Trash around
 

I am new to The Villages and was happy to see that it is well kept and seemed to be clean. However, being a walker, I have noticed a lot of trash along the roadways and in the grass next to the roads and golf cart roads. I counted hundreds of cigarette butts in a short distance, along with empty water bottles and smashed pop cans, among other things.
This is disappointing. I have also noticed very unfriendly workers in restaurants. I am wondering if moving here was a bad idea!

you'll notice it sometimes. But heck, there are so many people here at this time of year and lots of wind. There are no cigarette butts and no mosquitos or bugs. Lots of sunshine and great restauants, and good music.

I see this is your first post. So sorry you are unhappy. The hundreds of cigarette butts in a short distance seems odd. But on the up swing how do you like your new home and neighbors.:welcome:

mysunshine: Welcome! You will discover three tribes that participate on this forum. Those that can't bear any critique of The Villages and that includes its Developer and Chief, those that offer a critique and those that simply don't care because they are retired.

Unlike the man in the movie I can handle the truth, and the only way I know one can go about resolving a problem is at first acknowledging that there is one. I happen to agree with you concerning the issue of too much trash. This is especially disconcerting since we pay so much for the seasonal replanting of flowers, etc. We obviously have not reached near the trash problem you find in many larger northern cities but with the increasing population it is becoming more noticeable .

Dog owners are required to clean up after their dog and so you would believe that people have an obligation to clean up after themselves and especially not litter. But you and I would be wrong.

I have not experienced a problem with restaurant workers and find most village employees cheerful and accommodating.

It will take you a bit of time to adjust to your new surroundings as you are well aware Again welcome and enjoy all The Villages has to offer.

Personal Best Regards:

Why would you ask that question? Only you know the answer. No one on this site can answer it for you.

Welcome.

The Villages is a great place, full of great people. I'm sure that you saw that for yourself as you decided to come here. I hope a bit of trash along the road will not tarnish your enjoyment of your new home. Just swing you eyes upward towards the golf courses and beautiful landscaping.

As far as this forum goes, you will soon see for yourself that there are all types of folks with many points of view, and many attitudes. Enjoy.

Sorry to hear that. Generally, this place is extremely clean and well kept. Remember, "the developer" did not throw those cans and butts there, people did. It's hard for a few maintenance workers to be everywhere, all the time. There are plenty of people who are just cutting through on the main roads and plenty of construction/lawn maintenance trucks that I have personally seen throw trash out the windows. The wind can do the rest. It won't be long before we see a post here blaming it on "the renters" either. But if the presence/absence of a limited amount of trash is number one on your list of criteria for living in a particular location, you would be hard pressed to find a cleaner place. Perhaps a level 4 containment lab at the CDC.

As far as the restaurant workers go, I find 90+% are friendly and helpful--remember they do rely on tips. Yes, there is an occasional grouch, or someone is just having a bad day, but overall you will encounter a lot less of them than you would at Junior's in Brooklyn! Also, base your impression of eating establishments on personal experience, certainly not TOTV where the chronic complainers tend to dominate restaurant threads.

If you make a list of the positives and negatives of TV, I think you'll find the scales dramatically tip in favor of this place. (And no, I don't work for TV, and neither do I have a lifetime membership in GG's posse, this is just my opinion, for what it is worth)

I believe there is one more tribe, a tribe of trolls that have a vested interest in saying negative untruths about the villages. Perhaps they own or are affliated with a competing community. The very occasional bottle or can I have seen on golf cart paths are likely ones that have fallen from moving golf carts and it's clear they have been on the path a short time. I dispise cigarette butts, occasionally see some, and think those people should be ticketed. The villages are super clean, especially considering it's not actually a gated community.

To the OP, congratulations on your 1st post. In what community do you actually live?

If the new residents are questioning whether it was wise to move here because of a little liter, maybe they should ask the question where in the world would they live where there isn't any liter. Singapore maybe. I think they disadvantages of moving to Singapore would out way the great advantages of The Villages. Just IMHO

Generally speaking, smokers do not consider a cigarette butt a smelly piece of trash hence they think nothing of tossing it wherever they want.

Walter, I like your attitude. People can wonder about whatever they want, but don't expect any of us to make any attempt to help them to make up their mind. We have to be able to think for ourselves and reach our own conclusions.

What he said,:BigApplause:

I agree. It's a disgusting dirty, habit but it's a free country (so far). For the most part, this place is the cleanest place I've ever lived.

Oh my, there are more than three probably as many as there are people including those who are deficit detectives....always looking for something out of place to point out to others. What you look for, you will find....birds and sunshine or the guy scratching his butt.

Since you're new and you walk, then you probably live in one of the newer areas? You would of saw the same had you walked down St. Charles Place between 2009 to 2012, a lot of thrash. That's when the Villages of St. James, Tamarind Grove, Buttonwood and Pennecamp were being built. All new construction areas are messy for some time. Now in 2016 drive north on Buena Vista and cross CR466A and at the first traffic circle exit onto St. Charles Place and tell me what you see now. Go all the way up to the red light on Bailey's Trail. What you'll see is all those same villages are spotsless. Your area will be that way in a couple of years, it takes time.

Since you did not say where you saw all this trash, I am going to assume you moved into a new area where there is a lot of construction happening.
Those of un "North" of you experienced this during construction. A lot of busy people are moving around and some have bad habits of tossing stuff out the window of their trucks. This will all correct itself(it did in my village) when the construction stops.
If encountering a few unfriendly workers is a new experience (did you not have similar types where you came from) and makes you feel it was a bad idea to move to The Villages....................you have more of a problem than any poster can help you with.

One of the worst offenders are people tossing trash like soda cans, coffee cups etc. in the backmof work trucks. Smokers are rightbup there too. Look around at any intersection with stoplights.

