[Villages Kahuna]

I went to Starbucks at Lake Sumter Landing last New Year's Eve morning at 7:00 AM to pick up a Sunday New York Times. It was my first New Year's eve in TV. There were golf carts parked all the way beyond Toojay's. I had to walk three blocks to get to Starbucks!...at seven o'clock in the morning!

When I asked what the heck was going on, I was told that it was people staking out their space for the New Year's Eve celebration that night. Later I found out that if you simply went down to the square about 5:00 PM, you'd have had to set up your chairs out of hearing range of Rocky & The Rollers who were performing that night.

I think the new fee that people are kvetching about may be a means to limit the unwieldy crowds that inundate the squares that night. The fee may be a precursor for a major change next year, like the move of the Christmas Parade a couple years ago from the squares to the Polo Field. When the crowds get too big for the real estate to handle safely, some other plan is needed.

Maybe New Year's Eve in TV should be like the Presidential Innaguration Balls...organize as many parties at various locations as the traffic will bear...and that can physically be accomodated.