people utilize it. they sit and, and have their lunch and play on -- they sit and, and have their lunch and play on that -- they sit and come and have their lunch and play on it. just for it to be part of the neighborhood. that is my hope. >> is such a beautiful addition to our public art in san francisco. thank you for joining us. it was nice to meet you. and thank you for telling us about your beautiful mural. thanks for watching "culturewire." >> thanks, everybody, for coming today. we are excited about this opportunity to show you this beautiful store, talk about our investment in san francisco. we have some great guests here

today. first of all, thank you for taking time out of your schedule. we know the demand on your schedule. i am the vice-president and general manager for northern california northern nevada for our consumer markets. the demand on your time is a lot like our customers. that is why we have spent the time and made investments in a store like this because we know the demand is on their time. when they come into our store, they have earned a smart, friendly, fast service that we want to deliver. the technology that you will see today is changing and aerospace. so our customers expect us to be knowledgeable. at&t means a lot, our brand means a lot. we are going to help them enhance their life with all the products and services. friendly. that is self-explanatory. in this business, a smile goes a long way. we need to make sure we are friendly for our customers, and

all the tourists coming to san francisco. and we have to be fast. we used to have a window seals over here. people would be sitting in them. it was too small of a store and we were not meeting their demands. we least the store next to us, which i will show you, which has some really neat things. before people used to have to drive out of town to get their devices worked on, or mail them in. today, we have a device support center. they can come in, sit down, let some people work on their own, possibly exchange, and that up front, we have a go phone section. number one, this helps our prepaid customers, and it also does a lot for tourism. we get a lot of tourists who come here and we do not need them in the store. we want them out supporting the community.

this gives them the chance to get a cell phone working so that they can do what they want to do. what they want to do is take pictures of this beautiful city and send them back to their friends and families. or they want to take pictures, whether it is text messages, letting people know -- what we want them to do is be proud of the city and see the great sights. this is a world-class city. we need to deliver world-class service to them. i am telling you, it is so busy right now. we have to look at whether we need -- have enough space for them. we want them out in the city adding to the economy the investment we are making in the city, this is one store. we have another store down the street. we are doing the same thing on market street. that is a lot of our business customers. they have been in a spot -- small store that have not met

our standards. there will be another flagship store similar to the spirit our investment in the city, $200 million in networking. the executive director will talk about that in a little bit. a lot going on in the city. we are proud of it. and people. walt disney said it best. you can dream, create, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it takes people to make that dream come true. we are hiring people and adding jobs into the city, and we have about 40 employees in the store. we are about to add others. there is a lot going on. we are thrilled about the investment we are making in the city. we are thrilled about the activity of our customers are enjoying with all of these great innovative devices. great, innovative devices. so, a lot going on. thank you for coming today. i want to introduce you to the

regional president. i want to introduce ken mcneely. his team does wonderful things in the city. ken, i think he may have a guest. >> this is a primary example of at&t rethinking possible. this is our flagship store in san francisco and it is one of the biggest stores at&t has in the nation. besides experience -- creating this wonderful experience for our customers, we are creating job opportunities. we are expanding from 24 employees to 44. we will be expanding another store down the street, again, creating this wonderful experience for our customers. this is the first store in the

nation to combine our retail experience with the support center, a payment center, and our store for prepaid customers, which is one of the fastest growth areas we're seeing in the wireless market. we are also excited to showcase our new uverse product, which we are going to start building in the city of san francisco, and we think the leadership of the board of supervisors for continuing to invest in the city and create jobs. we have talked a little bit about at&t's dedication to san francisco. we have a few public servants here. also years and years of dedicated service for the city as well. i am proud to have mayor ed lee with us today as well as the president of the board of supervisors david chiu.

>> good morning, everyone. i am here to make sure the new and additional customers of at&t to what i think is really important -- they all call the giants'. at our at&t park. i want to thank ken and kerry for inviting me your. i am excited about this flagship store. they are doing it the right way. we have so many companies looking at how they can meet their corporate philanthropy and responsibilities. at&t has done that correctly. they all worked very closely with our board. i congratulate david chiu and the board for their decisions. they recently allowed at&t to

launch their uverse. many customers have said, i want an alternative to what is happening, and so they have cut that alternative. they will be helping the best they can and balancing that with neighborhood policies as well. i know at&t will do that. they have promised to do it. it will be a good product. i also want to thank at&t because being such a good company to work with, they have done other things for our city. in addition to increasing employment here, offering service, making sure they were a global company, and global visitors here that's terry and ken mentioned. they are looking for things to partner up with us.

