People love to accuse me of spending too much time looking backward rather than forward. It's true, i do love our history, not because i'm into old stuff, but because there's virtually nothing new. Almost all of the life is just recycled, rebuilt and renewed. Let's not quibble over the impact of technology and whether it's different than life before computers, the internet and cell phones. Clearly they offer us opportunities and capabilities far beyond the old land-line phones and having party lines. The simple reality is, they are just heightened and enhanced techniques. The lessons learned over the years should be the same. The real question is, can we learn from past mistakes, Better yet, can we learn from the things those before us did well? Then more importantly, can we take those enhanced techniques and apply them in meaningful ways? For example, let me tick off a handful of the challenges facing DEVCO and the community over the years: 1). Literally everyone moving to Sun City came from somewhere else. Were there difficulties in bringing residents together to take ownership? 2). DEVCO opened the golf course(s) to outsiders as a marketing tool to sell homes. Do you think residents liked that idea? Do we need to do that now? 3). Clubs struggled in the early years until John Meeker showed up and actively worked to grow the clubs and insure the member/owners had something for everyone. 4). When DEVCO left in 1979 to build Sun City West, the infighting became ugly between those who wanted to grow and flourish and those who wanted to stay an inexpensive place to live. 5). In 1983, the CC&R's nor the deed restrictions had language regarding those under 55 living here. When the federal and state statutes changed to allow it, the members quickly stood together to add them to our documents. These are just quick down and dirty things that happened, all challenges we can learn from to become a more harmonious community. I could have listed a dozen more, but i suspect you get the picture. History is the best teacher, the question is simple: Are we smart enough to take advantage of the foot prints of those who walked the same path before us?
I so regret the day this site stopped allowing downloads. I could tell stories using our history to amplify how much we should be paying attention to everything that happened in the community the first 50 years. What's the old saying: "Those who don't learn from past mistakes are doomed to repeat them." It's such a simple concept, premise, yet most aren't smart enough to pay even a little bit of attention. This morning i posted a 1981 Editorial by Doug Morris on Facebook's Sun City Chat Arizona. He lamented the looming potential of his beloved Sun City becoming "Paradise Lost." DEVCO had left Sun City to head west and in it's wake was bitter infighting. The community had a board who had opposing opinions; one side favored a more progressive approach, the other side wanting it to just remain a cheap place for retirees to live. A recall election petition was called, the board locked the membership out of board meetings (except by requests) and lawsuits were flying. It's easy to see why Doug was so troubled. None of it came to pass, by the end of the calendar year, cooler heads prevailed and the community rose up and worked together to overcome all of the challenges. Everyone living here understood the importance of putting egos aside and working for the greater good. Amazing what history can teach us...if we only take the time to read it.
If i could give one word of advice to the incoming boards that would be their recipe for success, it would be this: Clubs. For whatever reason, the past years have seen a downturn in club activity and promotion. We know John Meeker's vision was something for everyone. Clubs were at the very center of how he built Sun City. On the periphery were monthly events, but clubs were almost always involved in their promotion and success. During my time on the RCSC board, i was the chairperson of the Committee on Clubs (COC). Our function was to help insure clubs were functioning well and the members of the committee each were assigned about10 clubs and were their liaisons. They were there to help them. We met monthly, except in the summer, and we worked collectively to find answers to the myriad of problems that arose. When i went to the RCSC website and read the quarterly minutes from the last COC meeting i was shocked. It looked more like their role was to find ways to beat them into doing what they were supposed to do. I may be over reacting, but when i see punishments couched as "incentives," it makes my skin crawl. I've also been told they lost some committee members when Myrna was let go. She was clearly the glue that held the committee together. Board members come and go, she was a constant. We know the pandemic impacted clubs. We know how excited the management team got about golf's resurgence. The reality was, it was the only game in town. Everything else closed down. The sad fact was and still is, they have marketed both golf and 10 pin bowling to non-residents to make their bottom line look better. What we do know is, by doing that, they have taken away opportunities for the membership to access our amenities. This is why it is so critical to re-engage the membership. We need to know what they think is important and what matters. We need to ask questions and then get answers so the board can make decisions critical to our future. With all due respect to both the former and the current GM, they shouldn't be the ones making the choices on what is good for the membership. We know historically, no one knows better than the members and the clubs are a great starting place.
