June 28, 2015 · 8:47 pm

6th Day General Convention: Bishops’ March

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Before the start of meetings today at the 78th Episcopal General Convention (GC), the Bishops held a public march against gun violence.  Several members of our Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) walked with them despite the heat (80 degrees Farenheit / 27 Celsius at 8 am in the morning!). Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry carried part of the banner and addressed the crowd of over 2,000 at the end of the historic march. You can hear Bishop Curry’s talk on this video.

After the march, we participated in an extended version of the daily worship service, followed by the regular House of Deputies legislative session. Today was the United Thank Offering ingathering for 2012-2014. We were proud to have Nancy McGuffin come forward to represent ECR and for Katie Reeves to be one of the UTO speakers. UTO raised $4,378,326.16 to support mission and ministry throughout The Episcopal Church and in invited Provinces of the Anglican Communion in the developing world.  After the morning legislative session, several of us in the ECR Deputation went to lunch and then toured nearby Temple Square.

We ended the day joining the closing worship service at the House of Bishops, followed by a Deputation meeting over dinner with Bishop Mary.

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June 27, 2015 · 10:02 pm

5th Day General Convention: Presiding Bishop Election

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The big news today at the 78th Episcopal General Convention (GC) in Salt Lake City was that we elected a new Presiding Bishop (PB) to a nine year term.  Bishop of North Carolina Michael Curry was the favorite for our Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR). He was elected with overwhelming support on the first ballot:

  • House of Bishops 121 votes (70%)
  • House of Deputies 800 votes (99%)

Bishop Michael Curry is the first African-American PB and, in fact, the first PB of color. We are trying to find out if any other PB in history has ever been elected on the first ballot. The process is that the House of Bishops (HofB) elects the PB and then the House of Deputies (HofD) votes to confirm. The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings (President of the HofD) lead the celebration of the 230th anniversary of the House of Deputies while we were waiting for HoB to send news of their election. The HofD dates from 1785 and is very proud of being four years older than the HofB: the House of Deputies  is referred to as the “elder house”. After the anniversary party, the HofD refused its President’s strong suggestion that we go to lunch. We sang “We are all together” at her until she relented and let us consider more resolutions until the big PB vote.  There was great rejoicing  after our quick and extremely positive confirmation of the HofB election of Bishop Curry.

In the afternoon after the PB election (and lunch), Rev. Tom Sramek and I walked down the hall to sit in the audience area of the House of Bishops – to see the Diocese of El Camino Real‘s Bishop Mary working among the purple people. (The traditional color for Bishops to wear is purple – and most of them do.) The Vice President of the HofB was presiding. Some of the differences I saw:

  • HofB is less than half the size, overwhelmingly male, and the average age is much older than the HofD
  • HofB is much less tightly managed and their parliamentary functioning lacks the high polish and style of the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings
  • HofB sits in small groups at round tables – promoting collegiality and more interaction – while HofD sit a long tables
  • There are no Alternates in HofB – everyone there can wear the purple

After our visit to the HofB, it was time for the ECR dinner where Bishop Mary hosted us in celebrating our new PB!

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June 26, 2015 · 8:31 pm

4th Day at General Convention: Joy in the Morning

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The US Supreme Court decision supporting marriage equality came out just before the morning worship service here in Salt Lake City at the 78th Episcopal General Convention (GC).  The Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) joined a wildly joyous crowd of thousands singing and dancing in thankful celebration. The rest of the day’s legislative meetings were not nearly as exciting!

The four candidates to be 27th Presiding Bishop were formally accepted for election tomorrow. GC started discussions on church restructuring (TREC) and worked through a variety of small votes.  The uncontested re-election of the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings for House of Deputies President was a happy moment. (She is the first ordained woman to hold the position – first elected in 2012.) She gave up her seat to the House of Deputies Vice President Byron Rushing and returned to sit with her home Deputation of Ohio during the vote process. She returned to a standing ovation by the House of Deputies. The National Association of Episcopal Schools was congratulated on its success and 50th anniversary. Episcopal Relief & Development was likewise commended for its excellence and 75th anniversary.

The Rev. Lester V. Mackenzie, GC Chaplain from Los Angeles, lead us in song and prayer. Everyone was asked again to “turn off their WiFi, MyFi and Hotspots – we have ways of finding you!” because these interfere with the GC Virtual Binder updates. I am not sure if it was this interference but we all enjoyed the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings making an exception to nominating procedure “because of malfunction of the thingy”.

