Public Income Statement

Evidentially it was $350 in 2023. This is an excerpt from Janet's post here on TOSC. The whole post makes me grateful that Janet is now a board member.

From Janet:
I am sure the Foundation has helped many individuals over the years. This past year 32 people received $350 of gift cards from the Santas for Senior project. Four other people were approved. One died and the other three weren't home when the Foundation tried, on more than one occasion, to deliver the cards. My thoughts were, "Can't you call or email them to set up a time to either deliver them or pick them up at the Corporate Office? Maybe even use certified mail to get them to the recipient?" The extra $1800.00 of gift cards were put into the safe for next Christmas. Again, couldn't the recipients get $500 or maybe give them some at Easter or Thanksgiving time. Nope! Once I learned that my donation was sitting in the safe,

Janet Curry, Jun 8, 2024

 

Well, there's one reason . . . I'm usually never in the rec centers . . . never even saw a tree. Agree, Bill, a great program to increase in size and scope.

 

Edited to include the post from Janet on FB from yesterday.

This week I had the privilege to help deliver gift card packets to senior citizens in Sun City who have outlived their resources. Each of the 70 recipients received about $275 of gift cards donated to the Sun City Foundation by generous citizens and businesses. Over $17,000 was raised and distributed this year! The recipients were so grateful! One said it would let her purchase gifts for her grandchildren, one was so glad I arrived before going grocery shopping, one had just been dismissed from the hospital, and one already had a handwritten thank you note ready. It was a heartwarming experience!

 

Yes, Josie, the amount of gift cards given to each individual was a bit less than last year. That was because almost twice as many people qualified to receive them. The Foundation chose to include the cards left over from last year. That donation came in after the deadline last year.

 

was only pointing out to Jean that they were the same amount in 2023 because she said the cap was $25.00 and that was not my understanding. it really doesn't matter. people were helped and that's what it's all about.

Now everybody!!

• You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out
• You put your right foot in, and you shake it all about
• You do the Hokey-Pokey, and you turn yourself around
• That's what it's all about

Happy Holidays!

 

Bill,
I liked what you said about when the LaRonde Center came up for sale and the board didn't look into buying it. Yes, that was too bad because in further thinking about this, if we had done that, we could of been the landlord to the many successful medical tenants in there, plus, we could put an administrative office in there, and who knows what else!
It also made me start thinking that what we could really use in here now is a commercial real estate expert, sitting on our board! Someone who had knowledge on how to purchase these unused buildings around here. It still is in the realm of possibility that having us buy a small center or buildings could be a way for us to have the ownership we need, plus lease out other pieces and at least be gaining some income and revenue stream here for the future. I do think we could really use a commercial property expert to advocate and help us out now. This may be a way for us to take some control on how to create this area and make it our own with some of the many wishes and desires from the membership. Thoughts from anyone on this?

 

Wouldn't that conflict with the non-profit status we have? The leasing out for revenue part.

 

It's an interesting idea Eileen and at some point, worth looking at. For now, my hope is the board comes to grips with that anxiety they created in 2024 with hasty and poorly thought out decisions. Pretending that didn't have an impact is folly.

Here's the bigger challenge with buying or building anything additional the coming year Eileen: Our costs are increasing dramatically and there is a segment of our population that cannot afford large hikes. Often times they are single women or men who purchased after 2003. We know the argument and have listened to the infighting over singles paying twice as much as couples, but it is a reality that cannot be ignored. I wish the change had never been made, and frankly i see no way of fixing it. Sorry, just telling couples to pay double will result in a really ugly outcome (in my opinion, expensive litigation).

The point is, every time we add square under roof square footage, it comes with a considerable cost. I would and have argued we first better figure out how to better utilize the space we do have. So much of it sits empty for huge portions of the day, weeks and months. As we are figuring that out, we should begin planning the Lakeview remodel.

It could become a community event, a place in time where we look to the future and how we can become a destination for Generation X and ultimately Y. That's no small project, but i suspect the board will think hiring yet another architect firm to tell us what to do will be their solution. How's that worked out for us so far?

While they (the RCSC board and management) needs to get their head around our internal communication with members. It is down right embarrassing we now have a website that is barely functional. Even worse, the GM going in one direction, while the board was headed off in another. That makes absolutely no sense to me. None.

