01/26/2021
Candidate Profile: Sharky Laguana
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“I am a small business owner, SFUSD parent, and President of the San Francisco Small Business Commission.
I was appointed to the Small Business Commission by Mayor Breed in March of 2019, and was elected president the following January. The commission’s policy output in response to the crisis has been unprecedented. I campaigned for Prop H (“Save Our Small Business”) which voters overwhelmingly passed, served on the Economic Recovery Task Force, and with SFMTA Chair Gwyneth Borden, co-created a summit addressing the rent crisis for small businesses.
The pandemic has devastated my business too. It has forced me to close stores, sell assets, and most painfully, lay off staff I care deeply about. In 2019 nearly half of all workers in San Francisco were employed by a small business. Now many of those businesses are permanently closed. Unemployment due to COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted vulnerable populations, while leaving owners like myself buried in overwhelming debt."
