Bloomington Rotary Club #3430

ROTA-LETTER for Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Bloomington Rotary Club (www.bloomingtonrotary.org) - Founded 1918

Rotary 2009-2010: "The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands"

NEXT MEETING:

PLACE: Frangipani Room, February 16

SUBJECT: Norm Holy, author of "Deserted Ocean: A Social History of Depletion"
(The depletion of the oceans)

GREETER: Jon Dilts

PLEDGE AND REFLECTION: Richard Rose

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS : Bill Murphy welcomed the 35 guests.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Happy Dollars will be collected on February 16.
Today was the last day to order roses. (With eight more orders,
last year's total will be doubled.)
Volunteers are needed for the District Conference April 23-24.
Applications due by July 1 for the Rotary International Peace Project—
link to website available from Pam Martindale
Our speaker will reprise her Nobel Prize acceptance speech Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 4 p.m. at the IU Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

PROGRAM: Byron Bangert introduced the speaker, Nobel Prize Winner Elinor "Lin" Ostrom.

Resource management by governments is an essential element in overcoming today's problems. Polycentricity is relevant in that small units of decision making can come up with solutions that can be transferred to the other units dealing with the same problem.
An example of how citizens have lost contact with their government is the decline in the number of school districts from 110,000 in 1920 to 15,000 today. That reduction has eliminated several hundred thousand people from participation.
Elinor was involved in a study of Marion County, Indiana, government and had a great deal of difficulty just getting an appointment with the Indianapolis chief of police. The study included Speedway, Beech Grove and Lawrence communities in Marion County as well.
Many things can be learned from externalities. In other words, when you attempt to accomplish something that is very difficult and is not supported by large numbers of citizens, the end result may present positive conclusions that most people would support. One example would be if people would use their cars less and walk more, their overall health would improve.
Decisions can be made to cause people to change behavior if the outcome can overcome the negative impact of what was given up. We must look to new ways to solve problems. Innovation in one community can be shared with another.

Q and A

Township offices in Indiana should generally not be eliminated as they are the first place that people turn for help and they know where the problems are.
Individuals started the technology revolution and large companies developed as a result. Large companies are not inherently bad.
A study in St Louis determined that other places had solved the need for a crime lab by sharing the resources among many units of government. This was learned from other communities that had solved the problem of how to get a crime lab for small communities around an urban area.
An example of where it would be best to let local persons solve problem is the United States aid program, where the money must be spent in the year it is provided because of the budget system in the United States. A trust fund would better serve the needs as it could spend the money as the project developed.
People will work through whichever political group they belong to in order to get problems solved. The group may or may not be a political party but a group that has influence.

Future Meetings

February 23: Beth Cate, IU University Counsel, “The Future of the Supreme Court.”
Location: Great Hall, First United Methodist Church.
March 2: David Fidler, James Louis Calamaras Professor of Law, and Director, IU Center on American
and Global Security, “Violence and Abuse in the Bringing up of Young Athletes”
Location: Frangipani.

Reporter: Roger Fierst