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Program for Friday November 8, 2002

Richard Lopez - SF Vessel Traffic Service

"If it were not for the VTS I would not be here writing this Newsletter",
Hint -- it has to do with a large freighter, very dense fog, one dark night, entering San Francisco harbor at 04:00, alone, on a small sailboat, without radar."

Door Duty: Paul Allen and George Alvarez

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Program for Friday November 15, 2002

Genevieve Graves, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar

Door Duty: Jim Bates and Charles Belcher

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Program of November 1, 2002

" Farms In Richmond?"

You bet ! And one particular dairy farm comes to mind. The cow is the City of Richmond and the two gentlemen furiously milking the cow are the firemen and police unions. And in the other corner of the barn we see the farmer (City Manager) screaming to the milkers that the cow cannot give anymore milk - "Be careful he says" when he suddenly interrupts himself in mid sentence to proclaim that he has a new idea that will generate more milk. He will impose a milk tax based on the amount of utility services that each farmer consumes - but the problem he explains to those milking the cow to death is that "the other farmers have to vote on the tax and they may vote it down". So much for the cow.

Of course this is a joke, but it is true to say that when you think of city finances you have to think public safety payrolls, which on average eat up around 60% of most city's general fund budgets.
Public safety unions are the classic special interest in local politics. They generously fund local candidates and they get out the vote to support those candidates. And in turn the cities are manipulated into giving the unions what they want and it is always more milk. This time around they were granted a 50% increase in retirement benefits (AKA 3% at 50). For example an officer that has 30 years of service at age 50 can retire at 30 years x 3%=90% of his last years pay for the rest of his life. This retirement benefit is not consistent with the private sector and the unions should be embarrassed to demand it from such a struggling community whose members are in many cases lucky to even have job. This retirement package is expected to cost the City of Richmond five million gallons next year and every year thereafter thus creating a 5 to 7 million-gallon milk

shortage unless of course the milk tax passes this Tuesday.

Bottom line I would hate to be in the position that our city Manager faces. Mr. Tuner's budget is +- 90 million. As indicated, deficits are his primary worry. Besides the increased retirement benefits, the city council has also passed a living wage ordinance which is the highest in the state, and is having to absorb a 25% increase in medical benefits for the city's 1,300 employees.

On the development front all is hopping, due to the city's proximity to San Francisco, its cheap land and accommodating city fathers. The list of projects under way include:
1.Kaiser is planning to build a new 38K surgical wing at the existing hospital that will employ 70 more people.
2.A variety of retail projects along with their much anticipated tax revenues are taking shape: Target, Lowes & a large grocery may locate at the end of Mcdonald; and Walmart is back sniffing at the old Macy's site at Hilltop.
3.On the affordable housing front we have 500 new units being built with the help of a Hope 6 grant, a 60 unit project on the parkway being built in conjunction with a relocated fire station at the parkway and Gertrude, and most importantly the Transit Village with 232 units half of them being affordable.
4.And finally all would not be complete without a solid dose of gentrification projects of which there are many: At Brickyard Cove we have, 242 units of expensive homes, groundbreaking due Fall of '03; There is also Seacliff Estates which is 170 homes on the Hill behind Brickyard Cove; At Marina Bay we have 350 apartments next to the Ford plant being developed by Archstone and Poe; Poe is also developing 192 live work units next to Salute's; And finally we have the old Ford plant -- Mr. Turner can't imagine what is going to go in there except an imaginarium and some light industrial leasing.
5.Other important projects include: The Zeneca site now owned by Simeon properties-yeah, the same guy who just put a chain around the doors of Berkeley Process Controls on Canal; A 500K SF R&D park called Edgewater Technology park on the parkway, a 147 Room Extenda-Stay at Regatta, and the important redesign of Civic Center which will likely be a remodel instead of a complete tear down.

And to quote President Dave "When Mr. Turner has time to sleep, I do not know."

Thank You Isaih Turner.

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Last Meeting:
President Dave quotes the great communicator, Ronald Reagan: "Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."

Visiting Rotarians:
·BOB MILLER an old Richmond member and now from the Folsom Rotary Club is glad to be let in the door. His grandfather, and father were also members of the Richmond Rotary club.

Sunshine Report:

Guests:
JOEY BAGS introduced a friend and customer of his, Ben Daily.
Steve Duran was also introduced and is the new head of the City of Richmond Economic Development dept.

Announcements
December 13th, will be the Christmas Auction. JIM BEAVER will be contacting all of you to see what kinds of auction items you can donate. Successful items in past years include sailboat trips on the bay, use of Vacation condo's, and President Dave contributes a complete Trust and Estate plan - which I bought last year and was very pleased with. So expect a call from JIM BEAVER. The Christmas party will be held like last year at JOE GREEN'S Brickyard Cove community room also on Dec 13.
$ Must be in this Friday for Reno train trip.
DAN E. announced that the annual Peres school haunted house was a success this year. Dracula was none other than your editor. The other Rotarians in attendance were: DAN E. (hairy monster), LESLIE L. (witch), JOEY BAGS (scared face monster), DICK KING (MIB), TOM SCHNEIDER (Boy Scout), JOE THOMAS (assistant monster), AND JOE GREEN (City Librarian). 5000 pieces of candy were handed out and we scared them to death.
Sophia Wairth made it to the GES final and the
final selections will be made in January.
·Herb Cole has to turn his trip to Ghana around midway because his mother-in -law passed away. DAN A, AND JUDY have not been heard from yet --stay tuned.

The District Governors invite you to attend:
The Rotary International Presidential Dinner
Jan 3,2003 in Monterrey, Ca

Coming Speakers
11/22/02 Yossi Amrani - Counsul General of Israel
11/29/02, No Meeting
12/13/02 Holiday Auction
01/03/02, Michael Hingson, Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Recognitions

Happy/Sad $$
·DAVID N. has a happy $5 to celebrate the success of his relative John N. who was written about in the The Wall Street Journal. His relative has achieved an altitude record of 22,000 feet in a hot air balloon. The most interesting part of the story involved the method he used to decrease altitude. He popped one balloon at a time with a needle.
·JOEY BAGS has a happy $5 for all the whining Giants fans because it made him feel at home.
·EARL has a happy $1 because he found his pen or should I say the one that walked off with his pen --the infamous TED SMITH.
·JOE NUSBAUM has a happy $5 for his wife who has just returned from the hospital after a successful operation - he says, "I am now glad that she can get back to the laundry and such". For this JOE N. wins the "foot in mouth" award this week.
·TED SMITH, has a happy $5 to see Steve Duran return to his hometown.

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Raffle:
Our guest Steve Duran won a free lunch at a later date with Richmond Rotary for graciously pulling the white ball.

Flywheel Editor:
Mark Howe