Understanding Sun City...

Let me give you a little spin on my take of Sun City and how it is often times represented. There's no question, the RCSC is the largest, most influential organization in the community. Their membership is large and their financial standing sets them far ahead of any other.

Simply by buying here. any owner whether living in the community or not, has to pay the lot assessment. Even those who buy homes as rental income pay the yearly fees. That was a result dating back to the nearly the beginning. The first two units, New Life 1 and 2, had no mandatory fees and it resulted in disastrous results with only 60% of the buyers paying.

DEVCO quickly came to grips with their mistake and every home sold after the first two units came with a "facilities agreement;" a commitment to pay the fees to maintain the cost of running the amenities. The first two units that were not mandatory held out until 1967, when those living around Community Center (Oakmont) voted to accept signing a facilities to have access to all of the centers.

So, that's how we got here; the point where the RCSC has the resources and the membership to afford to run, maintain and improve the amenities. There-in is the problem

Sun City is way more than the RCSC. It always has been, it always will be. Way too many of those living here think/see the RCSC as the end-all-be-all. They're not. We were built as a community, not just as recreation centers. The organizations that exist outside of the RCSC play an important role in creating the unique environment we live in.

Sadly, way too often board members and management staff lose sight of that "bigger picture" Sun City. They argue their documents preclude them from funding outside organizations; which is accurate, but only from a monetary perspective.

The larger issue is the collective promotion of the concept of Sun City being the "sum total of our parts." We/they cannot afford to function in a vacuum where nothing else matters. The recreation centers and golf courses are not what makes Sun City unique. In fact, every age restricted community has some variation of amenities they offer.

I know it's easy to lose sight of the rest of the community, but that community is the essence that sets Sun City apart from the others. We need to celebrate it, promote it, not run from it.

Just my opinion...by the way.

 

A ton of comments since i posted this on other threads, many left me scratching my head as the whiners and moaners who hate everything Sun City prattle on about how bad it is; yet have done nothing to try and fix or address their concerns. If you really want to make a difference, join a committee, attend meetings and for God sake, vote for board candidates.

All of which adds to the challenges of life in 2024. We know the current GM dislikes social media, he's told us all that. The reality of our current climate of not using the available tools is such that without the good, the bad and the ugly of using the net, it is a sum net loss (in my opinion). Social media is alive and active so ignoring it or pretending it doesn't exit means the nasty comments live on with little or no rebuttal.

It's one of the nuances of our evolution. Baby boomers are online; Generation X are even more online. Sure, a handful of the greatest generation are out there and posting, but not like the generations that followed after them. Which is one of the reasons i have posted several times about Morris Massey and his fascinating works regarding generational differences. It started with "What You Are Is Where You Were When" and he has followed up several times as changes continued in our society.

While it's not a perfect science, it is a roadmap to help those working across differing ages to understand what they are facing. We have talked often about the importance of continuing board member education and this is one of those kinds of training that would be helpful. For some reason, over the years, the RCSC has never taken any interest in continuing education for board members. I could argue why they haven't, but it would make those running the operation look like they wanted the board to be less than qualified.

I think back at times about 2006. Five of us were elected to the SCHOA board and once we were seated we were stunned by what we found. The Executive Director was running the show. Within 4 months several of us found the position we were in to be unsustainable. The community was angry at us for failing to address the complaints that were piling up. Seventy five plus files sat on her desk and other than sending letters, we did nothing. The argument was it was too costly to go to court over.

It was an oddity to me, the bulk of the board before us were part of the Greatest Generation, yet they had allowed the staff decide how to deal with the problems. We quickly decided to step in and help them (the staff) be successful. All but one of them quit the first week. It turned out to be a Godsend, as we rebuilt it from the ground up. Our mantra was "compliance matters." We took two of the worst abusers to task with a commitment to go to court if they didn't clean up their property. Initially they pushed back but they realized we were serious and came into compliance. Those two cases had an impressive impact on the rest of the cases, as they quickly followed suit.

