President Jerry Winges began our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Lage Andersen. Jonnie Dukes announced that he was the first to win our club’s Restaurant Bingo, having patronized and thanked all of the restaurants on the bingo card that have supported our club with their generous donations. Jonnie even attached his receipts to his bingo card.
Philip Holsworth delivered a thought-provoking invocation, discussing string theory, quantum physics, the multiverse, karma, and reincarnation. He encouraged us to be exemplary Rotarians for the benefit of our future selves.
We welcomed several guests: Jennifer Pence introduced Michael Zozos, head of AVID at Burlingame High School, and Peter Stevenson, a Burlingame city councilmember; Susan Baker introduced her Chamber of Commerce intern Walter, a high school student who speaks eight languages; Marilyn Orr introduced Mia Compin, formerly a member of the Red Bluff Rotary Club who is now interested in our club; and Sheryl Young introduced Carla Boragno, formerly with Genentech, including as Vice President of Global Engineering and head of its Foundation, and currently Chair of the Advisory Board of the Jackie Speier Foundation.
We also welcomed visiting Rotarian Cristina Aquino, PolioPlus Chair from the South San Francisco Rotary Club.
President Jerry had the following announcements:
Jack Van Etten’s wife passed away. He sent condolences and hopes our club will do the same.
There are a variety of District 5150 events, including a fundraising workshop on July 31, a Toastmasters event on August 1, a seven-week speechcraft workshop starting August 21, and a RYLA camp visit day on August 4.
Our club paver is being engraved and will be installed in downtown Burlingame.
We have a meeting with the City Manager and Burlingame Parks & Rec to explore hands-on projects in which we may become involved.
The first board meeting of Jerry’s presidency will take place Wednesday, July 22, at 4:30 pm via Zoom. All are welcome to attend.
The club’s international service committee will meet on Friday, July 24, at 4:00 pm at the Green Hills Country Club. We have six projects in India and a new project in Mexico. All are welcome to attend this too.
We will participate in a county-wide diaper drive to support low-income families.
There is an Age Well Health Fair in Burlingame on August 8.
Our club will host a beer and wine booth at Burlingame on the Avenue on August 15-16.
We are having a party at Emily Matthews’ house on July 28.
Michael Zozos, the AVID Site Coordinator at Burlingame High School, presented an overview of the AVID elective college-prep advancement program, highlighting its focus on supporting first-generation and low-income students from families with limited college experience who show academic and college potential. He explained that AVID offers academic opportunities and field trips to help students explore different college campuses, with financial support from our Rotary Club. Our club also supports AVID by having Rotarians speak with students about their career paths and possibilities. Zozos expressed great appreciation for this support.
Sheryl Young told us more about Carla Boragno, including her work with schools and teachers to enhance education. Boragno, on behalf of the Jackie Speier Foundation, informed us about a new initiative to provide diapers for infants and toddlers in San Mateo County, where some families cannot afford them. Families must have diapers for their children to be in day care, which allows the parents to work. The drive to collect and distribute diapers will be student-led. The foundation plans to pilot the program at Sequoia High School on September 19 and develop a scalable playbook for other high schools to implement.
Program:
City councilmember Peter Stevenson introduced this week’s speaker Dr. RussellHancock, a Stanford professor and CEO of Joint Venture Silicon Valley. Dr. Hancock gave a fascinating (and slightly alarming) presentation entitled “Five Things About Silicon Valley Right Now,” illuminating key current trends in Silicon Valley. He provided a lot of interesting information and data, but here is a brief summary of his observations:
(1) “The innovation engine is hot,” with record patent generation, venture capital investment, creation of unicorn companies, and economic development, particularly with respect to artificial intelligence.
(2) “The engine is hot but driving slow.” Job growth has stalled despite unprecedented innovation. Reasons for this include international instability, national turbulence, and a policy environment that discourages investment. Companies have shifted toward efficiency and global locations rather than expansion, resulting in flat employment numbers and layoffs. Companies are investing instead in infrastructure, particularly server farms.
(3) Dr. Hancock discussed the extreme gaps in wealth equality in the region, which has 126 billionaires. He noted that the Gini coefficient of income inequality has risen from 37 in 1990 to 83 today.
(4) “Housing is out of reach,” where even dual-income professionals struggle to purchase median-priced homes. He noted that between 2011 and 2018, 820,531 jobs were added, but only 172,745 new housing units were added.
(5) Despite California's reputation as a deeply blue state, the Bay Area is becoming more purple politically. Dr. Hancock reported that support for the president in the Bay Area increased 43% between 2016 and 2024, with a correlation between the move to the right and cities that have a lower median level of income.
We live in an interesting place in interesting times.
Palcare opened in 1993 through a combined effort of SFO, the County of San Mateo, and the San Mateo Central Labor Council after S.F. Chronicle articles detailed how some airport employees were leaving their children in cars at night and taking turns going out to check on them.
Palcare was the first of its kind and the only in our region to offer 24/7 child care, flexible/changing schedules for working families, and funding to support low- and middle-income families.
Join us to learn how Palcare continues to support working families and how a $1.3 million expansion, including new classrooms and a new playground, will allow the center to serve even more children in our community.
