In 1958 two guys, Arthur "Spud" Mellon and Richard Knerr, patented and began selling Hula Hoops made by their company Wham-O toys. Similar hoops were used by Native American Indians for years and more closely related products were popular in Norway and Australia and used by youngsters. Within 4 months of production they had sold a staggering 25 million units at $1.99. A star was born. Last night while eating dinner and watching the evening news, a commercial came on for Del Webb communities. My wife asked about it and i told her it was actually a Pulte commercial. I know, confusing because they didn't mention Pulte, nor Sun City. On May 1, 2001, Pulte purchased the Webb Corporation for 1.8 billion dollars. By Friday of that week, 75% of the Webb employees were given their pink slips and was called by those fired, "Black Friday." The only thing Pulte really wanted was the Del Webb Sun Cities name; it was synonymous with retirement. Initially i was surprised by the commercial and then i recalled they had dumped the pinwheel Sun City logo and rebranded simply using the Del Webb Communities title. It gives them more latitude as they do incorporate some mixed age housing in them. The ad last night was clearly focused toward seniors. There's still Del Webb Sun Cities out there, they tend to be larger than their newer versions which are smaller in numbers of homes and amenities. Along with that revelation, several years back we saw Del Webb Sun City West become Sun City West. Within the last month, Sun City Grand became The Grand; or is it just Grand? Doesn't matter, the point is many of these senior communities are trying to escape the mindset that Sun City is all about growing old, while the newly named communities are moving forward rather the clinging to the past. If you have followed my scribbling over the years, our previous GM was a big fan of moving away from both our history and the implication we were a community of volunteers. I get it, but it should never have been her decision to make. Rebranding the community is far removed from running the day to day operations. That said, the board gave her free rein to do just that. Perhaps they agreed, or perhaps they were clueless she was even doing it. We'll never know because we were terrified of having the discussion amongst the community. Of late, i've been dabbling with asking/pushing members to share opinions regarding our future on social media sites. Interesting as there are some Generation X now moving in who clearly want to see Sun City evolve. The real question then becomes; into what? In my humble opinion, that evolutionary process gets expensive and becomes a crap shoot without empirical data to help guide us. What's really frustrating is for all the chest pounding, bible-thumping about data, data, data by a former board president, we simply don't have even the most basic capacity to collect it like we need to do to make decisions. I find it distressing to see the RCSC using the old paper and pencil method of data collection. Of course when our technology is 10-15 years behind the times, what should we expect? More on that topic next time. For now, here's the rest of the story. There are new Hula Hoops for sale online. In fact some would call them new and improved; lighted, weighted and yet, still Hula Hoops (the name was patented for a reason). While some may get excited by the prospect of these versions, nothing can ever, will ever match the amazing success of the circular toy made of molded plastic and selling for $1.99. Just saying.
Interesting question! Not sure if "reinvent" is the correct term or should it be "return to our roots?" Seems to me the world is changing into a "Me first" society and everybody else be damned! So what happens when or if the City of Volunteers loses its sense of volunteerism? As we try our hardest to have the community involved with some of the decisions that are being made we can't even get enough people who care enough too attend Board meetings! Not so sure what a "reinvention" would even look like?
