The weekly meeting was called to order at 12:00 pm by President Barry Bondurant. Iggi Nunez offered the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone sang a beautiful rendition of “God Bless America” with Janie Johnson on piano. Molly Kulpa, greeter for the day, introduced visiting guests and visiting Rotarians. Guests were Patty Harris, Jana Wentzel, Kim McCluer and Christopher LeBlanc.
The following announcements were made:
1: Joy Bates informed us that Webb Elementary Read with Rotary was a huge success. Over 700 Webb students received a free book during the Scholastic Book Fair.
2: Peter Scott reminded us of Rotary Night at Theater Arlington on May 16, 2024. “Steel Magnolias” will be presented that night, and tickets are $50.00. A reception will begin at 6:00 p.m., followed by the play.
3: Rotary will be sponsoring our newest fundraiser, “Dancing with the Stars” on May 6, 2024, at Texas Live! Ten local celebrity dancers will compete to benefit local charities as well as our own Rotary Club. The event needs volunteers to serve on the silent auction committee and to work the event doing set-up and checking in our guests. We are anticipating a sell-out crowd of 450. For more information, please visit www.dancingwiththearlingtonstars.com or contact Chad Bates.
4: Kurt Bartley announced that a Rotoract Club at UTA will receive its charter on May 5, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. The location will be announced later.
Randy Hendricks announced two new members of our club. Ahmed Yanouri and Robert Blake were introduced as the newest members of our club. Their sponsors and mentors are Iggi Nunez and Steve Brooks. Please try to welcome our new members.
Kurt Bartley announced Rotarians with anniversaries and birthdays. Celebrating birthdays were Rigien Bagekany-Jackson, Bill Coppola, Jeff Jenkins, Randy Hendricks, Jason Wible, Valerie Landry, and Wella Mack. Rotarians with anniversaries are Steve Zimmer, Michelle Deuell, and Jock Bethune.
Walter Virden led us in singing “You Are My Sunshine”.
Vera McKissic announced the program for today. The program was presented by Jana Wentzel. Ms. Wentzel is a Principal Planner at the City of Arlington and has worked in this position for eighteen months. Ms. Wentzel is from a small town in Nebraska but has lived in Texas for almost seven years. Prior to coming to work for Arlington, she has worked for the cities of San Antonio and Fort Worth. Ms. Wentzel has a master’s degree from UTSA and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Ms. Wentzel advised that a Transportation Advisory Committee, consisting of 31 members met monthly from October 2016 through September 2017. The committee was tasked with developing a multimodal plan framework used to guide future City Council decisions. This group analyzed community issues, needs, existing multimodal plans as well as best practices and emerging technologies. The culmination of this committee’s work was presented to the Arlington City Council in September 2017.
One of the many services provided by the City of Arlington is Handitran. Handitran operates Monday-Saturday. Fares are $2.00 per person per ride. Call the website or the on-demand app to book a ride. This service covers Arlington plus 1.5 miles. On-Demand, Rideshare was launched in December 2017 and has expanded each year since. Arlington was one of the first cities in America to promote rideshare as the sole public transportation solution. This service is flexible, scalable, and cost-efficient for the city. Rideshare has given in excess of 2.5 million rides with over 90,000 riders. The average wait time for a ride is sixteen minutes. Ride-Share covers the entire city and Centreport TRE Station. The hours are Monday-Friday, 6am to 9pm and Saturday, 9am to 9pm. The cost is $3-$5 per person per ride; $25 for a weekly pass and $80 for a monthly pass.
Arlington has had two pilot programs utilizing autonomous vehicles (AV). The first began in August 2017 using an off-street vehicle that provided free rides to approximately 1600 riders. The next attempt at autonomous transportation was launched in in October of 2018. This program used five Nissan NV200 vans. This program provided 1400 free rides to the public.
The next program was Arlington RAPID AV Service. This service was funded by the Federal Transit Administration and is a partnership between Via, May Mobility and UTA. This program was launched in March 2012 and utilized May Mobility autonomous vehicles. The area of service is downtown Arlington and UTA. This was the first on demand AV service integrated into existing transportation in the U.S. The program utilizes 4 AV’s, Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vans, hybrid electric, with one being wheel-chair accessible.
Another project is the Arlington Multimodal Delivery Project. This project is funded by a Department of Energy grant. The goal of this project is to test and evaluate innovative autonomous food delivery to underserved and mobility populations. The method of delivery is using AV drones and sidewalk robots.
The City of Arlington is planning and designing a vertiport for use by 2026. Vertiports are necessary to accommodate electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft(eVTOL). A typical eVTOL holds 4 to 5 passengers, a pilot and luggage. These vehicles can travel up to 100 miles on a single charge with a maximum speed of 200 mph. These aircraft are fully electric with zero emissions.
The City of Arlington is hosting an event on May 8, 2024, from 5:30 pm to 7:00pm at the Bob Duncan Center at Vandergriff Park. You will be able to see live vehicle demonstrations talk with project partners and provide feedback on the project.
President Barry presented a Webb Library Book in honor of Jana Wentzel.
Barry informed us that next program will be on April 25, 2024. The program will be Big Dream Vision Hope for Africa-Ismael Omondi.
The quote for this week: “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other”. – Mother Teresa.
Barry thanked the special guests and everyone else for coming. He then led us in the Four Way Test, and we were adjourned.
It Happened Last Thursday
