Lamorindan ~ 10/08/10 Issue ~ T. Black, scribe pro tem
---------------------------------------- READER ADVISORY --------------------------------
The following is an earnest, good-faith attempt at reporting faithfully what transpired at our meeting the morning of Friday, Oct. 8, at Postino restaurant, 3565 Mount Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, CA 94549 - directly across from SuperCuts, where haircuts just went up two dollars. Don't leave a tip.
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| Tom Black pens feeble disclaimers! |
Not that this is offered as an excuse - although it well could be legitimate - be it known for the record that any inaccuracies and/or incompleteness in the reportage are the direct and unavoidable consequence of the following: intermittent malfunctioning of new, still-under-warranty shockingly expensive ear trumpets (NOT covered by Medicare, thanks for asking), occluded vision due to tragically unsuccessful cataract surgery last winter, a catastrophic leak in the Donald Trump-signature Mont Blanc fountain pen loaned by prankster Rich Shearer, strange noises erupting from the men's room during the guest speaker's presentation, and a wicked hangover from wild partying the evening before - sorry, all the drinks were gratis and I was unable to control myself. Anyone finding material deemed potentially libelous is requested to contact my attorneys, Dewey Cheatum and Howe.
Tom Black, Substitute Scribe
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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| Nice smile Buddy |
Buddy Burke stood up and, squinting into his ever-present BlackBerry, recited the following: "An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it." - William Bernbach (1911-1982), a pioneer of modern-day advertising and a principal in what for many years was the world's largest agency, Doyle Dane Bernbach.
GUESTS
Kari Saragusa - new neighbor of Paul and Glenda Fillinger on Mars Ct., Lafayette
Spike Speicher - friend of Alex Arnold
Gwen Reichert - longtime spouse of longtime LSRer Don
Sue Reichert - Their daughter
Yolanda Peeks - longtime spouse of our shorttime president
Thomas McCormick - mayor of Orinda and today's guest speaker
RECOGNITIONS, CELEBRATIONS AND OTHER EXCUSES TO FINE PEOPLE
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| Oh boy, Tahiti! |
Red-badger Dennis Kuramai and wife Maggie celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary by getting the hell out of Dodge in serious fashion. They went to Tahiti, where in addition to presumed gamboling on the beach, Dennis attended a Rotary club meeting somewhere there and returned with a banner he said was licitly obtained. This gesture of solidarity and humanism cost Dennis $10, this in addition to the $20 he had to pony up the meeting before they left on September 26. Thank you, Dennis, for the banner. Don't ever let any club president bamboozle you out of a double heist. You pay going or coming, not both. That said, we're keeping the full sum tendered because we need the money.
Paul Bettlelheim and nephew Dan Garfin jointly celebrated a birth DAY
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| Uncle Paul |
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| Next time Dan, face your Uncle. |
(albeit not DATE) they share, October 2. There was a party at work followed by another at home. Whose place of work and whose home were factoids not deemed worthy of reportorial verification. Thus it was either Paul's or Dan's ... or combination thereof. Aren't these little mysteries of life endlessly fascinating? Dan went to dinner - not sure where, sorry - and one or the other of them coughed up $50 for the unrepressed merriment.
Cal grad Dan mentioned that he and fellow alumni are encouraged to assemble tomorrow (Oct. 9) at Evans Diamond on campus to demonstrate - in appropriate fashion, of course - their collective displeasure with the announcement that, owing to declared budgetary shortages, the university is mercilessly axing a number of men's and women's intercollegiate sports, among them the baseball team, on which Dan once played. Rumors that Mario Savio would be making a speech on their behalf was unconfirmed at press time. All we can say is, GO BEARS! ... and GO DANNY BOY! May the force be with ye. Hit it out of the park!
Krysten Laine announced that there will be a Motorama post-mortem
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| We'll all be there Krysten |
meeting/BBQ at her house in Niles on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 3:00. The start time was advisedly chosen, permitting LSRers to participate as volunteer day laborers in the same-day HOME Team deployment, strawbossed again by Hays Englehart, project founder and major domo. For directions, do a Mapquest search, ask Krysten or, as a last resort, try to hitch a ride that day from Urban Suburban, where hubby Rene Aguirre hangs out when he's not driving about town in that garishly painted Suburban vehicle bedecked with rooftop-mounted bales of hay, real hay. (Aside to Rene: What happens when it rains? Just wondering. No need to get back to us on this.)
