President Dudley Thompson
Call to Order – President Dudley Thompson
President Dudley Thompson President Dudley Thompson called the 5,352nd Civic Thursday meeting of the Rotary Club of Oakland to order at 12:30 p.m.
Jennie Hunsburger
Thought for the Day - Jennie Hunsburger
Jennie Hunsburger gave a very insightful thought for the day about gratitude. Jennie is grateful for her home, business, family and appreciates the unseen benefit of the pandemic that has given her gratitude for some overlooked areas in her life.
Robert Kenney
Speaker for the Day – Robert Kenney
Past President Robert Kidd introduced the speaker of the day from PG&E, Robert Kenney. Mr. Kenney is vice president in charge of local government affairs and community relations. He has been working for PG&E since 2015 and serves on the public utilities commission as well. Robert gets to blend the desire to serve the public with his entrepreneurial spirit. PG&E’s responsibility to provide safe, reliable, and clean energy to its customers is paramount. Since emerging from bankruptcy, they are working to improve safety and reliability, but not ignoring clean energy. As an Oakland resident, Robert is excited to embed PG&E into Oakland more thoroughly. He announced that the corporate move to Oakland is underway in phases and will be accomplished in early 2022, when they occupy space in the Kaiser building at Lake Merritt.
PG&E is moving to a regional model to deliver better outcomes and address specific wildfire risks in those areas. The CEO of PG&E has committed to undergrounding 10,000 miles of overhead power lines. PG&E is in the planning stages and will put together an outreach and feedback plan of where the undergrounding will take place. The risk assessment process looking at wildfire risks will primarily drive this undergrounding.
One technology PG&E is supporting are renewable micro grids like that in Briceberg in the Sierras. These micro grids allow independent grids to operate themselves so that shutdowns affect fewer households or businesses.
Rotary Disaster Assistance for Haiti
Bob Barth told us about Rotary’s work to assist people in Haiti who have been impacted by the two earthquakes and numerous hurricanes in the past few years. The most recent 7.2 earthquake has affected 40% of everyone living in the area with 2,000 people killed and 8,000 injured. Rotarians can make donations to help the needs of Haitians by visiting the Disaster Network of Assistance Rotary Action Group (DNA RAG) website at https://dna-rag.com
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Past President and Past District Governor Ed Jellen announced honorary member and Past President Iris Brody Lopez is attending via Zoom from her home in Arizona.
Wendy Howard, Jack McAboy and Gary Flaxman introduced their guests in the ballroom
David Douglas Recognition
President Dudley asked Past President David Douglas to stand and receive some well-deserved recognition. As Dudley said, when people talk about coming to meetings, their biggest concern is available parking because of high demand. David’s family business, Douglas Parking, has been providing parking at a discount to Rotarians attending the weekly meetings for years. Just recently their headquarters, conveniently located behind the California Ballroom, reopened for business after the original building was razed and rebuilt. Thank you, David!
High Adventure Update
Co-Chair Mark Rosen announced that the upcoming weekend’s hike is being postponed until the end of September due to the current poor air quality. There will be a bike ride on August 29th led by Steve Blair and himself. The 27-mile ride will go from Pleasant Hill to Benicia and back. Email Steve Blair at blair5200@gmail.com or Mark Rosen at mrosen@info-gate.com if you are interested.
Only about 8 tickets are left for the Oakland A’s vs New York Yankees on August 27th. Purchase tickets on the Club website, event calendar tab.
Cocktails with the President
President Elect Mary Geong donned a sombrero to invite everyone to the Cocktails with the President Thursday evening at Calavera in Oakland. Ruth Stroup is buying the first round of margaritas and providing some snacks.
Committee Signups
President Dudley reminded everyone to sign up for a committee. The Club has 30+ committees from which to choose. He encouraged members to visit a committee and try something new.
Raffle Prize Winner
President Dudley announced the start of a weekly raffle courtesy of Karen Friedman who re-donated five bottles of wine she won at the Gala. Each bottle has a value of over $50. One bottle will be raffled each week. Everyone in the ballroom was given a raffle ticket. The winner of the drawing this week is David Kersten. Thank you, Karen!
Bell Ringers
Lorna Padia Markus, Linda Chew, Linda Boessenecker, Ken Richardson, Fred Morse, Jack McAboy and Mark Rosen rang the bell in honor of David Douglas and Douglas Parking.
Adjournment
President Dudley adjourned the meeting at 1:30 p.m. as he rang the bell.
Birthday Greetings
Happy Birthday! Celebrating between August 24 – September 1 are:
24 – Shannon Hackley
25 – Marilyn Harryman
28 – Suzi Alvarez
28 – Zeydi Gutierrez
28 – Jain Williams
29 – Jackie Forrester
30 – Phil Bennett
30 – Mike Bruck
1 -- Luise Roke
Membership Anniversaries in August
Thank you for your years of service to the Rotary Club of Oakland and the community!
Lorna Padia Markus – 25 years
Allison Lindquist – 15 years
Bob Barth – 13 years
Peter Sherris – 12 years
Gary Flaxman – 10 years
Robert Raburn – 8 years
Yong Bai – 7 years
Cynthia Harris – 5 years
Mona Hall – 4 years
Stacey Manley – 4 years
Lesley Weaver – 3 years
Suzi Alvarez – 2 years
Kymberly Miller – 2 years
Derreck Johnson – 1 year
David Naveh – 1 year
Maude Pervere – 1 year
Dr Monica Gandhi
Next Meeting, Thursday, August 26 - Dr. Monica Gandhi - The State of the Covid -19 Pandemic.
Robert Kidd announced next week’s speaker will be Dr. Monica Gandhi, Professor of Medicine and Associate Division Chief of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at UCSF/San Francisco General Hospital.
If you have a question for Dr. Gandhi, please email it ASAP to Past President Peter Sherris. His email is psherris@mac.com. Peter and Dr. Gandhi will use an interview format for the presentation.
Add new comment