While potlucks were popular shortly after Sun City opened, possibly because clubs were forming in residents’ homes before the recreation centers were built out. My Grandparents started the billiards club among others and frequently hosted club gatherings at their house with the pool table in their screen porch. Later when Sun City became one of the wealthiest communities in Arizona potlucks were replaced by dinner reservations at one of the many fine dining establishments and private clubs. Personally, I’d like to return to the latter and leave the potluck recipes for the Campbell’s cookbook on the shelf.
Both potlucks or formal dining has a place, as do hybrids where certain dishes can be catered and desserts or appetizers brought. However, unless you are a club member there are no events like this in SC for socializing. I wish we had a real Activities Coordinator/Social Director like on cruise ships, someone skilled in bringing people together in innovative ways like organizing theme dinners, dances, events not just relying on clubs for handling such things. Scheduling bands for Sunbowl and Sundial should be the least important part of the job whereas creating opportunities for day to day interactions and smaller scale events should be the lifeblood. Social isolation is an epidemic and those unable to make the time commitments and take on the responsibilities a club membership requires are dying in our midst.
What's truly fascinating to me is someone who's grand parents and parents lived here in the days when the membership had a voice would now be spouting off after spending so many years destroying the concept of a self-governed community. As scj suggested, pot lucks, fine dining and all things in between have a value and a place in the community. Those early years were always about bringing people together and creating a sense of community. There's little doubt those values and tenets that were so prevalent in Sun City through 2006 have shifted and we've lost much of that sense of community. Kudos at least to his grand parents and parents for helping shape those values.
In a previous reply I answered you but as an addition I believe this sense of community was almost lost by the late 1970’s after the build out. Yes the same wonderful caring people still lived here but it was just not the same. Look for my future posts on forced labor/volunteerism. Basically the Square Dance Club was invited to every and I mean every prospect dinner in the early says…..more to come…. So glad to be sharing these maybe not so wonderful memories with you.
Having a Community Center and a Recreation Director would be a good idea. Everything doesn't happen in clubs. The newer Del Webb communities are doing that. Smaller communities, less facilities (not less per capita) and some respite for just gathering and meeting with people (be it an open area in a rec center, or restaurant facility adjacent to a golf course). You could come an sit for hours (indoors and out). It may not have our history, but there is lots of competition for retirement communities. The Villages in Florida is huge. They have so many activities outside of clubs. It just keeps growing and growing. They span several county lines and have Capital improvement fees (aka PIF). It's an interesting place. I just don't like Florida. I prefer the desert climate. There are plenty of places to investigate and work up a model for Sun City. Having the lowest Recreation Assessment in the nation is not something to be proud of, in my opinion. Times are different. Its all about Value: what you get for what you pay. We have room to grow the assessments, so long as the growth is justified in value and managed well. Therein lies the issue that is often discussed here: value and management. Now ... back to mismanagement
Don't even get me started on the differences between Sun City's history and the Villages; night and day. That said LC, your point regarding their use of outdoor space and gathering spaces is worth note. Rooted in that discourse is while i voted against portions of the golf course renovations when spending PIF, there were two aspects i always supported. One obviously was anything to do with watering, from irrigation, to water distribution to wells and moving to desert landscaping. The other was enlarging outdoor patio space at the pro shops. As good as DEVCO was, they could have done better with outdoor gathering venues. One only has to look at our recreation centers to know they were more focused on sports utilization and less on open air venues dedicated to nothing more than bringing people together. I say that with some pull back, because both the Sun Bowl and the View Point lake area are spectacular. They also could have been better. This is that point where most i know who read this site cringe; unfortunately, i struggle to let it go. It is the single most significant reason my time with the RCSC was so frustrating. We had the opportunity to purchase the Lakes Club. 38,000 square feet with an amazing amount of frontage and outdoor space on the lake. It would have been the one thing that could have kept the Sun City identity alive and growing. When the nursing school pulled out of the building, the owners offered it up for sale. They didn't own the land, the Sun Health Foundation did and there was a very long land lease with it. I was on the board and i knew the history of the building better than most. When