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From the February 2007 Newsletter:
By David Fix
One of the main goals for SPOSFI this year is to significantly increase our membership. Our goal is a 50% increase. Crazy? Maybe, but I believe it is possible. Politics in San Francisco have gotten so out of line that every small property owner should be a member. We have a number of exciting new benefits for our members, which are incentives for other small property owners to become members. Only through large numbers and participation will we have any influence at City Hall.
We listened to your problems getting the lease on-line. We now offer members our own lease on our website. The law firm of Zacks Utrecht & Leadbetter, PC (ZULPC) prepared the lease for SPOSFI pro bono. We are very grateful to them for this generous donation of their time. Members will be able to access the lease in the members-only area and download it as often as they want. For the first six months we will offer the lease free to our members. The Board will then reevaluate whether to continue this policy or charge a nominal amount to cover our costs.
We also want to increase participation at our meetings. We offer interesting speakers every month, but the attendance is not always very good. The speakers take time out of their busy schedules to speak to us; it would be nice if we could have a larger audience to listen to what they have to say. One complaint that I have heard frequently is that a few members dominate the discussion. To discourage this, we will enforce a time limit on questions and comments. A new feature of meetings will be a half-hour legal panel from 6:30 to 7 p.m., with the meeting starting immediately thereafter. The panel will be moderated by Paul Utrecht of ZULPC, and each month will have two attorneys from various law firms to answer your questions. Your attendance and participation at the monthly meetings is the primary way that we can get feedback from members. I encourage you all to check out the meetings again.
Finally, the Apartment Owners Association of California is offering our members a free six-month trial membership in their organization, entitling you to all of their services. Please see their announcement on page 3.
The Board can only do so much to increase membership. So what can you do to help? Get your neighbors to join. Talk to them about our organization. Let them know about our new benefits of membership. SPOSFI is the only organization specifically targeted at the needs and concerns of small property owners. One member had a great idea and gave SPOSFI memberships to people for Christmas. How about Valentine’s Day gifts? Easter? Birthday? Be creative. We received an overwhelming number of responses to this month’s question of the month—how can we increase our membership? A sampling of the responses is in this newsletter. We need new active members to keep this organization vital and relevant. And we need your help to achieve this goal. If you have ideas or can help with the membership committee, please contact me.
Join SPOSFI now to receive our complete newsletter each month, as well as access to our on-line newsletter archive located in our Member Area.
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