Dinner for 4 at Le Crocodile including French champagne, 5-course a-la-carte dinner & dessert, wine, and valet parking.
Impeccable service with flair, never pretense or fanfare. Le Crocodile blends traditional French cooking with innovative Westcoast style.
Value: approx. $600
WHAT
Two nights at The Listel Hotel, Whistler for 2 people, dinner for two with wine pairings at the Bearfoot Bistro, and two tickets for 8th Annual Bearfoot Bistro World Oyster Invitational and Bloody Caesar Battle on November 18th.
Enjoy the very special World Oyster Invitational and Bloody Caesar Battle in Whistler BC on November 18th. Enjoy the atmosphere of Whistler village, visit the art gallery, experience the peak-to-peak gondola while you are there. End your first day with dinner at the Bearfoot Bistro and then snuggle up in the Listel Hotel, Vancouver for the night. The next day will bring the oyster shucking and Caesar bartender contest, an experience not to be missed followed up by another blissful night's rest in the Listel Hotel.
Value: approx. $1200
WHAT
Six nights at your choice of one of five Mayan Palace in Mexico.
Enjoy 5 Star accomodations at your choice of 5 Mayan Palace resorts in Mexico. Spend 6 nights in a beautifully appointed room for 2 people. Stay in Puerto Valuarta, Mazatlan, Puerto Penasco, Nuevo Valuarta, or Riviera Maya.
The pools, grounds and activities all await you. Entertainment and golf are available.
A special arrangement has been made for the all-inclusive add-on to be available for only USD199 per person for the length of the stay.
Monday October 29th at 6:00 p.m. (light refreshments will be served)
RSVP:
Kamyar Asadibeiky, 604-727-5176
__________________________________________
District 5040 is Proclaiming World Polio Day
on October 24th
District 5040 contingent including our own John Bathurst accepting the City of Vancouver's World Polio Day, Wednesday October 24, 2018, from Mayor Gregor Robertson.
Brian Finley (D5040 Polio Chair), John Bathurst (AG Vancouver), Gregor Robertson (Vancouver Mayor), Jag Dhillon (Vancouver Arbutus), Ron Suzuki (Vancouver Sunrise), Dianna Smith (Vancouver Arbutus)
Upcoming Events please click on the titles for more info for specific events
President-elect Bill Davidson chaired the meeting and gave the invocation. President Brian Street has been called away for jury duty.
Don Evans accompanied us on the piano for the singing of O Canada.
Joe Lopushinsky, Sergeant-at-Arms, introduced visitors and guests.
President's announcements:
Red Carpet Ball update:
The Daily Hive, a national e-paper, showed our event, CLICK HERE to read
Listen to CBC Early Edition around 8:00 a.m. to hear Fred Lee's spiel. He is intended to announce our event.
Auction update:
Courtesy of Rene Fluri, we have added to the experience auction a dinner for 4 at Le Crocodile including French champagne, 5-course a-la-carte dinner & dessert, wine, and valet parking. Value: ~ $600
Purdy's Chocolate Factory Tour for 10 has also been added. This is where you can discover the inner workings Purdy's Chocolatier with an exclusive private tour of their iconic chocolate factory kitchen. Value: Priceless!
Ticket sales update:
89 dinner & dance
29 dance only
5 donations, totalling to just over $5,600
Joan Posivy who is organizing the volunteers for the event made a plea for help. There are many positions available, including set up and take down, auction spotters, etc. If you are interested, please let Joan know.
Joan Posivy provided the Secretary's announcements:
reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above)
birthdays:Verona Edelstein Oct16
member anniversaries: none this week
wedding anniversaries: none this week
Special announcements and member's moments:
Bill Dauphinee let everyone know that due to low participation this year's curling bonspiel is cancelled.
Franz Gehriger invited all members who have joined the Club in the last 2 years, along with their mentors and all Board members to come out to a reception on Monday October 29th (see above for more information). Place: Kamyar Asadibeiky's office; Time: 6:00.
