More people are coming to use our facilities that we pay for
 

We pay for pickle ball, rec center and pools, etc.


But TV is not checking all that often to make sure they are residents.

What should be done to make sure the $$ we pay each month doesn't pay for these people coming in to free load.

Volunteer to go around the facilities, checking IDs

Are you willing to pay more in amenity fees to pay people to drive around and check IDs?

The real question would be, if we do pay more in amenity fees will it be used to hire people to check ID’s???

No, it will be used to cover the increasing cost of maintaining the facilities. If you want more people on payroll then you need to choose something else that won’t get done. If you want continuous monitoring at pools and pickleball courts then you will have to explain to residents why someone is being paid to sit at the pool all day.

I predict just the presence of this thread will solve the problem. I predict that fewer “others” will use the facilities now that this post is here. In about 60 days the pools will seem empty.

Unfortunately, the post will only work for about seven months and by December the “others” will be back using the facilities we pay for.

I guess we are one of the few that has an employee on site everyday, at all the courts, pool, shuffle board and beach facilities open to close. As soon as you park they are right there asking for ID before you exit your cart or car. Many of us are everyday players, that employees wave as they drive in. Maybe it’s a south of 44 perk:a040:

While I don't want uninvited guests using our facilities, I really wish we could revisit this 3 county rule as it applies to things like clubs. I run a club and have a lot of people that would like to attend but can't because they don't have a Villages ID or guest pass. These are people that have something to contribute to the club and the community, not take anything away from other Villagers.

Is it possible to strike a balance on this? A Non Villager can play golf at the Championship courses....

The championship courses are not amenities, the rec centers are.

The programs at the rec centers are supposed to benefit us Villagers. If non-Villagers are allowed in then it displaces interested residents. If there are not enough interested residents then there is no need for the program.

In the month of March 4 separate occasions at the regional centers, employees checking ids for classes, held back guest pass to allow all the Residents to enter the classes. If there was room the guests were allowed to enter.

That is the first time I have ever had that happen in over 15 years. Not sure if it’s a new rule, but I think it’s only fair for Resident get into a class and guest have to fill in

If your club activities don't include using amenities that Villagers pay for you can create the club on Meetup.com. Then, anyone in the area can join.

My experience with other communities is the use of turnstiles and badge swipes with fewer personnel. It seemed to work. This has been suggested to TV numerous times and rejected.

Or just lock it down at the gate making it a true gated community. Less turnstiles that way.

As this has been suggested numerous times, it would be interesting to see the count of turnstiles needed and the cost for implementing the plan. Two turnstiles at the neighborhood pool, one at the family pool, two at the pickleball courts, and another two at the tennis courts make seven turnstiles at just the two facilities nearest to my home. Multiply that by the hundreds (?) of facilities around the Villages and you're talking about real money.

PLUS, the passes I get for my guests do not have chips in them so how would they work with the turnstiles? Put a barcode on the passes and a reader at the turnstiles? Pay for chipped guest cards and the infrastructure to constantly modify the database? Change the rules to say that I must now accompany my guests when they go to the pool?

If people are found using amenities without paying for them, they should be prosecuted for theft of services. It is just like shoplifting or running out of a restaurant without paying. What happens if you sneak onto a championship course without paying? Do they just ask you to leave?

I think a few highly publicized prosecutions would be a deterrent to other people.

That is likely the excuse TV uses to avoid taking action. The infrastructure change needed would take extra bucks (like renovating golf courses), but in the long run reduced personnel needs would reduce cost. I suggest interviewing communities that successfully use the approach to see how they control interlopers rather then continue to take the stick your head in the sand approach to ignore. The longer TV waits the more difficult is will be to make change. Maybe already too late?

I have often wondered just how big a problem is that supposedly needs fixing?

The fear of outsiders has become a social contagion egged on by the villages-negative-news site as rage bait. It's simply not true. The villages is too big to expect to recognize everyone at your local pool or pickleball court. The apartment building's going up have their own facilities. Try to relax.

every time i go to the pool, my id is checked, so i know there's an effort to keep non-Villagers out.

We are already paying for this service. The rec center employees are required to check IDs at the rec center, and to visit the pools to check IDs. The problem is lax enforcement. When someone says they forgot their ID, they should be refused admittance, but they are not. If they were, they wouldn't forget the next time.

Exactly 😂 💯

Email Rohan he’s in charge of villages recreation. Bring it up at your next district meeting. That’s about all you can do. :highfive:

IMO and what I observed Depends on rec center. Some do good job, some are rarely seen checking ID’s. Neighborhood pools usually have no rec center close and no one assigned at pools, so rec center has to send someone out to check id which is not going to be high on priority lists IMO.

If you don’t do the activity it not problem for you. I can wonder also but I have no clue other than the areas I go to which is minor problem that I have observed, but I have no clue down south where center are really busy at times?

