Barbary Coast
Neighborhood Association
Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting
July
24, 2008
At Sotheby’s
International Realty, 117 Greenwich Street, San Francisco, CA 94111
2nd DRAFT
The meeting began a 6:10 p.m. and was called to order
by President Bill Sauro.
Board members in attendance in addition to
President Sauro: Fred Allardyce, Bill
Benkavitch, Jonathan Middlebrook, Carol Parlette, Lee Radner, Felix Rodriguez, Linda
Schwartz, and Diana Taylor.
Board members who were absent: Morton Beebe and Joe Wyman.
1. Presentation
by Cheryl Brinkman, Board President, Livable City on ‘Sunday Streets’. Ms. Brinkman addressed the Board about the
upcoming ‘Sunday Streets’ events scheduled to be held on August 31st
and September 14th from 9am to 1pm. She explained the scope of the event
including the ‘soft street’ closures, free public transit on the T & F
lines, activity pods, and impacts on the various neighborhoods. She stated the main focus of the event is
Health, Building Community, and Open Space.
Ms. Brinkman engaged in an interactive discussion about the event and some
safety issues brought up by the Board.
One question asked was whether neighborhood groups could have a booth
set up during the event. She stated
she’d get back to President Sauro with an answer. The Board thanked Ms. Brinkman for her
informative presentation. See Item 7
below for follow-up information on this Agenda Item.
2. New Board Policies and Procedures. President Sauro presented a draft of BCNA
Board Policies and Procedures that he and Carol Parlette had prepared. The Board reviewed and discussed the
draft. Most discussion centered on Item
2 concerning Proxy votes. In simple
terms, if a Board member is not present, he/she cannot vote (unless the Board
decides ahead of time that the issue may be voted on in that way.) The Board approved the draft unanimously.
3. Approval of Minutes. The minutes of the June
4, 2008
meeting were approved as amended, by unanimous vote.
4. Treasurer’s Report. Carol Parlette distributed the Treasurer’s
Report with Balance Sheet as of 7/21/2008. The balance is about the same as the previous
meeting; current balance is $6,280.60.
The Board adopted the Report unanimously.
5. Committee Reports.
Waterfront Action Committee
A Draft Development Review Guidelines. Diana Taylor asked that this item be deferred
to the next meeting. The guidelines have
been distributed to the Board via email.
Although some discussion occurred during the meeting, all members were
asked to submit comments to Diana. The
Board thanked Diana and Jonathan Middlebrook for their fine efforts.
B 8 Washington
Street
Condominiums. Lee Radner stated that the SF Port is moving
ahead with the Request For Proposals (RFP) for Seawall
Lot 351, and how inter-related the two projects are. The Board had a brief discussion about the
sewer pipe leak under Jackson Street and the problem it has
caused with the tennis courts – cracks and swales - at the Golden Gateway
Tennis & Swim Club. Diana Taylor
stated that Kathleen Diohep, SF Port Project Manager
for Lot 351 has asked to make a
presentation to the BCNA Board. After
some discussion, The Board agreed that any presentation should be after the RFP
is issued, that written guidelines be established for the presentation, and, that
Ms. Diohep understands that the presentation and any
questions and answers are ‘on the record’.
Diana and President Sauro agreed to develop written guidelines and set
parameters for a possible meeting. The
Board approved this action unanimously.
C. Musto Building. Jonathan Middlebrook reported on the Musto Building renovation meeting that
he, Carol Parlette and Fred Allardyce attended recently. This is the second attempt to develop this
historic 1906 building located on Pacific Avenue and Battery Street. The current proposal is for law offices with
a restaurant on the 1st floor.
There are no parking spaces in the proposal. The Board members were all favorably
impressed with the proposal although loss of some courtyard open area is a
concern. The Board discussed the
proposal and whether to write a letter of conditional endorsement. Jonathon agreed to draft a proposed letter –
including the concern about the open space – and send to Board members for an
email vote. There was an additional
discussion as to whether the Telegraph Hill Dwellers would be on the opposite
side of this issue and how BCNA should react.
Diana Taylor agreed to consult with Nancy Shanahan of THD and report
back to President Sauro. Should THD be
on the opposite side of the issue, then so be it.
Newsletter Committee
President Sauro handed out the draft Summer 2008 Newsletter to the Board. He requested that Board members email him any
changes as Tuesday, July 29th is the ‘stuffing party’ to fold label
and stamp the Newsletter for distribution.
Board members were encouraged to attend the ‘stuffing party’ at
President Sauro’s condominium starting around 4pm on the 29th.
Membership Committee
This Committee needs a new chairperson. Linda Schwartz agreed to step forward and take
this assignment. Fred Allardyce agreed
to help. The Board discussed a mailing
budget and Linda agreed to develop and submit one.
Other Committees
The Board had a discussion about other
Committees which are unstructured. The
consensus is that the Board members are spread a little thin and it would be
best to focus on Membership. The
discussion continued about how to get commercial members and the idea about
using advertisements, such as an insert in the Newsletter, as an incentive to
gather commercial members.
6. Old Business
Community Benefit District Progress
Report
President Sauro informed the Board about a
recent meeting he attended about creation of a CBD on the waterfront. Boston Properties – Embarcadero Center managers – stated they
have no interest in a CBD as they already have one, the Center itself. The Board further discussed CBD. Another local CBD exists, the ‘Greater
Downtown Community Benefit District.’
President Sauro indicted he will meet with them. There is even a 3rd CBD in the
area, the ‘Broadway Entertainment Corridor CBD’, as Jonathan Middlebrook stated. Felix Rodriguez has the names of two
organizations that have expertise in forming a CBD and will provide this
information to President Sauro. President
Sauro also stated that the City will give a grant if a group wants to form a
CBD.
Supervisors Candidates’ Forum
The Board discussed this forum which will be
held on Wednesday, September 10th from 7pm –
9pm
at the KGO Building. This will be a BCNA event exclusively as the
League of Women Voters wanted all of District 3 issues addressed and not just
those in the BCNA neighborhood. The
Board further discussed the format and all Board members were encouraged to
submit questions to President Sauro for the forum. In addition, ways to advertise the forum were
reviewed. BCNA will do a mailing and Lee
Radner of FOGG agreed to send an email to its membership notifying them of the
forum. The forum will be videotaped by
KGO and will be on their web site. Eight
candidates so far have agreed to attend.
7. New Business
‘Sunday Streets’ Discussion
The Board engaged in a general discussion about ‘Sunday
Streets’. The consensus was that ‘Sunday
Streets’ is a good event. The Board
voted to send a letter to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors stating that
BCNA endorses ‘Sunday Streets’. The
Board also agreed to email Ms. Brinkman thanking her for attending the Board
meeting and advising her of the proposed endorsement letter.
Proposed Market Street Closure
The Board deferred discussion on this item.
8. Honoring Founding President Fred Allardyce
The Board presented Founding President Allardyce
with a Plaque commemorating his two years as the first BCNA Board
President. The Board acknowledged his
tremendous contributions and gave him a rousing round of applause.
9. Next Meeting
The next BCNA Board Meeting was scheduled for Thursday,
August 21, 2008.
10. Adjournment.
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Benkavitch
Secretary