ISSUE NO. 3
JULY 20, 2001
OUR 80th YEAR
www.RotaryClubofSantaMonica.org
STATE OF OUR CITY
The
oldest Santa Monicans among us may remember a long-gone era when the mayor and
the chief of police worked snugly together, and various establishments of
questionable legality thrived in certain populous neighborhoods. A wave of
outrage arose, followed by a successful reform election that established a
“city manager form of government” here.
Since
then our mayors haven’t been particularly powerful. Our city managers have
been busy but not prominent. They aren’t elected. They don’t exactly run
the city. Policy decisions are made at a storm-tossed table by the elected
members of our city council. The city manager, brought from outside the city,
is a career specialist in municipal administration who does the hour-to-hour
buying and hiring and planning, under the council’s searching scrutiny.
Now
that we no longer have a city daily newspaper, many of us might be
hard-pressed to name the city manager or the city council. When we think about
it we probably wonder just how important decisions get made, and whether our
city is faring well.
We’ll
hear answers to those questions at this Friday’s meeting from Susan E.
McCarthy, hired from Wisconsin in the mid-70s to work with the municipal bus
system, who progressed through local administrative posts, and became city
manager two years ago.
TAXATION
WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
At
our July 6 meeting President Hal sprinted out of the blocks to improve
our club’s bottom line by $425. Without mercy he taxed our junior past
president John Lehne for the well-deserved citations, presentations and
awards that he made at the dethroning party. John stood very tall as he accepted
the consequences ($100) of his noble deeds. Nice going John, we are proud of the
job you did as president.
Hal
then meted out a luxury tax of $100 to Tim Shannon for celebrating with
Margie their twentieth wedding anniversary in Paris. Among other lavish
expenditures they chose to have dinner at the sumptuous Jules Verne Restaurant.
Now I see clearly why my optometry costs are where they are.
Paul
Leoni was
taxed $100 for fishing without our taxman’s permission. Paul and his group
were on a four-day fishing trip (mainly trolling) and missed the dethroning
party. Actually Paul, our club was also trolling. We hooked a big one named Hal,
and threw back the other one named John.
As
for Lionel’s good day at the races, it is true. The good luck was that I
picked 6 out of 8 winning horses and 5 of 8
second place horses, with tickets across the board. The bad luck was that (prior
to the first race) I pledged my total winnings to the Soroptimist Club (a fine
service club founded by a Rotarian in 1923) of which my wife Elza and Hal’s
wife Kai-Li are members. This was their largest annual fund-raiser. The best
luck is that my accountant Hal and I didn’t know how much I won. Therefore my
tax consequence is nil. It is worth the $125 capital gain tax to stay in a
rather poor position.
-- Lionel Ruhman
COMING
ATTRACTIONS
 |
July
27: Inside the National Enquirer
Magazine with Patricia Shipp |
|
August
3: Conservation and Restoration at the
Getty Museum with Andrea R. Rothe |
|
August
10: How to Sell the Most Peanuts at
Dodger Stadium, by Roger Owens, champ vendor. |
|
August
17: Overcoming Phobias by Dr. Bruce
Goldberg, hypnotist |
A
SURPRISE IN OUR MAGAZINE
A
professional entertainer as the new president of Rotary International?
That’s
right. He’s Richard D. King, a 33-year Rotarian from the Niles, California
club. He’s a singer, actor and musical comedy star, a member of Actors’
Equity. He’s produced shows and performed in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, San
Francisco and other West Coast cities. His wife Cherie was a showgirl. They met
while she was performing in “A Chorus Line.”
But
that’s only part of the story. Rick is only a part-time showman. He is also a
busy lawyer who graduated from law school at the University of California,
Berkeley. His two brothers did likewise – each became a lawyer and served as
president of a Rotary club.
Rick’s
performance as Rotary Club president and district governor was astounding. His
club had a net gain of 27 members while he was president. When he was governor,
his district broke financial records. For years it had contributed $75,000 to
$150,000 annually to the Rotary Foundation. In his year it gave $500,000 – the
first district ever to reach that amount, making it the number one district in
the world. This achievement wasn’t due to large gifts, but to contributions
from hundreds of individual Rotarians who had never given before. In membership,
the district reported an unprecedented net increase of 326 new Rotarians.
For years Rick has been one of the most popular speakers in Rotary. He’s now booking talks for 2005. In one 18-month period he gave 239 talks in 37 states. He has held many RI offices over the past two decades. Read about him in the July Rotarian.