Item 7 on the agenda for the August 19, 2010 Special Meeting of the Commission of the Recreation & Parks Department in Room 416 of City Hall at 2:00 PM will concern the Boat House at Stow Lake.
Now, RPD staff has already made a recommendation about which party desiring to run the boathouse would make the best choice, but don’t let that stop you from making your own decision. Everybody agrees that the building needs a lot of work and everybody agrees on the idea of a new cafe. But some of the parties want to kick in more money than others. Here’s the simple version:
Click to expand
I’ll tell you, the group that the Commission will vote to enter into discussions with, the one that the staff is recommending, is in the second column and the existing tenant is in the third column. Is the staff recommendation such a surprise (based upon how much money each bidder wants to kick in)? Well, it is to the existing tenant, Bruce McLellan. See?
“I’m still digesting it. It’s hard to say what happened,” says McCullen. “In our bid we did everything the RFQ wanted. We offered to replace the boat fleet, substantially raise the rent, do upgrades, and planned to open an indoor cafe that would serve organic, locally produced food. Combine that with 65 years of service, and then I lose to an out-of-state bidder.”
All right, well let’s look at what the selection panel had to say. Now, I can’t upload the whole deal myself, as the pdf file is 100KB too big for me to do that, but here it is, 10 MB of info. It spells out why all five people on the selection panel prefer the winner.
Now, here are the members:
Stow Lake Boat House RFQ Selection Panel:
Andrea Jadwin
Ms. Jadwin is Co‐President of the Inner Sunset Park Neighbors, a frequent Golden Gate Park user and a leader within the City’s community gardens program.
Meagan Levitan
Ms. Levitan is a member of the Recreation and Park Department Commission
Gary Rulli
Mr. Rulli is the proprietor of Emporio Rulli, Inc.
Tara Sullivan
Ms. Sullivan is a Legislative Liason for the San Francisco Planning Department. Her duties include staffing the Historic Preservation Commission.
Jim Wheeler
Mr. Wheeler is a Neighborhood Service Area manager for the Recreation and Park Department. He previously oversaw boating operations at the Lake Merritt Boat House.
And here are your scorecards. The column scales max out at 35, 30, 35, respectfully:
You can argue about this, of course, but I’m thinking if the existing tenant were willing to pony up $300K and the others were only willing to put up less than $25K, then the existing tenant would have stood a much better chance.
And then there’s all this stuff from one of the members of the selection panel – it’s directed towards the existing tenant:
The fact that the winner was from out-of-state was noted by the members and it was a negative factor. But its proposal was strongly favored regardless. The fact that it’s a “foreign” company is already baked into the cake, so to speak. Of course, you could make up your own scorecard and pick your own judges to come up with a different winner. To do that, you’d need to win a mayoral election and you’d need to start appointing some minions.
Anyway, that’s how it stands. These people are scheduled to show up on Thursday. Enjoy.
Some more words from the big pdf plus a taste of some of the vitriol, after the jump
On February 4, 2010, the Recreation and Park Department issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) soliciting proposals to operate the Stow lake Boat House. The Department received three timely responses to the RFQ and a Department convened selection panel recommended selection of Ortega Family Enterprises.
Ortega Family Enterprises has more than 20 years of experience working in public parkland and 22 years of accident-free boat and kayak rental management experience. Ortega Family Enterprises is a family-run enterprise that emphasizes environmental sustainability and best practices in all phases of its business. It has a track record of turning around under performing park concessions and maximizing their potential, including concessions at four National Park Service locations: Bandelier National Monument, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, White Sands National Monument and Muir Woods National Monument in the Bay Area.
Ortega Family Enterprises has proposed the following improvements to the Stow Lake Boathouse operations:
Ø Investment in a new fleet of pedal, row and other boats while maintaining affordable boat rentals for the public.
Ø Capital improvements to stabilize and improve the boathouse building while preserving the facility’s historic architecture and charm. All restoration efforts will follow the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Preservation and will be completed to LEED-certified standards.
Ø A small, informal café that will feature traditional Stow Lake favorite like pink popcorn, pretzels and animal crackers while also providing a new menu of local, organic, healthy and sustainable food and beverage options. Menu items will remain affordable with most items available ranging from $4.95 to $8.95.
Ø Implementation of ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Certification as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.
In 2009, the Ortega family won the Marin Conservation Council’s Green Business Award for its renovation and rejuvenated operation of the historic Muir Woods concession. They incorporated sustainable construction materials, implemented a trash disposal system that recycles and composts 90 percent of waste, and achieved significant electric and water savings. The Recreation and Park Department is looking to emulate this model at Stow Lake.
The selection panel consisted of five individuals including a neighborhood representative, a historic preservationist, a proprietor of a small business, a Recreation and Park Commissioner and a former manager of boating operations at Lake Merritt Boat House.
And here’s some more. Enjoy:
The Coalition was “led to believe…”
Go on and on about Supervisor Eric Mar…
“…we can’t let this treasure be destroyed for a few shortsighted bucks”
“A restaurant would be the death of the boat concession as the dining area would
be maxed out in the current space where the boats are repaired and stored.”
“Parking would become impossible and the affordable cup of coffee, hot dog,
It’s-It, & nostalgic pink popcorn there would be history.”
From: Suzanne Dumont <redacted>
To: Olive Gong <olive.gong@sfgov.org>
Date: 06/08/2010 09:51 PM
Subject: urgent 48 hr. sunshine information request
Dear Olive, I know I have been keeping you busy and you might feel dread when you see my emails in your inbox. I’m sorry! I have no intention of making your job difficult and hope you know I appreciate the hard work you do. I met with the Sunshine Task Force today and learned that there will be a hearing on June 22nd at the Sunshine Task Force regarding the secrecy of the Stow Lake RFQ selection panel. The task force members want more information on other Rec & Park RFP selection panels in order to make an informed decision on my complaint. Hence this urgent 48 hour sunshine information request. I need the full names and titles of all of the members of these RFP or RFQ selection panels: 1) The Live Nation, Another Planet Entertainment & C3 Presents concert panel 2) The Golden Gate Park Carousel panel(s) 3) The Japanese Tea Garden panel 4) The Millwright Cottage Restaurant panel 5) Outside Lands Festival panels 6) Coit Tower concession panels Thank you so much! Sincerely, Suzanne R. Dumont
And here’s another back and forth
Dear Ms. Gong,
I am asking for an immediate disclosure of the names of all persons on the Recreation & Park Department selection panel for the Stow Lake Boathouse Concession RFQ that is currently being formed or is already formed. I requested this information from Nick Kinsey and his reply is below. It is my understanding that the names of the selection panel for the 2009
Outside Lands Concert were public.
Suzanne R. Dumont
Save the Stow Lake Boathouse Coalition
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