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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Many of the shows I danced in don’t exist on film, but they do exist in the memories of those who were in the theater for that single moment in time. And nothing can replace that.”

▪ Chita Rivera

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

By Chris Heiserman

Starting this month RESDC has a new leader, Steve Fisher, formerly the Executive Director of the non-profit Borrego Art Institute. We bid a fond farewell at the end of February to Mark Nanzer, our ship captain for nearly 10 years, who guided RESDC to new levels of member services and advocacy on behalf of all County retirees.

Fisher shadowed Mark a few days and was debriefed on the budget, financial and operational activities, as well as our many regular membership meetings and popular events. He has taken over leadership of our excellent office staff and has begun working with our veteran Board of Directors to continue delivering the kinds of educational, informative and fun social events our members have come to expect.

Steve’s non-profit management experience includes oversight of the design of informational materials, media releases and newsletters, as well as cultivation of strategic partnerships with community groups, elected officials and the media. He has developed and carried out successful advocacy campaigns to support or oppose legislation or regulations that could have hindered operations of the non-profits he worked for. He looks forward to helping our Board stay alert for and resist potential threats to public employee retirement benefits.  We will have Steve introduce himself to our entire membership with a column in the April NETWORK.

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Our Membership Services Committee recently reviewed the results of the survey of event satisfaction emailed to members and included in the February NETWORK. It was not even close to a scientific poll but provided some interesting feedback from those who took the time to participate.

There were only166 total responses, a very minimal return considering our large membership. However, the individuals who indicated they would attend our traditional events were fairly representative of actual attendance. What was helpful input and interesting were the several dozen comments or suggestions members offered for new events or activities.

It is always helpful to ask for new ideas and opinions, and this was no exception. Some of the suggestions proposed were:

• I would love to attend most of the activities, however I’m not able to since I live in Missouri. Would attend Zoom presentations if interested in the topic.
• Pageant of the Masters Laguna Beach.
• Take a City bus or the trolley, to a destination, to give retirees/seniors an idea of how to get around San Diego without a car.
• Garden tours; walks in different cities: Coronado, Point Loma, La Jolla, Mission Hills and to what’s called “hidden gems.”
• Maybe a get-together that would focus on people from the same department.
• Community Give Back Days, volunteer events.
• I reside in Murrieta Ca. We have 3+ SDCCU credit unions in the area + other atm machines in Murrieta & Temecula combined. However, all RESDC activities, seminars are held in San Diego County. Perhaps you should review RESDC members’ addresses in Murrieta, Temecula & surrounding areas to see if would be practical to bring these great seminars, etc to us.
• Coming Home to our former workplace. That is Superior Court, where I worked for 27 years and retired from.
• A day trip to an LA museum, play, event with an extraordinary luncheon.

And my favorite response from Marion Leslie: “I decline to check the ‘would not attend box’ because if I were younger and getting around with a cane, it would be different, but now I’m 100.”

Thank you for all the comments and ideas. □

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CESAR CHAVEZ DAY
SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2024

Cesar Chavez Day is a state holiday in California and several other states. The day is commemorated to promote service to the community in honor of Cesar Chavez’s life and work. The holiday celebrates the March 31 birthday and the legacy of the civil rights and labor movement activist Cesar Chavez each year. RESDC and SDCERA will be closed on Monday, April 1 in honor of Cesar Chavez Day. □

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MAXIMUM SDCERA COLA APPROVED

The SDCERA Board of Retirement approved the maximum cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for retirees. Tier I, II, and A members will receive a COLA of 3%, and 2.11% will go into their COLA banks. Tier B, C, and D members will receive a COLA of 2%, and 3.11% will go into their COLA banks.
The COLA will go into effect on April 1, and retirees will see it in their pension payments received on April 30. □

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BITS AND PIECES

Mary Grout is turning 102 in Sept. She stills laughs, barely uses her walker and watches television.

Robert McDowell and his wife celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in January. She is retiring from Kent State in Ohio in June so this is also the year that they will begin to live together full time in California.

Cynthia King Bolden Gardner lives in Central Mississippi. She retired from Law and Pastoring and worked as a Deputy IV at the Public Defenders from 1991-2005. She received the displayed Lifetime Achievement Award in December from President Biden. She has focused her time as an apostle by painting churches, buying land, planting farms, purchasing animals, and creating cottage industries in tailoring etc. This is in efforts to sustain orphans, widows, and the formerly battered and addicted in the US, Africa, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines. □

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GO GREEN BY SWITCHING TO THE ONLINE NETWORK

Did you know you have the option to receive THE NETWORK in an online format?

Help lessen RESDC’s impact on the environment by choosing to GO GREEN!

You can choose to receive THE NETWORK online only. The online and email versions of THE NETWORK contain the same great content you have come to rely on, with the added benefit of going green, which helps lessen our impact on the environment!

