Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show July 25 2013

Greeters were KATHY LERA, JUDY OTT, CAROL GARSTEN and LINA BROYDO
 
Thought for the Day was given by BEVERLY TUCKER with a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald and another of her favorite authors in celebration of summer afternoons.
 
Song for the day was by Songmaster RON STEFANI who led us in a roaring fun version of Roll out the Barrel, with special lyrics to help start President Jack’s year right.

Visiting Rotarians
Peter Huff from Cupertino Rotary was introduced by DONNA VERNA
Steve Acre of San Mateo Rotary was introduced by JERRY TOMANEK
Jim Sheehan of the Wasco club of the Central Valley introduced by ROY JONES
 
Rotarians with Guests
Duanni Hurd was a guest of JOHN SYLVESTER
Joan Roselle was a guest of TRACIE MURRAY
Liz Nyberg was a guest of PAUL NYBERG
Lenelle Smith and Jane Cronkhite were guests of DAVID SMITH
Joyce Anthony was a guest of BONNIE BURDETT and is Bonnie’s business partner
Cory Rolbach and guest speaker Senator Jerry Hill were guests of STEVE SHEPHERD
 

Announcements
CAROL GARSTEN, PR Chair, put out a request for photos for the LARC Facebook page.  Anyone with photos to share should email them to PAT GRAY, pat@patgrayincolor.com.
 
DONNA VERNA announced support for the collection of new underwear to donate to shelters that provide clothing for the homeless, a program started by the current District Governor. 

In special recognition of that program, and of President Jack’s interest in finding new items to which Rotarians can affix the Rotary Wheel, Donna declared the collection to be fondly know as “Bloomers for Jack” and presented President Jack with a pair of Bloomers imprinted with the Rotary Wheel.
 
FRANK VERLOT announced that the Sister Cities program of Santa Clara County will be hosting visiting delegates from Moscow under an Open World grant.  The delegates are a group of social workers, all women, who are coming to Santa Clara County to learn about Child Protective Services and social programs for children here in our county. 

The delegates are in need of homestays.  If any Rotarian is interested in hosting a delegate in their home during the week of September 13 to September 20 please contact FRANK VERLOT.

 
PE KENDRA GJERSETH announced that on August 12 at 11:30 am a Foothill College, Krause Center for Innovation, there will be a class on how to use the committee module on Club Runner.  This is part of Jack’s initiative to get everyone more involved in using the LARC website and Club Runner.  Sign up on line on the website and Kendra will contact you with details about the class.
 
President Jack announced that contrary to the prior week’s announcement, the conference room at First Republic Bank will continue to be available for use for committee meetings.  With regard to the “Bloomers for Jack” collection, President Jack reiterated that the District Governor’s letter specifically referred to providing new underwear for shelters that provide clothing for the homeless. 

Consequently, President Jack asked the club members for proposals for which shelter our club would donate to.  Submit your proposal directly to President Jack.  The District Governor’s visit to LARC is scheduled for September 19, 2013 and President Jack would like to provide a generous donation to LARC’s chosen shelter so please pick up a package of new unopened underwear and bring them to the upcoming LARC meetings for collection.  If you don’t want to shop for underwear, you can donate $20 and President Jack will do the shopping.
 
JEAN (JOHN) MORDO, Membership Director, as an aside noted his concern that the “Bloomers for Jack” announcement set a “dangerous precedent” that one could ‘dis’ the incoming president without immediate consequences.  President Jack responded that he did not consider the “Bloomers for Jack” announcement to be a ‘dis’ but rather a great form of participation by a Rotary member.
 
JEAN MORDO then announced that HARN SOPER is a new Blue Badge member.  Presenting him with his badge was his sponsor and fiancé BONNIE BURDETT.  “No kissing” she told him as she presented him with his blue badge!
 

A Ten Minute Talk
DAVID SMITH introduced Jane Cronkhite to give a presentation about the programs by the Los Altos Library, and to give a plug for Measure A coming up on the ballot in November.  Jane spoke about the Los Altos Main Library, opened in 1964, and the Woodland library, opened in 1976.  Los Altos libraries are members of the Santa Clara County Library District.  In 2012, 439,000 people visited the Los Altos libraries. 

The libraries provide a number of free community services and programs, including volunteer programs, game days for families, reading buddies programs, summer reading lists, a bookmobile, and community outreach. 

The library also offers virtual library services where you can check out books on your e-reader.  There is also an on line catalogue for books at other library locations in Santa Clara County.  Upcoming projects include the technology toolbar (like the Apple Genius Bar), which will provide assistance with tablets, smartphones and e-readers; auto sort for returned materials; iPads for preschoolers. 

Then she gave a plug for passing Measure A.  Any questions feel free to contact Nancy Howe: nhowe@sccl.org, or Jane Cronkhite, j.cronkhite@sccl.org.
 

Recognition  STEVE POMEROY announced it was his first time as finemaster and asked the audience to please go easy on him.  The audience complied by providing Steve with all volunteers for recognition!  DONNA VERNA did the duck bucket. 

RON STEFANI joined the president’s club, announcing he was grateful that, after hip surgery this past April, his wife Jane was now able to again play golf and tennis for the first time in a long time.

ESTER NG volunteered to join the president’s club to celebrate her birthday which ended in a “0” and mentioned her recent invitation to join AARP.

HARRY PRICE volunteered to pay $40 in celebration of his and his wife’s 38 year wedding anniversary.

DIANA NEIMAN volunteered to pay $50 in order to announce an upcoming golf tournament to benefit Family and Child Services.

BUD OLIVER volunteered to pay $20 and announced he and his wife will be spending the next three months in Michigan, and promised to attend Rotary meetings there.
KAILAS CHIDAMBARAM volunteered to pay $45 in celebration of his and his wife’s 45th wedding anniversary.