it sold in the early 2000's for around 2 million dollars, it included the land all the way out to Thunderbird Ave and right up to the shoreline where the building sits. Now the Core Institute sits on it. The problem at that point was the PIF had just been put in place and the RCSC didn't have the money to buy it using PIF. It would have taken a vote of the membership to incur the indebtedness of the 2 million dollars to buy it. The timing wasn't right and it slipped through our hands. The tragedy is, the second time around, 2012/2013, we had the money and easily could have covered the purchase through the PIF. Unfortunately neither the board and especially the general manager saw the advantage of owning this spectacular piece of Sun City's history. The reality was, it was so much more than a part of our history. There was already a theater there on site. It would have taken a fair amount of money to make it better, but it would have worked. The lake frontage would have provided amazing outdoor gathering space. Indoors, we could have had all of the RCSC's operations in one location.There were already a dozen classrooms that could have become card rooms, game rooms and space for continuing education to flourish. We could have added grills, coffee and ice cream shops where Sun City residents could go. The theater could have opened up to the lakeside and housed a venue for small musical groups to tout their wares. The assistant gm projected a 4 to 5 million dollars to renovate after we had toured it. Perhaps best of all was the long range impact. The theater now slated at Mountainview with a massive price tag would be off the table. The renovations there would have focused on just sports of all kinds. Better than that, Lakeview rec center would have opened up when management moved over to the Lakes Club and we would have had enormous options for more club space. It also would have made the pending Lake View renovation easier. My suggestion was to call it the Meeker Community Center. Imagine having a single location where members could gather, both formally and informally. Imagine it had become our "town hall" where we could have provided a central location for all things volunteer/service oriented. It would have become the venue that enhanced the concept of the city of volunteers and helped knit the fabric of a sense of community. So, what happened? Why did the community reject the idea. The answer is simple, they didn't. They never even heard about it. We, as a board, were told not to talk about it. The argument was, if the sellers knew we were interested, it could drive the price up. In the end, the general manager had made the commitment to golf and the board was made up of predominantly golfers. We toured it, but as time passed, it was all smoke and mirrors. I met the head of Sun Health Foundation years later and he told me straight up, he was never even approached about a relationship with the RCSC and the Lakes Club. Let me say this so everyone understands: My argument never was we had to buy it, it was it should have been a decision made by the community. It was that important because it would have changed the identity of Sun City in ways few can imagine. Sadly, by then our goal was to become the Original Fun City.
Hell!...I would just like to see FREE Sun City Community Room where non-RCSC Clubs might like to hold a meeting or periodic seminar without having to pay the RCSC! You simply request a date and time and set-up, tear-down, and clean-up after yourself! If you don't clean-up your mess then you never get to use the room again or perhaps lose a deposit, but you shouldn't have pay the RCSC every time you just want to get together! I think that new room located to the left when you first walk in to the new Grand Ave Rec Center would be perfect!
. The tragedy is, the second time around, 2012/2013, we had the money and easily could have covered the purchase through the PIF. Unfortunately neither the board and especially the general manager saw the advantage of owning this spectacular piece of Sun City's history. This is when the ARS problem was hot and heavy and also the bidding process that was used during this time was basically non-existent and a few of us understand the reason being Ek and WELLMAN wouldn't allow it. To this day, it's still the good ole boys with a nod and a wink. Nothing has changed other than different people are doing it. We now have a board of chicken shits other than K Mc. It's pathetic watching what is going on here. Only one person has a backbone. The others are like a mouse except Mr. L who has everyone else scared and intimidated. Just think what could of been owning that property. It would have been so amazing the things that SC "Members" would of had and the money that could of been generated. I think we should scrap the Mountain View project. First of all it's not safe anymore south of Grand and south of Peoria Ave. People will have to park blocks away from the venue when big events are scheduled. Say what you may, I am 100 percent right. We will put people's lives at risk! Hell you cannot get a honest answer from management or the Posse or law enforcement. You have to get the news from workers who see and deal with this kind of crap daily. Management has failed miserably the residents who live there, and the hard working people who work for RCSC are in danger every time they go to work anywhere South of Grand.
