Mayor Jonathan Rothschild became Tucson’s 41st Mayor when he was elected in 2011 and is currently in his 2nd term. Mayor Jonathan Rothschild came to City Hall promising accountability in government, increased emphasis on economic growth and help for those most in need. Mayor Rothschild follows a long time tradition of Tucson mayors becoming an Honorary Member of the Rotary Club of Tucson in 2013.
Since taking office, the mayor has helped settle the long-standing Rio Nuevo dispute opening a new era of downtown redevelopment. He codified and increased incentives for Tucson businesses. And, he led efforts to pass a $100 million road improvement bond, the first in the city for many years.
Mayor Rothschild’s work in Mexico has been recognized in both Washington, DC and Mexico City. He is a leading advocate for developing infrastructure in Sonora and Arizona that will create an economic region where both states are prosperous and secure.
During his first year in office, the mayor focused on revamping the Planning and Development Services Department, reducing wait and processing times for building permits and consolidating inspections.
Mayor Rothschild has been a state leader in advocating for a strong education system as the key to economic success. Along with Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, Mayor Rothschild formed the Arizona Mayors Education Roundtable which promotes programs that help bring back dropouts back to graduate. He also spearheaded a drive to double the number of reading coaches for young children in our community and helped extend the family literacy Teach the Parent Reach the Child to schools serving low income neighborhoods.
Initiatives like the Mayor’s Reading Challenge, Mayor’s 10,000 Trees Campaign and Tucson Moves a Million Miles provide more examples of how Mayor Rothschild works to engage the community in creating a healthier Tucson.
Mayor Rothschild is a native Tucsonan. His grandmother moved to Tucson in 1942 and opened a used furniture store on S 12th Avenue. He is a graduate of Canyon del Oro High School, Kenyon College and the University of New Mexico Law School. After serving as a law clerk for District Court Judge Alfredo C. Marquez, he went on to a 30 year career practicing law with the firm of Mesch, Clark and Rothschild.
The Mayor has a long history of service to many nonprofits in the community and served as Board President for Casa de los Ninos, Handmaker Services for the Aging and Temple Emanu-el. He has been married to Karen Spiegel for 35 years and has three adult children.
PRESIDENT ELLIE began our meeting with a moment about rotary’s effect on ending polio throughout the world. We also honored long time member, LEW RIGGS and the loss of his wife, Chris, with a moment of silence.
Our moving Inspiration was given by KATHY KITAGAWA, who gave a historical account about the Christian tradition of “Ash Wednesday”. The Pledge and Song was led by KEVIN MARSHALL and the song “My Country Tis of Thee” was performed by our PRESIDENT ELLIE, who plays a mighty fine piano.
BRUCE TUNZE, Colonial Life – Disability Insurance, introduced our many out of state visiting Rotarians and in town guests. DREW VACTOR was our birthday boy and he brought a slide of his former exchange student from 30 years ago!
MARIANNE FREITAS, Past President and major car show participant, introduced a new member, Mike Peller, a Chicago guy, who runs a company he founded Pelstar - a computer security company.
SAA, FONDA INSLEY spoke about a “horse lunch” – see her. And, she proclaimed that JIM RONSTADT’s family had another grandchild – yeah!!!
Under Announcements:
PRESIDENT ELLIE – Member survey results about our club’s behavior in reality – this is very interesting.
WAYNE MEYER – Gave a blue badge to JIM WOOD, JR.His Dad and Granddad are former members.
DARRELL STEWART – Spoke about our upcoming member social/replacement mixer on March 29th at Rincon Farmer’s Market.Sounds like fun, let’s go!
ROGER HARWELL – Needs members for the 4th Avenue Street Fair to help him with the “Suds for Scholars” booth.
MERLE HENKEL – Get your slightly used clothes and bring them to Rotary on March 15th.
The new and improved DAVID PASHKOW, along with ARNIE JACOBSEN, asked for volunteers to pass out our car show flyers at other car shows.
