Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District
Minutes of the Regularly Scheduled
Board of Directors Meeting on January 10, 2008
at Eureka Valley Recreation Center, 100 Collingwood Street, San Francisco

The Meeting was called to order at 6:15pm by President and Chair Herb Cohn with a quorum present.

Directors present: Herb Cohn, Kimberley Daniels, Steve Desdier, Tim Patriarca, Dennis Richards, Pat Sahagun, Gustavo Serina, Ken Stram;

Directors absent and excused: Dominic Campodonico, Kenneth Wingard;

Staff, Contractors, Guests: Executive Director, Andrea Aiello; Brian McCue and Marcello Aviles (MJM Management); Winston Dong and Andrew Hyder (Urban Ecology); Property Owner Brian Greene; Alex Austin (Austin Law Group, community member); Kit Hodge (DTNA Transportation Committee); Richard Magary (taking Minutes).

Approval of Minutes

Minutes of the Board’s December 13, 2007 meeting were approved (M-TP, 2nd-HC; K. Daniels and D. Richards abstained, since they did not attend the December 13 meeting).

Finance Committee

Financial Statements as of December 31, 2007 were presented.

The CPA Review required under the District’s contract with the City for the period January 1 – June 30, 2007 is underway. Completion is expected by the end of January.

The District’s Tax Returns were put on extension, pending consideration of the ByLaws Amendment regarding the District’s Fiscal Year, which was approved at the December Meeting. The Tax Returns will be filed timely by the extension deadline.

Contractor Reports

MJM Management

MJM’s Report dated January 4, 2008 for December 2007 was distributed and reviewed. Additional crews are being moved temporarily from Noe Valley, to do some heavier work. Brian McCue will meet with Andrea to discuss maintenance of the Harvey Milk Plaza garden. Brian Greene asked about plans for the now-empty PacBell/ATT phone booths; Sup. Dufty’s office will be contacted for their input on the issue. Recent vandalism at Pink Triangle Memorial Park has been mostly repaired. MJM is in contact with Harvey Milk Film producers, to coordinate work during their filming from late January thru mid-February in the area.

S.F. Patrol Special Police

Officer Jane Warner was unable to attend and there was no written Report. Andrea reported on her recent conversation with Jane, which indicated there are no major security issues, with some ongoing problems (e.g. graffiti, etc. and an uncooperative occupant and landlord (per MJM) at Thai House at Market/Sanchez/15^th Streets). A new sign in-out system at Walgreens will further document SFPSP hours of service under its contract with the District.

LGBT Center Business Attraction Program

Ken Stram distributed and summarized his January 10, 2008 written Report of activity in December 2007, which was reviewed. Herb, MUMC President Steve Adams, and KenS will meet in the next few days, for an update and progress discussion regarding the Program’s contracts with the District and MUMC.

Board of Directors Business

Election of Additional Board Members

Herb reported that he spoke with Pauline Scholten, who has agreed to reelection as a Director.

Herb introduced Brian Greene, who provided a brief summary of his background and role in the local community.

It was then unanimously approved (M-GS, 2^nd-PatS) to elect Pauline Scholten to an additional two (2) year term, and Brian Greene to a two (2) year term as Directors of the District, effective immediately and for the remainder of terms which began on January 1, 2008.

Additional candidates are being sought to fill the remaining three (3) currently-open seats on the Board. All Directors were asked to continue their help with identifying candidates.

Board’s February Meeting and Special Retreat

It was agreed that the Board will hold its usual business meetings in February and March – Andrea will research changing the February date from 2/14, since that is Valentine’s Day and a conflict for some Directors.

It was agreed that the Board will hold a special Retreat session on Sunday March 2 from 10:00am to 2:00pm at a location to be determined. The Retreat will focus on the District’s long-range planning and vision.

Closed Session for Workshop with Urban Ecology

Guests and most Contractor Representatives were thanked for attending the general business portion of the evening’s Board Meeting and excused for the balance of the Meeting, which was attended by the attending Board Members, W. Dong and A. Hyder of Urban Ecology, A. Aiello, and R. Magary. The (approximately 90 minutes) closed session allowed Board Members to openly discuss the work-in-progress of Urban Ecology’s contract assignment for an area-wide Streetscape Plan, to explore options, to offer comment, and to draft a Statement of Purpose and Goals for the Plan.

Winston Dong provided an outline and facilitated the discussion. Urban Ecology will provide a written summary of major issues discussed and agreed during the session.

At the conclusion of the Workshop, it was agreed that Andrea will draft a letter to the S.F. Planning Department, to lay out the District’s current positions on key urban design/planning issues that are being discussed as part of final approvals for the Market-Octavia Plan, the Upper Market Workshops series, and other public and community-based planning efforts which focus on the Castro-Upper Market area.

Urban Ecology said that it will hold a series of community meetings (in late February-early March), to get public comment and input on the Streetscape Plan from Property and Business Owners, and from other community members.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:25pm