Posted by Margaret Miley on Jan 04, 2023
President Christopher Wiseman (Nonprofit Management | Glaucoma Research Foundation) called the first meeting of 2023 to order at 12:15 PM. He welcomed those online and those attending in person inside the Anzu Restaurant at the Hotel Nikko. 
 
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Today's Visiting Rotarians were Assistant Governor Sylvia Barry from the Rotary Club of Novato Sunrise, Rami Branbo via Zoom from a Rotary Club in Sweden, Past District Governor Peter Cheng from the Rotary Club of Hsinchu Silicon Valley - Taiwan, and Karen Schmautz - mother of PDG Eric Schmautz (Banking: Management | Retired) - from the Rotary Club of Indian Rocks Beach in Florida. We also welcomed Charlie Miles and today's speaker - City Attorney David Chiu. 
 
President Christopher presented the Club flag to PDG Peter Cheng.
President Christopher presented our Club flag to PDG Peter Cheng.
 
Meeting Volunteers
President Christopher thanked today's meeting volunteers (listed at the end of this story).
 
Club and District Events for Rotarians
Club Events: Check the Club's calendar for upcoming meetings and service projects for January 2023. Note that next week's luncheon on January 10, 2023 is free and on Zoom only. Our next service project will be at Rotary Meadow on January 21, 2023. Our first social in 2023 will be to play ping pong on January 28, 2023. 
 
District Events: Rotary District 5150 is offering Basic PRLS on January 21, 2023. Anyone interested in learning about donating to TRF through estate planning is invited to a Create Your Legacy training led by our own Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired).
 
Announcements
If you took photos during our Holiday Party on December 13, 2022, please share them with President Christopher. 
 
Sad News: Rhonda Poppen (Grant Writing | GRANTdog) reported that her friend, neighbor, and former speaker at our Club, Kevin McCormack, died suddenly. He was the director of patient advocacy at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and will be sorely missed. 
 
New Members Inducted
President Christopher and Vice President of Membership Margaret Miley (Hospitality: Hotels | Retired) inducted Carrie Schucker (Counseling | Retired) and Kevin Simonin (Education: University | San Francisco State University) as the newest members of our Club. Carrie had been a Rotarian in Davis, CA. Her mentor is Alex Omoko (Human Services | Bay Area Community Service). Kevin is now a member of our corporate member - San Francisco State University. His mentor is Nat Crawford (Education: Tutoring | Improve Your English Tutoring). Welcome to Carrie and Kevin!
 
New Members Kevin Simonin and Carrie Schucker
 
Climate News
Kai Burrus (Education: University | San Francisco State University), co-director of the Climate HQ campus hub that promotes and supports climate-related activities across San Francisco State University, talked about the Climate Justice Leaders Initiative (CJLI) to build leaders who understand the inequities of climate change and who can advocate for and create strategies that include the communities most vulnerable to the climate crisis. SFSU students will be required to take at least one climate course to complete their graduation requirements. On campus is a community garden for research as well as climate and food solutions. Kai said that she would be asking Rotarians to help with the garden especially during the summer months when students are not in school.
 
Andrés Vera (Entertainment | Self-Employed) talked about our diet and the impact on the environment. He gave the following statistics:
  • 125 lunches with a main course of red meat emits 400 lbs. of CO₂.
  • 125 lunches with a main course of fish emits only 58 lbs. of CO₂.
Andrés asked that we make Rotary red meat-free at all events.
 
Guest Speaker
Ann Daugherty (Financial Services: Private Trading | IBN Financial Services) introduced City Attorney David Chiu who is the former President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The City Attorney’s Office deals with civil law and not criminal law. This Office works with other California cities and sometimes the State of California on lawsuits and initiatives in order to have a greater impact. Recent efforts include:  working with the Bar Association of San Francisco to provide a network of attorneys to assist people impacted by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, strengthening of red flag laws covering possession and concealment of firearms by mentally challenged persons, consumer protection and privacy, climate change, and housing and homelessness. Of the roughly 100 attorneys in the office, 85 work to defend the City against lawsuits and 15 work on issues such as environmental protection and urban agriculture.

City Attorney Chiu talked about how the City of San Francisco had sued the Trump administration over cutting off funds to sanctuary cities such as San Francisco and got a ruling in its favor from the United States District Court. 
 
President Christopher thanked City Attorney Chiu and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in his name.
 
Ann Daugherty introduced City Attorney David Chiu.
 
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.
 
 
Editor's Note: Thank you to Margaret Miley for serving as scribe; to Jim Patrick (Retail: Office Supplies | Patrick & Co.) for serving as photographer; to Andrés Vera for managing the microphone; to Stephanie Schmautz (Elder Care and Senior Services | The Carlisle) for serving as greeter; and to Robin Azevedo (Retail: Mattresses | Retired, McRoskey Mattress Company) and Ann Daugherty for doing check-in at the Hotel Nikko.