SFCLTs Annual General Meeting is back in person!
When: Thursday, May 26th 2022, 6-8pm
Where: 44 Page Street, 3rd floor, Level IV Rehearsal Room
Catering provided by La Cocina
EVERYONE is welcome whether you are a member or not. Only members however will be able to vote.
You may also attend the meeting over zoom if that is safer for you and your loved ones:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81065617889?pwd=cnRUR25WZDFIaGdPWG1lTFNSOGRCdz09
or Dial by your location:
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
Meeting ID: 810 6561 7889
Passcode: 094282
Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kbG0OgzfpC
Please note that if you need language interpretation this year, you must come to the meeting in person.
Masks shall be worn indoors, please bring your own mask to this event. Masks will be provided to folks who can’t bring their own.
Agenda at a glance:
Welcome
Executive Director report
Introduction to new staff
New resident report
Speaker: Dom Refuerzo (they/he/she) from Purple House Collective
Q&A period
Bylaw changes
4 items, to be voted on
Future bylaw changes
To be presented
Board election
Brief introductions from each board member followed by final vote
Closing
SFCLT ByLaws - 2022 Proposed Amendments
Written by Keith Hennessy with Hope Williams.
Presented and discussed at AGMs in either April or Oct 2021.
To be voted on by Lessees and Members at 2022 AGM, May 26 2022.
FOUR PROPOSED SFCLT BYLAW AMENDMENTS
Please read and bring your questions to the AGM, where we all Lessees (SFCLT residents named in a lease) and current Members can vote.
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Article II: Membership
Regular Membership. Subsequent to the First Annual Meeting, the Regular Members of the Corporation, with full voting rights, shall be:
The Lessee Members, who shall be all persons, 18 years or older, who own a share in a cooperative or own a condominium or otherwise own housing that is located on land leased from the Corporation.
CHANGE TO
Article II: Membership
Regular Membership. Subsequent to the First Annual Meeting, the Regular Members of the Corporation, with full voting rights, shall be:
The Lessee Members, who shall be all persons, 18 years or older, who own a share in a cooperative or own a condominium or otherwise own housing that is located on land leased from the Corporation or are on a lease for any unit in a building on land managed by or leased from the corporation.
EXPLANATION
The ByLaws were originally written with the assumption that all SFCLT buildings would be coops in which Lessees either own shares in the cooperative or owned condominiums. In fact, in 2022, the majority of residents in SFCLT buildings are tenants who lease rooms or apartments from SFCLT. This amendment acknowledges that all lease-holding residents of SFCLT buildings should be eligible to vote for Board members or be a Board member.
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Article III: Board of Directors
Number of Directors. Except for the Initial Board named in the Articles of Incorporation, the Board of Directors shall consist of twelve (12) Directors.
Composition of the Board. If there are at least 30 Lessee members of the Corporation, as determined by the Board of Directors, there shall be three categories of Directors, each consisting of four Directors, or one-third of the total Board. The three categories shall be “Lessee Representatives” representing Lessee Members, “General Representatives” representing General Members, and “Public Representatives” representing the interests of the general public. If the Corporation has fewer than 30 Lessee members, the Board of Directors shall consist of eight Regular Representatives, representing the Regular members, and four Public Representatives, who are deemed to have knowledge useful to the purposes of the Corporation or who represent organizations that support the purposes of the corporation.
CHANGE TO
Article III: Board of Directors
Number of Directors. Except for the Initial Board named in the Articles of Incorporation, the Board of Directors shall consist of fifteen (15) Directors.
Composition of the Board. If there are at least 30 Lessee members of the Corporation, as determined by the Board of Directors, there shall be three categories of Directors, consisting of five (5) “Lessee Representatives” representing Lessee Members, five (5) “General Representatives” representing General Members, and five (5) “Public Representatives” representing the interests of the general public. If the Corporation has fewer than 30 Lessee members, the Board of Directors shall consist of eight Regular Representatives, representing the Regular members, and four Public Representatives, who are deemed to have knowledge useful to the purposes of the Corporation or who represent organizations that support the purposes of the corporation.
EXPLANATION
The SFCLT Board is a very active Board who fulfill crucial functions in the organization's ongoing operations. To better support our staff and Mission, we propose increasing the number of Board members to bring in more folks with relevant skills and expertise.
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Article III: Board of Directors
10. Procedures for Board Meetings.
(d) Decision-Making. The Board shall attempt to reach unanimous agreement on all decisions. In the event that unanimous agreement cannot be achieved, a decision may be made by a majority of the Directors present and voting, except as otherwise provided in these Bylaws.
CHANGE TO
Article III: Board of Directors
10. Procedures for Board Meetings.
(d) Decision-Making. The Board shall attempt to reach unanimous agreement on all decisions. In the event that unanimous agreement cannot be achieved, a decision may be made by a majority of the Directors present and voting, (in person, on the phone or video conference, or digitally present in real time,) except as otherwise provided in these Bylaws. Voting by email should be limited to urgent issues that cannot wait until the next regularly scheduled Board meeting. An email vote can be called by the Board president or by any three (3) Board members. When voting by email, a decision may be made by a majority of all current Directors, only if every Director minus one has voted.
