AUGUST 11, 2004

This week’s Bulletin was written by Cynthia Sener

 

this week’s meeting

Cynthia Sener provided the invocation from Lao Tzu, Mike Gilligan led us in the pledge, and we all sang, “Edelweiss.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ø      Three memberships are on sabbatical: Ken Doyle (he’s moving to SC – consider that permanent), Michael Clarkson (due to travel) and someone else who I did not catch the name of.

Ø      Ron reminded us about Sept 9th –5:30-8:30 p.m. - District Council, La Jolla Marriott

Ø      District 4100 will be having a winery tour in Ensenada.  Look online for signups.

Ø      The budget has been approved by the Board of Directors and the Club budget is balanced thanks to the hard work of Don Lang.  We donated almost 100k from the foundation this year and only hit the capital for about 10-12k. 

Ø      Mel Gallegos reminded us about the Thousand Laughs for Thousand Smiles event August 27th.  The first 8 to sign up will be free.

Ø      Nancy Vaughan followed up from last week’s meeting requesting any donations for $75/wheelchair be made this week.   Please also note that your contribution counts towards Paul Harris Fellowship credits.

Ø      Lynn Hamilton announced that our next social event will be Padres vs. Braves game at Petco Park on August 18th.  40 people will be going.  Meet at KC BBQ from 5-7 followed by the game at 7:05.  You will be billed for your ticket.

Ø      Membership inducted four members to “blue badge status”: Brad Leitch, Scott Carr, Dan Fissori and Jill Houska.

Sgt At Arms Mike Gilligan

Ø      Mike continued to have a vegetable auction – but I think everyone has had enough tomatoes.  Sorry Frank.

Ø      Mike marked the 6 of spades and then drew three raffle tickets.  No one selected the card so the pot carries over.

Ø      Susan Bleicher announced that she got a placement from a Rotary referral.

Centennial Moment

Rotary instituted the importance of family in Rotary stressing that including family in social events made more loyal members.  Rotary also focuses on health issues and polio elimination and addresses a wide range of issues successfully.  Rotary focuses on improving literacy – with literacy rates below 75% in developed countries and far less in underdeveloped countries.  As well as places an emphasis on water management.  Most countries lack access to clean water.  This is most severe in Africa where less than 50% have access to clean water.  There are several Rotary projects focusing on this issue.

Guest Speaker: Ron Roberts

We were fortunate to have Ron Roberts, mayoral candidate, speak at this weeks meeting.  Ron discussed his primary concerns of our city (city fiscal health, pension fund, corruption and police/fire funds) and asked, “Are we better off now than four years ago?  He stressed that a city that was growing in revenue by 10% was not able to meet its rising costs.  He discussed the pension plans for the city and said that San Diego was the poster child for bad planning.  The San Diego County Pension, which he was responsible for, carried a rating of AA+ and was 80% funded.  The city does not carry any rating, is funded 65% and carries a 2B liability.  He pinpointed the removal of the floor to the fund back in 11/2002 as the driver to this rising debt and the new drop program.  He feels that the current leadership is ignoring the debt until 2009 and just allowing it to grow.  He is concerned that the city will not disclose its debts and is currently under investigation.

Ron Roberts discussed other recommendations that the current leadership have ignored such as fire and police.  Public safety is under funded and ignored and he compared the city police to the county sheriff for a benchmark on strong investment.

Ron discussed his qualifications for the role, including stabilizing the county treasury rather than declaring bankruptcy, privatizing the trash system and outsourcing IT.  These were all examples of reducing costs in some areas to free up capital for key investments such as fire and police.  He mentioned that Mayor Murphy voted against the fire helicopter prior to the San Diego fires last year.

Ron concluded by stating that the election issues should be Fiscal Responsibility, Services, Pension Funds and Eliminating Corruption.  He felt he has provided these changes at the county level and now wants to address them in our city.

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