The Voice of East Bay Living

This week, Berkeley rotary hosted an executive from Tesla - the largest employer of the automotive industry California.  Priced at $75,000, these highly coveted electric cars are manufactured in California in the Toyota factory located in Fremont. The Tesla model X is an SUV car and can hold up to seven people.The battery life lasts for 250 to 270 miles. The cost is about $8 to $10 for electricity to drive 270 miles. There are Tesla charger stations that have been set up across United States (207 stations across America and 420 stations throughout the world). The charger stations are conveniently located near 24 hour stores where you can shop or eat while you're waiting. It takes 30 minutes to charge your car battery and it is free.  The  mission of Tesla motors is to accelerate the world to sustainable transportation. The goal of the company is to have an affordable car by 2017 for $35,000.  You can schedule a test drive locally in Walnut Creek...

The Rosa Parks Elementary School, named after Rosa Parks the mother of the civil rights movement, is located in the heart of Berkeley. The principal, Paco Furland, was our guest speaker at this week's Berkeley rotary meeting.  Berkeley was one of the first school districts in the 70's to desegregate and a lot of effort has been made to equalize the demographics of their schools. Principal Furland believes that the public schools are grooming the future citizens of America. Every morning all 450 students and teachers from diverse backgrounds gather together and read a pledge which has to do with the importance of this planet and maintaining its freedom.   "To this day I believe we are here on the planet to live grow up and do what we can do to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom." -Rosa Parks 

As a member of Berkeley Rotary, I recently helped distribute beautiful dictionaries to 3rd graders at Emerson Elementary in Berkeley. Every year the  Rotary Club of Berkeley, California #428  hands out over 800 dictionaries to all 3rd graders in Berkeley Public Schools. The club motto, Service Above Self, has led its members to volunteer in all kinds of projects from building schools in rural Mexican villages to establishing health clinics in the East Bay.