Finally, as far as the RCSC Update being delivered to homes, i am torn. Newspapers are indeed yesterday's news. It would be great to actually know how many of our 32,000 plus members pay any attention to what goes on in the community? It would be great to know the total members who get the email blasts? And more importantly open and read them? And, i would love to see a survey done with the members that wasn't page after page about stuff that was repetitive and drilled down to the question of what really matters to each of them?

Nope, i'm not talking about hiring ASU or anyone else. What we know from our history was we used efforts like this as team building exercises to create events to bring members together. You build a sense of community through ownership, engagement and involvement. Outsourcing things to experts and professionals is okay from time to time, but more often than not we have pushed members away and created a vacuum of knowledge and understanding of the most basic of principles...how Sun City works.

2025 will be interesting. Did we learn anything from our missteps? Or, are we doomed to repeat them again and again?

 

Yes it feels like many operate with their own vision, which has proved not to be a good idea for us. My hope too is we all get more in sync with RCSC projects and future.

My concerns here are what you've stated with the decisions and the board and community, but I also have 'other ' concerns which involve the overall community as a community.
I have concerns about the bligh,ted and run down shopping centers....have you seen the one at 99th and Peoria? It sits right next to us, and is a dump and a scandal. Many other mid century buildings and centers sitting empty.
My idea separate from what you've just shared Bill, is to have our own real estate professional in here to guide and help us make the place more our own again, and work for our benefit, to help us generate more interest for serious buyers to come in here, serious vendors to come in here.
I would love to see an expert of this kind to take over the actual properties and some kind of business direction for us.

 

I am probably the last person in the room who should be trying to talk you down off the ledge of us aggressively trying to solve some of the commercial and real estate challenges we have in Sun City Eileen. It's not that i don't believe in the ideas, i actually embraced them; sort of.

In 2009/2010/2011 i was on the board of the Museum and president the final two years. I did all of the writing for the 5oth anniversary and a crew of about a dozen of us worked every event in 2010 (more than one per month). It was during that time i became fixated on John Meeker and his efforts to build Sun City and then give us the reigns.

Two things many aren't aware of he did:
1). He started a secondary market housing company (so DEVCO was selling more than just new homes).
2). He invented the Play and Stay package. It became the single marketing tool DEVCO used from 1965-1978 in Sun City and immediately built two story models in Sun City West that functioned the same way. It provided potential buyers to be able visit the community for a week for $75 (summer) and $99 (winter) with a place to stay, two rounds of golf and access to the centers. That same sales technique is still around to this day in new communities.

When i was running for the board, and far more energetic and aggressive about our future i argued the RCSC should restart the Play and Stay Package and in conjunction with it, hire in-house realtors to list and sell homes. I argued it would open an entirely new vista of opportunities. My fellow board members thought i was crazy (maybe i was), but we'll never know because non-profit organizations most often are cautious to a fault.

We/they became conservative and slow moving. It keeps them from seismic shifts that cause drastic changes. It also usually keeps them from growing and they become stagnant. It's always been a two-sided coin and one few elect to flip or roll the dice and evolve. It's actually interesting because in 2006, the board elected to hire a general manager and give her growing responsibilities. With each year she took more by removing less of the board's duties. That was a huge change but occurred over a 15 plus year period.

It's how we got where we are now ...for better or worse.

 

Weren't you involved with Colby Management somehow? Your name sounds so familiar,

 

Josie, No, but I worked for a large general contractor and 2 prestigious home builders the bulk of my career.
I've lived in this area for 50 years.
I really know the area. I am very concerned about the stagnancy of our community, and the downward slide. Many factors are due to it, and yes, it is happening in every town. We all need to be concerned and care about what things are like around us. Even if it is within just our area of town. People all can do things, write letters and talk to officials. Things can get done. Because we are not a city, we need to maybe care more about how SC is being run.
We can do this by writing to board, GM. Attending meetings. Bringing forth new and better ways to do things, just like I am expressing here with Bill about us getting a real estate attorney or commercial property person to help us.
Thanks for listening.
I am trying to do things, but I am only one person.
Hopefully RCSC would be open to my words on the subject. I am not talking just about recreation, I am talking about the community, business mainly...but business means money, and money means stability, growth and would raise the viability of the place.

