Harold Albert 'Al,' 'Bud,' 'Papa' Norcross, has surrendered his badge after 56 years of dutiful service to San Mateo Rotary, a gesture he would not have taken voluntarily, it requiring his death by multiple infirmities of advanced age to force the issue. Al suffered numerous assaults to his health over the last several years that required hospitalization, sometimes for weeks at a time, but rallied each time to make his appearance at Rotary lunch, always squired by his good friend Roland Bianchi, always in a happy mood and delighted to greet anyone who cared to shake his hand. His presence was noted from the podium each time; asked, in jest, how to spell his name he said, "T-R-O-U-B-L-E," but in fact trouble did not know his name. Mr. Norcross and his late wife, Joan, would have celebrated their 66th year of marriage this year. His brother-in-law, John Rae, sons Mark and Paul, Mr. Bianchi, grandsons Christopher and Michael Gomez, granddaughters Mari Norcross, Patricia Ahern, Lisa Trigueiro and Katherine Bisgani, great-granddaughters Angelina and Haley Gomez and a throng of concelebrants, including numerous Rotarians, celebrated Al's life at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church March 27 under the hand of Father Michael Healy. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Al was interred at St. John's Cemetery with military honors. Mr. Norcross was 89.

 

Previously known to the San Mateo community as assistant to Police Chief Susan Manheimer, Callagy moved up to San Mateo County government in 2013 to become deputy to County Manager John Maltbie and was named Assistant County Manager in 2016. He earned his BA and MA at the College of Notre Dame and his law degree at Santa Clara University. John Root, who introduced him, said "He's in charge of a lot of things," but Callagy countered with the observation that his speech would be made on National Goof Off Day, that being a comment on his own behavior or the relative gravity of appearing before Rotary not being decipherable.

Callagy rounded up a host of facts and statistics about San Mateo County, including data that shows it's older, with a median age of 39, than the state, with a median age of 35. The age range here goes from Portola Valley, with a median age of 51, to East Palo Alto, with a median age of 28. Median age appears to follow the income curve. In addition to being one of the most expensive places to live in the country, the county also is one of the easiest places to find a job. Unemployment here, at 2.9 percent, is the lowest in the nation.

The rate of homelessness is declining slightly, though at last homeless count there were 637 unsheltered and 6,016 sheltered living without a residence.

Combined secured and unsecured tax rolls — the statistic that shows who pays property taxes — stands at $208 billion.

Average cost of housing here is at the top of the demographic at $3,305 for the median rental, which requires an income of $110,000 a year to support. Median home price is $1.4 million, up from $400,000 in 2005 — which also was very high for the time.

It's a given, he said, that the county and its 21 cities cannot build enough housing to meet the demand, which always segues into a discussion about transportation and mass public transit. Eighty thousand commuters every day have to travel three hours or more to their jobs here, a fact that prompted the county to make a one-hour commute a target in the future, provided that voters approve regional transit taxes and toll bridge increases at the ballot.

Callagy said the commute crunch is plainly awful: "I have a deputy county clerk who lives in Patterson and every day I wonder when he's going to walk into my office and resign."

Meanwhile, the job market keeps expanding as cities go after employers and new office buildings — which, let it be noted, are beloved by cities because they pay taxes while demanding little or no public infrastructure such as schools, play fields and other municipal services.

Callagy said Facebook is taking its local workforce to 35,000, but "all the large employers are coming together" to talk about cost sharing of local transportation improvements. "I think you will see them step up," he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rod spent some time developing an original thought about unity, what it is, who practices it and how Rotary fits in. Find his full text at the end of today's Spinnings.

 

President Eckert acknowledged Ro O'Bianchi, Ron O'Borelli, Jaime Casey (no O needed), Bill Kenney (ditto), John and Jeannette Barrett and Brian Sullivan for their committee work in setting up the dinner festivities.

 

True friends are people who know your age but like you anyway. The ideal husband stays calm and keeps pretending. Can do.

 

Aron Hoffman, in treatment for pancreatic cancer, would love to hear from all Rotarians. It's a tough fight, but nothing says you can't win with enough support, and support is what Rotary's known for. For Aron's contact information, click the Directory image and link at the top of Spinnings.

