Friday, July 15, 2022

Sun City Independent, Opinion, Posted July 15, 2022


Marone: Sun City residents must be part of solution

Posted Friday, July 15, 2022 11:00 am

After reading last week’s Independent it’s become apparent that, at least to me, the Recreation Centers of Sun City has got us right where they want us. Especially when you read that out of more than 38,000 residents only just more than 1,700 voted to elect their members of the board. So what does that mean? Does that mean 36,300 don’t care what happens in Sun City? Are they simply living the good life fat, dumb and happy, paying their assessment and letting somebody else take care of things? I believe most have at least some concern!


Then you read other opinion letters and read that some residents are calling others “complainers” who may simply have a different opinion. Funny thing is the gentleman who’s calling these people complainers is, in fact, being a complainer himself! And are they really complainers, or are they simply people who care?

Let’s get real; mostly everybody who lives in Sun City loves Sun City or else they wouldn’t be living here. What some of the complainers, as they’re being called, don’t like is the fact that the members rarely learn what’s going on and how our money is being spent until it’s a done-deal!

How many know that since 2008 the RCSC has run-up a $24,537,844 dollar deficit in golf? That issue has only recently been openly discussed because of the “complainers!” Should everybody who lives in Sun City subsidize golf? Certainly we should, just as we subsidize every other amenity in Sun City whether we use it or not. Golf is a big draw to Sun City. The question is; should those living in Surprise, Glendale and Peoria pay less for golf than a Sun City resident?

Then we discuss just how do we, the members, change things. First, you need to get involved. Second, the RCSC could take a few lessons from Sun City West on transparency. Third, amend the bylaws. There isn’t one thing a member can do that would challenge or be in opposition to the RCSC or board without first having to get the approval of the board or RCSC itself to do so! That’s a rigged system, my friends.

So instead of everybody bucking-heads and fighting amongst ourselves, we should be joining arms. The fight isn’t against one another; the real fight is for us to gain back our respect from the board and management and regain the ability to once again become the co-governed community that we were originally established as.

Pay attention, get involved! If you don’t, they’ve got us right where they want us. They call all the shots and we just sheepishly obey!

Tom Marone
Sun City

3 comments:

Tom Marone said...

Just as many of you reading the above article for the first time have learned, that since 2008 golf has run a deficit of over $24 million dollars, how surprising was it when you found out that the RCSC's computer equipment and software is so outdated that it will now cost about $1.5 million for the upgrade? And that's considering we can even get them in a timely manner with the current issues with the supply-chain?

And...no longer a need to wonder why the RCSC can't provide additional security systems throughout the facilities! The current system can't handle it!

And you wonder why the Advocates are so concerned about transparency and co-governance? Who's watching the cookie jar? Proper oversight and minimal upgrades could have maintained the system throughout the years. Now all that money we saved by doing nothing has finally caught up to us? We have to fix it and at a much higher cost!

Why must we always find out about these things after the fact?

Marco said...

Amen. Well said Tom. Keep it up. Sooner or later the populace understand that the gadflies have a point and that's when revolt starts

Bill Pearson said...

I agree Marco, Tom said it about as clearly as can be said. It is time for RCSC members to step up and take ownership. People keep chiding me to run, my preference is for new blood. We need intelligent members willing to open minded and not simply bowing to the dictates of the management team. We've lost sight of management running the day to day operations and the elected board members looking out for the best interest of the membership.