[JohnM]

Interesting article if you missed it...

'Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias'
By Andrew D. Blechman
April 18, 2008 9:12 p.m.
1. For Sale
… The conversation soon turned to Dave's imminent move. I still felt a little let down by his decision to move away so abruptly. Didn't he feel at least some regret? Weren't he and Betsy going to miss strolling into town for dinner and waving to old friends along the way?


Grove Atlantic, Inc.
"We never intended to leave the neighborhood, Andrew," he explained. "As you know, I'm not someone who makes rash decisions. But then we discovered The Villages. It's not so much that we're leaving here as we're being drawn to another place. Our hearts are now in The Villages."

The Villages? The name was so bland it didn't even register. All I could picture was a collection of English hamlets in the Cotswolds bound together by narrow lanes and walking trails. But I thought Dave had said they were moving to Florida.

Over the course of the summer, Dave cleared up my confusion. At first, his descriptions of The Villages were so outrageous, so over the top, that I figured he must have been pulling my leg. Then he started bringing me clippings from The Villages' own newspaper. As I sat and read them, I was filled with a sense of comic wonder mixed with a growing alarm.

The Andersons were moving to the largest gated retirement community in the world. It spanned three counties, two zip codes, and more than 20,000 acres. The Villages itself, Dave explained, was subdivided into dozens of separate gated communities, each its own distinct entity, yet fully integrated into a greater whole that shared two manufactured downtowns, a financial district, and several shopping centers, and all of it connected by nearly 100 miles of golf cart trails.

I had trouble imaging the enormousness of the place. I didn't have any reference points with which to compare such a phenomenon. Was it a town, or a subdivision, or something like a college campus? And if it was as big as Dave described, then how could residents travel everywhere on golf carts? Dave described golf cart tunnels, golf cart bridges, and even golf cart tailgates. And these were no dinky caddie replacements. According to Dave, some of them cost upwards of $25,000 and were souped up to look like Hummers, Mercedes sedans, and hot rods.

The roads are especially designed for golf cart traffic, Dave told me, because residents drive the carts everywhere: to supermarkets, hardware stores, movie theaters, and even churches. With one charge, a resident can drive about forty miles, which, Dave explains to me, "is enough to go anywhere you'd want to go."

According to the Andersons, The Villages provides its 75,000 residents (it is building homes for 35,000 more) with anything their hearts could possibly desire, mostly sealed inside gates: countless recreation centers staffed with full-time directors; dozens of pools; hundreds of hobby and affinity clubs; two spotless, crime-free village centers with friendly, affordable restaurants; and three dozen golf courses—one for each day of the month—with plans for many more.

More important, The Villages provides residents with something else they apparently crave—a world without children. An individual must be at least fifty-five years old to purchase a home in The Villages, and no one under nineteen may live there—period. Children may visit, but their stays are strictly limited to a total of thirty days a year, and the developer reserves the right to periodically request that residents verify their age. As a new father, I found this rule particularly perplexing, although I hesitated to say as much.

I asked Dave, a schoolteacher for thirty years, if he felt uncomfortable living in a community without children, and I was surprised when he answered that he was actually looking forward to it. "I was tired of trying to imagine what a thirteen-year-old girl in my classroom was going through," Dave said. "I'm not thirteen, and I'm not a girl. I want to spend time with people who are retired like me."

When I asked about diversity, Betsy said that she didn't much care for it. Dave explained that diversity to him is more about interests and background than about age or racial demographics. "There are very few blacks—although I did play golf with a nice man—and I don't think I've seen any Orientals, but there's still so much stimulus there. Diversity exists if you want to find it. There are hundreds and hundreds of clubs to join, and if you don't find one that suits your interests, they'll help you start one."

Orientals? I hadn't heard that word since the 1970s, when chop suey was considered an exotic menu item. It never occurred to me how culturally out of sync I was with my neighbors. Although Dave and Betsy were young retirees (fifty-five and sixty-two, respectively), we were clearly of two different generations.

"Life in The Villages is really too much to describe," Betsy added. "It's simply unforgettable. For me, it was love at first sight." She patted her heart for emphasis. "I can only equate it to the movie The Stepford Wives. Everyone had a smile on their face like it's too good to be true. But it really is."

"I was real worried about Elizabeth when it was time to go," Dave said. "I was worried she would just crumble when we left to come back up here. The place really touched her heart."

