Leisure World Purchase Protested

Leisure World residents don’t give up their tee times and tennis matches for just anything. But Monday morning about 50 put aside their clubs and rackets and grabbed picket signs instead.

Residents of the Laguna Woods retirement community said they were brought to the picket line by management’s decision to buy a new $11-million headquarters, a deal they said will cost residents an extra $85 a year in assessments.

The planned new headquarters is the 65,000-square-foot Polygon building that sits outside the retirement community in a retail center near a hotel and a Home Depot.

Shouting “Stop Polygon” and “Quit spending our money,” residents gathered on the lawn outside the administration’s current headquarters. Protesters said the Golden Rain Foundation, the community’s governing body, could remodel its headquarters for $2.5 million rather than move into the three-story Polygon building. The rally, organized by Leisure World activist John Lathrop, lasted only about 30 minutes and at day’s end seemed to have little influence on the foundation.

The foundation’s board voted unanimously to approve a lease-to-buy deal for the building.

“For a lot of these people, it was a big sacrifice to come out here,” said Lathrop, president of the United Board, one of three elected bodies that provide representatives to the foundation board.

Leo Minkin, the foundation’s president, says the 18,000-plus residents of Leisure World are getting a “very, very good deal.”

“We’re buying the land and the building for less than it would cost to buy an equivalent building,” Minkin said. “Conservatively, it would cost us $5 million to fix the current building that is literally falling down.”

Minkin said the Polygon building could be ready by January.

The proposed lease was shown to residents last week in a pair of meetings, but fewer than 100 people showed up, Minkin said. He said only one resident voiced concern.

“There’s nothing secret here,” Minkin said.

Resident Howard Woolf, though, said residents are not being heard.

“The Golden Rain Foundation reports to no one,” he said. “They think they’re the Orange County Board of Supervisors.”

Minkin disputed the assertion that assessments will jump because of the Polygon purchase. He said fees will go up 2.7% to cover routine expenses.

“Most of what’s going up is utilities and insurance; very little of it is because of Polygon,” he said. “These people want their finely manicured golf courses, tennis courts and the rest. They want, they want, they want, but they don’t want to pay for it. They don’t know what’s going on outside these walls.”

Carol Schoder, a five-year resident, said she is worried that Leisure World is becoming too upscale for most residents.

“They’re trying to turn this into a Club Paradiso,” she said. “But a lot of people are just trying to live out their lives within their own means.”