What an odd header eh? For the uniformed, Ben Roloff might just be my only friend in Sun City (just kidding). He is without question, my closest. We share an absolute passion over Sun City and the magnificent history attached to it. Most of my knowledge came from my years at the Del Webb Sun City Museum. I read books, magazines and files there that many have never seen the light of day (and probably never will). Ben on the other hand has spent the past two years scouring the State Archives and read the two local newspapers from the community. I would argue his finds are far more complete. The papers were the day to day news that became our history. In my readings, some of it was simply someone's best recollection. Either way, it gives us ample opportunities when we get together over old people coffee at McDonald's to talk and share endlessly. Imagine my surprise when Ben turned the tables on me this morning in an email. He's been reading the clip posted from the Meeker Journals called A Look Back. Meeker was the man behind Sun City's success and when he died his daughter dropped off two volumes of pure genius he had created. A Look Back was the opening 30 page summation and one of my favorite documents about Sun City. In his email he said this: One of the items I found interesting was a note by John Meeker in his "Looking Back" about giving Rio Salado free rent and space in one of the Bell Road Shopping Center to offer classes to their 1,500 residents in Sun City who signed up. Wow! With the Current Lifelong Learning club being over 300 strong at the moment, that only amounts to 20% of enrollment from in early 70's. Damn, i missed that when i read it; and sad to say i have read if a half dozen times. The point isn't i missed it though. The reality is that even back in the 70's, 1500 people had signed up for continuing education classes. More importantly, Meeker was smart enough to understand how vital this kind of activity was for seniors and the role it could play moving forward. But alas, DEVCO and Meeker left and the powers that be thought golf, the clubs and workout areas and pools were all people cared about. Shortsighted really and even today we are still feeling the effects of too little interest in the more cerebral side of Sun City residents needs. What better wake up call than to use John Meeker's own words to fortify and amplify the importance of the RCSC getting their head around the role Life Long Learning should be playing in the future of this community. Meeker was truly, pure genius.
Meeker' vision lives on , Trilogy at Redmond Ridge outside Seattle has two UW classrooms..Trilogy at Tehaleh, also near Seattle , has a culinary center, artesian studio. Any developer serious about seniors has followed Meeker's lead.
Continuing ed. classes and teaching has been an important part of my retirement. Some universities offer seniors an opportunity to audit classes for a very nominal fee. University of Washington offers auditing for $10 for the class term. Not sure if that is offered by ASU. Some schools put a limit on the number auditing. Another great opportunity is on line classes at top universities thru Coursera, and others. Like other senior communities SC is loaded with talented individuals who can teach, in their field of expertise. Getting this going will require effort, but well worth it.
Hey Fix, hope all is well. You are spot on, Meeker's genius lives on forever. So many of his efforts to build Sun City have become standard operating procedures in age restricted communities across the country. Hopefully the RCSC will come to grips how far they have fallen behind and get their act together.
Builders/developers see the trends and in some cases create the trends. They spend heavily on market research and focus groups. They can be proactive. The RCSC can only be reactive, and that is not a criticism of the RCSC. Imagine if the RCSC built pickle ball courts 20 years ago.
Well said again fixj. Developers are in a different kind of game, but that doesn't mean the RCSC can't play on the same field. Being reactionary is such a limiting style. It's exactly why i screamed from the mountaintop (not that anyone cared) when the board voted to get rid of the long range planning committee. It was short-sighted and foolish. It was exactly the wrong move at the wrong time. What drives me wild about it was the idea was promoted by the gm with the board doing the heavy lifting to see it get done. I've said this before, the gm is as good as anyone i have ever worked with. The logic of doing away with the committee that should be studying trends and preparing for the future made no sense. There was only one possible reason for it, and that was to insure the all-golf, all-the-time agenda wasn't impeded by those on that committee. There were some strong personalities on it who understood there was far more to Sun City than golf. Ultimately, the board has the responsibility to insure the right things get done. Only time will tell if the massive infusion of PIF dollars into a sport struggling to survive was the right course of action. The downside is we will never know how much we have lost by using those dollars on other amenities that reached far more people. A true long range plan would have allowed us a strategic plan based on trends and changing demographics. As you pointed out, that is what developers do. Damn.