"There are a lot of people just like us," Betsy continued. "I was very comfortable there. It's where I want to be. It has everything I could possibly want."

I was struck by how many of Dave's newspaper clippings described the residents' unusual leisure pursuits, including their fascination with gaining entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. In the eight months Dave had his house up for sale, his compatriots down south qualified for the big book twice: first for the world's largest simultaneous electric slide (1,200 boogying seniors), and next for the world's longest golf cart parade (nearly 3,500 lowspeed vehicles).

As amusing as these descriptions of daily life in The Villages were, they left me feeling dismayed, even annoyed. Were the Andersons really going to drop out of our community, move to Florida, and sequester themselves in a gated geritopia? Dave and Betsy had volunteered on the EMS squad, and Betsy also volunteered at the senior center and our local hospice. By all accounts, they were solid citizens with many more years of significant community involvement ahead of them.

And frankly, our community needed the Andersons. There were whispers that the town intended to pave over our little neighborhood park with a 20,000-square-foot fire station. Other sites were being considered for the station, but because the town owned the property it would be cheaper to build it there. The Andersons were a known quantity around town. They were respected and presumably knew how to navigate town hall and the surprisingly acrimonious politics of small-town New England. And now they were leaving—running off to a planned community where such headaches in all probability didn't exist. Rather than lead, they had chosen to secede. As Betsy described The Villages' accommodations for the terminally ill, it was clear that she had no intention of ever returning to our community. "The rooms overlook a golf course!" she said. "The Villages has even made dying a little more pleasant!"

[graciegirl]

JOHN!

What a well written article. I sent it on to everyone. I am getting a little crosseyed trying to EXPLAIN The Villages. This helped immeasurably. Thank you so much for posting it!

GracieGirl

[Muncle]

I was a tad upset about what I percieved as misconceptions and superficial views by the author. I thought it would be like writing a treatise on Ukrainian society after eating some kapusta and spending a weekend in Kiev. So I went to the web to try to gather more info. It turns out that this is an excerpt from a 250ish page book that was reviewed in the WSJ..
http://www.seniorsworldchronicle.com/

Since I have not read the book, I cannot say with certainty, but it appears that Blechman had an opinion and tailored his finding and interpretations of those finding to fit his biased opinion. FYI, the review:

BOOKS
Among the Oldsters at Play
'Active Adults' in Retirement: Golf, Dancing and the Adventures of Mr. Midnight
By GLENN RUFFENACH
Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2008

Leisureville
By Andrew D. Blechman
Atlantic Monthly, 244 pages, $25

To the list of Really Big Problems in this country, Andrew Blechman wishes to add . . . the spread of retirement communities.

That's right. For those of us unaware of the threat posed by real-estate developments where older adults live in neighborhoods with other older adults, Mr. Blechman sounds the alarm in "Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias."

Mr. Blechman writes that untold numbers of retirees are "abandoning the communities that once paid for and nurtured them and their families" and are opting for a life of "perpetual self-gratification." (Read: golf, tennis and sex, according to Mr. Blechman. Lots of sex.) In doing so, he argues, these "sybaritic seniors" are cheating the rest of us -- forsaking an obligation to share their time and talents and "further loosening the ties that bind our nation."

Perhaps so, but such fulminating doesn't quite convince. As Mr. Blechman showed in "Pigeons" (2006), an agreeable portrait of a much-maligned bird, he is a thorough reporter -- and his reporting here reveals that older adults, in fact, have perfectly good reasons for settling in "age-segregated" communities (as Mr. Blechman prefers to call them). What's more, these communities, which he fears will blanket the country someday, might already contain the seeds of their own demise.

"Leisureville," a first-person account, begins when Mr. Blechman, who is "under 40," learns that his newly retired neighbors are selling their house and moving to The Villages, a sprawling retirement community in central Florida. His surprise at the couple's decision -- they live in a "charming" New England town -- turns to dismay as the neighbors offer tidbits about their new surroundings. At The Villages, where some residents tool through the streets in $25,000 golf carts, the focus is on leisure -- without the company of children, who are almost nowhere to be found. Kids may visit, but their stays are limited to a total of 30 days a year.

The child-free-zone details are too much for Mr. Blechman. "How could two bright individuals," he asks, "be drawn to something as seemingly ridiculous as The Villages?" When the couple, after settling in Florida, invite him to visit -- suggesting, conveniently, that he might want "to write a book" about life in a retirement community -- Mr. Blechman adds some argyle socks to his wardrobe and heads south.

