even tougher year for the small- business community in particular. finally, in conclusion, i wanted to once again thank you for your consideration. sincerely, luke k. o'brien. president yee riley: thank you. any comments from commissioners? commissioner dooley? commissioner dooley: i would like to speak a little bit about commissioner clyde, and what i want to talk about is her breadth of knowledge in some a different parts of small business affairs. she is knowledgeable on ada requirements. she is out there in the communities talking about taxation. she always does more than her homework. she is out there all of the time. she engages with the communities. she attends every event that i

can imagine. she is there. the fact that pat christenson, who is with the council of district morrison dissed -- district merchants, gave her such a huge recommendation, that she would be recommended by someone who is part of a citywide organization. i know, as i have worked with her on many projects, one of the best things about her if she knows how to listen, and she absorbs what you have to say, whether she may agree or not. i feel like she has always been there to listen to all different people on our commission about their opinions, and she always comes to a great consensus opinion. she does not adjusted to what her personal beliefs are. she is out there, listening to all of us, in she has had her

experiences as vice president. typically, our president has been our vice president, very freely moving on to be president, and that is a great way of transitioning into a pretty difficult post, as i know irene with the test that is not an easy job, so those of the things that i want to talk about janet, including her accessibility and her amazing outreach in the community. that is why i would really like to support her as president. president yee riley: thank you. anymore comments? commissioner o'conner? commissioner o'conner: for starters, it is critical that this commission has a very energetic and aggressive president in order for us to

matter at city hall, somebody who is going to be walking the hallways, meeting with supervisors, in making sure that legislation that is pertinent to the small business community comes before this body. i am very confident that janet will do a great job making us matter. for starters. that is my first point. i do not know how important the presidency is. number two, of the commissioners year, commissioners that have served, very few of us actually participated in the small business commission prior to being appointed as a commissioner. the reason why i wanted to put jints name fourth as a potential commissioner three years ago or however many years ago -- put janet's name fourth -- forth is

that it was relevant to the small business community at large, and i think that that speaks to her passion about small business issues and why her voice would represent us well in the entirety, not just in the commission but in small business, as well, and lastly, i would like to address the civility of conditions in this building and that there is a practice that presidencies and vice presidencies switch back and forth between mayoral commissioners, appointed commissioners, and board of supervisors-appointed commissioners, and, personally, i would like to see luke this year, and i would like to see janet president.

i think that is simple. as we continue to team up to devotes to be president, it is disingenuous, and president riley yee has done a great job this year, for all of the time and energy that she has put in it, but for the record, i want to say that our director's job was threatened last year unless all four mayoral members voted for the candidates, and for agency, for a body like ours, which is here to defend small- business issues, this is not about progressives and moderates, etc.. we are not dealing with those issues. we are dealing with rights of the small business people. we are not dealing with who is on the board of supervisors and that that you voted on this or that.

this is about this commission and doing a good job comment -- a do jock -- a good job, and i would just say that we should be civil, which all get along, we should work together, and it is right that somebody with janet's energy and workload capacity be president of this commission, and with all due respect to luke, luke is doing a great job also, but janet is doing a good job all of the city. thank you. president yee riley: i think we all have a different style of leadership. luke may not be very vocal, and he is a man of few words, but when he has something to say, he will say it, and like he said, he has not missed any meetings. he has always been here. he is very active, not only participating in the small

business commission and the committee meetings, he is also very active in the community, out there listening to the small business owners and working with small business owners, so i think that he will do a good job, and i believe in rotating leadership, and as to commissioner o'conner, he mentioned that the executive director's job was threatens, and that was the reason why i was elected. i have not threatened and new buddy, and i am not aware of anybody putting that fort pierce -- i have not threaten anybody. i am sorry you feel that way, but think you. any more comments? -- but thank you. commissioner o'conner: i would like to address that point. under no circumstances is is

blaming you. this is coming from the mayor's office, and we should not be subjected to the mayor's problems. you did a great job as president. president yee riley: thank you. commissioner dooley: i just think that in the spirit, we need to look back and see that we had had mayoral appointees, and i think everyone is qualified on this commission probably to take either position, but i would urge just sort of in the sake of fairness that we would consider janet, not only four qualifications but that it would be now note, i think it would be the right thing to do to consider a supervisor cook appointee at this time, just to kind of mix it up and keep it going -- a supervisorial appointee.