I know residents still complain about SCHOA but the simple reality is the organization can only enforce what is written and been passed (CC&R's) by those living in the community. I have written it a hundred times, SCHOA is truly unique as an HOA and given the $25 voluntary membership fee, they do an amazing job. Across the country, HOA's are often held in disdain for being abusive; hardly the case with SCHOA.

The story is just a part of our long and storied history. Organizations waiver and even falter from time to time. They eventually right themselves. It's the challenge of self-governance. We know a large segment of those living here will not, never get involved. We don't need everyone to be part of the solution. What we do know is, the better our communication and the clearer our mission and goals are stated, the better those living in the community respond. We also know when they operate in a vacuum and just do dumb stuff, members react and get angry.

Here's the interesting part of the discussion: Massey's work (and so many others) tell us clearly we need to understand how important technology is to the next generation of home buyers. That the reach we have has to include a more open and transparent online organization for us to create the buy-in that will drive our future successes.

And to be really clear, our elected board members have to be driving the bus with the general manager doing the heavy lifting on the day to day operations.

 

TL;DR. Same as always. There are posts on here that say the same thing from 5+ years ago. Maybe take a step back and let someone new in the limelight? Don't you always say change is good? And after your recent comment about "so many" of us do you really think people will listen to what you have to say? "The real tragedy here is so many fail to even begin to grasp that concept of building a sense of community". Reminded me of Dave calling most of Sun City residents "obtuse". Just for grins you should log into ND again and check out what people other than the 6 or so here are saying. Your FB doesn't have a true representation because you ban those who don't think like you do.

Also I believe RCSC is doing a huge disservice to the community by not letting snowbirds serve on the board due to some antiquated rule made prior to Zoom. SB's are usually younger (as we age we are less likely to travel far distances), wealthier (able to afford two homes which I interpret to mean they did very well during their working life).

During covid Zoom was a huge deal. I have had zoom meetings with my doc on a regular old laptop. If the IT dept can't set up a conference call with zoom they need to go. All it requires is a Polycom SoundStation2 Expandable Conference Phone and a call in number. $150.00 on Amazon.

IMO RCSC is missing the boat big time. Time to step out of the 20th century.

 

How many years have we read Bill's mantra that "It's the Community"?

So...as far as I'm concerned, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, will ever change until we can get a much larger percentage of our Members engaged.

You can blame the current situation on this Board, or past Boards, you can blame it on the General Manager, or past General Managers, you can complain about the Bylaws, but unless and until there's a method to fight back, nothing will change, and the only way to fight back and make change is Membership participation. But I fear as each year passes, the Membership involvement is decreasing as many Members are here merely as Snow-Birds avoiding Winter, or renters, or some sort of medical group home.

Isn't it funny how many Members, many of which who probably hasn't use the Libraries in years, showed-up to support keeping them? "It's the Community Stupid!"

So...PRIORITY NUMBER ONE! find a way, whether it's using social media, RCSC Radio, Newsprint, or whatever, to re-engage the Members. If not, we will remain in a steady decline.

Just my opinion!

 

People are tired. Who listens to radio anymore? Not me. I don't even own one. If I want to listen to Andrea Bocelli or Aretha I just tell Alexa. Not one person on my street has a newspaper in their driveway. One neighbor gets it on Sunday for 3 neighbors. My big number one and has been for years is STOP PREACHING. We don't want or need to be talked down to. We don't need to read the history of Sun City 27,000 times. We can go to the museum.

Board meetings are not a draw. Maybe ask SCW, Grand, Oro Valley, Vistancia, or one of the millions of 55+ communities what they do. Independent living facilities have a community liaison or activity coordinator. We will spend $14 million on a PAC hardly anyone wants, and no one knows if the next generation will even use it, but we won't spend a few thousand on a company to come in and give advice.

As far a social media you have the pied piper followers who will try to get people banned on other sites, or he will ban you from his site. I have tried so many times to get people from ND to just look at TOSC. Same answer every time. "I did a few years ago, no way".

I found the owner of this site and have been communicating with them since September. I can assure you they are not happy.

Whatever.

 

Everything you said is true but it doesn't change the bottom-line.

We are in a continuing state of decline as far as Members giving a crap goes, and unless that changes, nothing else will!

