A R C H I V E

Progress is often the result of taking hundreds of small steps, vs. a giant leap forward. Here are three steps we are taking towards our goal of creating an ideal community.

Our garden project is almost complete, the Kentucky Bluegrass is settled in and looks like it has been here forever. Take a look at the picture below. It is hard to believe none of this infrastructure was here last Fall. We now have 72 seats outside along three fountains, with access to crazy fast internet, electric and phone chargers, to make working in the gardens feel like a picnic.

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When I saw the topic of last Member Monday lunch, I figured I better show up just in case the discussion gets heated and I need to remind folks City Club is a Securus Locus.

Over a 90 minute discussion, nineteen smart adults with diverse ages and backgrounds came to a general consensus that, in a way, each of us -- of whatever race, ethnicity, nationality, creed, culture, religion, economic standing or belief system -- can harbor some element of racism, but the real question becomes what, exactly, does that term even mean?…

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Spring is finally here and it sure looks like we are firing on all cylinders.

After four months of outdoor construction during the harsh Colorado winter, this week the sod truck from Berthoud finally showed up with beautiful winter Kentucky Bluegrass, and within hours we had a green lawn that is the envy of any golf course. 

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Last week I had the good fortune to participate in two great discussions at City Club worth reporting on.

Monday night’s dinner guests included five highly educated self-described conservatives, and five liberals. With three of the total, including myself being immigrants, we were tasked in advance to read up on immigration, and show up to discuss a possible compromise solution. To the amazement of all, at the end of a great dinner, we unanimously agreed the ~11M undocumented resident aliens in this country should get residency, with an eventual path to citizenship; and at the same time we should secure our borders, mostly airports, to promote legal, and prevent illegal immigration.

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Our third floor co-working space provides our Business Members with over 50 “seats.”  Based on popular demand, we have created 12 “dedicated desks” throughout the building for members who want a permanent assigned desk. Next time you are in, take a look at the second floor north suite to see our latest addition.

We started our garden landscape project on December 13th, and hope to have it completed by May 4th for the Kentucky Derby event. This turned out to be a massive project, but by the time we are done, we will have upgraded our 40-year old garden infrastructure and will have 68 outdoor seats with crazy-fast WiFi, many electric plugs and phone chargers, lighting, and hopefully a permanent outdoor kitchen.

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Many of my friends and City Club members tell me they are sick of politics, and have had it with the extreme partisanship that has divided our country more than anytime in our history, other than the Civil War. 

Well, I love politics because I know first hand the opposite of too much politics is not enough politics, and that’s when one gets a knock on the door in the middle of the night and is never heard of again; or the leader of the opposition party is shot dead in daylight in front of the Kremlin and that’s that!

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When was the last time you watched Peter Sellers play Chauncey the Gardener?

Highland City Club is blessed to have one of the largest and most unique award winning gardens in Boulder, if not Colorado. We feel fortunate to have had Constance Peck design and build our gardens starting 40 years ago, and for Will Kohler to spend over two decades building our garden infrastructure. But going forward, we need a gardening team more than a gardener, since there is so much to do, and the normal wear and tear of hundreds of people a month touring, working and eating in the gardens needs a whole new level of care we have not been accustomed to.

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When my kids started dating, I told them, if after the first date you are still interested, ask, “…… and how are you crazy?”

City Club is a Securus Locus for all of us to get in touch with, explore, and share with each other our success despite our physical, mental and emotional handicaps; a safe place to drop our Persona and share our true Selves, handicaps and all. 

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Last week I was in a four-day seminar in the Vail Four Seasons hotel and had a chance to mingle with some interesting people. Twice when I introduced myself as the founder of Highland City Club in Boulder, the immediate reaction was “I hear you guys have the best lunches in town.”

It has taken us 14 years to bring our food quality to this level, so now we are in the midst of planning and design to quadruple the size of our kitchen to be able to do more, like a simple/healthy continental breakfast, and planned dinners. Our goal is to go from best lunches in Boulder, to the best dining experience anywhere. Yes, this is a tall order, but why not shoot high?

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Since its inception in 2005, City Club has been a work in progress. In the past fourteen years, we have been in a constant state or renovation, remodel and addition of various spaces like our work share space on the third floor, the entry bridge, garden upgrade, and our current plans to quadruple the size of our kitchen.

