News

Audio may be found at: www.scshca.com/podcast287

Below is a synopsis of this episode.

1. Introduction: I welcome everyone to the podcast and encouraged residents to drink lots of water and be careful in the extreme heat. My very special guest is Pete Anderson from the Veterans Club who will talk about the flags and the Fourth of July parade. I am happy to tell you that the Shadows Restaurant has decided to get involved and will be offering red, white, and blue pina coladas for $6.00 and mimosas and Bloody Marys for $5.00 after the parade and for the flag raising.

2. History of the Veterans Club - Pete Anderson: The Veterans Club was started by Tom Hudson, a veteran and a colonel, who ran if for years. We lost Tom about three years ago. He initiated the Memorial Day and the Fourth of July celebrations. You may remember the Memorial Day celebration where we had up to 400 people turn out. I invited the ROTC cadets from Shadow Hills High School who did the flag raising. We also usually had two or three Marines from 29 Palms and the mayor of Indio. This is really what got the Veterans Club going.

Toys for Tots: Tom and I also worked together on starting the Toys for Tots at Christmas. We had a dinner with 60 or 70 people about three years ago and it has grown so much. We put Toys for Tots boxes throughout the community and two years ago -- the last time was before Covid -- we collected 1326 toys and 26 bicycles. The Marines take all of the donations to Cathedral City where they are divided by age and gender. We invite the Marines, the ROTC cadets and some of the teachers from Shadow Hills High School to the dinner and this is all paid for by the Veterans Club.

Flag Sale: You may know that our club member Larry Smith sells American flags for the Veterans Club. We've just ordered 100 flags and we sell them for your homes. If you have worn or tattered flags you can take them to Larry or to the Montecito. I pick them up several times a week and take them to the American Legion in Indio. We have two retirement burn flag parties per year. We bring in the ROTC cadets from Shadow Hills High School and the cadets from the American Legion. For the last one about a year ago, we had over 600 flags to burn. We alsohad two guerisson flags to burn. These are the huge flags that you see flying over car dealerships. The cadets helped us cut the flags into about twelve pieces to be able to retire them properly and burn them.

Veterans Club welcomes new members: We currently have only 56 members when we used to have over 100. This is due to Covid and also the loss of veterans. We welcome new members to share our activities. We are dark in July and August but in September we'll resume our monthly Tuesday meetings in the Montecito Clubhouse. We have had interesting guest speakers from the Air Museum, Patton Museum, VFW, and the Veterans Association. We provide information on benefits and how to access them. We invite the cadets to our parties where you have a chance to talk with them.

Flag poles at entrance gates: most communities like ours have the US flag and often the California flag at their gates. I was unable to get Pulte to provide this but we were getting close when Covid struck. With your support, John, it looks like we'll be able to have at least a US flag at each of our entrance gates and maybe a California flag, too. Hopefully, the HOA will pay for the 35 foot poles and the Veterans Club will pay for the flags.

3. Flags for the Fourth of July and the cart parade: I had previously referred everyone to Larry Smith, our "flag guy", but I didn't realize that he only has the larger size flags for your homes. You can get the small ones at hardware stores or Home Depot. Larry has the larger ones for you and also some handmade wood flags that he does himself. His address is 80620 Santa Juliana and he welcomes you to stop by.

Pete and his crew will meet at the Montecito Clubhouse at 7:00 am on the Fourth of July to lay the flags out all across our community. The flags will go up on the morning of the 4th and will come down on the evening of the 5th. The parade will begin at the flagpole at the Montecito and will end at the Shadows Restaurant area where there will be a flag-raising ceremony by the vets. We may even have Johnny Goodrum there to sing American the Beautiful!

I've been so inspired by you, Pete, and the accomplishments of the Veterans Club. I don't join many clubs but I'm a vet and I'll join your club this year. We really appreciate what you and your vets do for us and thank you for being here today.

As published in The View, July 2021:

It Is Time to Bring the Shadows Out of the Shadows

I have been exploring the idea of establishing a special committee of homeowners to focus on the maintenance of and future improvements to our food facilities, most important the Shadows Restaurant and the Montecito Café. Since the beginning of Sun City Shadow Hills, the subsidies for both have been increasing year to year. As part of each resident’s HOA dues, we now pay $11 per month in subsidies toward our restaurant, which sums up to $37,950 per month and ultimately $455,400 per year. That is almost $1 million every two years that is coming directly from all our pockets through HOA dues.

Subsidies will continue to increase if we do not take this seriously now. Many of us enjoy Shadows and want to see it remain; but serious attention, planning, and action need to be taken for this to happen. Previous attempts to fix this issue have fallen short. But by coming together to share our thoughts, opinions, and ideas, I believe we will be able to exchange these debts for profits within the next year or two. For us to succeed, we need to establish this committee to protect the future of our restaurant, to investigate all options, and to proceed with improvements deemed worthwhile.

Albert Einstein once said, “Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results, is the definition of insanity.” For years this has been a money pit for the community, so it is vital that we start weighing our options. Here is what we have heard: Should we make an additional investment to improve the kitchen, enlarge and reorient the bar? Should we establish food minimums for homeowners? Should we pursue lease and management by a local restaurant?

Most of these ideas have been considered in the past. Our new committee will focus on these aspects along with the financial ones to pin down which will help us exchange past losses for future profits. Change can be unpredictable at times, but it is in our best interest that the Board form this committee to assist us in considering these questions.

Since this was brought to the attention of the Board, we have received some new and proactive suggestions for improving the restaurant. We have considered the idea of a separate bar with an area for live music, attached to an entirely new dining area. Also, adding a pizza oven and preparation station for pizzas made for dine-in or take-away. We could also launch an advertising campaign to all our neighboring communities, touching upon these possible improvements to our restaurant and letting them know that Shadows is open for business. Meanwhile we would like our community to be able once again to enjoy all facilities including the restaurant, banquets, and lounge to their full extent. These are all inviting options that could possibly bring in more business.

