COURTESY : The Orlando Sentinel
By Lisa Emmerich
Published June 16, 2004 

THE VILLAGES 

Residents in The Villages are happy with the community's image and safety services, but unhappy with traffic, the local newspaper and the conditions of some golf courses, according to a recent survey.

The survey, conducted by The Property Owners Association, asked more than 500 residents what they thought about 30 services, ranging from government to golf. Residents rated the services from 1 to 10. The scale labeled a score of 3.9 or below as disastrous, 5.9 or below as poor, 8.9 and below good and above 9.0 excellent. This is the second year the POA has surveyed residents.

POA president Joe Gorman said Villages government and development officials should pay attention to the results of the survey because they point to residents' concerns. He said the survey results were mixed, with some areas of great disappointment.

Among the results:

• Landscaping, cleanliness and entertainment all ranked in the good category. Fire and emergency medical services ranked near excellent at 8.9 and 8.8. Gorman said those scores reflected the professionalism and good service on the part of those departments.
  
  "We should take our hats off to them and say, 'Job well done,' " he said.
  
• The government arm of The Villages ranked 5.0 or below in three categories -- the center district, district administrator Pete Wahl's performance and overall local government. Gorman called those results a shame, saying residents should be proud of their government and see it as a force of good. Wahl did not return calls for comment Friday.
  
• In the golf category, executive-course conditions earned the highest marks with a 6.9 while champion-course greens fees rounded out the bottom of the survey with a 3.4. Residents also weren't pleased with the condition of the champion courses, assigning a score of 5.6. The golf scores were down from an average of 7.3 in 2003. That could be attributed to rising fees -- a perennial area of complaint, Gorman said.
  
• The focus of a push for a new tax district, The Villages Hospital scored only a 5.8, or poor. Hospital officials say the institution badly needs to grow to properly serve the community, and they need the tax district to fund expansion. Gorman said the hospital was seen as "a jewel" when it opened two years ago, but hasn't lived up to expectations.
  
  "I think people were thrilled when the hospital first opened," he said. "Since then we have these horror stories about what's going on in the emergency room, and we have the tax up for consideration. A lot of people are upset with that tax because they feel like this is a grab on the part of the hospital for public funds. It's difficult to believe that the hospital can't make a go of it in this area of high demand and favorable demographics."
  
• The developer-owned Villages' radio and television stations both earned "good" rankings at 7.0 and 6.2. The Daily Sun newspaper earned a 5.9 while the newspaper's objectivity ranked a poor 4.0.
  
  "That confirms something we've known for a long time, and that's that people are upset with what they believe to be slanted reporting," Gorman said.