The developer hasn’t completed the build-out of the properties south of highway 466 and doesn’t want a resident board voting on, or perhaps vetoing, the sale of those properties to the SLCDD at inflated prices.

In the VCCDD area, we estimate the total value of the bond debt assumed by residents and the related interest at over $500 million.  The tab for south of highway 466 could easily top $1 billion.  Residents are required to pay off those bonds out of their monthly amenity fees.  Residents cannot approve or reject this requirement.

The developer might eventually allow a RAC for the south side – but, not for another five or so years until the full build-out.

So, south side residents appear doomed to be second-class citizens until then with no effective voice in the big decisions made for them by the developer’s hand-appointed supervisors on the SLCDD.  This is their Taxation Without Representation.

However, it doesn’t have to be that way. 

South side residents might be able to get a RAC for themselves if they loudly demand to have this voice in their community now.  An accommodation with the developer over common facilities might be possible to balance the interests of both parties. 

But, residents have to speak up and let the SLCDD know that residents demand this role in decision-making now.  If SLCDD residents want to vote on this, they can schedule it for November, 2008, when the county’s election apparatus will be in place.

The place for residents to speak up is at the SLCDD meeting on the second Friday of the month at 8:00 a.m. in the district offices in Laurel Manor.  Also, at your individual residential CDD meeting (see day and time schedule in this Bulletin).

The RAC meeting, open to all residents, both north and south of highway 466, meets on the Wednesday before the second Friday of the month in the district offices on Wedgewood Lane .

In summary, south side residents can have a voice in decision-making in their community.  But, this won’t be handed to them on a silver platter.  Residents will have to speak up and fight for their own RAC.  Until then, they will continue to be second-class citizens.  And, they will continue to suffer “Taxation Without Representation.”         

Good news! The Village Greens organization recently had a conversation with Gary Moyer, VP of Development for the developer, about the recycling program that has been under consideration for us here in The Villages. Well, it looks like it is going to happen!

The latest news is that the Wildwood transfer station has been completed and they are just awaiting approval from the Department of Environmental Protection to start operating. If every thing moves along as planned, we could be recycling at curbside by Thanksgiving. 

The method is called, “single stream recycling”. What that means to you and me is that once a week we will fill a clear plastic bag with all of our recyclable items and place it at the end of our driveways. Glass, soda cans, cardboard, paper, newspaper, food cans, plastic containers; all in one bag.

The bags will be picked up, taken to Wildwood, placed in larger trucks and transferred to Orlando where the contents will be sorted in a state-of-the-arts “murfing” facility. The contents will be separated, bailed and then sold to vendors whose business is marketing the material and/or recycling.

It has not been definitely decided as of this writing, but anticipate a small (less than $2.00) monthly increase in your trash pickup bill. That sounds pretty reasonable to me. I have been lugging my recyclables to the Rolling Acres collection station every week. This service will be far easier and cost me less in gas running back and forth weekly.

We have fought long and hard for recycling to come to The Villages. Once it gets here let’s all enthusiastically be part of it. 

If all of us get behind this we can make an enormous difference in helping clean up our planet. We will be protecting our resources, our environment, and our quality of life. 

The Environmental Expo put on by the Village Greens in October was a smashing success. There were over 1400 people that attended this first Expo, and the Village Greens signed up 52 new members bringing this young club’s membership to close to three hundred in just seven months. 

The next Village Greens meeting is November 28th at 6:30 p.m. at the Laurel Manor Recreation Center. We will be showing a film on Solar Power.
For more information, contact me, Sue Michalson, at 259-1426. 

The next POA general membership meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 21, in the Laurel Manor Recreation Center at 7:00 p.m.

A spokesman from the Performing Arts Alliance will explain the plans for the proposed Performing Arts Center .  Annual elections for POA officers and directors will be held.  This will be the POA Annual Meeting.

We also plan to provide an update on the activities of the Vinyl Siding Committee.

