Board Members attending: Alan Beach-Nelson, Rob Cox, Judy Hoyem

Welcome and Introductions

Guest Speakers and Presenters
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Sisters Risqué and Serendipity
This is the 20th annual Pink Saturday. When Pink Saturday started there was a wonderful carnival atmosphere for the gay and lesbian community to celebrate the culture/lifestyle. In the last few years has degenerated into an uncontrolled free-for-all that has less and less to do with GLBT and overtaken by people looking for a place and excuse to party, be drunk and worse.

The Sisters would like to reclaim the event for the GLBT community. They are not advertising the event publicly. Invites to community organizations related only to the GLBT population have been extended. They cannot control any press/media coverage but are asking, through Scott Wiener, for cooperation from the press/media to down play the event.

This year more security. Volunteers and professional security have been recruited. Security will patrol inside the footprint and outside. There will be multiple checkpoints at entry gates looking for alcohol and weapons.
•No outside containers will be permitted
•Very visible Police presence
•No “to go” containers from liquor stores
•South exit at Castro station will be barricaded
•92 port-a-potties will be brought in
•20% of the budget is going to security (approx $8K)
•The footprint is 19th/Collingwood, Noe/18th, Noe/Market, Market/Castro
•EVNA is asking neighbors to be vigilant on their streets

CBD
Andrea Aiello, Executive Director presented a new pilot program for the summer of 2011. It is the Castro Ambassador program. CBD is looking for approximately 35 volunteers to give two hours/week for 16 weeks to be friendly neighborhood ambassadors for the Castro. Ambassadors will help tourists and visitors by being a source of information and reference. Contact CBD (castrocbd.org) if you are interested.

376 Castro Project
Mitchell Benjamin, architect for the project, presented the proposed building for the 376 Castro Street site. His focus was to create the “best building for the neighborhood” at a significant and visible location (Market and Castro). The project has been in development since 2005.

The project sponsors have been working with EVNA, DTNA, CAPA & CBD to get neighborhood input.

Mitchell gave an overview of the project with elevations, floor plans and renderings. The project was met with mostly positive responses. Comments/recommendations included:
•Mask the floor to ceiling windows at the prominent corner
•This building is NOT significant
•There should be pedestrian improvements
•Provide community meeting space
•Identify the retail

New business
Katy Cox from SFAF is looking for volunteers to help install the Pink Triangle on June 25. EVNA will contact the membership with Katy’s contact information.

Meeting adjourned 8:35

Executive Board Meeting, Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Present – Alan, Rob, Aaron, Gary, Dennis
Absent – Judy, Steve, Tim

Call to order @ 7:10PM

Financial Report:
There is currently $4,200 in the account. With outstanding advertising in the newsletter we can expect another $2,100.
* MOTION by Gary to not renew EVNA’s membership with UMA. Motion passed unanimously.

May 25 Membership meeting Agenda:
•CBD
•SPI re: Pink Saturday
•Project sponsors for 376 Castro Street

EVNA Board asked to bring questions/ concerns regarding Pink Saturday. Rob stated that the event, much like Halloween in the Castro has grown in scope and that neither the City nor the SPI are capable of containing this event. How does the SPI plan on dealing with this?

Committee Reports:
Planning –
•Concerns regarding Squat and Gobble’s appropriation of the “parkl-ette” which is a violation of the agreement with DPW.
•The AT&T boxes continue to be a thorn. Gary and Dennis felt that Scott Weiner was more concerned about a lawsuit than defending the SF Beautiful and the neighborhood. EVNA will ask Scott for his definitive position on the AT&T boxes.
•There was discussion about the hearing on Historic Preservation.
•Better Market Street Workshops will held in May along with webinars. Details at www.bettermarketstreetsf.org.

Newsletter-
• $2,800 in ad dollars was collected for the May newsletter. The goal is to receive enough ad dollars to bump the distribution to 3K.
• We want to ask Print & Ship what the cost difference would be with recycled paper.
• All Board members are asked to assist as this needs to be an all hands endeavor.

The following Board members will be approaching the listed businesses:
o Alan: US Bank Mortgage – 1/4 or 1/3- page, $500 to $600; Dean Rizzi, Mortgage Broker – 1/6 to 1/4 page - $290 to $500; Rossi’s Deli; Citizen; Walgreen’s - declined
o Rob: Poesia; Cliff’s; Chase; Swirl - declined
o Gary: Wells Fargo; La Med
o Aaron: A number of restaurants in the hood

Community Awareness –
• The parking lot off of Castro Street has been less of a problem since SFPD have begun to ticket cars there after 1:00 a.m. Neighbors continue to be diligent.
• Trigger is asking to get its fines reduced.
• There has been a spate of car window smashings on Hartford Street in the past week.

Adjournment @ 8:20PM

Respectfully submitted,
Rob Cox, Recording Secretary

Attending: Alan Beach-Nelson, Rob Cox*, Tim Eicher, Judy Hoyem, Aaron Seiverston
Visiting: Kevin Dunn, Corbett Heights Neighborhood Association; Mitchell Benjamin, Architect for the project at Castro and Market (ARCO/RC gas station) and Eileen Campbell, project sponsor.

Meeting began 7:05
• Welcome

• Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s has officially pulled out of bidding to open a store in the old Tower Records Bldg..