To help pay for this growth and to bring us closer to operational breakeven, starting May 1st, we will increase our lunch prices by $1 from $15 to $16, which is still a fraction of the actual cost of the meal we serve; and increase the cost of our Business Membership to $400/m for new members, while increasing the cost of all current Business Members to $375/m.

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We love watching our community change and grow, and strive to make City Club act like a hub of a wheel, with its many spokes reaching out to the larger community. Like a flywheel, the longer we are at it, the faster we gain momentum, and are able to do more good with less effort.

Using the strength in our numbers, in the past few months we have been reaching out to other cool Boulder institutions our members already like and support, asking if they want to partner up with us by offering a discount to our members. Personally, I love our relationship with Bulldog Yoga, which is located just two blocks from Highland, allowing me and other members to attend a mellow 6:15 am class before starting work, or a more rigorous class on the weekends.

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Henry Ford once said, “You can always distinguish the leaders by the arrows in their backs.” 

Leadership is a thankless and frustrating job, but many of us strive to do it, because it is satisfying to bring a diverse group of people together to accomplish a big task. In the same light, trying to manage City Club is like trying to herd 230 smart and independent cats with diverse interests and opinions. So why do we do it? Because the feedback we get from our members makes it all worthwhile.

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Though it is cold outside and we seem to be in the dead of winter, in fact, we are closer to Spring than Fall, the ground is starting to breathe and the birds are starting to sing. In short, once again we are about to awaken from our hibernation and feel love in the air, and realize pursuit of happiness, instead of mere survival as our primary goal. In the midst of all this, we are making great progress in our garden project and will be ready to celebrate its opening by Spring.

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If you stand in line long enough, eventually it's your turn.

               – Woody Allen.

Forty years since the renovation of Highland, and nearly fourteen years since we started City Club, it sure looks like our turn has come.

Maybe it was the opening of the third floor shared workspace, or the gold leaf sign at the entry, but it appears we have finally been discovered, as evidence by the fact that we are attracting a lot of young and smart business members, and are blessed to have unbelievably experienced social members like Joe de Raismes who is featured below, Bud Wonsiewicz who is doing the science talks next week, and Scott Garen who uses his 30+ years of experience in Hollywwod to pick movies we've rarely heard of, let alone seen, and clearly explains why we should.

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As a community, Chef Maria’s delicious food nurtures our Reptilian brain; our connection with each other and the sense of community it creates feeds our Mammalian brian; and our diverse and interesting topics of discussion satisfies our Neocortex. 

A year ago we started a new section in this Newsletter titled “What we are reading and talking about.” Steve Smith’s Monday Member lunches; Kevin Townley’s Western Mysticism topics; Bud Wonsiewicz Poetry reading and science talks, always provide something for us to learn, and an opposing opinion to take in and digest.

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This year started with a Bang! and City Club may no longer be the best-kept secret in Boulder, as evidence by the fact that so far we have signed up two tenants, seven business and two social members. In short, our community is growing and the synergy is building, allowing us to hire more employees to serve you, and more programs to attend.

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Highland City Club’s greatest asset is our members. We are fortunate to have founding members like Steve Smith, Kevin Townley and others who help grow our community by sharing their knowledge and wisdom with us.

Although Bud Wonsiewicz is a relatively new member, he is passionate about whatever he does, including his new City Club community. A scientist to his core, and a poet at heart, Bud has agreed to lead not one, but two programs at City Club. Please see an abbreviated version of Bud’s impressive bio below.

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Many of our members tell us Highland’s award-wining garden is one of their favorite features of City Club. We are already halfway through one of our ten goals for this year, which is to build a 20-seat dining area outside. 

This area is designed to have a concrete floor, electricity, crazy fast internet, light and shading so our members can work outside during the day, have lunch in shade during summer, and participate in our themed dinners, which is another one of our ten goals for the year. 

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In this season of rest, reflection and renewal, we want to take the time to count our blessings, and to thank you, our members, for helping us create a safe and supportive community to belong to.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year ahead.
 

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For the longest time, the main question I faced was whether I thought City Club was going to make it, and I always answered: "I don’t know, but I am trying my hardest."

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