David's Anthem Journal

Breaking News: Another Candidate Drops Out

 

 

Board Candidate Jerry Sakura notified the chair of the Election Committee this afternoon (cc to this reporter) that he is dropping out of the Board of Directors race due to a medical issue that has not responded quickly enough to treatment.

Sakura said his current circumstance would not allow him to carry out his complete duties as a Board member if he were to be elected.

This reduces to seven the field of candidates competing for the three available Board positions.

 

Views Exchanged at Restaurant Workshop

Fifty-one residents turned out this past Friday (Oct. 21) for a Board of Directors workshop on the future of the restaurant in Anthem Center. I will attempt to give you, in this report, an overview of the key issues that were discussed, as well as a summary of specific comments that were made. Some of the comments will be associated with the names of specific residents, but when speakers did not give their names or I could not make them out from the back of the room, they will be referred to as "a resident."

Board President Jim Long explained the current status of the eviction process that is underway against the tenant. Note that the status reported below is not exactly as stated by Long at the meeting, but is a post-meeting description he issued to correct some dates.

Long says a legally required 10-day "pay or quit" notice was served to the tenant on October 14, the day after it was sent by certified mail. This means that if arrearages have not been paid during the 10-day period, the actual eviction notice can be sent on October 25. Long has instructed legal counsel to prepare the eviction notice, and formal eviction can be commenced by a court request at the end of the three-day eviction period.

The overall tone of the workshop did not seem to include an option to close the restaurant and use the space for other purposes. Rather, the discussion centered on possible models for maintaining a restaurant in Anthem Center if at all possible.

These were among the issues that received serious attention during the session:

• Find a commercial restaurateur to operate the facility, similar to what we have had for the past two years.
   
• Bring the operation in-house and have it operated by the Association.
   
• Offer the operation to an experienced caterer who would emphasize catering but agree to operate the restaurant for the benefit of residents.
   
• Hire a major company such as Aramark, which, among its diverse businesses, operates food-service facilities.
   
• Enter into an alliance with a reputable culinary school that would operate the restaurant as part of its curriculum.
   
• Make a firm determination about whether the restaurant will be treated as a SCA amenity or run as a business with a goal of making a profit.

At the beginning of the meeting, Jim Long gave the microphone to resident Art Slipock, who has been involved with his son for a number of years in a local restaurant-video poker bar known as Jackson's Bar and Grill at Flamingo and Jones. Slipock expressed the opinion that the operation should be brought in-house, which he said would eliminate problems with tenants and food-service companies.

Slipock said there are so many out-of-work or underemployed restaurant people looking for work that advertisements in newspapers, on Craig's List, etc., would have competent people applying in droves.

"Hire a general manager to handle the restaurant and catering," Slipock said, "then pay him a salary and bonus."

He added that Jackson's Bar and Grill offers a weekly prime rib special for $9.99 and makes a profit on it.

Jim Long asked Slipock about the risk factor if the operation is brought in-house and we can't cover expenses, and he also asked if Slipock could point the Board toward consultants, accountants, etc., who could work on such a proposal. Slipopck replied that a request could be issued for resident experts to help vet such a proposal.

Board Treasurer Dan Forgeron said he was concerned about the losses the Association experienced when the restaurant was operated by Del Webb. "Now we don't have to monitor a payroll," he said, "and if we hire a management company they will take care of the overhead."

Forgeron added that a company such as Aramark even minimizes the risk to local hotels by providing the food service for their employees.

Board Vice President Wade Terry said he shared Forgeron's concerns. "We need to figure out our break-even point," he said. "We need a quantitative way to define risks and costs."

Replying, Art Slipock said, "Predictions are hard. Instead of creating pro formas, talk to experts."

Jim Long said, "We need to decide how to proceed now. Perhaps we should hire a consultant."

Dan Forgeron suggested the idea of talking with a culinary school.

Now it was time for audience members to express their views.

