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President Lisa Smith called the March 11th, 2016 weekly Rotary Club of Lansing meeting to order at 12:30pm in the 1st Floor Exhibition Hall of the Lansing Center, extending a warm welcome to all her fellow Rotarians, guests and visitors.
Invocator, Scott Keith, followed up by giving the Club much to think about and much to be thankful for in his poignant Invocation. He called for peace, love and understanding and asked that we be both fearful and fearless in the way that we live our lives…and above all, that we be kind to each other. Amen to that….
With John Dale Smith’s piano accompaniment, the Club sang our National Anthem before we sat back down to continue enjoying our meal of pasta, vegetarian lasagna, green beans with carrots, green salad and desert. Yum!
Matthew Anderson grabbed the portable microphone and was next up with Introductions of our guests and visitors. There were no visiting Rotarians, but plenty of guests – eight in all David Eich introduced by President Smith, Bryan Myrick and Grace Mohr who were Student Guests (a young man ‘making a difference’), Devin (a previous Lansing Rotary presenter and retired insurance agent), Adam Goss with Dart Bank, introduced by John Grettenberger, Jr. J.R. Beaubort director of Legal Services introduced by Michael Clark, LCC, Lisa Smith (no, not President Lisa, but rather Lisa from Central Michigan University’s Department of Humanities, Social & Behavioral Sciences) introduced by Michelle Lantz, Melissa Morelli (Michigan Athletic Club) introduced by Michelle Reynaert, and Linnea Snodgrass introduced by Paula Cunningham.
President Lisa then asked Irv Nichols to give the Remembrance Report and to update the Club on its health. Of note, Jack Draper has recovered from his fall, Jack Bates is out of the hospital and rehabilitating at Okemos’ MediLodge (Room 118) following his bout with pneumonia, and Gabrielle Haskins is recovering from her recent auto accident. Best Wishes, we’re glad that you’re on the mend!
Then it was time again for the Club to learn a bit more about another decade, the 2000s, in the Centennial Celebration history of the Rotary Club of Lansing. Mark Hooper shared with the Club that the 2000s was the decade of the Y2K scare, the 9/11 tragedy, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Katrina 2005, the dramatic economic downturn, the beginning of GM’s restructuring, GPS….and Google, Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn, and online shopping.
Mark continued by describing the local Lansing area events that shaped the 2000s: a 6% drop in the City of Lansing’s population, to 119,128 in the year 2000; the 2001 opening of the $560million GM Grand River Assembly plant in Lansing; the last Oldsmobile model produced in 2004; the 2008 Accident Fund redevelopment project along the Grand River; and, the Lansing Sesquicentennial Celebration spear-headed in large part by Lansing Rotary with Michael Harrison as Chair. Of note, Lansing Rotary’s $50,000 donation led the way for the $235,000 riverfront sculpture honoring the City for its sesquicentennial birthday.
The 2000s decade was a very active time period for Lansing Rotary itself, and Mark demonstrated a few key activities and events among the many. Our Lansing Rotary Club of the 2000s ‘represented’ in the Lansing Sesquicentennial Parade, sans float but with five (5) eager and energetic Lansing Rotarians – Mark Hooper, Dian Sanborn, Ken Beachler, John Grettenberger, Jr., and Mr. Roush – waiving the Lansing Rotary flag, literally J. Mark emphasized the “international” part of Rotary International with our Club sending several Rotarians abroad to various parts of the world, India in particular. Those fellow Rotarians making the journey and spreading the Rotary message included Kelly Rossman-McKinney and Curtis Liechty (India), Dan Warmels and Gretchen Cochran (Nigeria 2002), John O’Malia (Ecuador 2007) and Kurt Guter (Nepal 2002). And finally, in 2002 Lansing Rotary gifted $100,000 in support of the initiative Project Hope, an annual scholarship program guaranteeing at-risk middle school students at least two (2) years of college upon successful completion of high school, with Rotarian and then Police Chief Mark Alley accepting the gift on behalf of the Project.
Continuing with Announcements, President Lisa made it known to the Club that Jessica Starks, our Club Treasurer for the past five (5) years, is stepping down and that the Club is accepting applications for a Treasurer to pick up where Jessica is leaving off. Thanks much for your contribution, Jessica.
As well, Rotary District 6360’s Annual Conference is to be held in Kalamazoo (Friday night event at the Portage Air Zoo) on Friday April 22nd and Saturday April 23rd, 2016. Please be there to enjoy the event and to support and honor our own Ken Beachler for his recent Rotary “Hero” award…Ken will be sure to tell you that he is not a hero, but arguably our Club would be significantly less of a club without his long-standing contribution to our weekly Special Music program.
June 17th, 2016 is the date for the Rotary Club of Lansing’s Centennial Celebration, the pinnacle of our celebration of the event. Please mark your calendars and remember to invite your spouse or significant other to the party!
And finally, President Lisa announced that our Club meeting of the 4th week of June 2016 will be held on Thursday, June 23rd, and not on Friday. This change is to accommodate Rotary International President K. R. Ravindran, who will be our very special and honored guest and to surely share with us his message on “Be a Gift to the World".
