Escondido Sunrise Rotary; Meeting to Serve our Community in Person and “Rebecca Jones, City of San Marcos Mayor w/an update on SANDAG”
August 31, 2023
As we all try to conduct our professional pursuits in new ways, it’s appropriate to remind ourselves of who we are as a Serving Organization… Our accomplishments, our fellowship and the reminder of our many successes is valuable as we seek new opportunities to serve…
We met again in person at the Chamber of Commerce… Great to enjoy the fellowship again and see all your smiling faces…
As a Club, past President Richard Agnew led us as we honored our nation with a salute to our Flag and, an invocation was offered by past President Jack Anderson
Guests & Visitors:
Rebecca Jones – Speaker for today – Mayor from The City of San Marcos
Dana Nuesca – from the noon club
Travis Catania
Deanna Smith – new member for ESR
Steph Holder
High 5 and Announcements:
Jim Dunlap announced that today would be last meeting because of his move to Cathedral City. Jim promised he would come back to visit, we will miss you, Jim!!
Past President Mark Hoekstra just got back from Arkansas and brought some fun goodies for president Mark
Kevin Svetich went to Virginia Lakes and said it was absolutely beautiful, they spent time with their 8 yr. old granddaughter Reece who apparently is a great fisherman. President Mark received more gifts!!
Past President Richard Agnew announced there will be a 5K walk to raise funds for the Ovarian Cancer Alliance of San Diego. The walk will be held on Sunday 9/10 at Tidelands Park in Coronado.
Rotarian’s Having Fun!!! A picture is worth a thousand words!!
John Schwab enjoyed a day sailing on Mission Bay
Past President Brian Murphy shared photos from the corn hole tournament that raised funds for MS
Past President Jim Ponder, Kelly Mayberry and Kendra Koed spent some time training for the Bike MS event, way to go everyone!!
Past President George Beitner, his daughter & grandkids enjoyed a day at Safari Park
Past President Rich Aeling announced once again there is another baby on the way and it’s a boy!! Needless to say, he is thrilled!!!
Judy Fitzgerald was able to obtain advertising for the 5K in the Westfield North County Fair Mall. Good job Judy!!!
5K Update: 9 Days to go! The Padres have now taken the lead back with the Pirates, Yankees and Diamond Backs not too far behind!! We are now over $124k with over 850 registered for the race, awesome work everyone!!
Volunteers that are wearing their orange shirts the day of the race will receive a hat
Mark Your Calendars:
Program:
Guest Speaker
Mayor Rebecca Jones (City of San Marcos) with an update on SANDAG
George Beitner introduced his long time friend and ESRC Guest Speaker Mayor Rebecca Jones. Mayor Jones chose as the topic of discussion the challenges San Diego North County faces as the result of the decisions made by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). Attending and engaging in the SANDAG meetings are of high priority to her as she makes every effort to ensure that made are transparent and beneficial to transportation in and around the City of San Marcos, along with its neighboring cities of Escondido, Carlsbad, Vista, and Oceanside. Rebecca wanted to give the ESRC some insight on the upcoming challenges and liabilities SANDAG could potentially place on taxpayers, and the infrastructure plan that could also be detrimental to the traffic flow on and around our freeways, highways, and major thoroughfares connecting and/or impacting North County cities.
The Regional Transportation Plan was developed by SANDAG under the stated intention that it would serve everyone residing or working within the 18 cities of San Diego County. The end result was later determined that it did not serve anyone in the manner it had been presented to voters. TransNet was another and earlier example of SANDAG misleading county voters to agree to a temporary sales tax increase to fund public transportation methods and upgrades that would benefit all cities. It was later determined that the majority of the increased tax revenue funded only specific projects in less than a handful of areas, at double the budget amount due to budget amendments and timeline adjustments. In addition, only 3% of county residents rely on public transportation. The target of having 20% or more was not achieved, yet, the highest amount of SANDAG decisions are to benefit the 3% and not the majority.
Mayor Jones stated she wanted to make us more aware of the decisions SANDAG is
making, and misleading information that costs the county taxpayers billions of dollars.
She asked that we look into upcoming Propositions that will be on the ballot, attend
SANDAG meetings that are open to the public, ask questions, then get the word out. She urged us to be proactive in pressing SANDAG to keep its promises and invest in the North County cities the way they have in Central, Coastal, and South San Diego County areas.
She provided some items that SANDAG is working on and would be happy to provide
concrete statistics, and answer any questions we may have.
Next Week’s Meeting:
Closing: President Mark Maus announced that we will be meeting in person at the Chamber of Commerce at 7:30 AM on September 7th… with our monthly club fellowship breakfast and a “Who Am I”
Thanks for Attending Today’s Meeting….
Support for our Escondido Community …
Our great community and the success of its businesses is all of our responsibilities… Support the businesses that are doing all they can to survive this trying economy…….
The ‘Giving Arch’ on Grand Avenue and Centre City Parkway reminds us that Escondido is a caring, giving community…
To all; be safe and be well…. God Bless those men and women that carry the load at our medical facilities, and God Bless our first responders… May our governmental leaders be wise, thoughtful and smart as they navigate these times that have been difficult…..
The meetings will be technically managed by Past President Richard Agnew… Thanks for that Richard… And, Richard is prepared to support all of our attempts at joining the on-line meetings if needed….
SEE YOU SOON…… In Person … Next meeting; September 7th, 7:30 AM at the Chamber of Commerce…
Check President Mark’s email for the reminder…