To GO GREEN!: Email us at resdc@resdc.net letting us know you would like receive the online version of THE NETWORK only. It’s that easy! And you can know that your choice to stop receiving the printed version of THE NETWORK is helping make RESDC a better steward for future generations.

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MUSIC AND THE MIND

By Chuck Brown, Director

As you may have guessed by now, I’m an eclectic reader. Recently, I read an interview with Dr. Julene Johnson, “How Music Can Create a Healthy Brain.” Julene Johnson, PhD is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the UCSF Institute for Health & Aging. She is also the principal investigator (PI) and co-director of the Sound Health Network. She is a cognitive neuroscientist with an undergraduate degree in music. Dr. Johnson’s interests include aging, cognition, music-based interventions, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

As some of you know, I am also a nearly-life-long amateur musician. I’ve played clarinet since fourth grade and saxes since seventh grade. I’ve played in several bands in San Diego and I’m a founding member of the San Diego Concert Band, now in its 35th season. That’s a whole other story! There is a short interview video (Dr. Julene Johnson on Music and Brain Health (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlbDSFbDc_k) on YouTube that hits the high points. Meanwhile, Music and the Mind.

1. There is a large body of research regarding the effects of music on the brain. The Learning Mind (https://www.learning-mind.com/effects-of-music-on-the-brain/) notes that “music interacts with your brain in a unique way. It causes your brain to produce certain neurochemicals that lead you to experience emotions.” Furthermore, there are eight effects of music on the brain.
2. One of the most remarkable effects music has on the human brain is that it stimulates the release of dopamine, which is a brain mediator that lifts your spirit.
3. Listening to ambient noise (in this case, music). The evidence suggests that moderate noise fosters creativity.
4. Did you ever feel more energetic while listening to music? When you listen to fast music during exercise, you perform better.
5. A Stanford study (https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2007/07/music-moves-brain-to-pay-attention-stanford-study-finds.html) found that people who were listening to classical music scored higher on the attention tests. The results of the group who were performing the test in silence were significantly worse off.
6. Classical music (https://www.learning-mind.com/classical-music-lovers-metal-fans-personalities/) is also good for memory, this University of Tennessee study finds (https://scholar.utc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1214&context=mps). Rap music was compared to classics during a memory test. The results showed that rap music listeners scored lower on average.
7. Music builds powerful emotional connections in our brain. Whenever you hear a song that you listened to in childhood, you may relive the time when you first heard it. These effects of music are even more pronounced in the brains of dementia patients. This non-profit suggests (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0964339716301112) music can help Alzheimer’s patients stay more mentally alert and prevents delirium.
8. Metal music is for angry people, right? Well, it turns out that it is right. This study (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00272/full) says people with anger issues can benefit from metal music because it makes them calmer.

I can personally attest to some of these points. Back in my working days, I would come home from work tired and frazzled, but then I’d go to a rehearsal and, by the time we were done, my state had changed noticeably. Before my wife had surgery, the Scripps Integrative Medicine docs suggested she get a specific music CD and play it when she was ready to go to sleep – let it play for the full duration. It was mental and physical preparation for the surgery. Having also been a musician since elementary school, she decided to do it, and it did help to calm her before the big “slice and dice” event.

Dr. Johnson has some recommendations, based on her research: hum along with the radio, go dancing, join a community or church choir, or take up a musical instrument. I think those are in order of convenience and difficulty. Something to consider. □

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RESDC ROUNDUP EAST COUNTY

Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Time: 3:00 pm
Location: Hooleys Public House
5500 Grossmont Center Dr
La Mesa, CA 91942

We are pleased to announce we will be heading back to East County in March, visiting Hooleys Public House at Grossmont Center. The Roundup provides an opportunity to catch up over libations and appetizers with RESDC leadership and fellow members (no host bar, no host food). Come meet with old friends and make some new ones! Hope to see you there. RSVP is required.

Choose your registration method:

Register Online: Click here and then click the green ‘Register’ button and follow the steps.

Register by phone: Call our office at (619) 688-9229 during our office hours of 9:00am – 2:00pm, Monday – Friday. □

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RECENT EVENTS

Recent Article: Are pensions set for a big retirement return in 2024?

A recent article in Employee Benefit News (https://www.benefitnews.com/) highlighted that when employers offer pensions, there are many benefits. This excerpt highlights the following:

• Employers can realize cost savings while attracting and keeping workers.
• Employees have reliable, worry-free retirement income.
• Local economies benefit.

The article also references that employers are increasingly expanding the options available to help employees save for retirement. But what are they doing to help employees spend those funds responsibly once they leave the workplace?

