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What
does the POA really want? You
have read the many stories in the Bulletin over the years about various
issues in The Villages on which the POA has commented. Hopefully,
these stories have been seen within the context of the POA’s avowed
mission to be a watchdog of the developer and the various local government
units within our community. But,
the questions still remain: What does the POA ultimately want?
Why does it speak out on so many issues affecting Villagers?
Why doesn’t the POA Bulletin print more positive and softer
stories? The
POA Bulletin prints the hard stories because the ultimate objective of the
POA is to bring representative and democratic government to The Villages. We
have often said that if we could change just one thing here in The Villages,
it would be to require that the supervisors of the central districts (the
VCCDD and the SLCDD) stand for a popular election by all residents in the
administrative areas of those central districts. This
would solve many problems, not the least of which would be the detached and
increasingly contentious administration of the developer’s supervisors and
Mr. Pete Wahl. The
current situation is that the developer effectively appoints those
supervisors. He has gerrymandered the boundaries of those central
districts so that no residents live within the districts.
Thus, the developer is able to continue appointing the supervisors,
perhaps forever. And, it is
legal based on Chapter 190, the Florida law passed in 1980 that authorized
and continues to regulate CDDs (Community Development Districts). Chapter 190 has a conflict of interest exemption for
developers and their employees. However,
it is morally wrong for the developer to disenfranchise Villagers in their
own community. Americans have a
right to vote – but, we are denied that right here in The Villages. The
developer’s hand-selected supervisors collect our monthly fees and they
spend our monthly fees. All of
this without approval of residents. This
is equivalent to the Taxation without Representation issue that plagued the
early colonists under British rule in eighteenth century America and led to
the American Revolution. In
almost all the states, cities, and counties of the U.S., citizens have the
right to elect their governmental officials.
If the citizens don’t think their elected officials are responsive
to the electorate, voters can throw them out in the next election.
Not so in The Villages. In
most of the states, cities, and counties of the U.S., residents can often
vote in referendums about big spending plans for projects like sports
stadiums, municipal buildings, roads, etc.
Not so in The Villages. As
a matter of fact, the hand-appointed supervisors of the developer have spent
roughly $1 billion in the VCCDD administration area north of highway 466 on
the purchase of common property from the developer.
All of this without resident approval.
And,
residents are obligated to repay the bonds issued for these purchases, whether
they like it or not. And,
the supervisors purchase these properties from the very developer who
appointed them in the first place. Does
this sound like a conflict of interest to you? This
surely doesn’t sound like the ideal of American democratic and
representative government where Residents’ Rights are respected and
government is responsive to the needs and interests of its citizens. What
we have here is a situation where the developers says: Just pay your monthly
fees; let me make the decisions; and don’t rock the boat with questionable
comments about Taxation Without Representation or being Disenfranchised. Just be happy! The
POA wants to change the process in the central districts so that residents
elect the supervisors who make all the big money decisions in our community.
After all, it is our community now – not the developer’s. Residents
should be able to control their own destiny.
We need Home Rule. What
you can do is to make sure that you, your neighbors and friends are members of
the POA and support our activities. The
bigger we get, the stronger we get, the better able we are to champion your
Residents’ Rights. Actually,
you don’t even have to come to our monthly meetings.
It is enough for you to study and understand the issues, speak up for
us when you can, and support our activities.
We
will have more information in the near future about a Fund Raising effort in
which we plan to build a Legal Action Fund.
We need the capability to pursue legal action whenever needed for these
issues. So, please stay tuned and help us with this effort if you
can. As a final point, just remember: This is your community now,
and you should have the vote. J The
POA Board of Directors encourages all residents to attend the CDD Orientation
Meetings to learn what CDDs are, how they work, and how they are established. We
suggest that you listen first and ask questions second.
Some questions you might ask in one of these meetings are listed below. 1.
Why have the developer and the sales staff failed to disclose pertinent
financial risks to prospective buyers? Examples
include the hold harmless agreements on wet retention ponds on private golf
courses; paying roadside maintenance on county road 42 when most of the land
abutting it is owned by the developer and not CDD4; failure to advise Marion
county residents that they must pay to maintain all of the roads in CDD4
except Buena Vista Boulevard. 2.