If you haven’t been to one of our meetings in the past, please join us on November 21, the evening before Thanksgiving.  Coffee and donuts afterwards make for a nice social time.  And, the discussions and opportunity to meet fellow Villagers add up to a thought-provoking and interesting evening

There are several director slots open.  Additional nominations can be made at the meeting or before.  Anyone wishing to consider running for an officer or director slot should call Joe Gorman at 259-0999 before the meeting for more information.   

Just a short reminder about the nominations for the POA Hall of Fame.  Nominations are due by the end of November.  A final decision will be made by the POA Board of Directors in early December.  The Hall of Fame honorees will be identified at the December 19 meeting when they will be formally inducted in the Hall of Fame.

So, if you have any person(s) you wish to nominate for this honor, ask Joe Gorman (259-0999) for the Nomination Form.  Also, contact Frank Renner, chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee, at 750-0306.  And, with time running out, please do it sooner rather than later.      

Jeers - To Roger Kass, president of the VHA, for refusing to resign over his conflict of interests regarding the ongoing Vinyl Siding controversy.        

The POA has a Forum on its website. 

A Forum is a cyberspace meeting place where residents can leave comments on any topic they wish to comment on.  

If you want to comment on the new Resident Advisory Council, you can do so on the POA Forum.

If you want to comment on the second-class status of residents on the south side, you can do so on the POA Forum.

If you want to start a new topic, you can do so on the POA Forum.

Just go to the POA website, click on the POA Forum, and follow the directions.  Select a topic, review the previous comments, and then, if you want to, leave your own comments.  Start a new topic if you want to.

So, if you have something on your mind that you want to talk about, the POA Forum is the place for you.  Or, if you just want to see what your neighbors are saying, the POA Forum is still the place for you.

Give it a try at www.poa4us.org .        

The homeowner informed our Committee member that the contractor’s representative had come by and, without spending any substantial time looking over the house, told her there was nothing wrong with her siding, that it was all fixed before her closing.  She wanted a second opinion.

The Committee member’s list of observations was quite lengthy, and included the following items:

Panels not lapped 1-1/4” (many lapped 3”);

J-Channel resting on shingles, and very wavy J-Channel;

Short panels; Damaged panels;

Panels not in the lock on the front porch;

A very large belly on the rear of the home;

3 bellies on one long side of the home;

and more...

Why would a contractor’s rep tell this homeowner that everything had been fixed, everything is OK, and yet these flaws are easily noted within a few minutes of looking at her home?

As we have suggested in previous issues of The Bulletin, every homeowner should look down the length of their home from the front corners and from the back corners.  Look carefully.  Many problems are easily spotted this way.  Look for bulges (bellies) and panels that are wavy instead of straight. 

We have noted these problems in many neighborhoods, lately in Crestwood and Holly Hills , where many new owners are questioning the quality of the workmanship.

From what we understand these Villas were built by Dodd McDowell.

Villages residents need to be able to trust their builders (contractors and subcontractors) to be honest about evaluating and repairing siding problems, not just minimize homeowners’ concerns about these problems.  Contractors need to realize that these issues are not resolved by denials or halfway fixes. Home buyers in The Villages want, and deserve to have, properly constructed homes.

We again suggest that any resident that has a concern about their siding installation request that a Committee member look at their home, or have an independent Home Inspector do a more thorough examination and document the problems found. 

If you recall the lesson of the fox guarding the hen house, it may not be wise to rely solely on the builder’s opinion as to whether any repairs or corrections are needed.

Conversely, our Committee members are retirees from the construction industry, who are your neighbors and have nothing to gain, and who have volunteered to share their knowledge and experience by showing other homeowners what they see.

However, we must all continue to be vigilant in watching the way the installations are being done to make sure they are indeed going by the book. We find some steps are being overlooked. For example, the Vinyl Siding Institute (V.S.I.) manual states on page 35, Step 5 (the italics have been added for emphasis):

“Install undersill trim under/over the window as a receiver for the cut siding.  Undersill trim is used any time the top lock or bottom lock has been removed from the siding.  Furring may be needed to maintain the face of the panel at the desired angle.”

