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RES History - October-November 1973
Rochester History
A Sampling from the Archives of the Rochester Engineering Society...1897 - 1973 by Lee M. Loomis
Continuing with the historical sampling of the earlier writings on behalf of the Rochester Engineering Society, the years following "The Great War", into and through the “Great Depression”, continued to be a time of reaching out for the maturing Society, both locally and nationally. The meeting minutes describe a series of technical discussions and presentations intended to broaden the technical horizons of the membership (especially the CE's, ME's and EE's). The RES affiliated itself with a number of National technical societies, adopted local Affiliated Societies, frequently held joint meetings with them and continued taking action on a growing list of public matters. Certain issues of standardization, some crucial to public safety, became the responsibility of the RES and its affiliates. In the pervasive economic downturn of the “Great Depression”, the magazine offered classified advertising for unemployed engineers, technicians and draftsmen and took other steps to try to deal with the crisis. Still, it continued its effort to shape the function, focus and infrastructure of the City of Rochester, and beyond. World War, again affected the Society, taking away many of its leaders while providing opportunities for others to step forward to fill these vacancies. In an effort to provide even greater perspective on the happenings and concerns of the day, a synopsis, featuring selected items from "The Rochester Engineer" has become an integral part of this series. The Second World War and the Korean Conflict are now history, and the Vietnam War has recently become a focal point. These experiences have changed the face and, no doubt, the future of the community. The Rochester municipal leadership and the industrial community have become immersed in the cold-war, growth economy
The RES 1973-74 Luncheon Series began with “Rochester City Charter…Proposed Revisions” by Charles E. Swan, Chair of the Governmental Structure Committee and a candidate for City Council. Subsequent luncheon topics would include “Technical and Economic Impacts of the 1972 Water Quality Act” by W. Wesley Eckenfelder Jr., PhD, of Vanderbilt University, “Skylab Scientific Photography” by George T. Keene, Supv. of the Advanced Planning Group, Kodak Apparatus Division. Rochester Institute of Technology announced the creation of a basic statics course videotape series, co-funded by the NY State Dept. of Education, and team-taught by RIT Professors William F. Halbleib and Robert A. Ellison. This course would be available as twentyeight videotapes, approximately 40 minutes in length, in a professional broadcast format, with written supplemental material to accompany the tapes. The RES, along with the League of Women Voters announced a day-long symposium, “The Energy Dilemma: Alternatives and Their Costs”, to be held at St. John Fisher College, on Saturday, October 27th . An international conference on demand-responsive transit systems (Dial-A-Bus), sponsored by the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority would be held at the Holiday Inn, Downtown. This three-day conference was co-sponsored by the Highway Research Board, the American Transportation Association and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
November 7, 1973 (Board Meeting, Chamber of Commerce)
The Board approved seven new applications for Regular Membership. On behalf of the Education Committee, Dr. Robert Desmond reported that two courses, to be conducted by the Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell University, were under consideration for local presentation. The first, “Discipline and Grievance Handling” would be a two-day seminar and the second, “Career Planning Seminar” would be held as two, half-day sessions. The Board took issue with the title of the first course and, after considerable discussion, requested that it be renamed as, “Performance Review and Evaluation”, suggesting that this change to a less contentious sounding title would probably not require any major change in the course content. As a new approach to the matter of selecting the RES Engineer of the Year, the Awards Committee announced that it had sent letters to each RES Affiliate, inviting submission of candidates for this annual award. The Publications Committee reported that the Hercules Corporation had completed its final report on solid waste management for Monroe County, would be presenting it to the County Legislature and, if approved, construction of the recycling plant should begin in 1974. A proposed resolution relative to energy conservation was placed before the Board, eliciting considerable discussion. James Clark and Dr. Richard Kenyon volunteered to undertake a revision of the draft resolution, and the Board gave provisional approval to the result of this revision.
November 15, 1973 (Board Statement – National Energy Crisis)
The RES Board published a resolution stating that:
"The US and the World does not need to feel that the current energy crisis portends a long-term energy shortage, as long as it is willing to recognize that it cannot continue to meet its growing energy needs by applying only conventional methodologies to conventional energy sources.
The immediate crisis is the result of a rapidly expanding world population, and the continued pursuit of narrow-minded, outdated energy policy; one that has discouraged research and development in alternative energy sources.
More important is the alarming rate at which latent energies are being released, inefficiently used, degraded and wastefully disposed of.
The Rochester Engineering Society urges its members, and all citizens, to give their support to two actions:
1. The practice of energy conservation in the home, community, and industry, toward stretching available supply.
2. The pursuit of immediate and extensive research and development of alternative energy sources, including solar, and other less-polluting energy sources."
Subsequent articles in this series will describe the RES' continuing outreach to other technical societies as it considered its role in this and the larger community, along with more of the activities of the RES as it moved to be of greater service to its membership, especially those suffering from current economic crises, and adopted a greater role in shaping the future of the City and its environs. Noted also, will be the contributions made by RES members in the struggle to meet the challenges coming out of World War II and the Korean Conflict, as well as a hoped-for period of post-war growth and prosperity. These articles will also feature an impressive array of RES activities in support of post-war re-emergence of Rochester area industry, and the ensuing prosperity of the second half of the 20th Century. We welcome your questions and comments on this series.
