voice at the table to create policies that will minimize the stigma that san francisco is not a business- friendly city, minimize the stigma of that san francisco prioritizes the rights of dogs over children. we started walking down that

path largely because of political ideology. it is less about politics. i want to have a positive impact on the city overall, specifically district 10, connecting it to the city. people have been left to defend for themselves. i am honored to have been elected to serve to be the next advocate for the next four years, hopefully the next eight years, to really protect, defense, and serve the residents of district 10. >> we will talk more about some of the issues facing district 10. before we do, i would like to know a little bit about what you learned campaigning for supervisor. talk to me a little about that experience. >> first, i learned that a lot of the conversations we have about our neighborhood and community happens in silos. we have folks only talking with

visitation valley. we have folks in bayview only talking with and a small corner of the bayview merchant quarter. we don't have people talking to the potrero hill association. all of these different fragmented conversations are happening. there largely talking about the same thing, crime, keeping streets clean, businesses, supporting small businesses, maintaining and making sure the city is livable for everyone. no one really looked to their neighbors. they stayed within their neighborhood, but did not reach beyond the boundaries. that is one thing i saw that i actually made a concerted effort on the campaign to build bridges. for me, that goes beyond the neighborhood. it goes to connecting the southeast to the large part of san francisco, wake up, we're out here. we want bike paths, dog parks,

open space. we no longer want to have a neighborhood or a reputation of a crime-filled community. the other thing that i learned is really, we are all human. how to connect with that spirit, whether you're living in public housing, owning your own property, your asian, african american, we are all one. we are a community. when we realize and move in the direction of being a human's and having this human experience, connecting together, really be each other's keeper, then san francisco begins to drive. i also learned through the endorsement process -- you go through this process to get endorsed from different popes -- different folks, or no endorsement. having a broad base.

we have a choice of voting in san francisco. there were 21 candidates. no clear front-runner. no major person with a heavy political experience. no person that carried the heavy downtown interest or big business. you had a lot of candidates on an even keel. what i felt quickly was the strategy to being successful was to build coalitions, and also to approach your communication in a multi land will approach. in my district, it is one of the most ethnically diverse parts of san francisco. we incorporated that. my campaign team was diverse. i had seniors. i had young people. i had different types of volunteers. i had folks that could speak chinese, spanish, someoan, all

reaching out to bring people in. there is a certain level of malta and -- of momentum that help people. i would never ask my volunteers to do something i was not willing to do. we were at the bus stop at the morning handing out literature. i think that is critical, to bring into city hall that, yes, i am elected to lead, but more importantly to serve. that is my number one focus point. i am here to serve. when you call me, i am at 4 service. >> what about issues facing san francisco, facing your district, and how you are going to balance the needs of san francisco at large against the needs of your district? >> we actually see the needs of

san francisco and the district cannot be counteracted or counter intuitive. when we address the needs of the district and residents, we also address the issues of folks that are living in the mission, people that are working class people, people that have blue- collar jobs. really, it is paramount and centered on education. for young people, making sure, ensuring we are providing them a quality education in public schools. i served as chair on the select committee, a committee between the members of the board of supervisors and members on the school board, coming together to address the challenges. in this particular case, we are talking about education. we are talking about a working- class community, the excelsior, the bayview, all of these different neighborhoods are smaller enclaves. we still see the same kinds of challenges. when the schools begin to perform a stellar academic

programs, businesses will continue to relocate because the employees will want to live in san francisco and want kids to be educated here. it is a cyclical and symbiotic creation ship. another challenges that we have the highest unemployment rate in this part of san francisco. san francisco before, the numbers are starting to come down a little bit. we have high rates in the latter part of last year, but it is starting to -- it is starting to normalize. it goes back to education. what i would like to see our pathways. not everyone will become a doctor, lawyer, or journalist, fantastic tv host. what can we do? we live in a society where we need engineers. we need sound engineers. we need graphic designers. there are people who prefer to learn with their hands. they like mechanics.

