The Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza is entering the next phase of the project to re-imagine the space above the Castro Muni station named for the gay slain supervisor and has announced dates for community meetings.

Last year, the Friends group conducted a design competition, and an architectural team led by Perkins Eastman of San Francisco was announced as the winner and selected as the firm to partner with as the project enters its next phase.

The first meeting will be held Saturday, January 27, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 100 Diamond Street. Additional meetings will be held March 3, and April 7, at the same time and location.

“This is an opportunity of a lifetime to acknowledge Harvey Milk Plaza for the sacred place it is and the role it has played in the history of the LGBT civil rights movement,” Greg Cassin, a longtime AIDS activist, said in a news release from the Friends group, where he volunteers on the steering committee.

The plaza redesign project has been scheduled in tandem with the city’s already-planned accessibility construction that is expected to greatly reduce the expense. The Friends group is in the process of a fundraising effort to secure private donations. A $500,000 donation was received last year from a gay California man.

Full story at Bay Area Reporter.