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June 25, 2015 · 9:58 pm

3rd Day at General Convention: International Social Justice

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Today was the first legislative day for the 78th Episcopal General Convention (GC).  It was the third day in Salt Lake City for the Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) . 842 were certified and seated in the House of Deputies from 110 diocese. Much of the morning and afternoon legislative sessions were taken up with procedural matters.

I chose to attend two Social Justice and International Policy legislative committee meetings (morning and afternoon) where it was standing room only. I was one of dozens of public witnesses on the subject of Israel-Palestine.  There were five resolutions being considered by the committee.  The two sides of the question on whether the Episcopal Church should divest from Israel were: Stay at table, engage to make change vs. Divest, do not profit by occupation. I spoke about some of the understanding I have gained living and working in Israel as well as working with TechWomen mentees from the Middle East since 2010. I said that I think divestment will hurt the Palestinians even more, at least in the short-term. Also, pulling back from the table to make a moral point removes the church from the discussion: cuts off relationships we will need if we are to contribute to the solution of some very hard problems.  Mine was a minority opinion – most of the witnesses were in favor of divestment.

5 July 2015 – My witness on Israel-Palestine quoted in “Money and the Holy Land: Committee Hears Testimony” in the “House of Deputies News”.

Yesterday, I received a reader comment asking for my impressions of the four candidates to be 27th Presiding Bishop (PB) after their presentations yesterday.  All four are remarkable and capable men of deep faith.  I was able to speak personally with three of them today. Here are my notes some of what I observed yesterday and today (ask other members of the ECR Deputation for their view!):

  • The Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal, 64, Diocese of Southern Ohio: Very intelligent, academic and unworldly in background and approach, kindly and thoughtful but seems somewhat frail. 
  • The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, 62, Diocese of North Carolina: Energetic preacher and social activist, demonstrated capability for administration through building a solid team, focused on measurable financial and operational improvement in parallel with evangelism. Charismatic and inspiring.
  • The Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas, 56, Diocese of Connecticut: Personable and charming, highly educated and thoughtful academic, loves to teach, athletic and well rounded. An electric smile.
  • The Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith, 61, Diocese of Southwest Florida: Formal and measured, traditional/conservative in approach, a gracious and grandfatherly community builder.

The vote for PB is on Saturday. The church restructuring (TREC) discussion starts tomorrow.

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June 24, 2015 · 8:13 pm

2nd Day at General Convention – Hearing from 4 Candidates

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Today was the second day for the Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) in Salt Lake City at the 78th General Convention (GC) of the Episcopal Church. There are 898 in the House of Deputies and about 300 in the House of Bishops at GC. Salt Lake City is at 4,327 feet above sea level. We are still adjusting to the altitude and heat here. ECR blogs from GC will be posted in the 78th General Convention category of the diocesan website.

Our morning was taken up with introductions to the GC leadership, an address by the outgoing Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, an introduction to the iPad “Virtual Binder”, voting tools and rules, and guidance on parliamentary procedure. Bishop Katharine’s moving talk included many Star Trek references (since one of the big discussion topics for GC is called TREC). Two of her more serious thoughts were: “No matter who you are afraid of, we need each other” and “We are never whole when we exclude members of the wider community.” My favorite orientation quote is from the Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe (Executive Officer of the General Convention): “This is an iPad, within it is software, the virtual binder is on but not exclusively in the iPad”.

We had an hour and a half for lunch during which we checked out the exhibit hall some more, including seeing the Homeless Jesus sculpture which is briefly visiting GC. During the afternoon, we heard the four candidates for Presiding Bishop (PB) answer eight rounds of questions in eight topic areas. The candidates to be 27th PB are:

Last month, my fellow ECR blogger, Rev. Tom Sramek, Jr. wrote an article profiling the four candidates: “Who Will Lead Episcopalians?”.  The PB election will take place this coming Saturday. My favorite quote from Bishop Michael Curry: “I’m not the Pope, I don’t have all the answers.  The truth is, the Pope isn’t the Pope either.” ECR Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves arrived late this afternoon.

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June 23, 2015 · 5:37 pm

1st day at General Convention – Salt Lake City

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Early this afternoon, the GC Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) started to arrive in Salt Lake City to attend the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church.  Since then, Diana Trapani and I, both first time GC participants, have enjoyed wandering around the Salt Palace Convention Center checking out the wide variety of exhibits, and meeting fascinating people.  So far:

  • I talked at length with Karen Meridith, Executive Director of Education for Ministry, about the EfM study materials my class will be using starting in September. (She and I have only communicated by email before.)
  • I met the Rev. Canon Scott Gunn, Executive Director of Forward Movement and one of the leaders of Lent Madness, who is much taller than he looks online and was very polite about speaking with a fan while unpacking his exhibit booth.
  • I bought two more books from Rev. Eric Law, Founder and Executive Director of the Kaleidoscope Institute, about whom I have written before.

