December 14, 2005

This Week’s Bulletin Was Written By Susan Bleicher

THIS WEEK’S MEETING

President Maureen Eberle rang the bell at 7:35 a.m. and announced a few things would be out of the normal order this week.  She acknowledged the presence of several students, faculty, and parents from Monarch School and Warren Ogden of the AjA Project.  Maureen asked Jose and his wait staff to come out.  She thanked them for their outstanding service to our group each week and presented a check from the club.  Chris Carstens gave the invocation reflecting on his mother’s words when he was a child and they stopped to help a woman with a flat tire about the world involving a wheel of good deeds.  He picked up the Rotary bell with the wheel emblem and congratulated all of us for our contributions to the world.  As a group, we said the “Pledge of Allegiance” followed with Linda Jalving and Jim Mulvaney leading us in “Jingle Bells.”

Pete McGuire introduced the guests:  Jay Sener had a guest although Jay was not there, Lynn Hamilton had a young man from Tijuana with his parents as her guests, and Warren Ogden of the La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary Club. 

SARGEANT-AT-ARMS

Ø      Larry collected donations at the entrance for Maureen’s upcoming trip to India to help stamp out Polio. 

Ø      Jay and Cynthia Sener’s baby was born at 12:24 a.m. on December 9, 2005 weighing 7.5 pounds and 20” long.  Bill Poirier won the baby pool with his guess of 7.1 pounds.  Jay and Cynthia named her Gabriella Jordan Sener.  Congratulations to all three of you!

Ø      Larry auctioned off a beautiful lacquered box from Moscow donated by Elena Bazhenova.  Rick Logan walked away with this fabulous present for his wife for $100.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ø      Maureen announced the Board had generously donated $1,000 for her trip to India.  She also thanked the members who had brought gently used infant and children clothes for her to take.  After asking for writing pens for the children, Leah Swearingen brought in a bag of pens from her car.

Ø      Scott Carr has updated the calendar on our web site.

Ø      Lunch at the Seniors Community Center on December 10 was a huge success.  Maureen acknowledged Pat Cowett for her efforts, a special thank you to Alex Kwoka who did not attend the Rotary Holiday Party the night before because she was putting together 200 packages of Christmas cookies for the seniors, and Dave Ferguson who dressed as Santa and brought a Polaroid camera so the seniors could have their picture with Santa!  Rosalie Kramm had tremendous enthusiasm for putting together the holiday songs and carrying out the Christmas carols.  Thanks to all the members of our club who took the time and effort to brighten the seniors holiday season.

Ø      Chollas-Mead Elementary School had a party last Friday for the seniors at the Pottiker Center organized by Tom Courtney who our club is sending to Africa.

Ø      Everyone raved about the Holiday Party at Susan Davis’ beautiful home in Mission Hills.  Susan worked very hard on this social event.

Ø      135 gifts were delivered to the children living in the dump in Tijuana.  Special thanks to Dan Fissori for spearheading this huge undertaking a second year in a row, and to his helpers (Melissa, Jonathan, Lynn, Mary) and to all members who donated to this unique way of giving.

Ø      Maureen once again thanked us for the good deeds throughout the year.  She also reminded us to stop by the tables after the meeting to complete our holiday shopping.  Butterfly Enterprises is a Junior Achievement Project at Monarch School.  The students make jewelry and engraved napkins after school.

Ø      Carol Jensen introduced the student of the month, Ricci Gellardino, her parents (Richard and Yvonne Gellardino), and Sarita Fuentes, Principal/CEO of Monarch School.  Ricci has been attending Monarch School for about six months, has consistently been on the Principal’s Honor Roll, is a model student, volunteers whenever help is needed, and has never been tardy.  She was presented with a plaque and a Mervyn’s gift certificate.

