Eureka!    EVPA News

April 2001 • Vol. 120, No. 4

A NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION SINCE 1881

The other form of contribution to the community I suggested was making a room in the new store available, when not used by Pottery Barn staff, for local meetings. Many of us who hold meetings in the area are aware of the shortage of affordable meeting space. Architectural limitations made this impossible, but the developers liked the idea and went on to sponsor the Castro Meeting Room that is about to open. While the Pottery Barn team made a significant donation that made it possible to sign a 5 year lease, the operation of the Room will need to be supported by the collection of rental fees, donations, and contributions.

The Castro Meeting Room board, consisting of myself and Gerald Abbott from the residents' community and Patrick Batt and Ron Hahr from the merchants' community will be responsible for running the project. It is hoped that neighborhood groups needing one time or ongoing meeting room space will eventually fill the room and make it a new hub of activity.

While the Castro Meeting Room is not yet fully functional, I hope that by bringing the April meetings of the MUMC board and EVPA general membership into the fledgling space, we will be off to many years of successful operation.

All EVPA members, and all those neighbors who are interested in joining EVPA, are invited to join us at our general membership meeting on April 19, 2001, at 7:30PM at the new Castro Meeting Room at 501 Castro. I hope to see you there!!

-- Lion Barnett, President

Castro Meeting Room

Photo: Lion Barnett

Next meeting Thursday, April 19th  7:30PM
New location:  501 Castro Street

EVPA Initiates the Castro Meeting Room

On April 19, 2001, EVPA will hold its general membership meeting at the new Castro Meeting Room. The Room is on the second floor of the Bank of America building at  501 Castro at 18th Street. It is accessible by the stairs and elevator on the right side of the BofA entrance lobby.

The Castro Meeting Room is a joint project of Eureka Valley residents and merchants, and is a non-profit organization under the fiscal sponsorship of the San Francisco Study Center. The origins of the Meeting Room go back to negotiations between community representatives and the developers of the (hopefully) soon-to-be-opened Pottery Barn at Castro and Market.

When representatives of EVPA, MUMC, and CAPA first met with representatives from Pottery Barn nearly two years ago, I suggested two forms of acknowledgment that Pottery Barn was interested in participating in the local community. One way was to make sure that Pottery Barn employees had access to Domestic Partner benefits. Domestic Partner benefits were extended to employees of the Williams Sonoma/Pottery Barn corporation in November 1998. Employees of all Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn stores and offices across the country now have access to these benefits.