Save SCC Green Spaces Status– January 2, 2023

Notes from Ellie

Hello All,

Welcome back snowbirds!

Hope this communique reaches everyone in good spirits and enjoying your holidays to the fullest.

Here’s to a great year in 2023 for all and defeat for ClubLink’s development plans!

Due to significant and serious changes in my health, I need to eliminate stress as much as possible and focus on getting a number of out-of-control issues better managed immediately. I am stepping back and asking others to assume many of my responsibilities in Save Sun City Center.  I am working closely with the SaveSCC board and others to implement changes as we move into 2023 but remain committed to our success in defeating ClubLink or any other threat to the character of Sun City Center.

To ensure ready access to the continuum of care I will need, Ruth and I are now members of Freedom Plaza and will be moving as soon as our unit is ready.  Yes – we are dealing with a number of challenges but this too shall pass!

Our SaveSCC organization will make more use of standing committees and other resources to accomplish the necessary work as we move forward in 2023. Committee details are provided below. I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming working session on January 10, 2023 in the Rollins Theatre at 6 pm.

SaveSCC Golf Outing Update

 We are continuing with our preparations for the Save SCC Golf Scramble and Fundraiser on February 25th.

If you are a business owner or individual who would like to support the endeavor we have opportunities available for sponsors. Please reach out to Coach Starewicz, our golf chairperson at 219-242-2364. 

We still have openings available for players as well and would love to have you join us for a great day of play and fun supporting our effort to defeat any action to rezone or modify the comprehensive plan for Sun City Center to permit development of the golf courses for additional residences.  Please see the attached flyer for details and contact information.

Save Sun City Center Petition Effort

 While many of us were out there in November trying to reach all SCC residents with our petition to Hillsborough County Commissioners to deny permitting or rezoning for residential development of the golf courses in SCC, we have not reached everyone. Due to limitations of time, volunteers and folks not being at home whether snowbirds or just out living the good life actively here in Sun City Center we have more canvassing to do.  We will be ramping up in January in an effort to reach those we’ve missed thus far.  Carol Hugill has emailed our canvasser to get a handle on where we are and we will hit the streets again in January and February to make contact with those we have yet to reach.  More volunteers would be a big help. If you have not canvassed yet, we really could use your assistance. Please reach out to Carol and she can get you on board.  More details will follow at our January 10, 2023 meeting.

Organizing and more Extensive Use of Standing SaveSCC Committees

  1. Eric Nisenfeld staying on as SaveSCC Senior Technology Leader

I am pleased to announce that Eric Nisenfeld has elected to stay on as our senior systems architect, technology manager and advisor. He has done a fabulous job creating our technology environment including our web hosting, web site, Google Workspace, list server and other capabilities to provide our digital home and electronic communication hub.  Eric changed his mind of his own accord with the support of his wife because they  both believe that his efforts for Save Sun City would provide the best use of his time in support of our community here in Sun City Center and I wholehearted concur with their analysis.  Thank you Eric!

We are also welcoming a new member to our technology team in 2023 – Gary Higgin.  Gary has a wealth of information and experience creating, hosting and managing web sites.  He will be joining our existing technology team members – Eric Nisenfeld, myself, Peter Bates, Larry Bender, Lorraine Mancuso and Tami Mondi  They are invaluable contributors to our effort. Thanks to you all for your great work!  They will be meeting in the new year to map out our strategy and plans for 2023

2. Appointment of New Treasurer and Board Member John J. Newbury

The SaveSCC Board is pleased to announce the nomination and appointment of SaveSCC’s new treasurer – John J. Newbury.  John is a second-generation resident in SCC and his family have been property owners here since 1998.  He is a licensed Certified Public Account in Florida and has run accounting practices including his own since resigning as a principal from Arthur Young and Company in 1986.  Welcome aboard John. We are delighted to have you with us!

3. Current Committees in Need of Additional Support

In 2023 the SaveSCC leadership will be relying more heavily on standing committees under the leadership of committee chairpersons to accomplish much of our day-to-day work.