You have broken a couple of posting rules. It is your first post. Therefore, according to the unwritten hierarchy rule, you have no standing and you should not post anything in the least bit critical of anything related to TV. Period. Even if you had 500 posts, you have offended (no, outraged) the koolaid drinkers that bristle at any comment critical of TV fairyland. It really doesn't matter if your comment is true. It will still be dismissed by some as chronic complaining, or having an ulterior motive, or untrue. Yes, your buyers remorse may be setting in. But give it a little more time. After you get used to the crowds, the long lines, the rude golf cart drivers, the entitled cyclists, the clueless roundabout drivers, the hidden dump smell, the frequent sinkholes, the seat savers (they are all non-TVers by the way), the lack of easily accessible healthcare, I think you will decide TV is a nice place.:welcome:

Is it a free country to litter, thats what they are doing when they throw a cigarette to the ground.

You see this poster here? I have NEVER met him but I have read all of his posts over about nine years. Only once or twice have I disagreed with him. It is my belief that he has an excellent head on his shoulders and he is rarely wrong.


You probably live near where workers drive back and forth near new construction of homes. They build very nice houses but their mothers didn't smack 'em good when they missed the waste basket....and....AND, it isn't their home town so they don't care like we do.


I would like to go on record once again as being very confident that this is one of the nicest kept places on this earth and I am pretty sure WHO is responsible.


It is gonna be ANOTHER beautiful day in The Villages and yesterday I met some folks who made me so happy.

It's a free country to smoke not litter. Sorry I didn't spell it out clearer.

Smacking children is a terrible thing to do. It's called child abuse. For those of you that grew up in households like that, and I am one of them, know that it causes more damage than good. Very sore subject for me and it shouldn't be talked about so lightly. I know you didn't mean anything by it, but still.....

Glad to see they let your post stay. They have been taking my posts down when I comment about the dump.

Wonder why? There are a number of open threads that have posts regarding the dump.
BTW, who do you think "they" are?

Why don't you just bend over and pick them up instead of whining about it?

I make it a practice on my neighborhood walks and also while driving my golf-cart to stop and pick up any litter I encounter .
Just my way of trying to be a good neighbor to all and also to show respect for our wonderful community .

I'm going to have to get me a seeing eye dog because I walk around my neighborhood, ride my bicycle a lot, drive my golf cart everywhere and I see very little litter. That doesn't mean that there is none at all, but I certainly see less than I have seen in any other place I've lived.

In fact when I do see litter, I'm taken aback because it looks so out of place.

Not saying that the OP is seeing things. Maybe like someone said, there are a lot of construction crews going through here area.

You forgot a fourth tribe. Those who see little imperfections and blow them way out of proportion.

I remember threads about how the historic district was falling apart and was full of unkempt, dilapidated, abandoned homes. The fact is that there are a few of those homes here, but for the most part, the homes are very well kept.

I've seen countless other threads about various horrible wide spread conditions only to find that it's a small issue blown way out of proportion.

I'm not a shill for the developer, but I think that overall, they've done a great job. No place is perfect but this is as good as any place I've ever been.

I'm not saying that this is the case with the OP. I'm sure that she walks in an area that is littered but, from my observations, places like that are few and far between and usually temporary.

Welcome to The Villages and to the TOTV Forum.
With your first thread about litter, you have discovered that the Forum can be controversial with many people offering different perspectives.
And lots of wonderful information available here!
For the most part, The Villages is beautifully maintained.
You've moved to a great Community. I hope you enjoy the beauty as much as we do!

Just another testimonial.....this is the cleanest city of this size (115,000 +/-) or of any size we've ever seen.

The only place where I've seen "some" litter is under the golf cart bridge on Morse northbound by Hope Lutheran Church, in the gully underneath full of brush, where nobody can/should go to retrieve the few water/soda bottles or cans (unless they're employed by district government).

The bridge's two lanes are so narrow it's treacherous, so a cart driver really shouldn't be reaching to grab something flying out. Empty plastic water/soda bottles are feather-weight and do fly away from a cart. It's certainly not worth toppling the cart into the gully below.

Have not seen the cigarette butts in number.

If a restaurant worker is inept or neglectful/rude, that is everywhere because of the increasingly rude society we're in, IMO.

Overall it's hard to imagine someone questioning their choice of place to live based on the things in the first post.

Lived and traveled all over our great country and nowhere have I experienced a cleaner and better maintained community! Glad to be here!

as others have stated, most of the trash is from construction.....it has diminished greatly in Dunedin but the butts at the pool/mailboxes is still a problem. Much of the butt issue is construction too......they use our pool's restroom all day and when the lunch wagons were parked in the area they would wash their utensils in the restrooms too. When we complained we were told by the district that pools were public areas and workmen/women had a right to access to them. The one thing that stymied me with that attitude is why do I still need my ID when I use the pool?

I have to giggle and then wonder how many of these "posters" have numerous accounts.. the OP first "posting" sure got the replies.. Imagine that... Hmmmmm...

A negative post, from a first poster is usually noticed by those who love this place and hope others do also. If there is a problem many will join in to try to fix it

What question?

Exaggeration
 

I have lived here for ten years and not seen this type of problem. Seems to me someone is exaggerating for effect, " a LOT of trash," "HUNDREDS of cigarette butts." I challenge anyone to find a city of the size of The Villages that maintains as clean of trash environment as The Villages.

Where there are people you will find litter and rudeness, it’s all a matter of degree. A perfect, litter free, rude free, place does not exist on earth. During my short visit to TV I would say it’s better than most locations. TV is at the better end of the scale. IMO.

That question.

And what question is that?

Very optimistic. Could you tell me if my glass is half full or half empty?