High Gear Bulletin

Cary Koh Presiding: No violin music, as Rotary members staggered in after a half mile walk and no parking lot to our “new” venue in the Elm Room upstairs. Showers were provided as we inhaled the scent of warm asphalt.

Visitors: Joanna Rosales-Jose was the guest of Joe LaMariana; Paul Willis, Hillsborough public works director, was the guest of Al Royce; and Phil Siegle brought his neighbor Marsha Wadell for her second visit.

Pledge of Allegiance: Mike Kimball did the honors in front of an actual flag.

Thought for the Day: Christine Krolik had inspiring words about leadership. She praised our Rotary member Al Royce and our speaker Jay Benton, both former Hillsborough mayors and councilmembers, as examples of how to lead, how to inspire, and how to effectively involve ourselves in our communities.

Sunshine Report: Mike Horwitz, our long-time member and past President, continues to grieve the loss of his wife Melinda and is not doing well. Those of us who can keep in contact with him and help him are encouraged to do so.

Announcements:

Jennifer Pence reminded us of last year’s Halloween costumes. So, dress up and show your true side at our meeting on Wednesday October 25. And since Halloween is the following Tuesday, you might as well leave it on for our November 1 meeting the following day.
Joe LaMariana is hosting a Fireside Chat at his home Wednesday, October 18 from 6:00 – 8:30 PM (NOT AM!) in front of a real fire. This is for all new members to learn about the history of Rotary, our mission, and “What you can for your Rotary.” “Ask not what your Rotary can do for you” because this will be answered at the Chat. Please RSVP to Joe at joe4biz@comcast.net
Cary Koh recently returned from Japan and our sister Rotary Club there. The student exchange program, halted during the Covid years, is being resurrected. We are looking for families willing to host 1 (or more) of 5 Japanese students who will visit us in March of next year for about 10 days. Please contact Cary Koh if you would be willing to host.
Bobba Venkatadri reminded us that Oct. 16 is Rotary Polio Day. He is generously offering up to $500 as a matching fund. Please consider a donation of any amount. Cary Koh was first to step up with a $100 donation! Thank you, Bobba!

Birthdays and Anniversaries: Mark, not at the mic, Lucchesi honored those Rotarians who were born in October under the Zodiac signs of Libra and Scorpio.

Victor Griffin Oct 02, Ana Karina Perez-Vargas, Oct 06, Anne Bouliane, Oct 09 Paul Watermulder, Oct 09 Michael Brownrigg, Oct 11 Scott Campbell, Oct 14 Jeff Krolik, Oct 17 Delia Montano, Oct 17 and Bonnie Bertetta, Oct 29

Animals: All the animals in the room had to answer what group they belonged to. Now that was not as easy as it seemed. Nothing so simple as a Herd of Elephants. These collective nouns included Coalition (Cheetas,) Crash (Rhinoceros,) Murder (Crows,) Obstinacy (Buffalos,) Cackle (Hyenas,) Conspiracy (Lemurs or Rotarians.)

Program: Al Royce introduced former Hillsborough Mayor Jay Benton. Jay has a long list of accomplishments including: a graduate of USC, 3 years service in the military and in Viet Nam, a former Rotarian in San Francisco, and head of a major company ABM with over 80,000 employees. He has been active in many civic affairs and Boards including BAWSCA (Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency) His talk enlightened us on the history and current status of our own Hetch Hetchy Water System which supplies San Francisco and the Peninsula. A few of the most important and interesting facts are as follows;

Our water system was originally started by a private monopoly, the Spring Valley Water Company in 1862.This group of private entrepreneurs built the original storage at upper Crystal Springs south of highway 92, and later built the dam in 1896 to extend the reservoir.
The 1906 fire and earthquake spurred the need for a larger source of water leading to the controversial Raker Act of 1913, to dam the Hetch Hetchy Valley. After years of political rankor, the O’Shaughnessy Dam was built creating our main water supply—the Hetch Hetchy reservoir along with its 160 mile gravity fed system.It delivered its first water in 1934, has 3 power plants, and now serves over 2.6 million people.
We have had an extremely wet year and after a decade of drought we are at peak levels of 96% capacity.All of our CA reservoirs are above seasonal norms.
In California we are doing very well with conservation and using less water efficiently.Over the past 25 years, we have had a 55% per capita reduction in water use in spite of a 25% increase in population!
Northern CA has 2/3 of the water while Southern CA has 2/3 of the demand so political water battles continue.The Bay Delta Plan consists of adding huge pipes under the Delta to deliver more water to Southern CA and is being fought by conservation groups and water companies.
Meanwhile the central valley and agricultural uses use way more than urban consumers.The stone fruit and nut crops consume enormous amounts of water and rely on aquifers and wells.Some parts of the lower central valley have subsided as much as 65’.Since these crops are exported to Asia we are essentially sending much of our water overseas.The advances in programmed irrigation technology are helping to use agriculture water more efficiently but this does not re-charge the aquifers.
The Hetch Hetchy system is one of the best and most reliable systems in CA and it is working superbly.However, the new normal is: “Conservation is a Way of Life.”

Burlingame Rotary Lunch - Zoom

Our very own Burlingame Rotarian, Mark Lucchesi has started a podcast for the Burlingame Historical Society called "Burlingame is a Small Town." He has interviewed a number of Burlingame Rotarians as well as other prominent folks in our community. You can check out his YouTube podcasts here.

Wednesday, October 4, 2023