he has helped create businesses that have created the success and succession as the embodiment of examples to other businesses. the category by which he also has the ethics and integrity that goes along with being a small business commissioner -- i speak also having served on the building commission for the last four years, and have been the president. along with that, i know what the timing commitment implies. along with that, the energy by which henry serves as not only for his business, but could also serve the commission is something that speaks more than just he is all over the place, but his integrity is intact. the category also that comes into play is that his ability to bring about the knowledge of building permits along with the category by which small

businesses operate is integral to the success and benefit by which he brings to the small business commission. i strongly support his nomination, and i do sincerely thank you were the opportunity to speak for henry. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am the executive director of small property owners of san francisco. we have had -- we have benefited from the experience of henry karnilowicz in helping our rivers convert some of their illegal units to legal units. he helps them with the legal code and how to navigate through the myriad of requirements that this city has if you try to get something done. i have spent a good many years

in two other continents developing small business, and i have some knowledge of the kind of procedure that you go through in order to develop a new business, and i would say that most of it is just plain common sense enthusiasm for helping people, and i do not know what else i really didn't add accept that -- except that henry karnilowicz is everywhere. he likes people and likes working with people. i hope you will support his nomination. thank you. >> i'm a small business owner in san francisco. i wish to support mr. henry karnilowicz as well. i cannot add much to what was said so far. i can only emphasize that his expertise will will help small business, and he will be an addition. his openness is very marked.

thank you very much. supervisor kim: thank you. if there are members in the overflow chamber that would like to speak in public comment on this item, please come in. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm an attorney, small local business owners in south of market. director with asian american contractors association. the group i'm here on behalf of, a director with the south of market business association, of which henry karnilowicz is our current president, and he has been serving as president for the last several years. we are and local merchants group in district 6 in south of market of about 60 to 80 members, all of which are local businesses. mou organized multiple mixers and community outreach events, especially in the last year, to connect the local businesses. the question that came up earlier on how the small

business commission can help reach to local businesses -- i think henry does that, has been doing that for many years in south of market and wit and the -- would end up doing that throughout the city where he to be nominated to the small business commission. i wanted to voice our full support for henry to this appointment. thank you. supervisor kim: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am the new president of the latin business network in said it cisco, and i wish to support mario west, a wonderful very responsible person who is also a great father. he served in the air force in the past, and now, he is here trying to serve the community and help the community in terms of business owners and youth. i know that mario west has great

goals and ambitions for the community to support the business owners and bring more business to the communities. i believe he would be a good candidate to be a commissioner supervisor. again, he has great plans for the communities. anyway, thank you for your time. appreciate it. supervisor kim: thank you for being here. >> hello, how are you? and very happy to be here. first of all, i want to say that i'm here today to support mario west, one of the applicants. thank god you have two seats because it is going to be very hard to pick.

they all have good qualifications, and it will be on you to decide who are the people that eat thick. i personally know mario west for over 10 years. our daughters went to the same school. i know how dedicated mario is to his daughters, and i have seen the same dedication that he has shown to the latino community, the latino businesses in the district. mario has the ability to connect. he has that kind of personality, soft, knowledgeable, and he has the ability to connect the community. and he has been the president of the latino business network. those people are transforming the business in the mission. they have educated -- i have attended some of the training, and they have educated the

community, the business owners have to open a business, how to get a permit, all it takes to be successful in small business. what i love about that -- he has worked so hard to get jobs for communities of color. this transgendered community, also kids released from jail. if they get educated, hopefully they do not have to go back. mario has done a lot of work with the merchants association. they are working together to restore the community in the mission, and i think it is important to have that representation. please consider mario and the other latinos and all the people who are running, too. supervisor kim: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors.

in an operating manager for sf parking. in that william ortiz -- in that william ortiz -- by next -- i met william ortiz. when i was in college. he is and then it gets results. consider him very much for this position. supervisor kim: that you. >> good afternoon. i'm with the northern california independent booksellers association, and i'm here to speak for pete mulvihill. he is one of the owners of green apple books, which is a nationally respected,

profitable independent bookstore. i know saying profitable and bookstore in the same sentence is an oxymoron in some instances, but what is important, i think, for the commission to be thinking about is the advantage of having a strong retail -- not only a retail advocate, a retail merchant who has been successful, and green apple is known for thinking outside the box, for financial acumen, for marketing savvy, and i think that he brings a perspective that is important. i know that a supervisor campos -- that supervisor campos asked about underserved areas with the small business commission. one of the issues with that is a lot of those people are

retailers and are in their stores running their businesses and do not have time to come to meetings like this. pete understands that. retailers understand that. in terms of reaching out to those people, he brings a perspective that will be important because he does it himself. he understands that, and i believe that with all the magnificent candidates that you have that having someone who is on the retail side -- remember that small independent retailers are job creators in the city -- would be very helpful and important on this commission. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. my name is patricia rodriguez. i am year to support william ortiz. i've known william for a long time and i know of his past, coming from the mission, what he has been through. i believe that he would be a good candidate for the

commission. he would be a good example to the latino community as to how far you can come through in the city, through the -- sorry, i'm not a good speaker, but through all of the opportunities that the city has to give and gives us as a latino community a chance to stride in the city, and through its guidance and example, he has been powered me to become a business owner myself. i would never in my life think that i would be capable of doing that. thank you. >> good day, supervisors.

