The older i get, the more i find myself questioning how anyone thinks (myself included) The perfect example was in play yesterday at the RCSC Exchange meeting. A number of differing topics were raised, none more loudly addressed than golf and tee times on RCSC courses. We heard the good, the bad and the ugly. One member was trying to address it logically and suggested using Sun City West's pricing structure as a benchmark for change. He thought data and comparative analysis made perfect sense (as did i). The Good. The bad was the member who told us all the boon small group bookings were/are for Sun City. The 150k of revenue his group generated was supposed to override the fact that RCSC members were being bumped by non-residents. The reality is a lump sum number is meaningless without context. How many rounds played and at what total cost per round would be of far greater importance. Or, more importantly, how many of his small group actually live in Sun City is critical. None of that was factored in. The Ugly, and i mean this as really butt ugly, was Alicia Brown's comments regarding how long this crap pile of a problem has been percolating. To be clear, we are now at 1 year and 1 month into the futility of non members taking our tee times. While management has promised to get their head around the problem, and while they have raised prices to non-members, there are more passes out there today than a year ago. Worse yet, because these are yearly passes, any fix will take another year before they run out. It's pretty obvious at this point the only thing management cares about is the revenue side of the discussion. The fact non-residents are taking a number of tee times belonging to the membership is apparently meaningless. If it mattered, they would have fixed it. It's well past time for those in authority, either the board or management to pull their collective heads out of the sand and address the fact members of the RCSC are being screwed by their faulty decisions. That would be expectation number 1. More to follow.
You are so full of hatred Bill. Years ago we thought of ARS the same way but your obsessed with many things you think that you're an expert on. You are being looked at as the clown of Sun City instead of the great historian of Sun City. Watching your demise has been has been sad. The hours that you spend with your endless ranting is almost scary. Some wonder if you're stable mentally. (True statement). Many times when people have no control over things in life react different ways and sometimes need professional help. Your obsession points in that direction and frankly has become a scary thing.
Nice try SW, but not an ounce of hatred here. One of the best days of my life was when i discovered Sun City. After 20 years, nearly to the day, there's not a single regret. Not one. I'm frustrated by the change in direction and the decision to let a small minority set the course for a brighter, better Sun City. You know, the one where we tell people to stay home and just have fun. You know, the one where we aren't the member/owners, simply card holders. Worse yet is the mindset that has come from those who feel entitled to have what they want, when and where they want it. That's a not a community, that's just folks being allowed to dictate the terms that works best for them. I get it; your golfing buddies that buy the full play pass and join groups of 30 or more are most often the group of golfers who pay the least money for a round of golf and who get the best tee times. Then to compound it, they brought some of their golfing buddies in who live outside the community and demanded they get the same benefits. Does that make any sense to you? Let's be very clear, that group of golfers is less than 30% of the Sun City's golfing population; yet they get more than that in percentage of total rounds played and get the majority of the prime time tee times (Nov-April). They simply want what they have because they are the beneficiaries of an antiquated and outdated system. Little wonder they dislike me. By the way, i could care less. To be clear, i have no skin in the game. That's why i keep saying; let the golfing community solve it. Give them the data and find a better solution. My only concern is this; NON-RESIDENTS SHOULD NEVER BE TREATED BETTER THAN THE MEMBERS. NEVER! Hope that helps clarify my position.
I like words, i have for a very long time. Not necessarily big impressive words, but ones that trigger emotional attachment. I've written before, those early DEVCO promotional magazines for Sun City literally left me weeping (a tiny stretch but damn close). They were that good as once you read them, you wanted to immediately move to Sun City. They told a compelling story why you should live here. I selected the header; "Expectations" for a reason. No, it's not a powerful word, but easily one that leaves some begging the question; Expectations of or for what? I was going to plow forward with my thoughts regarding exactly that question, but then say what raised that other question; why do people hate me so much? Okay, in fairness, that was typed with a smirk on my face. There's not a doubt in my mind, SW's circle of friends are pissed at my comments about outside play and a badly flawed system. But lets be very clear, if 12% of the RCSC membership in Sun City golf (32,500 total members not counting privilege card holders), that comes out to less than 4000 golfers (with privilege card holders we have been told roughly 4200). Then do the math, less than a third of them buy the full play pass, we get down in the 1300-1500 members. But then we know not all of them are in small groups and they too get screwed in the lottery; so realistically the numbers are even less. And in the end, i truly don't care whether they like me or not. But alas, i drift from the topic at hand; Expectations. We saw the classic example at play the other day at the Exchange meeting. An officer from the Sun City Players club stepped to the mic with the Expectation of shaming board members with his riveting question. Seems he needed flat out guarantees the Players 2024 season would be held at Mountain View. It was a fair request, because in their planning they have to buy the rights to the play and or music in advance. There's an amount of work done the year before the actual season begins. On its face, i was cringing, simply because even the worlds largest dolt understood with the Mountain View delay, nothing would happen for a considerable amount of time. The only fly in the ointment would be if the new board and the SAC committee would agree to plow forward with the 40 million dollar proposal that would handcuff the community for the next 8 years. I doubt that will be the case, but if it is, that's exactly what the Players have been fighting to get. But wait, there's more. The officer was left squirming in place when a member of the management team told him both him and the club president have been told point blank; "the 2024 season is a go and they will be in the Mountain View center. Duh! Looking like a dummy, he slunk away trying to save face; Suffice to say, it didn't work. I'm especially appalled as this same member has repeatedly told us when Mountain View goes down for whatever period of time, they have no place to perform. Does anyone in their right mind believe they (the Players) don't have the Expectation of being given a venue for their plays during the 2-5 years MV is down? BTW, i think we should find a place for them. See, Expectations cut any number of ways; exactly why i like the word as much as i do.
