Rotator eNewsletter

Los Altos Rotary Club

Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show

August 20th 2009

Writer: Karen Gessert - Photographer: Steve Yarbrough - Editor: Cindy Luedtke

This Thursday's Program: Aug 27 2009 Andy Dolich
Update on the 49ers

Rotator Thursday, August 20, 2009

This Thursday’s Program will be Andy Dolich with an update on the San Francisco 49ers

The meeting began right on time this week with a resounding “Good Afternoon” from President TRACIE. Members were greeted by PP CINDY LUEDTKE, MARV PATTERSON, and GEORGE STAFFORD. JOE CORAL lead the group in the pledge and GARY MAGGARD did the quote of the day; “Slow down, measure twice, and cut once. This will save time, money, and frustration”. LARRY CHU led the club in a very long and painful rendition of “Build Me Up, Buttercup”. PP JOHN MOSS said it best: “I can’t say I have ever heard that song before, but I know we did not sing it very well”. Special thanks to KAREN OWEN who was our guest cashier.
PE DENNIS YOUNG then called for visitors and guests. Roger Hassler, District Governer Elect, from the Almaden Valley Club was a visiting Rotarian. Rotarians MARV PATTERSON, JEAN MORDO, MICHAEL STADLEN, LARRY CHU, PAUL NYBERG, and KENDRA GJERSETH all brought guests.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: PP SAM PESNER started announcements off with the start of the Rotary Foundation drive. Congratulations to KAREN FOX for having her appendix removed over the weekend and being the first person to write a check for the Rotary Foundation. STUART BOWEN is looking for volunteers for two Rotary booths at the upcoming Los Altos Community Picnic. JOHN SYLVESTER announced the next wine and cheese get together at GARY MAGGARD’S house Friday, September 4th.

JEAN MORDO had 4 announcements for the day (here are the highlights):

Fellowship Event – September 18th – dinner at Maltby’s and Treasure Island the musical at Bus Barn
Hoedown Party – September 12th from 3:00pm- 8:00pm
Los Altos Hills Parks and Rec Golf Tournament
LAREF Grants meeting after lunch.

Community Service Director, DAVID SMITH needs a chair for Partners for Elder Generations and Relay for Life. FRANK VERLOT announced the Community World Service meeting to be held Tuesday, August 25th at 8:00 in the community room at First Republic Bank.

RECOGNITION:

With one clap and some booing KURT HUEG made his way to the microphone for fining. (Remember – “Its not about the money, it’s about recognitions”).

LEN MCBIRNEY announced his anniversary with wife Carol. They have been married for 63 years. LEN paid $63 for his anniversary and $63 for his old friend and Rotary member, now passed away, BOB LUNDQUIST’s anniversary for a total of $126.
MATT CABOT and AILEEN LOW were called upon but absent from the meeting.
SCOTT RICHES paid $31 for being older and wiser then LARRY CHU and for his anniversary.
PP SAM PESNER paid $20 for KAREN FOX who had her appendix removed over the weekend, but was first to step up and contribute to the Rotary Foundation.
PP STEVE ANDERSON reminded KURT of the 4 way test, especially, ”Is it the Truth?”.
KENDRA GJERSETH paid $25 for her guest WAYNE, a banker, who was wearing a suit to Rotary. (Way to keep it classy Wayne!).
PP DUDE ANGIUS volunteered $51; $25 for not inviting every Rotarian to a great wedding in Lake Tahoe, $25 because his PSA is now 0.1 !!, and $1 because he is tired of dollar fines.
JOHN MCALISTER was called upon because of his controversial golf tournament win. BOB RAYL was actually the winner of the tournament, so JOHN paid $23 (representing his handicap).
PP AL TRAFICANTI paid $51 for 51 years of marital bliss with his wife Nancy
DAVE SNOW offered $40 for 11 years of marital bliss with his wife Eliza.

KURT then began calling on people with business and sports questions.

DAVE SMITH, JEAN MORDO and KAILAS CHIDAMBARAM all paid $20 for getting their business related questions correct.
GREG DABB was the first up with a sports question and answered correctly with the 49ers two quarterbacks. When asked if he knew the Raider’s quarterback he responded with a witty “Who cares”.
STEVE YARBROUGH is credited with the assist and they both paid a $20 fine for correct answers.

SPEAKER:

PE DENNIS YOUNG introduced our speaker for the day, LARRY STONE who is the county assessor, a former mayor of Sunnyvale, the President Elect of the Downtown San Jose Club, and a member of the Santa Clara County Sports Authority. In similar fashion to KURT HUEG, LARRY was greeted with some encouraged booing. Unlike KURT’S fining philosophy, LARRY taught us that professional sports are about the money. He is very optimistic about the SF 49ers move to Santa Clara and the Oakland A’s move to San Jose. The benefits of moving professional sports teams into the downtown and busy areas of the Silicon Valley is beneficial to the economy (jobs, increased tax revenue, increased spending at local restaurants, bars, stores, etc..) and it brings a sense of pride to the community.

San Francisco 49ers overview: The 49ers are proposing to build a 68 thousand-seat, open-air, state-of-the-art stadium in a land parcel adjacent to Great America. The cost of building the stadium is an estimated $937 million. 92% of the funding for the project will come from private money, $35 million from local hotel taxes, and $79 million from Santa Clara general fund. There will be no new taxes to raise money for the stadium. There is already ample parking and public transportation to the area.
Since there are only 10 home games, and most of them are on Sundays, there should not be a problem with traffic or congestion on game days. The city of Santa Clara has a few built in protections if the project goes over budget. The 49ers will personally pay all construction cost over runs, they are liable for all public safety costs, and they are responsible for the demolition of the stadium at the end of lease if necessary. The 49ers are expected to generate revenue from stadium naming rights, luxury suites, season tickets, advertising, and tv/radio/cable deals.

Oakland A’s overview: The Oakland A’s are proposing to build a 33 thousand-seat, open-air, state-of-the-art ballpark. This would be the smallest ballpark in major league baseball and the naming rights will most likely belong to Cisco. The estimated cost of the project is $400 million, and the proposed location is in San Jose near the HP Pavilion.

The A’s would rent land from the city of San Jose and fund the building with private money. The A’s play 81 home games a year and there is already adequate parking and public transportation in the area. Having a major league baseball team in downtown San Jose will benefit the surrounding merchants and the city in general. Even though the A’s are struggling with the San Francisco Giants over territorial rights LARRY is confident that the A’s will be able to move.

The Giants were granted territorial rights to Santa Clara County a while back and still retain rights to the area. If the A’s do relocate to San Jose they will be 50 miles from the San Francisco Giants, this is the furthest distance in any two-team market. The A’s need 75% of the team owners to vote for the relocation and will more than likely have to pay compensation to the Giants in order for the move to happen. According to LARRY, it is most likely owners will vote in the A’s favor.

The meeting finished on time as President TRACIE rang the bell and thanked everyone for attending the meeting.

template updated: 06/27/08