What's Right With Sun City?

If you know Bill Pearson, you know he loves to write.  For 15 years or more, Bill has been pecking out prolific missives about his favorite topic - Sun City.  It seems like you either love him or dislike him; but whichever, you've got to admit he knows his history.  I find it fascinating to read his "stories" about the past, and I long to see Sun City go "a little bit backwards" to capture that commitment, resolve, and sense of community. If you share my feelings, you will enjoy this. 

We will be sharing a 15 part series that Bill recently posted on Talk of Sun City. 

Here are the first 5. (Copied exactly as written.)

Jean Totten, Advisory Panel

What’s Right with Sun City?

 4.17.22 Part 1 

Happy Easter Sunday to all. Why not celebrate this glorious day with an introspective look by starting a thread at all the things that make Sun City so very unique, special. I know at times people think i enjoy being critical of Sun City, but i prefer to see it as an open and honest dialogue on how to make it better.

Over the years, i have written millions of words about Sun City. I have had many readers tell me i should write a book about our amazing community. Most often i respond, someday, maybe. On top of writing I’ve read thousands of books. One of the things I love about good story tellers is the final chapter. It speaks volumes to the quality of the book and the ability of the author.

My good friend Ben Roloff and i share piles of books. One of our constant laments has been how a great story told over countless pages gets to the final chapter and wham, it’s like the writer went brain dead. Or, as we often laugh, they’ve met the required number of pages by his/her publisher and just wants to finish it. No thought, just get it done. So terribly disappointing.

As i was walking my old girl Sybil this morning it hit me, if i do a write a book about Sun City, I’ll have the title, “The Final Chapter.” It makes perfect sense it you think about it. Sun City, for most of us, is in fact the final chapter of our lives. We’ve moved here at an a average age of 60 or 65 (some sooner), and most of us will die here (sorry, not being morbid, just realistic).

Before Sun City opened, life for retirees was limiting. Their final chapter would have been a rocking chair or as a baby sitter for the grand kids. On January 1, 1960, that all changed. The Del E Webb Corporation (DEVCO) opened an entirely new vista. A vision beyond what the “experts” said would work. Many called it nonsense, many more called it home.

I’ve read most of the oral histories at the Museum. Interviews with that pioneers that told of their journey to find their place in the sun. They came from all walks of life, found skills they never knew that had, became involved and committed to insuring their new home worked. And to be sure, not just for them, but also for all those that followed.

It’s a continuing story, and by no means has it ended and in all likelihood, never will. The Sun City story is ongoing, evolving and ever changing. It needs to be updated, refreshed and retold. Those who have moved here will live out there own final chapters, those who ultimately find us will too bring their yet written pages. Personally, i have dozens of chapters that have played out, and good Lord willing, someday as i reach the final chapter i will reduce them to writing to share with others.

For now, i will be content in the weeks to come, to tell you what i like about Sun City. I invite all of you to do the same. That’s what this thread is for, what makes Sun City the place you chose to make your “final chapter.”

 4.17 Part 2

Let's start from the very beginning. Three guys from the Webb Corporation convinced Webb and Boswell to invest in the community. They were L C Jacobson, Tom Breen and Joe Ashton (all three were gone in 1965 but that's another story). They had done some limited research and even though the experts said it would fail, they saw potential. They felt the key was to approach it from a unique perspective. Every other community of its kind said they would add amenities when the community got big enough to support them.

Their pitch was to build the infrastructure before anyone was living here. Between Jim Boswell and Del Webb, they came up with $1.2 million. The day they opened, January 1, 1960, everything was in place. There was a shopping center, 9 hole golf course with pro shop, Community Recreation Center (Oakmont), Hiway House Motor Inn with bar and restaurant, gas station (opening within the month), and the 5 model homes. The rec center had club rooms including an awesome wood shop, pool, lawn bowling green and a meeting hall with stage. There was an awesome out door area for events as well.

The best aspect of the entire opening was their marketing package that is still true to this day; "An Active New Way Of Life." From the moment potential buyers started pouring in to visit, their imagination for something better hit them right in the face. They were selling something that had never been promised before. 62 years later, little has changed. Everything Sun City offered then is still true today. I just left the lawn bowling green at Bell where a new resident told me he still can't believe all Sun City has to offer.

One can only smile when you consider how Del Webb used to call L C Jacobson and ask him how that "old folks home was coming?" Before you get too critical of Mr. Webb, his company had just gone public, he owned or built about a half of Las Vegas, he owned the Yankees and had countless numbers of massive projects going on around the country. We all laugh when we talk about Del at the Museum, he turned 60 when Sun City opened, but he would have the last senior in the country to buy a place here. He literally couldn't sit still long enough to enjoy our amazing way of life. He lived to work.

So, to recap, the first best thing about Sun City..."A new active way of life." The formula then, still the same today.

 4.20 Part 3

There's an old joke about the guy who was born on third base and thought he'd hit a triple. Most often, politicians use it against their opponents who were born into wealth and status. Sometimes when i hear people talk about how good Sun City is, it almost sounds as if they never really understood how we got here. They forget it took trials and tribulations and lots of hits and misses before they got it right. Those pioneers left us the legacy of success we have come to enjoy.

And for that very reason i am going to take this thread on what's right with Sun City very slow. By the time i am done, hopefully at least a handful of you will understand, in the beginning, no one started out on third base. There were a whole boatload of singles scattered in with a bunch of strike outs. That first year they sold some 1300 homes, about the number they had projected to sell in the first three years. Staggering.

