As one might guess, i am a huge fan of the printed word. I know it is not in vague these days as more and more people get their news on their pc, ipad and phones. During the pandemic i subscribed to more digital news, magazines and subscription services than any time in my past. That said, i was never very fond of reading online. I like having a book or newspaper in my hand. When i heard the RCSC was going digital on the SunViews paper i was disappointed. I know, it was a throwback to the good old days but i liked the idea of having a hard copy i could look through. After opening my email today with the digital version of SunViews, i was still disappointed. The good news is i have a 31 inch monitor so i could at least read it. That wasn't the case on my ipad and i refused to even try on my iphone. I hate looking at websites on my phone. There seems to be an overriding theme in virtually everything i read from the RCSC these days. The argument goes all of these changes, all of the decisions they are making comes down to "saving money" so they don't have to raise our fees. It's good to be conscientious about saving a buck, but at what cost? And before anyone points out i can pick up the 8 page hard copy of SunViews at a rec center; obviously i know that. I also know an 8 page paper is underwhelming at the very least. What is even a harder stretch to swallow is during the pandemic the cost of proving a fraction of the services was as costly as keeping everything functioning under normal operations. I had a mantra i embraced in my previous work life: Two things impacted how i functioned and whether i was successful: Education and communication. I know, pretty basic, but when i put both in play, the members seemed to respond far better than when they knew nothing and then we told them the bare-ass minimum. Sad to say, i wasn't impressed by the new format, not even a little bit.
Of course you don’t like the new format, it’s a change and as you have written and ranted over and over and at long length you do not like change. WE ALL GET IT- BILL PEARSON DOES NOT LIKE CHANGE! Unfortunately, like dogs pooping CHANGE happens and we can either accept it or stress out and die worrying about it. Your recent diatribes are ridiculous. You don’t like the RCSC Management, Board, staff members and so many other things happening today yet you profess to LOVE Sun City. Why do you live here with all this hate and stress? Meanwhile you continue to post and post and post about the glorious PAST in Sun City. While all residents should all be a familiar with the past which was wonderful, it’s the future that we need to be thinking about and planning for. Please, do us a favor and STOP OPENING NEW THREADS with the same themes over and over again. My suggestion, spend your time writing the definitive book about Sun City and cleaning up the amateur video with the wind noise for the museum. Or even better, turn your attention to SCHOA which doesn’t seem to care at all about enforcing the current CC&Rs, let alone strengthening the rules so future potential residents don’t call our home the Slums of Sun City.
Wow R, quite the diatribe. I long ago accepted change. In fact we taught our members change was inevitable; that didn't mean we couldn't try and manage it. Your interpretation of how i feel is what is really ridiculous. What does gall me is that several of you on the board have worked so hard to destroy the future by hogging all the decisions and then hanging on and keep coming back for more. The past was glorious, simply because the members (not cardholders) shaped it to be for them, for the owners who wanted a better tomorrow. Hey why not shovel another 20 million dollars (on top of the 40 million you've already spent) into golf courses? BTW, that's coming isn't it. Too bad you can't be honest about how ugly that's going to get. What do they say? Honesty is the best policy eh? As far as the amateur hour video of the Museum, spot on. We have no budget, that's why i have spent more money than i care to admit buying many of the nostalgic pieces. And that says nothing about the countless tours i have given the last 6 months. See R, that's where we differ i judge people by what they do, not by what they say or write. Hell, if i was to judge you by what you write we could really go around couldn't we. Sorry if we offended you with the video. Seems your budget with the RCSC is a touch richer than ours at the museum. It's all good though brother. We see things from a different viewpoint. As long as i have your attention, why not get yourself a parliamentarian before the next meeting, perhaps you will avoid the massive cluster-flock you suffered at the last one. Of course if you get your way you can go back to doing business behind those closed doors you so love. It really doesn't matter if you are a third generation resident if you don't know, understand and appreciate our history. Finally, thanks for taking a thread that was nothing more than my perspective on dumping the hard copy SunViews and turning it into a fascinating back and forth between a couple of old friends. And here i thought the gm frowned on public displays like this.
Quite to the contrary, it is evident that there is a lot CHANGE that Bill would like to see, especially constructive CHANGE. Do you think the money that continues to be piled into golf is the way to respond to competition and what the new brand of retirees want in 2021 and beyond? How about a true audit of golf expenditures, including capital improvements, so we can tell how much the Sun City community is subsidizing golf? True transparency to all members. Let them decide. Give them a voice. Here is a constructive suggestion for CHANGE and responding to COMPETITION (the campaign theme of one Board member): Turn Quail Run into a park and nature walking trail that can be enjoyed by ALL Sun City residents and their leashed pets. It can be done, but will take someone's who are willing to embrace the courage of their convictions. There were no Pickleball courts in the 60"s at Sun City. Community resources were repurposed and built to support changing tastes and sporting trends. Is golf off limits in that respect? I also object to the desired censorship of Bill's postings. I enjoy them. We can choose to read or not read...kind of like turning the dial.