What a pleasure it is to be able to speak with them in person!   I also found out that our own ECR Deputation member Celeste Ventura is a featured author at GC. Her book Deeper Simplicity, Broader Generosity – Images of Financial Wholeness is advertised in the current issue of The Living Church magazine.

It is hot here in Salt Lake City (95 degrees Fahrenheit / 35 Celsius), so we will be spending much of our time in the air conditioned buildings.  We enjoyed watching some little kids swimming in the fountain of the mall across the street.  Our first GC meeting is tonight!

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June 22, 2015 · 6:30 pm

Road Diet Controversy in Willow Glen

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The Road Diet has caused a great deal of energetic debate in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, California, most recently among the 500+ who attended the public discussion at Willow Glen High School on 18 June 2015.  Most of the discussion was about:

  1. Bad for Business: The Road Diet trial has reportedly had a very negative effect on local businesses (particularly in the 0.4 mile downtown area on Lincoln Avenue between Willow Street and Minnesota Avenue).  Many small business owners at the meeting spoke of a significant decline due to customer frustration with traffic congestion.  Several spoke about shopping elsewhere to avoid the intermittent Lincoln Avenue gridlock.
  2. Good for Bikes: Several in the bicycling community reported their satisfaction at having a new bike lane, even if it does not connect yet to other bike corridors.
  3. Driver Frustration caused by increased traffic congestion on Lincoln Avenue was a common topic.
  4. Data, Analysis, and Interpretation: Questions were raised by many about Road Diet data – as well as concern about key elements (like accidents, pedestrian traffic, and parking) not being measured at all.

Here is a summary by the Willow Glen Business Association about the Road Diet:

In Fall 2014 District 6 Council Member Pierluigi Oliverio proposed that the City of San José Department of Transportation (DOT) implement a trial road diet on Lincoln Avenue in Spring 2015.   The trial was completed in March, April and May 2015.   You may read the DOT’s reports about the trial here:

What is a Road Diet? Watch this video to learn about road diets.

A recent news story “San Jose: Lincoln Avenue ‘road diet’ divides Willow Glen community” reported on how the Road Diet is polarizing this small community.

Council Member Olivierio wrote (in November 2014) that he backed the Road Diet to help the Willow Glen business district “…feel quaint, pedestrian friendly, and become a more desirable location to shop and stroll.” According to Interim Director Jim Ortbal of the Department of Transportation (DOT), the purpose of the Lincoln Avenue Road Diet was threefold:

  • Improve safety for all users
  • Create a calmer traffic environment
  • Enhance travel for people walking and biking

DOT staff reported at length on traffic volume and speed data for 45 locations in the Willow Glen area.  However, on 18 June, the DOT was not able to present information indicating success on any of the three goals.  For example, DOT said they could not report on safety because it would take one to two years of data collection to determine patterns.  When pressed, DOT staff said that there were about the same number of accidents reported to the police.  Some speakers (including myself) testified to the current situation causing dangerous traffic congestion and frustration for both drivers and walkers at certain times of day. Other members of the public said that they felt safer walking in the area as a result of the Road Diet. DOT reported a small increase in bikers but they did not measure walkers.

A group of four Stanford University Public Policy graduate students conducted their own Analysis and Recommendations for Lincoln Ave Road Diet.  Their recommendations were:

  • Clarify and prioritize the goals of the road diet to better gauge whether the road diet successfully achieves its policy objectives.
  • Determine the road diet’s impact on Lincoln Avenue businesses by gathering and analyzing pre- and post-diet data on business sales receipts.
  • Survey area residents to gauge perceptions of the road diet’s impact on livability.
  • Gather more pedestrian and bicycle traffic count observations over a longer time period to determine if the post-diet increases are statistically significant.

Some of the best suggestions I heard at the 18 June public hearing were:

  • Create a pedestrian scramble at both Willow/Lincoln and Minnesota/Lincoln rather than making walkers wait for two long lights.
  • Get rid of the Road Diet middle passing lane (that some were calling the “suicide lane” and others said was often blocked by parked trucks making deliveries), allowing just one lane in each direction, then increase the available parking with diagonal striping, and maybe widen the sidewalks at the same time.
  • Build a parking structure (for example in the now-empty lot on the corner of Willow/Lincoln) to reduce the number of cars circling trying to find a place to park.

The DOT is asking for a quick decision on the success of the 3-month Road Diet so that they can know what to do when they repave Lincoln Avenue in October 2015.

Click here to see the entire Willow Glen Road Diet Series.

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