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President's Time
The Agenda was packed today and so was the room! It's nice to see so many of our members returning to the Club after the snows hit North Carolina. Welcome back this week to Keith Phillips and Jon Arthur. Bob Schreiber came today and Kirk Landon made his second meeting this month! Returning to the Country Club has been good for everyone!
Sunday is Gables Bike Day and thanks in large part to our two Interact Club, we have managed to put together almost 100 volunteers for the day. Don't miss the FUN! Come on out and spend the day, bring your bike, your friends and your kids. Gables Bike Day is an all day family friendly event. There are activities, tours, races, and food to please everyone of any age. See you there!
Our Golf Tournament is in just two weeks, November 4th We still need golfers so sign up to play or buy a foursome. A big "thank you" to the latest sponsors, Fernando Ortiz & Associates and Brandt's Billiards. Thanks also to Ralph Cabrera for his donation to the cause.
Have you bought your balls yet? Yoli's back so both she and Rolf are selling golf balls for this year's Helicopter Golf Ball Drop. They're $25 each. The prizes are terrific. The donation counts towards your next Paul Harris Fellowship. Buy some today. The Drop will take place at 1:30 on the day of the Golf Classic.
SPEAKING OF RAFFLES
Tickets are $150 each. Only 300 tickets will be sold. So there's a one in 300 chance you can win. Great odds! And all of the proceeds go to Coral Gables Rotary Foundation. Such a deal.
The winning ticket will be drawn on March 9, 2012 at our annual fund raising event, "A Night at the Oscars."
World Polio Day - October 24, 2011
Noelle Galperin spent just a few minutes bringing us up to date on Rotary's Polio Plus Initiative. Did you know that there has been only ONE NEW CASE OF POLIO in India this year? Incredible! To date in 2011 there have been only 444 cases of polio detected worldwide, compared to 717 by this same date last year. Experts confirm that we will NOT reach 2010's global total of 1,349 new cases. But in case you think the work is nearly done - think again - of the 1,349 new cases of polio reported last year, 83% were in non-polio-endemic countries!
Chinese health authorities have vaccinated more than nine million people in the far western region of China amid a new outbreak of the disease that has paralyzed 17 people and killed one. China has been free of polio for 11 years and now this particularly virulent strain of the virus has crossed over from Pakistan. The battle isn't over. It hasn't been won. We're 99% of the way there. Make a contribution to Polio Plus on October 24, 2011. Let's END POLIO NOW.
City Employee of the Month
October, 2011
Chief Robert Lowman introduced us to Leonard Veight, Fire Inspector in the Fire Prevention Bureau, and the October Employee of the Month for the City of Coral Gables.
Chief Lowman said that Veight is friendly, accessible and approachable and he gets phone calls all the time complimenting Leonard's performance. For his part, Leonard said he loves his job and was never so proud as the day that Chief Cook and Chief Reed promoted him to this position. Congratulations Leonard and keep up the great work!
Here come those cusp babies again! Only this time, on the cusp of Libra and Scorpio they are not only diplomatic and idealistic but determined, exciting and compulsive people like Bruce Kerestes on October 22, Harlan Chiron on October 24 and Jim Brown on the 25th. Happy Birthday to all.
William Isaias (formerly a District Governor in Ecuador) celebrates his 9th anniversary in our Club this week. Diane Thurston has been a member for 10 years. Thanks to you both for all your years of service.
Introduction of Guests &Visitors
Claiming he's not as entertaining as Dick Bullman, President Elect Walter Alvarez introduced our visitors today. Visiting from Rotary Club of Miami was Mac West. Tom Dixon re-introduced us to Rick Belz. Yoli Woodbridge brought Ralph Cabrera and Vaness Estrada as her guests. John Hopkins (with our speaker) brought Herbert Hiller, one of the original architects of the Greenway as a guest as well. Thanks for coming. Come back again soon, and often!