That's really the question isn't it Tom (FYI): Does Sun City even need to be reinvented? When you see others trying to become something different, there's a reason. I know the argument, people have changed, the Boomers were different than the Greatest Generation and now the Generation X will be different from the Boomers. We need to evolve and cater to them. I've heard it and read it since i moved here in 2003. I've just never bought into it. I had expected/hoped i would have someone explain to me the failed logic of the Hula Hoop analogy. Kids these days don't won't Hula Hoops, they want technology, they want Game Boys or whatever the latest greatest gaming gizmos are. There's a huge difference between toys and values. I've long made the argument the difference between us (Sun City) and nearly everyone else has been captured in our value and our values. We are less expensive than everyone else (value) and the values are the ideology we were built around; ownership, accountability, responsibility and a sense of community. When a newer more expensive community opens, it most likely will include one or two of those qualities, seldom ever all of them. It's why i have argued so long and hard about running from them rather than embracing them. The "reinvention" phenomena is taking place across the country. There's whole cottage industries opening up to help these age restricted communities shape themselves for the future generations to come. The old adage of build it and they will come is as Tom pointed out, build it so it's about them and they will come is the songbook everyone is singing out of. I get it, we know the age restricted marketplace, once the boomers have all bought is going to be different. But let me be very clear, the first boomers were wholly different than the last boomers. Guess what? Sun City hasn't lost its allure. In fact, i would argue the fact we are different from what everyone else is running towards offers the other side of the coin. People like choices, and those options wrapped in our value and our values is an intangible as long as we are able to hold on to them, highlight them and can articulate why we are different (i would argue better, but that is truly subjective). I don't buy the idea that everyone in the country only cares about themselves. I believe there's more that do think me, me, me, but that is failed logic to think everyone is that cynical. Here's something else i have written more times than i can count; Sun City isn't for everyone and it never was. When we were the only game in town, the target market of potential buyers (as identified by DEVCO) was between 10%-12%. Now, with so many others out there, it's still in that range, something just under 15% but with people living longer and the population being larger, it's still a boatload of seniors. What we were taught when giving speeches or writing was this; know your audience. It was a lesson i learned the hard way and have long embraced. From a marketing perspective, we need to know our audience. The reason i never liked the former GM's plan was because she wanted to make us like every other age restricted community. It was tantamount to the fools trying to make lighted or weighted hula hoops that would become as popular as the original. It was folly, because when you are first in and have the brand that set the tone and pace for every other, why would you run from it? BTW, those new and improved hoops are 10 and 20 fold the cost; sound familiar? That doesn't mean we don't become better versions of ourselves, not in the least. In the next post we can sort through the minutia of bad choices we've made and how ending up in limbo from them was painful. Stay tuned.
And you can see this by reading some of the other blogs. People are now even complaining about the music being played at the Sun Bowl! The newer generation doesn't want to hear music from the 50's and 60's. They want the music from the 70's and 80's! We know you're never going to satisfy everyone no matter what you do, but instead of being grateful for what you do have, there are still those out there...me...me...me! Now I know why Bill hates people! Lol!
Hate might be a tad strong Tom, i elect not to be around them if possible. I'm in the midst of reviewing the 90's SCHOA survey and guess what? 90% plus of the residents said they loved living in Sun City and if they had it to do all over, they would do it again. They were all members of the greatest generation and they knew the next wave, baby boomers, may be looking for something different. Sound familiar? Truth be told, the changes made for them were more physical in nature, at least in1tially. Those first 50 years, the RCSC was reliant on the owner/members to tell us what they wanted and needed. Bigger fitness areas and walking pools were what the wanted. It only made sense, during those years everyone believed in the ownership mentality. The documents insured it. Years of trial and error, starts and stops had brought us to the single most unique age restricted community in the nation. And then it all changed. The board hired a GM who saw a new and improved version for Sun City. One where boards had a lessor work load and the community's voice would be shelved for a more internalized process of governance. The very thing the residents had fought against all those years during the incorporation battles (1961-1995) quietly became reality. Using our own documents, we "evolved" to something wholly different. Was it better? You can be your own judge, but as we look back, we find that one dimensional view of golf becoming our future might have been a little short-sighted. Yes we spent money on the stuff the GM wanted, and stuff the board wanted, but was it what the community wanted or needed? We'll never know because we didn't have the intestinal fortitude to ask them. THe GM and the board plodded off on our mission to "re-invent Sun City." Looking back, it is always argued we are playing Monday morning quarterback. But, is it? The fact we are 15 years behind the times technology wise is a major tell. If i told you members of the community have been harping about that since before 2010, would you be surprised? I hope not because the both committees and members have been pressing for years to upgrade our technology, all we ever got were excuses. We knew it and let it slide. Boards apparently didn't care. The other day i posted a link on social media to the RCSC website and the Gen X study our LRPC group wrote for the board in June of 2019. A couple of us were the primary authors, i wrote the flowery stuff, Gary Osher the more detailed pieces. You can read it here and clicking on the second box above the financials. If you haven't read it you should. Our perspective regarding the next wave was simple; keep Sun City affordable and be prepared to have them buying based on the state of our technology. Along with that report was a recommendation in the form of a motion for the RCSC to do a comprehensive top to bottom review of every aspect of the state of our technology. The entire long range planning committee recommended the motion and the chair and co-chair agreed to present it and get back to us following the summer break. When we gathered again in Sept the motion had been shot down by the board (at least that's what we were told). Hoffer and i got into a heated discussion that yet again, the GM was dictating the terms of Sun City's future. He said no that wasn't the case, i called BS. By month's end i walked away because i was wasting my time. The GM was calling the shots and the last thing she wanted was for the sorry state of our technology to be exposed. The pandemic hit and life came to a grinding halt. When we restarted, the GM was halfway out the door and the new GM looked at technology. The planning session simply confirmed what we all knew, only far worse. To say the least, we were truly flocked. We still are. We can't improve our security issues; we can't improve our data tracking issues; we can't build buildings that are technology reliant and we can't even do the most basic of functions others do because literally every aspect of our technology is borked beyond comprehension. They threw 500k at it last year but due to "supply chain issues," we haven't moved the needle much. I could list a number of other examples to ask, were the past 15 years the reinvention we needed? But the easiest answer is this: Had we been listening to the committees and the community at large, would they have allowed us to be in this position today? I will tell you, in my not so humble position; HELL NO.