In 2023, just 19% of employees participated in a pension plan, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Pensions, also known as defined benefit plans, provide a set monthly payment for life, an increasingly appealing benefit as employees approach retirement with a lack of education around how to spend down their savings.

“Over the last 20 years, if not more, we’ve been getting people to save and invest, with mixed results,” says Mindy Zatto, founding principal at Strategic Benefits Advisors. “Now that we have all these people retiring, the question now is, how are they going to figure out how to spend it? And we’ve essentially given all of that responsibility to individuals.”

To view the full article, visit: https://www.benefitnews.com/tag/employee-benefits

Issue Brief: The Case for Using Subsidies for Retirement Plans to Fix Social Security.

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College recently release a brief detailing that he U.S. Treasury estimates that the tax preference for employer-sponsored retirement plans and IRAs reduced federal income taxes by about $185-$189 billion in 2020, equal to about 0.9 percent of gross domestic product.1 However, the best evidence suggests that the federal tax preferences do little to increase retirement saving.

While this dismal assessment may sound like bad news, it actually offers policymakers an opportunity to strengthen the nation’s retirement income system. Revenues saved from repealing the retirement saving tax preferences could be reallocated to address the majority of Social Security’s long-term funding gap.

The brief’s key findings are:

• Tax preferences for saving in retirement plans are expensive – about $185 billion in 2020, according to Treasury estimates.
• Strikingly, they also seem a bad deal for taxpayers, primarily benefiting high earners while failing to significantly boost national saving.
• Thus, the case is strong for eliminating or reducing these preferences.
• The resulting increase in tax revenues could be reallocated to fixing Social Security’s finances.

To access the full brief, visit: https://crr.bc.edu/publications/

Citation: Biggs, Andrew G. and Alicia H. Munnell. 2024. “The Case for Using Subsidies for Retirement Plans to Fix Social Security” Issue in Brief 24-2. Chestnut Hill, MA: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. □

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RESDC SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE REMINDER

By Carlos Gonzalez, RESDC Scholarship Committee Chair

We want to remind our members that the deadline for students to submit scholarship applications is Friday, March 8, 2024; applications postmarked after this date will not be considered. Final results will be communicated directly to individual participants at the beginning of June. Be sure to remind your graduating high school scholarship applicants to have their applications into the RESDC office by March 8!

The deadline to apply for the Theo and Evelyn Yakel Scholarship is Friday, March 6 at 2:00 p.m.

For more information about the RESDC Scholarship programs please visit: www.resdc.net/scholarship-program □

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USEFUL CONTACTS FOR COUNTY RETIREES

SDCERA Administration

• Retirement checks
• Withholding forms
• IRS tax forms
• Beneficiary change
• Address change
• Health Insurance Program
• Retirement Board meetings
  Phone:  (619) 515-6800
  Website: www.sdcera.org
  Email: msc@sdcera.org
  Address:  2275 Rio Bonito Way #100,
  San Diego, CA 92108

Board of Retirement Members Elected by SDCERA Retired Members

• Skip Murphy smurphy@sdcera.org
• Alternate—Susan Mallett  smallett@sdcera.org

RESDC Administration

• Membership
• Address/email change
• THE NETWORK Editor
• Board of Directors
• Events
• Scholarship programs
• Discounts
  Phone:  (619) 688-9229 or (866) 688-9229
  Website:  www.resdc.net
  Email:  resdc@resdc.net
  Address:  8825 Aero Dr., #205, San Diego, 92123

RESDC Endorsed Insurance and Other Supplemental Benefits

• Pacific Group Agencies, Inc.
  Phone: (800) 511-9065
• My Senior Health Plan
  Phone: (800) 401-2796

San Diego County Aging & Independence Services
Phone: (800) 339-4661 □

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PURCHASE SEE’S CANDIES GIFT CARDS ONLINE

You can now purchase See’s Candies gift cards in our new Online Store using your RESDC discount!

RESDC members are offered $25 gift cards for $22, a savings of $3. Gift cards are redeemable at any See’s Candies location or online.
To purchase gift cards online, go to: resdc.wildapricot.org/online-store. We can only accept credit cards to purchase gift cards online. You may not purchase more than ten gift cards in one transaction.

Note: You need a RESDC member self-service login in order to access the online store. If you need one, please email resdc@resdc.net.
RESDC members are entitled to a 10% group discount on selected items at the two See’s Discount Stores: 3751 Rosecrans Street, San Diego, 92110; and 1830 Marron Road, Carlsbad, 92008. You must ask the See’s sales team which items are selected. You need to show them your RESDC membership card for the discount. Be sure to mention that you are a member of Retired Employees of San Diego County. Occasionally a RESDC member is denied the discount by a clerk at these See’s stores. When this happens, be sure to clarify that you are not an active County employee, but you’re a member of RESDC. The county no longer participates in the See’s group discount program. If you’re still refused a discount, ask to speak to a store manager.