we need to bring back some shop back in schools and allow people an opportunity for a different pathway. nursing is a pathway. validating the hair and makeup industry. there is a lot of money in that industry, and you don't need a college degree. you just need a passion, an art form, an outlet. invalidating it and creating pathways for young people to go down those paths, you want to become a nurse, here is a course at the southeast college to take you down that course. you introduce these ideas to students while they are in high school, when they are still engaged, when they have not disassociated. we will see more african americans becoming more involved in education.

he used to be the police chief. now he is the district attorney, gascon. he had an idea about a junior academy that would take san francisco eans and give them skills to get into the academy. you can make a great living as a police officer. the same notion with the fire department. these are careers you don't normally think about when you are in high school. you often are relegated to a path to go to a four-year university. that is not for everyone. there is an opportunity for everyone to work. that is the main point i am trying to drive home. when we talk about the issues, the one that stands out for me is education, economic and work force of the element, stimulating the local economy. we have the third street merchant corridor and an opportunity to revitalize what i

consider to be the main artery of the bayview district, ofthe southeast quarter. third street is a pretty long streak. from at&t park, it goes all the way to candlestick park. there is a lot of opportunity. don't squander that. we wanted to be a healthy mix that reflects the cultural history of the southeast part of the city. >> what are your thoughts on how the city can deal with the budget issue? >> we are in a very difficult time financially as a country, as a state, as a county. we have a multimillion-dollar deficit. what i see is we have competing priorities. >> ok. >> there's a whole host of non- profit and service organizations that provide a service and a social safety net for people. if people are not able -- they're not making money to get on calworks, or they get on aid,

we cut that aid, that has an adverse affect on a population that needs it. i would like to see the city continued to move in a direction where we are prioritizing when it comes to our budget, our budget strategy. i was fortunate enough to be named to the budget -- i was not fortunate enough to be named to the budget committee. i will exercise my voice to guide us through this precarious system. i think we need to have a serious conversation about pensions and supervisor elsbernd carries a torch on pension reform. there have been other discussions about pension reform. our city assessor started the conversation about prop. 13. there are several things in place on the state and local level having an adverse affect on our financial health locally.

we are in a quandary. we cannot really move beyond that until we remove the pocket. prop. 13 is a serious block. it would free up hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be brought into public schools and could also be in fused in our local -- infused in our local and state economy. that is a very complicated question, and one i have only brush the surface on. that is another segment. >> we will follow that by another complicated question. i would like to get your thoughts on homelessness and what the city is doing about homelessness, what direction you think we should be headed in, a big issue in san francisco. >> homelessness is interesting. when you look at it as a sociological perspective, we have some of the people in the

homeless community enjoying being on the street. others want help. i think when we also -- we need to do a better job of taking care of those mentally ill. when you are on the street and you listen to the homeless folks or you watch them interacting, you see they are a little disturbed. i think the city overall has done a good job in terms of housing and taking them off the street, providing services. mayor newsom started a private -- program connecting members of the homeless community to services, dental, vision, therapy, housing, mental health. these are things that you and i probably take for granted. we have access and resources we can leverage. this community doesn't. in the southeast part of the city, we don't have many homeless facilities. there is one that i know of, providence baptist church. every night, i have seen this

line wrapped around the corner. it is cold. this is a men's shelter in particular. they're coming in, they are on a floor of a gymnasium. we are not talking a lavish existence. four seasons here. definitely, i think we are a very compassionate city and just continue to extend the compassion to the homeless community. >> what is happening with crime in your district? how do you think the police department is doing to address the issue of crime in district 10? >> statistically, we have a lot of crime. homicides, there were two in the last week in my district. i am vice-chair of the public safety committee. safety and how we define safety, not just in terms of crime, but

over a public safety, is something that is very important and one of my priorities. what i would like to see is more of a community policing approach. maybe engaging more the community. that includes organizations like safe, which is a neighborhood- based organization. neighbors get together and they're watching the streets, giving information to the police department. think about taxicabs. they are all over the city. they can be the eyes and ears of the police department if trained properly. we can also better utilize the sheriff's department. it has the same training as members of the police department. i think we could have a healthy conversation in considering partnering -- creating a stronger partnership with the sheriff's department. overall, crime, yes. overall, crime, yes. we need to reduce the number of