Happy $$$
The good Dr. Randy returned today in hope that he can Groh our scholarship fund more than of late. He thanked Noelle Galperin for the purple ribbon on his pinkie. He was relieved to understand that it was NOT for eradicating children, just polio! Bonnie Blair was happy to report that she has returned from the two week Chamber of Commerce Mission to China. She says it was more like boot camp! She is VERY grateful to be home and after visiting a communist country, very glad to be an American! Rosendo Castillo brought his wife France to the meeting today. She had knee replacement surgery on August 25 and has been working really hard to rehab it. Coming here today and having so many people wishing her well and concerned for her welfare was the best thing he could have done. Dan Scipione is happy to report that it is the end of the school quarter and Disney World awaits. On another matter, his wife has become a big fan of the HBO series "Pacific" and he's happy she did because our own Jack Witty went to California for the premier with a lot of the surviving members of that Greatest Generation. Gene Witherspoon is happy that his oldest daughter turns 25 today. She was in town last week to celebrate the youngest daughter's fifth birthday. Aaron Glasser paid Randy $5 because he wanted to see the picture Randy had of Judy Pantoja "working" on the beach in Barbados last week! He said it was worth $20. Don Slesnick was happy to see the Fire Department honored with the Employee of the Month today. He commented that here, on the eve of Gables Bike Day, he is reminded of Ralph Cabrera nagging in his ear for 10 years about just such an event. And even before Ralph was bending his ear, Herb Hiller fought those very same battles. Bruce Kerestes says for this year he is really happy to be celebrating his birthday. If he sounds a little choked up it's because he had surgery to remove a mass from his vocal chords. Everything is fine! Happiness Pays and Dr. Randy knows how to find the most ecstatic people! Keep on smiling - even without Dick Golden!
Working Rotarians - October 20, 2011
Greeter - Rolf Frankfurter
Registration - Aaron Glasser
Collections - Dan Scipione
Head Table - Rodney Langer
Open the Meeting - Jack Witty
Invocation - Steve Magenheimer
Pledge - Rob Hatfield
Singers - Bill Quesenberry & Dan Scipione
DeWitt Law Silver Dollars - Sally B.
Given to - Keith Phillips & Herb Hiller
Pin Drawing Gift - Rodney Langer
Pin Drawing Winner - John Wallace (given to the Prez)
50/50 Raffle - Rolf Frankfurther &a Don Trombly
50/50 Winner - Jim Roen
4 Way Test - Noelle Galperin
Today's Program
"The East Coast Greenway" presented by Dennis Markatos-Soriano, Executive Director, East Coast Greenway Alliance.
The East Coast Greenway is a project that has been in the works for the past 20 years. The concept is a 2,900 mile route from Calias, Maine to Key West, a kind of Urban Appalachian Trail that is bike and pedestrian friendly. It is now, finally becoming a reality. The key element is to provide a transportation system that is safe and accessible. It is 26% perfect. The other 74% is still being worked on. But they have a dedicated staff of people, like Herb Hiller, their Florida/Georgia staff person, who devote their efforts to the completion of this worthy goal. There has been a lack of safe corridors for a very long time.
Today, with the cost of automobiles, rising fuel costs and national health crisis due to people's inactivity, bicycle transportation is the way to go. Currently only 12% of the population relies on bicycles for transportation. In Western Europe that number is 36% of the total population. We still have a way to go, and the Greenway is going to make that all the more possible to accomplish. Bicycles transform communities. They reduce pollution, save people time going to the gym. Inactivity costs this country $100 billion a year. Bicycles are good for tourism. People will come to a community that provides safe accessible bicycle trails just so they can spend their time cycling.
The Greenway is a $2 billion project. But it's a good investment that provides a quick and tangible return. The construction of the Greenway will create tens of thousands of jobs. Remember, the Appalachian Trail was built during the great depression and helped to end unemployment then.
Miami is one of the communities in the forefront of this movement. Gables Bike Day is just one example of a community that is getting behind the idea of pollution-free transportation. With the completion of the South Dade Trail there will soon be 30 miles of Greenway in Miami Dade County. We are establishing a transportation network that works.
NEXT WEEK'S PROGRAM: Matthew Becherer, President of the Homestead Speedway to tell us about the NASCAR Championship Weekend.
Thought of the Week
by Abe Horowitz
"Alone we can do so little.
Together we can do so much."
Helen Keller
Scene Scenes
See you next week,
Same time, same place,
Same great bunch of Rotarians!
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