Kathleen Sasso, the commercial property manager for Ghirardelli Square, was our featured speaker for our July 15 meeting.  She shared with us the long and interesting history of Ghirardelli Square, from its origins in the late 1890s when it was a chocolate manufacturing plant, to its transition in the 1960s to a mixed-use retail complex when the chocolate plant moved to San Leandro.  

Kathleen described new tenants recently added to the exciting tenant mix and highlighted some of the more unusual of the existing retail and dining establishments. Her talk wrapped up with a peek at what the future plans might hold for this world renowned historical landmark.

Club Fugazi, for 45 years the home of the iconic Beach Blanket Babylon, will be reanimated this fall by acrobatic performers of The 7 Fingers, a Montreal based circus company that started in 2002 in San Francisco.

David Dower, co-producer, described this exciting news — for San Francisco and the North Beach neighborhood — to club members at our June 10 meeting. 

Dower said the show is a love letter to San Francisco that  will include scenes about the Gold Rush, the 1906 earthquake and the Summer of Love.

Club Fugazi is being renovated to provide an immersive experience to  theatergoers in all 350 seats. Finger foods of the North Beach and Chinatown neighborhoods, wine and beer  will be available.

"This project is a labor of love. To have the opportunity to reanimate a venue with such a rich history, at the very moment we are coming out from under this long, dense cloud, is a powerful and energizing privilege for us,” Dower said.

The show opens in September, and tickets go on sale later this month. For more information visit www.clubfugazisf.com

The pandemic’s effect on the local business community and projections for the future were the discussion topics with our April 8 guest speakers, Rodney Fong, President and CEO, and Emily Abraham, Interim Director of Public Policy, from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

As of February, 50% of the city’s small businesses were shuttered, Rodney said. He displayed and explained a variety of data/statistics charts that are available under Resources on sfchamber.com.

Rodney noted that San Francisco has recovered from previous setbacks — the earthquake, .com boom and financial crisis — and tourists, especially from the East Bay, are already returning to places like Fisherman’s Wharf.  “We need to extend their stays,” he said.

To attract tourists the city’s streets must be clean and neighborhoods safe. Club members agreed with Rodney on the need to elect district supervisors who understand that the city is a network of public services and businesses that must work together in order for all to thrive.

Our guest speaker on March 11 was Ben Amyes, Disaster Response Coordinator for the San Francisco Human Services Agency (HSA). He explained how he’s able to help families and individuals who’ve been displaced by fires and other natural disasters. 

Tenants of non rent-controlled units can apply to receive a one-time payment to cover the move-in cost to a new unit. The program makes the payment directly to the landlord of the new unit.

Tenants of rent-controlled units can receive a monthly rent subsidy that pays the difference between the rent at the tenant’s permanent residence and a comparable unit leased at the current market rate. The subsidy can last for up to two years, or until the permanent address is ready to reoccupy. Rent-controlled tenants have the right to return after repairs are completed.

To find suitable housing, Ben said he works with a network of landlords, including the Northpoint Apartments complex which club member Aline Estournes manages. He currently has 35 clients, about 150 individuals. Ben said no other city in the U.S. provides this type of housing subsidy to victims of disasters.

Several of our members are already busy, including Nancy, who's involved with planting native Illinois prairie flowers and grasses, and Bettie, Aline and Herman with their gardens. They may have a jump on the rest of us, but even though it is autumn, let’s all start thinking about and developing individual projects for the year to celebrate Rotary’s new direction.

At our next Club Assembly on November 5th, we will share our plans.

We welcomed Heather Edwards, Director of Development, to our July 16th Zoom meeting to update us on Project Amigo, which the club supported in past years and was recently designated for a portion of our District Designated Funds. 

Project Amigo was the official international service project of the Rotary Club of Novato, CA between 1996 and 2002. Today it is an independent public 501(c)(3) charity.

Project Amigo provides educational scholarships, material support, enrichment activities and preventive and remedial health care to disadvantaged children and youth. Since its founding in 1984, more than 1,000 students from the village of Cofradia, population 2,000, have graduated from high school with the education and skills necessary for jobs that pay better than working in the surrounding sugar cane fields.

Heather said she was introduced by a friend to Project Amigo and fell in love with the program when she participated in an English Tutoring Work Week, one of six one-week experiences offered to volunteers from developed countries. Other themed Work Weeks on the 2021 calendar are Literacy & Culture, Spanish Language & Culture, Swim Week & Back to School, Environmental Week, and Christmas Fiesta. 

For ore information, visit www.projectamigo.org or email Heather: heatherdwards@projectamigo.org

Betsy Bliss of J.P. Morgan Securities, whose first career was as a writer for the Chicago Daily News and Cincinnati Enquirer, presented the “who, what, when, where and why” of sustainable investing for the club’s June 11 Zoom meeting.

“Socially responsible” or “sustainable” investing encourages and allows investors to “do good while doing well,” Betsy says. More and more successful companies are working to preserve our environment, fight global warming and treat their employees well. Investment in these responsible and sustainable companies has multiplied four times since 2018 and now totals $30 trillion. During the current roller coaster market, sustainable companies are performing 50% better, she said. 

Betsy, the sister of club member Nancy Slepicka, is in partnership with her son, Christian Ach, at J.P. Morgan Securities in San Francisco. She can be reached at Betsy.Bliss@jpmorgan.com.

On Saturday morning, May 23rd, a fire erupted at Pier 45, destroying an estimated 7,000 crab traps, 2,000 shrimp traps and 500 black cod traps, seriously impacting local fishermen and the industry overall. It is estimated that the monetary loss to replace the needed gear could exceed $5 million.

 In the past this club has directed our District Designated Funds (DDF) worldwide to support other club projects to assist those in need. Now, we have an opportunity to use the club’s DDF to support our immediate community by providing local fishermen with the help they desperately need.

The Rotary Club of Fisherman’s Wharf Board of Directors voted unanimously to designate $28,000 of its $30,000 of the 2020-2021 DDF allotment to fund a District Grant toward replacement of some of the fishing gear destroyed in the fire.