The way it works is that the rec center employee is assigned 2 or 3 pools to visit and to check IDs. All pools are covered by this system, but no pools have fulltime employees to check IDs.

Probably 99% of people from outside TV drive a car to the rec centers, because a cart would be too far to drive to make it worth it. So, since rec centers are privately owned property along with the street entrance, then install entrance gate only. No auto-open red button crap. Just a call button to the person at the desk if you are in need of entrance. If a car comes around through the exit, then it is obvious they need further checking and warning. The cost would be less than $1,000 per rec center.

We drive our car to all rec centers. I would be fine and feel more like a special place if I had to swipe a card even to check my mail. The fact that we have to go inside because we arrived in a car and tell the desk that we are going to play bocco and get our IDs scanned is a waste of time. I get golf carts are assumed residents. A card reader at rec center entrance would be perfect, just like up at FR rec center. Just need to get rid of red auto button. Police and fire can have cards installed on cars or all employees given a card. Afterall, off duty first responders are always welcome.

I will say any regional pool is highly regulated. Not only by the Id woohoo checker. But the regular residents who can literally come unglued, when a new person shows up.
Not only can they be outright rude, asking where do you live, why are you at this pool. Especially lap swim, and water sports, one actually feels sorry for the newcomers and the ridicule they sometimes encounter.

It’s one of the reasons we built a 4th house with our own pool.

There's a truism I once saw on a manager's desk plaque: "Good security is not convenient."

There are a lot of neighbors, contractors, etc, who have somehow acquired gate passes but are not residents. And gate passes can be cloned. Gate passes are not a substitute for resident ID cards.

Really??? The question, and this thread, is NOT about which apartment buildings do or do not have their own facilities. It concerns non-residents coming to OUR facilities. It is TRESSPASING and should be stopped. Even one sneaking in is too many, because where there is one, there are surely more to follow.

Considering the roads in TV are public and owned by the county, that might not go over so well.

Communities that have successfully used this approach have far, far fewer facilities to control. My sister-in-law lives in one... they have ONE pool for the entire community while there are five pools just in walking distance from my house.

You like the word "excuse," I like the word "explanation." You might not like the explanation but some actual numbers behind it make it more than just an excuse.

EDIT: WHAT reduced manpower needs? There is no manpower stationed at the pool now to reduce.

Really? So these stolen gate passes, are allowing folks to bypass the "Red Button"?

So what exactly does this gain them? & the roads in TV are PUBLIC .... owned by the County.

The issue on point, are use of the amenities. Anyone can come to TV, the amenities are a "private club".

Might be a lot easier than all that. Have a lock on the gate that can be opened remotely from the rec center in charge of that pool and a buzzer. When at the gate, the resident "buzzes" the center, holds his ID up to a camera, and the employee lets him in. One person enters per ID. Make sure residents aren't "polite" enough to hold the gate open for strangers (perhaps with a warning that doing so will result in a suspension of all privileges), while the cameras could detect anyone climbing the fence. Cost would be minimal, and now the rec center employee doesn't have to go out to check IDs except maybe an occasional surprise visit.

99% of outsiders drive a car because 0% of the Villages is accessible by golf cart if you don't have a resident's gate pass.

Two gates would be required for each entrance, one for entry and one for exit. It's hard to imagine the cost for the gate, the pedestal, the reader, the electronics behind it, and the cabling would come to less than $500 per gate ($1000 per entry). Then, many postal stations and some rec centers have two entrances so those would cost at least double.

Once you have all those gate installed you'll have to deal with the traffic backups as cars line up to wait for their turn to search for their cards (you said no red button) and wait for the gate to open.

I'll be the first in line to say that I don't want to pay the additional amenity fee to fund that mess!

Or have each villager install a chip in their head that has to be recognized at the game. No chip you get a small shock to make sure you stay out.

Told to me by a friend.

please read post #35

No good. They could block the signal with the same tin foil hat that they wear to keep out the alien mind control :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Nope. But I /am/ willing to see more Florida-specific perennials that can thrive as "wildflowers" in the flower beds, thus cutting down on the expense of switching them out every 3 months. That should cover the cost of 4 "roaming" employees in each district, whose job it is to travel in a loop and check IDs at each rec center and neighborhood pool along the route. You'd need these shifts: 1 from pool opening until 1pm. 1 from 10am til 3pm. One from noon til 5pm. One from 4pm til closing.

The entire Historic section would need just those 4 employees, going to Paradise, Hilltop, and Southside pools. They can also spend some time at the Rec area itself, making sure there aren't any unattended little kids using the sports equipment, and that kids under 13 aren't being allowed to use the outdoor exercise equipment as a playground by doting grandparents (Kids are not supposed to use them EVEN IF someone is watching them. The signs state as such).

That would be in addition to the existing rec center employees, who DO have to check IDs every so often at their rec center pools.