one of the leading things it is a hand-held mobile phones for them in emergency services. all of those have been donated by at&t, because of their recognition of increasing community policing, working with these ambassadors to speak eight different languages in our neighborhoods, and helping them prevent crime, making sure the community is safe. they have invested in that as well. that just reflects another good, local corporate philosophy and policy that is consistent with the values of the city. i want to think at&t for not only doing those types of things, putting your name on the greatest sports team that we have, making sure it is up there, but also being such a positive company to work with, and also making sure all the things we do our modern and we have a place to recycle funds,

where there is better battery technology, all these deficiencies modern san franciscans have to use and -- effeciencies moderate san franciscans have to use and companies that do use. let's see what that uverse is all about as well. >> president chiu? president chiu: welcome, everyone. san francisco is on the edge of entrepreneurship. i know that in recent years, we have had a lot of discussions about the role of technology in our city. i want to thank you for your commitment to work with the board, our neighborhood to make

sure your technology fits in well with the rubric of what we are doing here. and 11 years ago, i started a tech company. part of the reason i came here this morning is i needed to see the latest and greatest of all the gadgets you have here, all the pieces of technology that ensure we are at the forefront of all urban areas in the united states, being on the cutting edge of technology and injuring what communications is about, ensuring what digital technologies and cable are about, and making sure we are fully integrated in the community. i also want to echo merely -- mayor lee's as. you are a central part of making our neighborhood say. thank you for what you are doing. >> thank you, thank you president chiu. now we have a ribbon to cut.

>> let's go outside. >> innovation. >> alright. >> are you ready? ready? [cheers and applause] >> good morning, everyone. i am the director of neighborhood business development for the office of work force development. thank you for coming. this is the kickoff of small business week as well as a

celebration of the accomplishments of our small business revolving loan fund, which we have been working on for about six months. i would like to start by introducing the mayor, and we will continue by hearing from supervisor wiener as well as our administrator for the loan fund, and finally, the owner of this great new business. mr. mirkarimi -- mr. mayor. mayor lee: thank you. i cannot think of a better way to celebrate the kickoff of small business week than to be right on valencia in the small business just started that has been the recipient along with some 27 other small businesses that have worked really hard to get to a place where they can be and allow the city to contribute and help. we did not hear a lot of times -- we hear a lot of complaints about how the city has not been doing things, but thanks to our

small business commission, which is here today, and they're wonderful work and their director who has been advising me on a number of fronts -- their wonderful work and their director who has been advising me on a number of fronts, and supervisor wiener, who had a chance to open up a farmer's market in glen park with me yesterday. we never do it alone. whenever our city is working together, we have to find people who know how to communicate with small businesses, drill down to what they need, and then work with our policy makers like the small business commission and their staff, but really help in figuring out what it is that a limited amount of money -- and it is really limited when you are only talking about $680,000 in very tight economic times -- to be able to spread that around to 27 different businesses, help

and make sure that a company like mission cheese, which is probably gone through a huge jury just to get here, can be directly helped to be opened and sustained success -- which has probably gone through a huge journey just to get here. we do not want to start things that cannot be successful. the whole game is about not only surviving the economic challenge, but as we recover -- and we are recovering in our economy -- that the small businesses will be successful, and they will grow, and they will sustain themselves, and they will be at the heart of what i think is a revival of the whole of valencia. when you walk valencia and look at all the vacancies that have erupted over the past few years, and to see small business is coming back, you will know that everyone is struggling, but they want to make it happen. i really wanted to emphasize

this morning how many different journeys people have had in making themselves successful and how the city has been able to get them here and the great journey and the great story we are going to hear from sarah and from family -- from emily. i want you to listen to sarah when she talks about how she got here and how she got the milk from those cows. [laughter] whether they are california or from maine or wisconsin, how did that milk and up into this lovely artisan cheese that she is making for our residents and visitors? i think the great journey will be when sarah talks about how she found her way to establish in san francisco. the greatest journey i hear are people who take up that opportunity, when they come into san francisco and make their home here.

that is a wonderful journey because it has many more stories to tell about how young entrepreneurs who start their families and then grow. that is the story about small businesses. i want to join all of you here in celebration. we will hear about other businesses, but it begins with these very personal stories and, really, how this milk and cheese got here, but how sarah got here through all of her work and study and how she could perform something very unique and contribute to the great businesses that sustain san francisco. with that, scott, come on up. [applause] supervisor wiener: thank you, mr. mayor. i represent this district on the board of supervisors. we always talk about how important small business is in terms of creating jobs, in terms of having interesting

neighborhoods where we have unique businesses and not a complete takeover by chain stores, but then, we do not always put our money where our mouth is, and we make it difficult sometimes for small businesses to succeed. in my office, at least once a week, we learned of a new arcane regulations or permit or fee or something preventing small businesses from succeeding. so it is so nice and so productive when the city is able to take a pro-active steps to help small businesses financially -- take a pro-active steps -- take pro-active steps to help small businesses financially. we have a real diverse array of interesting small businesses, so i am proud that we have been able to do this, and especially what we have been able to do on

valencia's street. so congratulations and best of luck. -- especially what we have been able to do on valencia st.. >> a quick word before emily speaks. the money is critical, but what we have seen is the really critical things the city can do. one of the things that we like working solution so much is not just that they are able to make loans but the kind of business solutions they are able to give to owners, so i just wanted to put in that little plug. [applause] >> good morning. i am the executive director of working solutions, and i also am so excited to be here to kick off small business week this year as we celebrate the success of mr. and cheese. sarah, congratulations on all your hard work and achieving your dream. we all wish you success.

