President Dave Skinner called the meeting to order. Jay Almeida gave an invocation and Tim Ryan led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Guests and Visitors were introduced by Oliver Ruiz:
David Gratz came to our meeting to learn what we are all about.
Grant Bethea was a guest of Jaime Tobin. Grant is a MBA student at FIU and joined us for the second time.
Announcements:
Our speaker on October 11 is Katie Meier, University of Miami Women’s Basketball Coach. All you Canes fans need to come find out what’s up at The U.
Our club brunch with fun, food and fellowship will be on Sunday, October 28, at noon at Diane Landsberg’s home. This is a good opportunity to bring a friend, neighbor or prospective member. Make sure to RSVP to Diane;
Our club had 12 participants at RLI last Saturday. Congratulations to Randy Lichtman and Dave Anderson for being discussion leaders;
Linda Singer gave a civic announcement regarding the upcoming elections. If you vote by mail, make sure that your signature on the outside of the mail-in ballot matches your signature with the Department of Elections. If it does not, your vote will not count. The League of Women Voters, which is nonpartisan, has a very helpful website: https://www.vote.411.org. There is a voter guide for all the proposed amendments on the ballot. Also, by entering in your address, you can see your ballot with explanations for each issue.
Happy $$$$$$$$$$$$$ were collected by Arlene Terrinoni:
Robin Shelley looks forward to the University of Miami - FSU game this Saturday;
Brian Tschirhart just returned from a dental mission trip to Syria and Lebanon benefiting refugees. He had a great time and was heartened by the patients’ appreciation. He visited the Cedars of Lebanon as well;
Jay Almeida was happy about our club’s attendance at RLI and was glad that Tim Ryan was present at today’s meeting;
Diane Landsberg was happy about RLI and being with all of our friends. She announced that the current edition of Miami Kids Magazine contains a lot of pictures of our members and her article that she penned;
Phil Seipp enjoyed his vacation at a Maine lodge;
Arlene Terrinoni is glad to be back home with us after traveling to Morocco, Las Vegas and Southern California.
OUR SPEAKER was introduced by Marcia Brod:
Chris Caines is Executive Director of the Miami Urban Future Initiative at Florida International University. The Institute provides research on the local economy. He was formerly with the Knight Foundation.
Many people have moved to downtown Miami. 62% of the renters in our county are cost-burdened because we have very low wagers and relatively high rents.
Miami has more imports and exports than any other area of the country! However, we struggle with transportation issues in just being able to get around our county.
We are in the 70th percentile for people who graduated from college and are still in Miami.
Miami has the smallest average business size of any metro area. The average number of employees is 11. More tech firms are coming here.
Our policy makers are reactive, not proactive.
Longevity depends on the neighborhood in which a child is raised. In 2016, a baby born to an Overtown family has a 71 year life expectancy; a baby born to a Key Biscayne family has an 87 year life expectancy.
50/50
Rick Hernandez sold the 50/50 tickets. $57 of tickets was sold today, creating a pot of $203. Brian Tschirhart picked the 8 of diamonds but will have $25 of the ticket sales contributed to EREY in his name. The pot next week starts at $178.
4-WAY TEST
Brian Tschirhart led us in the 4-Way Test of the Things We Think, Say or Do.
