Petrelis Files

BAR, NBC 11, SF Ex:
MUMC Bungles NY Flag Raising

(Steve Adams. Credit: SF Bay Guardian.)

Multiple instances of bad karma are coming back to strike at the irresponsible president of  MUMC, Steve Adams of Sterling Bank, and his group over his latest round of putting control queenism above cooperating with activists regarding the public flag pole at the city-owned Harvey Milk Plaza.

There are three stories today about MUMC bungling the opportunity to work with activists, mark the start of gay marriage in New York, oh, and potentially bring more folks to the Castro area merchants and spend money at local businesses.

Here's what NBC 11 had to say about Adams not doing his homework:

In fact Merchants of Upper Market/Castro unanimously approved a request to fly a flag sent by openly gay state Senator Tom Duane.

The problem is no one checked to see if the flag would fit properly on the flagpole in the Castro, which it doesn't. The group checked the flagpole on Tuesday and reportedly discovered that it doesn't have enough grommets to fly the flag. ...

And to think Adams originally wanted to wait until an hour before the scheduled flag raising on Saturday to see if the rope would hold a second flag! We would have had activists, bloggers, photographers and reporters show up for the ceremony, only to discover it wasn't possible. 

Over at the SF Examiner, Katie Worth had this report to share:

The Merchants of Upper Market & Castro apparently determined it would be impossible to fly both flags, as originally planned, because of a lack of the appropriate grommets on the flag. But the original proposer of the plan doesn’t buy it. Blogger and activist Michael Petrelis has posted a scathing admonition of the Merchant’s president -- aka the “unelected Mayor of Castro Street,” Steve Adams -- saying he bungled the planning process. ...

And Matthew Bajko at the Bay Area Reporter also noted the problems before us:

The Castro merchant group that oversees the flagpole at Harvey Milk Plaza agreed to fly the New York State flag below the over-sized Rainbow Flag. But it then reversed course, saying it was technically not possible.

As of press time Wednesday it seemed unlikely that the East Coast flag would be unfurled at all. Petrelis said plans to raise the flag from Milk's home state had been scrapped due to the inability for community organizers and the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro to resolve the issue.

Reasonable people who aren't control queens would likely say the seven-month controversy, with no end in sight, over the public flag pole at Harvey Milk Plaza should be resolved among all Castro district stakeholders to allow for more community engagement over the flag and pole.

Unfortunately, Adams is very content with the current situation and shows no sign of willingness to hold even a single public community forum about the plaza control problems. If Adams and MUMC think their alienating and petty ways are good business practices, I'd hate to learn what they believe constitutes irresponsible promotion of the Castro.

Someone needs to inform the other leaders of MUMC that their president and his obstreperous methods are doing much harm toward bringing more people to the Castro, people who would spend money at MUMC businesses. Change, and good karma, needs to come to the Castro.