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What do "Villagers" think about this "documentary" related article?
I thought knocking the use of pesticides, and sucking so much water out of the ground it's creating sink holes went way too far towards virtual signaling.
What is this ladies motive? What is her agenda? Why is she hating on The Villages?
I dunno but had she done any fact checking she'd discover a few things. Maybe they don't do it that way in Australia.
1. The only people she sees who drink all day, are the ones who drink all day. Out of 150,000 people, MOST of them don't drink all day. Most don't even drink every day. Some only drink on weekends, and some don't drink at all. Kinda like in real life, except most of them don't have to go to work the next morning.
2. The grass is green because it's not real grass. It's ground-cover vines, mostly considered weeds in the northern part of the country.
3. Some of the chemicals are to kill the fire ants, which feed on semi-fertile soil and turn it into sand. Florida is notorious for fire ants and cockroaches. Just like most places of the country, when a chemical is sprayed on a lawn, the company spraying it must stake a sign in to warn people not to let their pets and children play on it. Even organic fertilizers can be dangerous. It also is a physical symbol to let the homeowner know that the outdoor pesticide guy was actually there that day (since no one needs to be home when they do their job).
4. Most of the water that comes out of the ground, comes from retention ponds built BY the Villages. In parts of the villages, that rainwater is used to irrigate the gardens and lawns. During flood conditions in the rainy season, the retention ponds collect much of the runoff. The water is then pumped into the golf course sprinkler system so as to prevent the communities themselves and roads from flooding. The golf courses are closed during this time.
5. Sirens are absolutely turned on to warn people to get out of the way. But they are turned off as they approach their destination since they're no longer needed and would just create a panic.
6. There was an actual problem with sinkholes caused by poorly-lined retention ponds. That particular problem was fixed, and new retention ponds are lined and piped differently as a result. Central Florida has been considered "sinkhole alley" since before the Villages was developed. Unfortunately, development adds to the risk. But you need to put the blame for that on the State, for approving the super-saturated development in the first place. They'd happen no matter who was doing the construction.
6a. There have, on the OTHER other hand - been some ground collapses caused directly by shoddy workmanship, or lack of proper surveying, or inferior risk evalutations and assessments of the ground. And unfortunately, once the properties are sold to homeowners and the "village" given over to the CDD (the community's government system), the Developer no longer bears responsibility for the condition of the property they built. This again - is the result of Florida elected officials - of which the Developers are super-donators.
7. There are people who -want- to leave their troubles behind, and just relax and enjoy their retirement without having to deal with the outside world. It's great for them as long as they don't have granddaughters who are at risk of sexual assault, or children who struggle with addiction, or other relatives who have lost jobs, or lives due to the pandemic. And as long as they themselves are healthy. Reality eventually kicks them in the face, but you don't hear about that because those aren't the ones partying in the squares. They're staying at home, dealing with their reality.
8. The "town" hasn't set up its own council. First off, it's not a town. It is a community that covers real estate in three different counties and five different towns. You can read about CDDs here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commun...pment_district it is a "Florida thing" and not exclusive to the Villages.
9. The community has gates for traffic control. They have never attempted to pass themselves off as a gated community. They are a community with gates. There's a huge difference. Golf carts are constantly in and out of these areas, crossing secondary roads to get from point A to point B since - this is a golf cart community. But they have to compete with cars, and this can be very dangerous. So the gates help to control the flow of traffic so neither cars nor golf carts create traffic jams leading to the primary state routes while everyone's waiting for everyone else to come and go.
9. The "community" where the Villages now are, were a couple handfuls of horse farm and orange groves, and the rest was mostly uninhabited. Everyone who lived in the area was bought out. They could have chosen to band together and refuse to sell, but that wasn't their choice.
10. The current batch of Developers, related either by blood or marriage to the original Developer, are a bunch of greedy punks with enough money they can afford to buy every elected seat in each of the three counties their development occupies. Sadly, the previous batch of residents decided that was a great idea, OR they chose not to care. The northern part of the Villages is starting to feel the repercussions of that apathy or choice. Villages-owned properties are starting to look a bit shabby, and renovations are coming slowly or not at all. But the roads themselves are not owned by the Villages. They're owned by the towns they run through, maintained by taxes.
I can't see where it will hurt the Villages. The things she is complaining about would probably be attractive to many people. Although I have no experience personally, it seems to me the Villages are like many 55+ communities but more so.
Personally I would never live in one, or go on a cruise either, but I have enjoyed being at parties so I guess the theme of the Villages is that retired life can be a party.
But I've never been a joiner of social organizations, political organizations, churches, fraternities or cliques, etc. I don't like group think, and I don't like regulations in housing, HOA's, etc. But many others do.
I can't see where it will hurt the Villages. The things she is complaining about would probably be attractive to many people. Although I have no experience personally, it seems to me the Villages are like many 55+ communities but more so.
Personally I would never live in one, or go on a cruise either, but I have enjoyed being at parties so I guess the theme of the Villages is that retired life can be a party.
But I've never been a joiner of social organizations, political organizations, churches, fraternities or cliques, etc. I don't like group think, and I don't like regulations in housing, HOA's, etc. But many others do.