There's little value belaboring how we got here, the real question is did we need to reinvent ourselves? Let me be very clear, reinvention is wholly different than adding walking pools and upgraded fitness centers to our amenity package. Upgrades should be standard operating procedures. What we've come to understand of late is, that hasn't necessarily been the case. We know the long range planning committee recommended some trial fitness equipment in June of 2022, the board passed the motion and the GM squirmed and argued against it. Push came to shove and they said get it done...nothing to date. All of this discourse brings me back to my remarks regarding value and values. Value is about your decision to buy in Sun City and whether it was a good choice both financially and the options to enjoy your quality of life considering what it was costing you. The values piece is a lot more subjective. Perhaps the best analysis was done by Calvin Trillin, a writer for the New Yorker magazine. He was sent to Sun City in 1964 to write a lengthy summary of living in the community for 14 days. His findings were glowing until the final couple of paragraphs. The article covered some 30 pages and in detail he followed residents who were loving life in their new homes. Obviously at 30 years of age, he had a different perspective than the seniors he was traipsing along with. Their days filled with joy and an abundance of a life well-lived, he came away with the belief Sun City would fail. Such a hedonistic life style would soon flame out. People needed meaning and purpose in their lives. It was a year after Calvin had left Sun City and John Meeker came along. He too saw the importance of a life filled with more than hitting a golf ball, lazing by the pool and enjoying cocktails with friends at the weekly dances. He was adamant the community embrace the ownership mentality. While he relied on unlimited events to bring residents together, his ultimate efforts were in preparing the community to understand that when DEVCO left, they needed to be ready and able to stand on their own. I would guess that was one of the reasons he pushed for incorporation. The idea a bunch of volunteers could run a 40,000 member community seemed like a stretch. Amazingly when the company left to build Sun City West in 1979, his handiwork shocked even him. Those first 4 or 5 years were rough, but through it all Sun City not only survived but flourished. The challenges were plentiful but no one balked, whined or quit believing they could do it. The Greatest Generation simply weren't quitters. In the 1995 Home Owners Association survey, 97% of those interviewed or who had responded were satisfied with what Sun City offered them. Better yet, 40% of those same folks reported they volunteered 40 days out of the year with an average of 8.1 hours each of those days. Nope, not everyone volunteered, but if you do the math using the 40,000 residents times 40% of them times 40 hours per year, the cumulative numbers are staggering. 25 million volunteer hours using the Federal minimum wage of $4.25 (1995) equates to over 22 million dollars saved in the community. There's a reason Sun City's values were so compelling, because those living here invested their time, experience and expertise by giving back to the community they so loved. Have the times changed so much that we simply no longer care? All of which begs the question for me, and all of you. The decision made after 2006 to reinvent Sun City was huge. It changed everything that those who came before us had built into the community. We're not talking about which fitness machines were right or wrong, we are talking about abandoning the very texture and fabric Sun City was founded under. Maybe it was a good choice to try and become like all the other age restricted communities (only cheaper), maybe it was bad one. What i do know is it is one that should have been decided by the member/owners and not the GM and a handful of board members. Hopefully we are headed in that direction. We'll see.
Isn't is all about ITERPRETATION? You say in other blogs (Facebook, if we're calling a spade a spade) that "people are now even complaining about the music being played at the Sun Bowl". I saw the post, and I read it as a SUGGESTION, not a complaint. The tried and trued tribute shows get tired and boring week after week, year after year. Look, we all love Neil Diamond and the Carpenters. But how about we change it up? Yes, I'm "that generation"; but so is Cyndi Lauper (69 years old), Madonna (64 years old), Prince (57 years old), Michael Jackson (64 years old), George Michael (59 years old).....and hundreds of others "from the 70's and 80's" that are 55+; the exact age requirement of our residents. So what's wrong with a little variety? Seems like those wanting the same-old-same-old are the ones saying me....me....me....
