Minutes - June 2022 Regular Meeting of the Japan Center Garage Corporation Regular Meeting
Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors
City of San Francisco Japan Center Garage Corporation
(A California Non-profit Public Benefit Corporation)
Thursday, June 16, 2022 – 11:00 a.m.
Zoom Meeting
MINUTES
Present: Hagen Choi, Robert W. Hsu, Vas Kiniris, Kimberly Kolbe, Ed Ong, John Noguchi and Jerry Ono
Also Present: Richard Hashimoto, Corporate Manager; Claudine Cheng, Corporate Counsel; Robert Malone, SFMTA; Solomon Abayneh and Fred Bekele, IMCO and Emily Murase, JTF
1. Call to Order – Board Chair Jan Masoaka was not present. Director Ong served as chair and called the meeting to order at 11:01 a.m.
2. Approval of Minutes of the board of directors meeting dated April 21, 2022
A motion to approve the minutes was made by Director Noguchi and seconded by Director Ono. The motion was unanimously adopted.
Approval of the Minutes of the Annual Meeting – A motion was made by Director Noguchi and seconded by Director Ono. The motion was unanimously adopted.
3. Board President’s Report
The following Board Officers positions have been confirmed:
President – Jan Masaoka
Vice President – Vas Kiniris
Treasurer – Ed Ong
Secretary – Rodney Chin
4. Corporate Manager’s Report
Revenue for the month of May increased $82,680 (29%) over last May but cumulatively still down by $369,189. Transient Parking increased 6,859 vehicles (21%) from previous period but cumulatively down 3,522 since the Covid shutdown started in Match 2020.
Compared to the other 21 city garages, Japan Center Garage ranks 3rd in transient parking and 5th in revenue for April. There was a drop in revenue in May because the AMC theater was shut down for repairs and dropped to 7th in revenues.
A claim was filed with the City Attorney’s Office on May 24 arising from the 12/30/21 flooding in the amount of $265,819.
The parking operator has hired a new senior staff to focus exclusively on address accounts payable delays.
The Northern Station no longer park a marked police vehicle inside the garage to monitor security due to shortage of police vehicles.
The garage has applied for capital expenditure in the amount of $109,631 to replace the fluorescent light fixtures with LED lighting that will save energy and reduction in cost.
Parking validations – When the program first started, 60 merchants enrolled in the program to stimulate Japantown’s economy. Today, the are only 27 merchants that validate one hour and 8 businesses under the three-hour program. The changing demographics of the merchants and the increase in visitors no longer requires business support. Validations require staffing time to calculate usage and then bill back the merchants. For merchants that validate less than 10 tickets per month, it did not seem efficient use of staff time and was suggested by SFMTA to change from validation program to chaser tickets for the merchants that desires to continue validating. The operator increased the minimum to 50 validations per month which JCGC agrees. For those merchants that want to continue validating their customers, chaser tickets can be purchased at face value of $3 per hour.
Parking contract – Subsequent to the loss of CPMC parking contract, corporate manager has spoken to several other prospective tenants including Kaiser and Mt. Zion. At this time, they expressed no need for additional parking. The Sacred Heart School showed some interest and may look into student rates and rate plans.
Cherry Blossom Trees – After the trees were vandalized in January 2021, 4 new trees were planted in front of JCCCNC located at 1840 Sutter Street. There is a commemorative plaque there with the inscription “Blossoms of Hope.”
The 2022-2023 budget - the SFMTA has approved the budget on June 15.
4. Corporate Counsel’s Report
Counsel Cheng stated that the corporation’s Lease agreement with SFMTA, dated February 2013, will soon terminate in February 2023. The initial Lease is a term is 10 years, with two 5-years extension. Thus, time has come to discuss an amendment to the Lease as the corporation will be exercising the first 5-year option.