Why did the developer put very few dry retention ponds in the numbered
CDDs north of route 466? Dry
ponds, not requiring expensive liners, would have been better than wet ponds
which require expensive liners. Was
it ethical for the developer to put in wet ponds for use by the numbered CDDs
on his privately owned golf course and then make the CDD residents pay to
maintain them? The developer
needed the wet ponds for irrigation, and aesthetics for his golf course, and
it increased the surrounding home site values.
(The biggest expense in repairing sinkhole damages is repairing and or
replacing the liner needed for a wet pond.) 3.
Did the developer use the CDD bond money to grade and build
infrastructure for his golf courses, and country club and maintenance facilities
which are NOT located within the boundaries of the CDDs?
(When the developer petitioned to establish the numbered CDDs he created
them around his golf courses -- he intentionally did not include the golf course
properties in the CDDs -- most likely so his property would not be assessed part
of the infrastructure bond debt.) If
he paid separately for said grading and building, where can you find the
separate accounting to verify this? If
he did not, was this legal since these properties were not in the CDD??? 4.
Statute 190 allows for developer appointed supervisors to be exempt from
the conflict of interest requirement for public officials, but it does not
relieve them of their ethical and fiduciary responsibilities.
The developer appointed supervisors appear to often violate these ethical
and fiduciary responsibilities because they do not act on what is in the best
interest of the current or future residents.
When will residents get to vote on supervisors for the VCCDD or SLCDD? 5.
The covenants we all signed with the developer cover the recreational
facilities. How do you define
recreation facilities? Why are the
recreation trails – as so described in the developer literature – not
maintained with amenity fee money as promised in the covenants? 6.
How do you define a “gated community” when over 1500 workers been
given gate passes? Why does the
developer continue to advertise falsely? 7.
Who pays for the nightly “free entertainment” in the squares?
Who will pay for it when the developer completes build out? 8.
Why does the developer still have control over the Villages
entertainment, including the shows at the Savannah Center and all of the
receipts from them? Why does the
VCCDD, which “owns” the Savannah Center, not charge appropriate rates for
use of the “theater” and receive a percentage of ticket sales as is usually
done in the theater industry? You
figure it out – the developer, who is the primary user, pays less than $125
per hour to rent the Savannah Center theater! The
developer needs to PLAY FAIR. We
want to be proud of the developer and staff for what they have provided rather
than feel compelled to complain about all the ways the developer avoids the
intent of Statute 190 and takes advantage of us financially.
IT’S
NOT TOO LATE TO MAKE AMENDS. THINGS
LIKE THE HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENTS ON THE GOLF COURSE RETENTION PONDS CAN BE
MODIFIED!!!
J
While
it is every newspaper publisher’s prerogative to set the political tone of
his newspaper, it is not within a publisher’s right to mislead the public. I believe Villagers are being misled by The Villages media in
its coverage of the political campaigns of Jim Roberts and Joey Chandler for
Sumter County Commissioner. The
Villages media is calling for Villagers to line up against Commissioners
Roberts and Chandler. The
media, owned by the developer, is trying once again to lead us in a
campaign, now against two men who have worked so hard on this county’s
behalf. Chandler
and Roberts were against the One Sumter initiative two years ago, and I
disagreed with them on this initiative.
But The Daily Sun and VNN seem to be trying to turn their belief in
single district representation into some sort of conspiracy against the laws
of nature, and that their belief that representation by districts as used by
the Federal government and the State of Florida in their respective
legislatures is somehow repressing our Constitutional rights.
(There was no hesitation in The Villages VCCDDs’ attempt at
suppressing our First Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly, or
in the VCCDDs’ infringement of our protection from taxation without
representation.) Could
it be that the media is not telling us that the real reasons for the
developer’s opposition to Roberts and Chandler have more to do with: 1.
Their opposition to the developer’s request for a variance from
county code to reduce the distance between homes from 20 to 10 feet?
(Editor’s note: This situation poses a fire hazard where closely-packed
homes exist. But, more homes
can be built per acre.) 2.
Their opposition to his request for a variance from county code for
the reduction of the radius of cul-de-sacs? (Editor’s note: This poses a
safety risk where emergency vehicles might not be able to turn around in
reduced-radius cul-de-sacs. But,
more homes can be built per acre.) 3.