Welcome Mary B to TOSC. Just so we are clear, i haven't mentioned the Sun Bowl concerts other than to promote them. I know others have long lamented the music wasn't their favorite. It's funny because the Greatest Generation loved the Big Band era music while the boomers were craving and raving over rock and roll. Now the shoe is on the other foot as the 50's and 60's is more old school. I'm actually a fan of a wide variety to appease and appeal to every age group. Which is simply agreeing with you, variety is good.
I appreciate your response, and by no means was I pointing my finger at you. And thank you for the welcome. You are correct that 50's and 60's is more "old school". My local "oldies" radio station back home is now exclusively 70's and 80's music.....and sometimes even 90's. I guess it's sometimes hard to wrap your brain around the 1970's being 50 years ago, but alas. As I mentioned, I appreciate all types of music, but I think SC concerts seem to have gotten stuck catering to just one or two genres.
Those comments need to go to the activity director. I have critiqued the performances over the years and she has always been receptive to my comments and acknowledged my feedback.
Yes, it's the lack of genre variety that disappoints me. There used to be at least an ethnic or classical show periodically. And weren't there variety and drama events offered? There was even a movie premiere once. Why can't there be a showcase for the in-community talent we have? A recital-like variety show celebration of dance, instrumental, chorus, barbershop, etc.
Sun City's Got Talent has been done several times. There has also been Dancing with the Sun City Stars. Both showcased local, resident talent.
It has indeed been done and we used to have two rec center gatherings a year as we moved across the community celebrating and focusing on the given center and all it offered. In fact, if we look at Sun City's history, we know that DEVCO and John Meeker used monthly events to shape a sense of community. He understood that once they left to build Sun City West, we would have to survive without their subsidies and hand-holding. I've often argued that was one of the reason's he and so many others lobbied for Incorporation. The idea a community could survive without city government was illogical to him. The reality was, those living here didn't fear the task at hand, they relished and embraced it. We wouldn't have evolved away from that mindset if the GM hadn't pushed for us to become the "Fun City," where everything was decided by a very few. This new board is taking steps to take back control and let the community set the direction. While those wanting (dare i say lusting) over their beloved theater argue they aren't listening, the vast majority of RCSC members looks at a 40 million dollar remodel at Mountain View as craziness personified. The board members who passed it had become terrified when a fired board member was re-elected and they started promising everything to everyone, to try and maintain their majority status. We all know how that turned out and while the road back will be slow and arduous, for the first time in a long time, we are on the right path.
WHO KNEW? I didn’t. Anyone familiar with it? Recently became aware of this group that serves our community. Retirement Community Association RCA, an independent community service organization was established in 1975 to halt efforts to incorporate Sun City which could have significantly increased your property taxes; now additionally serving Sun City residents by: Supporting the safety and security of its residents Promoting ideal retirement living How We Help Sun City Residents RCA paid the cost of legal research that found age restrictions in property deeds are legal and have been enforced by the Arizona Superior Courts and upheld by the Arizona Appellate Court. RCA has successfully opposed and will continue to oppose the incorporation of Sun City. Incorporation of Sun City could significantly increase your property taxes. RCA is operated totally by unpaid volunteers. We are an Arizona Corporation, and recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a Non-Profit organization. All of our activities are financed by dues or donations. Retirement Community Association of Sun City, Inc. (RCA) P.O. Box 1712 Sun City, Arizona 85372 email: info@rcasuncity.org (623) 606-5807 Board of Directors Lou Sniderman, President Skelli Dedmon, Secretary - Sharon Gruhn, Treasurer DIRECTORS Bruce Grounds -Sharon Gruhn – Skelli Dedmon - Denny Nichols - Jerry Hicks - Bob King - Lou Sniderman – Norm Dickson http://rcasuncity.org/index.htm http://rcasuncity.org/Become A Member.htm
The RCA has been around for a long time and have never been out there and visible. They have quietly been working behind the scene to try and insure the community preserve the value and values built into the place we all love and call home.
They’re hosting a free golf cart illuminated safety stripe application, that’s how I learned about them.
I don't think either of those were at the Sun Bowl, were they? And haven't been ethnic, classical, or dramatic excerpts for ages. It was so nice to see young kids doing Irish and Scottish dances, and of course there's rich traditions to be tapped into for German, Scandinavian, Polish, Caribbean, Asian, etc....
