Bulletins - 2008 - 10/22/2008
This
Week's Bulletin Was Written
By Jenny K. Goodman
This week's meeting debuted our president-elect Karen Green. We got a good glimpse of how she will run the show especially when she told Gary to shush. Sandra Schrift provided an inspiring invocation reminding us all that service above self completes our lives. Jim Mulvaney lead us in his favorite song, Its a Grand Ole Flag.
Paul Marsh held his weekly raffle for great restaurant gift cards. Mary Engles announced that it was Physical Therapy Awareness month. Martin Blair announced that yet another Rotaract couple has become engaged. This makes number three. What are they serving at those meeting? Rosalie Kramm touted her connection to a Breeders Cup horse-Fabulous Strike. Gary Green graciously thanked Melissa Chapman and Jonathon Stone for organizing the recent wine tasting hosted at Melissa's antique store. Jim Mulvaney announced that his kid, Dylan, has a good part in the Christmas play The Grinch.
Many guests today. Chris from Reality Changers is considering joining us as a member. Larry Nuffer and George Mullen fought over who would get credit for Larry's dad joining us again! We also welcomed Rotarians from Solana Beach and Club 33.
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Holes for Heroes needs a few more golfers. Please see Jonathon Stone.
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Chris Carstens reminded everyone of the USD Football game social event coming up on Saturday, November 1, 2008. See him for more information.
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Jeramy Larson announced an upcoming Red Badge event at Jacobs Jewelers in Liberty Station. Blue Badge members should come and share their experiences. Event is on Thursday, October 30th from 6-7p.m.
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The Holiday Party will be held on December 13th at Melissa Chapman's house. There will not be any fundraising at this purely social event. Mark your calendars!
Jim Mulvaney introduced our speaker, Malin Burnham who gave us his take on the state of the City. Mr. Burnham's comments were broad and covered a wide range of issues, often adopting a controversial position. Mr. Burnham was instrumental to bringing the America's Cup event to San Diego a few years ago and has been involved in San Diego politics and happenings for many years. He believes the City is making progress except in the City Attorney position. He strongly supports Jan Goldsmith's campaign. He sees progress in the pension fund which is about 80% funded now and is pretty typical of the level of funding at many major cities. Mr. Burnham was not shy about stating that San Diego needed to raise taxes to pay for all the amenities we need to enjoy this city. Mr. Burnham urges support of Proposition S to help continue to improve our K-12 schools. He regrets that the school district has not been out in front of this ballot measure. They are a dysfunctional group. He would like to see the board become an appointed vs. elected board in the model that Mayor Bloomberg of New York implemented very successfully. Mr. Burnham also supports the new City Hall proposal which he thinks is an excellent project and virtually risk free to the city. He criticized Carl DeMaio for speaking without knowing what he is talking about when objecting to this project. Mr. Burnham noted that John Spreckels once remarked that San Diego misses the boat because there is a lack of cooperation among city leaders and business leaders. Times haven't changed that much as San Diego is still without effective leadership according to Mr. Burnham.
Mr. Burnham sees a future airport as a necessity for the region and thinks a plausible solution would be to add a supplemental airport at the southwest corner of Camp Pendleton. That airport would be closer to Orange County and North County and by moving the parking at the current airport, they could expand by ten terminals.
Another big issue Mr. Burnham covered was the water situation. He wants us to take 5% more of the Colorado River and force agriculture to be more efficient. He thinks the water authority is finally working hard to diversify our water sources and he supports the Poseidon project in Carlsbad. He also thinks Mexico would be a logical place for an even bigger plant.
Finally, Mr. Burnham made a pitch for changing San Diego's slogan from "America's Finest City" to "The City of Life" because the old slogan is outdated and arrogant. Though I am sure not everyone agreed with all of his positions, Mr. Burnham provided an interesting and informative talk.
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