Rotary Club of Buffalo VOL. 143 , NO. 16 www.buffalonyrotary.org February 22, 2017 Thursday, February 23, 2017 12:15 Thursday, March 2, 2017 12:15 Templeton Landing Templeton Landing SPEAKERS Joseph Benedict SPEAKER: Doug Swift SUBJECT: Why You Should Promote Careers in SUBJECT: The Story Behind Riverworks Construction: Local Demands & Shortages Joseph W. Benedict, Jr., Executive Director DOUGLAS G. SWIFT, Principal, CityView Joe joined the Construction Exchange in No- Properties, LLC., Larkin Development vember 2009. Joe’s responsibilities consist of Group, LLC., and Buffalo RiverWorks, LLC. managing all of the Exchange’s programs and services, developing and maintaining the Mr. Swift earned a Master’s Degree in online plan room, providing educational op- Architecture from the State University of portunities to members by offering seminars New York at Buffalo. and construction industry related educational training programs. Mr. Swift has partnered on several lead- The Construction Exchange of Buffalo & WNY is a not-for- ing edge development projects in downtown Buffalo, includ- profit organization that has served the local construction in- ing: City Centre, the Root Building, the Larkin at Exchange dustry since 1981. Building and additional properties in the emerging Larkin Dis- trict, the Genesee Gateway and Buffalo RiverWorks. He is Their mission is to enhance the growth and prosperity of currently teamed with Stinson Development in the redevel- member companies by providing information, education and communication for the construction industry. As the largest opment of Buffalo’s Central Terminal. construction association in Western New York, Construction Mr. Swift is past President of the board of the Roycroft Cam- Exchange is an influential advocate and steward for the pro- pus Corporation. He is a founding board member of Preser- motion and advancement of our industry. vation Buffalo Niagara. He is past Chair of the Design Review They provide information on bidding and planning stage resi- Committee for the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corpora- dential, commercial, industrial and municipal construction tion. He is a former board member of The Darwin Martin projects, or low-cost safety training and consulting, construc- House Restoration Corporation, The Buffalo Olmsted Parks tion education, industry events, a competitive workers’ com- Conservancy, The Graycliff Conservancy, New York State pensation plan, or to save money on the things you use eve- Preservation League and The Elmwood Franklin School in ry day. Buffalo. The Construction Industry Education Foundation is a charita- ble organization with a mission to promote awareness of the He will be talking opportunities available in construction and to provide those about the story be- pursuing a career in the industry with the education needed hind the development to be successful. of RiverWorks . Achieving this mission results in fulfilling and profitable ca- reers for individuals and ensures a robust workforce for the future of the industry. Support for the Foundation is provided solely through donations from Construction Exchange of Buf- falo & Western New York member companies. ROTARY CLUB OF BUFFALO ROTARY REFLECTIONS February 9, 2017 701 Seneca Street, Suite 218 Buffalo, NY 14210 th Phone: 716-854-3397 February 9 was a day of reckoning. It was the day that members heard from our Club leaders — a Club 28 Founded 1911 Club # 4725 State of the Club, if you will. www.buffalonyrotary.org It was also the day that Katharine Smith pulled a fast one. First, having worn her nametag home from CONTACTS the Ukranian Center at the last Enchanted Evening, she posed as the unwitting Joyce DeLong for the Administrative: Heather Culverwell duration of the meeting. Shortly after she arrived, colorful prints of the cover of Buffalo Magazine ap- [email protected] peared on every table, with a complimentary mention of Katherine’s (sic) business and her “I Heart Financial: Mary Ellen Puleri Buffalo” line of note cards on the reverse. While she claimed to be pre-emptively confessing to the [email protected] Phone 553-3670 publicity, her move was genius: no Finemaster today. By the time this appears in the Cog, the Statute Meets Thursdays at 12:15 p.m. of Fining Limitations will have run out on (a) forgetting her nametag, (b) confessing to the mention, Templeton Landing , 2 Templeton Terrace and (c) promoting herself under the clever guise of confessing. It was brilliant. If only she would use Publication Committee her powers for good. Heather Culverwell, Editor Associate Editors: Joe DePaolo provided the invocation, asking for resolve for our leaders. I served as Sargent at Arms, Fred Batson, Bryce Bixby, Jack Karet, but there were no guests and I never even needed to draw my weapon. Dave Male bought the ticket David Male, Stephen Robshaw, Katharine Smith after mine and won the Queen of Hearts