August 23, 2008 by tim_stebbins.

At the Town Hall meeting last Thursday, August 21 Roz Berman resumed her rude and disrespectful treatment of members.  She repeatedly interrupted those attempting to make comments or ask questions. 

She has upset much of the community in the past with such bad manners and we hoped she had learned her lesson.  At a recent board meeting she announced that members would be allowed to speak uninterrupted.  Apparently that promise was insincere, or at least short lived. 

When it was my turn to speak Ms. Berman interrupted me again and again and again, making it impossible for me to make my comments in a coherent way.  Her misbehavior continued with others until finally a woman more astute than I paused her comments after an outburst from Ms. Berman and stated “I thought we could speak without being interrupted.”  Ms. Berman seemed indifferent to the remark but at least she shut up for a while.   

It has been said, “a leopard can’t change its spots”, and so if there is an analogy here perhaps these characteristics are imbedded in Ms. Berman’s persona because of long term practice.  Now that she has assumed the responsibilities of President wouldn’t it be nice if she could muster enough self-control to suppress these urges for the remainder of her term?   

It is likely most of us would agree a person of integrity would apologize to each of the members treated so badly as well as to the entire community.  It remains to be seen what Ms. Berman will do.  I have not heard anything yet.

Posted in Truth Squad, SCA Board, Community Affairs, News!, Other | Print | 4 Comments »

August 23, 2008 by THE VOICE.

Most of the Anthem Center refurbishment project is moving along as expected, but some of the new furniture items have generated many strong objections. Most of the concern has been about the new sofas and chairs for the main entrance area. Some members have been overheard saying they disliked the new sofas so much that they would not even allow them to be placed into their garages!

Many members believe the sofas are very poorly designed and constructed. They do not appear to be sturdy, and they do not appear to be capable of holding up under the heavy use of our facility. The color is not attractive, the fabric is cheap-looking, and all of the sofas appear to be damaged and/or defective in various ways. At least, we certainly hope the overall appearance is not what was intended!

Many members have said that even if the fabric was replaced, the sofa style is so cheap-looking that they seriously detract from the elegant feeling of our unique facility. For those of us who attended the project team and Cleo contractor presentations during the past few months, we were shocked at what was delivered. Neither the style, nor the color, nor the fabric type was anything like what we were expecting. Considering the generous budget available, we all were expecting much better items.

Board President Roz Berman was challenged on this matter by Rivka Wolf during last week’s Town Hall, but Roz refused to admit there was anything amiss. She claimed the items were satisfactory, and that regardless, there was nothing that could be done about the situation. But, Property and Ground Committee member Carol Siebel reported that the project team was investigating the situation and would be reporting soon on what could be done.

In the meantime, if you missed the last Town Hall meeting, an audio clip is enclosed of the discussion about the furniture between Rivka and Roz and others. Defective Sofas Discussion

Some photos taken on August 22, 2008 are included below for your review and comments. Please note that the spots, scrapes, creases, and other blemishes that show up in the photos look even worse when seen first-hand. Most of these sofas do appear to be defective.

In our opinion, Board President Roz Berman is seriously mistaken. These new furniture items are unsuitable for use in our main entrance. Bob Berman, Rita Berman, Linda Krivic, or and/or the Cleo Design team members who ordered the items need to resolve this matter immediately. We believe the sofas and chairs need to be replaced with items that are clearly suitable for the grand foyer of our elegant Sun City Anthem Center.

Please take a look at the below photos and tell us what do you think. Have we over-stated the problem? Do you agree that the sofas and perhaps the chairs need to be replaced with more suitable items?

(PS. Since the above was written, we have been advised that the old sofas were just recovered with new material, and they look so different because of the change from dark to light material.  The defects in the new material are very obvious because in the past the backs were covered up by other furniture and there were some pillows on the front that made the sofas look quite different.)

Posted in Truth Squad, SCA Board, Community Affairs, Other | Print | 4 Comments »