Dear Friends and Neighbors:
We hope you found the presentation by attorney Patrick Soluri informative. We believe it is important to retain Mr. Soluri as soon as possible, and we need your help. The City has invited developers to bid for the construction of 40 units “or more” at the 1 Hamilton site, and plans to grant zoning exemptions for building height, density and parking. The developer selection process begins this Monday, August 9th, with final selection on September 20. We need to have Mr. Soluri on board to represent our interests during this initial phase in order to achieve our goal of downsizing the project to a scale that fits into our neighborhood.
Mr. Soluri’s rate is $300/hour. This is his ‘community’ rate and is lower than average rates in the Bay Area. Based on our own research and our discussion with Mr. Soluri, we anticipate that legal representation for the full scope of the project could be as much as $100,000. A substantial portion of that amount would be used to pay experts retained by Mr. Soluri, such as traffic and environmental experts, which can cost $5000-$10,000 each. As Mr. Soluri explained, our concerns mean little to the City (or a Court) without expert evidence to back them up. There is no better illustration of this than the fact that the City chose to speed ahead despite a record number of comment letters (over 300 opposed to the scale of the project), over 1000 signatures on our Petition, and dozens of informed and reasonable speakers who raised valid concerns about the impact of this project. In addition, the City has retained outside legal counsel to move the project forward which will put us at a disadvantage unless we can level the playing field with our own representation. (For more info on why we are retaining an attorney, and issues we have raised, see FAQs.)
In order to cover legal costs, we propose a contribution of $1000 per household, but we are delighted to have contributions of any amount, including a downpayment on a pledge if you prefer to pay over time. We ask that you send checks by August 20, made out to Friends of Hauke Park, to the following address. To make a pledge, please contact us at info@haukepark.org.
Mail checks to:
Friends of Hauke Park
c/o David Wygant
108 Kipling Dr
Mill Valley, CA 94941
Funds will be deposited into a Friends of Hauke Park bank account at First Republic Bank, and disbursed over time to pay invoices for legal services.
If you have any remaining doubt about the way the City intends to treat residents who have concerns about the size of the proposed housing structure at 1 Hamilton, please note that at the City Council meeting on August 2, Mayor John McCauley mockingly referred to our organization as “friends of Hauke parking lot.”
Respectfully,
Friends of Hauke Park Advisory Committee
[ Gary Batroff, Eric Bindelglass, Pei Chin Chiang, Jim Devitt, Lisa Edson, Rod Eshelman, David Evans, CS Heyder, Carlos Montalvan, Jeralyn Seiling, Paul Sidorenko, Gabrielle Tierney, Paula Weaver, David Wygant ]