i am and member of the whole district -- polk district merchants association. we applaud approximately 35 employees in san but cisco. i never was in front of this commission, and the reason i'm here is to support mario west. i have known him for many years, and from a business perspective, i know that he is a very knowledgeable person. san francisco small business is a complex matter. to do business in san francisco, a person should know legal and taxation peril aspects and operational aspects, and i want

to assure that mario is the one who knows the business in san francisco better than anybody else. i mastered in business administration. i met mario, and he explained to me many things. before this, we were talking about pro bono, the lawyers should spend time. mario has done hundreds of hours doing pro bono work. i would say that tomorrow would be a member, this would be the right choice, and we are all lucky that he would decide to spend his time choosing this commission. supervisor kim: i just wanted to recognize the supervisor christina olague has joined us. >> good afternoon, supervisors. good afternoon, christina. long time no see from the planning commission.

[laughter] from here on behalf of william cartagena. william is an example. he could not find a job. he creates jobs for other people. he is making the connections. he belongs to differ merchants associations. one is the marina. i did not know before, but a person that can be in different places running the business of around the city, living in one of the most low-income community neighborhoods like district 10 and giving the example for the minority district and creating jobs and making the connection -- this is the person who should be considered. we have a good candidate with a good connection in the business center. they are already doing something with the business, giving an opportunity for developers to our communities is

unimportant -- is important. it is important when someone i do not know anything about -- just listen to the perspective of somebody who wants to consider the low-income communities. it is important. >> good afternoon. i'm just a worker. i've met william probably like maybe 15 months ago after a long incarceration of 10 years that i've done. i never had a job before, and he gave me an opportunity to work. i have been working for him for i guess 15 months straight now. i did not know nothing about working or anything, so he has taught me -- like, now, i

supervised four restaurants we have in north beach. i know he does a lot for the community and stuff like that. that is what i tried to do, too, you know? thank you. supervisor kim: thank you. >> hello, supervisors. i brought this magazine. we made it in the area. i'm from peer group. i came 14 years ago to san francisco. -- i'm from peru. i came 14 years ago to san francisco. i built my own business. i got successful. i made in two years my first million dollars.

but i lost half or more than th -- back -- half or more than that. i did not know enough about the rules. and found someone else, mario west. educated to me and said, "go to school. learn about english." my english is no good, but i still study. it is so hard. from four years ago, the latin business network, we work with the chambers of commerce, and another business immigrant in other areas of california and other cultural centers, and i support mario west because he is

a good guide. he brings money to the city to educate, to own a business, and to develop products for students. the people are at giving jobs today and making small business or san francisco, getting good jobs for the neighborhoods. thank you so much. supervisor kim: thank you so much for being here. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm a small business owner, but today, i'm here representing three chambers of commerce, hispanic chambers of commerce. the latin american and caribbean business chamber of commerce, the nicaraguan american chamber of congress, and the salvadorean american chamber of commerce, of which i had been the vice- president, and i'm still a member. i'm speaking on behalf of the three of them in support of mario west.

one of the reasons why we decided to support mario -- and i have four copies here of a letter of support from the three chambers. one of the reasons is because we really like not only his ethics and commitment to the community, but also, the fact that he understands small businesses. as a chamber of commerce, representing hispanics, i think hispanics are naturally born business people. if we could sell rocks, they would sell rocks. they are very, very good. everybody is always selling something. if you walk by the mission, you try those hot dogs in the corner, they are really, really good. those are really the small businesses. i think you have a challenge here. you need to understand that, first of all, to be a good communicator, if you want a good commissioner, you have to listen, and we in the hispanic community have some of the different challenges, including what supervisor campos

mentioned, immigration, which is a big thing for us, because many of them are struggling with their documents. i really hope you choose mario west, and i know you have a difficult task because everybody i've heard of this really qualified, but i think mario would do a very good job representing the wonderful small business community. thank you. supervisor kim: thank you for being here. >> thank you for the opportunity to be here as well. i'm a former police officer in san francisco. i'm here to support mario west. i'm also a former business owner in san francisco. i had businesses in the city for about 15 or 20 years. i can only -- i cannot -- victor, i think, said it all. mario west is a killer in the community. what 1 "los angeles times said earlier, he connects people together, connect ideas here