 

We will spend $14 million on a PAC hardly anyone wants, and no one knows if the next generation will even use it, but we won't spend a few thousand on a company to come in and give advice. I don't know how many times or different ways I can say this. There are people who do just what you want for hire out there. We want member engagement but can't do it ourselves. Hire a consultant. I don't understand why that concept is so difficult.

 

Here's what we do know Tom, the whiners on social media will never help us move forward. Social media has created a platform for those who have no interest other than moaning about things. It is what it is.

On the other hand we have those who stand up, speak out and engage openly and with an intent to improve things they don't like by being part of the solution. You are right, we need to grow the number; we'll never do that by fostering hatred towards the community we love.

 

But how do we do that when it seems the Management is drifting farther away from the Membership with each new year?

Seems we know what has to be done, but we don't know how to achieve it?

 

Not going to happen if Bill keeps spewing that crap. He will never let go. We all saw the level of hate leading up to the election. You can look up his posts from 2016 and 2020 and will find the same. People before politics........biggest lie of the century.

 

Well, library lease is apparently getting done and a huge hold has been placed on plan for PAC at Lakeview lawn bowl site. “Community joined together to help make these two issues happen”.

 

You are right, Tom T, those are two notable signs of community engagement that were successful. Unfortunately they were reactions rather than being involved
when these decisions were initially discussed.

 

Always reactive rather than proactive!

 

They were not discussed with members, and people will only "react" so much before giving up, especially at my age. Who wants to spend their golden years fighting a BOD?

 

I was not speaking against the community. You have accused me of saying I hate SC. I have asked you for proof of that which was never provided. I have said I don't like what SC has become over the last 18 years which you admitted since 2006 the GM has been given too much authority.

Do I like your pages long postings about the history of SC? No. Don't like the long opinion pieces either. Like Jean's new posts I just don't read them.

So bottom line I have asked you to show me where I have said I hate this community, you have not. So please stop lying saying I foster hate for the community. I rarely if ever use the word hate. I may not like some things or people but no hate, so just stop with the lies.

 

2 years ago.

If you could ask the RCSC Board of Directors to focus on 3 things, what would they be? | Talk of Sun City

 

And behind what closed doors were these two issues discussed. Once people heard about these discussions/decisions they reacted. One doesn’t know what one doesn’t know. I would implore RCSC and committees to work on the transparency issues. To be a participatory organization all members need to have all appropriate information on budget items. Not after the fact.

 

Both Tom's are right, restoring the faith in the board (let's see what happens after the first of the year with a few new board members) and whether they try and reign in the existing general manager is still the questions that linger. It's a slow process and it takes a massive effort to bring the community/members together. It won't happen if they stay on the current path.

Here's what we do know; those who stay away, who have never given 30 seconds of their time, expertise or energy to the concept of self-governance have never and will never help change the direction. Hiding behind one's keyboard and screaming about how bad everything and everyone else is does nothing, NOTHING.

Sun City has always had a small vocal minority of haters, social media has given them a bigger microphone but their whining only marks them as whiners. Such is life. The RCSC made several decisions over the years that took us in the wrong direction. Much of what has happened the past several years is helping us turn the corner. Stay focused and we can and will make a difference.

Don't forget the Exchange meeting tomorrow morning at 9 am at the Sundial auditorium. No sign-up sheets to speak.

 

Sun City has a 2024 population of 37,790. Sun City is currently growing at a rate of 0.06% annually but its population has decreased by -2.82% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 38,888 in 2020. The average household income in Sun City is $64,103 with a poverty rate of 9.09%.

So on average, unless the board keeps secrets ie libraries and PAC where residents come out to make their dissatisfaction known, attendance is generally less than 100 people. So far less than 1/2% of the population give more than 30 seconds of their time to SC. 37,690 people stay home and you seem to be proud of that. Keep attacking me Bill. It's probably keeping you from badgering someone else that may care, although you do attack freely on this site.

 

I am not hiding, and I am surely not screaming. That's your forte. Screaming and flailing around at exchange meetings, losing your temper like a child. And your response was you just love Sun City so much. Your wild tantrums have been the topic of conversation more than once on social media.