Overwhelming rules, 11 pages, do not encourage club longevity or the creation of new clubs! RECREATION CENTERS OF SUN CITY, INC. BOARD POLICY RESOLUTION No. 12 (“BP12”) CHARTERED CLUBS https://suncityaz.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2022_05_26-BP12-Chartered-Clubs-Rev-2.pdf
There's little argument that clubs need some structure, the question is how much? Clearly, the more hoops we make them jump through, the less inclined members are to join. Every club needs officers (4) and what's really sad is all too often a handful of club members do the lions share of the work to keep the club afloat. Then of course the other problem we encounter is when a club president wants/tries to turn the club into a money making proposition rather than a fun/happy place to go to. I know i beat this drum all to often, but the reality of dumping the city of volunteers slogan was short-sighted and fool-hearty. Literally every aspect of Sun City's unique success was the ability to engage home owners on the proposition of taking ownership. We have a massive population of folks who have skills that run the gamut. Instead of nurturing them and encouraging participation we told them to just have fun. In my humble opinion, had we added the Lakes Cub to our amenities in 2013, having a community center with lots of gathering spaces would have changed the Sun City dynamic in ways that would have made us an infinitely different community. If only...
Yup! And we don't even have, as far as I know, a single place such as a Community Room where a group of people can just go and meet without first having to get some sort of permission and blessing from the RCSC! Not looking for RCSC Staff to have any involvement to set-up tables and chairs, just a place to meet! Heck, you can't even meet with more than 10 people outside in the breezeway at Sun Dial without first getting permission! Oh yeah! We've already been informed of that little tid-bit!
Hoping there are opportunities on the survey for general comments. Ever since Bill brought up the lost opportunity of the Lakes Club, I've also been thinking about the "what ifs" and where are there new opportunities. How could we make such a community center happen? There's the old saying, if there's a will, there's a way. The question is - if the members have a desire, is there the will to get it done?
Seems to me, it's not up to the Members? Just think of how long there's been a desire for a performing arts theater! It apparently doesn't matter what the Members want because "management" is making all the decisions.
Agree...but it takes leadership that listens to the membership. We may be witnessing a rebirth. IF is a big word here, but critical. There are major projects that need to be finished - the theater is certainly one of them. I am going to be optimistic at this point that we can use social media to get people to take the survey so our voices are heard. Then the members have some leverage to try to keep the Board and management accountable.
Following along that line, it’s obvious for all that want to connect the dots that the general manager has been calling all the shots for years and nobody has questioned it until recently. GM says “Jump” and five board members asked “how high?”. Let’s hope that’s part of the past and now the GM will serve at the direction of the board as opposed to vice versa.
Well said Larry. From the day Sun City opened, the members were the driving force behind the communities success (with lots of help from John Meeker and DEVCO the first 18 years). Once they went to Sun City West, the membership partnered with the board members they elected to make the critical decisions on direction and long term goals and strategies. It all began to change in 2006 as the general manager took a more active and aggressive position regarding direction rather than just running the day to day operations. !6 years later. it is worse than ever. The election this year had the potential to change all of that. The board oversees one employee; the general manager. He works for them; it's that simple. As many times as they have changed the bylaws to try and make them fit their agenda, the Articles of Incorporation stand on their face. The RCSC exists to serve the members, the board elected by the members directs the general manager. I can tell you, the new majority knows that and after the first of the year, it will become abundantly obvious to all.
And as I have said in another post, the corporation is in existence for the sole purpose to serve the Members! Don't get me wrong, fiduciary responsibilities are import but Del Webb didn't say let's start a community corporation to be fiduciary! It was to be created for the Members!
