Partial Minutes:
Monday, October 9, 2006 meeting of the Gower Task Force Ctte at
6054 Yucca St., First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood Community Room-UpperTerrace.
Present: Ctte members Co-Chairs Joel M. Fisher and HilaryRoyce, Board members Ann de Bello, Maurece Chesse, David Schlesinger, NormaFoster, Gary Slossberg, Susan Polifronio and Viktoria Gaw.
Welcome by JM Fisher and introduction of John McCoy, CRArepresentative.
The meeting started at 7:30pm to discuss the "ExclusiveNegotiating Agreement" to be entered into by A Community of Friends (ACOF),People Assisting the Homeless" (PATH) and the California Redevelopment Agency(CRA) in defining the parameters that will frame the proposed PermanentSupportive Housing for the Homeless property located at
1720-17361/2 Gower St.in Los Angeles. PATH and ACOF were the only respondents to the Request forQualifications (RFQ) sent out on May 8,
2006. All issues from financing, designand tenant selection, etc. will be under discussion however it was stated byJohn McCoy that tenant selection, aesthetics, design, environmentalrequirements, security, resident services and all other issues. will be underthe purview of the existing CRA Committee that includes reps from HUNC, thebusiness community, nearby residents, the social service community and the CRA.Also, HUNC has stated that frequent updates, a minimum of every two months,will be presented to our Stakeholders as the process proceeds forward and thatthe Stakeholders comments will be brought back to the working committee by theHUNC representatives. Both HUNC reps, Ann de Bello in person and Terri Gergervia email, stated that with the removal of the "Teen Canteen" from the projectand the increase in the number of housing units that the project was moving inthe right direction. Terri Gerger also stated that the project should be onlyresidential with services provided onsite for residents only and that her mainconcern at this point is security for the building and the surrounding area.HUNC District 4 Rep Erik Sanjurjo declared that safety would be his primaryconcern and that as co-chair of the Community Police Action Board
(CPAB)Homelessness Ctte. he was using the opportunity to network with all the socialservice providers located in this area in moving immediately to deal with theproblems of safety and security that already exist. Board member Norma Fosterbrought up the many seniors who are moving into homelessness at an alarmingrate, Viktoria Gaw the target population.
Questions from Stakeholders present ranged from how longbefore you start, what is the population mix going to be, (Shirley Mayhew) whatis being done re: affordable housing for the population that's losing theirhousing to new development, why is the CRA not cleaning up its lending problemsand that a self audit should be what they move forward on, not new homelesshousing to how do we get more information as the project moves forward. SteveBox, also on the CRA Ctte, stated it was moving forward in an impressivefashion, Trina, a member of the homeless community, age 20, spoke to the needof housing in Hollywood so that she did not have to go to the more frighteningareas of downtown.
Members of the social service community were present;Natalie Stern of PATH stated they would be surveying the community and thehomeless population to assess the communities needs and to evaluate thepossible tenant population to be targeted, Lisa Donovan of LA Voice stated theneed for this type of development.
Prior to stating of a motion Susan Polifronio asked JohnMcCoy of the CRA to confirm that what the HUNC Ctte was voting on was just anegotiating agreement and that all other aspects of the project would beentered into with further agreements that would be brought back to HUNC and theCommunity Stakeholders for evaluation as the project moves forward. With JohnMcCoy's confirmation Co-Chair Joel M. Fisher called for a motion:
Motion by Ann de Bello to recommendto the HUNC Board that PATH and ACOF proceed forward with the CRA on theExclusive Negotiating Agreement within the parameters stated above that allother areas of this project come back to the HUNC Task Force Ctte
Second: Norma Foster
Disposition: Motion Carries
Meeting Adjourned at 8:30 pm by Joel M. Fisher
finalized version adsfjhasdfds
