[inaudible] i do solemnly of firma the i will support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california. against all enemies foreign and domestic. that will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california. that i take this obligation freely. without any mental reservations. or purpose of evasion. and that i will faithfully discharge the duties upon which

i'm about to enter. during such time as i hold the office. [inaudible] congratulations.

>> 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 available? [laughter] >> oh, we have some more

scissors. >> there we go. >> here are some more scissors. mayor lee: on the count of three, two, one. [applause] >> we are open. [applause]

>> thanks for all of you being here.

in january when i was sworn in, there were five major objectives that i wanted to accomplish. a pension reform was at the top. as i went through all of the town hall meetings on the budget, i indicated to the budget -- to the public that we needed to fix our financial house in the city. at the beginning of this conversation when he leaves started meeting, we had choices to make right at the beginning. the choices included whether or not we're going to hold out for months finger of blame -- claiming for what occurred. or whether we would get to work and at the numbers tell us what we needed to do. as precisely what we set out to do and allow those numbers, the numbers that we have been quoting as the numbers we had to attack. the financial house of the city

, it would allow ourselves to focus as we have done. i like to thank the people that are standing beside me as well as the ones in the back of me having spent quality time in coming up with a consensus, a comprehensive plan that we believe will fix the problem for the long-term. i'm happy to announce that we have at least a sponsor's if not more to present this pension proposal to the board going through the rules committee and eventually the full board for the ballot. having said that, i want to emphasize that this proposal is comprehensive. it looks that not only the numbers that have been talked about with all of the press and all of you, the looks of the programs that we have put in place.

and we have been contributing to a program that we have not been able to afford in a number of years. and also do it in the fashion that provides a dignified attention to those that have contributed many of their years of this wonderful city. i am proud to say that in working on this, we also have the choice about whether or not we would do it as a government or do it as a collaboration of people that were concerned about working families in this city. and making sure that we talked to everybody and had every voice heard. we start in january up to now 4.5 up to five months of a concerted effort to reflect a comprehensive approach. it reflects a dialogue that is transparent. it reflects labor leaders,

officials, the private sector as long as regent as well as the non-profit sector contributing about how the city can work together to make sure that we have a solvent pension system before us. we're looking at the system not just for the short term, but for the long term. we have ever imposed that we believe will save the city between 800 and billion dollars in the next 10 years. allowing the pension system to be solvent during those years and wander into the future. as you know, reforming pension alone will not ensure that the city will be fiscally sound. i've also been working hard to balance the budget and we will be a announcing those measures next week as we report to the board of supervisors. have committed ourselves to doing five-year budgeting and

five-year financial planning. that has also been very helpful to understanding how the pension system works and how it is part of the fiscal soundness of the city. it is painfully evident that not just in san francisco but every city across this country has been facing the pension system and making sure that that challenge is confronted. in different cities have different approaches. with a voice of the san francisco would have a special approach. that is the consensus in bringing everybody under the tent to talk through what these numbers mean and what we can do to contribute. a lot to thank all of the people who stand beside me as well as those that have initially signed on the include all of the supervisors here today. this proposal ties back into

investing in our neighborhoods and our communities. as i have said many times with this of the city, we can make city services increase and be maintained as well as proper investments to keep families in our city. is a halt what i want to reemphasize a consensus proposal levels in the city leaders, business, community in the nonprofit [unintelligible] no matter what level of work you have in the city, we will contribute to the solution. we're seeking long-term reform in this proposal in the form of new and lower benefits that we have yet to hire and immediately relief in the form of current employees for the existing level benefits that we apply. it is important to show in this

consensus plan that its comprehensiveness will be reflected in its ability to provide pensions biking, caps pension benefits, it raises the retirement age, it requires existing in the new employees to share health care costs. and it uses a sliding scale to protect lower wage earners of our employee group. if it does probably the most important thing that other pension plans you've been reading about the not do. a requires a greater contribution to the health trust fund. finally you have questions about the other plans. and i will say to you that the other plans that may be have been developed under closed doors and with smaller numbers of people have not had the transparency that this process had nor has it been reviewed ha literally or with all the

different actuarial reviews. the actuarial and the private sector as well as ours in the controller's office and those that we have hired and certainly have passed muster with the city attorney's office. have included the months that, representatives of the labor unions, moderates and progressives. the downtown business representative as well as members of the board of supervisors. i would like to recognize the tremendous effort that supervisor elsbernd has given to this process since day one. [applause] and i know from the very first day that we met and talked about this, there was a healthy level of cynicism that was displayed. one that was probably a arrested with a lot of things that have one that was probably a arrested with a lot of things that have