The Flywheel
Archive issue

NEXT MEETING: October 25, 2013

Planning for the Long Term

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Tree planting on Saturday morning at Lucas Park in Richmond was a great success, complete with a new Rotary canopy booth arrangement that’s easy to set up and take down (thank you, Alan Blavins) and some new signage thanks to Joe Bagley. Rotary’s presence (people and booth) was prominent. Thanks to Felix Hunziker for overall coordination.
• Richmond Rotary volunteers for Dollar Days at Golden Gate Fields were numerous and in good spirits on Sunday morning. Fun was had by all as lots of beer, hot dogs, and sodas were sold at the special Dollar Days concession near Winners’ Circle just off the track. Some Rotaract Club members from UC Berkeley also joined in. Because there were at least 10 Richmond Rotary volunteers on hand, Golden Gate Fields will contribute $1,000 to Richmond Rotary’s treasury. Plus, we earned $75 in tips, which will also go into Club funds. Thanks to Lynn Martin for coordinating.
• The Rotary District 5160 Conference (“Celebrate the Adventure”) also took place over the weekend in Chico, CA. We’ll learn more about it at the upcoming Club meeting.
• Hank Covell announced that a special fund-raising event will be held for the Salesian Boys and Girls Club on Saturday, November 2, starting at 6pm. The original Untouchables rock-n-roll band will be performing at this 2013 Benefit Dance. These are the guys who have been part of the Bay Area music scene since the 1960s. Remember the songs, “It’s Alright” and “Poison Ivy”? Even if you can’t remember, this is for a good cause and you’ll be swinging your hips before you know it (or at least tapping your toes). Purchase tickets in advance for $25 ($40 at the door) by mailing a check with a self-addressed stamped envelope to West Contra Costa Salesian Boys & Girls Club, P.O. Box 6120, San Pablo, CA 94806. You can also contact Steve Alameda at 510.215.4648, email spalameda@yahoo.com.
• Tom Waller encouraged everyone to come be a part of a Richmond Rotary volunteer work crew on Saturday morning, October 26, at 9am to do some interior wall painting at the National Institute of Arts and Disabilities (NIAD) on 23rd Street, one block north of Barrett Avenue. NIAD is getting ready for a public open house in mid-November so they’re really appreciative of Richmond Rotarians once again giving of their time and talents to help them out. If ten or so volunteers assemble on Saturday, October 26, it looks to be a 2-3 hour painting job.
• Liliane Koziol again reminded everyone that on Friday, November 1, representatives from several offices in the San Francisco-based foreign Consular Corps will be visiting Richmond Rotary. This is the first time for such a visit in the East Bay. There will be a pre-Rotary-meeting reception at the Richmond Country Club at 11:30am and the meeting will then begin at 12-noon. Jon Lawlis graciously offered to donate a case of Champagne for the visit. The program speaker that day will be Bruce Campbell, Vice-Chair of the Peace Centers Committee for the Rotary Foundation.
• Pam Jones urged everyone to purchase their tickets ($35 per person) for Rotary Foundation Day at the Races to be held at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday, November 16. About 30 Rotary Clubs have already signed up and more than 500 Rotarians are expected. The deadline for ticket purchase is October 29. Give checks made to Richmond Rotary to David Brown.
• Mark your calendars for December 6. That’s the annual Holiday Auction at noon and the Annual Holiday Party that evening (in conjunction with the local Kiwanis Club). Both events are at the Richmond Country Club. Kudos to Don Lau for leading the Holiday Auction Committee again this year. Being a Club of over-achievers, we’re naturally looking to break last-year’s records for Auction attendance (over 80 people) and dollars taken in (multiple thousands!). So get your creative juices flowing for auction item ideas.
• Speaking of the holidays, don’t forget to give a $47 check (or multiples thereof) to David Brown for the YMCA end-of-year bicycle-gift program (the $47 is for one bike and one helmet; put “bikes” in the memo line of your check). But don’t wait until Christmas – the money is needed NOW. And the Club is matching funds up to another 100 bikes.
• In case you’d like to encourage folks in your place of work to donate for the bike program, here’s a flyer you can download, print and use to rally the troops.

MEETING OF October 18, 2013

Welcome

President Liliane Koziol called the meeting to order at the Richmond Country Club. Gonzalo Ochoa led the pledge of allegiance and Herb Cole asked for a moment of silence for freedom, peace, and justice on earth.

