BAY AREA REPORTER - June 11, 1998
CCP BOARD TO HOLD ANNUAL MEETING, DISCUSS SF GAY CENTER
by Cynthia Laird
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center Project (CCP) will hold its annual meeting and elect new officers this Wednesday, June 17 at the Women's Building. The board is expected to make an announcement at the meeting on its intentions to keep the Fallon Building.
The meeting is open to the public, and people are invited to come early to enjoy some refreshments before the meeting begins.While the CCP board has been working under the assumption that the center will incorporate the Fallon Building, there has not been a formal decision made since the controversy over the future of the 104-year-old Queen Anne Victorian erupted last year.
Most recently, the city's Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board voted unanimously on June 3 to recommend landmark status for the Fallon Building. The CCP's architects and engineers have been working with the landmarks board on that matter. The San Francisco Planning Department, Board of Supervisors, and Mayor Willie Brown now much view the landmark request and sign off accordingly. Gary Goad, of Friends of 1800 Market Street, said that all parties are expected to support landmarkng the Fallon Building.Friends of 1800 Market will hold a news conference today (Thursday, June 11) at the site to call for unity for the project; the group held an April fundraiser that raised $5,000 to go toward work on the Fallon Building.
CCP president Brenda Barnette said the annual meeting, required under the CCP's bylaws, will feature a progress report on the project."In the past year, the board has taken major strides toward the success of the community center project," Barnette said. "We have raised over $2.4 million toward construction, forged a partnership with preservationists to incorporate the Victorian into the development affordably, and created a vision for the activities to be housed in the center."
It has also been a year of major changes on the center's board; Mark Leno, who co-chaired the capital campaign, resigned when he was appointed supervisor by the mayor, and Scott Shafer, another driving force behind the center, stepped down earlier this year when he took a job at KQED-FM radio station. Several new members have come on board since the beginning of the year as well, increasing the group's diversity as it strives to be inclusive of the queer community here.
"The annual meeting is a time to reflect on those accomplishments, and the tasks to be accomplished in this next, most critical year," Barnette added.
copyright, 1998
