News

It’s full speed ahead for marketing ‘Rossmoor Walnut Creek,’ including with an overhauled Rossmoor.com website

By Sam Richards

Staff writer

Wednesday, June 4 (1:00 p.m.): The RWC Board last week elected to proceed with a comprehensive community rebranding effort, which includes making “Rossmoor Walnut Creek” the community’s formal name and a redesign of the Rossmoor.com website to focus strictly on marketing to the outside world – one of several adopted recommendations from the RWC Marketing Task Force, which met for the final time in May.

Among the other task force recommendations accepted by the Board Thursday were to adopt a “two-website strategy” in which the MyRossmoor site, serving residents, will be upgraded concurrently with Rossmoor.com; creating an RWC Brand Guide as a reference resource for how residents and staff should represent Rossmoor, consistent with the new branding; developing a new social media plan; potentially investing in marketing staff and resources; and creating “virtual tour” videos providing prospective buyers a look inside Rossmoor facilities and amenities.

The overall process has already started with “GRF,” in many contexts, having been changed to “RWC.” Various other changes, RWC Communications Director Ann Peterson told the Board, will be rolled out over the next year or so.

“It’s a matter of consistency,”  Peterson told the Board.

The information now on Rossmoor.com aimed at residents will soon migrate to MyRossmoor.com as part of both websites’ makeovers. MyRossmoor will be rebuilt around a new reservations software system that also will allow residents to purchase event tickets, reserve fitness classes, book personal training sessions and more. Peterson said two finalists are vying to be that new software system.

The Board last week approved issuing a request for proposals for prospective website designers to tackle Rossmoor.com; MyRossmoor will be redesigned internally and continue to provide self-service functions for residents such as booking golf tee times on a password-protected platform. Both websites, Peterson said, are expected to launch, simultaneously, sometime early next year.

Peterson said she and Javier Roman, RWC’s only two marketing-oriented employees, will focus on content for the MyRossmoor website – something applauded by Board member Susan Hildreth, who said she wants a robust room reservations capability on the refurbished MyRossmoor.

Public comment guidelines

Acting on a recommendation by the RWC Policy Committee, the Board also approved changes in how Rossmoor residents – and which residents – can provide oral or written public comment at RWC meetings.

The vote on those changes was 5-0 in favor, with the three newest Board members (Hildreth, Adrian Byram and Janet Seldon) abstaining.

The updated public comment policy states that, in accordance with open-meeting laws, only “members” can offer comments at RWC public Board and committee meetings. Per the bylaws, members are owners of Rossmoor property, be they individuals or partners in ownership, like spouses, or designated occupants to whom an owner gives their membership status. Other residents – tenants, roommates, caregivers – can speak on behalf of a member with written authorization from that member.

Proposed changes also would increase opportunities for members to speak, including submissions of written comments to the Board and committees via email. Step-by-step instructions – which are posted on the Rossmoor.com under For Residents on the RWC Board and Committee Meetings page – include formatting, word limits and deadline; and a “high-volume comment protocol”  that would limit submitted written comments at a given meeting on any single topic to 10 speakers (further comments would still be included in the public record but not read aloud).

Though RWC Senior Manager of Executive Services Deborah Rose said this clarification and other updates were designed to increase clarity and transparency, Seldon said they aren’t necessarily having that effect.

“What’s a ‘member?’” Seldon asked. “People are already so confused (because) we’re changing the names of this and that.” Byram noted that Mutuals each have their own definition of “designated occupant,” further muddying the waters.

Added Hildreth, “I still think there’s a perception that we’re trying to limit communications.”

Earlier in the meeting, resident David Kosters had a similar concern about terminology. “Tenant, member, shareholder … Why are there so many contradicting perspectives here?”

The Policy Committee, had also recommended the “Residents’ Forum” public comment segment at meetings be renamed to “Member Forum,” to reflect that commenters are limited to residents with an ownership stake in the manor they live in.

Peterson said that for now the Rossmoor News’ Residents’ Forum will keep that name, as RWC policy doesn’t restrict letter writers to being “members.” However, the Policy Committee has asked to discuss that policy at its next meeting.

A weekend ‘Lyft” pilot program

The Board voted 8-0 (Roy Yang was absent) to move ahead with a partnership with Lyft Business to begin two separate Lyft services, Lyft Concierge and Lyft Pass, to provide Saturday and Sunday ride services for residents. Both will be on a pilot program basis, with Lyft’s effectiveness to be tested first with regular users of the ride service GoGo Grandparent. Results would be considered after about six weeks, after which time the Lyft services could become permanent.

Lyft Pass allows RWC to subsidize all or part of ride costs for residents who use the Lyft app to schedule their own transportation. Lyft Concierge, meanwhile, enables Rossmoor Walnut Creek staff to pre-arrange rides on behalf of individuals who either don’t have a smartphone or aren’t familiar with the Lyft app.

Kelsey Clyma, Rossmoor’s senior manager of resident services, said that if the trial is successful, the program will have an initial budget of $75,000, which should subsidize a minimum of 40 one-way rides per weekend. Rides qualifying for reimbursement from RWC to residents can be no longer than five miles from Rossmoor’s front gate.

Politics on Rossmoor TV

The Board on Thursday also approved a wording change to Policy 602.0, which prohibited Rossmoor TV programs from including politics. The adjustment calls for allowing elected officials and their staff to participate in Rossmoor TV programming if the programs on which they appear are nonpartisan and unrelated to political campaigns.

There had been concern that prohibiting all political topics from Rossmoor TV would prevent elected officials from providing updates at RWC Board meetings or participating in Rossmoor town halls on topics such as safety and insurance.

Peterson said FCC rules dictate that if community-access TV channels provide access to political candidates who use a program to do any form of campaigning, the channel must then provide equal access to all candidates and campaigns. As a community access channel, Rossmoor Walnut Creek does have to pay costly broadcasting fees to air on Channel 1083.

Peterson acknowledged Walnut Creek City Council members presenting their monthly report to the RWC Board have, in the past, advocated for various bond measures. That, she said, will have to stop, or such offending moments will have to be edited from what is shown on Rossmoor TV (which could impact airing the programs on-time).

Byram said he doesn’t necessarily favor limiting such content in this way, but that he was voting to do so. “We should make it clear that this isn’t the Board’s choice – it’s about following the law,” he said.