draw, with a shot at half of a pot now worth $1945. He drew Suzanne Taylor, Jim Tyrpak the two of Hearts, and got his five bucks back. The COG (USPS 120-620) Issued bi-weekly by the Rotary Club of Buffalo, NY, U.S.A. as a source of Susan Schwartz was then called up to receive her third Paul Harris pin, which she graciously received information to its members. with the poetic words, “Why am I getting this?” Nick Alberalla reminded us that the Trade Show is the th CLUB OFFICERS and Directors 2016-2017 evening of March 9 , and that we cannot stress the Open Bar enough. Please show up. Then Vinny Paul Hurley, Jr , President appeared, apparently now out of custody. If you want tickets for Wines of the World, he can “set you Michael Sendor , President Elect up.” He reminded us that they still need auction items, but “nothing that fell off the back of the truck.” Joyce DeLong, Vice President Then the Club Meeting began. Bill Larkin had the tough opening spot, as our Finance Committee chair Katharine Smith, Secretary and Club Treasurer. He provided the accountant’s review of the Club’s income and expenses, and in- William Larkin, Treasurer troduced his committee: “a group of great minds I don’t fit in with.” He effectively broke down our Laurie Albertsson, Immediate Past President expenses, pointing out where expenses have been cut in recent years (President Hurley saved us thou- CLUB DIRECTORS with remaining terms sands of dollars by not going to conferences he felt weren’t necessary), and discussing the meal cost at Templeton Landing as a major expense. We have looked at other locations, but have not found a place 2015-2017 Term 2016-2018 Term that can accommodate us the way Templeton Landing does, especially with respect to only charging us David Knauss Hank Sokol for the members who show up instead of a set number each week. With the membership still perky Susan Schwartz Nora Eberl from lunch, Larkin fielded the most questions (and suggestions) of any of the speakers. Christa Linsey Al Stocker Nicholas Alberalla Carolyn Murray Mike Grimaldi followed, as President of the Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Foundation policies and bylaws are up on the web site, but the short version is that they are concerned with asset growth, and they also consider the goals and vision of the Club in their decisions. Their expenses are the grants to ROTARY INTERNATIONAL local and international not-for-profits, minimal administrative costs, and the payment of $100 per member to Rotary International. Our net assets are currently $940,000, the bulk of which are perma- John Germ, RI President nently restricted funds. Unrestricted funds and unappropriated endowment earnings make up the rest Marlene (Marlee) Diehl, District Governor of the pot. Financial statements are available upon request. Laurie Albertsson then spoke about the Major Project Committee. Our current major project is in conjunction with the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. Laurie and Sandie Yeater are working on the global grants that will help our fundraising, and have received grants already — some which will be matched — and are waiting to hear back from other international clubs, including a club in Brazil. The Library is currently reviewing the Memorandum of Understanding, and was very supportive in pro- moting (and selling out!) our Laughs for Literacy event on February 17th. They have 30,000 cardholders on their email list for promoting further events to fund this project. Sponsorships of $10,000 and un- der for the project are still available. Jeff Fancher was the lucky guy who got to talk about membership. Long story short: the rate of loss is greater than the rate of gain. He pointed out that we are “currently in the process of reconstituting our Club.” Corporate Memberships have been redefined, trial memberships have been made available, and (with the help of Katharine “Joyce DeLong” Smith) materials are being updated and modernized. Mike Ryan has formed a subcommittee to identify local corporations who should be members — we don’t have the corporate presence that we used to, despite the fact that Buffalo’s corporate communi- ty is vibrant and thriving. Jeff quoted a statistic that said that 80% of Rotary members join at the re- quest of a current member, so you know what you have to do. It was a pretty meaty meeting, but was still adjourned at 1:32 pm. Well done, everyone. Reporter Suzanne Taylor COG February 22, 2017 Page 2 Rotary Reflections—February 16, 2017 Hat’s off to the Program Committee!!! They’ve stumped me. Normally I can take a presentation and spin it some way to make attempts at humor but the Committee just keeps doing too good a job of attracting great speakers. How good was he, you may be asking? Well, so good that Jerry Kelly did both the invocation and the introduction and the speaker was able to show all his slides and have time for questions and answers.