A resident said he believes there are many reasons SCA should not run an in-house operation. He said he's a member of the Singles Club, which has given the restaurant a great deal of business. "The food is average, he said," and we need more than average food." He said the restaurant would be handicapped by the fact that previous managers would "bad-mouth" the restaurant in the community.

Tim Stebbins said that Anthem Country Club has a self-managed restaurant and the residents pay $25 per quarter to dine there, information that was later contradicted by another speaker.

José Madrid noted that when Del Webb owned the restaurant, the company heavily subsidized it.

Jan Hockenberg said the restaurant "should be treated as an amenity, just as our health club is."

Rivka Wolf said the Association should not run a restaurant, adding that she does not consider it an amenity. She also said anyone hired to run a restaurant here should be thoroughly investigated.

Board Treasurer Forgeron said that the reason the restaurant at Sun City MacDonald Ranch became successful is that the restaurant was allowed several years of not having to pay rent and obtains revenue from video poker. He also said that MacDonald Ranch all catering events are required to use the restaurant for catering.

Rana Goodman said the Association should not dictate to clubs which caterer to use, noting that some clubs gave up trying to work with catering services from our restaurant because of dissatisfaction. She also said she likes the idea of hiring a management company such as Aramark.

David Berman expanded on the idea of making an arrangement with a culinary school, as referenced earlier by Dan Forgeron. He said he had spoken at length with the resident he believed Forgeron was referring to, and was told that students from a particular culinary school would work at the restaurant over a two-year period, learning the various restaurant functions. But the program would be administered by a school instructor who would be permanently assigned to the restaurant. Berman also said he agreed with the concept of the restaurant as an amenity.

Dictionary definition of "amenity": The quality of being pleasant or attractive; agreeableness; something that contributes to physical or meterial comfort; a feature that increases attractiveness or value, especially of a piece of real estate or a geographic location.

Aletta Waterhouse stressed the importance of obtaining competent professional advice.

Jim Long said the bar has been operating under a conditional use permit that requires having a restaurant.

Marcia Kosterka said she is concerned about the possibility of the forthcoming restaurant survey being deceiving. "It is not enough to just ask if we want a restaurant," she said. "The survey should have specific questions about the financial aspects."

Bruce Ricks, a resident realtor, said he knows from experience that the presence of a restaurant in Anthem Center has been a positive influence on many of his clients. He said that in Anthem Country Club, people using their restaurant are required to pay $250 per quarter, or $175 if they use auto-pay. This money is used toward their restaurant purchases, and if anything is left over they can use it to buy wine.

Ricks said he has spent extensive time in Arizona, where most of the largest senior communities in the nation are located. The HOAs there have many restaurant formats, he said, but if a HOA operates a restaurant, "it's crazy."

"Sun City Anthem has one of the best restaurant/catering facilities in the Las Vegas area," Ricks said. "The huge Pebble Creek community in Phoenix loses about $300,000 annually on its restaurants, he said, but they make a profit because of catering.

Riscks spoke for an extended period, but his comments were well received by the Board members and the residents in the room. "You must look at catering," he insisted. "Tell an operator that it can have the catering, the bar, etc., if they agree to run the restaurant."

Finally, Ricks urged everyone to dine at the student-run restaurant associated with the UNLV Hotel-Restaurant School. It is an example of a well-run restaurant, he concluded, with a small menu and outstanding food.

Theirrien Clark said he has drafted a proposal to treat the restaurant as an amenity, but wants it to be run by the Association.

A resident said he loves the staff at Anthem View Restaurant and does not like the idea of dealing with a rotating staff should it be operated by a culinary school.

Mike Waterhouse said he thinks there might be legal obstacles posed by SCA's governing documents that would have to be overcome if residents were to be assessed a fee to support the restaurant.

Paulina Roth said that past restaurant task forces created "nothing but failure."

