Group Think...

Sorry for my ramblings as we near the day of next Thursday's board meeting. You know, the one where board members will tell the community exactly how they feel about the membership having a voice. I am overly optimistic they will do the right thing. Safe to say, i have been wrong before, they may prove me wrong yet again.

At any rate, during my work life (a very long time ago), i took the opportunity to take as many leadership courses as i could. One of the terms learned was a concept that works in far too many organizations and companies and frankly is self-destructive (in my opinion).

Group think is not a new term by any stretch of the imagination. Here is one definition: group think, mode of thinking in which individual members of small cohesive groups tend to accept a viewpoint or conclusion that represents a perceived group consensus, whether or not the group members believe it to be valid, correct, or optimal.

Fellow Sun City historian and good friend Ben Roloff and i did a class at the Life Long Learning club two weeks ago. It was on incorporation and as far back as the early 60's group think was alive and well in Sun City. Any number of the elected three groups representing the community had convinced themselves we needed to become a city.

Their plan was to vote it in 1964, take a mid 10-year census in 1965 (to determine revenue sharing based on the population) and become a city in 1966. It was their belief it would pass quickly. Little did they expect or know anti-incorporation groups would form. They were the earliest of activists to gather and we know from our history, it has happened many times.

The 1964 vote defeated incorporation by a 2/1 margin. The leadership was stunned. The idea was floated again in the late 60's and once again groups were formed for and against us becoming a city. The home owners association of Sun City conducted a straw poll vote of their membership and that vote was 95% against incorporation. The measure was never voted on again, though the idea was floated for another 25 years, but never gaining traction.

When i was elected to the RCSC board in 2012, i saw the concept of Group Think up close and personal. The general manager was truly gifted in creating buy-in from nearly everything she proposed. I watched and argued in horror as items and issues we (the board) should be deciding were left for her to figure out. It was a challenging time for both Carole Martinez (fellow board member) and i who often sided with me, which simply meant we were out-voted 7/2.

The upside was, our non-majority arguments kept them from doing dumb stuff the membership would go crazy over. They knew we had nothing to lose by voicing the opposition we raised in work sessions and the subsequently at the board meetings in front of the membership. It was a buffer.

All of the history came rushing back at me in the aftermath of last week's rush through of the Lakeview PAC decision atop the lawn bowling greens there. It was deja vu all over again. It was stunningly obvious this group of nine had gathered in the board room and convinced themselves the community was going to love this proposal. That the idea a wine bar, coffee shop and board walk were so enticing we simply could not or would not resent the idea as patently stupid.

Now, in retrospect, the lawn bowlers are being blamed for the push back. We were initially the most vocal, not the case any more. The recall petition is an action begun by lake home owners but there is a huge contingency group of members who simply don't like or agree with the decision.

Let me help you/them understand why: We know the RCSC had dug themselves into a hole due to not taking care of business with proper maintenance scheduling and repairs. We know we needed to play catch up. We saw huge yearly assessment increases in 2023, 2024 and now we are reading they want an even larger $75 bump in 2025. We know we are paying for trying to be too cheap.

What we don't want to see is them adding to exploding costs of running our community with more buildings. With grandiose plans that aren't necessary for a community built for retirees and those still working of average means. Sun City is filled with amenities we love and we should so a better job of making sure we are getting the maximum utilization from what we have before we start building more.

Or worse yet...taking away what we do have that so many love and enjoy.

Group think indeed.

 

Amen to that !

 

Gee, where have I heard that before?

It was mentioned here that The Grand Bldg was negotiated in the dark of night (forgot who said it), then the whole library fiasco with no member conversation. then the T-Bird Bldg bid with no member conversation, and the $87k desk at Fairway. It has been said that Sun City is a contractor's dream come true.

How long before all these expenditures make SC unaffordable due to PIF/CIF/Assessment increases and why aren't we using this money to repair what we have and spruce up this little town. Factor in lack of trust in the board members and businesses closing or moving something is just not right.

Just my opinion, and yes I know it's not popular so no need for hate comments. I have seen them all.

Josie P, Sep 2, 2024

Not when the issue is do we need it? What about the current buildings that need repair? What kind of shape is the building in? How much space is currently utilized in our current buildings? Past boards got us into this position. Just like the government, spend, spend, spend. RCSC can't print more money though.

Why not work on cleaning up SC? Maybe spend some money so we have enough people to check violations. I reported a yard full of the invasive stink net weed. Tooks weeks to address. Someone sprayed something now there is a yard full of dead stink net. I just watched 3 people on my street bring prefab sheds onto their back yards. I see Pergolas all over the place. I would like one so why not?

Someone said on the Union Hills thread "Sun City is looking more like the inner city these days." But hey, let's buy more buildings we can't afford. More pickle ball courts. (wonder how long that will be a trend) How many belong to PAC and how many attend? Do we need something like the Petrillo Music Shell?

BTW it's not just me who feels this way.

Last edited: May 10, 2024
Josie P, May 10, 2024

 

One of the problems in losing both John and Jean from the board this year was they were the buffers. Neither bought into the group think mind set. The problem of course is it is thankless being the speed bump in the road and after a while it is just draining emotionally and physically.

 

True! And perhaps had they stayed, their opposition may have had more influence on the remaining Directors? May have even allowed other Directors to vote in the same manner rather than going along with "group-think" just so they wouldn't be seen as a lone wolf?

But with that said, I don't blame Jean and John for resigning. Sometimes enough is just enough.

 

True!

This is not about John or Jean, they did what they believed needed to be done, and although it did still probably send a message to the board, I believe it could have served everybody better had they stayed.

