Report of Honorary Consul for San Francisco for 2006

Below is a report of my activities as Honorary Consul in San Francisco for 2006.
As you’ll see, in the beginning is a synopsis of some of the major objectives and projects of my position and a short statement of the progress achieved. Following this, is a month-by-month report on my most important activities as Honorary Consul.

Overview

One of my objectives for 2006 was to further develop my corps of interns, volunteers and community activists to better assist in the accomplishment of these goals. We made specific progress on that level, including the addition of two more Polish students as full-time interns in my office.

Presently we have three law student interns from Poland: Lukasz Wojtowicz, Maria Mirek, and Ewa Szafranska. We also have a graduate of a masters degree program in business, Szymon Ociepka, who assists with trade and business matters. We have had two other interns in the past: Tomasz Snazyk and Bartosz Kozlowski.

Our Consular offices now occupy the 15th floor and 16th floors of the Humboldt Bank Building in downtown San Francisco and we have a staff of 11 full and part-time persons, seven of whom speak Polish.

Perhaps the highlight of the year was receiving Polish citizenship in February 2006. This honor was bestowed upon me personally by the Ambassador, His Excellency Janusz Reiter.

I believe the Honorary Consul Position should play a role in advocating the interests of the Polish people, the Polish government and Polonia with respect to the U.S. government, state and local governments and the greater diplomatic community of San Francisco and Northern California, and among the American people generally. In my three years as Honorary Consul, I have tried to carry out these objectives within the framework of my limited resources.

Specific Projects and Objectives in 2006:

1. Relations with the Consular Corps and government officials.
   I have been an active member of the Consular Corps, attending most of its meetings as well as its annual Christmas events. I also attended meetings the Consular Corps had with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Governor Schwarzenegger, and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown; former Secretary of State George Shultz and other community leaders.
   

   I have established a good relationship with Mayor Newsom’s staff. His Chief of Staff, Steve Kawa, is a Polish-American with whom I have often communicated. We organized a third-annual flag-raising for May 3rd at City Hall, which was attended by many in the community.

   We also organized several receptions in our office for visiting Polish dignitaries and members of the Consular Corps, described in more detail below.

   In September, we organized a Reception for Central American Consul Generals. We held a reception at our office for members of the Consulate Corps from Central America and Mexico on the occasion of Central American Independence Day. The event was attended by the Consulate Generals from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, as well as the Vice Consul from Mexico, and many other dignitaries in San Francisco.

2. Meetings with Polish dignitaries.
   In February, I attended a reception for the Polish Ambassador, His Excellency Janusz Reiter in Los Angeles. This private dinner was held at the Consul General’s home where I received personally from the Ambassador the honor of Polish citizenship.

   In July, I organized a Reception for visiting Polish political leaders and EU Parliament members, Adam Bielan and Michal Kaminski. We held a reception at our office for visiting Polish political leaders Mssrs. Bielan and Kaminski and their wives in my office in San Francisco. The event was attended by several members of Consulates from other countries and various EU Parliament members attending the conference of ALEC in San Francisco.

   The following day, at the invitation of Mssrs. Bielan and Kaminski, I attended a reception of the American Legislative Executive Council (ALEC) in San Francisco. Present were various EU Parliament members from Great Britain, Belgium and the Czech Republic as well.

   In December, I spent two days with 8 visiting University Rectors from Poland and Minister Andrzej Rabczenko of the Embassy in Berkeley, San Francisco, Muir Woods Redwood Park and wine country. I led the delegation of visiting Polish rectors on a tour of the University of California at Berkeley and through meetings with University officials on the subject of technology transfer. Several days later, we spent the day touring wine region and Muir Woods Redwood Park. This included a reception for Minister Rabczenko and the Polish University Rectors at Stags Leap Winery, Napa, California. As the guest of Warren Winiarski, we hosted Minister Rabczenko and the Polish University Rectors for a wine and cheese reception at the famous Stag’s Leap Winery in Napa, California.

   In the spring, on two separate occasions, I met with visiting Polish journalists. In April, I met Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski, a former MSZ official and journalist. In May, we had a small reception for visiting Polish journalist, Joanna Wajda, at the request of the International Visitor Program of the US Department of State. This occurred in my office in San Francisco.

   Throughout the year, I had various meetings with the Consul General, Hon. Krystyna Tokarska-Biernacik of the Polish Consulate in Los Angeles and her staff. Specifically, there were several meetings in our office in San Francisco for planning for the IT symposium held in November.

3. Work for a better visa policy toward Poles.
   

   I have worked very actively on promoting the proposal for the inclusion of Poland in the visa waiver program applicable to some 26 countries and most members of the EU.

   I have modified and circulated a proposed lobbying plan which I sent to the other Honorary Consuls and the Embassy. I also drafted “talking points” and draft letters to Congressmen for use by Polonia in this effort. These were distributed widely throughout the Polonia community by myself at the time of the Immigration Reform bill in Congress in April and May 2006.