Page 35, Step 6:

“Use a snap lock punch to place lugs in the cut edge of the panel every 6 inches.”

That’s SIX inches, NOT 24 inches as we have been finding.

Page 33, Step 7:

“When panels overlap, make sure they overlap approximately 1-1/4 inches.  Note: Overlap with factory cut ends whenever possible.  If you must use cut ends, duplicate the factory notches before installing.”

That’s 1-1/4 inches, NOT the 2-1/2 or 3 inches as we often find.

These are just a few of the proper installation steps that have been consistently ignored in the past and that we now hope will be consistently applied on all new siding installations, as well as on repairs.  For example, we will also expect to find finish trim where V.S.I. says it should be and to see staggered overlaps so that all seams are separated by at least 3 courses.

As for the “stepped” look, for best visual appearance it should be avoided.  Why would we not want our homes to look their best?  The contractors & subs did this shoddy work, let them fix it properly at their own cost, not ours.  Let them FAIRLY present the alternatives so the homeowners have the choice to have their house look its best.  We find that many owners are unaware that the siding did not have to be “stepped” in the first place.

Thank you again, Dean Carter and New Look Exteriors, for continuing to do the right thing.  They are the best contractor and the best siding contractor, from our observations. If the contractors and subs would all do the same, there would be no need for a Vinyl Siding Committee at all!

We hope that the workers and the contractors will now be able to take some pride in knowing the right way to do an installation and following through each and every time.  It would be great to just get this done right once and for all and not have to continue publishing all the inconsistencies.  Let’s make each step a step forward!

McDowell’s men re-sided my house TWICE, and even when they were finished for the second time there was a belly on the gable end that can be seen from the road. Why won’t they fix it? I paid for a complete home, not one with bellies. I paid the price they asked. They cashed my check. My check was good. They  took my money. But McDowell’s work is flawed and should be corrected without excuses and evasion.

I was told by Dodd McDowell and Rick Murray, the head of the contractors, that the framing was done according to code. At another time I was told by Mr. McDowell and his framer that they would give me the lumber and I could fix it myself. Am I to understand that framing with bellies is according to code? Are home buyers expected to make framing repairs themselves on new homes? Not where I come from. I am pursuing that question through the building inspector.

More importantly, why should I even have to argue and fight about this to get it resolved. Why isn’t the developer standing behind the product and requiring the builders to correct these defects? Many people have never been involved in construction and are not aware of many construction problems, but I do know the difference and I want my house done right!

I feel bad for anyone who purchased a Dodd McDowell house. If you have any problems with your home, you will probably have to do battle to get it taken care of, just like me. I feel let down by The Villages management who has allowed these siding and framing problems not only to occur, but to continue on and on, unresolved. I doubt Mr. Schwartz would ever have allowed this to happen. Now they are in such a hurry to make the sale and get the money, but don’t have the integrity to fix the problems that are pointed out. What a disappointment!

Home Warranty asks in a survey at the end of the first year if I would recommend The Villages to friends and relatives. Of course, the lifestyle and amenities are commendable, but certainly NOT the quality of the construction, particularly the construction on my McDowell home, as well as other homes I have observed as a Vinyl Siding Committee member. Nor could I recommend based on their willingness or ability to correct problems. Homeowners have to struggle to get repairs done correctly, often involving multiple visits from workers who do an inadequate or incomplete job. Some issues still have not been resolved on my home or on others’ homes. It should not be this way for new homeowners in The Villages.

I have heard that another contractor, Dean Carter, is much better at correcting the problems that are found. If he can do this, why won’t McDowell? Had I known about this before, I would have bought a Carter home. Why is Dodd McDowell still allowed to build in The Villages? We deserve better.

Vince Mazone Villages resident and

Currently, an independent Feasibility Study paid for by donations to the VPAA is underway which involves intensive interviews of about fifty community leaders by an outside consulting firm. Also underway is an on-line opinion survey. Thousands of Villages respondents are expected to take part in this survey.

