They were hills, once. Fifteen thousand years ago the islands of San Francisco Bay were tall pyramids cloaked in green forests of cedar and pine. These hills jutted up from a broad, rumpled plain, where Pleistocene bison and horses wandered, as well as camels and saber tooth tigers. Valleys between the hills were threaded by glittering creeks and one mighty river. These streams wound through a huge, wooded basin, then out through the Golden Gate, pouring themselves toward the Pacific Ocean.            

   At that point, much of North America was locked under glacial sheets of the last Ice Age. These sprawling glaciers, plus the swollen polar ice caps, slurped up so much of the Earth’s water that ocean levels were 300-400 feet lower than they are today.
   After shooting the narrows of the Golden Gate, those rivers had to wind westward another 32 miles before they reached the sea. But then they scored a reward. The waters leapt off a grand cliff that lay six miles beyond Los Farallones. That soaring precipice was formed by the edge of the continental shelf. This primeval cataract must have presented a scene of natural splendor to rival the much-lauded Yosemite waterfalls.
   If you were trying to count big Bay Area hills during the last Ice Age you’d have to include that outlying string of seven, storm-lashed granite peaks out by the waterfall, since they were fully connected to the mainland back then. We now call these eroded peaks the Farallon Islands – a variation on the earlier, Spanish name. (It means steep, rocky peak or outcrop, a very apt description.) 
   Today, the Farallons can be seen lying 26 miles west of San Francisco, separated from the mainland by a broad band of open sea. On clear, fogless days, they appear like a mirage on the horizon. Their highly intermittent guest appearance may be why local Miwok tribes considered this cluster of spectral summits their land of the dead.
   Because of Earth’s current global warming trend, our most recent Ice Age remains in headlong retreat. The Earth’s glaciers and ice floes continue to release waters, feeding our rising seas. Because of that, some of the lower-lying islands in our present-day San Francisco Bay may go underwater in a century or two.
   Station Island, Bair Island and The Sister Islands may join the Bay’s Blossom, Arch, Shag and Harding rocks. They’ll win a dark new status as they sink away from sunlight. They’ll no longer be islands, but barely awash menaces to navigation, to be marked by buoys and/or whittled by use of explosives.
   Highly developed and populous Alameda Island, if it is to survive, will likely need to transform itself into our local Netherlands, diking itself off from the remorseless advance of ever-higher tides.

He served as the Mayor of San Francisco, California from 1992, succeeding Art Agnos. During his mayoral tenure Jordan played a role in converting the Presidio Army Base into part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, bringing Bay Area Rapid Transit to the San Francisco International Airport, keeping the San Francisco Giants in the city and balancing the city's budget.

Chief of Police

Before becoming mayor, Jordan served as the Chief of the San Francisco Police Department from 1986 until 1990, at which point he resigned to run for mayor. He joined the force in 1957 and was named Chief of Police by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein in 1986. At a conference at USF Jordan was reported to have said, "Since I have been the mayor and chief of police, I believe disciplinary procedures are very important to have in the hands of the chief of police," The panel also specifically recommended that the chief be given the power to suspend an officer for up to 90 days. Currently suspensions are limited to 10 days.

Foundation Executive

Since 2001 Jordan has served as special advisor to the president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and is the foundation's principal counselor on the impact of potential grants in the nine-county Bay Area. According to the foundation's 2007 annual report, in that year nearly $53 million in grants was devoted to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Personal

Jordan holds a degree in government and political science from the University of San Francisco, where he has served on the Business Advisory Council since 1989, and teaching credentials from the University of California. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Wendy Paskin.

Chair of the Day: Patricia Fripp

Gary Purece's Program The Art of Listening

Gary Purece is a senior executive communications consultant, executive coach, seminar leader, and facilitator who specializes in communication techniques. Gary’s skills and successes are in the art of communication for executives who are developing career transition campaigns, who need assistance in communication strategy and who want to make their point more clearly. His successful experience at the senior levels of global advertising agencies and creating brands and brand strategy, make him a valuable resource of communicating the executive brand for executives who are seeking to raise the level of their executive presence.

Gary’s advertising background also leads to his philosophy that the important part of a career at the senior level is communication and branding. His expertise in communication as it pertains to branding and positioning have helped hundreds of senior executives positioning themselves for career success.

Gary’s clients include senior executives from, Wells Fargo, Clorox, Bank of America, Levi Strauss, Kaiser Permanente, Charles Schwab, Union Bank, Blackrock, Pacific Gas & Electric, The Sierra Club, Cisco, Hewlett Packard, Autodesk, Medtronic, Genentech, Visa, Life Technologies, Nestle Dreyers, Safeway, AAA of California, Constellation Wines, Jackson Family Estate Wines.

Lou is a native San Franciscan, has lived in Marin County for over 55 years, and he and his wife Marge have been residents of Novato for 15 years.  He is a graduate of the University of San Francisco and served as President of their Alumni association in 1986. He has been a member of the Board of  Westamerica  Bank since 1991 and serves on their Audit Committee.

He retired from a 33-year career with Merrill Lynch in sales and office management and has been active in many community organizations including board membership in Hospice By the Bay, Marin Health Foundation and the Marin Art and Garden Center. He was president for five years of the Marin Symphony and served on the board for over 15 years.  He is a Past President and current member of Marin Forum and is a 29 year member of the Rotary Club of San Rafael where he served as President and then District Governor. 