EXPLANATION
This amendment updates our decision making to acknowledge email voting and remote or digital meetings, using telephone and video conferencing.
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CHANGE: Rewrite the ByLaws with inclusive gender neutral pronouns.
EXPLANATION: Throughout our ByLaws the pronouns “he” or “he or she” is used as a norm. This change would recognize that gender is a social construct which excludes nonbinary and gender non conforming poeple; people who are key members of our community as current or potential SFCLT Lessees, Staff, Board, and general Members.
EXAMPLE:
Existing ByLaws: Any Director who has not received notice of a Board Meeting but has attended that meeting shall be considered to have waived notice of that meeting, unless he or she requests that his or her protest be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
Proposed ByLaws: Any Director who has not received notice of a Board Meeting but has attended that meeting shall be considered to have waived notice of that meeting, unless they request that their protest be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
Board Members:
We will be electing our Board of Directors, some of which are returning members, and some of which are new members! See below for member bios.
Returning Resident Members:
Shelah Moody moved into Merry Go Round Housing in 2020. The daughter of a renowned jazz pianist, she moved to San Francisco in 1991 to pursue a master’s degree from San Francisco State. She worked as a reporter and editorial assistant for the San Francisco Chronicle for 12 years and then began working as an admin for the City and County of San Francisco. Moody also has an independent music public relations consulting business and she is passionate about affordable housing and eliminating poverty in the city. She is currently working on a book called “The Great Stevie Wonder Rebellion: Surviving Wealth and Poverty in San Francisco.”
Keith Hennessy, MFA, PhD, is a dancer, writer, choreographer, teacher, and activist. He is a resident of the Pigeon Palace, a 6-unit community land trust in the Mission. Raised in Canada and living in Yelamu/San Francisco since 1982, Hennessy tours internationally. Hennessy co-founded two local venues for experimental art, 848 Community Space and CounterPulse. He has been active in movements for social justice for over 30 years and is often seen at protests and mobilizations around a broad range of issues. Keith was an active organizer in the creation of the Pigeon Palace non-profit and its purchase by the SFCLT supported by the Small Sites Program. Running his own arts organization for nearly 20 years, Keith is proficient with budgeting, marketing/PR, event planning, collaborative decision making, and the alignment of social justice ethics with community-based action.
Marquise Mazique was born and raised in San Francisco’s Fillmore District, the hub of the west coast jazz scene for more than half a century. He loves the history and culture of this city as much as the opportunities it offers. Experience has shown him that critical thinking, problem solving, and empathy are key to successful property management. He keeps a cool head when challenges arise, considering them from different angles to determine the best solution. Skilled at adapting and learning from every situation, on the job or off, Marquise likes exploring new ideas and new places.
New Resident Member:
Dom Refuerzo (they/he/she) is an emerging composer, creative, communicator, and friend currently based in the Bay Area. They specialize in ukulele pop, chamber music, and electronic composition. He recently graduated from Emory University, where he further developed his creative voice with mentorship from composer Adam Mirza. Her undergraduate career culminated in receiving highest honors for her thesis recital, The First Flight. They are the recipient of the 2020 Undergraduate Student Creativity & Arts Award.
Dom is currently singing with the New Voices Bay Area TIGQ Chorus. When he is not working, you can find him reading poetry, doing zumba, or watching anime with his friends. Say hi by sending her a message on her website!
Returning General Members:
Vinita Goyal brings fifteen plus years of experience from the nonprofit and public sectors and as a consultant, where she has worked at the intersection of affordable housing, place making, transportation, climate resilience, small business development, sustainable agriculture, and the arts. Vinita is passionate about place-based solutions that align infrastructure improvements with community needs and aspirations, include and validate the personal and community-based experiences of those impacted, and forge strong working partnerships with allied organizations and anchor institutions that are instrumental in engaging and empowering the community and creating alternate pathways to equitable solutions. Vinita is deeply interested in addressing systemic root causes for disparities and in that vein she has been a strong advocate for shared equity housing/community land trusts as well as has provided capacity support in different settings she has been a part of—in Silicon Valley, and most recently in Vallejo and Richmond. In her other time, Vinita is an independent consultant and writer and holds a Bachelor’s in Architecture from the Government College of Architecture, Lucknow, India and a Master’s in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.