Just think, Steve Collins and Kat Fimmel had already left the meeting when the vote was taken. That left 7 Directors. Tom Foster voted against it. If Jean and John were still on the board the vote would have been, at least 4-3 to pass, and perhaps an influenced Director may have voted with them making it a tie and the motion would have failed!

But just a general statement for those who are currently serving on the board and those who will in the future, and I believe Bill and Carole can attest to this; that even though you may be on the losing end of most votes, you are still influencing the other Directors, and there may come a time, when your influence will allow decisions to be properly made with Directors using their heads instead of their hearts or personal agendas.

Just my opinion!

 

I really don’t see the Sun Bowl replaced by a Frank Ghery design.

 

You really have zero clue what sarcasm is, do you? That's 2.

 

You have no clue what is satire.

 

Why would I? Sun Citians are obtuse according to you.

 

One of the difficulties of closed room sessions, where these kinds of beautiful ideas to change/fix Sun City, is the reality of life seems to get clouded over. This belief of imagining a scenic boardwalk with member patrons enjoying the patio on the waterfront sipping an over-priced espresso or slurping their favorite white, red or zinfandel just takes hold. They see a new day dawning in Sun City the rest of us miss.

The reality for those of us, the great unwashed (kidding), are caught up in the daily struggles of increasing costs and all of the problems associated with aging. The realities of life catch up with us all; no matter where we live. Sun City appeared to be insulated from much of what was happening outside the white walls that surrounded us.

We pretended we could ignore fixing stuff, not take the increases in the lot assessment and then just build our way out of our problems. How did that work out for us? You guys know the answers as well or better than i do. It was classic boomer-ism at it's finest. Ignore reality and just spend and hope everything works out.

We have not, nor will we ever escape the problems we face as a society. Exploding insurance, taxes, food costs have now become our reality. The very large catch up increases in our annual lot assessments over a three year period are very real. I won't debate whether we needed them, we did. I will tell you when the board starts dreaming about over-priced visions of more new buildings with added costs the community simply goes...really?

Then it gets worse when they tell us we can rebuild/replace amenities they remove for even more costs. Does any of that make sense? Like i say, if one is safely tucked into a board room where everyone is swooning over newer and better stuff, it works great. Then when you get out in the real world and listen to the members that reality hits hard.

And as long as we are looking at the future, what is happening with home sales in Sun City? I have been stunned by the number of for sale signs on properties in the last several months. Even more staggering is how few are selling. I'm getting the numbers but i would expect sales to be down. Interest rates are an issue, more so on the backside end where a person is selling their home to be able to buy here. Through the end of Oct only 1280 properties had sold, well down from past years.

We know we have the PIF and the CIF (at $5000) and we know we have increased the lot assessment by $175 (between 23, 24 and 25). I suspect many of the members who have owned two homes and are aging are downsizing to one home. Most of them returning to where they lived prior to Sun City. The cost of owning two properties has that impact.

Which is exactly why the RCSC board should be looking at marketing what we have, not spending on folly they think we need. The next several years afford us a massive opportunity. They won't get there by angering the community and causing the angst we currently see.

But of course, that's just one man's opinion.

 

Not sure but I believe the RCSC counts on 1,700 when working their budget?

So we only have 2 months to sell another 420 homes to break even. I don't see that happening.

 

No, just you.

 

Christine de Pizan

Rich, glad to see you back from the sunburn surprise.

Rich, while I found your explanations spot on and easily understandable, you must know that a good percentage of our population is obtuse at best and wouldn’t 7nderstand non-profits if Big Bird came down and explained it. They are clamoring for the five year plan and why is it taking so long. You know that this is not like purchasing a five year day planner at Staples and you just fill in the blanks. It covers the deferred maintenance, since we seem to be moving on MV, that project is 2-3 years depending on final drawings and just basic capital expenses. Plus we have to make sure we have the bucks for this.

Then we have the dog club which to me is the like the car club with fur. I spoke with the club president when this first surfaced and learned that while teaching River c how to run in between sticks, the real purpose is for the two legged creatures to hang out and shoot the bull. So what they want is an air conditioned social club house so they can hang out, throw seasonal parties while Ruffy learns to run in circles to catch his/her tail. Just my prediction, if they get this space I guarantee they will come back and ask for more. I feel the same way about a performing arts center, it’s a boondoggle. If we are planning for the next generation, how do we know this is what they want? I’ll answer the question, we think we know, but we don’t know and the biggest problem is we have not realized we don’t know.

I’ll stop now as I believed I have upset enough people already.

I'll take a quick poll on Nextdoor and we'll how this is interpreted by most Sun Citians.

 

So what’s your point besides there isn’t any. You posted this several times but what’s the point? There isn’t any except some possible vindictive action against me. What a putt.

 

The point is anyone who feels/speaks this way about Sun City Residents should not be allowed to sit on any board or committee.

 

When I was on the Bylaws Review Comittee with Dave, I objected to the Planning or Information Meetings where the Board meets in private to discuss the issues brought forth at the Member Exchange. However I was the only one who felt this way. I think this is a direct result of the Board meeting without Members present. Even if they keep the topics to those from the Exchange, the perception is that they are making decisions such as this PAC location. Perception becomes reality. I still advocate for all meetings, except those described in Executive Sessions, be held so that Members can attend but not speak. In the public realm it is called "Sunshine Laws".

 

Perhaps all the fee increases are keeping people from buying a house in Sun City?

 

Another term we studied pertaining to organizational leadership back in the day was “strategic planning “. Not .25 of a plan!