These committees, teams and groups are all in different stages of development and maturity. Members have come and gone and new blood and vitality is always necessary and welcome.  The chairpersons and members on some teams are still fluid at this point. Details will emerge for each committee and will become a standing part of working sessions to keep everyone in the loop.  We will have sign-up sheets for all our working groups at our meeting so that folks can get involved.

The standing committees, membership,  and responsibilities are as follows:

    • Information Technology

The Information Technology Committee is responsible for our web presence including our web site – SaveSCC.org, our Facebook page, our Google Work Space, our Zoom services, our credit card processing via the web, our email lists, our list server and all other technology tools we use in support of SaveSCC’s mission.  This group has been working together for some time but we are sorting out responsibilities, backup for each area, and plans as we move into 2023.

Members of the Information Technology Committee include:

          • Peter Bates
          • Larry Bender
          • Gary Higgins
          • Lorraine Mancuso
          • Tami Mondi (Board Liaison)
    • Communications Committee

The Communications Committee is responsible for all content, communications, publishing, new releases, and collateral materials for Save Sun City Center.  This is a new committee that is just forming to relieve some of the burden primarily shouldered by Ellie Anderson. Rich Johnson came on board this fall and has been working with Ellie to develop and put out the press releases regarding the SaveSCC Petition drive.  Upcoming press releases and publicity pieces will focus on the Petition Drive and Golf Fundraising Scrambler on February 25th.  We will also be reviewing and updating all materials as warranted on the Save SCC website.

Responsibilities and members of this committee are in the primary stage with more to follow as winter concludes. Details will follow.

    • Government Relations & Zoning Committee

The Government Relations and Zoning Committee are focused on relations with Hillsborough County Planning, Development Services, the County Commissioners and our other elected officials.  The group has been operating since early in Save SCC’s evolution and has had contact with representatives in the areas outlined above including written communications, in person meetings, Zoom meetings and submitted electronic documents. We are continuing these efforts to build more support for our opposition to ClubLink’s potential development application with the County.  Doug James has done an outstanding job utilizing his talents and experience as both a developer and Sarasota County Planner to develop our case statement in opposition to ClubLink’s plans.  This case document will be part of our submission to the County when ClubLink files their application and will become part of the official record from SaveSCC as we present to the Land Use Hearing Officer and the Hillsborough County Commissioners during the Land Use Hearing before the BOCC.

Members of this group are:

        • Mike Newsome ( Chairperson and SaveSCC Board Liaison)
        • Doug James
        • Ellie Anderson
        • Others
    • Application Response Team

 This is a new permanent standing committee that will be responsible for the response activation and coordination when ClubLink or a developer on their behalf files their development plans for zoning or comprehensive plan changes with the county.  This group will investigate and prepare the game plan to have it ready and on the shelf for SaveSCC members to assist and support our efforts to defeat any application for permits or approval to proceed with development.  Their comprehensive, written plan will address everything from communications ( to media, members, the community at large), mobilization ( local protests, media support in the court of public opinion, buses arrangements to convey to protesters to the site of the hearings downtown, letter writing to our officials), submission of materials for the record at the hearings, signup of SaveSCC spokesperson(s) and speakers for the hearings via Speak-up on the county website), submission of our materials in support of denial of approval – case statement, petition). These items are samples and highlights of some of the preparations that we need to have ready to activate at a moment’s notice to make our response timely, effective, compelling, comprehensive, and winning!

We are looking for volunteers ready to take on this challenge. Reach out to me if this sounds like something you’d like to be part of.  I have much of this already in my bean but need help to put it in place quickly with a minimum of demands on me.

    • The Petition and Canvassing Group

The petition and canvassing is not a standing committee but a mission driven group or team responsible for petition and canvassing effort. The goal is to secure the signatures between November and February of the majority of Sun City Center CA voting members and residents.  The petition data will be used to garner support from both the CA Board and the County Commissioners to defeat any rezoning or comprehensive plan amendments that would permit the residential development of golf courses in Sun City Center.

