Meeting Notes - November 15, 2016

 

Mountain View Rotary Club

November 15, 2016

Meeting Notes by Twana

                                                              
Greeter & Thought for the Day:  Twana Karney recognized that Veterans’ Day was on November 11 and took the opportunity to thank veterans at the Club, their family members who are veterans and a general thanks to all our Troops.
 
Introduction of Visitors:  Scott Johnson introduced visitor Jan Carey.
 
Vocation Spotlight: Dick Lubman: Dick reminded us all to wear our Rotary pins to the meetings and when we are out and about, since we never know who we are going to meet! He surveyed the club and found that around 10 club members had Rotary plaques in their office. He then explained that the Rotary 4-Way Test was developed to save a company from going out of business and was adopted in 1934. 
 
Phil Army and Bruce Barsi gave their vocational talks.
 
Briefly, Phil’s grandparents come to this area from Italy at the turn of the 20th century. Phil was the first in his family to go to college and attended SJSU to become a band teacher. He then decided to apply to dental school in Chicago and was accepted. Phil married in 1952 and graduated from dental school in 1954. He took over a practice in Sunnyvale before opening his office in Mountain View. He joined Rotary in 1977 when his friend Jim Cunningham was president. He retired in 1992 after 40 years of practice that he loved. His son Greg became a dentist and took over his practice.
 
Jim Cunningham and Dick Lubman both thanked Phil for covering for them in their own practices and generally being extremely helpful and welcoming.
 
Bruce Barsi knew at the age of 5 that we wanted to be a cop. He grew up in this area. In 1977, he became a police officer in San Mateo, working on traffic tickets, then narcotics and then investigations. He was promoted to Sergeant and started the first gang prevention unit in San Mateo. He went to Millbrae as a Captain. In 1999, he came back to Mountain View as a Captain in the MVPD. His philosophy is not busting heads; he recognizes that there are many good people out there.
 
 
SPEAKER INTRO: Dick Lubman will introduce our speaker today, Greg Unangst, Board Member of Stevens Creek Trail
 
 
Speaker Greg Unangst is retired from Lockheed Martin and now serves on several bicycle/environmental boards. The board that he spoke about was the Friends of the Stephen’s Creek Trail and Wildlife Corridor.   www.stevenscreektrail.org.
 
The concept for the Steven’s Creek Trail was developed as early as 1961 by the County of Santa Clara County. In 1992, building began on the trail, using leftover City paving material near the Mountain View levees. This first segment was 1.5 miles long and was done over a weekend.
 
The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail formed shortly after this. Their mission became to complete a trail and wildlife corridor from the SF Bay to the Santa Cruz Mountains. To date, 5 miles of trail have been completed through Dale Avenue in Mountain View. Approval has been received to extend the trail to MVHS but is awaiting funding.
 
In 2012, citizens from of Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Los Altos started a joint working group and delivered a report in 2015 to recommend the route for the next segments of the trails. The citizen’s group has disbanded and the work is now being done by city staffs.
 
The hope is to ultimately connect to Steven’s Creek Blvd, although at least one neighborhood along the proposed route is opposing the trail.
 
Each year, the Trailblazer Race is held in Mountain View as a major fundraiser for the Friends. Greg thanked Rotary for our support.
 
The Trail also serves as a wildlife corridor, since the creek is one of the more natural creeks in the area. A $50K grant has been awarded to eliminate fish barriers in the creek.
 
General Club Announcements:
 
  • Thanks to Twana for providing dessert today.
  • Dave Cole & Jim Cunningham – Updates on Community Service Projects
Thanks to Scott, Walt, Tom and Sheila for volunteering at CSMA.
On December 3rd, there is an opening at CSMA – contact Dave if interested.
Hopes Corner is November 19 from 9-11 am.
We are volunteering at CSA’s Holiday Sharing in December.
  • Bruce Barsi – Cops & Gobblers is this Sunday at 9am.
  • District Governor Partner’s Project…Read Me A Picture – Judy Hannemann asked club members to donate money to buy books to donate to the MVWSD. Goal is $700.
  • Scott Johnson – Holiday Party is on Saturday, December 10.
  • Social ideas, would like to get a few people together to plan, anyone what to volunteer to help plan this?
  • Alan Goodman announced that Crab Season is on!!! Typically, it is the last Saturday night in January, which is Jan. 28th this year.
 
  •  Personal Sharing & Announcements
Fred Storek announced that the “Big Game” between Stanford and Cal is this weekend although Ken Schwaderer was not there to place a wager.
 
Other Club Announcements:
 
  • We have a board meeting this Thursday 11/17, 5 pm at CHAC
 
District Announcements:
 
  • District Conference scheduled for May 6-7 in Santa Cruz. If you would like information on hotels, please let me know.
  • RYLA, we must confirm if we will send our allocated spots, which is 4 by 11/30. Must pay for them by January 30th. (Heather)
  • Speech Contest is in February (Judy & Sanjay). The Area 9 contest will be hosted by the Los Altos Sunset Rotary Club on March 14.
  • There is a new Passport Club. Meets the first Saturday of each month in Milpitas. They want to assist other clubs with their projects and are ready to volunteer.
  • The RI International President’s Dinner is January 3 at 6 pm and SJ DoubleTree, cost is $85.
 
Auction:
Our Auctions are going great…our next Auction will be December 13th….please let us know if you have anything you would like to donate as an Auction Item.
 
And remember…“Make the World A Better Place!”
 
Our International theme for 2016-2017 is “Rotary Serving Humanity”
 
Our District Governors call to action is “Attract the Young, Have Lots of Fun, Get More Done! And our Clubs call to action is: “Make the World A Better Place!”
 
Next Week:
No meeting next week, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Our speaker for 11/29 will be: Renee Zimmerman, Director at the YMCA and
Our 4fer for 11/29 will be Dennis Kobza.
 
Cops & Gobblers 2016 - thanks volunteers!