February POA Bulletin - Axe to Grind
 

This month's POA Bulletin was on our counter, and I don't remember it standing out for being as negative--and even venomous--as this month's edition does.

In huge print the front-page headline reads: 2012-2013 Golf Cart Related Fatalities and Serious Injuries in The Villages

Then, underscored in a blue box above the fold it says in all caps: "Your Lawsuit Settlement Dollars at Work".

Below that is "Owens Corning Defective Shingles Update"

Beside that is POA Meeting announcement with the topic in large print: "Sinkhole and Golf Cart Insurance Things You Need to Know".

And the ugliness goes on from there. Now. I'm not saying these are not valid topics nor that the Daily Fun is all one needs to read here.

What I keep asking myself about this group and editor is, "If TV is so terrible, why do they continue to LIVE here????"

To me it seems like they're looking for a new/different axe to grind. And the developer is always here to hate and loathe.

http://poa4us.org/bulletins_files/bulletin201402.pdf

I agree. Was actually kind of shocked.

I certainly don't agree with everything printed in the POA (or the Daily Sun) but I like the idea of "checks & balances".

you know, I haven't read it, but I appreciate your taking time to say it is extremely negative. It might be of some value to give a negative evaluation of the POA as you have done, in parallel, exactly the same as the POA has apparently said re the developer.

Hoping for a better community in TV, perhaps if you are strongly motivated, you would consider holding a position in the POA to become a viable positive voice. It's not anything that would motivate me, so I hope someone else with energy and strength will step up, maybe someone who reads this will be inspired...

There was also some good. For instance, the bulletin mentioned that the Sun was doing a much better job of reporting crimes in TV.

They did mention a lot more negative issues than they have in awhile. They live here because they love it here. They don't love a lot of what they've seen happening in the past and there's a very real fear that it will continue in the future. There were some legitimate reasons for the class action suit. The white striping on the golf cart paths can make a difference (slight, but a difference). There are some very legitimate complaints about the El Santiago restaurant/rec center -- for someone to say that they don't want to vote for something (restaurant) because it would be in direct competition with the developer even though most residents want the restaurant is wrong in my opinion. Supposedly, the AAC folks represent us, not the Morses. So, it is important to know who is voting the "party" line rather than what is best for TV and its residents.

I'm honestly not sure that the golf cart injuries need to be mentioned on a monthly basis but there seems to be enough interest to make it newsworthy. I would be just as happy with a very brief blurb about burglaries, robberies, etc. than making it a major news item, but that's me.

As to its negativity, you should have read it a few years ago. I think the editor and writers were so fed up with being stonewalled and feeling they were constantly being lied to that they couldn't say a good thing about anything the Morses did. That has most definitely changed, even in this month's issue but there's no question there's still a lot of frustration.

Could be that the POA appears negative because everyone runs the the POA when there is a serious problem or they need help with an issue they cannot get resolved any other way.

At least they will address the tough issues and we would all be in trouble if there was nowhere to get help when needed and were left to the mercy of the developer.

Checks and balances are all important. It should not have taken a lawsuit to get the funds added to the amenity funds but since it did it speaks volumes and shows there is a true need for the POA.

Just read the VHA newsletter tonight and everything brought up was pushed off as being the responsibility of the Sumter road department with no offer to work with them to get anything done about anything. What good is that?

You don't have to not love to live here to be able see a problem when one develops and be willing to address it. No place is perfect including the Villages. It's no one's right to ask anyone why they want to live here as long as they pay the price required to do so. Don't like the POA, don't read their bulletin.

Why would anyone want to write a negative post bashing the POA and complaining about the POA being negative??

I don't think so. There are too many beautiful, more affordable communities with the same type of homes in this Central FL area, and on the Atlantic and Gulf coastal areas, to sit here complaining, suing, and stewing about a 'villain' they've never met....and never need to meet in order to live and enjoy life here.

To me one of the most telling aspects is that the loud mentions of "your lawsuit money" do not indicate even a shred of happiness that the matter was adjudicated, settled and paid.....and that the improvement projects are complete or being completed to satisfaction.

It's almost like they want the bad taste of "lawsuit" to continue on into the future even though the plaintiffs got what they wanted, and the problems are being solved.

It seems to me this settled and paid "lawsuit" is being kept alive to continue the hatred against the developer. "Keep the villain alive so we can keep flogging him" seems to be the goal.

"Bitterness is a poison we swallow, hoping our enemy will die."

Because it seems to me that the paper that was mostly informative....is now mostly vindictive.

And because newcomers and new buyers do not deserve to be frightened into thinking they made, or are about to make, the biggest mistake of their lives by buying here.

My concern is they're scaring people, needlessly.

More bitterness here than in the POA Bullentin, lighten up and relax a bit! They have a right to do as they feel is necessary just like everyone else and a whole lot of people agree with them.

I Wouldn't Know
 

I wouldn't know about the editorial content of the POA Bulletin. I told the POA member who delivers the paper to stop delivering it to my house several years ago. I figured I had a lot better things to do with my time than to read the anti-developer vitriol they publish.

Someone in this thread said something along the lines that "...we need the POA to protect us from the merciless developer". Someone else said that if the POA complainers don't like it here (unlike about 97% of those of us who do, based on the annual survey), why not just throw in the towel and move someplace where they can be happier?

I agree with that last observation. If the complainers would move they'd make us happier too. Maybe we could bump the percentage of completely happy Villagers up closer to 100%.

Is this a negative post about a POA bulletin that is perceived to be a negative publication?

Me too!!!

They keep beating a dead horse over and over and over.

If anything they are saying about shingles, lawsuits, insurance, etc. is untrue, then the POA should be taken to task for it. If what they say is true, then we have a right as informed citizens to know it.
As for the golf cart accidents, clearly they are trying to encourage all of us to install and use seat belts in order to save lives. I agree with that.

Why is the POA so negative? Because without it, they would have no purpose. Without the negativity they would lose their sense of importance and power.