QUARTERLY MEETING

February 7, 2006 | Mechanics Institute Library, San Francisco

Minutes:

1. INTRODUCTIONS AND TOAST

   James Flack, Executive Director welcomed us to the Mechanics Institute and described what we would see on our tour after the meeting.

   Cathy Garrett offered a toast to HALS member Margaret Mori in recognition of her commitment and determination in gaining landmark status for the Golden Gate Park Music Concourse.

2. WEB PAGE COMMITTEE REPORT

   Steve Cancian Rasmussen handed out copies of the proposal he submitted to UC Berkeley Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning (LEAP) to form a partnership between our committee and of LAEP. Steve reported that Professor Louise Mozingo has agreed to lead this effort. UC's support means that they will provide web hosting and fund a student position to serve as Webmaster.

   The intent is that the site will become an on-line resource for historic research and design precedents. It will provide a digital library of California's significant landscapes. The home page will provide an introduction to HALS and preservation. The 3 primary components of the site will be highly interactive and will provide a list of local landscapes of interest and HALS short forms for visitors to fill in and submit.

   The site will also include action alerts, a landscape preservation community bulletin board and links to other online resources. The next committee meeting is Tuesday February 21st at 4:00 at the Presidio. Michael Kelly volunteered to join the committee and Deborah Lindsay offered to help with editing. Steve suggested that the web site be designated as a statewide resource, not exclusively for northern California. For more information, or to join the web page committee contact Steve at canciansteve AT hotmail DOT com

3. PIEDMONT WAY NOMINATION

   Fredrica Drotos reported the Friends of Piedmont Way's (Friends) successful effort to secure a National Trust Preservation Fund matching grant. They have raised the matching funds needed to receive the grant. The purpose of the grant is to initiate a portion of the HALS graphic documentation. PGAdesign has been hired to prepare a roadmap for completing the "drawings" component of a HALS listing and to begin the existing conditions plans of Piedmont Way between Bancroft and Dwight Ways.

   When asked, "What factors led to their success?" the response, "determination" seemed essential. Fredrica noted that our having selected Piedmont Way for HALS documentation helped. She is optimistic that this grant and the initial documentation will lead to additional funding, possibly from the City of Berkeley that has $50,000 for such things. For more information contact: Fredrica at fredrica DOT drotos AT sbcglobal DOT net.

   The chair posed the question, "Are the sites we've selected sufficiently worthy for HALS full documentation and likely to be approved by being assigned HALS numbers?" The consensus seems to be that the program is "starved" for material, and yes, these sites are good candidates.

   Anthony Veerkamp told us that Save America's Treasures is actively supported by first lady Laura Bush and is soliciting more west coast sites to help fund. To apply for grants sites must be designated national historic landmarks or listed on the national register at the national level of significance.

4. KAISER ROOF GARDEN NOMINATION

   Research and Writing
   Peggy Darnall reported that the Research and Writing committee had not met, but they had talked. Our discussion touched on likely sources of historic material and emphasized the importance of engaging the current building owners and management in supporting our efforts. Deborah Lindsey has copies of several photos from Ted Osmundson. Lorraine Osmundson, Ted's wife, has offered access to what they have and is very supportive of our efforts.
   Anthony suggested Documentation and Conservation of the Modernist Movement (DOCOMOMO), and Deborah suggested the Kaiser Retirees' group as two possible sources of information and possibly financing for our Kaiser nomination.

   Measured Drawings
   Chris Pattillo reported that she and Cathy had decided to hire Lindsay Mugglestone to assist with the measured drawings portion of the documentation. Lindsay is a recent graduate of the UC Berkeley Extension Landscape Architecture certificate program and is enthusiastic about undertaking the work.
   Chris reported that she offered to address the Garden Art League on March 7th when they meet at the Kaiser Roof Garden.

   Photography
   Chris offered Gordon Osmundson, an accomplished photographer, landscape architect and son of Ted Osmundson as a candidate to undertake the HALS photography for the Kaiser site.
   Steve Maruta, Photographer with Friends of Piedmont Way expressed interest in our efforts, and Tom Fox, SWA's photographer was mentioned. Margaret Mori will contact Bill Calloway to ask if they might donate Tom's services.
   At this point we have the names of several talented photographers who have expressed interest. We are in need of someone to serve as chair of this committee.

   Fundraising
   Numerous suggestions were offered as possible sources of funding. We are in need of someone to serve as chair of this committee.

5. CLOSING TIDBITS

   Cathy Garrett proposed that our next meeting include 3 presenters who will review the three sets of HALS Documentation Guidelines that were published in December 2005, and explain what each requires.

   Anthony noted that there is federal funding for HABS and HAER and should be for HALS, and volunteered to draft a letter on our behalf to the Director of Public Policy and Preservation Action at the National Trust to encourage them to include funding for HALS in next year's budget. He suggested that our three chairs sign the letter and solicit additional signatures from colleagues around the country.

   We should plan to have a presence at the 2007 ASLA National Conference in San Francisco.

   The chair posed the question, "Should we have one fewer meeting and eliminate the winter meeting?" The consensus was, no, the number of HALS meetings is right, but there should be committee meetings between each HALS meeting. We need someone to prod the committee chairs to schedule committee meetings.

6. TOUR

   James Flack led a tour of the Mechanics Institute building. Established in 1854 the library has existed for more than 150 years and currently is a general interest, nonprofit membership library open to the public. We enjoyed the library's gracious neo-classical reading rooms, oval spiral staircase with its ornate metal railing and steel treads, glass block flooring, oak paneling, and the historic Chess Room that hosts the oldest chess club in the United States. Thank you, Jim.

7. NEXT MEETING

   Our next meeting is scheduled for May 9th, 2006 4:00 PM at an East Bay site TBA