By the middle of year one, the company started an addition on the shopping center, doubling its size. They immediately began the back nine of the North course and had it open by years end. They made a monumental error in judgement and expected those living here to voluntarily pay to belong and use the Community rec center. Approximately 60% of the buyers did, the others didn't. It was crushing and they considered all kinds of options. We'll cover that at a later date.

The best thing that happened though was this; and to be clear it set the stage for Sun City's success. DEVCO turned over the Community Center to those living here. So you understand, every house sold had a value added to it (in phase 1, roughly $125) to cover the cost of building the amenities. The golf courses were different as they paid for them with the up charge on lot prices on golf courses ($1250 on the first course).

Leaving the golf courses out of the discussion, owning the rec center from the outset forced those living here to form an organization to oversee them. By July of 1960 they were already making plans to become the owner by years end. Given the shortfall in revenue, DEVCO subsidized their operation and running them, but the die was cast, and as the company built new centers it was only a matter of time before those living here would become the owners.

The next thing i liked from our history is/was the willingness by the company to deed them to us and more importantly the residents accepting the responsibility of owning them. From that first gifting in 1960, the course of Sun City's history was set. 

4.20 Part 4 

Fluid. If i could use one word to describe those first years of Sun City's opening, it would be fluid. There was nothing carved in stone, there were no how to books on the proper way to build an age restricted community from the ground up. Every day offered new opportunities, new challenges and in many cases, changes in direction. Nothing could be more on point than the shift in the middle of the first year. 

The area around Community Rec Center (Oakmont) was called New Life Unit 1. The owners in that unit had purchased their properties and were not bound to pay a yearly assessment to use the rec center. DEVCO quickly saw the error of their ways and wrote into the purchase agreement in New Life Unit 2 what we know today as a "facilities agreement." Those buyers had agreed to pay a yearly fee. It was to be Sun City's saving grace. 

We know how explosive growth was the first year. Each of the next years were good, but nothing like 1960. the total sales were: 1961-907. 1962-691. 1963-595. The vast majority of the buyers by 1964 belonged to Town Hall (Fairway) recreation center. It was nearly twice the size, was far nicer with more club room space and meeting areas. There was an even better outcome. While the voluntary fees to use the Community Center were $40 per year, the newly minted concept of a mandatory fee (facilities agreement) for Town Hall dropped to $12 per person per year. 

There was a downside to it. Those in New Life Unit 1 couldn't use Town Hall except as a guest. It was a problem that lingered until 1967/1968. It also created some hard feelings within the community. That's another story for a later date. Even with the turmoil, each of the recreation centers were actively trying to build a sense of community. Club room space was limited, but regular gatherings were a constant. Dances, pot luck dinners, new comers coffees and out-door events always drew large crowds. 

One of the most intriguing stories that has been told and retold is how new buyers immediately were willing to become engaged in assuming leadership roles. By 1963, with some 3000 home sales and a population of less than 5000, there was no shortage of candidates for "public office." What was especially tricky was, governance was unlike where they came from. There was no city hall, no mayor, no council members. 

There were however, by 1963, three separate organizations in the community. The first you know about, The Sun City Community Center which became the SC Civic Association started in 1960. The second was The Town Hall Association that began in 1962. In 1963 the Civic Association was begun. While the name was confusing due to the first organization, this one was clearly different as it now has become the Sun City Home Owners Association (SCHOA). The first two represented groups for each of their centers, the third represented the entire community. 

Even with the small population base, each of these organizations held yearly elections. They almost always drew amazing numbers of candidates, sometimes as high as 25 people running for those seats on the board. Those moving here took a real interest in the community. Adding to the pressure, was by 1961, the powers that be were already pushing for incorporation. That battle lasted until 1995. 

So, to be clear, it wasn't just those living here took ownership, they actively fought off the efforts to remake them into where they came from. Very impressive. Adaptability. "the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions."

4.20 Part 5 

Adaptability. "the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions." 

Perhaps, there is no better word to describe Sun City in 1965. It was the year of a massive sea change and a shift from what we were to what we would become. The reason for the upheaval was the catastrophe of 1964. There was a mild depression, the two Sun City properties in Florida and California were dead in the water and their flagship Sun City AZ, sales had plummeted to 387. 

Del Webb, the consummate business man who had watched his father go bankrupt in 1914, quickly tried to make adjustments. His first effort was to get Breen, Ashton and Jacobson agree to change their approach. They said no, and within months, all were gone from the company. John Meeker was asked to take over the community development and without his leadership and vision, who knows what Sun City would have become. We do know DEVCO had Plan B if the works, with everything north of Grand Ave slated for an industrial park and non age restricted housing. 

Meeker's successes started with his genius, but nothing would have worked without total buy-in from those living here. While we talk about organizational structure being slow moving, John, as the guiding light, had a free hand and was relentless in the pursuit of excellence. To make it work, to pull it all together, he talked, polled and surveyed the membership every step of the way. They took ownership of his ideas. 

If they were willing to get onboard, he was convinced he could wipe Plan B off the books. He was right. What makes it all so amazing is this; seniors are known for their longing for things to be stable, changes to be held to a minimum and consistency in their day to day way of lives. I would guess, these original buyers, called "pioneers" were of a different mindset. After all they had pulled up stakes, moved to the middle of the desert, all in an effort to create a new active way of life. They weren't afraid of change, they embraced it. 

People say, timing is almost everything in life. 1965 proved to be the right time for the right people with the right leadership. Sun City has proven it could stand the test of time, and i would say, even to this day, having that ability to be adaptable played a huge role in why it has worked.

Parts 6 - 15 to follow.