Joel Berg spoke adamantly about his belief that the restaurant should be treated as an amenity. "I don't use the pools, the tennis courts, the bocce courts," he said, "but I am willing to pay for amenities that I don't use."

Berg said the restaurant should be structured "around our own needs, and should serve the residents by whatever means." He said it needs the resources to succeed.

Kristi Lonsinger, a member of the Restaurant Advisory Committee, said she has 14 years of restaurant experience, working in almost every restaurant position. "We own all the restaurant furniture and accessories," she said, "while the operator needs only the financing and the restaurant expertise." She said she believes the original Trumpets Working Group did not succeed, and added that she doesn't want another dollar to go into a for-profit business.

Noting how people enjoy gathering in the restaurant area at various times, Jan Hockenberg said, "With a restaurant, there is much more of a sense of community."

Referring back to a speaker's critical comments about turnover that would occur if the restaurant were run by a culinary school, Bruce Ricks said, "At UNLV, the students turn over, but not the faculty. We should look to the faculty for consultants."

Bob Lopez, a Restaurant Advisory Committee member who owned restaurants and a nightclub, noted that tenant S&D made a lot of money on catering and the restaurant was good. "Find a catering company to bring in a chef to run the restaurant," he said.

Bob Sansing focused on the amenity issue. "You may sometimes forget," he said, "that we all pay for the amenities here, whether we use them or not. It might be the swimming pools, the tennis courts, the club rooms, or whatever, we all contribute to the overall maintenance of these amenities." Sansing said be believes his position on treating the restaurant as an amenity would be strengthened if the restaurant, like most of our other amenities, were for the exclusive use of SCA residents and their guests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scenes From The Unity Team Kickoff

The Unity Team of Board candidates -Shirley Cheri, Roger Cooper and Carl Weinstein- were guests at a kickoff party on January 12 at the home of Joann Duncan.

About 100 SCA residents attended the event, which featured wine & cheese, songs by the Sun City Sound barbershop quartet, and comments from the three candidates.

Click on the button in the center of the video screen to view some video from the kickoff.

See it Now: The Decorated Golf Cart Parade

A day of holiday festivities on December 8 that began with the SCA Holiday Fair concluded with the First Annual Decorated Golf Cart Parade. The parade was followed by refreshments in the cozy confines of Anthem Center and the awarding of prizes.

Here are some video highlights of this event. I had a slight problem with the captions, so please excuse.

Scenes From the Holiday Fair

Sun City Anthem is in a festive mood for the holidays, especially in and around Anthem Center.

I'm pleased to share with you some video vignettes of the annual Holiday Fair held on December 8. It was a most enjoyable event, and everyone was really in the holiday spirit. You missed a wonderful time if you didn't attend.

On a personal note, Rosalyn and I want to thank those who helped Shade Tree Shelter by purchasing exactly one hundred 2008 Las Vegas calendars. In fact, we sold the 100th calendar as we were on our way out the door.

Background on the SCA Hiking Trailhead

Some residents are engaged in an aggressive attempt to create controversy over a City of Henderson request for an easement that would allow construction of some modest improvements to the existing hiking trailhead, which is off of Shadow Canyon Drive, behind the location of the planned third recreation center.

Despite the representations of a group called Anthem Voice, the City's proposal is NOT to create a trailhead, because the existing trailhead has been in place for a long time. It is used by the 325 members of the Sun City Anthem Hiking Club, as well as residents who are not affiliated with the Club, along with occasional other residents of the Anthem Master Plan communities. It is even accessible to the general public, but is little used by them because the primary trailhead for this system is part of Anthem Hills Park in the Coventry community, which offers water and bathroom facilities.

In 2001 and 2002, members of the Hiking Club and local conservationists worked with U.S. Senator Reid to have the adjacent hills included in the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area created as part of the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. The Act can be researched as Public Law 105-263. In this Act, the Congress found, among other things, the following: "The Las Vegas metropolitan area is the fastest growing urban area in the United States, which is causing significant impacts upon the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area and the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, which surround the Las Vegas Valley."