What he finds, in chapters that alternate between days at The Villages and a look at the retirement-housing industry, is "enhanced reality." Perfect homes sit on perfect streets, where hedges higher than four feet are prohibited (as are trick-or-treaters at Halloween), driveway lights turn on and off at the same designated time, and even lawn sprinklers appear to move in unison. As if to confirm Mr. Blechman's Orwellian theme, The Villages' TV network, radio station and newspaper pump out a steady diet of feel-good news.

"Residents, or at least the ones encountered by the author, "appear blissfully calm and cheery." And why not? Like most "active-adult" communities today, The Villages is a sort of residential resort, where swimming pools, golf courses and fitness centers are plentiful. With golf carts at the ready, homeowners move briskly from one recreational activity to the next: bowling, line dancing, swimming, billiards, golf and a never-ending series of parties. And then there is the sex: Mr. Blechman has the misfortune -- at least for readers -- of meeting "Chet," better known in The Villages as "Mr. Midnight." For whatever reason, the author becomes fixated on Chet and fills page after tedious page with his carnal feats.

That retirees regard every day as Saturday is bad enough, in Mr. Blechman's eyes. What really rankles, though, is their indifference -- again, in his view -- to the world beyond The Villages. Exhibit No. 1: Residents vote overwhelmingly against a half-penny sales tax to help fund local schools. At which point, Mr. Blechman asks: "Whatever happened to the idea -- perhaps naïve -- that we're all in this together, that we have an obligation to the generations that come after us?"

Mr. Blechman is clearly impassioned about closing the generational divide. But as his interviews make clear, the chasm is just fine with many residents, who are hardly sequestering themselves in the name of golf and trimmed hedges. They want to feel safe; they want to live someplace affordable and easy to navigate. And perhaps most important, they want companionship. In one of several poignant scenes, Pat, who shares a home in The Villages with her sister, tells Mr. Blechman: "I don't feel threatened like I did back in Boston. Back home, I'd be stuck in the house, scared. Here I can go down to the [town] square by myself, listen to the music, see people dancing, go home and I feel like I did something. And it didn't cost me a dime."

Mr. Blechman also finds evidence that retirement communities, for all his worries about their inexorable growth, could soon be "dinosaurs," as one marketing expert puts it. In particular, baby boomers may be reluctant to embrace communities like The Villages -- the generation that never wanted to grow up might shun places that would expose them as not-young. And as the developments' populations (typically on fixed incomes) grow older, "age-segregated" communities could end up "de-segregating" in order to attract new residents and to help defray the rising cost of municipal services.

Mr. Blechman isn't the first youngish author to get the idea that living among the (retired) natives might provide interesting fodder for a book. In 2005, Rodney Rothman, a former writer for "Late Show With David Letterman," published "Early Bird," describing his stay -- he was 28 at the time -- in Century Village, a retirement community in Florida. Full of humor and humanity, Mr. Rothman's book captures the sort of place where many of us might choose to live one day. For those who prefer a darker view of sunny retirement, there's always "Leisureville" to make them feel uneasy.

Mr. Ruffenach is a reporter and editor for The Wall Street Journal in Atlanta and the editor of Encore, the Journal's guide to retirement planning and living.

[SteveFromNY]

Muncle, thanks for posting that. I sensed something a little negative in the tone of the article in the Journal. Couldn't quite put my finger on it though. Your post cleared that up.

[Sidney Lanier]

Talk about creating an agenda and then researching only those things that fit it while ignoring everything else! Teachers, sociologists, psychologists, planners--those who are honest, anyway--can have a field day with this kind of one-sided presentation that I might go so far as to call 'bigoted.' No, I haven't read the book either, and likely wouldn't waste my time, but his fixation with 'gated community' in this article, which is not even accurate but fits 'the agenda,' makes clear his purpose in writing.

We ourselves are snowbirds. When asked about missing our grandchildren, our response is that we can visit them, and they us, easily--until they reach the age where visits with grandparents become appropriately onerous as they develop their own social lives, as inevitably happens. But what brings us back up north are friendships and our involvements in the organizations integral to our lives that we volunteer with, a view that no doubt would warm the cockles of the heart of Blechman. However, his assumption that we--and his former neighbors 'Betsy & Dave'--would not continue to be who they are and get involved in and around TV in exactly the same way that they had done in their previous community is a leap of confusion about human nature at best and disingenuous to fit 'the agenda' at worst.