He currently serves as educational coordinator for the Marin Symphony’s Golden Gate Opus project.

He will address GGBC on the “The Golden Gate Bridge, its history revisited”.

Award winning author also recently featured in the SF Chronicle and as a Commonwealth Club panelist, Laila Radwan El-Sissi, returns to address unprecedented historic changes unfolding after Egypt's unprecedented 2012 election. Her focus remains on the plight of women's rights dramatically portrayed in her timely memoir, “Out of Alexandria.”  In the words of Bob Dylan, "You know something is happening, but you don't know what it is!" Come find out.

Steven Hill is a political writer, cofounder of FairVote and former director of the political reform program at the New America Foundation. Mr. Hill is a frequent speaker at academic, government, NGO and business events, speaking on a wide range of topics related to politics, economics, climate change, global complexity, and future trends. In the early 2000s, Mr. Hill was a leader in the efforts to pass public financing of campaigns and instant runoff voting (now known as ranked choice voting) in the Bay Area. He wrote the ballot measures, as well as led the successful campaigns and the subsequent implementation efforts. He assisted the Secretary of State, Department of Elections, and voting machine vendor to design the voting equipment for RCV elections, and helped design the initial rollout in education plans. Mr. Hill has been involved in all aspects of ranked choice voting since its inception. He is the author of four books, including "10 Steps to Repair American Democracy" (www.10Steps.net), "Europe's Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age” (www.EuropesPromise.org), and "Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All Politics" (www.FixingElections.com) which was called "the most important book on American democracy that has come out in many years." His articles and op-eds have appeared in publications around the world, including the New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Guardian, San Francisco Chronicle and more. Mr Hill has appeared on international, national and local radio and television programs, including the BBC, Fox News, NPR, Pacifica, Sirius, KQED and others.

Melissa Griffin is a Georgia native and a graduate of Cornell Law School. After living in New York for several years, she moved to San Francisco in 2004. After working at Jones Day (a top law firm) for two years, she went in-house as an employment counsel for Bechtel Corporation in 2006. While working at Bechtel, she began writing about local politics and legal cases on a blog she created – www.thesweetmelissa.com. Melissa’s work appeared in a number of local publications in 2007, and in 2008 she was offered a position as a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. She enthusiastically accepted and published two to three articles each Thursday as a freelance writer for the Examiner. Melissa is currently a freelance writer for the Examiner and is also co-host of webcast "The Necessary Conversation".  In addition to appearances on television and radio, Melissa is a frequent public speaker at community events and organizations. She will join us at the Golden Gate Breakfast Club to discuss her perspective on the recent election in San Francisco and ranked choice voting.

Event is $25 Cash, Check or Credit Card at the door

In this time honored tradition, GGBC gets to learn more about it's members through a very mysterious and secret ritual called "public speaking" Oops! I let the cat out of the bag! Don't tell anybody...This is no mere "Hello and how do you do," experience as many of you are aware that more than 50% of the public are more afraid of public speaking than death! Therefore, these death defying new prospects will brave a potentially hostile environment where wild creatures like the ever-present Hecklerus-Lazerus will lurk in the corners to pounce upon unprepared or worse, boring pledges. Successful candidates will offer insight into their life so far, while beguiling and entertaining the membership. Candidate acceptance will require approval by U.S. Marine, Ed Flowers. Don't let his name fool you, he's less of a daisy and more of a thicket, so tread boldly into that good morning. Only the brave and creative are awarded entry into this august society. Be prepared!

Welcome to 2012!

All is new and fresh in the world as we begin a new year together. While there have been many changes in the the past twelve months, we look forward to what lies ahead for all of us and our club. Join us for the annual year in review slide show in the grand fashion that only our very dear friend and past president, Mike Hanlon can provide in addition to swearing in the GGBC's new board of directors.

It's never too late to be good! :-)

It’s time again for our annual Golden Gate Breakfast Club Holiday Party!  Master of Ceremonies Pete Ratto has again arranged to deliver a program of all our holiday favorites.  We’ll start off with our own Noah Griffin and since Erich Stratmann is spending the holidays in New York with his family, Rachelle Perry will appear in Erich spot.  Rachelle regularly performs in Erich’s cabaret shows and is a fantastic vocalist.  Richard Evans will accompany both Rachelle and Noah on the piano.  Heather Rogers has more new magical routines and it looks like big Mike Pritchard hasn’t landed a paying job for the Holiday!  We may even have a surprise comedy guest.  And, what’s a Holiday party without Santa Claus who will again park the sleigh on the Marines’ Memorial’s roof and appear for the youngsters.  And those of us who are not so young, but still look forward to a visit from Santa.

So, make sure you get up early and bring your family and friends too.  All of our guests participate in our Christmas drawing and have an opportunity to win one of the fabulous prizes.  Remember, after Santa is finished delivering candy to the kids, he will be presenting the GGBC’s annual contributions to the all the deserving organizations and charities that we support.  This year, since our weekly attendance has improved a bit over last year, we were able to put a little more in each of our charity’s Christmas stockings.   Join all your fellow GGBC members, with their families and special guests for another great time.  The crew from the Marine’s Memorial will be laying out another special breakfast, and we’ll have another great Holiday party.