 

It was my honor to present Dr. Gary Waddell, Deputy Schools Superintendent for San Mateo County and a candidate to succeed our own Anne Campbell in the top job in the department at election this June.

Angel Riley welcomed Angelica Ayar, Rachel Meyer introduced Kate Korsh and Cheryl Angeles presented Denise Michaud.

 

Robert Gold, sponsored by Dick Bennett, turned in his orange Frisbee and received his dignified permanent badge.

 

 

 

 

A reminder to click the Mystery Night link at the top of Spinnings for information and signups for this annual event coming up June 9. Anne LeClair and the committee never miss with this one. Hurry. Space is limited.

 

Carey Gorgolinski urged attendance at the chamber's "It's Your Time to Succeed Business Summit" Friday, April 27 at 5 p.m. at Poplar Creek. Registration and other information is available on the San Mateo Area Chamber of Commerce website at www.sanmateochamber.org.

 

"Burning Ring of Fire" led to Barbara Evers; it could refer to her vacation in the hell-hot hinterlands of Nevada or the fact she was burned in Las Vegas with the theft of the family's bicycles. In either case, Barbara, who hiked into the Valley of Fire outside Las Vegas, recognized her picture right away. "Yep. That's me." Gamble? "I only gambled $5 and lost it in a nanosecond."

Larry Patterson's musical intro was "Set Me Free," referring to his announcement this month that he's retiring in December. He promised he "might come to Rotary even after that, depending on the fine structure." P-Chris punted — "It won't be my term" — but collected $150 right now.

A slide presentation of the fabulously expensive stable of cars parked outside every Thursday lunch confused everyone, including the culprit, apparently Walt McCullough, who provided it. "You know I can't hear, don't you?" Walt said. President Chris, who didn't hear that, did listen to the slow drumbeat of his imminent departure and collected another PC.

PrezC appeared to take umbrage at yours truly's recent very well-received presentation about his SFO history book to Burlingame Rotarians, titling it Sleeping With the Enemy.

I can't swear there wasn't some somnolence at the presentation, but I can vouch that there was no sleeping with anybody, at least none noticeable from the lecturn.

Besides, how is it possible for a man in that suit to take umbrage at anything? I swear, Bob Campbell must have lost a supplier after sending over that custom order. At the minimum it must have taken some convincing for the seamsters to pull that material out of the closet, but they found it among the fabrics last used for drapes at the Minnesota Moose Lodge.

 

 

Jodi de Smidt was gourd with a PC membership for posing her husband, Dave, with two squashes on his chest. You had to be there (Paul Rogerville's wine reception of a few months back), but Jodi acknowledged that, after a few glasses, they both thought the vegetables looked like boobs and so was generated the definable moment.

 

Rosemary Azem announced new Paul Harris' for Marion Brown, his third, and Bob Binn, his fifth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In these times of such vitriol and antagonism, I believe it’s important to realize that our differences aren’t as great as we might think. Studies show that even when evaluating the differences between Democrats and Republicans, people are correct in determining the direction of the differences, but we dramatically exaggerate the degree to which we differ.

 

We need to keep in mind that there remain places of unity in our world…we should acknowledge them and trumpet their value.  In fact, there’s a group that has counted as its members, at various times, such seemingly diverse, and in many cases, theoretically at-odds individuals as JFK, Margaret Thatcher, Donna Shalala, Pope Francis, Winston Churchill, Dianne Feinstein, Ronald Reagan, Angela Merkel, and Col. Sanders. 

 

A primary reason why people such as those I mentioned, of apparently diverse interests and beliefs, can work as one is that the group they’ve been involved in always focuses on areas in which its participants agree, not areas in which they disagree. Yes, I’m talking about Rotary, and those people were all Rotarians.

 

In fact, the following has been written about Rotary (I’m paraphrasing)…“Dividing us into individual associations would defeat our prime purpose of unifying all on the common platform of humanity.”

 

And it’s participating in this common platform of humanity that makes Rotary so special.  Because it’s only through participating that we are able to appreciate the synergy that I believe is the essence of Rotary – the experience of both working with our fellow Rotarians and working for greater aims.  Just think – in some cases, in some small way, we actually have the unique opportunity to help change lives.

How fortunate we are…