JIM LUBINSKI, Bookmans and the new “Pet Hotel Apartment Concept” gave a financial report about our Rotary Club Foundation, a 501(c)3, non-profit organization.This started up in 1975.
Finally, our program was introduced by SCOTT VAUGHAN, former RCOT President. Nile D. Ramsbottom’s program was about rising from the ashes to building a $1.5 billion in sales bio-diesel fuel company. This man, whose wife and partner, Terry, gave us many tips to turn lemons into lemonade. They are as follows: (1) Prepare (2) Plan – have a Plan A and a Plan B (3) Keep good and smart people around you (4) Take action (5) Significant vs. successful involves other people (6) Honesty, integrity, punctuality, and listening, and finally (7) it’s “who you are” vs. “what you are”. Participate in charity – “God cares”.
Our meeting was brought to a close by PRESIDENT ELLIE with a quote by E.M. Kelly about leadership vs. the boss --- Boss says “go”, Leaders say “Let’s go”!
Have you ever driven into a Costco parking lot and was glad to get such a wide spot? That's intentional. Have you enjoyed the well lit, clean and organized spaces at Costco? That's intentional. Cheerful greeters at the door? That’s intentional. And what about efficiency, getting a lot accomplished in a short amount of time - in and out and feeling good about your experience? That's intentional.
Are there any comparisons of the Costco experience with Rotary meetings, events, and overall atmosphere? According to former Costco Executive, John Mathews, the answer is a definite “yes,” when he presented at the recent PETS Seminar in Mesa, AZ.John Matthews will be our Zone 25-26 RI Director for 2017-2019 and has been a Rotarian since 1988.John completed 25 years as a Senior Vice President with Costco Wholesale and as he spoke about the comparisons, I thought of words like friendliness, contagious energy, leadership training, integrity and service, each a great way to characterize our Rotary club.
Some comparisons John made were: growing leaders from within (managers are told that 85% of their job is developing people behind them), and both organizations have a small window in which to make an impression, always striving to build their membership.John went on to say that organizational charts for Costco never really worked for the company but hypothetically, if used, it would look like an inverted pyramid.The 80 million members are at the top and then served by the 200,000 employees who are then served by the several hundred warehouse managers who are then served by the Costco Executive line with the CEO at the bottom. You get the picture.The Rotary Club org chart similarly should have the members at the top that are then served by the committee chairs who are then served by the Board of Directors who are then served by the President.Leadership at the bottom serving the members (customers) on top. Citing Stephen Covey, John reminded us that a leader is to be efficient with things and effective with people. Members want to believe that leaders are more concerned about their success than they are with their own.
I was inspired when I heard John say that every single Rotary job he has done, he has come out better, stronger, smarter, a better Rotarian, a better husband, a better parent and a better citizen in the community. I think that’s what Rotary can do for members when they say “yes, I will serve.”
At the end of his presentation John laughingly reminded us to “keep shopping at Costco.”
Prodip Dutta was born in India. He had his post-secondary education at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur near Calcutta (renamed Kolkata) where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Geology and Geophysics. He continued his education at the same Institution to earn a Master’s in Applied Geology. Subsequently, he joined the Geological Survey of India exploring for coal, needed for the burgeoning industrialization of India. He got married to Gouri. They have a daughter, Neha.
After 16 years with the Geological Survey of India his restless soul was looking for a new pasture. With his wife, he moved to Bloomington, Indiana and started a new life as a student again at Indiana University. Prodip earned a Ph. D. in Geology specializing in finding petroleum and groundwater. He joined Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana as a faculty. The job suited him well as it allowed him to do research along with teaching. His research interest took him to five continents, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Australia. He skipped Antarctica (too cold) and Africa (too hot; he had no idea what Tucson was like). He also traveled extensively throughout the world where he presented his research papers and chaired scientific sessions.