Prez Peeks asked Ken Kosich to stand. Dutifully, Ken did. What he and
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| Still smiling after all that |
the rest of us heard were thanks voiced by our leader for the fantastic party he and wife Patti hosted October 2 at their fledgling family vineyard in Sonoma. A couple of dozen of us showed up at their place, a lovely new home sitting on 6.5 acres, 2.5 of which are planted to wine
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| All the way to the sky |
grapes, chardonnay and pinot noir. After getting a personally guided tour by the fellow who manages the vineyard for Ken and Patti, sometime-vintner Mike Edwards showed off by crushing a few handsful of grapes in the machine he toted from home. This is the Kosiches's first harvest from the vines planted four years ago.
Because the winery is not bonded by the state, Ken and Patti may not commercially sell any of the wine they bottle, although they are permitted to sell the fruit to other wineries.
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| Hosts Extraordinaire! |
Thank you again, Ken and Patti, for the wonderful afternoon and the splendiferous hospitality. Whilst sipping beverages of our respective choice, some of us watched the San Francisco Giants lose a game to the Padres, but SF clinched the division title the following day. They thus face off against the Atlanta Braves. The outcome of this series was unknown as we went to press. GO GIANTS!
One enthusiastic attendee suggested aloud that Operation Vineyard be made an annual event. We can imagine how enthusiastic Patti would be to this proposition.
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| Congratulations Mr Cal leader. |
Don Reichert, who although not a charter member is close to it, was the focus of attention on two matters of topical interest. His Fitness Peeks, brandishing a tearsheet from the Oakland Tribune, asked Don to explain the notoriety he had garnered by dint of an article in this august organ. He even had his mug pictured. Seems that the paper was doing a series on "The Greatest Generation," of which Don is a member in very good standing, he being a member of the Cal engineering class of 1950. (He says he plans to return to campus on November 19 to celebrate his 60th reunion. Yikes!)
Was this sufficient notoriety for one meeting? Nay. Cal Lee asked him and wife Gwen to come forth to accept a special recognition - pins for
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| King and Queen of Sapphires! |
each signifying their respective new levels of support of the Paul Harris Foundation. Each $1,000 donated translates to one sapphire on said pin. The pin handed him by Cal sports no fewer than FIVE. Yikes! That given Gwen has two. Even if you were not a math major, you probably can tote up how much they have contributed as a couple. Thank you, Don and Gwen, for all you have done for our club and for Rotary
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| way to go Mom and Dad! |
International over the years. The club and RI are both better for your active and generous and selfless participation. Not incidentally, their daughter, Sue, was in attendance as a guest to witness the milestone ceremony.
Hard act to follow. Undeterred, the selfsame Buddy Burke, he of BlackBerry fame, announced that additional hands are needed for fence work at Las Trampas, the Lafayette-based nonprofit we have been supporting in one fashion or another the past several years. Buddy estimates that the work - to be performed on Saturday, Oct. 16 - calls for roughly 11 people. Oh, what the heck, let's round up to an even dozen. If you can help - and you don't need fence-building experience on your DIY resume - contact either Buddy or Gillett Johnson, who, like Buddy, is intimately involved with Las Trampas.
Prez Peeks announced that Sunday, Oct. 24, is Rotary World Polio Day
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| Head walker leads the way. |
at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. A series of events are scheduled, starting at 11:30 with a Polio Walk - billed as a "leisurely stroll of 1.5 miles" - on the waterfront. Entry fee of $25 nets each participant a commemorative T-shirt, wristband, event lapel pin and even a certificate signed by RI President Ray Klinginsmith. The program concludes with a Ferry Building Light at 7:00 p.m. Ray and District Governors will literally illuminate the building clock tower amid renewed pledges to End Polio Now. For the benefit of those who may not be aware, contrary to widespread belief in this country, polio has NOT been eradicated. We are drawing ever closer, but a few knotty pockets remain in Africa.
PROGRAM
Our guest speaker, introduced by Steve Ware, was Thomas McCormick, mayor of Orinda, who came to clue us in on what are considered front-burner issues.
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| Mayor McCormick speaks out |
Orinda has something of a split personality in that its public schools are rated among the best in the state and its road among the worst. "Best of times, worst of times," said McCormick, quoting an author whose surname is Dickens.
