While I know Sun City basically prints money because of the PIF (brilliant concept), I sometimes wonder if it falls victim to "since we have it, let's spend it" mentality that is prevalent in big goverment. $800,000 for electronic signage so the residents know what's going on seems excessive in the information age. Email and the internet are essentially free and a far more cost-effective means of getting the word out. $5 million plus for a golf course redo is another head scratcher for a community where less than 20% golfs. I'm all for amenities and improving infrastructure and thrilled with what Sun City can offer, but I have to question these expenditures for a community that is moving toward internet savy residents and a trend toward less golfers.
Exceptionally good concerns R. While i'm still a board member and not able to express my thoughts, what the heck, guess if push comes shove, they can always dump me in my final days. I'll start by saying my biggest failure (as a RCSC board member) was not being able to convince other board members of the importance of taking issues like these to town hall like settings. Nope, not for a vote, but for feedback/information. Let me deal with your issues one at a time: I'm a huge fan of the electronic signage. Not crazy about the font size we are using but hopefully we'll get that resolved. I have had the good fortune of having to try and reach Sun City residents since the day we moved here. Visitor Center, SCHOA, Del Webb Museum, 50th Anniversary and now on the rec board. Here's what I learned; there is no one perfect solution. And as big a fan I am of the internet, it's reach is more limiting than one would think. I've written a hundred or more articles for our two newspapers and they too touch only a small percentage. Word of mouth is the most powerful technique (in my opinion) so it becomes imperative residents get bombarded with the great value Sun City is. Our first signage was at Sundial and once up, clubs, organizations and others were clamoring to get on it. It was a test and we paid for it out of our operating budget, which meant the cost would be passed on to existing residents. Based on the feedback from the first one, we knew we wanted to do more and so the plan was to do two per year. The more we talked, the more using PIF made sense. We then leveraged doing them all within a short time frame and we got a better price. The simple fact is every day of the week, residents will drive by those signs and we will reinforce just how wonderful a community Sun City is to live in. We have a ways to go yet on refining our message but ultimately it will become one of the most effective communication tools we have (IMHO). Golf gets a whole lot more challenging. I voted against the 5 million dollar plus remodels. I have always bought into the need for water distribution, wells, irrigation and those kinds of upgrades (we need do that for the resolution we reached with the State over Viewpoint lake). More importantly we need it to keep those courses green and playable. They are 40 to 50 years old and were in need of work across the board. They had been ignored for years. The bigger question becomes why anything after that? The arguments are valid for them, I just struggle to agree. Golf around the country is dying and courses are closing. We can't close ours (they are deed protected) and so we need to accept there will always be golfers. The bigger issue is whether we can grow our market share, and steal from other communities who are raising costs and cutting services. We've maintained our courses and controlled our costs remarkably well, and some of that is due to the huge front end expenditures we invested via the PIF. In the long run, the only way to know will be 5 or 10 years from now. In the interim, here's two things to ponder: Virtually every comment regarding the North course has been extremely positive. And, this is the one that gets lost amidst the discourse: There is an enormous number of folks that buy golf course properties that don't golf but love the green space. While I don't golf, every time I drive by one of our 8 courses, I see it as a wonderful amenity that adds to the uniqueness of Sun City. We are spending money and hopefully we are spending it wisely. I see the need to be more progressive, more aggressive about the future. There's a boatload of things we can do in the coming years but doing it in a vacuum of throwing money at golf courses and rec centers isn't how I would approach it. A true long range plan takes into consideration changing demographics, and looks at the big picture Sun City. It lays out the evolution of the community over the next twenty years. All things I've been trying to advance, but alas, never able to achieve. Who knows, maybe next time around.
Good to see you back again Bill. There aren't many places to exchange ideas in a civil manner anymore. I do agree that you have to use as many resources as possible to reach residents. The information about Sun City issues is out there if people would just make a small effort to get it. RCSC members don't feel involved with the process because we don't see the important discussions regarding issues that impact them. I did object to using operation money to cover the first electronic signs as that directly impacts the annual assessment. It's good that all the other signs are budgeted from the PIF. The golf course improvements also seemed to go way above what was necessary. Oh well.....still a joy to live in Sun City!!
It's fascinating to me aggie how little we understand the value of community discussion. We use it when we are looking at rate increases on our utilities, but when there are issues important to the future of Sun City, we go missing in action. I know the arguments; we hold two meetings a month and if people want to come and chat, they can. One only has to look at the totals of attendees to see just how few people are invested in the process of self-governance. Organizations always argue if they don't come, they must be happy. And truth be told, unless we **** folks off (ie the dog park), we average 20 to 30 residents per meeting. There-in lies my frustrations. We need build a culture of involvement. It doesn't happen over night, but with an evolving methodical approach to making people feel more a part of the decision making process. Expose residents to issues germane to the day (and the future) and watch them begin to take a more active role. I lobbied for two town hall forum type meetings in m first year (with real hot button topics) and I might as well have been talking to a wall. The good news is Sun City is just fine whether we change or not. Our years on the board have helped shape a more open style of governance and while it's still not where we think it should be, it's far better. We've become more community, big picture centered and that's all good. There's work yet to do, and hopefully the new board members, along with the remaining, will continue on working with the staff to make Sun City even better yet.
Spot on E and perhaps one of the things we have not mentioned much was the beautiful patio space added at North. We more than doubled it and while the cost was significant, the return on investment has been awesome. Golfers and others are getting maximum utilization; all which adds to the bottom line with snack shop sales increasing. And as people get accustomed to the wonderful outdoor space with wifi. it will become a popular spot for residents to stop by for a snack or to pick up their email. It's always about enhancing the amenities we have here, making them more user friendly and helping people understand why Sun City is on a path to a better tomorrow.
