Meeting Recap January 5, 2016
Posted by Jim Culleton
on Jan 07, 2016
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President Dave Cohen welcomed everyone back from the holidays. John McIntyre (Mercy Foundation) announced a few prospective members and guests.
Kathe Nathan (Golden Pacific Bank) gave a cheery thought for the day and the greeters, Joe Grant (Northwestern Mutual Advisory) and Walter Dahl (Dahl Law, Attorneys at Law) were thanked.
Shahnaz Van Deventer of Powerhouse Science Center graciously thanked our Rotary club, as they were a beneficiary of our 100th Year Gala Celebration. The current site off of Watt and Auburn is being moved to the PG&E Power Station north of downtown near the river off of I-5. Deventer emphasized that the center will continue to educate, inform and inspire our youth. "The future generations will be supported by the infrastructure we lay now." Youth engaged in science will pay dividends for years to come. The new center will be 5 times the current size. As of now, the center reaches 80,000 constituents, but this will expand to 250,000 after ground is broken in 2016 with completion projected in 2017. Powerhouse science center has raised $33 million through grants and sponsorships, but there is still room to go. Rotary has donated over $400,000. Jon Snyder (Snyder Commercial Real Estate) graciously sponsored this announcement. (President Dave even hit him up with a fine when his son was lauded in the newspaper for recent theater performances!)
Mike Bullington (Pacific Advisors) acknowledged the "Blast" everyone had at the trap shoot over the weekend. Walter Dahl contributed to Thom Gilbert's (Gilbert Associates) next Eddie Mulligan for his first return trip to Vietnam since serving his country many years ago. Thom says it is still hot and humid, but no one fired at him this time. Eric Solis (Wells Fargo Advisors) celebrated with his family in Seattle while a niece performed in the local Nutcracker as Clara. Jon Snyder was recognized for his son's theatrical accomplishments. Virginia Wade (Safe Credit Union) said it is a company movement to be philanthropic at SAFE Credit union. Randy Friedman (United States Navy) is a new grandfather. Jim Phillips (The Energy Savers) celebrated his 86th birthday on 1/1/16. He recounted a story of his late father who over saw the Centennial Re-Run of the Pony Express in 1960. It had over 1000 riders and he was feted near Sutter's Fort shortly after he passed away.
Dick Noonan (California State Railroad Museum) introduced Police Chief Sam Somers, Jr. Somers, a 2nd generation officer, graduated from CSUS and received his Masters degree from CSULB. He has overseen growth and contraction. Before the downturn in the economy, Somers was in charge of hiring new candidates for the force. Total number reached 804 before budget cuts took 35%. The number of fell to 600 officers. In 2012, measure U helped rebuild the force. Somers made institutional changes through technology and collaboration. He worked with Sheriff Scott Jones to build relationships between the two forces including reaching out to the District Attorney's office. With This coordination also came an effort to reach local business and the community at large. They changed models for dealing with problems and went back to the tried and true; neighborhood watch. But the question remained: How do you bring social Media into neighborhood watch? They implemented data collection at all entry points. Four areas were broken up into 13 service areas. Beat officers were required to work two years (up from one) on the same beat. Somers achieved this through arbitration with the Union, thus improving the service of the Police force to the people. Technology helped in this area too. Input for tickets, Shots Fired locator technology, Blue light cameras at intersections, and license plate recognition all have contributed to the data the Sacramento Police force can mine to do their job better. Emerging issues will continue to be the homeless and transients. The old way, the "drunk wagon" has given way to the impact program. 12% of their duties are dealing with this problem. So a low estimate of 2 Million dollars is spent on staffs that have to continually deal with mental health problems, disturbances, etc.
President Dave reminded everyone to promote Rotary and meet next week at the Red Lion Hotel - Woodlake.