• Treasurer Report
Steve Clark-Hall was not in attendance. Item was tabled.

• Implementing Protocol/Systems
When being interviewed or giving any opinion Board Members need to be clear when offering their own opinion that they are not the opinions of EVNA.

When offering an opinion in the name of EVNA Board Members need to be certain that they are giving information that has been vetted and agreed to by the Board of EVNA.

Any Changes to the EVNA Web Site must be approved by the Board of Directors.

There was a brief discussion about which organizations EVNA should belong to and/or partner with such as Coalition of San Francisco Neighborhoods. The Board needs to be educated about these organizations before committing funding and/or membership.

• Castro/Market (ARCO/RC station) Project
This project has been being developed since 2005 in fits and starts. With the Upper Market/Octavia plan finally extended to include the “orphaned” block up to Castro Street the project is now moving forward and will comply to those rules.

The proposed structure will have 24 residential units (1 & 2 bedrooms) with retail space on the ground level. Parking will be provided for 50% of the units.

The provisional drawings/plans that Mitchell and Eileen presented were not final but used as a visual aid. Most of the presentation and discussion was to help EVNA understand the scope and planned execution of this project.

The architect were clear that the plans were in flux and they agreed to come back to present again when the plans were closer to being finalized.

Committee Reports
No committee reports were given as the meeting ran long.

Action Items
Posting of SOS filing link in Ops Manual - Steve
Secretary of State filing - Rob
Clean up of Board email addresses/aliases - Steve
Technology Operations Manual - Steve

Next Board Meeting April 13, 2011

On March 7, Trader Joe’s informed Supervisor Wiener that they were withdrawing their plans to open in the Tower Records site. The news was disappointing to me and many others. Hundreds of hours were spent by our sister organization, Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association, to boil down the facts and details of the project. When concerns about the impacts of the project were raised, and suggestions made to ensure that this TJ’s was reflective of the neighborhood, TJs rebuffed those overtures.

Trader Joe’s wanted to force their, suburban, car-centric model onto our urban village without compromise, refusing to adapt their FORMULA to our community and what is best for the entire neighborhood. It was their decision not to work with the neighborhood. That is regrettable, but it was their right.

I encourage you to be involved in the neighborhood, and to have a voice in shaping the
neighborhood. The best way to do so is to join EVNA at http://evna.org/join

On March 7, Trader Joe’s informed Supervisor Wiener that they were withdrawing their plans to open in the Tower Records site. The news was disappointing to me and many others. Hundreds of hours were spent by our sister organization, Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association, to boil down the facts and details of the project. When concerns about the impacts of the project were raised, and suggestions made to ensure that this TJ’s was reflective of the neighborhood, TJs rebuffed those overtures.

Trader Joe’s wanted to force their, suburban, car-centric model onto our urban village without compromise, refusing to adapt their FORMULA to our community and what is best for the entire neighborhood. It was their decision not to work with the neighborhood. That is regrettable, but it was their right.

I encourage you to be involved in the neighborhood, and to have a voice in shaping the
neighborhood. The best way to do so is to join EVNA at http://evna.org/join

Our sister organization and close collaborator, Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association (DTNA), has done an exhaustive review of the 300+ page Traffic Study and the overall project proposal. You can find their reports at www.dtna.org/traderjoes.html. I encourage you to read these documents to get a full understanding of the project and potential impact on the neighborhood.

Before deciding for or against a Trader Joe's in the Castro/Upper Market, I think the facts of the proposal need to be fully evaluated. Many questions need to be answered, such as:

1. What impact will it have on traffic - auto, pedestrian and bicycle?
2. Aside, from cheap prices, how will Trader Joe’s improve the neighborhood?
3. How will they help create a more livable neighborhood and city?
4. How has Trader Joe's responded to the needs and desires of the neighborhood?
5. Will they accommodate/promote our transit/pedestrian first goals?
6. Will they minimize auto trips by providing reasonably priced delivery?
7. Will they offer a shuttle service to take customers and their groceries home, for free with minimum purchase, like the new Mollie Stone’s will do?

Our sister organization, Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association (DTNA), has done an exhaustive review of the 300+ page Traffic Study and the overall project proposal. You can find their reports at www.dtna.org/traderjoes.html. I encourage you to read these documents to get a full understanding of the project and potential impact on the neighborhood.

Further, as the Gay Capital of the world, do we not owe to ourselves to demand that businesses that locate in our neighborhood respect equality and diversity? On HRC’s 2011 Buying Guide Trader Joe’s was rated in the “Red” category on, “Businesses/brands that receive our lowest workplace equality scores.” Check it out at: http://www.hrc.org/buyersguide2011/ranking.html?category=1236. Why would we support a business like that in the Castro? So they can take our gay dollars but not treat us with fairness and equality?

Before we can decide whether Trader Joe’s is good for the neighborhood or San Francisco, we need to know the answers to these and many other questions. Castro/EVNA has invited Trader Joe’s, to our March 16th Board Meeting at Chase Bank, and they may possibly attend our March 23rd Membership meeting at the Castro Community Meeting Room, above BofA, to share with us their project and their answers to these questions. Come join us.

Alan R. Beach-Nelson
President
Castro/Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association