Their opposition to granting his request to build 32,000 homes (south
of highway 466)? Roberts and
Chandler did not oppose this development, but rather wanted to ensure that
the support infrastructure would be there and that there would be sufficient
commercial enterprises to help offset dependency on property taxes alone to
fund services. So the
commissioners crafted a consensus to allow construction of 11,000 homes with
a decision on the next 11,000 pending on the level of impact on roads,
water, environment and the construction of commercial properties.
Upon completion of the first 22,000 homes the option on the last
10,000 will depend again on the same level of impact.
I call this intelligent planning for the future. 4.
Their opposition to the developer’s submitted plan to build just
one centrally-located fire station to serve all 32,000 homes?
I submit that the owners in the Marion County portion of The Villages
wish that the Marion County BOCC has been so wise. 5.
Their opposition to a project backed by the developer to change
county ordinances to allow density changes from 8 units an acre to 16 units
per acre? I
ask your thoughtfulness before your vote this fall.
It would be well to attend a BOCC meeting, and see all the numerous
items that come before them, all the oversight they must assume, and then
ask yourself if you would want to take on such a monumental task.
Let’s not hurry to line up behind the developer or anyone else to
eliminate these two men as Sumter County commissioners.
Instead, we should be in line to thank them for their efforts on our
behalf. (Editor’s
note: The reader should also remember two additional points on which
Commissioners Roberts and Chandler opposed plans of the developer which were
detrimental to the residents of The Villages, as follows: (Commissioner
Roberts insisted that the developer build a library in Sumter County south
of highway 466, as he had promised to do in the original plans for the
development. The developer
wanted to renege on the promise and have Sumter County pay for and build the
library. The Daily Sun demonized Roberts when he insisted that the
developer honor his original promise. The
Daily Sun was almost vicious in it condemnation of Roberts.
But, the developer built the library. (Roberts
and Chandler also opposed the plans, favored by the developer, to build over
1,000 high-density, low-income apartments on the west side of highway 101
just north of highway 466. Villagers
close to the planned apartments opposed this plan and Roberts and Chandler
agreed with them. The two
commissioners were characterized by the Daily Sun as standing in the way of
development and were denigrated for their stand. (Roberts
and Chandler haven’t always made decisions popular with Villagers.
But, they seem to make honest and responsible decisions with
everybody’s best interests in mind. They
certainly don’t deserve the name-calling and mud-slinging that the Daily Sun
seems to especially delight in throwing at them.)
J The
ads on TV for The Villages laud all of the advantages of living here.
Among the many advantages are full membership in eight country clubs. Yes,
just like back home where the country clubs were expensive and restricted to
members. They had nice golf
courses, club houses, restaurants, tennis courts, swimming pools, etc. Nice, but expensive to join and monthly fees were high.
And, you had to be a member in order to use the facilities. But,
here in The Villages, you are a member by virtue of your residency. Well,
maybe not a full member. Here
you are a member of the country clubs – but, you can’t use the pools or
tennis courts unless you pay an additional membership fee. Maybe
the ads on TV about being a member of all those country clubs aren’t really
true – unless you pay extra. Perhaps
we have been mislead by the developer shading the truth in those ads! Gosh,
we are shocked, just shocked!
J We
have expressed our disappointment with the VHA many times in the recent
past. The
VHA just doesn’t stand up for Residents’ Rights as a homeowners’
association should. For
example, on the cost of the repair of the sinkhole on the Nancy Lopez golf
course, the POA spoke out saying that the developer should pay about
$120,000 of that repair. The
developer only paid about $20,000, or $100,000 short.
The VHA never said anything about that issue.
We
continue to believe that if the VHA had stood with us and supported the
position of the POA, the developer might well have acknowledged our united
stand and paid what was right. But,
the VHA didn’t support our position, and the developer stiffed CDD4 for
$100,000. As
another example of the VHA not supporting Residents’ Rights, we cite them
for their comments on the recently aborted Activity Policy of Mr. Pete Wahl
and the central districts. Remember,
this Activity Policy was passed and then rescinded when resident pressure
pointed out that the policy was an infringement of our Constitutional
freedoms of speech and assembly. We
think most residents acknowledged and agreed with this position. The
VHA president, Mr. Doug Tharp, however, was reported as saying in a Leesburg
Daily Commercial article on January 6, 2006, that the policy was a “good
policy.” In
this same article, Joe Gorman, POA president, was quoted as saying that the
policy was “restrictive and oppressive.”
