Cap Ap Rotarians:
Our January 16 lunch meeting at Seascape had 21 members in persons plus 3 on zoom, 2 guests and our speaker.

The guests were Carol from Maryland and Sharon Bell from Ohio. Best time to recruit folks from those areas is now as we bask in sunny 60s and their hometowns are blizzarded.  Of course, they don’t have massive battery fires…..

UTI playing the welcome song and 4 way test song is now on video (how many takes?).  looking and sounding good but it must be a it odd for Justice McAdams to sing along with himself on screen?
 
Dr Art was present but admittedly thoughtless
 
We also need a joker…. 
 
And maybe a calendar for President Nelson
We did finally figure out that the 5th Thursday in January  is 1/30, and that will be our in service day: litter pickup on Park Avenue starting at 10 am.
Stan said we can park at his church and even will grant a discount. 
 
Nelson reminded us to go on Facebook and like our page because that makes the algorithm gods happy and increases our visibility. 
 
Doug updated us on the contributions for Rotary International- we still have a few members who haven’t paid.  Remember that Bill Witmer is the collector  and rumors that he was the enforcer for Whitey Bulger have never been conclusively disproven.
 
The CASA benefit lunch is Feb 1 starting 1130 at Seascape.  Doug is in charge of tickets/donations.  Your author signed up  and brought a check but somehow was mistaken for Julie on the group email and sign up sheet.  Perhaps Ken and Julie should not sit so close.  Julie was diplomatically not nearly as offended as she might have been.
 
Father Stan received a Paul Harris award with 4 stones!  Congrats to Stan for his ongoing contributions and exemplifying the spirit of Rotary.
Now, about the parking fee…..
 
Craig was the detective and the subject was Dr. King
 
Lowry noted that Jan 15, which is Dr. King’s birthday, also is the National Day of service.
We did fairly well on Craig’s questions.  He also told us some of the inside story on Dr. King ad libbing the most compelling part of his immortal “I have a dream speech.”  Very inspirational.
 
This January 17 was  the 3d time the Presidential inauguration was on MLK day- Clinton in 1977 and Obama in 2023.  Obama swore the oath on a Bible that belonged to Dr. King
 
Our speaker was Corey Aldridge, the new Director of Santa Cruz Metro
Corey was the director of (really) Mountain Lion Transit in Missoula Montana which actually became something of the gold standard in public transport under his watch.  Hopefully he can work similar miracles here. 
 
His presentation was informative, entertaining and , succinct, and he overcame trying to adapt to new glasses as he addressed us and looked at the screen.
Corey is a re-married widower, he and his wife have 7 kids.  He is busy
 
Corey spoke about Metro’s push to be eco-friendly with the 0 emission bus program.  The district has received much grant money to help replace its aging fleet of diesels (some have 1,000,000 miles) with battery and hydrogen-cell buses.   There are currently 9 battery driven buses operating and 52 hydrogen cell buses are expected.  The program is a bit behind because the manufacturer is behind delivering the fueling stations.  There are 5 buses here now but the bugs are still being worked out.
 
When fully implemented the program will decrease yearly carbon emissions by 48,000 metric tons 
 
Corey also spoke about Metro’s successful efforts to increase ridership through its Youth Cruise Free program and its very popular $1 fare for seniors.
The district is also trying to make ride times faster but the geography of many of our roads, especially in San Lorenzo Valley, makes that difficult.  
 
A few announcements from Ken:
Stanford men’s gymnastics team is having home meets February 2 and March 8.  Tickets are free or maybe $10. 
Feb. 2d is against Cal, Sunday at 1 pm- should be plenty of seats.  March 8 is the international collegiate meet- best gymnastics this side of the Olympics- Saturday 4pm.
 
Ken help helps with the pre meet tailgaters and hangs with alums afterward so goes two hours early stays 2+ hour afterward so carpooling not practical
 
Meets last about two hours, warm-ups are fun too. Bleacher seating only. Loud. Nonstop action. Olympic level, gymnastics, no commercials.
 
Santa Cruz Warriors Rotary night is March 7. Tell Ken ASAP if you want to go and he can coordinate group ticket purchase so we can sit together.  And then go to the Stanford meet the next day.
 
This week’s meeting is lunch at Seascape