This group has done hard work canvassing door-to-door. Unfortunately due to limitations in volunteers and time, we have not been able to reach all streets or residents as we didn’t find them home or simply were stretched too thin to get everywhere. The game plan is to go back out in January to knock on every door where we have yet to connect with the occupant.  We have about 30 canvassers and surely need more as some are no longer capable of door-to-door canvassing for a variety of reasons including schedules and health. If you can help, please volunteer to do so. We are planning a door-to-door campaign for those where there has been no in-person contact.  Details will be finalized and shared at the January 10th working session and with the canvassing team.

Carol and I have both been canvassing and we know how resource intensive the work is and we all send our sincere thanks to all the canvassers and other volunteers working this project. The work team did a fabulous job of putting together packets with detailed street lists for every house and owner, the grid map assignment and zone each canvasser was assigned, and the materials needed – pamphlets, golf event flyers, petition sheets, instructions, member sign-up sheets, etc.   Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

    • The Golf Scramble Committee

The Golf Scramble Committee is a mission driven, short-term team under the leadership of Coach Doug Starewicz responsible for all aspects of the Save Sun City Center Golf Scramble Fundraiser to be held February 25th, 2023.  They have been working since the summer to put the event together, recruit sponsors and players, and handle all the background tasks necessary. Hats off to Coach and his outstanding team.

    • SaveSCC Collaterals Store

We have been making available our SaveSCc collateral materials for a nominal donation at our meetings.  This is one of our fundraising activities. We are looking for a few people to conduct this operation going forward. Duties include inventory management including keeping stock and bringing materials – banners ($10 donation), yards signs ($20 donation), tee shirts ($20 donation), vinyl clings ($5 donation) to SaveSCC meetings and events.  The team will handle transactions under the direction and financial controls of the Treasurer. Again – we’ll have a signup sheet for this operation at our working session and go from there.

If we are to prevail, it is up to us to make it happen!

Rumors

Rumors will always abound concerning ClubLink and their activities and I do not want to engage in the rumor mill. One of our politically connected members has a relationship with Mike Beltran, State Representative for our District 57, who would be in the know. He has reached out to Mike to determine if there has been any contact.  As best as Mike Beltran has been able to ascertain, there has been no contact based on his inquiries with his associates in Tallahassee.  Nor has there been any filing in Hillsborough County.  We have asked folks that we are communicating with to give us a heads-up if the situation changes.

I think this is one of those situations where no news is good news. We’ll keep our collective ears to the ground and see what develops.

SaveSCC Donations

Thank you to all of you who have been supporting us via monetary donations and donations for collateral materials like yard signs, tee shirts, banners, vinyl clings and other items and the donation of in-kind gifts like printing, a/v equipment, flip charts, banners, yard signs, etc.  All of these channels are an important part of our income and resources to support our activities.  We will be providing a financial report at our January meeting summarizing our finances for 2022.

You can still contribute via the SaveSCC Donation Page. 

Please remember donations to SaveSCC are not tax deductible.

Thanksgiving

It has been a very active year for Save Sun City Center.  It would not have been possible without us all. Each of us has made significant contributions of time, talent, and treasure and we are grateful for each and every one of you for them.

  • Thank you donors!
  • Thank you members!
  • Thank you meeting attendees!
  • Thank you board members!
  • Thank you committee members!
  • Thank you team members!
  • Thank you canvassers!
  • Thank you in-kind donors!
  • Thanks you financial and visibility supporters who donate and use banners, tee shirts, vinyl clings, yard signs
  • Thank you writers!
  • Thank you data entry folks!
  • Thank you researchers and information collators!
  • Thank you all!

Thanks for your support and I look forward to seeing you January 10, 2023 in the Rollins Theatre at 6pm!

Happy New Year!

Ellie Anderson

312-282-7337

andersonellie@mac.com