The question is, would you yourself please participate? It will only take you a few minutes, and would be most helpful in determining whether the capital campaign goes forward.

To participate, please go to:  www.donovanmanagement.com/vpaa.htm

(Just type this web site address into your browser and hit “return” on your keyboard. Please note that vpaa.htm must be in lower case)

Your answers to the questions will be confidential. At the conclusion of the survey, only overall results will be reported.

Also, if you're interested in learning more about the VPAA, please visit their website at www.villagerspaa.org. Or, send an email to Tom Bender (tombethbender@comcast.net) asking him to email you the monthly VPAA newsletter.

P.S. You are cordially invited to attend the next VPAA Volunteers Meeting: 7 p.m. Monday, November 5, at Laurel Manor Recreation Center. They are in a campaign right now to add new volunteers. 

Also, a member of the VPAA will explain the effort to build a state-of-the-art Performing Arts Center in or close to The Villages at the monthly meeting of the POA on Wednesday, November 21, at the Laurel Manor Recreation Center at 7:00 p.m. 

In the most recent issue of the POA Bulletin someone suggested the use of compact fluorescent bulbs in the exterior post lamps in the Villages.  While these bulbs are a great way to go green the package states in the "! Caution" box that these bulbs are not to be used in lighting fixtures controlled by dimmers, electronic timers or photocells.  Our exterior post lamps are controlled by photocells therefore, these bulbs are not a viable option.

Sheila Buerkle

Editor’s Note: Some of the compact fluorescent bulbs cannot be used in conjunction with timers, photoelectric cells, or dimmers.  Some of the newer ones can be used in these applications.  Be sure to read the label and any cautions for directions on the specific use you are planning.             

Below is the Fourth POA Residents’ Survey.  All residents are asked to spend a few minutes filling out this form, but, please, just do it once.

Please rate each question with your opinion on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 would be your highest, best, or most satisfactory rating – all the way down to 1 which would be your lowest, worst, or least satisfying rating.  A rating of 5 would be an average, or middle-of-the-road, answer.  If you have no opinion or no information about a question, or it does not apply to you, please put in “NR” (No Rating) for that question.

Then, either bring this form to the next POA membership meeting or you can mail it to:  The POA Survey, P.O.Box 1657 , Lady Lake , FL 32158. 

Some residents have asked why the POA does its periodic POA Survey when The Villages already does an annual survey and publishes partial results in the Daily Sun.

A related question is why even do a survey when most residents are perfectly happy with The Villages and wouldn’t have moved here unless they were happy with what they saw.

On the first question, the POA has been disappointed with the annual survey done by The Villages.  It just seems like that survey misses the opportunity to address some of the hard issues of concern to residents.  We have often said that the survey seems to sidestep the important issues and whitewash the results of what is surveyed.  

The POA has come to view The Villages’ survey as much too general, incomplete, and lacking in enough details that can be measured on a continuing annual basis.

Hopefully, this POA Survey addresses some of these concerns.  Take a look at some of the questions listed on the right.  Don’t you think that we should be asking these questions, getting the answers, and doing something about any problems uncovered?

On the second question, we agree that most people are happy living here.  But, that doesn’t mean that no issues exist that could be addressed and, if solved, would make our community an even better place in which to live.

So, let’s do this POA Survey and see what we find.  Let’s not whitewash issues.  And, let’s be honest about what is good and what is not-so-good about The Villages.  Maybe we can make this place better for all of us.

There are 50 questions.  To complete the entire questionnaire, on two sides, should not take longer than a few minutes.  Thanks in advance for helping on this survey.  

The POA has conducted three previous Surveys.  The first was conducted in late 2002 and reported on in the February, 2003, issue of the Bulletin.   The second was conducted in April and May, 2004, and reported on in June, 2004.  The third was conducted in October, November, and December, 2005, and reported on in January, 2006.  All three of these are available for review on the POA website in the archived Bulletin section.

