If you have watched the TV show “24” you know that the phrase most used is, “We are running out of time!” After that is said the hero, Jack Bauer, usually turns to extreme measures to save his fellow Americans by either tracking down a terrorist, or torturing a spy he caught with highly classified information.
Twin Lakes is running out of time. I am not saying this to threaten or frighten my neighbors in the community. In nine months, that vast expanse of green that we call a golf course will run out of money, lose its maintenance crew and its manicured luster if we do not take a positive course of action.
“Positive” is the operative word here. We are all friends and neighbors with a common stake in the environment surrounding our properties in Twin Lakes. Acrimony should not have a place at the table when our goals are so common.
The homeowners association is promoting a viable plan to save our neighborhood, but just like anything else, it carries a price that has many people balking. However, unlike the taxes that governments impose upon us, this price has immediate benefits.
First, our community remains intact and we will preserve the most valuable assets most of us own, our homes. Houses in golf course communities maintain and increase in value better than comparable houses outside of the golf course communities.
The children in Twin Lakes can follow the footsteps of innumerable children before and compete on the summer swim team (we had nearly 100 participants from ages 4 to 18 in 2009) and Junior Golf.
The Twin Lakes Homeowners Association will have representation on the board of directors of the golf club, giving us greater voice in such matters as capital improvements at the club.
All homeowners in Twin Lakes will have limited yet significant memberships at the club. They will be able to use the bar, the dining facilities, the pro shop and the driving range, with limited, predetermined access to the golf course (frequency), and access to the tennis court and the swimming pool. Name one community center anywhere that can provide that for $25 per month per house.
The club is far friendlier than the uppity country clubs depicted by Hollywood, and I have heard the club is open to making more adjustments to further integrate itself into our community. This is just a rumor, but how does the “Twin Lakes Community Club” work for you? The club is already loosening its rules about denim jeans and shorts.
There is a lot to gain by supporting the proposition put forth by the homeowners association compared to the potential downsides.
Matt Sato, Twin Lakes
