Provo Rotary Weekly Bulletins

This past week at Rotary Mike Mills from the Utah Water Conservancy District came to speak with us about Utah Lake. Currently, one of the long-time fish living in the lake, the June Sucker, is going extinct because of changes in the Provo River and the introduction of foreign fish (Carp). The June Sucker is native to Utah lake and does not exist anywhere else. Their livelihood is to swim around in schools of fish and while doing this they clean the water. They are considering diverting the end of the Provo river in order to create a healthier delta. This should secure a water supply, improve water quality, better wildlife ha just, and increase lake and recreational access. 

On May 12 three Rotarians who are financial experts spoke:   1)  Al Cutler reviewed the Federal Reserve System whose mission is to keep inflation and employment within defined parameters.  He noted that Chinese investors are making worrisome moves within that country's debt-ridden economy.  2)  Ruth Riley noted that many of today's youth expect to live to be a hundred years old.  Longer life spans put unprecedented pressure on Social Security and have caused businesses to drop employee pension plans.  3)  Steve Tolley recommended consulting financial planning experts for a secure retirement. 

Connor Boyack visited the Provo Rotary on May 3. He f ounded the Libertas Institute. This organization is a watchdog that helps be aware of what is happening in Utah legislature as well as helping inform the public of what is really going on in Utah and US politics. Not everyone in Utah is able to go to every political meeting and Libertas makes it their job to know everything that is going on in order to inform the public. In order to find out more about this organization, check out their website at  http://libertasutah.org/about/staff/.

Last week on April 28, 2016 Senator Curt Bramble came to visit the Provo Rotary Club. He declared that we get what we earn and it is time for us as citizens to take back what we earned, be true to the principles you believe in, and to step up and be counted and participate. To give some of his background, Senator Bramble has been to 52 different countries to talk about politics, even Iraq. He stated that our men and women are willing to go and risk their lives and so is he by traveling around the world to share knowledge about the US political system. In that way he represents Utah around the world. He is optimistic and has a great faith in America. We must keep our values at the front and think of what the possibilities could be.

We were delighted that Coach Kalani Sitake, the recently selected BYU football coach, visited our Rotary meeting this past week on April 26, 2016 and told us some about his life.  He is a family based man and that is the most important thing to him. He makes sure that his players follow the honor code. He grew up as a poor boy. His parents divorced at age 6 and at age 8 as a broken child, his family settled in Provo, Utah. At an assembly at Cascade elementary, a BYU athlete came and asked his name and gave him a hug. That healed him and helped shape his path in life.  In addition and a s a treat to those attending, Coach Sitaki opened up the meeting to questions in order for those attending to ask about his football strategy, his view points on the BYU VS U of U rivalry, and where he'd like to go with the team. In response, he said that h e wants to recruit more effective players for his offense. Fast and strong is great, but effective is better. He is also going to have ...

This past week on April 14 we heard from Rona, who is the President and CEO of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce. There, they w ork on issues all over the valley with key individuals. They also create meetings and opportunities for networking that are fast and effective. Rona wants to help unite all of Utah county and to help people know how great we are with our tech companies and quality of life as we are growing and rapidly as a county. 

At our Rotary meeting on April 7, Michael Hathorne listed problems such as urban sprawl and excessive driving that result from our present system of single-use and single-density zoning.  He assured us that this can be changed by supporting officials willing to investigate multiple-use and mixed-density zoning systems for new developments and for remodeling commercial areas such as shopping centers.  This is now happening in Orem's University Place and will soon begin in Provo.