i think that is something we should consider, because kind of traditionally on many of their commissions, there is a switch of between the appointees, and i think it is a healthy thing to make it seem that it is not a skew that even leave for a moment to questions of fairness in this area, so i would support janet matter what. she'd a great job, but i do think that is a little something to keep in mind. president yee riley: anything else? ok, seeing none, let's open to public comment, two minutes. clerk: at this time, the commission is taking public comment.

please take -- speak into the microphone and state your name. public comment will be limited to two minutes. >> good evening, commissioners. i in here to support janet clyde -- i am here. i also serve on the board of the north beach association. i have worked with janet on many things over the years. she has been a productive member of the merchants association of community, as well, and she operates a did a small business and knows the difficulty of doing this in san francisco, with all of the associated fees. i could talk to them about any small business issue, with janet and with the president. i can also concur with the other commissioners that every time i turn around at an event, i see janet. they are always there for us.

once again, i support janet clyde for president, and also support that it is a very healthy system to rotate back and forth between a mayoral candidate in the other. >> john, from the san francisco coalition for responsible growth. president riley, commissioners, director. i did send a letter earlier this afternoon, and i would like to think the director for very quick reply to about and for not taking the time to slap me on the wrist for the typos, so thank you. a new president, a new

beginning for the small business commission. san francisco faces a challenging times in the years ahead, and your work on the commission is always so important but even more so now. selecting the next president is a big responsibility, and i want to share my thoughts with you about commissioner o'brien. i know knew from his business days, and i'd always been impressed with his integrity and for his concern for all the stakeholders. there is going to be a lot of that facing us in the future. the economic burden of doing business here will put a lot on

your plates on the commission. from this business experience, he is customer focused and service oriented. he has a demonstrated record of on time and under cost projected delivery and knows how to meet that payroll. he speaks out with no hidden agendas. good luck with your deliberations, commissioners. president yee riley: thank you. next speaker. >> good evening, commissioners. i am tom, a lawyer in private practice in san francisco with my own office. i was in the richmond district for about 30 years. now, i am downtown. i think i met luke through the

coalition for responsible growth. i think we were assigned. we did not volunteer to come down and see what the commission was doing. and he took that very seriously, and i think he is a great supporter of this commission. and protecting small business and dealing with small-business issues before the city. i think you will be very proud of him as the president of your commission, and i hope he is elected. president yee riley: thank you. next speaker. >> madam president, commissioners, my name is mr. murphy.

i and the co-founder of the group. i want to welcome the new commissioners. i do not know, but i do know stephen, and i have known it commissioner o'conner since he was about seven years old. i am trying to make this light. i think you all make a good president. i have been president of my group for the last two years, and i welcome at some point maybe as having a joint meeting. i am not appear because of me. i am up here because of my friend luke will has to be the

second hardest worker i know. i am the hardest working man i know. he is one of the most honest guys i have ever met in my life. he lives in san francisco. he is raising his kids in san francisco. he is sending his kids to school in san francisco. he is all about san francisco, and he is all about small business. he is all about building relationships. he happens to be one of my lead people over at v.b.i.. when they need a technical question as far as the online tracking system, none of us know anything about that. i am from the stone age. we all go to luke, and he has been an incredible help for us over there.

that is it. as i said, i hope you're all around long enough to be president. thank you. president yee riley: thank you. anymore public comments? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. clerk: commissioners, at this time, we will take a roll-call vote. we will go in order of those nominated. we will go in order, and if you make, please respond a -- yay or nay. we'll begin with conditional -- commissioner clyde.

[reading roll] >> commissioners, we have three ayes and four nays. next, we will do commissioner o'brien. [reading roll] commissioners, commissioner clye receive a3 ayes, and commission o'brien received four ayes, and commissioner o'brien will be the

president's starting the next meeting. president yee riley: thank you. next item, please. ckerk: this is for the election of vice president, and just to recap, a first call for nominations. nominees may accept your nomination and provide a statement. next will be an opportunity for commissioner comments, followed by a public comment, and then we will take a roll-call vote in the number of those nominated. madam president, i do not have access to the role. if you would like to begin. president yee riley: commissioner o'conner? commissioner o'conner: i would like to nominate any mayoral candidate, because i do not think the people from the board of supervisors picks deserve to be in a leadership position on

