With the garage sale out of the way, we are that much closer to putting the final pieces together where hopefully we are done with the remodel. Then i can focus on more Sun City stuff. Got some annual doctor's appointments the next two weeks, which should be routine and with those out of the way, life gets even better. Those aren't the dilemma's i'm talking about. Not even close. We've been looking forward to the release of the Long Range Planning Committee's recommendations to the board. I had asked at the last board meeting for it to be posted in it's entirety, and the board did just that. Well done. The challenge is two-fold. We know when readers on the internet are asked to click-through, they tend not to. With each ask on a click, the numbers drops rapidly. To compound the matter, we also know on-line readers are not considered voracious in their consumption. If they can't get the information in the first couple of paragraphs, they tend to simply move on. Mind you, these are just things we were taught when we were building websites. Developers tried to maximize their efforts and not lose potential readers/followers with too much print or too many clicks. The problem is you can't really get through to people in two paragraphs and no links. To test this theory, i am going to post a link (for you to click on). It will take you to the RCSC's agenda for the last board meeting before the summer break. If you are willing to scroll through, you will eventually get to the 7 page recommendation by the LRPC. In my opinion, it is well worth the time and the energy to see what it says. The dilemma is if no one takes the time to read it, how will they ever know where we are trying to go as a community? Planning for the future shouldn't be a hit or miss proposition. The committee member that wrote the bulk of it did an exceptional job laying out a plan for the next several years. Two questions arise: Will the board approve it and will you click through to find and read it? Click here for the meeting agenda and at the end the Long range planning committee's recommendations.
I just read the whole thing. Well, maybe I skimmed through it! Saw your name on one of the committees for Long Range Planning. It boggles my mind to read figures in the million dollar range. Golfing still seems to be the biggie! I use Sun Dial pool(s) and feared that with Bell Pool closed it would be crowded. Hasn't happened - so far! BTW. When is your open house for TOSC members?
Actually I read the 7 page Long Range Planning Committee recommendation when it was recently posted to the RCSC website under Committee Summaries. I'd checked quite frequently to read the June 4 meeting summary and it appeared maybe yesterday online? I agree that many won't know to go all the way to the end of the agenda to see this document. It will be interesting to see if it generates any discussion this month's meeting and in the upcoming BOD meetings after the summer break. The LRP recommendation document was also promised to be delivered to the Independent for printing in its' entirety. Let's hope that happens for the June 26th issue so it can be read by more people prior to the June 27th BOD meeting.
The LRP recommendation doc is a pretty easy read and I would say pretty spot on. My son who is 45 and got started late with kids has young ones so in 10 years will have kids off to college or attending locally. Our daughter in law will be close to having 30 years as a teacher and our son has his own on-line home business. They are on-line savvy and gadget nuts, if you can't access something with your phone, they wonder why it even exits. They both would use a rec center if it was convenient and doesn't cost a bunch. They have little savings and don't believe SSA will be there for them. They are counting on her teacher's pension and his home business to take them as far as they need to go. IMHO they will be the perfect candidate for an affordable 55+ community in 10 years.
Hopefully more than the three of you read it; thanks for doing so. Peg: we are just from a different generation where reading was the norm. Funny; we had a garage sale back in like 2005 and i had hundreds of books for sale. They were wiped out in a day or two. This past week, other than a person who bought 50 hardcovers, the interest was a single book here and there. I know, Kindle's, Fire tablets and iPad are the rage, but i want to feel a book in my hand. Aggie: You may have noted several of the recommendations have been moved to the communication committee. It will be curious to see how they handle them. They are items you guys have been asking for for years. And Bruce, you are spot on. Your kids are the classic example of our target market. We need bend our minds to get our heads around the coming generations. We'll never be as technologically savvy as some, but we can't afford to be Luddites. We've ignored it all by focusing on golf and forgetting the other 20,000 plus rooftops. It was shortsighted and put us in a hole we may never crawl out of. It's why this committee's work is so damned important. Boards are trapped in the microcosm of management while committees function free of what the GM wants. Is there any wonder committees' were kicked to the curb? And then people wonder why i was upset. If you couldn't see what was going on around you and to you...you had to be both blind and dumb. It's too bad because board members were neither, just blinded by the light.
Good article in the Independent this week by Rusty Bradshaw on the long range planning committee's plan. Hopefully the RCSC board of directors will take it to heart and embrace and adopt this kind of forward thinking. We'll see this coming Thursday eh?
