QUARTERLY MEETING

November 9, 2005 | Kaiser Center Roof Garden, Oakland

Minutes:

1. GARDEN TOUR

   Our fifth meeting started with a self-guided tour of the Kaiser roof garden, on a pleasant late afternoon. We then convened the meeting with appetizers and cocktails at Park Cafe, overlooking the garden.

2. WEB SITE STATUS

   Steve Cancian reported that he has made great progress. He succeeded in getting a commitment from Professor, Louise Monzingo, UC Berkeley, to sponsor our efforts to create a HALS website. There are 3 things that need to be accomplished: 1) Submit a proposal for funding, 2) gain a commitment to connect responsibility for the web site to a permanent staff position, and 3) hire a UC grad student for the Summer of 2006 to actually create the web pages. Steve will collaborate with his committee members to accomplish these tasks and will come back to the full committee for assistance with the site content.

   Tom Brown noted that he likes the fact that we have an institutional base for the web site and suggested that we engage the Northern California chapter of ASLA to make them aware of what we are doing. We will add the ASLA chapter president to our e-group.

3. DOCUMENTATION PROCESS

   We started with a general discussion of what we've accomplished so far and how that has gone. It was acknowledged that we are, as a fledgling group, still finding our feet a bit, but feel we have made good progress. Once our methodology is developed and refined we are optimistic that these efforts will be successful. At that point, we will focus on expanding our outreach efforts to get more people involved.

   Cathy Garrett posed the question, "What level of documentation do we want to start with?" After some discussion, it was agreed that we should start by getting all three of our candidates (Kaiser Roof Garden, Piedmont Way and Olompali) to Level III (limited) documentation. Then we will continue with one or more sites and bring it to Level I (Exhaustive). The long-term goal is to complete Level 1 documentation for many of northern California's significant historic sites.

   Cathy noted that our group is ahead of most other states and as such we have the opportunity to set the standard for this new national program - a somewhat daunting though inspiring thought.

   Marianne Hurley, who works for State Parks, commented that doing HALS documentation has the potential to become a standard mitigation requirement for development and that it might be used as a tool to accomplish the work. Once public agencies become aware of our existence we could become a resource for them or a clearinghouse for documentation being done by others.

   Marianne committed to preparing a short form for the ranch portion of the Marsh House in Brentwood.

   Marlea Graham asked if we would seek funding to document all 3 candidates at one time. The consensus was yes. Fortunately, two of our sites have existing groups of people who will do much of the research and documentation; so our role there will be to advise, provide input and review. It was agreed that our primary focus will be the Kaiser Roof Garden; the site that does not have a "Friends of" group or similar.

4. DOCUMENTATION COMMITTEES

   Cathy listed the four committees that will be needed to proceed with our first documentation. They are:

   1. Research and Writing
   2. Measured Drawings
   3. Photography
   4. Fundraising

   Using the guidelines drafted by ASLA national, each committee will develop a plan for how to accomplish what is needed for level III documentation. The agenda for subsequent meetings of our group will include progress reports for each committee.

   Marlea Graham offered to organize the Research and Writing committee. Ideal candidates for this effort include: Tom Brown, Phoebe Cutler, Gray Brechin, Peggy Darnall, Marianne Hurley, and Judith Taylor. It is hoped that Helaine Kaplan-Prentice and Russ Beatty might agree to review draft written material.

   Tom suggested that we contact the United Nations ICOMOS and the National Trust in England to request information on their methodology for documenting gardens. Marianne offered to contact the National Trust.

   PGAdesign volunteered to lead the Measured Drawings committee. Doug Nelson from RHAA was suggested as a potential committee member.

   Seth Bergstein and Lou Watt were suggested to lead the Photography committee.

   Margaret Mori, Roger Sharmer and Anthony Veerkamp were identified as exemplary candidates for the fund raising committee.

   If you did not see your name noted above, and are itching to jump in, please feel free to contact Marlea, Chris Pattillo or Betsy.

5. OLOMPALI REPORT

   Marianne gave a report of progress made by Diane Einstein of the Olompali Board. They are applying for grants to support their efforts to prepare plans and specifications to restore their property, and have engaged a professional grant writer. Olompali already has a tremendous amount of documentation that needs to be organized as part of their documentation process.

   Marianne also mentioned several other projects that she is involved that might make a good presentation at a future meeting.

6. NEXT MEETING

   Our next meeting is scheduled for February 7, 2006 4:00 PM Location: Mechanics' Institute Library and Chess Room, 57 Post Street, San Francisco

   Accessible via BART. A tour of this 1909 historic building will be led by Jim Flack, Executive Director.