The gift cards are redeemable at any of the See’s retail stores and for online purchases.

If you would like to purchase gift cards through the mail from RESDC, please address an envelope to RESDC, 8825 Aero Drive, Suite 205, San Diego, CA 92123. Enclose a check made out to RESDC for the number of gift cards you would like at $22 for each gift card. Be sure to include postage stamps so we can mail the gift cards to you. Enclose one postage stamp if purchasing less than five gift cards. If purchasing over five gift cards enclose 78 cents of postage. If purchasing over nine gift cards enclose 98 cents of postage. See the postage chart at: www.resdc.net/sees-candies-discount. We will supply the return envelope to put the gift cards into. □

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IN MEMORIAM

William Bennett, HHSA
Richard Boucher, Auditor & Controller
Jacqueline Burgess
James Chaffee
RoseMarie Cook, HHSA
Edward Cornett
Peter Cross, District Attorney
Venerando Cruz, HHSA
Jo Darnell
Marjorie Dowling
Jack Edington, HHSA
James Felder, SD County Retirement
Cynthia Fera, HHSA
Enrique Garcia, Human Resources
Wanda Geer
Judy Gilmour, District Attorney
Jack Harbold, HHSA
Carol Harrington
Lisa Harris, Sheriff
John Hughes, Registrar of Voters
Marilyn Jenkins
Jean Kamptner
Young Kang, HHSA
Anna Larran, HHSA
Ruth Madsen, HHSA
Henry Mann
William Martin, Superior Court
Robert Mashman, HHSA
Wilbert Mason Jr., HHSA
Esperanza McGuigan
Jennifer McKenzie, Library
Samuel McNeal, Sheriff
Margaret Miller, HHSA
Sandi Nakai, SD County Retirement
Beatrice Nelson
Deanna Petree
Kathryn Pierce, HHSA
Gene Ponchot, Probation
Dea Puthoff, HHSA
Drexel Richardson
Darin Rimmer, Probation
Mary Robinson, Environ Health & Qualit
Elizabeth Sanchez, Sheriff
Joseph Sansone, Superior Court
Mark Savey, Probation
Sally Schofield, Dept of Child Support
Raymond Schwartz, HHSA
Florence Segal
Patricia Starr
Bobby Stephenson, Probation
Esther Taitano
Margaret Taylor
Ellen Turnley
Joan Valdes, HHSA
Ruth White, Library
Jacquelyn Wildasin, Sheriff
Charles Williams Jr., Law Enfor Review Bd
Maria Winterton, Public Works
Edward Ybarra, Parks & Recreation

*Active Employee

MEMBER PRIVACY

Any retiree or surviving spouse who does not want his/her death notice published in the “In Memoriam” column may notify the RESDC office and your privacy will be maintained.

The Surviving Spouse of a RESDC member is eligible for RESDC membership. For enrollment assistance, please call (619) 688-9229. □

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CHECK OUT THE RESDC YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Have you missed any of our Virtual RESDC presentations? Here is how you can watch our past online presentations on the RESDC YouTube channel!

Step 1. Go to www.resdc.net

Step 2. Scroll down a bit, and click the button RESDC YouTube on the left column.

Step 3. Now you are on the RESDC YouTube channel. Now you can select a video to watch!

Step 4. Click the “Subscribe” button. Subscribing to the RESDC YouTube channel means that you will be updated when new videos are uploaded.

View Curated Playlists

On the RESDC YouTube channel you can also view curated playlists of videos from county partners such as Live Well San Diego and Aging and Independence Services.

Step 1. Access the RESDC YouTube channel by following the instructions above.

Step 2. Scroll down. You can select a playlist of videos that you would like to view.

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WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

Joan Armstrong, Human Resources
Brian Brown
Maximino Carreon, HHSA
Marisue Crystal
Lucena Dela Cruz
Kurt Greiner, Sheriff
Sueanne Tiu
Krystyna Vitzthum

*Associate Members

The surviving spouse of a member is eligible for RESDC membership. For enrollment assistance, please call: (866) 688-9229. □

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THE NETWORK is the official monthly newsletter of the Retired Employees of San Diego County, Inc. (RESDC), a private non-profit organization.

The information printed in THE NETWORK is believed to be from reliable sources. However, no responsibility is assumed by THE NETWORK for inaccuracies contained herein.

Business and Inquiries: Business matters and address changes may be recorded on our voicemail at any time, call (866) 688-9229. Please spell your name so the correct member record can be located.

Retired Employees of San Diego County, Inc.
8825 Aero Drive, Suite 205 | San Diego, CA 92123
Office Hours: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday
TELEPHONE: (866) 688-9229 Toll Free
FAX: (619) 688-0766
E-MAIL: resdc@resdc.net