JACK HIGGINS volunteered to pay $20 for the underwear initiative.

BOB ADAMS volunteered to join the President’s club in celebration of the following: he had two grandkids graduate high school – one was going to LMU and the other to Stanford; his oldest granddaughter recently got married in Seattle; and he turned 80 in June.  By the way, Bob said to Diane – there are no golfers in this club.

CAROL GARSTEN volunteered to pay $20 to announce that the fundraiser she held at Nature Gallery recently raised $3,000.00; and invited everyone to come and visit the State Street Green for First Friday and hear the sounds of the TACO Orchestra.

JOHN BOGART volunteered to pay $45 to announce he recently returned from a bike trip across Switzerland for his and his wife’s 45th wedding anniversary.  I didn’t catch the total number of miles that they rode, but it was a lot!
 

President Jack announced speaker Jerry Hill, California state senator for the 13th Senate District.  Senator Hill had been a member of the California State Assembly until 2008.  Prior to that he served as Mayor for San Mateo and is a member of the San Mateo Rotary Club.  He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and received his teaching credential from San Francisco State.  Senator Hill commented that he felt that our club has a lot of fun, and shares a lot of laughs and camaraderie. 

He thanked the members for letting him represent us in Sacramento.  His district runs from Brisbane down to Sunnyvale and along the coast down to Santa Cruz County.  Then he told a joke about a little girl who once asked her dad:  are there any fairytales that do not begin with “Once upon a time?”  The dad thought for a minute and then said:  there are a whole series of fairytales that begin with “If elected I promise to . . .”

He mentioned a recent book authored by Larry Gerston entitled “Not so Golden After All, the Rise and Fall of California.”  While that book concludes the state is going in the wrong direction, Senator Hill says he does not believe that at all.  He believes that California is heading in the right direction and that the state has not lost its Golden touch.  He described our challenge as being in the 21st century, working with 20th century ideas, and dealing with 19th century institutions. 

The initiative process has led to ballet box budgeting.  For example, he said there are approximately $80 billion in bonds that the voters have voted for but have not been sold yet by the state.  If they were sold it would immediately add to the debt load.  He pointed out that we have changed the 2/3 requirement for passing budget measures, but that the tax revenue of the state is overly dependent upon corporate and personal income tax, so it is not a balanced approach.  Last year, because the Facebook IPO capital gains did not come in as expected there was a shortfall in the projected tax receipts. 

He mentioned that the change in term limits from 6 years to twelve years has had a positive impact on the legislative process and has lessened the dysfunction of the political system. 

Senator Hill states that things have also improved since Jerry Brown has become governor.  Ten years ago Senator Hill mentioned he had been a Republican, but he has since switched.  He mentioned that, at the time Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor, he lived in LA.  He would fly up to Sacramento in the morning and fly back down to LA in the afternoon.  In his office he had the sword from Conan the Barbarian in a glass case and very imposing furnishings in his office.  When he was in Sacramento, he would have two motorcycle highway patrolmen waiting outside the Capital building in case the he decided to go somewhere which, if he did, the motorcycle patrolmen were joined by other security detail for the governor’s entourage.  In contrast, Jerry Brown and his wife live above PF Chang’s in Sacramento.  They often walk places, and there are no pretentious furnishings in the governor’s office. 
 
Jerry Brown has shown a willingness to tackle major problems like pension reform last year.  This year, due to the governor’s initiatives, disadvantaged school districts are receiving much needed funds to try to equalize the quality of education throughout the school districts.  The governor is also tackling CEQA reform to improve environmental protections. 

The way Enterprise Zones are administered has been changed to make certain that the state receives some benefit if businesses want to take advantage of the Enterprise Zone opportunity.  The governor has the funds to now provide tax incentives to business to help increase employment. 

The inmate population has been reduced from 170,000 to 130,000 due to realignment which has been imposed by the federal courts.  As a result, we are seeing increases in property crimes corresponding with a release of a large number of inmates.  Yet, the federal courts want the population reduced by an even greater amount but so far the governor has resisted saying it is not in the best interest of the people of the state.

In the Central Valley, under what is known as the Monterey Shale, there are 15 billion barrels of oil that can be made accessible through hydraulic fracturing.  Senator Hill is the Chair of the Environmental Quality Committee in the Senate and is working to make sure that is done in an environmentally sound way. 

With regard to the high speed rail, he supported it because part of the project means that CalTrain will become electrified, increasing transportation between San Francisco and San Jose because trains will run faster, allowing the number of trains that run between the destinations to increase. 
The investigation into the gas pipeline explosion that occurred showed a huge diversion of money away from safety and monitoring to executive pay and bonuses, and, he believes, will result in criminal indictments being filed against PG&E.

In summary, Senator Hill was very prolific in the information he shared with our club and very positive and hopeful about the direction that California is headed. 

NEW ROTATOR FEATURE:  Comings and Goings

In this new feature, we will publish the names of new members to our club, and those who have left during the past month.  It will be published in the last Rotator of each month.  Look for it. 

Comings and Goings - July 2013

This Thursday's Program: August 1st 2013

Dr. Judy Baker has 25 years of experience in higher education administrative and faculty positions. Currently, she manages the online learning and professional development programs at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA as the Dean of Foothill Global Access. Formerly, she served as Executive Dean of the Virtual College in the Open Campus at Florida Community College at Jacksonville (FCCJ) where she managed the delivery of online courses and the call center.

From 2001 - 2004, she was Dean of Online, Library and Technology Services at San Diego Miramar College, where she was responsible for faculty development, staff supervision, and budget management in the area of innovations in instructional technologies as well as the District's award-winning distance learning program. Dr. Baker was a professor at Texas Woman's University from 1987 - 1999.