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NOVEMBER 25, 2008
PUBLISHING ITEMS IN THE BULLETIN
If you have information, articles, photos, etc., for publication in the weekly bulletin (printed bulletin, website and/or eFlash), please send them to bulletin@bellevuerotary.net by 2:00 pm on Fridays.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Steve Marshall, Senior Fellow, Cascadia Center for Regional Development, "A Moratorium on Buying New Gasoline-Fueled Cars" | Holiday Bell Ringing | Rotary 5030 District Conference 2009 | Sun Valley 2009
THIS WEEK AT THE BRC |
CLUB CONTACT INFO |
GREETERS BACK TABLE DUTY INVOCATION NEWEST MEMBER(S) |
Laurie Larson Are you receiving |
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Barbara Johannessen, 11/3 |
Jim Black, 11/21 |
If your birthday is this month but does not show in the list above, you need to add it to your directory page online.
Classification Report:
“Banking” classification is currently full.
*Exception for past and transferring Rotarians.
PLEASE NOTE: If the regular parking garage is full and you are turned away or redirected, please go to the Harbor Club parking lot.
Steve Marshall, Senior Fellow
Cascadia Center for Regional Development
"Beyond Oil, Transforming Transportation"
Steve Marshall is a senior fellow of the Cascadia Center for Regional Development, a think tank that focuses on transportation and energy issues funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Steve has more than 30 years of experience working on energy issues, including serving as chief legal counsel to Puget Sound Power & Light and more recently as Assistant General Manager at Snohomish PUD in charge of power, transmission and conservation. He has served on the boards of numerous civic groups including the Bellevue Chamber and the Municipal League of King County, where he is a past chair. He was chair of the Administrative Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association and has been named to “Best Lawyers in America” list.
Steve is also counsel to the Eastside Business Alliance, a Mercer Island planning commissioner, and a frequent speaker and writer on energy and transportation issues. He organized and moderated the 2007 and 2008 Cascadia/Microsoft conferences on transportation technology trends that focused on plug-in electric vehicles.
Steve served on the Washington State Governor’s Climate Advisory Team’s Transportation Technical Group, where he was the lead on drafting the plug-in hybrid vehicle and congestion management recommendations. He graduated from the University of Washington, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa; and from Harvard Law School with honors.
SIGN UP ONLINE for Salvation Army Bell Ringing December 6 and 7, one-hour shifts from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, outside Nordstrom. Contact Katherine Michaud-Silver (Ph 206-909-7790) if you have questions.
Rotary 5030 District Conference 2009
The Rotary District 5030 2009 District Conference is being held May 1-3, 2009, in Victoria, BC. We would like as many as possible to attend. Besides being informative, it is great fun, with dinner, tours, golf tournament, pub crawl, etc. Spouses are encouraged to attend. There will be something for everyone to enjoy.
The price is $275.00 per person until November 30, 2008, plus lodging. After that date, the price is $325.00 per person, plus lodging. Sign up early! Hotels book up early, so choose your hotel soon.
The registration website is: www.district5030conference2009.org
If you have questions, contact Gail Ryder (425-455-1234).
The air fares “sale” serves as a good opportunity to make your plans for this ski season’s Sun Valley Ski event (SV 09). It is open to BRC members and their spouses OR special others.
We are following the same schedule as in previous years: arrival the Thursday afternoon before Super Bowl Sunday, in time for the welcoming party, and departure the following Monday. That allows 3 days of skiing as a minimum, and 5, if you arrive early Thursday and depart late Monday (albeit you may have to check out of your hosted housing on Monday morning, if your hosts are not staying on). Those with their own accommodations may expand on those dates as they wish. And anyone can arrive late/leave early, so long as your rental car mates, if any, are in accord.
The best air fares are generally those to and from Boise. You may wish to coordinate arrival and departure times with others, especially if you wish to share a rental car. There is also a bus from Boise to Sun Valley, but I’m not aware of anyone who has tried that out recently.