this commission, so i would love to support stephen adams. president yee riley: ok, so we have steve adams nominated. any more nominations? seeing none. thank you. do you want to provide a statement? commissioner adams: i have been involved for seven years. i really appreciate what commissioner o'conner said earlier about the different neighborhoods, because i see the same thing, and it does concern me, and that is something that i

would like to work with him on, and also, the attacks that are being made on the entertainment industry in this town really concern me, so those are the things i would like to really work on. thank you. president yee riley: thank you. ok, commissioner comments. commissioner o'brien? commissioner o'brien: yeah, i was actually going to nominate commissioner adams, as well, so thank you, commissioner o'conner, for doing that. and couple of thoughts of come to mind that i think are relevant to commissioner atoms it assuming this role of vice president. one, the play on a rite of passage, if you will, and then you assume seniority by right of passage or seniority by times

surf. i will never ever subscribe to that philosophy. never did, do not today, never will. i will remind my fellow commissioners that if they are ever in a position where they have to appoint somebody to manage their business in their absence, they will never fail to make sure that whoever gets that position will take care of their business and take care of it well. perhaps, if they are afforded the luxury of multiple employees who assumed the job and to a equitably, excellent, they made in favor to a more senior member, otherwise, there will be no contest. it will simply be the person

that they will be able to go to sleep when they are away knowing that their business is being taken care of, so the data we get away from this philosophy that has been circling around san francisco for years, moderate, progressive, a democrat, republican, the sooner we get away from that, and the sooner that san francisco is served with a two-party system like the rest of the country, instead of a one-party system being maligned all of the time, and we get away from being a supervisor appointee or a mayoral appointee, the better, and the sooner that we stop discussing it in those terms, the less hypocritical we will appeal when somebody watching the proceedings is saying that it is interesting that the candidates who are talking about polarizing being a bad

influence are already lined up together on one side. it is very difficult to swallow that and witness that and be impressed of the sincerity with which to make the statement. but you certainly did it on the second nomination, and i applaud that, and i hope that steve, who is a fresh blood, an energetic guy, who i personally note, and was impressed that he nearly knew as much about the city as i do. in fact, he may even know more. i would not want to be in a contest with him. i think he will be an awesome influence on this commission, and as vice president, i am looking forward to working with him. and lastly, i will say this is interesting that when president obama was running for the presidency, it was put to him

that he might consider not running, that hillary clinton might have been around longer, and the was a great speech about first of all, he could be vice president. first of all, he could wait to, and that he could be vice president, and then supervisor chiu became president on his first day on the board of supervisors. there was no discussion. i think that may steve ready to be vice president of this commission, and i think it will be a unanimous vote anyway. president yee riley: thank you? anymore comments? commissioner o'conner: i was told last time that our director

would be fired. i would like that on the record. and when a commission is -- generally speaking, it is not progressive, moderate, i am not going to label myself one thing or another, and that is not what this is about, but when there are four picks, and is being used to achieve the vote, and number three, the supervisors, there is a mathematical issue here, and we now have had three mayoral appointee president's in a row. i served as president for two years prior to that, and i know that is the only reason i got the second term, because the mayoral appointee broke from the other mayoral appointees, and he

was criticized for it. i did a pretty good job as president. i made sure that we got the small business center opened downstairs. that was my baby. i put in a lot of work. whoever is president -- luke, congratulations. we need you to put in a lot of work, because small business owners are so low on the political totem pole in this building, it is pathetic. considering how hard we work and how many jobs we create and the streets that we revitalize, we need a president who's going to bust their but around here and make us matter and not make us simply walked over, but mathematics to come into play. president yee riley: commissioner dooley? commissioner dooley: i certainly

hope that commissioner o'brien does a big job, and i have knowledge about what happened when it came to the appointment of another may orioles late, and i personally experienced that, and i do not think that is a good thing. on the other hand, irene yee riley did a great job, but i feel it was a very heavy-handed and wrong thing to do that came down from above us, and i would like to not see that in the future, but i will absolutely back commissioner o'brien in saying that that definitely happens. president yee riley: commissioner o'brien? commissioner o'brien: just to move on. commissioner o'conner, i respect

your position, and i believe you can be both a dynamic force that brings a perspective that i appreciate, and i hope that you can be there to have an input in steering some of the vision like we're going to see for the next 12 months as we go forward, and i will certainly invite your consoles and your experience, as i will commissioner dooley and clyde, who have been here longer than me. there is a lot that i have learned from listening to other people, and i am going to be needing that vision and that