The Pulse - October 11, 2016
Posted by Mike Bullington on Oct 13, 2016
President Dan opened the meeting with a light commentary of the presidential debates, indicating that he had at least watched it. He then thanked Bill Proffit (Land Park Ski & Sport) for the wine and Norm Marshall (Headwaters Constructions Inc.) for bringing it. He acknowledged the tunes spun by Kevin Williams (KVIE) and Aaron French (Zanker Recycling), and Michael Bullington (Pacific Advisors LLC) for piano accompaniment. Also acknowledged were greeters Bob McClean (McClean & Tillotson Construction) and “always a Marine” Jaclyn Kirkwood the (Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento). Set up was done by Steve Horton (United Cerebral Palsey Association of Greater Sacramento) and the indefatigable Ted White (Sacramento Delta Property Management).
The thought for the day was provided by Steve Huffman. He led us in a prayer for Almighty God’s wisdom, charity and justice in our public servants, especially acknowledging out guest speaker.
President Dan led us in the Pledge. Our sergeant of arms, Robin DeLong (Coldwell Banker) introduced our guests: Jamie Furlong, the granddaughter of Mead Kibbey, and Isabelle Gaillard, the aid for Ms. Ashby; prospective members: Eric Dewey of the Group Dewey Consulting, sponsored by Linda States (Law Office of Linda D. States), Leslie Hayes of the Lymphoma Leukemia Society, sponsored by Jim Streng and Shaye Shrick of Delfino Madden, sponsored by President Dan.
Our meeting was sponsored by the honorable Brian Van Camp (ADR Services), who as rider in the Sacramento Century, treated us to an entertaining slide show of the event. We travelled with him through sun-dappled sloughs and tree shaded lanes, perfect weather, a saloon in Clarksburg, and then suffered with him as he recounted his flat tire caused when he was run off the road into prickly weeds by a truck driver near Bogle Winery. He wandered into a property that advertised Cox’s Cycle Repair (or something of that nature) and found himself being attended by the owners of College Cyclery on Freeport Blvd., a business Brian has frequented. They worked on the special stem in his tire and had him on his way with a Swedish designed pump that he could later return. Ever the intrepid cyclist, he refused SAG wagon assistance so that he could complete his century ride. He later returned the pump with a bouquet of flowers from Relles to Allison Cox, his hero.
Alice Sauro, Executive Director of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, was inducted as a new member, sponsored by PP Fred Teichert (Teichert Foundation) and Dick Osen. Dick Osen did the honors by telling us about how she was raised in the Twin Cities in Minnesota to a family of musicians. She is a Julliard-trained violinist who has performed internationally. She had a leadership role with the Detroit Symphony, working with famed director Leonard Slatkin, for four years, until 2015. Dick was serving on the board of the Philharmonic and Opera as it resumed its operation after a brief hiatus, when consultants from Detroit were called in as part of the resuscitation effort. They spoke highly of Alice, whose husband of 31 years, David, was in the process of a work transfer to San Francisco at precisely the same time. Wow! Dick, accordingly, spoke highly of Alice’s energy, compassion and love for her work, adding that she has performed above and beyond all expectations. They have three children and three grandchildren. Alice loves to sew her own dresses and clothes for her children – if and when she has the time.
President Dan advised our newest member to sit next to someone new at every event. With tongue firmly ensconced in his cheek, he assured that she would have a 50-50 chance of meeting someone she’d enjoy talking with, by turning to each side. He then entrusted her pinning to sponsor Dick Osen.
Jim Phillips announced the cancellation of the Yosemite trip due to forecasted bad weather. He promised to keep us informed about an upcoming snow shoe trip.
Todd Andrews (Andrews Construction) thanked all of those that were part of a very successful Sacramento Century. He is looking to replace himself as the head of that effort next year.
April Javist (Sacramento Public Library Foundation) acknowledged Jeff Curcio (Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP), Dennis Smith (Tsakopoulos Management Company, LLC) and Nancy Teichert (Writer) for her help in the Walk for Literacy, encouraging us to get involved and participate in the April book drive.