   I sent out thousands of emails to Polonia community members here and throughout the country enlisting their support for the visa waiver amendment that was part of the Immigration Reform bill that passed the Senate in May.

   I also wrote several articles on the subject published in Polonia newspapers urging community members to actively support Poland’s inclusion in the visa waiver.

   We also made personal pleas to the offices of Senator Feinstein and Boxer, and engaged in a correspondence with both on the issue.

   We have established an email network for this effort that remains ready to support a proposal for Poland’s inclusion in the visa waiver program in 2007.

   
   

4. Promote trade with Poland.
   

   I have made numerous efforts to promote trade with Poland.

   This summer, I began working with Brad Zielinski, investor in Polish IT industry and George Slawek of the US-Polish Trade Council on a project to promote outsourcing of IT work in Silicon Valley to Poland. In October, I traveled to Poland to launch this project and met with officials of RINF, a leading Polish outsourcing company, as well as with Siemens, BenQ and other IT companies there. I also met with representatives of the Mayor’s office in Wroclaw, including President Pawel Panczyj, President of the Wroclaw Agglomeration. In November, the RINF founders and owners and President Panczyj visited Silicon Valley to further promote this project.

   In September, I made a power point presentation at the San Francisco Economic Forum on the subject of Poland as an investment partner. I prepared and made a presentation along with George Slawek of the US-Polish Trade Council on the attractiveness of Poland as a location for investment and outsourcing.

   I have also worked closely with the Commercial Consuls in Los Angeles, Zygmunt Janiec and Michal Urbankowski. I have had repeated meetings with both Consul Urbankowski and Consul Janiec in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

   I have worked very closely with the Polish Consulate in Los Angeles and the US-Polish Trade Council to organize a symposium on Web 2.0 in Poland and the U.S., which took place at Stanford University in November.

   I have also worked with outside organizations, such as the European American Chamber of Commerce, the I.M.M.A and the RussArt organization, all of which are involved in promoting trade with Europe.

5. Develop a functioning business community in Polonia.
   There are hundreds of small businesses in the Polish-American community in Northern California, but there has yet to be an organization that even attempts to support them or unify them. I have worked to involve these very talented people and successful people in the Polish-American community in Northern California.

   Among other things, I organized several meetings of Silicon-Valley Polish business people in 2006. I have also met repeatedly with these individuals throughout the year.

6. The non-profit charitable foundation, Polish American Society.
   

   At the request of the Consul General in Los Angeles, in 2004, I prepared and filed the Articles of Incorporation and registered a non-profit foundation, “Polish American Society”, in order to raise money and accomplish certain charitable goals of the Consulates.

   We prepared and filed an application for 501(c) (3) tax-deductible non-profit status with the IRS for this Charitable organization and in 2005, we obtained such status for the Foundation. We also obtained non-profit charitable status from the state of California by separate application.

7. Community Building.
   

   In October, I gave a speech to the National convention of the Polish American Congress in San Diego. I attended the national convention of the PAC and gave a speech on the subject of “Mobilizing Polish youth for Polonia and Poland.”

   In November, I organized and helped fund two speeches by Dr. Thaddeus Radzilowski of the Piast Institute on subjects of Polonia history held at the Polski Dom. I hosted Prof. Radzilowski at my home and spent much of the weekend with him. One of the receptions and Speeches by Dr. Radzilowski was on the subject of Polish-Jewish relations in the United States. This was done in conjunction with the Taube Foundation. The second was on the subject of Polish-American Women in History. On that occasion, I presented awards to two Polish language teachers on behalf of the Polish government.

   I have attended multiple events in the local Polonia community, including the annual Polish Constitution Day celebration, the Polonia Ball of the John Paul II Foundation, the Polish Festival, the May 3rd flag raising at City Hall, the Ball of the Polish Arts and Culture Foundation, many functions of the Polski Dom and many other community events described below.

   I have tried to mobilize the resources of successful and talented Poles and Polish-Americans living in the Bay Area. We have established a mailing list of approximately 5000 names of Poles and Polish-Americans living in California.

8. Enhance Jewish-Polish relations.
   

   I have worked hard to maintain and improve relations with the various Jewish groups in the Bay Area and the Jewish community as a whole. This has included meeting with a delegation from the American Jewish Committee (“AJC”) in the Consulate; meeting several times with representatives of the Taube Foundation and Tad Taube; attending several other events of the Jewish community.

   In May, I participated in a reception for the former President Kwasniewski at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco. I gave a short speech introducing the former President.

   Most notably, I was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Taube Foundation, one of the most prominent Jewish organizations in the San Francisco area.

   I am truly grateful and proud to have been given this position as Honorary Consul. I hope to serve the Polish government and people for many years to come.