History of the POA
 

Just found this and found it interesting. Gives you insight into the beginnings of The Villages and the POA. Our History | POA of The Villages

Thank you for sharing TVs history.

Interesting article. The POA has championed the residents interests on many issues.

What a lovely article. Thank you for posting it. The history tells me what my uncle and aunt in the 80’s and later my father and mother faced in The Villages. We have progressed so much since then, I can hardly believe all this took place in my lifetime. And we are not finished yet!

Of course the article was written from the POA’s perspective. It sure makes them look good. Maybe when they first started they were a check against the Developer. Today, they are a political organization, pure and simple. Look at how many of your CDD, AAC, PWAC representatives are members or officers (present or past) of the POA. Look how at least three of the Sumter County Commissioners are beholding to the POA. They are slowly taking over The Villages. Before long the most powerful persons in our community will be the board of directors of the POA. This is when I put the “For Sale” sign in the yard.

I think you may be confusing the POA with the HOA.

Regarding the history page - it was a little hard to read as uploaded. No spaces between paragraphs, typos and spelling mistakes creating sentences that made no sense at all - I mean - PLEAD Bank? Seriously? They need a copy editor. I might volunteer. It isn't the first time I've looked at one of their publications and wondered "whose auto-fill picked THAT word?" (correct word is BLOOD - it's a blood bank, not a plead bank).

A better-organized timeline probably would've been more suitable, rather than the wall of text.

I made it about halfway down before I had to just close the page and do something else with my eyes. Much of the history I already knew, as I'd done tons of reading about the Villages, both official Villages documents and unofficial accountings of its history, and read their entire website prior.

Those POA commissioners were overwhelming elected by the residents a few months ago as a check on the developers puppet commissioners who raised our taxes 25% so the developer wouldn't have to pay for his roads in the area South of 44.

But they were all selected and promoted by the POA. If not for their backing no one would have known who they were. Go back and review the POA Bulletins. All three will just be mouth pieces for the POA.

The POA are all residents of the Villages. There are thousands of members, and every single one of them is a resident. ANY resident can be a member, and the dues I believe are just $10/year. If you don't like what they're doing, you can sit on the sidelines and complain, or you can join the POA and let your opinion be heard - and cast your vote.

Why wait?

I am not a fan of the POA. When we first moved here it had two long standing leaders who I think wrote the bulletin. It was often misspelled and it seemed to me to be anti-developer.

I still am not a fan.

Both the VHA and POA have their place in representing groups of Villagers. As a member of the VHA that claims to be independent of any Developer influence, I feel uncomfortable that only the VHA has mail pickup boxes at all postal locations in the Villages, past presidents of the VHA seem to be appointed to new government positions by the Developer and the VHA is given special treatment for tickets to the once a year Developer night program. As the VHA does many good things for the Village community, I retain my membership, participate in their activities, and try to look the other way to the things I mentioned that I believe are in conflict with the stated VHA position of total independence from the developer.

I believe that all groups should work together thru networking. And they should view the Developer as the most powerful entity in the community to then always keep communications open with them.

They may be cleaning it up right now. I tried to follow the link and it is down. 9:30 am Sunday 12/27/20

The POA represents the residents interests. Using your terminology, the POA is the "mouthpiece" for the residents eg. repealing the 25% property tax increase.
Of all the issues The POA has been involved in which ones did not represents the residents interests?

The VHA represents the developer and is his "mouthpiece".

It would be a good idea to belong to both while keeping perspective. The POA is for the people. The developers are for themselves. Complicated, huh?