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Program for Friday March 14, 2003

Joe Samuels, Chief of Police for the City of Richmond

Door Duty: Charlie Fender and Diana Becton Smith

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Program for Friday March 21, 2003

Don Arnold - Indian Gaming in Richmond

Door Duty: Michael Fenley and Hans Shaper

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Program of March 7, 2003

Anna Vega

Tom Butt introducted our guest speaker, a past member of the Club, Anna Vega. Anna is an Assistant City Manager and Finance Director of Richmond. She provided a mid-year review of City finances and discussed the economic outlook. The City's 2003 revenue budget is $237 million and the mid year revenues are right on target at $111.5 million. The expenditure budget for 2003 is about $205 million, of which $95 million have been disbursed. The State is projecting a $34.6 billion shortfall this year and the Governor's proposals will have an enormous impact on Richmond. In addition, County funding to the City will be reduced by 10%. As a result, the City is projecting a $5.1 million deficit by June 30, 2003. The City Manager will present a $3 million restructure plan to the City Council that will include cutting 70 positions to right-size the organization. Areas that will not be impacted are public safety, recreation, abatement and cost recovery programs. Difficult times for the City, but it warms my heart to hear the phrase "right-sizing" in use in City government. Thank you Anna for a superb presentation.

Recognitions
Dr. Herb discovered a Club Member listed at CBSMarketwatch.com who turns out to be an expert on 15 Ways to Trigger an IRS Audit - George Egan admitted his article was paramount to advertising and found $20 in his wallet. Check's in the mail Erle Brown celebrated yet another birthday with a contribution to polio plus. Don Lau celebrated an anniversary that included a family vacation, a trip to spring training and a check for the Community Fund. Bill Reid admitted to another birthday as long as we didn't sing to him. In a moment of eloquence, Doc Miller helped us celebrate the new medicine that combines Viagra with ExLax - You come and Go at the same time.

Happy/Sad $$
Tom Butt was happy he didn't get sued and sad his dog bit John Medlock twice during a relationship building exercise. The dog is fine. Dan Ercolini read thank you cards from Peres School students for the Club's work. Jim Young had more happy dollars(finding a new scribe) than sad (War in Iraq). We were all happy to see Joe Kelman on a visit. Erle Brown thanked the Club for the recent support and, back from Mexico, he reported that Prez Dave is having the time of his life in Puerto Vallarta. Dr Herb was happy for the exquisite Progressive Dinner that Jan Brown, Don Hardison, and mates (who probably did all of the work) staged for the Christmas Auction winners. The cost of this item just went up!.

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Last Week
With our esteemed Skipper on liberty in Margaritaville, Vice President-elect Dr. Herb took duty at the podium. Joey Bags was asked to lead the pledge - we had the option of substituting "under God" with either "under Canada" or "above Mexico".

John Nicol gave the Thought for the Day - "When you Die, if there is another Place, Live in Bliss. If not, Live in This".   John also announced that our April 11 and 18 meetings will be held at La Strada Restaurant due to galley repairs at the Mira Vista.

Guests:
PDG Werner Schwarz introduced his guest, Club member George Alvarez - back from his travels with 4 new Mona Lisa's.

Visiting Rotarians
Bill Sturgeon, classification Attorney-Honest(must be a small group), provided an update on polio eradication. Bill is a PDG and Chair: Polio Eradication for District 5150(San Francisco #2). Bill observed that the two great successes in disease eradication are smallpox and polio, and that polio has been the greater task. Rotary is receiving an increasing amount of good publicity as victory nears - about two years away. Bill gave quotes from recent news articles, such as "Rotary not only energized the campaign against Polio, but gave it heart and soul". A magnificent success for Rotary

Announcements
Paul Hodgen reaffirmed how easy our Christmas in April houses will be this year - that's why we are doing two! April 26 is the date.

Dr. Werner gave a report on Father Chris - recovering at Doctor's Hospital.

District 5160 will have its Conference, "Festival in Fairfield", in Fairfield April 24th-27th complete conference details can be found @ http://www.rotary5160.org./conference.htm.

The Rotary License Plate program has until March 15th to get 2,500 new sign-ups. You have more time if you thought about getting a Rotary License Plate but did not act. A good reason to participate in the program is because our club gets 50% +/- of the fee collected by the State. More information is available @ http://www.ca-rotarylicenseplates.org.

The RI Convention for 2003 will be in Brisbane Australia Registrants from our District are eligible for the Visa known as Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) provided they hold a US Passport. They can apply online or through a travel agent. To apply online have them visit: http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/index.html.
Both a Passport and Visa are required, and you don't want to be "stopped at the gate" because a Visa has not been ordered early enough for travel to Australia.

Coming Speakers
March 28 - Gretchen Glover, EBMUD

Raffle
With $277 in the raffle bag, Jim Cannon won the chance to play. But alas….

And thanks to Jim Young for your solid Flywheel contributions over the past months.

Your new yeoman,
Semper Paratus