Proud to Be an American
-by Jim Hallett
It was Monday, February 3, 2020, and President Dave Gendron celebrated Groundhog Day (ah, that 6 am alarm) while we celebrated Kobe Bryant’s example of hard work and perseverance…..Our guests included our Assistant Governor, Bob Kelchner, and Rod Uyeda, former club member and former Manhattan Beach Police Chief, now working at USC…..We learned that the Gates Foundation is once again extending its commitment to End Polio Now…..We offered up an extended standing ovation for new American citizen Nina Patel….Tim James Auringer announced that the MBMS Interact Club raised $400 for the Friendship Foundation.
State of the City
Rich Montgomery, who becomes Mayor on March 3, introduced our City Manager, Bruce Moe, for a State of the City talk. It was a power-packed speech. The city is displaying art pieces by local artists. We have a new city logo (the pier, of course), which will appear on new way-finding signage. Our $128 million city budget is balanced, as is our General Fund at $75 million (mostly police and fire). Pensions continue to loom as a funding problem. The recently voter-approved hotel transient occupancy tax (TOT) is now at 12% and could rise to 14%. Barring emergency, the best way to get quick city attention is to call 310-545-4566. The city is promoting solar. Ordinances to prohibit vaping and tobacco sales are either here or upcoming. Enforcement of the prohibition of short term rentals is increasing. The city now provides online permitting (a boon to builders). The Village Mall construction continues apace. A parks master plan is in development. Three districts have passed undergrounding. The city is opposing state initiatives to impose higher building height limits on localities like ours in the name of fighting homelessness.
Our 2020-21 Board
Tim Hageman announced his 2020-21 Board:
Sgt at Arms Jason Hearne
Family of Rotary Jan Rhees
“Certified Senior Advisor” Ian Jackson
Membership Dave Long
Treasurer Russ Samuels
Secretary Tom Zimmerman
Social Lisa Hemmat-Lupercio with Lynette Chiabai
Youth Shannon Ryan
International Nina Patel with Cedric Tuck-Sherman
Vocational Annie Hendrickson with Jim McFarland
Community Harrison Clay with Marcus Chang
Programs Jim Schlager
Past President Dave Gendron
And……drum roll……President Elect Jordan Holbert
Dave Wohl and the NBA
Our remarkable speaker was Dave Wohl, whose bio includes basketball at Penn and in the NBA (6 years) as a player, 30 years of assistant coaching and coaching in the NBA, and three years as the Clippers General Manager. Dave, a Hermosa resident, gave us an intense history of the NBA. 70% of NBA championships have been won by 5 teams. Some teams have never won. 1954 brought in the 24-second rule. The 70s featured upgraded facilities and new infusions of talent, including the ABA merger and free agency, with its ever-changing rules. The 80s were the Golden Age, with Magic & Bird, Michael and Nike, and global outreach with David Stern, all pumped up by ESPN and SportsCenter. The 90s included the Dream Team and an influx of European players. The 2000s, with cell phones and social media, speeded up everything, and free agents started creating their own super teams. Analytics and big data allowed for better cap management and enabled teams to put a dollar value on what a win is worth. Player health management became highly individualized with precise load management. Salaries rocketed.
Marble Obstacles
We started with thoughts of Kobe Bryant’s hard work and perseverance and ended with Dave Wohl’s memories of Kobe, for whom “obstacles were just another challenge to overcome.” Kobe is a good model for how our club can, should, and does overcome obstacles. Best of all, one of those obstacles looms before us as we approach our next meeting, and that is picking the white marble. We will have over $1000 in the pot, so come prepared to buy tickets.