As we report on this 2007/2008 POA Survey in a few months, we will show comparison to the earlier Surveys where appropriate.

Rather than go into details right now on previous Surveys, and perhaps influence this year’s results, let’s just do these general comments listed below:

The earlier Surveys showed favorable opinions of The Villages on the general questions and various resident services. 

The Villages Media Group generally showed good marks for the radio and TV station.  The Daily Sun, however, didn’t fare as well and was marked down for objectivity.

The golf program got so-so marks, but the executive golf program fared better.

The POA scored better than the VHA as an organization and for its newspaper.

The lowest scores in both surveys were recorded by various elements of our local governments.

Think about this -- .how bad will it be if for some awful reason we don't make it to the ballot and you didn't do your share?

Please help make this happen.  Send petitions and donations--both together is best!

Lesley Blackner

Founder & President

FHD

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Below is a reprint of a newspaper article explaining the tactics of the opposition to the Florida Hometown Democracy initiative.

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While it might not be the perfect answer to derailing the engine of manic greed that's ruining so many lovely places, many residents are so heartsick and frustrated that they would welcome a dramatic change.

According to the internet Web site www.floridahometowndemocracy.com, petition supporters have collected about 331,000 verified signatures of the 611,009 needed to place the amendment on the November 2008 ballot.

Thousands more signatures are awaiting validation. The deadline for signing is Feb. 1, only four months away, which has lent urgency to the opposition's propaganda blitz.

Nothing is so horrifying to some developers and corporate interests as the prospect of having to deal directly with citizens when trying to get a building project passed. It's much easier to woo politicians, whose loyalties often can be purchased with a hefty campaign contribution or outright bribes.

That's the way things have always worked in Florida , which explains the plague of ugly sprawl.

Predictably, opponents grandiosely calling themselves Floridians for Smarter Growth have cooked up a rival constitutional amendment that would require 10 percent of voters in a city or county to sign a petition, before any land-use referendum takes place.

The petitions could be signed only at the office of a municipal clerk or elections supervisor, an inconvenience that virtually guarantees a fatally low turnout.

Obviously, the forces behind Floridians for Smarter Growth aren't interested in participatory democracy.  They want the public to shut up and let the politicians do their thing.

According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the group raised $841,000 between April and August. Major donors included the National Association of Home Builders, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Sugar.

It's a motley roster of special interests whose motives are anything but pure.

The Hometown Democracy movement undoubtedly was the prime target when pro-development legislators passed a law allowing voters to revoke their signatures from amendment petitions.

That opened the door for John Thrasher's specious letter pretending to denounce the very developers for whom he's shilling. In urging citizens to abandon the Hometown Democracy campaign, he blames "slick lawyers" for tricking them into putting their names on the petition.

Thrasher himself is one of the slickest lawyers in Tallahassee, and it is he who has stooped to shameless trickery.

His scare letter comes with a postage-paid envelope. Mail it back with the two-word reply of your choice.

Carl Hiaasen writes for The Miami Herald 

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HELP SAVE WHAT'S LEFT OF FLORIDA...LET THE PEOPLE VOTE to control growth!

Help put HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY on the 2008 ballot

Please download and SIGN THE PETITION !

http://www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com

PO Box 636 , New Smyrna Beach , FL 32170-0636 .

The Florida Chamber of Commerce, which has long crusaded against the right of citizens to amend the Florida Constitution through petitioning, is now paying their professional collectors $3 per signature for their “Smart Growth” petition! The Chamber, with a huge war chest funded by St. Joe Corp, Big Sugar, Miami Corp and other major land developers, is rapidly buying their way onto the ballot!

Florida Hometown Democracy is funded only by our grassroots supporters and a few groups like our good friends at Florida Chapter Sierra, and doesn’t have the finances to do likewise.

If you want to save what’s left of Florida and see Hometown Democracy on the ballot, we need you to go all out with us and start sending in lots of petitions now! ... for Florida ’s future!

Now that "fall" is here, there are many opportunities to collect petitions: before football games, art festiv