WITH JOY SILVER
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SFR: So you're the proprietor of RainbowVision. A lot of folks have called your new property a gay retirement village, but it sounds like it's more than that. Can you explain your vision?
JS:
Actually I'm the president of RainbowVision Properties. It really is about community in the second 50 years. Because what happens around the time someone reaches the age of 50, it's a different time in their life when they're redefining what their life is gonna look like and how it's going to be. Maybe they've had success in their careers, maybe they've decided to change careers, maybe they've decided to work for themselves. So creating a community that's supportive of that time in life going forward is really what the RainbowVision vision is about. And it is designed with the GLBT community in mind because it does allow for the GLBT population to be in the majority. We do have mainstream population and that population is about 20 percent.
Could you explain what the particular differences and/or challenges in that time of life are for the GLBT community as opposed to the mainstream community?
Well, again you are focusing on retirement and we're focusing more on community and making things easier in community. For example, frequency of social contact. If you have a busy life, we want to make it easier for the different parts of your life to actually occur. Like, many people will be using certain kinds of services-they may want to go to their fitness center, they may want to do things they do in their lives right now but this makes it all in one place. So frequency of social contact helps friendships develop easier and that's what community is all about. You know if someone needs help or gets sick, even wants their house cleaned, we have services that provide that. What the difference is between what we're doing and what a mainstream community would be doing has to do with it more reflects what would be called an active adult community and in that community we would go all the way through with assistance if needed.
Does the second 50 years for someone who is GLBT speak to how the first half of their life is spent?
Yeah. Because first of all it's how we make decisions. When you're 50 you've been there, done that. The first 50 years is about gaining certain experience in life and then the next 50 allows you to use that experience in a creative or a supportive fashion for yourself. I'm 50 and I feel more confident and I know more people and I spent the first 50 really gaining the experience of how to do things and finding out who I am and what I'm capable of. Now that I'm 50 I'm able to take that information and go forward with some of the things I might want to do in my life. And I'm talking about myself. It's not like someday I'm going to need that kind of living. I'm 50 and I need it now, because it's exactly how I'm living now.
Do you still play bass every once in a while?
I will be, when I have time I will be. I have recently picked up my bass again.
And you guys have an actual cabaret at the property?
Oh yes-there's a cabaret, dining spaces, a space for events…
I have to ask if there's a disco ball…
Well of course there'll be a disco ball.
And currently this is your first round of move-ins?
Yes, the first move-ins are this month. We're leasing our independent suites right now and we have garden apartments and we're into the assisted living section. We have condominiums some people own who are looking to rent them. All of the condominiums are sold, but we're into the leasing part of the program. Then we have our independent living suites and those are basically apartments with services and then the assisted living suites and all of that will open at the end of May.
I know City Councilor Karen Heldmeyer was worried that you guys were going to sell alcohol to the general public with your liquor license. Are you guys secretly opening a gay bar?
I didn't really understand Karen Heldmeyer's position because what she's talking about is really a zoning issue and we've resolved that zoning issue. We're using our liquor license for our own club members and residents. I think she maybe just thought she needed to make a statement and get it into the record.
So now you have your steam room, sauna, gardens, art studios…when do I get to move in?
Exactly. We're not age-restricted, and I think that's really a critical piece. You know, one of the things people never think about too is what happens when people have physical or medical challenges, where they don't have them consistently but have them sometimes, like if someone has MS and they're younger, and they have days that are good and days that are not good. And maybe they have a partner. It's important that this community meets the needs of both partners. And the wonderful thing about community is you call up and say, 'Look, will you be sure to look in, check in to make sure everyone's doing all right?' It's not any different than old-time communities used to be when families were in communities close to each other. This is about families of choice. This is about creating family to take care of ourselves and each other.
Is this the first community of its sort in the nation?
In the world.
