ACBL Unit 503 Minutes, August 4th, 2009
Present were Phyllis Gaffney, David Wheeler, Elinor Tanck, Alan Templeton, Steve Lubeck , Betsy Steele, Eric Mayefsky, Grant Spaeth, Mike Atherton and Susana Krulevitch. Also present were Alan Cummings, Steve Barasch, Lee Haze, Carolyn Chaney and Lori Spaeth.
Bridge Center Rehabilitation Update – Mike gave a status report. He is encouraged by recent developments and will keep the Board posted.
Last month’s Minutes were approved.
Elinor gave a report on the Kibitzer. 350 copies were published this month and we’ll have to see how that number works out. Elinor will be away after the next Board Meeting, which will be the second Tuesday in September. Send all material to Marian. Elinor will send request for bios to new prospects for Board members. Deadline for nominees is the first part of October and results will be announced the second part of November. New Board members will be encouraged to attend November and December Board meetings.
Members up for election are Mike Atherton, Steve Barasch, Susan Griswold, Lou Isaacs, Terry Lancaster and John Mattis.
Alan Templeton gave the Treasurer’s Report: The final profit from the Firecrackers was $5450. The Unit balance is $65,655 and the Bridge Center balance is $32,759. We are still 12% behind last year’s table count because of the flood closure. We got a $6000 property tax bill which is an issue Alan T. will resolve.
Possible Firecrackers sites for next year – The Jewish Community Center. The Hyatt Regency hotel is a preferable site to the Convention Center. However the hotel will not give us ballroom space without a larger number of room commitments.
Car pooling – Carol Chaney and Lee Haze are working on this issue. Our territory is Stanford to Moffett Field. Suggestions include posting a partnership desk on our website and on bulletin board. Carpooling from church or another designated parking area such as behind Safeway at the San Antonio Center. Put pins on a map to indicate where bridge players live and publish their Zip code in the directory. There is a website called Go Go Verde which offers ride sharing. Organized websites may charge as much as $1000 per year. Our website can direct people to ride-share websites. Get directors involved, have them announce a future plan. Reward players for sharing.
Lee informed us that the cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View and Sunnyvale are not interested in long term leases and non profit organizations such as the Bridge Center. Carolyn and Lee will form a car pooling committee, with assistance from Alan Cummings. They’ll start by posting a partnership list on the bulletin board. Alan T. and Eric will post information on our website. The Board thanked Carolyn and Lee for their commitment.
Unit games – the August 3rd evening game went well with a good turn-out of 99’ers. More advertising is required stressing pleasant atmosphere, good food and early completion of the game. Monday night game will be announced at the Friday evening game, at Unit games and possibly on e-mail. Contact players who attend our lectures. Players can find a partner or a team on our website. Eric will create a forum. Alan T. mentioned that many night games are not successful.
There was a suggestion that lunch be provided at the Unit knock-out games, possibly sandwiches. No final decision was made.
Steve Lubeck gave the final results of the Firecrackers – The larger number of tables contributed to making a profit since expenses went up. The use of BridgePads at $.50 per table saved directors’ time and required fewer directors. The rental was up $2000 and the cost of water was $1049. The Board thanked Steve again for the great job he did!
Advertising of private enterprise on our website was discussed. It was decided that advertising will be limited to Unit members and has to involve an educational activity or playing bridge.
100 people signed up for the intermediate bridge class. It was mentioned that the class is a great opportunity for many players to audit and refresh their knowledge.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:05 PM. – a new record!
Respectfully submitted,
Susana Krulevitch
Secretary