PP Rob Scherer (Dale Carnegie Training) complimented PP Brian Van Camp on his slide presentation and recommended another year as president. He then made an impassioned appeal for more sponsors, saying that we have 32 openings. According to a survey he has personally conducted, members that sponsored a lunch saw personal business increase 200% as did their number of friends, income tripled and – get this – pay attention now – they pay no income tax in retirement. Clearly he was REACHING, reaching out to our entire constituency. President Dan chimed in with some mention about the Four Way Test, with a possible reference to PP Scherer.
President Dan reminded us about the District Dinner and the availability of two tables. He will be there.
Skip Lawrence and Cookie celebrated their anniversary in New York and brought him back a lovely refrigerator magnet, in hopes that he would not be fined again for the rest of the year. Perhaps Skip’s magnetic personality can provide him with immunity, but his wishful thinking is wishful indeed.
Jim Mattesich (Greenberg Traurig) recently accomplished a big item on his bucket list, a trip to Peru with his wife Patty, and made a visit to the Cuzco club, est. 1927. He presented President Dan with a trifecta of a banner, three Rotary magazines in Spanish, and a very warm and spiffy looking head cover, which he financially enticed President Dan to wear throughout the meeting. Given his present scarcity of a natural hair cover, President Dan gladly assented, casting aside any concern for how foolish he might look. An unintended consequence was the continuing distraction he provided throughout Ms. Ashby’s presentation.
Jim Relles (Relles Florists) complimented President Dan on his new look and announced the 70th anniversary celebration of the Relles Floral Business, started on October 19, 1946, by his Dad. The event will be held at his location downtown at 2400 J Street, Sacramento, CA this coming Wednesday, October 19th, beginning at 9 AM. In what Jim called “Petal It Forward” promotion, he will award the first 200 visitors twin bouquets of flowers – one for themselves and the other to give away to someone they appreciate, so that all can enjoy the magic of a floral gift. In addition, any Rotarian who comes in regardless of the time WITH THEIR PIN ON he will make sure they get a bouquet.
Pat Derickson (Stafford King Wiese Architects) was recognized for his appearance in the Sacramento Business Journal, accepting recognition for being one of the 10 best projects benefiting the region – the design of the Los Rios Education Center for Folsom College in Rancho Cordova. Pat said that he felt like a champion and would pledge accordingly.
Amin Elmallah made two donations of $100 each for his two years working on the Sacramento Century and for the superlative performance of our club in carrying off the event.
Angelique Ashby was introduced by Laura Heintz (Stanford Youth Solutions), who reviewed her many accolades, and who had worked with her at the Yolo Crisis Nursery, going back 18 years. She then captivated our club with her wisdom, vision and energy.
She is a business owner and has been representing Sacramento City’s District 1 since 2010. District 1 is the region’s most populous district, with 106,000 residents, as of the 2010 census, located in the northwest section of the City. It is over twice as large as any of the other 7 districts, with the exception of District 8 (61,000). District 1 includes the new arena and the Natomas area where Angelique resides with her husband Zac, sons Nate and Tyus, and daughter Alia, nicknamed Peanut (the name choices selected by the boys were Ninja and Peanut). Zac is a nurse/nurse manager in the emergency unit at Sutter.
She began her remarks by saying that after surveying our club, that she would never want to be president of it. One could surmise that she was taking note of President’s folic privation, perhaps speculating on a similar demise for those following in his footsteps, a fear that should have been easily dismissed. She did compliment him on his lovely eyes, which were all the easier to see without the concealment of his once cascading locks.
Angelique spoke about running for mayor against next week’s speaker, Darrell Steinberg, and how the outcome was a win-win, allowing her to continue to serve her beloved district. She is most certainly a “glass half-full” person, that endearing quality that characterizes our own membership. She’d make a great Rotarian, wouldn’t she?
She spoke at length about the challenges that females face in running for public office, reminding us that Tuesday was the UN’s Day of the Girl. She observed that women were experiencing a rising rate of success at achieving public office in the 90’s, but that has since tailed off. Angelique encouraged any women that want to serve in public office to reach out to her.
