High Gear March 16 2017
Posted by Rosalie McCloud on Mar 16, 2017
We gathered at the usual place, but a day late, for a joint meeting with the San Mateo Rotary Club. Poplar Creek was showing its green, inside and out. The weather was glorious, the lawns lush, the Rotarians ready for a happy meeting.
Pledge and Invocation
San Mateo Rotary President Tony Villanueva called the meeting to order with our Stan Moore by his side. Tony asked Rosemary Azem to lead the pledge. Our Mike Kimball delivered the invocation:
May he who drove the snakes from the Emerald Isle look with favor on our gathering today. May he lend us a measure of his countrymen’s eloquence, fortitude, self-reliance, and good cheer. May we be reminded on this St. Patrick’s Day Eve that hope is a virtue, charity an obligation, and faith the greatest gift of all. ERIN GO BRAGH!
Guests and Visiting Rotarians
Two of the best clubs in 5150 couldn’t come up with one Visiting Rotarian. Lynn Armenio announced no visitors for San Mateo. Our Marilyn Orr skated past the entire subject and welcomed eve
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Yes, that’s a euphemism for watch your wallet. The Rotary Club of San Mateo is conducting their Annual Fund Raiser for scholarship dollars by selling $100 raffle tickets. Very good, but not the powerhouse as is our event, of course. Mike Peterson regretted that the raffle tickets were not yet ready for sale; he will have them available for sale at San Mateo’s meeting next week. Buy five, get one free.
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San Mateo President Tony Villanueva talked glowingly about Stan and his notable career in hospitality. Traveling was involved, and Stan remembers meeting Andy Williams and many other celebrities when working in Las Vegas. Yowza!!! There was a story told with no relation to St. Patrick’s Day whatsoever, except that it was long and rambling. Apparently, Mary Poppins was a guest of the hotel. At checkout, Mary was invited to comment on her stay. She noted it was “Super cauliflower cheese, but the eggs were quite atrocious.” St. Patrick hung his head. There was lots more, but enough is more than enough.
San Mateo Attorney Martin Harband introduced Speaker for the day, Alan Kalmanoff, JD, MSW, Ph. D. Who serves as Executive Director of The Institute for Law and Policy Planning (http:/ilpp.org), a non-profit policy and research organization located in Berkeley, California. ILPP was founded over 30 years ago and specializes in assessing complex public policy issues in order to provide recommendations on improving entire justice systems.
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Ann LeClair introduced guest Simone Harms, Complex General Manager, Westin Hotel and Aloft, SFO. Our Cheri DeLacy Carr introduced her colleague Jill Moore of Morrison Corporate Travel, Burlingame.
Anoucements and Philanthropy Opportunities
Yes, that’s a euphemism for watch your wallet. The Rotary Club of San Mateo is conducting their Annual Fund Raiser for scholarship dollars by selling $100 raffle tickets. Very good, but not the powerhouse as is our event, of course. Mike Peterson regretted that the raffle tickets were not yet ready for sale; he will have them available for sale at San Mateo’s meeting next week. Buy five, get one free.Our Prez Stan presented Ann LeClair with a check for $100 just so she could be the first in their club to make a sale. She is, after all, the County’s greatest salesperson. She also helped our club to promote our annual Scholarship golf tournament. President Stan then fawned over Mike Heffernan (Hold me, squeeze me, tell me), and successfully accomplished Mike’s joining Stan’s President’s Club. Philanthropy indeed!
San Mateo President Tony Villanueva talked glowingly about Stan and his notable career in hospitality. Traveling was involved, and Stan remembers meeting Andy Williams and many other celebrities when working in Las Vegas. Yowza!!! There was a story told with no relation to St. Patrick’s Day whatsoever, except that it was long and rambling. Apparently, Mary Poppins was a guest of the hotel. At checkout, Mary was invited to comment on her stay. She noted it was “Super cauliflower cheese, but the eggs were quite atrocious.” St. Patrick hung his head. There was lots more, but enough is more than enough.Bob Doerr announced that our Jay Plank is having his 95th Birthday next week. So, on Wednesday, March 22, after our meeting at Poplar Creek, we are going to visit Jay in Burlingame where he is in hospice care, for a surprise birthday greeting. Jay is not aware often and likes to nap, but we will enjoy surprising him anyway at 1:45P, at 922 Capuchino Avenue, Burlingame.
Peter Comaroto recognized Burlingame Rotarians wearing green and asked them to stand. Then, those wearing green on their heads, hats or facsimiles thereof, were to remain standing. Your reporter won and was awarded a bottle of chilled white wine. Yum and thanks! The San Mateo guys got potatoes. Unless in the form of vodka, wine wins. Sue Lempert and therapist June Lamb won for San Mateo.
San Mateo’s Peter Webb reminded that St. Patrick’s Day is in memory of the passing of Ireland’s St. Patrick. Turns out St. Patrick’s identifying color was blue; he was Welsh not Irish; there were no snakes in Ireland, so unlikely he cast them out.
What’s St. Patrick’s Day without a good joke: Seamus went to the doctor. The doctor said he couldn’t figure out the source of Seamus’ discomfort – must be the drink! Seamus replied, “No problem, I can come back later when you’re better!”
Program
San Mateo Attorney Martin Harband introduced Speaker for the day, Alan Kalmanoff, JD, MSW, Ph. D. Who serves as Executive Director of The Institute for Law and Policy Planning (http:/ilpp.org), a non-profit policy and research organization located in Berkeley, California. ILPP was founded over 30 years ago and specializes in assessing complex public policy issues in order to provide recommendations on improving entire justice systems.Dr. Kalmanoff is a national policy consultant on cost-effective local government planning in all aspects of public safety and criminal justice systems.
We could listen to Dr. Kalmanoff for days; today he concentrated on the cost and efficacy of keeping people in jail when they are not risks to harm the public. Not to mention any county in particular, building jails is often politically expedient, thereby creating an inclination to fill jails with whomsoever is arrested. There is often little necessity to drag folks to jail for the night, when a summons would accomplish the task. One night turns into four nights or more. There are three or four staff required to secure the prisoner who has now had to miss work, cannot afford the charges associated with the arrest and incarceration. Minorities and the poor constitute the great majority of those serving jail time. People of means call their lawyers and are bailed out in a few hours.
Political economy is at work here. We rarely lock up people because they would be a danger to us. Yet, in San Mateo County half the County budget is spent on incarceration. Why jail those who are no threat? Police officers make arrests. Folks are required to show up in court. Everyone appearing in court is the result of an arrest; yet, operating standards vary from city to city. There is no reason to lock someone up unless crime prevention is accomplished. Often these people are not dangerous, they are poor!
There is minimum pre-trial release. In San Mateo County, you don’t get out once you’re in! Dr. Kalmanoff wrote a comprehensive report on this issue and released it to the press and the Board of County Commissioners. Not appreciated. It is Dr. Kalmanoff’s belief that he has lost business due to his positions.
The truth is, we don’t have a lot of crime; there is very little crime in the entire United States. The numbers of murders and robberies are way down. Certainly we must be protected from bodily injury and burglaries. Yet, the poor and minorities continue to be arrested at a rate not proportional to the entire population.
What we do need is a criminal justice planning board – open to the public. Drugs are the main problem in poor and minority communities. Unfortunately, the war on drugs is a sham; it is a war on us! Thank you, Dr. Kalmanoff. We will look forward to another opportunity to hear more!!!