I get it, people are tired of hearing about golf and bowling but can you blame them? Nothing seems to be done in a timely manner! I think the board needs to start exerting their authority and start pushing some of these issues, after all, the board is who WE elected to run the corporation and the General Manager is just that, an employee hired to "manage" what the board instructs him to do along with his other responsibilities. I'm sick and tired of things being kicked down the road and only putting band-aids on gapping wounds! Might be time for the board to establish an Ad-Hoc Golf committee putting time limits on a solution/recommendation rather than the existing standing committee that hasn't seemed to rectify anything? The RCSC keeps piecemealing solutions and the Member/Board Exchanges are still overwhelmingly about golf! Any solution on the sale of outside passes is going to take at least a year to resolve!!! Remember...it only took six freak'n years for the RCSC to finally address the safety issue at the Bell Metal Shop and that's only because director Collins pushed the issue with a motion to do so. I'm quite sure there's a long list of items that need to be addressed. That list should be posted on the RCSC website so we can all see what needs to be fixed and when they're scheduled to do so. It doesn't appear that there's any consequences when something doesn't get fixed. Are people actually doing their jobs or is the staff just a good-ole-boys club? Kum ba yah!
I'd like to know what all those filled job requests/completed maintenance projects are that management reports every month. A woman said on another social media site today that she turned in a comment card about a light out at the Bell Center workout center every month for SIX months and it's still out! Go figure. It's long past time for accountability.
It would seem that one of the Expectations would be to have clean, serviceable outdoor furniture at our recreation center's pools, not old, shoddy lounge chairs that are an embarrassment to our community!
Many here put all the blame on the former GM when in all actuality Jim Wellman was making a majority of the decisions especially when it came to bids for contractors. If you look back during his tenure it was the buddy system that got most of the jobs. Bill should know exactly what I am talking about since this was on his watch while on the board. As far as chairs, you sit out in the elements in Arizona 24/7-365 days per year and scrubbed and sanitized daily you would look worn too. I have been to the pool and watched them clean everything each time I went to Bell or Lakeview.
Bill you're frustrated? Everybody in SC should be frustrated because of all the $$ pi""ed away on lawn bowling. All the wasted space that could be utilized for use for more pickleball courts or something else that doesn't cost over $100000+++ per year for mowing, maintenance, seed and water. Nobody dares to talk about this. They all should be bulldozed.
The point is - we all know the AZ sun is hard on outdoor equipment. It requires constant budgeting and planning for replacement. It really isn't rocket science. It's the same with high use amenities like mini-golf - several are to the point of "who wants to play there." If we are going to brag and try to sell Sun City on the number and quality of our amenities then it's time we walk the walk and talk the talk.
So now we know what say what's expectations are; close things he doesn't like and keep letting non-residents come in and take tee times from members so his buddies can keep having the best tee times and pay the least for the rounds they play. Here's one of my expectations; when the Lakeview remodel is on the books, every decision made will be based on data. To be clear, i'm not talking about numbers submitted, but actual card scans on/for every activity in question. That would include lawn bowling, ten pin bowling, shuffle board, mini-golf, the old tennis courts all have to be questioned...are they needed. It's the right way to plan for the future, something i have been chirping about for more years than i can count. What Janet is referring to are pictures i posted (and may well have been posted on Nextdoor) that showed the absolutely horrible condition of the pool furniture at Marinette rec center. I was shocked beyond belief. I would have been embarrassed to put them out for Parks and Sons to pick up. They were that bad. A member has been complaining about them for several years. I never in my wildest imagination could picture management letting them get that way. Never! The apparent argument is it's the members fault because of them using sun screen. Okay, except there are 5 other out door pools in the community and none that look like this. And realistically, does it make any sense to tell members they can't use sun screen while laying outside in the sun? I know some are worse than others, so is it an internal problem? Let me be very blunt; this is all on management, all of it. Either you care about the community, or you don't. SW touched on the former asst gm. I was no fan and complained often and loudly to the GM about him. Her answer was i should confront him. She knew better, the RCSC board has one employee, the general manager. Board members have been told repeatedly, if there is a problem with any one of the over 400 RCSC employees they have to address the issues with the GM. Hope that helps clarify for say what and perhaps he'll start showing up at meetings and lobby for getting rid of pickleball and lawn bowling. We'll see.
Yikes, the nasty, ugly lounge chairs around the Marinette pool are now (in 1 day) gone and different ones are in place. This was how Sun City was built and why it was so successful. The member/owners took the responsibility to get involved and hold the management accountable.
My bad, L; it must just be in Sun City West where the general manager calls them member/owners...were they built differently by the way? I suspect you much prefer the generic term cardholder?