She related about being born in Ashland, Oregon and moving here at 10, when her Dad took a position with the Criminal Justice Planning Division. He later became head of Foster Care for the State. Angelique was mentored and inspired by Betsy Marchand, who was the 1st woman on the Yolo board of supervisors and served for six terms before retiring in 1996. However, she said that she had zero interest in politics and instead pursued a career in social work, reflecting her baccalaureate degree from UC Davis. She joined Families First, having been impacted by her father’s work with foster kids. She became intimately familiar with food stamps and low income housing during that time. She used Child Action – was the first person in Sacramento to do this, trendsetter that she is - to pay for law school at McGeorge, where she enrolled in their night program. She recalled some professors expressing opposition to her participation in the program with the notable exceptions of Fred Galvez and a certain Professor Dahl. She related an enduring life lesson when she had to make a decision about missing one of Professor Galvez’s classes or be with 4-year-old Nate on Halloween. The professor had a rule about dropping the student’s grade by half on a 3rd absence. Since this was going to be her 3rd, she appealed to him for leniency. He told her that she needed to miss the class AND accept the consequences with her grade, which dropped her from an A- to a B+. She said that it taught her to not make any excuses, no matter how compelling they might appear, and to live with the consequences of her decisions.
When she ran for council in 2010, she accomplished the unusual feat of knocking out an incumbent of 20 years. She’s now a senior member of the Council and has described her colleagues as having servants’ hearts and are the kind you want to have in the car behind you in the event of an accident.
She cited her considerable pride in claiming Sacramento as her home and in representing District 1, which has one of the top 10 zip codes in the nation in terms of diversity, and where 38 different languages are spoken on its campuses. However, she lamented the lack of participation by women in local politics and described the process by which women can come up through the ranks. She explained how who is making the rules determines how we address issues like breast-feeding, which impacted her as a mom returning from maternity leave three years ago. Before that women would accomplish this in bathrooms and cars.
She emphasized her philosophy of governance, that regardless of where we come from, we all want the same things. She closed her presentation by saying that it’s not where you start, but where you end up and then opened it up for questions.
Bob Rosenberg (Inve$tnet Inc) queried her about whether or not building the arena was the right thing to do. She responded by saying that it was a great decision, funded by parking fees and not tax dollars. She described a team effort to come up with a solution that was a win-win for everyone, particularly citing the Treasurer’s role and her continuing amazement that they actually accomplished it. She spoke favorably about Councilman Rosen, in the adjacent District 3 downtown, whom she worked especially closely with in the arena project.
She then addressed the 180 acres in Natomas designated for re-use – the cite of the old arena. Her role in the deal was to codify that terms of the re-use, allowing the Kings to take over the bonds that finance the property and charging them with the responsibility of bringing in high value businesses that will generate that type job opportunities and economic drivers that the new arena would have generated, had it been located there. She cited the Kings’ progress in paying off Maloof debts and in initiating studies by real estate and development groups to determine best use, as well as rejecting preliminary requests to locate businesses there that fall outside the scope of best use. It is clear that the councilwoman will be keeping a close eye and staying involved.
Jeff Stone (John O Bronson Co/HUB Int'l) acknowledged the accomplishment of providing us with the arena and then asked about her vision for Sacramento. With her time quickly closing, she responded in rapid fire by saying that she wants to see our city become greater in terms of residents more energetically participating in what makes us great. More use of light rail, 30% more use of parking facilities (which, incidentally, fund the arena). She contends that the arena should be a catalyst for bringing everything else up to speed. She advocates improvements to our theatre and then making the Convention Center a worthy representation of our state. She wants to spend the next 10 years focusing on making Sac State all that it can be in terms of graduation rates, quality of academics, and so on. Flood protection in the Pocket area is a concern of hers, as is quality of life in the residential areas, funding of our parks and a resolution to the water issue with Southern California.
All of this without notes and with as many ideas per breath as any speaker we’ve seen and will see. Bravo!
Robyn DeLong closed the meeting with a reminder that Darryl Steinberg, the new mayor, will be our speaker at our meeting next week – same time, same place.