Moving forward, I would like to see homeowners pitch their ideas as well, whether from the sidelines or the frontlines where decisions will be made and initiated within this new committee. By bringing this situation to the attention of the entire community, I hope we will be able to start a new age, reexamining past decisions to ensure a better future for ourselves and the generations that follow.

The success of such endeavors will depend on the willingness of homeowners – using their interest and expertise – to get involved with this vital evolution of our community. It does not matter how much time you invest in this endeavor, because together our shared interest will always be better than none at all. As they say in a famous game show, “Come on Down,” let us get this ball rolling.

Upward and onward, I will see you there.

Contact the author at john.macdonnell@scshca.com.

Audio may be found at: www.scshca.com/podcast286

Below is a synopsis of this episode.

1. HOA Board Meeting: a reminder that the next open Board meeting will be on Monday, June 28, 2021, at the Montecito Clubhouse.

2. Club and Committee Chairs: I am inviting the chairs of all clubs and advisory committees to participate in a podcast to talk about what's happening with their clubs. I've asked Vanessa to spearhead this and to take the names of those who are interested. There are a lot of new people in our community, as well as others currently in Canada or in other states, who want to plan their activities for when they return here so it's a good time to get your message out there. So just contact Vanessa in the HOA Office to set up a time to schedule a podcast.

3. Advisory Committees: there are openings on these committees so I encourage you to go to the HOA Office to complete an application form. After an initial interview, the chair will send your application to the Board to get you involved. The Finance Advisory Committee, for example, needs a couple of people and I would love to see a couple of ladies on that committee. If you are retired and have some financial background, please consider submitting an application.

4. Kathy Lindstrom, Chair of the Food and Beverage Advisory Committee, reporting on:

A) Menu items and theme nights as the Shadows Restaurant: some of the menu features include a great breakfast of a large pancake, one egg any style and bacon or sausage for just $4.50; on weekends we have Eggs Benedict, hash and eggs, biscuits and gravy, a smoked salmon platter, and cinnamon French toast.

When it's too hot to cook, we have wonderful salads such as our Special Shadows Salad for $12.95 with baby spinach tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette and topped with fresh strawberries, apricots, dried cranberries, candied pecans and goat cheese and a protein choice of turkey, chicken, shrimp or salmon. We also have a citrus shrimp and avocado salad, a Cobb salad, a chicken salad, and a stuffed tomato salad. And we have a ton of sandwiches.

B) Theme Nights: tonight is Pasta Night. Then on July 7th is our Shrimp Spectacular, July 14th is our Summer Salad Extravaganza where you will be able to taste all of our salads. July 21st and 28th will be Pasta Nights. But hold off on your reservations until Friday (June 25th) because we are meeting tomorrow with the Food and Beverage Advisory Committee to see how we can increase the seating for these special theme nights because we have been sold out. We may be having two seatings so we can have more people there for the fun and camaraderie.

C) Montecito Café Update: For those of you who are concerned about the closure of the Café, we are meeting tomorrow (July 24th) to discuss options to use the Montecito Café. We have been talking with residents and hearing their ideas. We will be making a presentation to the Board on this, so stay tuned for more information. We appreciate your patience. In the meantime, stop into the Shadows Restaurant for a pitcher of beer or of Margaritas. You can also bring your own wine -- the corkage fee has been dropped to $8.00.

5. Montecito Pool Opening Celebration: This will happen on Saturday, June 26th, with free hotdogs, chips and soft drinks. We are allowed seating for 86 and we're at least 75 over that, So we'll open the gym and the amphitheater area to provide more space for as many as we can. So please stop by to enjoy a hot dog and the music provided by our Board Vice-President Johnny Goodrum.

6. Memo from Safety Advisory Committee: The Board received a memo from the Safety Advisory Committee and voted in favor that all gates will be closed all day from now on going in and out. If you have questions or are concerned about this, the Safety Advisory Committee Chair Jeff Kirkpatrick will be making a presentation at the open Board Meeting on Monday, June 28th, so you will be able to ask questions at that time.

7. Fourth of July flags: Every year the veterans put out US flags at our gates and around our community for any US celebrations that involve the flag. This year there will be flags out for two days since the Fourth of July falls on a Sunday so the official holiday is Monday, the 5th. Our golf cart flag celebration will be on Sunday and the Veterans Club President Pete Anderson will be at the Montecito Clubhouse at 8:00 am for those who want to decorate their carts with flags and to see you off for the golf cart parade. I'll be there with my dogs and flags on my cart, too, to join in the celebration.

If you would like to purchase a flag for your cart or your house, I have been given permission by Larry Smith who sells flags for the Veterans Committee to give out his name and address: 80620 Camino Santa Juliana. So you can just stop by Larry's house to purchase a flag.

8. New Security Director: Our new Security Director, Tuey Paiyarat, will be at the Montecito Pool Opening Celebration and at the June 28th Board Meeting, as well. We're very happy to have filled that position.

9. Jefferson Ponds and North Channel: I've asked Roland in the Troon golf office to take charge of cleaning up the first pond, so they area active as we speak cutting down the weeds and doing a general clean-up. The first pond isn't affected by the North Channel Project. They've also been working hard on the golf courses and doing a great job.

10. Pets in the heat: I want to finish as I always do in the summer with a reminder to keep your pets off the pavement. Put booties on them or carry them, whatever you have to do to make sure they're safe. Please don't let them put their paws on the pavement -- it's dangerous out there.