We are truly blessed to have such an enjoyable and convenient recreational amenity located within our community, with a trailhead leading to hiking opportunities that are for hikers and prohibited to motorized vehicles. Whether or not we allow the easement for a shelter offering shade, a picnic table, explanatory signage and trash disposal, is a decision to be made by our Association after receiving City and community input. But it is a shame that the project's opponents are presenting it as a proposal for a trailhead rather than for what it is, which is a proposal for a minor enhancement to an existing trailhead.

Here is a short video to give you an idea of what the trailhead and the immediate area look like. I have included some narration during the last few seconds of the video:

BLM Conducts Initial Meeting on Mining Proposal

With more than 80 percent of Nevada land owned by the federal government, most of it in the hands of the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, it is no surprise that the BLM is frequently in the news via its relationship to property in and around the rapidly developing areas of the metropolitan Las Vegas Valley. And because so much of this land is in fairly close proximity to Sun City Anthem, our residents have to be constantly be on the alert for BLM land-use plans that might adversely affect our lifestyle.

This week (Dec. 5 and 6), we have had the rare opportunity to be present at the very first step -after publication of a notice in the Federal Register- that occurs when the BLM contemplates lease or disposal of a land parcel. This step is called a Public Scoping Meeting, which serves to inform the public about plans for specific BLM property. And this one, fellow SCA residents, is a doozie: Two companies, Rinker Minerals West, LLC and Service Rock Products Corporation, are each proposing to lease the land, which they would expect to acquire as a lease at an open auction, to develop limestone mining pits, which will eventually merge into a single pit. The project will last about 30 years -that's right, about 30 years- and will extract about 100 million tons of material from the approximately 800 acres that are being sought.

This project will involve a considerable amount of blasting, and also the possibility of round-the-clock operations.

Among the elements that would be placed onto the land, which is located immediately west of the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area and very close to Inspirada, Sun City Anthem, Seven Hills and other communities, most of which do not appear on the old maps provided at the meeting, are the following:

• Batch Plant
• Processing Plant
• Asphalt Plant
• Stockpiles
• Facility Office Buildings
• Scale Houses
• Employee Parking
• Employee Training Facility
• Parts Storage
• Quality Control Laboratory
• Equipment Maintenance
• Fuel Storage

The bad news is that this will clearly be a detriment to the communities mentioned above, as well as to other developments and even to hotel-casino properties being planned for the area. The good news is that this is only the beginning of a lengthy period that will include an environmental impact study and many other meetings and steps to be followed over the next year to 18 months at least. More good news is that this project lends itself to the creation of a united front that can and should not only involve our own Board of Directors, but also the leadership of our sister communities and some of the gaming-industry heavyweights who have an interest in the planned nearby resort projects. So I would hope that SCA can take the lead in organizing these other parties of interest, as well as working to engage with our elected officials at all levels.

Here is a video that will give you some of the flavor of what occurred at the December 5 meeting:

Video Thumbnails Are Gone

Thank you for the feedback regarding the thumbnails of videos at the bottom of my YouTube video screen.

As I mentioned, I am new to this and am engaged in a learning curve.

Due to the nature of some of the responses, I went to the YouTube site and looked at a tutorial on how to change the embedded computer code to eliminate the thumbnails.

As long as I remember how to correctly change the code, I think you will see that the problem will not recur. So exposure to offensive videos -though some might consider my own offensive- should be ended.

Introducing Something New on the Blog

With this post, I am pleased to introduce something new on the Anthem Journal blog: video reports and information. I am engaged in a learning curve and have a long way to go, so please treat this post as sort of a test. I welcome your comments on this experiment as I work to make it more professional. If you are so inclined, please let me know what you think, and don't hestitate to share your constructive comments and suggestions.