Hope Wiliams is a legal apprentice training to become an attorney advocate who helps black and brown marginalized communities. She also works for the Bay Area Community Landtrust and the East Bay Community Law Center as an endorsement organizer for Berkeley’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. Devoted to housing rights and organizing people-power to fight the oppressive white supremacist regime, Hope spends most of her time making sure that the law is accessible to the people. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelors in Political Science. Her introduction to San Francisco’s housing crisis began when she became the Assistant Director of SFSU’s legal center. Her passion for organizing led her to work for one of the most powerful unions in the world: Local 2 UniteHere!. After interning at San Francisco’s City Hall for District 8 Supervisor, Rafael Mandelman, she became a full-time campaign staff member for socialist tenant’s rights attorney, Dean Preston. After his win, she went on to manage two winning campaigns at the same time. She served as a board member for the Harvey Milk Democratic Club and was also co-chair for DSA’s Electoral Committee.
Hans How works at the intersection of impact investing and affordable housing at New Island Capital, where he is focused on investing in community-based solutions that expand opportunities for BIPOC communities, create a pathway to affordable homeownership, and promote building decarbonization. Previously, Hans worked on affordable housing developments for low-to-moderate-income communities through partnerships with women and BIPOC developers. As a Malaysian-Chinese immigrant, Hans co-founded Prop C: Commissions For All, a ballot measure that allows San Francisco to be the first major city to grant immigrants the ability to serve on commissions. Hans was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to serve on the Housing Stability Fund Oversight Board to provide oversight of city funds to develop permanently affordable housing in San Francisco.
New General member:
Vivian Schwab is an Architectural Designer who was born and raised in San Francisco. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Rice University (M. Arch) where her research on ‘Co-housing’ and ‘Land decommodification’ in Northern Europe, Ethiopia, and Hong Kong informed an interest in CLTs as a critical mechanism for political change, racial equity, and climate adaptation. Excited to put theory into practice, she joined the Board of the San Francisco Community Land Trust in 2020.
Returning Public Representatives:
Shanti Singh left the tech industry to work full-time in tenants' rights after organizing with renters in private, public and nonprofit housing, alongside housing justice groups in San Francisco. She formerly co-chaired the San Francisco Democratic Socialists of America and works on tenant & land use issues there, in addition to being a city commissioner for clean municipal energy, chair of the SF Housing Stability Oversight Board, and a board member of the San Francisco Community Land Trust. She's worked on several SF Board of Supervisors races, ballot measures, and most recently, as Deputy Data Director for the California and New York campaigns of Bernie Sanders. She has a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania. She's excited to be back for her second stint at Tenants Together to fight for every California tenant's right to a union through digital organizing, local ballot support, & state legislative advocacy.
Dalia Rubiano Yedidia (she/they) is a movement builder, facilitator, and urban planner who has dedicated her life to social movements. She was trained as an organizer in the domestic worker movement, organizing nannies, house-cleaners, and personal attendants to seniors and people with disabilities. She then worked in the reproductive justice sector, managing the largest network working at the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality. Dalia received her Masters in City Planning from UC Berkeley, concentrating in housing and community development. She now works in philanthropy. Dalia is born, raised, and still lives in San Francisco.
Beth H. Hodess is a solo tax attorney and mediator who specializes in tax controversy, having come to the practice of law at 54 after twenty-five years as a self-employed management consultant. In addition, she is focused on tax issues related to bankruptcy and divorce; nonprofits including unrelated business income, private foundations and lobbying activities; litigation involving violations of the California Election Code and the Brown Act; litigation on behalf of inmates against government agencies and prison guards under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; litigation for failure to provide adequate medical care and violation of prisoner privacy rights; the school to prison pipeline, elder abuse and developing cooperative assisted living facilities. She serves as vice-president of Chaparral Foundation Nursing Home and was appointed as a hearing officer to the Alameda County Assessment Appeals Board by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. In addition, she is forming a nonprofit focused on the school to prison pipeline. She earned her J.D. in 2009 from Golden Gate University School of Law with Highest Honors, her LL.M. in Taxation in 2013 from Golden Gate University School of Law, and her B.S. in Business Administration, UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business. She is admitted to the California Bar, the U.S. Tax Court, the U.S. District Court of the Eastern and Northern Districts of California.
New Public Representative:
Antje Steinmuller is the chair of the Bachelor of Architecture program at CCA. Her research explores the role of designers at the intersection of citizen-led and city-regulated processes in the production of urban space. She is an Associate Professor, and an Associate Director of the Urban Works Agency, CCA’s urban research lab, where she has led collaborations with the San Francisco Planning Department, Raumlabor Berlin, and Basurama Madrid as well as international universities. Through her studios at CCA, she investigates new typologies of urban commons, new forms of collective living, and the agency of architecture vis-a-vis the current housing crisis.
Antje is also a co-founder of ideal X, a design consultancy focused on the conditions and opportunities of public spaces in transition. Prior to moving to the US, she worked on a range of architectural projects in offices across Germany, including the Berlin Parliamentary Offices with Braunfels Architekten. She earned her first architecture degree at Technische Universitaet Berlin, and holds an MArch from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was a John K. Branner Fellow and received the Henry Adams Medal as well as the Howard Friedman Thesis Prize. Her work with the Urban Works Agency has been shown in exhibitions at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, SPUR, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.