Mr. Tharp disagreed with Gorman’s comment. When
the policy was quickly rescinded, Mr. Tharp wrote in the March issue of the
VHA newspaper that the rescission was “a wise decision.” These
are the problems with Mr. Tharp and the VHA: They blindly support the
developer and the central districts – then speak out of the other side of
their mouth and say something expedient when that suits their purposes. If
Mr. Tharp had a principled view of life in The Villages, he wouldn’t have
flipped-flopped on this issue of whether the Activity Policy was good or bad.
Perhaps he still doesn’t know. But,
we Villagers know. Mr.
Tharp should think before speaking.
J Pete
Wahl, district administrator of The Villages, wrote in his March 23 column
that: “One of the most important things you can do as you take up residence
in The Villages is register to vote.” He
continues: “...any voter will be allowed to select the candidate of your
choice....” Mr.
Wahl is correct that we should take this responsibility seriously and exercise
this right to vote. However,
Mr. Wahl doesn’t tell you that in The Villages you can’t vote for the
supervisors of the two central government districts (the VCCDD and the SLCDD)
that make all of the big money decisions here.
These supervisors collect your monthly fee, spend your money, and do so
without any recourse to voters. These
supervisors are basically appointed by the developer – you have no say in
their election. So,
Mr. Wahl is right that you should take seriously your responsibility to vote
for your residential CDD
supervisors and your county or town commissioners.
But, don’t kid yourself – you don’t get to vote for the most
important decision-makers in this community – the central district
supervisors. And, don’t worry
about any of their big spending plans – you don’t get to vote in a
referendum for big spending as you used to back home. Mr.
Wahl conveniently forgets to tell you about this.
And, he hopes you don’t know enough to ask.
In doing this, Mr. Wahl does a great disservice to Villagers. This
situation exists because the developer has cleverly gerrymandered the
boundaries of the central districts so that no residents live there.
Because of this, the developer can continue to elect his chosen
supervisors. These supervisors,
friendly to the developer, are often his employees, business associates, and
friends. And, you don’t get to
vote.
J Some
of our local restaurants and other businesses may have to cut service due to
sluggish sales. Villagers,
don’t let this happen! Support
these local businesses whenever you can. If
we lose businesses, then we all lose. It
is great to live in The Villages where many of these businesses are a golf cart
ride away. So,
shop local – support your hometown merchants.
If you plan a night out, go to a movie, or shop, do it where you live and
help keep your local shopping areas viable.
J There
is a serious problem with the executive golf program in The Villages – there
is just not enough capacity during the high season from Thanksgiving to
Easter. The
problem manifests itself with denied reservation requests for significant
numbers of Villagers who sometimes have just a few points.
Some Villagers are only able to get reservations for one play a week,
sometimes not even that. What’s
the problem? There
are several answers: First,
the developer has just not kept up with the influx of new residents by
building enough executive golf courses. With
400-500 new residents moving into The Villages every month, the old formula of
two new executive courses a year is no longer valid.
It looks to us like two to three new executive courses a year should
now be the minimum requirement. Second,
the only new executive courses over the past year, the Bogart/Bacall
combination, has converted to 9 hole play too late.
Until just recently, it was playing as only a 18 hole course, thus
aggravating the shortage. The
golf division should never have played this course as a single 18 hole course
given the shortage of available 9 hole tee-times. Third,
many championship course players are irritated with the autocratic and
unpopular greens fee increases pushed through by the golf division going back
to last year. Many of these
players cut costs by playing at least once a week on the executive courses,
thus putting more strain on available tee times. Fourth,
the increasing numbers of younger and earlier retirees seem to be playing golf
in greater numbers and higher percentages than used to be the case years ago. Fifth,
the push by The Villages Sales Division is attracting more and more
“guests” to our community to “sample the lifestyle.”
