Progress Report on Scarborough's Economic Development Discussion Paper

Rotary Club of North Scarborough

Rota-Teller

May 21, 2014

Anthem: Al Meredith

Grace: Dave Hardy

Toast: President Rocco

Attendance: 13 (with no guests)

Announcements:

- President Rocco announced a Directors Meeting for Monday, May 26^th at 7:30 pm at Doug Strype’s home.

- Barry Smith informed the Club that former member, Bill Manuel, who is also Kevin Manuel’s uncle, passed away on May 15^th, 2014, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer, at the young age of 63 years. Visitation is on Thursday, May 22 from 1-4 pm and 6-9 pm with funeral on Friday the 23^rd at 10 am. Details are posted at: www.heritagefuneralcentre.ca

- David Seemungal announced that he has the paperwork available for anyone who wants to purchase a Paul Harris Fellowship.

- President Rocco announced the incoming board nominations and the following board was unanimously elected: Madhavi Chandrasekaran (Incoming President), Basil Dias (Vice President), Dave Hardy (Secretary), Doug Strype and Jack Holman (Treasurers), Gordon Brown (Group 1 Director), Carolyn Nicholson (Group 3-4 Director), Dhanni Ramdeen (Group 4 Director), David Seemungal (Foundation Director), and Rocco Colangelo (Past President).

Marbelous Draw was won, and lost, by Dave Hardy.

Sgt-at-Arms Al Meredith asked for Happy Bucks:

- Barry Smith had a happy toonie for his oldest son’s wedding at the end of the year. Kyle will be married in St. Lucia.

- Madhavi is happy that she is getting her voice back.

- Jack Holman was disappointed, because he thought Madhavi would sound more like Lauren Bacall with her new voice. (Many younger members wondered, ‘Who is Lauren Bacall?’)
Editor's Note: Google says "Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks. Wikipedia"

- Basil is set to surprise Dorothy with the news that they’re going to Rio in June 2015... for the Rotary International Convention.

- Jack Holman announced on behalf of Jacob that $2,830 was being sent to the Scarborough Philharmonic from concert ticket sales.

Program:

Since our scheduled speaker did not arrive, Rocco introduced our very own Dave Hardy to update the Club on our Rotary media initiative.

Dave advised that Julia was working hard on forging partnerships with various organizations such as the Chinese language newspapers as well as Metroland and Global in order to get the word out about Rotary into the Scarborough community.

A mailing list is being assembled plus a electronic mailing list in order to update the community on Rotary news, plus a letter to Scarborough businesses is being put together with the hope of reaching business people who may be interested in Rotary and/or its projects.

A meeting to discuss Scarborough business and future business is being planned to take place at the hotel.

A major thrust of this initiative is to circulate a series of discussion papers in order to engage businesses and the community in general to several community concerns being raised by Rotary in these papers. This will develop interest in Rotary plus demonstrate Rotary’s interest in the Scarborough community.

The first paper is the Economic Development Discussion Paper. This paper will be used in a planned discussion with the Toronto mayoral candidates.

This will be followed up with a Social Development Discussion Paper, which will involve the assistance of the University of Toronto as they are in support of the issues to be addressed in this paper.

The third paper, the Land Use Discussion Paper, has been written and will be circulated in about two weeks. Oxford Development is also assisting with this paper.

The Arts and Culture Development Discussion Paper is being put together with the assistance of the Scarborough Philharmonic.

The Transit Discussion Paper still has to be written and will raise many relevant issues for Scarborough.

All of these papers are being, or will be, circulated by various means including posting on the Internet where they are already garnering interest and feedback.

There will be a planning meeting with the Twilight Club in order to further promote the message, “How to Improve Life for Scarborough Residents”.

The planning group is proposing having the Toronto mayoral candidates speak to the Scarborough Rotary Clubs and address the issues raised in these discussion papers.

All of these initiatives will help to get Rotary’s name out there as an organization that cares about its community, thus raising Rotary awareness while at the same time taking the initiative in addressing important community concerns.

President Rocco thanked Dave for his very informative, off-the-cuff presentation.

The meeting was terminated.