Academic life was not satisfying enough. Coming from a poor country there was a greater call to help the poor in India. Along with a friend and his wife, Gouri and Prodip started a microfinance project to help the rural women and their families to achieve their economic independence and free them from perpetual poverty. So far, the program has helped more than three thousand families. Every year, more than a thousand women get a loan to start a business to escape poverty.
After teaching for 28 years Prodip retired. At the same time Gouri, a computer scientist working with the State of Indiana also retired. For health reasons, they moved to Tucson in August of 2016. They have been attracted by the big blue sky, dust-free air, glorious sun set, and nearby mountains. Tucson might be their last stop. Take a moment and say hello to Prodip Dutta!
Our next Social Mixer/Replacement Meeting held on March 29th will be at the Rincon Farmer’s Market located at 2513 E. 6th Street from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. This mixer will replace our regular scheduled Wednesday lunch meeting that day. The menu is all you can eat Spaghetti and Meatballs. $1 beers and $5 wines will be available. Since this is a replacement meeting, there is no fee for members and the guest fee is $20. Registration will soon be up on Clubrunner. So come join us for some fun and fellowship!
We still need all of the Sunday March 26th slots filled. This is a fun way to raise money for our scholarship fund. If you are mentoring any new Rotarians, suggest this as a service project. I know some of you may be selling car show tickets at the same event and are already booked so thank you for that. Come join Jim Murphy, Roger and myself and support Suds for Scholars or Beer for Brains and help us reach our funding goal this year.
As we read about, and become involved with the many Rotary International projects, it becomes very clear that Rotary makes amazing things happen. March 2017 is Water and Sanitation month and the target challenge is to develop sustainable water, sanitation, hygiene and education projects in five countries: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, India and Kenya. I have experienced first hand the situation in two of those countries, having lived in Kenya three months and also volunteered on a summer project in Honduras. The needs are desperate, especially for young children.
RI commitment is five-fold:
·Strengthen the ability of communities to develop, fund and maintain sustainable water and sanitation systems.
·Provide equitable community access to safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene.
·Support programs that enhance communities awareness of the benefits of safe water.
·Support career-minded professionals' studies related to water and sanitation.
·Create tools and resources that facilitate, measure and enhance high quality water and sanitation projects worldwide.
*So far 23 million people now have safe water because of Rotary.
I believe we, as Rotarians, agree that access to clean water and sanitation is a human right.
Bring your gently used clothing and household items to the meeting on March 15th. The Salvation Army donation truck will be in the parking lot at 11:00 a.m. to collect your clothing and household Items. The clothing drive supports the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center. Thank you!
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BIOGRAPHY MAYOR JONATHAN ROTHSCHILD
MARIANNE FREITAS, Past President and major car show participant, introduced a new member, Mike Peller, a Chicago guy, who runs a company he founded Pelstar - a computer security company.
Prodip Dutta was born in India. He had his post-secondary education at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur near Calcutta (renamed Kolkata) where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Geology and Geophysics. He continued his education at the same Institution to earn a Master’s in Applied Geology. Subsequently, he joined the Geological Survey of India exploring for coal, needed for the burgeoning industrialization of India. He got married to Gouri. They have a daughter, Neha.
Our next Social Mixer/Replacement Meeting held on March 29th will be at the Rincon Farmer’s Market located at 2513 E. 6th Street from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. This mixer will replace our regular scheduled Wednesday lunch meeting that day. The menu is all you can eat Spaghetti and Meatballs. $1 beers and $5 wines will be available. Since this is a replacement meeting, there is no fee for members and the guest fee is $20. Registration will soon be up on Clubrunner. So come join us for some fun and fellowship!
As we read about, and become involved with the many Rotary International projects, it becomes very clear that Rotary makes amazing things happen. March 2017 is Water and Sanitation month and the target challenge is to develop sustainable water, sanitation, hygiene and education projects in five countries: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, India and Kenya. I have experienced first hand the situation in two of those countries, having lived in Kenya three months and also volunteered on a summer project in Honduras. The needs are desperate, especially for young children. 
It’s time to clean out your closets!