Many of these people want to play golf and do so on a priority basis
for free. These golfers
effectively displace residents paying monthly amenity fees to maintain the
executive courses in the first place. So,
what should be done? The
best way to address this problem would be to restrict guests and lifestyle
samplers to one round of golf per week during this high season.
We are sure that The Villages Sales Department will not like this –
but, Villagers don’t like being denied reservations on our courses when we
are the ones paying to maintain the courses in the first place. Furthermore,
the developer should accelerate the development of executive courses and plan
on at least three new courses a year. Let’s
get ahead of the demand curve instead of playing catch-up each year with all
of the reservation-denial problems that we are experiencing now.
J We
are pleased to announce the promotion of Bill Garner to the position of Vice
President and Treasurer of the POA. Bill
has been Treasurer for over two years and will also continue in that role.
In
his new position, Bill will be responsible for a variety of important projects
relating to local government issues, developer-related issues, resident
activities, public relations and membership, finance and treasury functions,
etc. Bill is looking for volunteers to help on various committees.
Bill will also be the main back-up to Joe Gorman as president. One
of the projects that Bill has been working on is the drive to sign up new
members. The POA has just passed the 3,500 member mark and we are
looking forward to even more sign-ups under Bill’s direction. Please
offer Bill your congratulations and support when you next see him. And, ask him about how you might participate in POA
activities on the various committees.
J At
the March 3 VCCDD meeting approximately 200 people showed up in support of the
annual Christmas Parade. This is
a large of number Village residents attending a VCCDD meeting.
The
VCCDD announced the formation of a special Christmas Parade committee
consisting of Village residents, the VCCDD, Village Entertainment Department
and security. The committee’s task will be to work with local sponsors of
a parade to insure that requirements for float size, number of participants,
staging areas, special requirements, etc., are followed. It
is time for clubs to unite with the POA to resolve common problems affecting
The Village residents. You as a
Village resident can help by joining the POA, so that the POA and other clubs
can continue to resolve these problems that are a Residents’ Right. We believe it is a Residents’ Right for residents to speak
out on these issues in their community. The
POA had informed the VCCDD prior to the meeting that there would be an
overflow crowd. No effort was made to reschedule the meeting into a larger
room. More than half of the
people had to stand outside where they could not hear what was being said.
In the future, we recommend the VCCDD schedule their meetings in a
larger room. Every effort is
being made to get more residents to attend these meetings. For
the meeting, Mr. Wahl requested that the Sumter County Sheriff send a patrol
car with officers to the VCCDD meeting in a cynical effort to intimidate
residents in case of any trouble. This
again shows that Mr. Wahl has lost touch with residents and has become
increasingly combative in dealing with what he probably perceives as threats
to his autocratic methods. The
Lions Club ran the annual Christmas Parade here in the Villages for many
years. They did an excellent job and the people loved the parade.
The profits went to charity and everyone was happy.
The Lions Club does a great job in many communities and has a very good
reputation throughout the USA. They
know how to run a Christmas Parade. So,
let’s have them be a part of our community and run our Christmas Parades in
the future.
J $200,000
and counting. That
is the amount that the developer has stiffed CDD4 on for expenses that the
developer should have paid. CDD4
residents have to make up the difference by assessments. First,
it was the cost of the sinkhole repair on a Nancy Lopez pond.
The developer should have paid about $120,000 – but only paid about
$20,000. CDD4 gets stiffed on
$100,000. Then,
it was the roadside maintenance on highway 42 where a contract entered into by
the developer, with himself on both sides of the contract, that obligated CDD4
to pay more than $100,000 over three years for maintenance that should have
been paid for by the developer. Now
that this error has surfaced, the developer declines to pay for the erroneous
CDD4 payments in these past years. CDD4
gets stiffed for another $100,000. What’s
next? And,
if you live in another CDD, hold on to your pocketbook.
You might be next.
J The
POA Bulletin reported in February about the Disclosure Reform bill that we
submitted to Senator Baker and Representative Gibson for consideration in this
year’s session of the Florida Legislature.