 

Maybe it was a realtor or something. I had a sister in that business. Could have been a McCarthy as well.

 

Yes, Bill, I remember those marketing promotions from the wonder-boy, John Meeker.
For that time, Del Webb was remarkable in there early marketing concepts. It is really cool how they did that.
The place felt like a real resort town. I was a teenager and I remember that. That is actually what made me wanted to live here when I turned 55.
Of course that is all gone now...but it was a real kind of disneyland meets golf course kind of place in my early memory.
I always admired Mr. Del Webb, and love to read the Web Spinners. What an exciting company they were.
All we now have is the remnants of our original glory..and that is why because we have no corporation running the place. RCSC can only serve our amenities and buildings, but the town around and thru us needs some professional help.
I try to do things on my own. I write letters and make calls, but we really need is clout. Someone with the pedigree and clout to help us with the economic and business side of the fading community. I truly am concerned.

 

Eileen,
I agree, the denigration of the commercial property in Sun City , especially Phase 1, is scary at best. When Bill was on the board, he made valiant efforts to get other directors involved in a vision that was forward thinking for both the short and long term community needs. Unfortunately for him, the entire board focus at the time was golf and golfers. This mentality was maintained by the GM, and the fellow board members were also golf driven. It was extremely difficult to even get agenda items to be considered that involved other ideas other than golf. I know Bill gave 1000 percent of his attention to the needs of the entire community and presented ideas to benefit all of the members.
So as it has been all of these years later, and it appears the board members still can’t get their heads in the right direction, it is frustrating to say the least.
To garner the clout needed is to seek a new approach to rebuilding the community’s spirit to one of action. Activism has always been a great way to create a better future and outcome. I will use the dog park as an example. Lots of hard work by good people to produce a desired outcome.

 

Hello, I liked what you expressed here. I feel the success of the community would be linked to the over economic condition of the community. Bill expounded on ways to grow SC with ideas of having new home developments ( possibly condos on golf course). My thoughts are addressing the run down shopping centers with the hope that maybe owners of these centers would sell off property so we can generate new business. Bringing new business in here would help spur more growth, and more growth means new home buyers coming in. The economics are linked to whether we stagnate or grow. It may help eradicate the increasing poverty and vagrants that are using our place to hang out. I did address my concerns last summer to Debbie Lesko while she was campaigning here. I am hoping she will give us some ideas and help to address some of this. I am happy that RCSC board is working on doing upgrading of centers, but I am also concerned about the economic conditions around us. Because we are not a municipal as such, we the members should be concerned about all of the area we live in here, and that is why I think we could use an commercial property expert, or real estate attorney to assist us in some way. Have a great Friday!

 

So you want to "eradicate" the 10% of the population who live here that are at or below the poverty level as well as the "vagrants". Gotcha!

 

I always resented when anyone took my words and put their own spin on them. The good news is most of us reading this site can sort through the twisted pretzel logic of someone determined to make every word written read like an attack on anything/everything.

Disagreeing with stuff is healthy, trying to make others appear removed from what they wrote is tacky. But alas, to each their own, it what makes the world what it has become. For my money, i'll take joyful people who look forward to getting out of bed each day looking forward to being the best they can be with the least amount of angst.

A simple life for a simple man.

 

According to you when I disagree it's hate. I guess that statement could be interpreted several different ways. Eradicate the poverty AND vagrants mean two different groups of people. Especially when you take into consideration all the posts about SCF and the rising poverty level in Sun City. But you go ahead and keep hating on me. You have done it for so many years it's expected.

 

Eileen had me when she mentioned reading the Webb Spinners; not many people know they even existed, let alone reading them. Webb was indeed a man among men. Owned the Yankees for nearly 20 years, built half of old Las Vegas and owned multiple casinos there and was second to none in commercial construction. One of the displays we have in the Webb room at the museum states in the 40's he employed 25,000 people and had secured 100,000 million dollars in federal contracts.

Sun City was only a tiny piece of the puzzle, but it is the one legacy that lives on. That and the Del Webb Foundation where he donated virtually all of his vast fortune. He left most of it in 1974 when he died and to this day still has 70 plus million dollars in it; and that's after donating tens of million of dollars to hospitals and medical research.

For those interested, the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum has their Spinner's collection online here.