Rotary Weekly Update - June 23rd 2016

 
Summary of Ridgewood A.M. Rotary Breakfast Meeting - June 23, 2016
 
 
 
 
This day in History: not captured.
 
Happy Dollars:
  • Welcome to the Mayor of Glen Rock (several)
  • Installation Committee (several)
  • Congratulations to Vernon on installation (several)
  • Rotary Scholarship winner – Welcome to Brigit and her mother
  • Chris celebrating 48 years of marriage
  • Cook for breakfast – his mother celebrated her 100th birthday. His father is a young man at 96 years of age.
  • Ridgewood Nine Women’s winner (name not captured)
  • Happy Summer (several)
  • Dylan graduating from Ridgewood High School
  • Bill celebrated 58 years of marriage June 14th
  •  
  • Fund-raising marathon – raised $3350
  • Last payment – Humanitarian Fund
 
Guest Speaker - Bruce Packer, Mayor of Glen Rock:
  • Took non-traditional path to politics, working outside government for 20-25 years – asked permission of employer before running
  • 3 children – involved as coach of baseball and soccer
  • 4-5 years as advocate of turf field in Glen Rock. Became known locally through his work, and was approached by people to consider running for council and mayor.
  • Strong believer in finding ways to bring people together and communicating (having the dialog) in order to reduce divisiveness on differences. Mayor Packer’s regular postings on his monthly blog and current issues are well worth reading as examples of good communications (www.glenrockmayor.org).
  • Current Issues Discussed:
    • Gun control – talked about history and the concept of matching gun use to their application
    • Drug Prevention – increasing the efforts on education and being proactive in the community. Other nearby communities have significant drug use issues, and its influence touches Glen Rock
    • Meeting and working regularly with the Clergy in Glen Rock
    • Held memorial service in front of the Glen Rock town Hall to remember the victims of the Orlando tragedy – sends of message of support to the LGBT community
    • Age-restricted housing development and property taxes
    • Non-resident commuter parking (raises $130K annually) – finding ways to continue non-resident parking (e.g. second rail station) but re-using some of these funds to support downtown core arts and music events (brings people together).