Details of that bill can be seen on our website in the Bulletin
Archives section, February, 2006. Unfortunately,
we don’t hold up much hope for action on the bill this year. Senator
Baker said that he was working on over 80 bills that he felt had a higher
priority than our Disclosure bill. Representative
Gibson said that House rules limit a representative to submission of only six
bills a session, and that he had already submitted his limit with some
important health care bills. So,
faint hope for the bill this year. But,
we are gearing up for the try next session. We
should point out that we talked with Mr. Robert Thompson who is challenging
Representative Gibson for his seat in the legislature in the upcoming November
election. Mr. Thompson likes the Disclosure Reform bill often talks
about it with local groups. He
says that if elected he will definitely consider sponsoring it in the
Legislature next session. We
have also had contact with other CDDs across the state and plan to work with
these CDD officials in an effort to develop broader grass-roots support.
J Jeers
- To the resident who recently tried to sneak his visiting daughter onto the
De La Vista golf course (guests not allowed), posing her as his wife without
her Villages ID card. Thankfully,
the ambassadors realized the deception and escorted the couple off the course. Cheers to the ambassadors.
Jeers to anyone trying to dodge the rules. Cheers
- To residents who have their lawns fertilized and then remove the extra
granules of the fertilizer remaining on the street.
Left on the street, these granules eventually wash into our ponds and
accelerate the growth of algae that clogs the ponds.
So, make sure that you brush or blow the excess street granules back
onto your lawn. Jeers
- To Tony Simpson, head of executive golf, for his comments that the greens at
the Hill Top golf course were “inspired” by those in Pinehurst, NC.
Mr. Simpson must have been playing a putt-putt course in Pinehurst or
smoking the Hill Top score cards. Cheers
- To exercise walkers on streets who, when seeing a dangerous situation
approaching them, will step up on the grass, off the roadway, to allow more
room for cars or carts to pass. Jeers
- To Pete Wahl for explaining why the central districts don’t put out press
releases to explain important news like the purchase of common properties from
the developer. Carefully prepared
press releases would insure good information is provided for news stories in
local newspapers. Mr. Wahl,
however, nixed the idea saying that those stories are “not important
enough.” Cheers
- We have noticed many residents walking around common areas with bags in hand
to pick up litter. It is great to
see residents helping out whenever they can.
Keep up the good work, folks! Jeers
- To the phone book companies for sending us all those phone books. Why not
put the directory on a CD disk for those of us with computers?
Might save some trees. Jeers
- To the various county and state highway departments responsible for traffic
control around The Villages. Something
has to be done about the heavy traffic flows regardless of the snowbird issue. It is obvious that highway 441/27 needs further widening.
And, highway 466 is showing the strain. Cheers
- To everybody who came to the March VCCDD meeting to support the idea of
having a Christmas parade this year. See,
resident action can make a difference.
· Thank you for the information you provide us with. ·
Don’t like the cut back on Taxi service. And the shuttle service still has a
long gap at Orlando from 6:30-9:15 p.m. ·
Is this survey going to do any good for us? What is going to happen to this
survey? Will any improvements come about from this? ·
Why not recycle? ·
Why can’t the POA come up with any constructive ideas? ·
The VCCDD should pay to WIDEN golf cart paths on B.V., El Camino - that’s what
we pay amenities for! The paths are too narrow and dangerous. Make more pools
“Adults Only” (No Kids). Idea of Mail Delivery to Homes rather than to a
Postal Station: Leave mail at post stations - no ugly mail boxes at homes,
please. ·
Life here is good – However, consider: 1. bringing back Bichara’s Bakery
2. Bringing back buffalo in back of Albertsons 3. Bringing back FREE
Neighborhood Watch 4. Village officials should comment and respond to all
publications – otherwise integrity is weakened if only from one source.
