It was fascinating to me as I read through much of the history of the community how often the old timers talked about life within these "white walls." It most certainly wasn't a phrase I coined, but I do use it often. And while this article won't be about life inside it, it will be about the entirety of those same white walls...all 30 miles plus of them. In the past year, SCHOA began a push to have someone take ownership of their maintenance. It's not the first time that happened, in fact in the 90's the Sun City Home Owners Association started their own Foundation to fund the painting of them. Seems there was a glitch in the construction of the community as all too often, there was no defined responsible party. There's been several cases where cars have crashed through them or tress come down on them. When a condo association abuts it, they repair it. If a driver takes one out, hopefully they have insurance to cover repairs but often they disappear or are not covered; if not sometimes they sit in limbo till someone steps up. But alas, the Homeowners Foundation went by the bye. Interestingly enough, the first go round they raised $150,000 in warp speed (back in the days when residents were more willing to cough up some green), and the vendor who painted them ate a portion of the costs. Fast forward 20 years and we are faced with some walls crumbling while others are in drastic need of paint. SCHOA's solution was to shove it on the RCSC; another word, all of the home owners. The RCSC was hesitant to just assume liability; and rightly so. Clearly the walls play an important role in the future of the community. But RCSC board members cannot make those kinds of decisions in a vacuum; they need to know the dollar figures involved and what kind of plan of repairs to even consider it. In 2015, they will begin that kind of assessment. I have mixed emotions about how this proceeds, but I do think any effort to move forward should be done with a long range plan in place. There's no question the walls are an important part of the community, but perhaps it's time for something other than the dirty white look that exists on many of them. One only has to observe the marvelous look at the rec centers and golf course pro shops as they get face lifts and paint jobs that better fit the landscape. Always amazes me how these kinds of discussions ultimately fits into a discourse on long range planning eh?
There-in lies part of our problem moving forward E; all too many people see things we talk about as being negative. In reality what we are doing is addressing issues that are important to all of those living here. I'm opinionated, but I never would suggest I have the answers. I tend to speak out which makes some folks uncomfortable, but it is imperative we start talking more openly about those problems.