Visiting Rotarians and Guests

• Jeff Mulvihill, a Rotarian who’s moving to our area from Redding, CA, once again visited our Club.
• Norm Foley introduced his wife, Bonnie
• Liliane introduced her guest, Josiane Siegfried.
• Jim Young introduced his son, Zion.
• David Brown introduced his guest, Miguel O’Hara.
• Richard Alexander introduced his wife, Katherine.

Special Events

• Liliane presented Heather Kulp with her Blue Badge now that she has completed all requirements to move on from the Red version. Congratulations, Heather!
• Connie Tritt, Club Foundation Chair, presented Norm Foley with his third Paul Harris pin for contributions to the Rotary Foundation. With his 45 years of Rotary membership, Norm recounted some of the great things that he’s seen the Rotary Foundation do. He particularly remembers when he was involved with the Group Study Exchange program and the visits of Rotarians from other countries. In the early 1990s, Norm recalls welcoming an all-women study team from Sweden, a significant milestone after the 1989 Rotary International decision to admit women members. Norm also gave Connie a $200 check toward his next Paul Harris award.

Recognitions and Happy/Sad Dollars

• Hank Covell had some happy dollars for his granddaughter, a senior at the University of Arizona, who’s coming to visit this week for her 21st birthday.
• Alan Baer was riding high and offered some happy dollars after his recent visit to the Peet’s Coffee roasting plant in Alameda. It seems he was asked to wear a hair net when going into the roasting area, an indication that he had “too much hair”.
• Jim Young provided happy dollars for the visit of his son, Zion, who’s deeply involved in the NASA moon project known as LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer). Zion explained that the experiments-laden LADEE satellite is now orbiting the moon at a 250-kilometer high orbit and will move in closer to a 50-kilometer orbit on November 11. All systems go.
• Jon Lawlis, having missed some meetings, was happy to be back and to be a member of the Richmond Rotary Club.
• Markku Pelanne was happy to have avoided serious problems with some deep-vein problems in his legs. He appreciates everyone’s well wishes and prayers.
• Connie Tritt was happy to have the second tax season over as of October 15. She’s also happy to be completing her office move as she co-locates her business practice with Lynn Smith at nearby Smith Office Solutions in Point Richmond.

Norm’s Nonsense

They begin the evening news with “Good Evening,” then proceed to tell you why it isn’t.

Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

Where there’s a will, I want to be in it.

Program

The New Bay Bridge

Liliane introduced the program speaker, Victor Gauthier from the Bay Bridge Public Information Office in Oakland. Victor took us on a fast-paced presentation tour of the new East Span of the bay bridge and how it was constructed. He did a terrific job narrating a 20-minute video, which included time-lapse sequences along with fascinating animations and graphics.

As it says on the bay bridge web site, “… the new span is more than just an upgrade of one of the country’s busiest bridges – it is an epic transformation of the bridge into a global icon.”

The new East Span of the bay bridge has set two Guinness World Records.

• World’s widest bridge, with a total deck width of almost 259 feet, including ten lanes of roadway, a 15.5-feet bike path and a gap where the central tower supports the two bridge deck sections.
• Longest self-anchored suspension bridge in the world with a length of 2,047 feet.

As Victor explained it, “self-anchored suspension” means the bridge is anchored to itself. The key is the system of mile-long strands of 5-millimeter steel wires (127 strands per bundle and 137 total bundles making up one seriously massive cable). The cable system runs west-to-east, then loops under the bridge and runs back east-to-west, ultimately supporting the bridge decking after the vertical connection elements were installed.

We learned about seismic innovations, giant shims, shear link beams, hinge pipe beams, huge quantities of materials (less than 25% foreign steel and a new floatable cement), new expansion joint designs, steel saddles that more than make up for any functional loss from broken bolts (which are not part of holding deck plates in place), a specially formulated bay-bridge white paint, the distinctive 40,000 LED lights that “float and glow”, and giant support pylons that are pounded 300-feet into bay mud.

Although the opening was way over budget and long past the originally estimated completion date, the new East Span of the bay bridge is truly an amazing engineering achievement. Victor told your Scribe that, within the next few weeks, he plans to post on the bay bridge web site the same video that he showed us at the meeting along with his voice-over narration. Even those of us who attended the meeting will probably want to see it again and refer others to the site.

Tom Waller, Rotating Scribe