In conjunction with the Lease expiration, the parking operator’s contract will also expire in February 2023. The SFMTA has expressed a strong preference to incorporate the procurement of the new parking operator into the RFP for parking management companies and to contract directly with the parking operator. Currently, the parking operator’s contract is directly with JCGC although it is subject to SFMTA approval. In support of SFMTA’s goal to improve economic and operational efficiencies, Counsel recommended moving forward with this change, a proposal that is within SFMTA’s jurisdiction. She will also be working with SFMTA to see clarification of the roles and responsibilities of SFMTA, the corporation and the parking operator under the new arrangement.
Ms. Cheng will be working on the legal documents in consultation with corporate manager and the contract review committee. The goal is to have the draft Amendment to the Lease and other documents related to the parking operator for the board’s consideration at the August board of director’s meeting.
5. SFMTA Update
Rob Malone of SFMTA thanked Ms. Cheng for her detailed report. Regarding the change in the procurement of the parking operator’s contract, Mr. Malone emphasized that the day-to-day operation will remain the same. The only difference is that the contract will be directly with SFMTA. The RFP has been issued, and the selection of the operator will take place in the next few weeks followed by the negotiation of those contracts.
On a separate note, the City plans to increase the number of electric vehicle chargers by 300-350 over the next 12-15 months to meet the needs of electric vehicles. There will be a combination of level 2 chargers for charges that require longer time and level 3 chargers for fast charging.
In addition, the former district manager of Impark, Joe Braucher who is now a director at UCSF, has reached out regarding possible need for parking due to the expansion of the Parnassus Campus. While there are other smaller lots in the area, the Japantown Garages can also be an attraction option and will assess the possibility.
7. Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Ong presented a summary of the February and March 2022 financial reports.
A motion to accept the February Report was made by Director Noguchi and seconded by Director Ono. The motion was unanimously adopted.
A motion to accept the March Report was made by Director Noguchi and seconded by Director Choi. The motion was unanimously adopted.
8. Committee Reports
Community Participation and Marketing Funds Committee. Committee chair Noguchi stated that the committee met on June 7 to consider 3 requests. As JCGC is in the beginning of a new fiscal year, the current balance of the Marketing Fund is $25,000 and the Community Participation Fund at $35,000.
Korean Community Center has summitted a proposal for $5,000 from the Marketing Fund for the celebration of Korean National Day. In 2019, JCGC contributed $1,500 and the committee recommended a contribution of $5,000.
A motion to approve the committee’s recommendation was made by Director Ong and seconded by Director Ono. The motion was unanimously adopted.
A request was received from Genryu Arts for $5,000 from the Community Participation Fund. JCGC has supported this organization annually since 2017 (except 2020 and 2021 due to Covid). The event is the celebration of Japan Day in July and the committee recommended approval.
A motion to approve the committee’s recommendation was made by Director Ono and seconded by Director Ong. The motion was unanimously adopted.
A request was received from the Japantown Task Force for $5,000 from the Community Participation Fund for a new festival, Bon Pop in August to be held in conjunction with the Nihonmachi Street Fair. The committee recommended approval of this request.
A motion to approve the committee’s recommendation was made by Director Ono and seconded by Director Choi. The motion was unanimously adopted.
9. Website Update
Corporate manager stated that the board of director has agreed to receiving quarterly instead of monthly website report. Thus, the update will be presented in the August meeting.
10. Community Updates
Japantown Task Force
Ms. Murase provided the following summary:
On June 4, a flag raising event took place at the Peace Place in celebration of Pride for the first time. The San Francisco Chapter of JACL was one of the primary organizers of the event.
The Task Force continues to focus on issues including cultural heritage, housing, economic development and sustainability strategies.
The next Japantenna project will feature the City of Fukuoba.
Nihonmachi Street Fair will take place the weekend of August 6 and 7.
Japantown Community Benefit District
Ms. Horikiri distributed updates but could not attend the meeting.
11. Garage Operations and Security Report
Mr. Abayneh presented highlights of his report, including a decrease in car break-ins compared to February / March period.
12. Closed Session
There was no closed session
13. General Public Comment
Corporate manager indicated that there was no member of the pubic in queue to make public comment.
14. Old/New business, Announcements
There was no announcement.
15. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 11:52a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Claudine Cheng and Richard Hashimoto
For Rodney Chin