A week without Special Music is like a day without sunshine…however, this week our Club was treated to an incredible substitute – can you say, “Group Photo?” What fun, and how efficient all was handled by President Lisa, Club Administrator Cathy Andrews and fellow Rotarian and ‘Photographer of the Day,’ Dave Trumpie. We had a great turnout for our Club’s group photo as we stood on a set of bleachers with a huge backdrop and smiled for 12 takes. Dave had the remote photo clicker in hand as he joined us and clicked away, two (2) huge lamps and a ladder with a very sophisticated-looking camera setup staring us down from yards away. I join the masses waiting anxiously for the prints. Thanks all, and in particular, thanks, Dave…well done.
 Chair of the Day and Month, Jay Smith, introduced his long-time friend and our Presenter of the Day, Mark Jordan, 29-year veteran of Michigan’s Department of Transportation (MDOT) Real Estate Services, where he manages a staff of 30 real estate professionals that have an approximate spending budget of $20million per year on 65 or so highway projects. A couple of such projects are the Michigan High-Speed Rail Project and Battlefield National Park. Mr. Jordan focused his presentation on the sometimes controversial and now highly-heralded and newly named international bridge project, the Gordie Howe International Bridge (GHIB) so named in May of 2015, that will span the Detroit River connecting the United States (U.S) and Canada.
He remarked that per a Google Car study we spend on average 4.3 years in our autos, and emphasized the importance of our transportation network and, in particular, the importance and significance of this U.S.-Canada crossing. In 2013 the two nations traded upwards of $782billion in products and services, or approximately $1.4million per minute…wow! The U.S. and Canada are the world’s largest trading partners. At the Detroit-Windsor crossing our nations are trading approximately $126billion per year alone, with about 25million truck crossings a year.
The GHIB project is being funded entirely by Canada, and she will recoup her investment through tolls on the Canada side once the Bridge is in play. The players in this Project are many, to include MDOT, the Federal Highway Administration, the City of Detroit and of Windsor, U.S. Customs, the General Services Administration, and Canada Border Services Agency among others.
This Bridge Project has not been without its opponents, most infamously among them being billionaire and long-time Ambassador Bridge owner, Manuel Maroun, who owns 24 properties interspersed throughout the 148 acres affected by and encompassing the Bridge Project on the Detroit side. Tolls from vehicle traffic on the Ambassador are around $60million per year. The Windsor side has largely been completed to date, that leading up to the site of the actual bridge which is to be six (6) lanes wide and around one and a half (1 ½) miles long and will ultimately be among the top five (5) longest bridges North America. Depending upon whether or not a suspension or cable-stayed design concept is adopted, the GHIB could also be among the tallest structures in the region.
The Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway will link the Canada side with I-75 on the U.S. side. At the Detroit Point-of-Entry (POE) there will be areas for parking, in & out access, inspections, and commercial exits and control. As well, four (4) new motor vehicle and five (5) new pedestrian crossing bridges will be constructed. Mr. Jordan explained that it is with the acquisition of property on the U.S. side of this project that his duties with MDOT come into play in earnest, involving both purchases and eminent domain. He spends much of his time planning, negotiating and then actually acquiring the property needed within the Project footprint. Within this 148-acre footprint are 225 houses, 55 commercial properties, and 33 industrial properties, with Michigan Land Bank owning 225 of the total number of properties. In 2013 Canada allocated $25million for site acquisition at the Detroit POE.
In summarizing, Mr. Jordan described the GHIB project as a public-private partnership and consortium of design, finance, construction and operations having released an RFQ in 2015 garnering six (6) bids which were narrowed down to three (3). The GHIB project is on track to be completed in 2020.
Mr. Jordan remarked that he is one to always be there and be active in his projects, and made the analogy to Lansing Rotary’s Duane Vernon with his 52-year ‘Perfect Attendance’ run in presenting him with an MDOT token of esteem – a miniature-scale model of MDOT’s signature orange and white striped highway barrel marker.
After a Q & A President Lisa honored Mr. Jordan with a Lansing Rotary donation towards Rotary’s Bio-Sand Filter Project for pure water in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Mr. Jordan also received a Rotary Coin emblazoned with Rotary’s Four-Way Test of truthfulness, friendship, goodwill and equality.
And with that, President Lisa adjourned our weekly meeting precisely at 1:30pm with the reminder that our next meeting will be at the Country Club of Lansing on Friday, March 18th, 2016. Submitted by Curt Sonnenberg: attorney@sonnenberglaw.com
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As FRIB Conventional Facilities and Infrastructure Division Director, Brad Bull directs the design, fabrication, installation, and commissioning of all aspects of FRIB civil construction activities safely and within the approved budget and schedule. Brad also coordinates the efforts of FRIB Project team members, Michigan State University’s Infrastructure Planning and Facilities (IPF) unit and civil construction contractors to ensure successful project delivery.