March 7, 2014

   Reporter: Cal Lee     Editor: Ron Brown      Photographer: Leander Hauri                   

President:  Hays Englehart 2013 - 2014          

A DECENT SORT OF FELLOW (FOR AN ATTORNEY)

Cal know all, about Paul

Cal Lee gave a Thought by, of all people, Paul Harris, which is always appropriate in a Rotary gathering. Paul H. really cut to the chase on this one:   "The best way to win the esteem of others is by observing the simple rules of decency. If they won't accomplish the desired result, nothing will."

GUESTS

Rotarian types:

            Brian Dutler, Walnut Creek Lunch

            Bob Romano, same

Banner exchange with PA

 Clarence and Susan, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (and they'll be back)

Other:

            Jim Breedlove, first visit

            David Gerson & Patty Gonser, speakers

 The "it's been a while" category:

             Mike Edwards

              Paul Bettelheim

              John Kallio

OCCASIONS

Take time out for family b'day Hays

Our esteemed prez is always happy at birthday time, because daughter Erin's is one day before his, so it's a double blowout. This time, they went to the gallery opening for the new book of son-in-law Josh. $100 worth of happiness.

Michael knows how to do it

Mike Edwards always has his anniversary on Valentine's Day. It's either a valentine saying happy birthday, or an anniversary card saying, guess what. This time, it was burgers and champagne on the beach, which is apparently how these Hawaiians do it. Mike went a little far when he tried to toss in $20 instead of the number of years of happy matrimony, 44. This was quickly corrected.

Ken lucked out again

Ken Kosich picked up on the age/$$ theme by contributing $40 in honor of Patti's age. They dined at the daughter-in-law's, so they got to take it easy.

Doing it right, Skip

Once again Skip McCowan showed his romantic nature for Linda's birthday, this time by cleverly scheduling a board of directors' meeting in Florida. However, he will make up for it by dining with the family tonight at the Cooperage (now why is that so special right now?). Skip was very firm on directing his $100 to the Club Endowment.

Great start, Ernie

Ernie Furtado joined the club in February, 2002, and enjoyed his first project - landscaping on an island by the freeway which turned out to have a cement slab under a half-inch of dirt. He enjoyed it $100 worth.

The stories sort of fizzled when the join-the-club celebrations went down to Thomas Peeks and Dave Eisenberg. They just were too modest.

THINGS TO DO

Brian, from Boundary Oaks

Certain swingers were licking their lips and rubbing their hands in anticipation as Brian and Bob from the Walnut Creek lunch club announced their first golf tourney, which will take place at Boundary Oaks on April 11th. People will be playing shotguns and selling Mulligans. A four person scramble, each team with at least one Rotarian, with such distractions as a hole-in-one contest. $85 per person.

It's Las Trampas Pat!

One of Pat Flaharty's favorite causes is Las Trampas, in which a number of members of our club are quite active. Pat would like even more participation. The Gala itself is $100/person for dinner, auction, entertainment. If you don't get there, you can still shoot for the $10,000 prize by ponying up $75/ticket. Or any amount would be appreciated to buy auction items. Or, indeed, donating auction items, which a half dozen of our members have done.

Get serious, Ron

Ron Brown indicated a new marketing effort was underway to support various fund raising efforts for Motorama and other events during the next Rotary year. He was looking for two or three words from each member as to why you show up each Friday, or generally why you are here. Little cards and pencils were passed out to collect exactly that information.

Board meeting on Tuesday at 6:00 at 89 Davis Street, Orinda.

Joint meeting with Moraga, somewhere in St. Mary's College, on April 8th, where the next level of the 4-way speech contest will be held. $18/person. Hays is reserving 10 spots.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Good guys Brad & Marty

Brad Davis can be forgiven for a little pride, although he sought to deflect the credit. Yesterday a mother and a six month-old baby moved into a Garden Park Apartment. Why was this an accomplishment? Well, it's a long way up from living under a bridge. Brad and his crew aren't just affecting lives, they're helping re-create them.

The Lafayette Tree Team, Tamara and Thomas!

Accomplishments are what Hays' Vocational 60 Seconds are all about. This time the surprise opportunity belonged to Thomas Raeth. Born and raised in Lafayette. Lafayette Tree & Landscape created by his dad in 1958. Tamara now runs it because of Thomas's back problem, and we all know how good Tamara is at running things. The work is of an outdoor nature - design/build landscaping. This outfit has been known to be of tremendous help to LSR projects over the years.

SCHOOL DAYS, SCHOOL DAYS, GOOD OLD GOLDEN RULE DAYS

The gold does kind of rule the schools in some respects.

Mr Gerson knows whereof he speaks

David Gerson was an attorney for 25 years, then saw the light and went into other things - including executive directorship of Loaves & Fishes, and the School Board of the Lafayette School District. Patty Gonser has been a volunteer for 22 years and very involved in the campaign for Measures A and B.

The Lafayette School District includes the four elementary schools and Stanley Middle School. The Acalanes High School District consists of Acalanes, Campolindo, Las Lomas and Miramonte High Schools. Both districts are looking to keep the parcel taxes in effect. Measure A is the Acalanes District; Measure B is the Lafayette District.

The Lafayette District has 450 employees and is the biggest employer in Lafayette. It is probably also the biggest landowner in the city, with rentals including the White Pony School property and all the school sports fields . Its budget is over $30 million this year, serving 3,453 students and 6,000+ parents.

So does Ms. Gonsor

The biggest revenue source is the State of California. Of the $8,800 used for each child, $6,000 comes from the State (49th place in the country). In Lafayette, we make up the difference with parcel taxes.

Two parcel taxes are expiring. Measure B combines them. The measure also provides that these taxes are permanent - Lafayette is the only one of the cities in our area which has a sunset clause. If the Measure passes, the taxes are being extended, not increased. Elimination of the sunset clause is important because as things now stand, every four years it is necessary to lay off teachers and then rehire them when the budget is settled. The parcel taxes are retained here, unlike property taxes which go up to the State and back.

The settlement of the budget is convoluted. The State budget initially comes out in January, the union requires layoff notices to go out in March, then in May the State budget is revised. Also, the State can defer portions of the funding, and the repeated deferrals have essentially made the "deferral" permanent.

One interesting limitation on the funds is that the parcel tax is just that - it doesn't matter whether the parcel is a single family dwelling or a 100-unit apartment building. There are 9,500 parcels in Lafayette.

The school district administrative costs are below the national average, therefore combining with Lamorinda elementary school districts would not have a huge benefit. The average teacher salary is around $65,000, with the full package including benefits being $80,000 to $90,000.

The voting process is by mail only, with the target date May 6th.

Folks over 65 are exempt from the parcel tax if they fill out some forms, but not surprisingly, they are encouraged to participate voluntarily. But since no one in our club is over 65, we don't have to worry about that decision.