District 21
American Contract Bridge League
Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors
Summary, Meeting Minutes
May 31, 2009
President Stu Goodgold reminded Units to be considering the Goodwill Award nominees. Chairman Lo Pesavento will be advising Units in September about the December 1, 2009 deadline for submission of names. Units are also reminded to send their checks promptly to Harvey Brody, 400 Warren Dr. Apt.11, SF 94131, for each ¼ page ad in the Forum. A fidelity bond is being purchased to cover the 5 District officers and the Tournament Manager. The Chairmanship of the Fall 2012 SF NABC will be decided by early 2010. D21 Regional fees remain the lowest in the country. Jackie Matthews reported high attendance at the Regionals. The next Regional will be held in September at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara and the Presidents’ Day Regional 2010 will once again be held at the Burlingame Marriott. Members are encouraged to contact Jackie with suggestions for playing sites. (jmom380@yahoo.com) Treasurer Harvey Brody noted that D21 is in very good shape financially. About $6600 has been paid out recently to winning GNT teams to defer transportation costs to the finals. D21 players have done very well nationally, with our C teams coming in first and second in the NAP’s. A profit of $24,000 has been made thus far in 2009 compared to $7000 last year. Total assets for the District, including Units, are $597,258.87. Harvey will be transferring some cash into a CD. National Director Bruce Blakely reported on ACBL Board actions from the Houston NABC. ACBL has voted to allow unit-wide pairs events held at multiple playing sites to be awarded overalls. Bruce disagrees with this decision as the hands are dealt randomly. He is also working on behalf of a Netherlands player who recently won a championship event in D21 but was disqualified because of the translation of his European points to the American system. (1 American MP=5 European MPs.) Bruce has been actively seeking a reduction of fees for I/N players at NABC events. The Board would not bring this up for a vote even though ACBL showed a net profit last year of about $800,000. ACBL will be moving to a brand new, 26,000 spare foot facility across the state line in Mississippi, although their mailing address will remain in Memphis. Russia has turned down the World Championships 2010 which will now be held in Philadelphia. Eight members of the Norwegian Bridge League have been suspended for fixing the results on a preliminary round in a KO championship event. Mid-chart Conditions of Contest has been slightly modified so that they are allowed in all Open (unstratified) and Flt A/X events of 2 or more sessions, as well as the top bracket of a 2 day KO. This will make Barometer pairs and A/X pairs at the Monterey Regional mid-chart eligible. Jackie Ortiz has already scheduled and sanctioned GNT/NAP events through 2011. Requests for Charity awards should be submitted to Jeff Hack no later than July 4, 2009 (jnamyats@aol.com) Provide the charity’s IRS number and as much information as possible. A lengthy discussion of possible changes to the D21 Bylaws was held. Changes will be voted on at the Santa Clara Regional in September. Questions of how many Representatives should be allotted to each Unit and the length of the terms for President and Vice-President were discussed. Author and Stanford Professor, Gary Pomerantz, highlighted his new book “The Devil’s Tickets” which covers the bridge world of the 1920’s and is coming out in hardcover on June 6. This includes the Bennett murder over the bridge table and the world of Ely Culbertson when bridge was all the rage in America. It is hoped that reading this book will take the next step of learning to play bridge.
Respectfully submitted,
Cindy Kirk, Secretary
District 21