JUL 8, 2014 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
Recorded in Three Acts by Michael-jon Pease

ACT ONE – Musical, Thoughtful and Comic Interludes

Chuck Field led the club in a satisfactory rendition of “America,” accompanied by the slim and elegant Doug Hartford at the piano. Blake Davis offered and inspirational moment full of good advice and common sense, so rarely followed. The tall and distinguished Dick Zehring led the introduction of the few guests and visiting (and in some cases, former) Rotarians.

President’s Remarks. “Hizzoner” President John Guthmann in just one meeting in and already off-topic. He expressed thanks for the many hearty congratulations and wishes for good luck on his first meeting, leading him to ask “It’s a Rotary meeting, what could go wrong?” He encouraged members to look to their closest connections for possible new Rotary members. He also thanked and recognized  today’s greeters: Jason Rhode and Henning Schulze-Lauen.

ACT TWO – Club Conclave

Upcoming Thursday Fellowship Breakfast: Kathleen Riley will arrive on the back of a turtle Thursday morning to talk about her trip to the Galapagos.

Save the date for the roast for a certain has-been, Captain Jim Kosmo, at the White Bear Lake Yacht Club on August 14.

Former President Captain Jim Kosmo presented a Mark Weber Service Above Self Award to  Mark Stutrud (yes, he is still a member) for his support of our Thursday Fellowship Breakfasts and for Summit Brewing Company’s support of our Feed My Starving Children packing events.

Happy Dollars with Jon Cieslak. Shelly Rucks brought warm regards from Sherry Howe, recovering from her hip replacement surgery (she’s already been out to lunch – and that was without narcotics). Carley Stuber celebrated the opening of the Thomas the Tank travelling exhibit created by the Children’s Museum, already booked out for the next 5 years!  Elyse Jensen celebrated her name change from Dornhecker following her beautiful wedding to Heath Jensen in France. Clyde Nelson celebrated seeing the photo of his Gopher Big Ten title team from 1960 in today’s Star Tribune.  Larry Morgan invited all members to come get dirty this weekend putting leaf mulch in the Cleveland Circle gardens.  Jay Pfaender celebrated a successful trip to Wimbledon (with seats in row 3!). He reports the grass court is as smooth as a putting green. Carla Hauge asked for prayers for her daughter’s travel overseas (and for the rest of the family staying behind). Former President and DG Dr. Ken Crabb celebrated that his son Richard is now a working attorney following 5 years in the courts. Randy Kroll celebrated the second family wedding (daughter Valerie) in just 14 months.

ACT THREE - Program

Jim Miller introduced our speaker, Jeff Freyer, Region VP of Comcast – Twin Cities Region.

Jeff started (as all good speakers do), by thanking St. Paul Rotary for all its good work in the community. Comcast executives and managers serve a wide variety of local nonprofit organizations, working in concert with Rotary to improve the community we share.

Massive private investment in broadband infrastructure ($1.2  trillion over the last 20 years – more than $4,000 per US citizen!) has fueled the explosion of online businesses and social media. The US has the most robust cable and wireless network in the world. Total investment in our Twin Cities network now stands at more than $1 billion. Our top residential speed has increased seven-fold from 15 mps to 105 mps. Since the 1990s, the customer cost per megabyte has declined 86%, making the powerful connections once only available to major corporations affordable for small- and medium-sized businesses and nonprofits.

Our joint challenge is to get ALL Americans online. Currently 1/3 of our citizens are on the wrong side of the digital divide. Comcast is working with our schools, libraries and government to provide internet essentials to families in need, including connection, computer and training. In its first three years, this program has connected more than 250,000 families to the power of broadband.

A vigorous Q&A session followed the formal remarks and Mr. Freyer acquitted himself admirably, navigating a few acrimonious questions, which included:

Ultimately, will broadband infrastructure need to be run or managed by the government to provide sustainable access? Could you describe internet (net) neutrality? The debate centers on whether access to the internet should be free or a fee-for-use service as it is now, and who should pay for (and use) ongoing infrastructure investments.

Why do Comcast prices go up every few months when the service remains the same? The answer links to increased costs from content providers (e.g. ESPN, CNN). The average customer watches 8-10 channels, so why do we have sign up for 150 channels? The content providers bundle all the channels they program as packages that are then sold to Comcast, which doesn’t have discretion to separate out favored programs.

How is the progress on the roll-out of broadband in Minnesota’s rural areas? Those are managed by other companies, like charter, and the high speeds available in the cities are not yet available in outstate communities.
Will technical support jobs return to the US? Comcast does have two call centers with 500 employees located in the cities.

Any updates on a potential merger with Time Warner? This is now in the regulatory process and will tentatively be wrapped up in a year.

FINALE  (all together now, nice and loud) – The Four Way Test.

Michael-jon Pease, Scribe