20-20 Hindsight
As the Sun City Board of Directors faced what was probably the largest crowd ever for a monthly meeting, two things became quite obvious. The first was the frustration – and anger – of the residents at the sudden closing of the Walleye Grill and Parker Riley’s Pub. The second was the defensive stance of the Board and their determination not to reconsider their action. After first stating that questions about the restaurant would be taken later, to their credit, the Board proceeded to take questions for two hours or so, most of which were about just that.
So here we are approaching the holiday season, with no restaurant in Sun City, and no prospects for a replacement in the near future. Brian Jason was very forthcoming in his messages to the community about his reversal of fortune and his desire to continue to be our restaurateur. Unfortunately, the Board has not been able to provide complete details of the “breach of contract” that led to this situation – presumably for legal reasons. We were told that problems began many months ago, and that the arrears could not be allowed to continue any longer. In response to why the community had not been advised of the problems sooner, the answer was that it might have caused the restaurant to fail even sooner. There is some logic to that statement.
On the other hand, it would seem that we, as residents and loyal customers, might have been able to handle the news and perhaps even have done something about it. The restaurant business in general is hurting. If more of us had patronized the Walleye more frequently, it might have made a difference. Now it’s too late – the deed is sealed.
We can’t entirely fault the members of the Board. They are our elected officials, charged with the duty to protect our interests and our investment in this property. I believe that they are sincere in carrying out that duty. In this instance, perhaps hiring an arbitrator rather than attorneys to address the problems may have yielded a more favorable result for the restaurant and the community. But that’s 20-20 hindsight, and all of us have that.
We trust our Board of Directors to do what they are sworn to do. Let’s hope that in the future our Board will trust us with the details of potential problems and let us help to work them out before we lose another friend.
Richard D. Holloman
Neighborhood 18
The views of the writers do not necessarily reflect those views of the owners, staff, or those associated to the Sun Day.
