Meeting Notes December 15, 2015

 

President Twana opened the meeting with the usual greeting:

Good afternoon and welcome to the Rotary club of Mountain View where:

 

Our international call to action for 2015–2016 is to "Be a Gift to the World"

 

Greeter and thought for the day: Stephen Nichols

 

Song of the day: Phil Armi not present, no song :(

 

Introduction of visitors: Jerylann Mateo

 

Tom Myers announced the last day for a CSA toy drive. He requested gifts and cash for seniors be delivered to CSA by 12/23/15.

 

Twana recapped the holiday party. It was a great event enjoyed by all!

 

Ski trip–March 17-20 arranged by Bruce Barsi

Crab feed–Alan Goodman again announced there will be no crab feed this year. Please make out checks to Mountain View Rotary Charities in the amount you committed. Please get checks to Jim Spangler by the end of January.

 

Next a board meeting Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 5 PM at CHAC.

 

We will be dark on Tuesday, December 22 and 29.

 

Wheelchair Distribution Project scheduled March 30–April 3 to Monterey in Mexico. All Rotarians welcome.

 

Round of applause for Jose, our caterer.

 

Sanjay Dave will host a holiday party on Sunday, December 20, 3–6pm, at 435 Kentmere Court, Mountain View. Rotarians are welcome.

 

Happy birthday to Ken, he finally turned 40.

 

Jim Spangler introduced our speaker, Russell Hancock, president and CEO of Joint Venture Silicon Valley. Established in 1993, this organization brings together area leaders including university presidents, mayors and CEOs in order to spotlight issues and provide innovative solutions. He defined the Silicon Valley as the entire Bay Area. He mentioned the Silicon Valley Index, a publication about the health of our community and the strength of our economy. He said our local economy is as strong as ever, the best in the world. We are seeing the biggest boom ever with record breaking innovations, an increase in the number of jobs, patents and IPOs. Our growth is driving other areas such as construction and education. He did not feel this is a bubble about to burst like the 2000 dot-com collapse. The Silicon Valley led us out of the 2008 financial crisis by being the first to create jobs. The economy is poised to move into new areas: cybersecurity, encryption, data mining and the internet of things. The economy is only going to get hotter. However, there are issues we must tackle. Income inequality stands to gut the middle-class. Wealth is ending up in the hands of engineers, scientists and CEOs. Technology has eliminated support positions. In some respects we are one of the most impoverished regions based on the redistribution of wealth away from blue collar jobs. There is an increase in restlessness and tension in the life of our community for which we have no solution yet. Housing is limited and very expensive. There is a lack of land on which to build; we need to build taller buildings for housing. Finally, transportation infrastructure is not going to grow. Our current transportation system was completed in the 1960s–1970s; it is getting harder to get around. But there is a ray of hope through technology. Drones, self driving cars and more efficient use of roads are examples. Encouraging the use of bicycles may help but the current bicycle network is fragmented.