Thanks Riggo. I've always understood the downside of comments construed as negative. It's why some folks stay off the site, they hate it when i say anything "bad" about Sun City. The reality is i have written it a hundred times; Sun City is a great place to live...it could be so much better. By the way that same board member advocating for us being competitive in the age restricted marketplace is, well you get the picture i am sure. Your points were well made, a forensic audit is the only way we would ever know how much money has been thrown at golf and not recaptured by increased golf fees. When they (the RCSC) took ownership of the golf courses in 1977, they added a stipulation that golf was to be cost neutral. They created a sub-set of board members and created a golf board and it was included in their documents. They disbanded that board somewhere along the way but never changed the requirements of being self-sufficient. In reality, they have subsidized golf. It is the kind of decision that should be made by the community at large. Sun City's history was one of absolute ownership. One where those living here were asked to be involved and party to the choices the community faced. The last 15 years has moved us further away from that concept and brought us inline with the big-brother mentality. Sadly it hasn't just been the gm engaged in that shrinking of ownership, but board members who keep reinserting themselves in the governance rather than letting those running for the board who don't get enough votes to become disenfranchised and quit trying to be involved. BTW; turning the dial is truly appropriate given the post that triggered all of this.
Thought i would take the liberty of showing this before it disappears. Not sure why the attack on SCHOA was wrapped into the post. The oddity is the guy running SCHOA is one of 3G's buddies so his contempt for the organization would be better directed by calling him personally. Personally, i think SCHOA does a great deal to keep the community looking good for the paltry $25 yearly fee that is voluntary in it's membership. But hell, what do i know?
Art Williams. As i went to bed last night, one man's name came back to me and triggered some fond memories. Art Williams was the only board of director from the RCSC who was recalled and removed from office. He wanted to build a two story office building where the bocci courts are at SunDial. They would have housed management and the people living in the community garnered enough signatures to have a vote on his removal. If memory serves me, the recall was for both Art (president) and the vice-president who rescinded supporting the idea and was saved from being kicked off the board. Oddly enough, Art in spite of his getting the boots, stayed true to Sun City. When we moved here in 2003, the first committee i served on was the communication committee. Their role then was to monthly meet and review the SunViews galleys (page layout) and make recommendations for story placement and content. We had a monthly newspaper at the local i ran and did the layout so it was a process i was familiar with. It was still cut and paste back then. Art was an integral part of the committee and as i made suggestions, he quickly told me to mind my comments because "this is the way we always do it." I quit the committee shortly thereafter, but always liked Art and his willingness to play a role. In fact, when he died i spoke at his services and if you do a search on the site in the archives, you will find my comments about him. We disagreed on a lot of things, but his passion for Sun City was exactly how Sun City was built and why it succeeded. Enough of the walk down memory lane. There is a bigger point here, that i guess 3GSCAZ missed. Perhaps i missed watching the meeting where the board made the decision to go to a digital format and no hard copy delivery. Perhaps i missed the three readings and the subsequent discussion where they (the board) explained to the community at large about how much money could be saved by doing so. Where we got to hear the logic and rational as to why the changes were needed. Or, perhaps the board simply relinquished that decision to the management team to make the choice to do away with the community newspaper in the manner it has been delivered for years. In either case, we should have some idea don't you think?
Digitizing the Sun Views is progress in a technological world. The problem begins when digitizing becomes the excuse for creating a Sun Views devoid of transparency, and gutted of invaluable data that allows our members to track the actions of the Corporation, and it’s Board. If this was a Board approved action, the Board was not acting in the best interests of the Corporation, or it’s members, but rather, in the interests of the Board. Unfortunately, of late, such actions have the norm, rather than the exception.
Exactly E. There may well have been valid reasons to go digital Lord knows the 8 pages of ads were a lot. Then of course, the ads paid for some or all of the production and or delivery. But then we really have no idea because that decision was yet another made by whom? When? Just for the nuts of it i went back to the April 2019 issue of SunViews and there were 24 pages of RCSC stuff and 8 pages of ads. Admittedly with the pandemic and many clubs not open there may well be less to report. In the end, the fact i like a hard copy in hand is neither here nor there. The issue to me is how stuff just magically changes with absolutely no discussion. Which by the way is not how they did it in the early years. The simple reality is you build a sense of community with an ownership mentality and by inclusion, not exclusion.
Okay, so I won't claim to have read everything Bill has written here, but I have read quite a lot and I do not remember him using the word "hate" once.
Am I to understand that the Sun Views will only be digital? I don't like reading it online and many people don't use a computer. Will there be any had copies available?
Thanks carp; hate truly is an ugly word and one i find hard to use in anything Sun City related. There are things i dislike and others i find myself disappointed in. The community had enormous potential once the RCSC passed the Preservation and Improvement Fee (PIF) in 1999. I doubt anyone had the foresight to see what it could actually become. Starting at $750, i suspect most folks would have under-assumed where it would go. While watching the board meeting the other day, a relative newcomer asked about the PIF. He was curious about how much money was generated during the month and why the balance was so large. I was shocked by the answer that these figures weren't the norm. If you look back in the recent past, we are averaging 2000 home sales per year and at $3500 per sale your yearly net is 7 million dollars. Those are huge numbers and what is tragic to me is we never had any type of cohesive strategic plan as how to invest it in our amenities. Since its inception in 1999 we've collected over 100 million dollars and in the next twenty years we will collect another 140 to 150 million dollars. Those are mind-blowing figures and my frustration has always come by the haphazard way we decide to spend it. It's just not how Sun City was built and certainly not why it was successful. Anyone can spend money, it takes a commitment to those living here to spend it wisely. I've never, ever said i have all the answers. What i have argued is a community that is involved and part of the decision making process is infinitely better than one that is excluded from the process and left in the hands of a few.