talking about pro bono, he has given out hundreds of hours of this time helping people in the community. i cannot say enough about the men. i have known him 15 or 20 years, and i like him as a friend. i am currently a realtor with better homes and gardens real estate, and it is a pleasure to do business and work with him and to get reacquainted with mario. i seem to be working with him more and more now, and he is a great guy to be with. thank you very much. supervisor kim: thank you for being here. is there any other public comment at this time? seeing none, public comment is closed. i want to thank everyone for their patients. i know it has been a long meeting and many people did have to leave and did not get to speak on behalf of their applicant. discussion from colleagues? supervisor olague: i wanted to

be brief, but i just across the way, so i did not want to miss the opportunity to speak on behalf of a couple of candidates today. there are so many amazing candidates for these two seats. one of the conversations i had with janet before she left was -- i asked her why she was leaving. part of why she decided to give up her seat on the small business commission was because she felt that there was a lack of diversity -- racial diversity and representation of people of color on that commission, so that said, i have spent hours at a green apple. i know mr. henry karnilowicz very well, but a bill in deference to the fact that i do believe we need more representation. i would like to put in a couple of words for monetta white, who

has an incredible reputation for how she runs her business and her involvement in the community. i wanted to encourage folks to consider her seriously, and again, her contribution is not just as a business woman but as a community advocate and activists. and mr. william ortiz -- again, mr. ventura and others i have worked with, but he has quite a story, and it is we're for me to be up here advocating for someone who deals with parking. i have known him for some time, and i just wanted to but in a couple of big words for him as well. thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak as well. supervisor kim: thank you for being here. supervisor campos: thank you very much, madame chair. i would like to begin by thanking all of the amazing applicants who have come forward. the challenge we face -- we have

more applicants than we have seats available. clearly, we will have to make choices that leave out people that are more than qualified to sit on a commission. in this case, i can honestly say that each and every one of the applicants who has come forward -- i think any of you would do an amazing job on that commission. it is very difficult to decide in light of that. the one thing that i would say, having sat on this committee before, is that openings to come up, so for those of you who, for whatever reason are not appointed, i would hope and ask that you continue to be involved. there may be other openings in the future, not only in terms of appointments by the board of

supervisors, but also the mayor, so to the extent that those openings come up, i would hope that the mayor's office would also consider some of the amazing applicants that are here, and there will also be other openings on a different commission that may also benefit from the talent that is here. from my perspective, and not to take anything away from any of the applicants, i do believe that it is important for us to have a small business commission that is truly representative of the diversity of san francisco, and right now , unfortunately, that diversity is not represented on this commission. i believe that we only have one person of color on the small business commission, and again, that is not to take anything away from non-minorities, but i do believe it is important to have that diversity represented. any one individual that we have " is a person of color is

someone who comes from not a small business background but from wells fargo -- actually from bank of america. so it is the banking industry, and that is an important experience, but we are talking about the small business commission. as a supervisor for district 9, where i have many of my business is the are owned by people of color -- be it latino, the ideation, and by many immigrants, i think it is important to have that representation on the small business commission. again, not to take anything away from any of the other applicants. it is for that reason that for me, the three people who stand out in terms of what they bring to the table, even though i had a great deal of respect for respectmulvihill, for mr. ventura, for mr. gray, and for mr. henry karnilowicz, the

people to stand out are mario west, william ortiz-cartagena, and monetta white. i think the three of them bring a perspective that is needed in terms of how we make the commission relevant, and it is not only the representation of people of color, more women, but also, with respect to mr. west and mr. ortiz- cartagena, the ability to be relevant to language minorities in the city. my hope is that we can all come to a consensus around some of these candidates, but i wanted to share my thinking for the rest of the committee. those are the three that i'm leaning towards. again, i want to thank all the other candidates because they also bring something to the table. supervisor kim: thank you. i think we will probably have

several rounds of conversation because i think there are multiple candidates, but all three of us would like to see [inaudible] on the commission. but if we could get up two applicants we could all have consensus on, i think that is the most important thing. supervisor farrell: this is truly horrible today. you know, two themes kept coming up -- both with a lot of native san franciscans, which are near and dear to my heart, and obviously, all small-business owners. i think that is pretty amazing. i just want to echo what supervisor campos said. a matter who does not come out or comes out of committee, everyone came today has my full support to push with the mayor for his appointments or some other commission, if that is what you desire, or to come back when we have the next opening, without a doubt. it was great to meet mario for the first time today. and mr. gray, sorry to hear

about your 15-month old with the fever. that is never fun. for me, i think of for your folks really stand out, and this is also a lot of support they have gotten from other people i know and respect. mr. henry karnilowicz, i have known you for a little while now. obviously, you have a ton of support it. you probably won the most speaker contest award that we get here sometimes at bowls committee, so congratulations on that note, but i know you have a lot of broad-based support throughout the city. mr. ortiz, obviously not a lot of support -- you had a lot of support today, but also, i received some personal e-mails that spoke incredibly highly of you. and monetta white -- i'm sorry but just barely go