Ø      Ron Erbetta gave a report on the Rotary Foundation.  He will present Melissa Blackburn and Jane Barry with their Paul Harris fellows at the next meeting.  Frank De Francesco was presented with a Sapphire Pin (multiple Paul Harris fellows) and Martin Blair has over six Paul Harris fellows.  Martin received a two-Ruby pin and three-Ruby pin.  Ron thanked Maureen for her commitment to Rotary and said her trip to India is costing her over $4,000,

Ø      Mike Whitehurst had a model USS Ronald Regan to sell to benefit the Military Welfare and Recreation fund.  Frank purchased the model for $35.

Ø      February 16 – 23, 2006 is the International Assembly for all District Governor elects.  Several volunteering opportunities are available and can be found on the district web site, www.rotary5340.org.  Pat Cowett is putting together a group for dinner on Monday, February 20, 2006.  Details will be announced at the next meeting.

THIS WEEK’S SPEAKER

Larry Nuffer introduced Ron Popham, Senior Director, Maritime Division of the Unified Port of San Diego.  Larry met Ron in LEAD.  Ron took a group of them on a tour of the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal (all commerce) and Larry found his depth of knowledge fascinating.  Ron has held three positions with the Unified Port of San Diego and has 34 years of port experience.  He is also a credentialed elementary school teacher.

Ron started with an overview of the Port history and the types of imports received (bananas, melons, pineapples, steel, fertilizer).  The Port is made up of five counties, does not collect property tax, and is self-sufficient.  The economic impact of the 10th Avenue Terminal is $271M.  There are eight berths, 96 acres, 300,000 square feet, 1.5M square feet of warehouse space, and mobile cranes.  Dole distributes to the entire West Coast from San Diego.  We are in the distribution business.

The National City Terminal is comprised of 125 acres, six berths, receives vehicles and lumber, and handles all service between Hawaii and the Mainland.

The Cruise Ship Terminal has four berths, receives 220 vessels and 620,000 passengers on an annual basis.  Our Cruise Ship Terminal is the second busiest to Galveston, Texas.  A brand new Cruise Ship Terminal is on the drawing board to accommodate ships with 4,000 passengers.  This $300M project includes a new terminal, hotel, and parking garage.  Projection for 2015 is receiving 1.4M passengers on an annual basis.  Carnival Cruise Line is giving an $8M loan to improve current terminal.

Cargo growth is 15 – 20% per year.  San Diego receives 3.2M tons of Cargo, 500,000 tons at National City Terminal.   Sand from all over the world, windmills, bananas, cement from China and Thailand, automobiles, turbines, etc.  680 ship calls per year today and three years ago it was approximately 300 annually.  New business is windmills.  San Diego is the biggest distributor of windmills.  Last year it grew from 87 to 300+, 400 projected for next year, and 1,000 for 2007.  2,300 Bentleys were shipped to San Diego.  Expect this number to grow by 1,000 each year over the next two years.  We use to receive one ship of Melons every two weeks, now we receive a ship of Melons per week, Dole Bananas, Pineapples from Costa Rica, Steel for NASSCO and back to Long Beach. 

Planning needs:  five-year projection, ten, fifteen.  What is the cargo market, land use designation?  Creates over 54,000 jobs, pipeline to the airport, 10th Avenue Terminal is 24/7.  Working with City and JMI for win/win.  Potential B project in National City, can you plan with us?  Maritime Business Plan is to work with National City to meet maritime needs and National City needs and enhance marine industrial areas.  Sycuan will be putting in a hotel near the National City Marina and Aquatics Center. 

Port – things have changed!  3.2M tons of cargo in San Diego versus Los Angeles and Long Beach receiving 260M tons.  From Long Beach, 60% moves by rail and 40% from Los Angeles for all of the U.S.  We are looking at container space and improved railway transit.  Currently there is only one railway operator in San Diego.  Competition is part of five-year plan.  We are a strategic port for the United States and are not underutilized.  Currently, we are one of fifteen military ports and will be one of eight military ports.  Mandated by MTSA.

Next week’s speaker will be Mark Fabiani, Attorney for the San Diego Chargers, on the future of the Chargers.  See you there!

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