Coral Gables RotaryGram: Vol. 66 No. 41 Notes from the Podium

President's Time

President Debbie again celebrated Magazine Month with several more stories from this month's Rotarian, this time she shared the polio stories of musicians David Sanborn and Neil Young, the last generation of musicians on this continent to be stricken with the dreaded disease in the later 40's and early 50's. But you get the magazine at home, so why not spend a few minutes reading it for yourself?

Rotary Winner's Choice Raffle

Tickets are still available for the raffle with the best odds in town. Only 300 are being sold and you can win your choice of a Fiat 500, a Mako Flat boat or $20,000 cash.

Tickets are $150 each. If you've already bought yours why not sell one to a friend? Proceeds go to our Foundation to finance so many of the great projects we do every year.

See Donald Trombly or Rolf Frankfurter to buy tickets. They each have a supply and will be happy to sell you as many as they can. You can also take them on consignment and sell them to your friends.

Community Service Announcement

We Need Volunteers

Sunday, April 22, 2012

at Merrick Park, City Hall

to help with the staging and production

of the first annual

Gables Earthfest.

Sign up sheets in the back.

Many jobs and many times

are available to suit your needs.

Wear your Coral Gables Rotary T-Shirt

and spend the day being green.

Introduction of Visitors & Guests

by Dick Bullman

President Elect Walter Alvarez had two guests today, his lovely wife Annette and Libby Smith. Libby is a friend of Deena Bell and after the 5th Friday she wanted to check us out! David Mitchell brought wife Lynn today. Terry Long introduced us to Mitch Beerman, an attorney. Don Slesnick brought Michael Valdes-Fauli who is a PR man with Jefferson Group and son of former Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli. Dick emphasized that we are a really nice bunch of people and you shouldn't be afraid to bring your friends to meet us.

Courageous, optimistic, enthusiastic people are born under the sign of Aries. Say Happy Birthday to Carlos Bolado on April 11th.

Celebrating their Rotary Anniversaries this week are Chuck Whitcomb with 13 years on April 8th, Fred Baddour with 12 years on the 6th and Bob Schreiber who has been in our club four years on April 10th. Thanks for all your years of service .

Happy $$$

Dr. Randy returned today to Groh scholarships as only he can do! First up was Rosendo Castillo who has just returned from his first visit to Cuba since he left at the age of 15. He made the trip for the Pope's visit, with the Diocese of South Florida. He was quite emotional when he spoke about the way that the people and the property have been abused and destroyed by the Castro regime. David Mitchell was happy to report that he will once again become a regular at the club. He's spent two years accomplishing two things that he's really proud of ... he co-authored a book on Strategies for Family Law in Florida, AND he received his advanced Diploma in U.S. History from Oxford! Dick Golden had some really lame story about buying a mule and reselling the carcass ... he's done better. Walter Alvarez was happy to announce that May 5th is our annual project day with Habitat for Humanity. Terry will be sending out a link to register to work that do. Annette Alvarez (yes, Mrs. President-Elect) just returned from visiting family in New Orleans and was happy remembering the great time we all had at last year's Rotary International Convention. THE Donald Trombly was once again pushing to sell Raffle Tickets for the Winner's Choice Raffle. Rick Tonkinson wanted to wish everyone Happy Easter/Passover on behalf of himself and Margarita. He's really happy because son Steven is in Peru with Shelter Box assisting with the latest flood disaster there. Don Slesnick was happy to report that he and Jeanette have just returned from a week-long cruise. They ran into one of our members whom we've not seen in a very long time, Harlan Chiron who says that he will be returning to the club on a regular basis. Don also expressed how pleased he was to see so many Rotarians honoring Steve Magenheimer at the memorial service for his wife Dawn last night. Chris Tyson is happy that on the 17th one daughter arrives from Switzerland. On April 18th, the other daughter arrives from Massachusettes. If he has any money left over after paying their airfare he will bring them both to lunch at Rotary! President Debbie thanked all those who have supported her 150 mile bike ride for MS that's coming up in three weeks. Just so you know, she did 110 miles last weekend. She's almost ready. Mayor Carlos Gimenez was VERY happy to announce the birth of his fourth grandchild this week - a little girl! And like a good Grandpa he had a photo on his i-Pad. Michael Valdes-Fauli was just happy to be invited to the club and is very interested in pursuing membership. The good Dr. Randy was happy to see Lynn Mitchell today - one of his favorite fishing buddies. He also wanted everyone to know that he's wearing his African Safari shirt as a reminder should anyone have an interest in joining this year's photo-safari in the fall. Just let him know. Happiness pays so keep on smiling!!

Working Rotarians - April 5, 2012

Greeters - Steven Spann & Rolf Frankfurter

Registration - Aaron Glasser

Collections - Bill Quesenberry

Head Table - Rodney Langer

Special Needs - Frank Sexton, Rolf Frankfurter & Lan Nghiem-Phu

Open the Meeting - Jack Witty

Invocation - Rodney Langer

Pledge - Joe Lancaster

Singers - Dan Scipione & Carol Brock

DeWitt Law Silver Dollars - Guillermo Villar

Given to - Rosendo Castillo & Carlos Bolado

Pin Drawing Gift - Sally B.

Pin Drawing Winner - Betty Metcalf

50/50 Collections - Gloria Burns & Donald Trombly

50/50 Winner - Tom Dixon

4 Way Test - John Arthur

Today's Program

Miami-Dade County Mayor, Carlos Gimenez

The State of the County Today

Mayor Carlos Gimenez was elected to this post in June of last year after seven years as the Commissioner for District 7 which includes Coral Gables, Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove, South Miami, Pinecrest and more. He was the City Manager for City of Miami until 2003 and that was after he spent 25 years with Miami Fire-Rescue and nine years as the Chief. He's a Miami boy, graduated from Columbus High. He's married to Lourdes, a school principal, and they have three children and four grandchildren. And they support everything he does!

He had to hit the ground running when he was elected to this office at a time when the residents were very angry with County government. His goal was to create a government structure that would make the County a better steward of residents tax dollars. One of his first actions was to reverse the tax hike of 2010 which gave residents a $200 million cut in property taxes.

His County budget is $1 Billion leaner than last year and he produced it just two weeks into his term. He has cut the size and cost of operating the County government. Some 1,000 positions have been eliminated. He hit the reset button with the County unions. The government has gone from 42 departments down to 26 in less than a year, simply by eliminating redundancy and streamlining procedures. These moves will save $30 million for 2012 and another $40 million in 2013.

His objective is to better serve the County's customers. To accomplish this they have relaxed a lot of regulations, eased permitting and increased the quality of service that the County provides to it's residents. His efforts at change are aimed at the here and now. But that doesn't stop him from working on the future as well. His people are working closely with the Beacon Council to attract more businesses to Miami-Dade, especially in the area of life-sciences and IT.

Miami-Dade is a very unique place, close to being in the US!! We speak 100 languages and serve as the international headquarters for thousands of multinational businesses. The prospects for this area are very positive. We're working on infrastructure with Miami International Airport, the Intermodal Center, the Tunnel at the Port of Miami and the planned, deep water dredging to facilitate the giant cargo ships that come through the Panama Canal. All things that employ many people and pays them wages in excess of $50,000 annually.

This wasn't a campaign pitch, however, if we re-elect him in November he will be able to complete all of his plans for Miami-Dade County's next Century of growth. He likes to think that he has spent his life and his career in "Public Service Above Self."

NEXT WEEK'S MEETING: Another Fellowship Meeting. Don't miss the chance to socialize with your Rotary friends.