The Villages District Manager, Mr. Pete Wahl: District Manager was
crossed out and Emperor was inserted. ·
We Resent paying $700 per year School Tax. Never had a child in Florida
School and at 80-years-old, we never will. This is a lot of money out of our
pensions and we receive no benefits. ·
Is there no legal way to deal with some of these inadequacies? The
developer’s control of governmental issues, regarding the issue you
discussed in this edition – “Taxing without Representation” seems to
me we started this country over that issue. ·
Above valuations could be increased if the developer and or Morse Foundation
had less control. We need more Handicapped Parking spaces around the
Squares. It appears the developer does not care to acknowledge the number of
handicapped residents living in our senior citizen development. ·
We are fearful of Gary Morse’s greed compared to Mr. Schwartz’s dream
for an affordable retirement community for the average working men/women. ·
Why is the “official” postal zone given as Lady Lake, FL? The population
here in The Villages exceeds all of Lady Lake. The Villages should have, and
deserve their own postal zone! ·
The entire workings of The Villages needs new faces with new ideas, not
approved by the developer. This is no longer a resident community, but a
piggy bank for the Morse family. ·
Hotel behind Rialto took away parking downtown. Plenty of land on 466 for
hotels. ·
Put camera on gates to ID plate #. All visitors to go to visitors’ gate,
not push buttons (Marion County) as this ties up traffic at gates. ·
Why wasn’t there a deal made for a really good price for cable? We have
great purchasing power! Short time we are here it seems like pigs at a
feeding trough. And we’re the trough! ·
The Property Owners’ Association (POA), in General: Too negative. The POA
Newsletter, The Bulletin: Too negative. ·
I am not a member of the POA right now, but plan to be and will no longer
belong to VHA. ·
No input from residents on major decisions. Impeach Wahl on his stupidity
regarding Christmas decision. ·
All is lovely here at The Villages. Proud to say I live here! ·
Village residents should have more say in businesses coming into The
Villages: stores and restaurants. Better
choice to join VHA or POA. Thank you. Keep up good reporting. ·
I love it here in The Villages and recognize that it does cost some money to
help pay for the exceptional lifestyle we enjoy. I do not object to the
developers making money - that’s business. While The Sun may be a bit too
rosy sometimes—I find the alternate publications always negative. ·
John Rohan’s accountability for recreation facility operations: No redress
is possible when there are continuing problems. Therefore, the requests of
Villagers continue to be ignored. John never accepts responsibility, and
residents are victimized. ·
I would not have bought a home here, if I knew that we kept getting more
taxes and assessments and amenities keep going up for us with fixed incomes! ·
As a snowbird for the last 10 years, we do not always get the info or
reasoning on many of the changes we see when we return in the fall. Like why
do we have a charter school and high school? Who paid for those facilities
and who supports their existence? ·
There should be rules of the road for golf carts. Sticker for each
registered and a fee of $10. This could pay for golf cart paths. ·
Water – rates exceedingly high and usage undistinguishable. Amenity fee –
increasing while services and holiday decorations/parades decreasing. Free
programs being eliminated. Bond
– seems to be a means to tax the property owners for development rather than
the builder (developer). In most states, when you buy a home your local taxes
include road,/sewer, etc. services. All the community shares in costs, not
just a particular locale. ·
Someone needs to explain how the local government will take over after
Villages builds out. ·
I’ve lived here 3 years and the changes have been TRAUMATIC!!
How can the home prices and bond go up so much!?!? Ridiculous. The cost
of lumber, etc. hasn’t gone up that much. Money hungry!! ·
The hotel being built at the Square is a greedy venture without concern for
residents need for parking (already in a bad state). The idea of the added car
traffic and lack of respect for residents using this area is pathetic. ·
We very much need a golf cart accessible post office in Sumter County. At the
very least, a mail box in the shopping center, with two pick ups, with the
mail routed the same way as Oxford P.O. (much quicker). ·
No place is perfect, but The Villages is a great place to live... The POA
Newsletter: Often sarcastic. The VHA Newspaper, The Villages Voice: Biased.
Idea of turning Chula Vista into a Recreation Center: Don’t need it. ·
It is safer to have mail at the postal station. I wish Comcast TV was better,
it’s poor! ·
Every organized living community has some problems but The Villages is well
run and continues to add many new amenities for the residents. ·
Paying extra for priority pools only to have children (only semi-supervised)
knock you down - run and scream - upset people. Pool monitors seem afraid to
act. ·
· · To be continued.......
J Third
Wednesday of the Month – 7:00 p.m. Hacienda
Recreation Center Town
of Lady Lake Officials in a Town Hall Question
& Answer Session; Also,
Presentation by Tropical Roofing
COFFEE
AND DONUTS FOR
ALL AFTER THE MEETING ALL
RESIDENTS WELCOME – COME AND JOIN US
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