Colleen Turner read the inspirational thought and led the club in the Pledge.

Traci Tenhulzen introduced the visiting Rotarians and guests.

Laura Cosacchi introduced members of the Forest Ridge Interact Club.  Visitors were Rebecca Wilson, Hana Uyeda, Rachel Zhang, and Josie Lui.  The Interact club is sponsored by the BBRC.  Laura is the BBRC advisor.  Forest Ridge is a 5^th through 12^th independent Catholic school.  It has been in the Somerset area 110 years.  The Interact club is off to a fast start and plans to attend Rotary First Harvest as well as participate in “the Race”.

Tanya Franzen-Garrett introduced Luisa Lopez, student of the month from Sammamish High School.  A very gifted young lady.  She is a senior at Sammamish and the oldest of 5 siblings.  She will be the first of her family to graduate from high school.  She is involved in many activities including teacher’s assistant, the Latin league, and softball.  She has applied to Western Washington and the University of Washington.  We wish her well.

Wendi Fischer again made a pitch for volunteers for the All in for Autism Race and for sponsors.  Club members have been slow to come around.  It is time to get signed up.

Alex Chehab was awarded her blue badge.  She was lauded for earning it in record time.  Congrats!

Paul Chapman gave the mike to Leo Mazet-Roux, our exchange student.  He is in a monologue competition at the Seattle Rep March 10^th.  Tickets are available.  He is also looking for work.  Anything available.  Pay is negotiable.  A couple of Rotarians have hired him and gave testimonials.

President Paul also made a pitch for the district conference.  A show of hands indicated BBRC will be well represented but the more the merrier.  The conference is in Coeur d’Alene, ID April 28 through May 1^st.

Traci Tenhulzen returned to the podium for the vocational minute.  Traci and her husband own Tenhulzen Residential.  She had photos of projects, before and after.  It appears they do great work.

SAA Ann Norman reminded members that if they need to leave after the business meeting and before the speaker, a scooter badge is required.  It can be purchased at the front desk before the meeting for $5.  Ann fined a couple of members and it was apparent the cheap way out is to pay the $5.  She then broke into song.  By the time she finished she had the club in a sing along.  She passed up a great fund raising opportunity as I am sure the club would have contributed a few bucks a head for her performance.

Scott Hildebrand introduced the speaker Kevin Wallace who presented:  Bellevue 2035 – “The City where you want to be”. Kevin has a long resume of public service and is the 5^th generation of a Bellevue family.  He introduced the motto for Bellevue: “Where the world of diversity is our Strength – We embrace the future while respecting our Past”.  Bellevue is expected to grow from 135,000 residents now to $160,000 by 2035.  In addition, Bellevue currently has twice as many people working in the city as live there.  This is great for tax revenue but comes with some congestion.  A plan has been developed that includes downtown, East Main, Wilburton, and the Bel-Red corridor.  This area is as big as downtown Seattle including Westlake down to Soto.  The plan includes, roads, bus lines, lite rail, bike lanes, and walking paths.  At one end of the walking path will be Meydenbauer Park that will be given a $40 million facelift.  The other end will be a proposed lite rail station on the other side of I-405.  A very ambitious project and a must see for Bellevue residents.

President Paul thanked the speaker and said 1000 pounds of fresh produce to Rotary First Harvest courtesy of Francine Weaver and Your Equity Services.

The thought for the day was a cartoon on planning.  If you weren’t there, you missed it.

About the Speaker