You will not need a rental car if you are flying directly into Sun Valley. The buses circulate frequently throughout the day and into the late evening (in the remote event there are any party animals who ignore skiers’ curfew other than Carol Mast, who has her own car). There are also those who drive, some in one day, and others who depart Wednesday and stop over along the way. (Caveat last year’s storm that forced some who were planning to drive to book last minute flights at considerably higher fares than the sale fares available now.)
The personal emergencies of accommodations hosts could reduce the number of hosted beds available to our members. Those who have participated in past BRC Sun Valley ski trips have priority for the hosted beds, provided they sign up by December 2. Thereafter, the allocation of hosted beds made available for assignment will be in the order of those signing up. Due to a problem with late cancelations in previous years, a nonrefundable event fee of $60 per person will be charged upon sign-up.
Sign up by emailing me, and follow up if you do not get an acknowledgment within a business day. BRC will bill you as I report those sign-ups. That fee will be due on billing and will be applied to the full fee charged to guests (non-host participants in the event) for social events, all of which we guests pay for, other than the Youngs' Annual Wine Extravaganza. They fully host that event, now scheduled for Friday, January 30.
Frank has already selected the wines to be presented, and Susan will be working with the hotel restaurant on the selection of appies for this event. You will not be disappointed at any of these events. Notwithstanding that, the Friday social is hosted, attendance is limited to those who register with BRC for SV 09, regardless whether they arrange for their own accommodations. They recommend making advance reservations for dinner following their event at the Knob Hill Inn, an historical site with an excellent restaurant.
We also try to do a little something for the party hosts each year, which will be included in the events fee. All non-hosts signing up for events this year will share equally in those fees, whether they elect to attend all events or not. I am guesstimating $100 per person for social event fees this year. The $60 fee charged upon sign up will be applied to the full charges for each registrant who does not cancel. The cost the hosts are able to bring these events in at is well below what one might pay on their own, and they are much more fun, regardless whether one is arranging his own accommodations. Hosted beds just add value for those signing up in time.
The remainder of the actual event fee will be billed by BRC after the accounting is done, e.g., if costs are $100 per person and you have already paid your $60 registration fee, you will be billed an extra $40. All other costs are to be borne by each participant, e.g., meals other than those covered by the event fee, transportation, lift tickets, shopping by non-skiers who have an Rx for spending therapy, etc.
The nonrefundable fee of those who cancel will be applied to the event costs before remaining balances are determined. Unlike other participants, there will be no extra charge for those canceling beyond the nonrefundable sign-up fee. For those who do sign up, if a hosted bed is not available, you have the option of finding commercial accommodations or canceling. If you cancel under those circumstances and attend none of the social events, your sign-up fee will be refunded.
Your fellowship cup will surely runneth over at this elegant annual event. It is somewhat different from the Crystal Mountain Ski event (CM 09) scheduled for March 3 & 4, 2009, it is safe to say, but both are super fun in their own way. In addition to the Youngs’ Friday evening reception, there will be a welcoming party Thursday, dinner Saturday, and Super Bowl party Sunday at the residences of BRC members Larry Mast, Steve Anderson, Debbie Acton, or Janine Florence, and their respective spice (yes, all nice). Their residences range from very convenient and comfortable to super special. In addition to the sightseeing, spas and shops to divert the attention of non-skiers, parties at the hosts’ homes are well worth a visit to The Valley on their own.
Event registrants usually volunteer to assist with those events, sparing us the need to call up the draft (read fine print on sign ups regarding involuntary servitude). From past experience (mostly with clean up), I can attest that there will be many hands on deck for each event, a fun way to end each day spent on the perfectly groomed runs of sunny Sun Valley.
As you can see, there just is no end to the excitement experienced during this 5 days and 4 nights event. Don’t be left out. Sign up now, and assure your presence on the priority list for future SV Ski events. And snag those low fees before they get away. As they say, ”Just do it!