To Blechman, for 'Betsy & Dave' to move across the Atlantic to England and the Cotswolds (a delightful area, to be sure) is acceptable whereas a retirement community is not? What incredible presumptuousness!!! Clearly he has rejected outright any "humor and humanity" mentioned as being present in the Rothman book, perhaps because these qualities do not exist in his own life. Sad....

[Russ_Boston]

Great research Muncle!

I could 'hear' the underside of the article as i was reading the excerpt. I too have friends who ask things like "Why are you running away from us?" or "What's wrong with this area where you've lived your whole life?" I always answer with the same thing "It's MY time".

My journey has been well chronicled in this forum and I won't repeat the whole thing but it is time to change my life. Moving to TV is only part of it. Changing my profession to one that helps people every day (RN) is another. Selfish? Maybe, but how much time do any of us have left? I plan on enjoying every day of the rest of my life doing things that make ME happy and living in TV will make me happy.

Russ

[villages07]

Slightly off-topic..... :cop:

Russ, your use of "My Time" reminded my of a book recommended to me several years ago by work colleagues. It's titled "My Time" subtitled "Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life" by Abigail Trafford. Can find it in many libraries and at amazon or other resellers for very inexpensive price. It was an easy, enjoyable read...all about life after 50 and making it your time.

Here's a product review from amazon: Kids grown? Mortgage paid? Career topping out? What now? In My Time, best-selling author Abigail Trafford answers the questions more and more 50somethings are asking themselves.Thanks to the longevity revolution of recent decades, today's 55-75-year-olds are living and working longer and healthier than ever before. This generation is the first to experience the period of personal renaissance in between middle and old age--what Trafford calls "My Time." Defining this period as a whole new developmental stage in the life cycle, Trafford skillfully guides readers through the obstacles of "My Time" and offers them the opportunity to take full advantage of the bonus decades.With the same wit, compassion, and vivid storytelling that made Crazy Time one of the best-loved books ever written on the subject of divorce, Trafford blends personal stories with expert opinions and the latest research on adult development. From the doctor who gave up his practice to write books to the widowed mother of three who reinvented herself as a successful photographer, true tales of crisis and triumph sparkle on every page of this inspiring and insightful book.Like Gail Sheehy's Passages, My Time is certain to profoundly affect the journey through our adult years.

Back on topic....interesting article and interesting review from Muncle. They can say what they like about TV, but, I know I've found my last home!!! Life doesn't get any better than this.

[graciegirl]

Muncie.

I took the article as just written with a little sarcastic humor and overstatement. Even the most articulate and KIND hearted people sometimes use words that might be perceived as politically incorrect. I have dear friends from Asia that don't find it offensive to hear the words Oriental or Chinaman! I don't mind being compared to a Stepford being. I feel that it is impossible to describe the Village experience. It is hard to understand why anyone would have the time or interest to line up 3000 golf carts to break a world record, unless you have experienced the aura of the place.

I am not surprised that people our age vote against taxes for schools, I have never done it and won't but that is just human nature. I am further not surprised that people find it comfortable and peaceful to escape youth in it's original form even though I adore children, speak childrenese, and always will be delighted by their presence.

I found the article as a positive because it clearly shows how The Villages and Village life appear to the unitiated. I found it was a good presentation of negative psychology. I sent it on to my incredulous friends.

Just my opinion but you have me by many I.Q. points Muncie.

GracieGirl

[JUREK]

Muncle:
Excellent response and post.. :bigthumbsup: :bigthumbsup:

[graciegirl]

Muncie:

I have read your response and the WSJ review slower. I believe now that the writer is lacking in years,experience and wisdom, and I take back my view that he was trying to be funny. I still say that as a teaching tool, the article is excellent.

Living here is gonna be UN-believeable!

