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Executives & Directors
President
Brian Tschirhart
 
Immediate Past President
Noreen Timoney
 
Treasurer
Phil Seipp
 
Chair-Environmental
Robert Bull
 
Chair-Speakers
Steve Dutton
 
Chair-Club Service
Diane Landsberg
 
Chair-Public Image
Jay Almeida
 
Chair-Youth Service
Amelia Bonilla
 
Chair-Membership
Norby Rudel
 
Director
Oliver Ruiz
 
Director
Cathy Cahill
 
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The Rote - June 9, 2022

The Miami Yacht Club and on Zoom

Scribe: Linda Singer

 

President Noreen Timoney attended the Rotary International Convention in Houston, Texas. She and other members of our club experienced a couple of days of flight delay but were able to attend the meeting from the airport in Houston via Zoom. President Noreen opened the meeting and announced that we were in the capable hands of Immediate Past President Robert Bull and Past President Jay Almeida to oversee the rest of the meeting and that Past President Phil Seipp would be available to assist. She regretted that the delay of their original flights had precluded them from being there personally but were delighted to be able to join via Zoom and see everyone at the Yacht Club and online.

 

 

Immediate Past President Robert Bull gave an invocation.

 

Linda Singer led us in pledging allegiance to the flag.

 

Visiting Rotarians and Guests:

  • A.Z. Thomas, a guest of Patrick Aliu, who is vice president of business operations for PSA Management; and

  • Linnetta F. Aliu-Otokiti, who is Patrick Aliu’s wife and oversees account management at PSA Management.

 

 

 

 

Robert Bull talked and shared photos about what our members and guests did for the End Plastic Soup Day on June 4, 2022 and the World Environment Day on June 5, 2022.

 

 

President Noreen’s farewell meeting will be an in-person meeting and she is looking forward to seeing you as she finishes her year as president of our Club.

 

Noreen Timoney reminded us of the importance of each member and how much each person is valued. She offered a warm “thank you” to everyone.

 

Speaker

  • Shirley Pardon introduced our speaker, Christopher Hodgkins, the CEO of the Miami Tunnel. Mr. Hodgkins, who addressed us on Zoom, updated us on the Miami Tunnel from his last presentation to our club.

  • After cruises shut down at the Port of Miami due to COVID, cargo traffic increased by 30%.

  • Before our city received an amazing deluge of rain from tropical weather on June 4th, 2022, the tunnel’s massive flood gates were lowered and kept the tunnel dry. On June 4th, there was so much rain that Biscayne Blvd. downtown was under 3 feet of water.

  • When a hurricane is coming, the Port of Miami works together with the Coast Guard and Miami-Dade County government to decide to close the port and to have the flood gates lowered in advance. It takes three hours to reopen the Port of Miami.

  • Our tunnel was the first to have a state-of-the-art fire system. It has cameras and emergency phones everywhere.

  • Mr. Hodgkins said that they are looking at shore power, resiliency, and changing lighting to LED to reduce the port’s carbon footprint.

  • A very thoughtful question and answer session followed.

  • Mr. Hodgkins thanked President Noreen for inviting him once again to speak with our Club and offered a tour of the Tunnel. President Noreen will be contacting him to schedule the tour.

 

  • Brian Tschirhart contributed happy dollars in appreciation for being able to attend the Rotary International Convention and its excellent breakout sessions;

  • Phil Seipp was happy about how great the embroidering was on the 30 backpacks that will be given to the senior high school student members of the Little Haiti Football Club. He showed us a backpack, which looked fabulous;

  • Robert Bull reported on an electrical outage at his home from the storm the previous weekend which was resolved despite the erroneous belief of an FPL worker that the power was back on;

  • Linda Singer was very happy that for the first time in three years, she was able to celebrate her birthday and enjoyed the evening with Dave Skinner and his son, Neil Skinner, in a party atmosphere at Monty’s outdoors;

  • President Noreen contributed happy dollars in appreciation for our speaker, Chris Hodgkins and for hoping that her flight today would finally take off so she would be able to leave the Houston airport after two days. She was also happy to have been part of the Rotary International Convention and share information and fellowship with over 11,000 fellow Rotarians.

 

 

 

President Noreen thanked: Chris Hodgkins for being our keynote speaker today, our volunteers, our members, and our guests. She offered special thanks to Robert Bull and Jay Almeida for their wonderful job in overseeing and carrying today’s meeting.

 

4-Way Test

Norby Rudel led the club in the 4-Way Test.