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From the Puckerbrush...

It's happened... we have pavement. Some may consider this to the be end of a long-standing issue within the club, but in a larger sense it's really the beginning... of new capabilities, and new responsibilities.

Many years ago, SAM was founded out of a need to construct a low-cost, maximum-fun alternative to existing local clubs. For most of its history, SAM has remained close to that original philosophy; low-key and low-maintenance. With the addition of a paved runway, we have made our first significant departure from this philosophy. With that departure comes new benefits, but also higher costs and more responsibilities. At the last meeting, some members pointed out that the new runway will reduce our maintenance efforts and costs. This is very unlikely; keep in mind that 75% of our runway (in surface area) is still dirt! In a sense, we now have two runways to maintain instead of one. And pavement requires its own maintenance and care in the long run as well.

With this new direction, it's worth looking at our club goals and how this relates to the larger picture of Tucson-area RC activity. We are clearly moving in the direction of a higher maintenance club (in terms of facilities) like TIMPA and TRCC but still maintaining the lower-key, just-go-out-and-fly fun attitude that SAM has always been known for. But we need to ensure that we keep the bottom line ($$) tractable for new members, since that's where growth lies - and the key to a better, stronger club is the infusion of new ideas, experience, and energetic members.

Just a few ``big-picture'' observations (and opinions) from your editor as food for thought. Now get out there and go fly!



Craig Kulesa
Fri Dec 4 19:21:51 MST 1998