sarah is the perfect example of the hard-working, tenacious, inspiring, and created under for nor -- creative and entrepreneur that has received assistance from working solutions and san francisco. two years ago, the city had the leadership to prioritize access for capital to small businesses. at that time, credit access was at record lows, and even today, still, access to capital remains one of the single biggest challenges that a small business can face. particularly startup businesses like mission cheese. working solutions was selected to administer the loan fund, and that gave us the opportunity to do what we do best -- getting capital to entrepreneurs who need it most. working solutions uses its expertise to see the potential in an entrepreneur is like sarah -- entrepreneurs like

sarah. plus, working solutions is committed to long-term -- to the long-term success of each business. what we do in addition to every loan is provide five years of business coaching, advising, and mentoring. the san francisco loan fund has been a bright spot in a dismal economy. has been extremely successful in creating jobs and economic development. for example, in just weeks that mission cheese has been open, sarah has already created five new jobs and the loan fund overall has created 50 new jobs. working solutions, through this loan fund, has made 27 loans to businesses. the interest rate is low and fixed at 4% to 6%.

we have lent out close to the entire $680,000 of the original lending capital, and 100% of those businesses are repaying their loans. as the funds revolve, they become available for additional businesses. the funds are used for different things like marketing, hiring new employees, purchasing equipment, tenant improvements, and more. the types of businesses that have benefited from the city loan fund range from salons, cafes, retail shops -- all different types of businesses throughout the city of san francisco. these are exactly the kind of very unique businesses that make san francisco the diverse city that it is. i also wanted to point out that a few of our loan recipients in the city have also graduated and able to later on success -- access traditional bank financing.

two of those have been able to move on to get traditional loans. i would like to really thank the community partners that working solutions works with. we collaborate with organizations like the small business assistance center that -- assistance center, the san francisco small business development center, and pacific community ventures. all of these organizations and more create a network of vital support services and resources for small businesses in san francisco. i would also like to take the opportunity to thank working solutions' staff, board, supporters, and volunteers, who are really a big part of the success that we are celebrating this morning. finally, i would like to thank the city, mayor lee, supervisor wiener, and the small business commission for continuing to prioritize the needs of small

businesses. it is my hope that we will be able to build on the success of this loan fund so that even more entrepreneur worst -- entrepreneurs in the future can access these funds. thank you so much. [applause] >> i had no idea what to expect. this is my first press conference. [laughter] i have not prepared tirelessly for this, but i definitely have a lot to say about the space that we are standing in, so, welcome. producer real -- pretty surreal at the moment. i have to clarify first that i do not make all this cheese. [laughter] it comes from across the united states from dedicated cheesemakers that worked tirelessly without vacations to care for the animals and the land and create these beautiful

beautiful -- create these beautiful pieces of art that are also delicious. that was my inspiration for this space, a place to highlight and celebrate what is going on in the cheese world today and how far we have come from a place of kraft singles and block cheddar. i love when i deliver a cheese plate and tell them the names of the cheeses, where they are from, what they are made with, a few details about, you know, the rhine or the cheesemaker or the cows -- they have names. the vocationally gray's -- they rotationally graze. that is what this is about, sharing that accomplishment with a culture that has come so far away from small, handcrafted

cheeses to a community that now really supports it. this is proof of that. people love cheese, and they love to know where it comes from. it is just an honor for me to curate that experience and bring that to the mission. we have an open for a month. we celebrated our month birthday for this week -- our month birthday this week. we have been busy. we beat our projections by 12% in the first month. [applause] that is without beer and wine the first week, so an opportunity for next month. and we have gotten -- we have been welcomed with open arms by the community, local merchants, and people that live in the neighborhood. they are really excited to have a place where they can purchase these beautiful cheeses, and

also people that are knowledgeable on the subject. it has been an amazing reception. i cannot really say enough. so many people to thank. i know i could talk for days, and i would probably start crying, and that would be bad. [laughter] as a new business owner and someone who had a dream and felt so passionate about something that they quit their 9 to 5 well-paying job to make it happen, it was difficult to find bonds -- to find funds for sure. especially in this environment. i had dreams of getting loans from banks, and those dreams were shattered in conversations about revenue essentially. being a startup business is really difficult, and i was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with gabriela.

she helped, through the process of refining my business plan to the point where i could ask for a micro loan micromic -- microloan. agnes helped, and i was baffled by the kindness and generosity, working with both of you through the process. it was a lovely process. i was like, "i'm asking for a loan, and it is so wonderful and nice." i was grateful for the opportunity even to present to the loan committee. my expectations were pretty low, given my other conversations with banks, and people at large being like, "good luck getting money from, you know, anyone." i was just thrilled getting this

microloan. it was essential. the refrigeration you see here was paid for with that. there is a killer of an in the back. the beer dispenser. a lot of equipment that is necessary to provide what we provide here was paid for with that microloan. i was dancing in the streets after you guys call me. [laughter] i did not know what to do with myself. i am just really grateful for this opportunity. i cannot say enough. it is serial -- surreal. thank you. [applause] >> is the key is available -- oh, i'm sorry, we are cutting the ribbon -- is the cheese