The program speaker at the Thursday, Jan. 25, meeting was Tom Anderson, former general counsel for the Metropolitan Airports Commission.
New member Jennifer Hendrickson was officially sworn in to the club. And Membership Director Greg Yoch gave an update on membership issues so far this Rotary year.
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We were greeted by Kenny Smith, Josh Sprague and new member Jennifer Hendrickson. Val Burke and Susan Johnson provided the front desk support.
President San Asato called us to order on time as usual and Scott MacDonald gave us a brief but impactful invocation quote from Anne Frank.
Michael Stanzak provided the guest introductions for:
- Sandy Schley’s guests Susie and Gene Holderness, Katy Campbell and her spouse, Duane
- Scott MacDonald’s guest Toshiz Metzger
- Brooklyn Park Rotarians Eldon and Addie Tessman, who attended in order to make us aware of and extend an invitation to attend their club’s annual Wild Game Dinner in February.
Greg Yoch, Membership Director, gave us an update on member status. Did you know we have 170 members, consisting of 140 men and 35 women? The district goal is that each club should aim for 50 percent female membership, so at 21 percent we have our work cut out for us. By the way, 45 members are Senior Active.
Past president Steve Slyce took the podium to introduce and officially induct new member Jennifer Hendrickson, whose classification is Non-Profit Fundraiser. Jennifer became acquainted with our Edina Rotary Club as a result of her organization receiving one of our grants. Rick Carlson is Jennifer’s sponsor.
Heather Edelson introduced our featured speaker, Tom Anderson, the retired general counsel for the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). While a discussion of airport activities may not generally be of interest, having just cleaned up the biggest snowfall in the past couple of years and the less than stellar conclusion of the Viking’s season, Rotarians were ready to hear any news that might affect their ability to get out of town for a while, so the presentation from Tom Anderson was very timely.
With 40 years of service, Tom was at the center of significant issues related to airline competition and hubbing; the Northwest Airlines financing package; the Dual Track Airport Planning Process; changes in aviation security caused by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks; the Northwest Airlines bankruptcy; labor disputes; and aircraft noise and environmental issues.
Tom gave us an excellent background on the evolution of the MAC, a unique organization for airport management that was the first of it’s kind in the country. With a $355 million budget—all supported by fees from airlines, concessionaires and parking—it manages the 16th busiest airport, and the six other regional airports with over 37 million passengers in 2016 and over 20,000 employees. We also learned about the new satellite-based navigation system designed to add efficiencies to the takeoff and landings process being implement in coordination with the FAA.
However, if you were expecting to see the end of construction at the airport any time soon, you may be waiting a while. Their plans include a new hotel, a complete overhaul of the main terminal ticketing area, new automated bag check-in systems, expedited security processes and more parking. So if you are headed out for a flight, you might want to check out their website, www.mspairport.com, for information on parking availability, security wait times and more.
Ann Platt, our most recent Past President, thanked the speaker and San closed the meeting with this quote from Albert Einstein “’There are only two ways to live your life. One is though nothing is a miracle. The other is though everything is a miracle.”