Don Evans spoke about the Rotary Peace initiatives and how much Rotary International does promotion. There are 1,100 peace scholars worldwide. This year District 5040 interviewed 5 candidates, and recommended all 5 to move forward in the process. Of those 5, 2 have been selected as 2019 Peace Fellows. Vancouver Club's nominee, Holly Elissa, was one of those chosen.
John Bathurst attended the City of Vancouver's to accept the proclamation in recognition of World Polio Day on Wednesday October 24th. If you are around the city on World Polio Day, take a look at city hall in the evening as it will be illuminated in red to mark the day.
Paul McCrae let everyone know that the Rotary Women's Association (RWA), a ladies group that meets once a month for lunch at the Vancouver Yacht Club is looking for members. If you know anyone who may be interested, please let them know of this opportunity.
Program:
Jim Evans introduced our guest speaker, Gordon Price.
Gordon Price who completed six terms as Vancouver city councillor, has plenty of experience in the municipal political forum. He is gleefully monitoring the current election and notes that the most common word voters use to describe it is "confusing".
The slate we are faced with is unprecedented. This is an election like no other. There are:
few incumbents
many new parties
credible independents
a real generational change happening
with the changes in the campaign finance rules, this has created change -- less money, more candidates
the ballots will be changed, now in alphabetical order, not party
with so many voters confused, will this result in low turnout at the polls?
It seems not so. City hall announced that the advanced ballots increased by 25% over 2014. Is this because we don't have many incumbents running, and for other reasons noted, people know that their vote can truly make a difference?
Though predictions often go wrong (look at Brexit, look at Trump), it is truly impossible to predict where this election will go. The results will tell us a lot about where Vancouver stands.
In the past there was a strong voting block in the south and on the west side. Some commentators are saying that the divide is no longer east vs west. It is now home owners versus renters. Young people who don't have much hope for building equity in our city that will have a strong voice.
Vancouver is deeply rooted in the love of single family homes. This love and desire of the people of Vancouver could be maintained as long as land was available. In the past we have seen mega-projects where 1,000+ condos would be put on the market annually. We simply can not do this any longer as there is very little land available.
The mix of councilors on the newly elected government will be unlike any seen before. They will have to figure out how to meet the desires and needs of the residents within the constraints they are faced with, e.g., lack of land. The new council will have to work with the politics to learn how to come to consensus in order to govern effectively. Vancouver is now 52% people of colour. It is expected that the new council will reflect this, as well as the generational change.
What exactly is local government really for? The number one thing is water! Without it, whether it be clean going in or dirty going out, it is essential to live. The second is emergency services. These things are taken for granted. That's a good thing as it means it's going well. The tax base takes care of these essentials first, then comes in the quality of life - parks, libraries, community centres, etc. All councils have a commitment to maintain low residential tax and high business tax to meet the needs.
How will we change the character of the city? Perhaps this election will bring about a huge shift. Housing being the biggest concern for residents, while in past years the council was able to concentrate on developing empty lands, now they will have to move into single family home areas to densify. This will inevitably bring some discord. When change is slow, as it has been in Vancouver for many years, people become extremely sensitive to even the most modest changes. So, how will council make changes while at the same time assure people that the character of the city will remain?
A few more thoughts to ponder:
Could be a dogs 'n cats council; the risk of becoming the "chaos council".
This may be unless the mayor (or perhaps some of the councilors) can act as effective leader(s) to search for and foster common ground.
The emergence of a societal split that is new. Young renters, now stressed about finding a toe-hold in the city, are on the verge of taking power from the homeowners and business class.
There could be vote splits: left is split 2 ways (candidates Stewart & Sylvester); right is split 3 ways (candidates Sim, Bremner & Yioung).
There may be a rise of independents: Stewart & Sylvester are now polling at 36% & 23% respectively. This bodes well for a non-party council (though look back to the 1st point), with a broad range of backgrounds and policy ideas (again look back to the 1st point).
This will be a fascinating time in our city with what will undoubtedly be a confluence of young people and people who have not been around the table before. May be quite a ride!
Meeting adjourned with a toast to the election process. Get out and vote!
