President Beth called Seattle Rotary Club #4 to order at 12:30 PM on Wednesday, November 09, 2022. The meeting was held via Zoom and at the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle. President Beth said that November was Native American Heritage Month and that we should recognize them for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the growth of the United States.
President Beth introduced Don Murphy and Jevon Powell with the song of the day: “Acres of Clams” in honor of Ivar’s.
Nancy Cahill provided the Inspiration for the Day. She said that Veterans Day is Friday November 11 and spoke her father’s heroic efforts during WW2. He fought in North Africa and Europe. He was severely wounded in combat but she said he never felt sorry for himself or his circumstances. She asked that Rotarians acknowledge and express their gratitude for our Veterans.
President Beth then acknowledged Rotary guests. Jane Pryor introduced new Seattle Rotarian member Alice Braverman.
President Beth introduced the short program: Youth Exchange's Emily Fain & Tabitha Claus. She said Emily and Tabitha would share updates on this year’s Youth and Exchange Program.
Emily is a 3rd generation Rotarian and daughter of club member David Fein. Emily is a Junior at Mercer Island High School. She went to Spain last summer with the district’s Rotary Youth Exchange Program.
Emily summarized her experience in Spain and her counterpart’s experience in the U.S. Sophia, who lived in Madrid. One of the reasons she went to Spain was to improve her Spanish language skills. She came home fluent in Spanish.
For 25 years Bob has helped manage Ivar’s from its offices on the Seattle waterfront. He is on a number of committees included but not limited to the Waterfront Association, the new Park Oversight Committee, the Seattle Aquarium, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and numerous other committees.
Bob went through a series of slides that included almost everything that has affected the Waterfront. He is very enthusiastic about the transformation taking place. Much of the projects are on time and either under or right on budget. There has been $600 million in private donations.
Below is a list of projects that Bob spoke about and are all part of the transformation of the Waterfront.
- Pike Place Market
- Alaska Way Viaduct: opened in 1953 to bypass railroads. Nisqually earthquake in 2001 made the viaduct unsafe. After years of study, the tunnel was adopted and built as the preferred alternative.
- Seawall Replacement Program: On time
- Cruise lines: 295 Cruise ships this past summer.
- Tunnel -Bertha largest boring machine ever built.
- Aquarium-Greenest aquarium in the world. People will be able to view some aquarium exhibits without going into the main building. Many of the fish will be returned to the Pacific Ocean.
- Future of Pier 62
- 1,000 parking spaces were lost when the viaduct came down. Parking vouchers are available
Q&A
Q) Effort to connect Waterfront to Seattle Center?
A) Pike/Pine is the preferred corridor but still in the planning.
Q) Quality of life crew be extended to downtown.
A) You don’t and won’t see homelessness tents on the waterfront. The major reason, is that most of the businesses and commerce are locally owned, unlike many of the businesses on Third Ave.
Q) Waterfront trolley’s come back?
A) 2 trolleys are left from the original Waterfront Trolley service, when the Sculpture Park was installed.
There is discussion of bringing the 2 remaining trolley’s to the waterfront as information booths.
President Beth thanked Bob for his presentation and said that a donation of 600 servings of healthy meals in Bob’s name, will be made to the Harvest Against Hunger. She thanked Liz Powell & Bob Alexander for their continued sponsorships of Seattle Rotary.
Nicole Klein announced the following key dates and programs:
- Nov. 11&12- Urban Artworks Community Art Ballard and Shoreline
- Nov. 16- Meeting at Rainier Club: Michael Greer CEO-Arts Fund will be the featured speaker. Sue Nixon Bloodworks NW will be the short program speaker.
- Nov. 23- No Meeting
- Dec. 21- Seattle Rotary Holiday Party
President Beth’s closing remarks
Beth said that she would like Rotarians to step up and take leadership positions on the Rotary Club Boards. She asked that Rotarians make donations to the Seattle Rotary Service Foundation and the International Rotary Foundation. Read the newsletter later in the week to find out how. President Beth concluded the meeting by highlighting the recent success of a number of Seattle and other local sports teams. Huskies win over OSU, the Cougars impressive win over Stanford, the Kraken’s 5 game winning streak, the Seahawks lead in the NFC West and will be playing Tampa Bay in Munich, Germany this Sunday. She noted that Julio Rodriguez is a finalist for Rookie of the Year and Scott Servais, for Manger of the Year. She ended the meeting with a quote from Julio Rodriguez:
“If you are going to bet against me, you better have allot of money because you are going to lose it all.”
Thank you to meeting reporter Paul Casey for this week's great report!
The meeting adjourned 1:28 p.m.