Retired life isn't a party. This also isn't a retirement community. It's an active 55+ community. That means there are many people who still work for a living, or work to supplement their SS and pension payments. Or volunteer. MOST people don't spend their nights partying in the town squares. That is *a* feature of the Villages - the opportunity to do that. But most people don't do that. You might see 200 people in the town square on a random Tuesday. Many are the same people who are there every Tuesday. A few are there for their first time ever. And the rest go once in awhile, and are probably there because they like the band, or decided to go out to dinner that night and are staying an hour after dinner to dance off the calories.
There are three squares. So generally fewer than 1000 people in all the squares combined, at any given night. Out of 150,000 people. Where is everyone else, you might wonder: they're home, or at their neighbor's house enjoying a drink and conversation, or visiting their grandchildren somewhere else, or - being snowbirds and spending several months up north.
Maybe I'm wrong but isn't the party theme what the owners are selling, the golf courses, the golf carts, the activities, the music, the bands, the drinking? Maybe it doesn't work out that way for most, but it seems like it's the image many people have of the Villages. I'm not criticizing it, it's just not something that appeals to me, though it appeals to many. My town in NJ has 150,000 residents. There's no piped music, no planned activities, no bands in public spaces, no weekend cocktail events with live music in public spaces, no golf carts for transportation. So my retirement has none of those features.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghaati
Retired life isn't a party. This also isn't a retirement community. It's an active 55+ community. That means there are many people who still work for a living, or work to supplement their SS and pension payments. Or volunteer. MOST people don't spend their nights partying in the town squares. That is *a* feature of the Villages - the opportunity to do that. But most people don't do that. You might see 200 people in the town square on a random Tuesday. Many are the same people who are there every Tuesday. A few are there for their first time ever. And the rest go once in awhile, and are probably there because they like the band, or decided to go out to dinner that night and are staying an hour after dinner to dance off the calories.
There are three squares. So generally fewer than 1000 people in all the squares combined, at any given night. Out of 150,000 people. Where is everyone else, you might wonder: they're home, or at their neighbor's house enjoying a drink and conversation, or visiting their grandchildren somewhere else, or - being snowbirds and spending several months up north.
Maybe I'm wrong but isn't the party theme what the owners are selling, the golf courses, the golf carts, the activities, the music, the bands, the drinking? Maybe it doesn't work out that way for most, but it seems like it's the image many people have of the Villages. I'm not criticizing it, it's just not something that appeals to me, though it appeals to many. My town in NJ has 150,000 residents. There's no piped music, no planned activities, no bands in public spaces, no weekend cocktail events with live music in public spaces, no golf carts for transportation. So my retirement has none of those features.
As with anywhere, it's a mixture of lifestyles. I've had two sets of grandparents that lived in The Villages for a period of time prior to their passing, and I did business there for some of years after relocating to Ocala with my wife. With 150k people, there's bound to be a lot of variety — good, bad, and indifferent. Boosters of the wider community will downplay the extent of negatives in favor of very real positives for those who appreciate them, and those with an axe to grind will dutifully highlight, and even exaggerate, the more disreputable elements. The truth is somewhere in the middle, and is variable in many respects, but on average is whatever folks want to make of it. There's plenty to celebrate and criticize simultaneously.
Maybe I'm wrong but isn't the party theme what the owners are selling, the golf courses, the golf carts, the activities, the music, the bands, the drinking? Maybe it doesn't work out that way for most, but it seems like it's the image many people have of the Villages. I'm not criticizing it, it's just not something that appeals to me, though it appeals to many. My town in NJ has 150,000 residents. There's no piped music, no planned activities, no bands in public spaces, no weekend cocktail events with live music in public spaces, no golf carts for transportation. So my retirement has none of those features.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OpinionInOcala
As with anywhere, it's a mixture of lifestyles. I've had two sets of grandparents that lived in The Villages for a period of time prior to their passing, and I did business there for some of years after relocating to Ocala with my wife. With 150k people, there's bound to be a lot of variety — good, bad, and indifferent. Boosters of the wider community will downplay the extent of negatives in favor of very real positives for those who appreciate them, and those with an axe to grind will dutifully highlight, and even exaggerate, the more disreputable elements. The truth is somewhere in the middle, and is variable in many respects, but on average is whatever folks want to make of it. There's plenty to celebrate and criticize simultaneously.
Exactly. The Developers are of COURSE not going to advertise that the individual residential neighborhoods are mostly quiet, and life within these neighborhoods are mostly uneventful, and that the only people you see outside after 8pm are folks who walk their dogs before bedtime or random folks coming home after an evening out. Even driveway parties tend to end before dark and consist primarily of a bunch of old people sitting down having a snack and a beer and talking about their neighbor's sciatica, or reminiscing about music in the 1960's.
The town squares are gathering spots for residents of the Villages AND non-residents. They're open to the public and get tons of traffic in the evenings. They are also the location of the vintage car club meets, where you'll see Model T Fords and Ramblers and old 1960's muscle cars and a variety of others lining the streets which are closed off to vehicular traffic for a few hours. You can listen to the band in the center square while ooohing and aaahing about the cars, talk to the owners, grab a bite to eat, maybe dance a bit, have a drink. That's once a month.
It's also where they run craft fairs and again, those are during the day, not at night. So you'll see a lot of people out in the squares "partying" - even though mostly, they're just buying another bar of locally-made soap or pair of earrings or a new outfit for their dog or some such.
At night, the music starts around 5PM and ends at 9PM. The squares are virtually empty by 10PM.
Just like any other downtown city area, except it closes earlier than the usual 2AM of city areas.
So, do you feel that this lady's article was a hit piece? If yes, why? What is her motive?
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