One of the complaints by the Sun City Advocates is the RCSC membership has been stripped of their voice. The RCSC board would argue, not true. You have the right to show up at a board meeting, sign up at the appropriate time and then have your say; don't forget to watch the timer. The other option is to fill out one of the comment cards and stuff it in boxes at said center. Sometimes, you may even hear back. In this day and age, when the use of technology is at an all-time high, we think there should be a better way. In fact, we know there should be a better way. For the past twenty years, blogs, websites, newspapers and many of the media options available offer the ability for comments by those watching, reading or following. While serving on the RCSC board i suggested the organization make the commitment to two-way communication using technology. Horror of horrors, those in the room with me saw and heard blasphemy. For real, the idea we would be interested in an open dialogue with the membership was outright terrifying. I cajoled them and tried to talk them off the ledge, but alas, letting members have their say without filters was crazy (at least to them). In fact, in a closed door meeting with the general manager i explained my rationale. It was simple and based on my real life work experience. We had our hands in 4 websites, 3 of them inter-active. We allowed open comments and in some cases a commitment to answer within 24 hours. As i told the gm, if you can't answer any open queries, then perhaps it was something you shouldn't be doing in the first place. That of course was my premise for us being governed by Title 33 rather than Title 10. There was nothing, NOTHING, we did in Sun City that should be shielded (hidden) from the membership. But hell, that's just me i guess. Both of my suggestions were trashed in favor of secrecy, lack of transparency and that wonderful little 3 minute running clock to insure no one talk too much. Now we know perhaps the problem ran deeper. The RCSC's technology was light years behind the rest of the world. Let's be honest here, way better than the tin cans and the string we used as kids, but not much. Maybe they were just afraid members would fire off emails and be lost in the nether world and then they would be really angry they were being ignored. Far better the membership knows outright they really didn't want to hear from them, than just being ignored completely. This has dragged on long enough. Instead of rewarding you for staying with me, a few more remarks and when i come back from my walk with my best girl, i will show you, the membership of both the Sun City Advocates and of the RCSC does care and better yet, does have an interest in their voices being heard. Stay tuned, back in a half hour.
I intentionally posted the thread with the express intention of multiple pieces to it. I know some argue the SCA (Sun City Advocates) exists to be critical of the RCSC. Far from the case because our goals are about helping Sun City return to their roots; a time when the membership's opinion mattered. So, with that in mind, let me pay the RCSC board a compliment; a handful of years back, the board meetings were not video recorded. I tried to have them do it while i was on the board, but my opinions were considered toxic. The argument was, no one would watch. I think it was Rich Hoffer who pushed for it. He managed to convince the rest of the board to go along with the taping and playback. Suffice to say, once they did it, there was shock from some, members were actually watching. In conjunction with that, they now show the planning sessions such as the IT session a couple of weeks back. The results from it were terrifying, but the fact was the presentation by Randy was exceptionally well done. The fact we got to see it was really a good thing. All of which is the perfect segue to the point of this post. While our Sun City Advocates group is in our infancy and while we have a lot of growing pains to go through, we have truly only scratched the surface and proven (to at least ourselves) the membership cares, wants to know and wants to be more involved.If you think not, here is a link to comments the SCA received from a blast email we sent out regarding technology. Click here to read them.(When it opens, the first story is about the results of our poll, read to the bottom and click on read more). We want to present an unbiased, honest opinion as to what is going on in Sun City. We think members (both SCA and RCSC) need to know and more importantly have the opportunity to share their opinions with those interested. We are a work in progress and we'll get better at it. We have no budget, no staff and everything we do is simply a labor of love. A love for and about the community we all call home.
This brought up a very uncomfortable memory to me. A few years back at Fairway, I was getting ready to leave the lanes and glanced over to the walking pool ramp where a person with what appeared to be long brown birth marks on her legs was getting into the pool. As I rounded the bend, the person had reached the water and the person's marks were floating around: it was obviously shit. I reported it to the worker on the way out and got a shoulder shrug, like "shit happens," so I wrote it up and put it in the box, along with a request for how to stop this happening again. Walk through showers, etc. Never heard back. Those comment cards need traceable numbers so we can have accountability, but when I brought that idea up, oh that wouldn't work, etc....Feel listened to? Not much.
Holy crapola scj, but i have to tell you, it is no surprise. I have heard this comment too many times from members who took the time to fill out comment cards and then never heard a word. It appears as if they really don't care what "card holders" think. Becoming "members" (owners) again, changes the game and how it is played. For some reason, management has become the end all be all, answering kind of to the board and the rest of us should just shut up and pay our "lot assessment." Not any more guys, those days are over.