GracieGirl

[Rokinronda]

Yes, fellow Villagers, our new friends, our new family, our friends and family up north, everyone.....YES, we are still in UTOPIA! The article called this a "really big problem"? Almost 4 years of living and working here and it is "UN believable" Yes, 07, it is our time! We are home. We work, but sure have a lot of active fun times, in "LEISUREVILLE". When we are retirement age we will work less and volunteer MORE, hopefully! .........My hubbys parents talked and talked about "someday" spending winters in florida. We brought them to FL. many times through the years for our family vacations.... Well, "someday" never happened. We started to say "someday" a lot. It was almost an honor to move here for them. My Dad visited and loved it here. He was not a golfer, but sure loved dancing with all the "gorgeous girls" here! He loved "rokin" :hot: ......I guess its in the blood! LOL My Dad also said he might like to move here "someday". Then he passed away this last Nov. :'( .... Other family and friends have visited and said "someday"...... life is just too short to say "someday". Our children have said they will not sell our house when we die. Of course we told them its a long, long time till that happens! ;D Our son (golfer) and his fiance up north want to be able to come here to Utopia for winters when his family has grown. We hope that our little slice of paradise is passed future generations!! A Toast to UTOPIA!!! HOME SWEET HOME!!

[beady]

Rokinronda,

Exactly.

My folks also spoke of moving to Florida but my Mom just couldn't face leaving her family. In the end she regretted not having moved . So, I took my cue from her and although it was hard to leave it was absolutely the best thing to do.

We have had grandkids and kids visit, I head north a couple times a year and it is the best.

Nothing has changed as far as lifestyle is concerned. I still continue to volunteer and be involved, and I think that is the case with people who move here. They do not retire and regress, they retire and continue. The only difference is we don't have to go out and work every day, in fact, we can become more involved in life. All my friends continually ask what I planned to do with my spare time. Well.......now I tell them I hardly have time to do simple tasks because I am so busy.The man who wrote the WSJ article needs to be more objective and do more research before he expounds on the life of retirees.

[gfmucci]

Even with the jaded, exaggerating and misunderstanding tone of the article, I smiled when I read it - knowing my wife and I will be there in a few months - and hissing "Yessss" as I thrust my fist backwards toward my side in anticipatory joy!*

Wow - it sounds like I picked up the "tone" of the article.* But in this case, I'm NOT being sarcastic.

[gfmucci]

Originally Posted by Muncle

And then there is the sex: Mr. Blechman has the misfortune -- at least for readers -- of meeting "Chet," better known in The Villages as "Mr. Midnight." For whatever reason, the author becomes fixated on Chet and fills page after tedious page with his carnal feats.

Mr. Blechman also finds evidence that retirement communities, for all his worries about their inexorable growth, could soon be "dinosaurs," as one marketing expert puts it. In particular, baby boomers may be reluctant to embrace communities like The Villages -- the generation that never wanted to grow up might shun places that would expose them as not-young. And as the developments' populations (typically on fixed incomes) grow older, "age-segregated" communities could end up "de-segregating" in order to attract new residents and to help defray the rising cost of municipal services.

Mr. Blechman isn't the first youngish author to get the idea that living among the (retired) natives might provide interesting fodder for a book. In 2005, Rodney Rothman, a former writer for "Late Show With David Letterman," published "Early Bird," describing his stay -- he was 28 at the time -- in Century Village, a retirement community in Florida. Full of humor and humanity, Mr. Rothman's book captures the sort of place where many of us might choose to live one day. For those who prefer a darker view of sunny retirement, there's always "Leisureville" to make them feel uneasy.

RE the "sex" comment:* Isn't it just like a liberal, Gen X author to have a sex fetish about older Americans.* What an a--.* This is the gratuitous 'tude I'm glad I'm "escaping" from. ;D

Mr. Blechman is worried about what will happen to TV as the occupants die off? ...will become "dinosaurs?"* St. Petersburg, FL didn't have any trouble.* Throughout the '50's, '60's, and '70's, St. Petersburg was the retirement capital of Florida.* I spoke to a Florida planning consultant the other day who explained the great revitalization of St. Petersburg that has occurred over the past decade...it is thriving as never before.* The Villages has at least a decade of boomers who will want to escape to TV before any transition in its composition needs to be considered.* And my guess is that the maturing of TV in terms of landscaping and overall quality will cause TV to continue to be one of the great attractions for retirees across the nation decades beyond that.

And finally, the Wall Street Journal review has it right:* "For those who prefer a darker view of sunny retirement, there's always "Leisureville" [the book] to make them feel uneasy."* There is always someone around to mock a good thing they don't understand.

[JohnN]

Different strokes for different folks, the writer is younger and has a different perspective of life trends, .......... interesting