Like all cities in California - which still calls itself the Golden State - Orinda faces a budgetary crisis, even though, according to the Contra Costa Times, it ranks among the "best-run" cities in the East Bay, in no small part because Orinda operates on a balanced budget, a claim not every city in the county - or elsewhere in the state - can make. In the past year, since McCormick became mayor, the budget was pared by four percent and the budgeting cycle moved from one year to two, so the view from behind the steering wheel is enhanced.
Another budgetary accomplishment he points to is reducing last year's city budget by four percent and capping taxpayer dollars paid into the retirement program of city employees at 35 percent of compensation, at parity with what he termed the "load" factor for all employees nationwide. (By comparison, he noted, the contribution to California
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| Don't get me started! |
state employees averages 50 percent and for firefighters, 112 percent. Twenty-three cents of every tax dollar collected goes toward firefighters' pension fund.) He noted, not parenthetically, that in the past year there have occurred no layoffs of city employees, although a total of 12 mandatory "furlough" days were imposed, as was the case for state employees.
Of each property tax dollar collected, 50 cents goes in support of schools compared with 23 cents for fire protection. Out of a total budget of approximately $10 million, only $1 million is earmarked for road repair, nowhere near enough, he said, and yet ballot measures to increase taxes to patch pavement keep hitting ballot-box potholes. In recent years, not one but two attempts at winning voter approval to bump taxes for road improvements have failed, albeit narrowly (as is true in Lafayette).
As if the road-improvement roadblock weren't enough of a challenge, another is what to do about water pressure for fire hydrants, which, he said, are perilously low in certain spots around town.
A major impediment to raising taxes for anything, he said, is that fully half of the residents are retired and many of them live in houses protected by the no-no's of Proposition 13. On the other hand, he said, only a third of Orindans have children attending city schools.
He hastened to note that repairs recently made to Moraga Road in Orinda were funded with state and federal grants, not city revenue. So don't get to thinking that the city is sitting on a wagonload of gold bullion; it isn't.
Since becoming mayor a year ago, McCormick, who had previously served on the city council for four years, says he has worked assiduously in trying to make city departments more "user-friendly," citing the building-permit process as a key example.
Realistically, said McCormick, the only way to generate significant sums of added revenue the city cries for is to expand the retail tax base. A recent study, he said, indicates that 70 percent of the money Orindans spend on "incidentals" is collected by merchants not located in town. With this in mind, he is championing efforts to "revitalize" the business district anchored by Theatre Square.
A key component would be replacing the stretch of retail shops on Moraga Road between Brookwood (CVS/Pharmacy) and Nation's with taller, mixed-use structures that would feature housing units on the upper level. As one would expect, the proposal has won both bouquets and brickbats. "Some people just don't like the idea of change," he said. At this juncture, what form any "revitalization" effort that does materialize takes is anyone's guess.
Another idea being floated, he said, is very long-term in nature - somehow physically uniting the two halves of the city, which, unlike Lafayette and Moraga, was sliced in two by "upgrades" made to Highway 24 in the 1960s. The challenge, of course, lies in how any such connection is to be accomplished. Although it may be a pipedream, McCormick allowed, there is talk of transforming the BART station complex into a retail hub. "Sales tax dollars are critical to the future of any city in California," he stressed, adding a plug to vote next month for Proposition 22, which, he said, will enable cities statewide to keep more money "at home" as opposed to going to Sacramento.
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| Mayor blows 'em away |
Among questions from the floor following McCormick's formal remarks was one concerning the efforts by some citizens to get a power leaf blower ban put into effect. Last week a group calling itself Quiet Orinda appeared before the city council and succeeded in getting the issue placed on the formal agenda for discussion on November 16. Asked where he personally stands on the matter, he smiled and, employing politician-speak, answered to the effect that he hasn't made up his mind. "Think it will blow over?" the same questioner asked, eliciting laughter from McCormick and a tsunami of groans from the audience. Ed. Note (sorry Mr. cub reporter you don't get to dodge responsibility for this "groaner").
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for the update on the state of the city. You are welcome back anytime, and no need to bring a leaf-blower. We generate plenty of our own hot air.
CALENDAR
10/15 Josh Cooley, Pixar
10/22 District 5160 Governor, Karl Diekman
10/28 Pumpking Carving, Garden Park Apartments 5 p.m.
10/29 Expose yourself, TBA
11/4-7 District Conference, Old Town Sacramento
11/5 Steve Falk, Lafayette City Manager
11/9 Board meeting
11/19 Candy Pierce, Rotary Foundation
HOME TEAM CALENDAR
November 13, January 8, March 5, April 30, June 25
