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Kaczynski Speaks to Rotary About Detroit Revival

September 2, 2014       Leave a Comment
By: Stephen Kent

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John Kaczynski
Dr. John Kaczynski, Director of the James A. Barcia Center for Public Policy and Service at SVSU, spoke to Rotary about a recent book "Revolution Detroit" by John Gallagher, which he said has a lot to say to communities like Bay City.

John Kaczynski's background is Polish. 100 years ago his great-great grandfather came across in a boat to Ellis Island. He landed in Hamtramic where he worked for Henry Ford in Highland Park. John's great-grandfather moved to Bay City's south end and worked in the shipyards. John's grandfather moved to Auburn as a farmer. When he realized he wasn't going to make money during the depression he went to work for Dow. He insisted that his son not work as a pipe fitter and sent him to U of M where after which he returned to work as an engineer at Dow. John himself continued the trend by going away to MI State then returning and becoming a professor at SVSU.

The point of that story is that, until recently, every move was made because of jobs. Ford was in Detroit, ships were built in Bay City, farming was in Auburn, and Dow needed pipe fitters. But there is a second factor and that is quality of life.

Detroit was used as the case study in the change we live with today. Detroit's history began to change in 1967, the year of the riots. Between 1967 and around 2007, "the city just emptied out". When you drive around Detroit now "it looks more like a post-apocalyptic urban prarie than it does a top ten populous metropolitan area."

Describing the size of Detroit, Kaczynski said you could put a San Francisco, Boston and Manhattan in the area and still probably have room for a couple of Bay Cities. He talked about the new investments in the area, the excitement, the re-purposing of existing buildings, the influx of new business, and the upgrading of infrastructure.

Kaczynski also talked about the advantages that Bay City has. He pointed out the waterfront and the new projects in town. This is a key to the growth in the area. Just as Detroit is experiencing a revival, other communities can do the same.



CLUB NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS

President Ron opened the meeting with a greeting in the language of Portugal, where the first club was founded in Lisbon on January 23, 1926. This and many other facts are available at the The Rotary Global History fellowship and at Rotary 1st 100.

Ron also noted the passing of Art Hagan at age 91. Hagan was past president of Rotary in 1966 and was a leader in the community for many years.

Remember that the September 16 noon meeting will be held at the Pere Marquette Depot where the Paul Harris statue will be unveiled.

The meeting on the 23rd of September will be held at the Country Club again.

During her recent visit, the District Governor issued a challenge for clubs to set out jars to collect loose pocket change to be earmarked for Polio eradication. Ron pointed out the jar at the front table and also started a second jar, which was passed around the room.

Turning the banner to face away from the room, Ron asked members to give the Four Way Test. The members passed the test!

Tim Holsworth announced that a check for the money raised by the golf outing will be presented to Doug Newcomb next week to be used for the purchase of laptop computers in the school system.

Kevin Ayala gave the 2 minute business spotlight for the day. Kevin is the Assistant Director for the Bay County Library System. The system is made up of Auburn, Pinconning and Sage branches plus the central Wirt Library downtown. The Bookmobile visits over 37 stops on a three week rotation and serves the outlying areas of the County. Over 400,000 people visited the Library. Over 30,000 people attended over 1,000 programs that were offered. Over 800,000 books were checked out plus another 33,000 e-book checkouts. The 2014 summer reading program had 9,901 registrants, a 17% increase. The library system will have a millage proposal on the November ballot. Rotarians were urges to get out and vote.
Rotary Club of Bay City
View Centennial Year Celebrations Schedule
July 2014-June 2015



DATES TO REMEMBER



International Night Committee - Monday, September 8, 2014 - 3:00 pm - at the Country Club.

Board Meeting- September 9 - 11:00 before regular meeting - Everyone invited.

Paul Harris Statue Dedication - September 16, 2014 - Noon - Rotary Park at the Pere Marquette Depot

Off Site Meeting - September 23, 2014 - Noon - Bay City Country Club.

International Night 2014 - October 23, 2014 - 5:30 to 9 - Bay City Country Club


Upcoming Programs

(See the official schedule at RotaryBayCity.org )

September 9, 2014: Estate Planing Walt Fitzhugh, Attorney with Birchler, Fitzhugh, Pertell & Madziar PLC, will talk about all of the things necessary to effectively plan your estate. A well done plan can save family members lots of headaches and certainly lots of money.

September 23, 2014: Overview of Bay County Tom Hickner, Bay County Executive, will enlighten us with information about what is going on across the entire county.




Rotary is an intimate affiliation of carefully selected business and professional people,
having as its objective the promotion of high ethical standards in private, commercial
and civic life, and dedicated to the ideal that the basis of all worthy endeavor is unselfish service.




Current and past DISTRICT DISPATCH newsletters are available on the District site shown in the LINKS section below.

Get connected with ROTARY on Facebook.
Over 450 people like us. Let's go for 500 people liking our page!
www.facebook.com/BayCityRotary

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Click on the Blue Facebook to visit us there.

Remember! Check attendance sheets at the front desk.


LINKS

RotaryBayCity.org BayCityMorningRotary.com
District 6310 Web Site District Dispatch Archive
Rotary International Make-up On-Line at RotaryEclubOne.org
The Rotary Global History Fellowship rotaryfirst100.org
Rotary Global History.


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Stephen Kent

Steve Kent and his family have lived in Bay City for 40 years. He is VP of Technical Services at MMCC which produces MyBayCity.Com. Kent is active in many Bay City civic organizations.

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