[JohnM]

Orlando Sentinel:

Book's critique of The Villages lifestyle fires up debate
Adrian G. Uribarri

Sentinel Staff Writer

May 6, 2008

THE VILLAGES

The book cover projects a pleasant view of retirement: a row of houses and golf carts, a pool, a tennis court. Even the title seems complimentary to residents of this retirement community, about 60 miles northwest of Orlando.

So much for appearances.

In Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias, released last month, author Andrew D. Blechman uses The Villages as the key example in his 244-page critique of retirement communities across the country. He started writing the book a few years ago, after his New England neighbors moved here.

Now, some Villages residents are miffed about how he portrayed their lifestyles.

"Boy, that guy went looking for dirt -- and he found it," retired software engineer Joe Becker said of the author. Becker, 79, panned Blechman's book on Amazon .com after he bought it about two weeks ago at a bookstore in the retiree haven.

"Ninety percent of the people here are happy 90 percent of the time," Becker said.

Throughout the book -- called a "darker view of sunny retirement" in The Wall Street Journal -- Blechman highlights the social pitfalls of communities where people 55 and older have scant civic engagement and interaction with young people. He laments how the perennial village elders have become elders of The Villages, leaving their hometowns for a life of pickleball and golf.

"A lot of these people are, in a sense, dropping out of the larger society," Blechman said. "They can do this. It's legal and it's their right. It just calls a lot of things into question."

Blechman explains how Villages developer Gary Morse has maintained firm control over local decision-making in a community that sprawls across Lake, Sumter and Marion counties.

He highlights the complex political and economic arrangements that gave rise to The Villages, and he asserts that few of its 65,000 or so residents understand, let alone oppose, the limitations on their civic power.

"They move there because they don't want to deal with the daily hassles of traditional community life," Blechman said. "Many of them prefer a government by contract."

Becker, a New York City native who moved from Orlando to The Villages two years ago, didn't argue that point -- but he said there was nothing wrong with what he called The Villages' "benign dictatorship."

"We're a little bit of a company town," Becker said. "But it's a well-run company town. I have no problem with it."

Villages' spokesman Gary Lester did not return a call for comment.

Sue Michalson, who moved to The Villages from Westchester County, N.Y., six years ago, said Blechman should have spent more of his book on the kind of work she has done at the retirement community. Michalson said she helped quadruple membership in The Villages' Democratic Party club during the 2004 presidential election. On the local level, she successfully prodded development officials to adopt a recycling program.

Michalson said Blechman undermined that level of activism and focused too heavily on the sexual adventures of "Mr. Midnight," described in the book as a 63-year-old Villages bachelor with an uncanny appetite for women and parties.

"We're active citizens. We're not a bunch of lushes here," said Michalson, 72. "I don't think that's a true picture of the environment."

Blechman, who named a chapter after Mr. Midnight, said there's undue "prudishness" about one of his favorite Villagers.

"He's a great character," Blechman said. "He breaks a lot of the stereotypes about older citizens."

Indeed, some of seniors' migration from hometowns to retirement communities may stem from the growing health -- sexual and otherwise -- of 21st-century retirees.

David Downs, director of the Kornblau Institute for real-estate studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, said retirement communities such as those described in Leisureville have sprung up partly in response to demand from seniors who no longer depend on their immediate family members.

"In prior generations, people didn't necessarily have a choice in how they were going to change or evolve or define their lifestyle as they aged," Downs said. "Today, people self-select, and they choose to remake themselves. They have an opportunity for a fresh start."

It's that kind of opportunity that drove 67-year-old Eleanor Strickland from frigid Minneapolis to The Villages five years ago. She said that while she agreed with parts of Blechman's book, her decision to move there had less to do with an escape from civic responsibility and more to do with getting out of the house.

"It would be nice if people could live in their home communities when they retire and keep contributing, but when you get older, you aren't physically able to," Strickland said. "If you want to go see a play in Minneapolis, it's probably miles away from your house. And say there's a blizzard that day. You've got to go out and shovel your driveway. It's just too much for older people to handle."

The plays in The Villages aren't quite as good as those in Minneapolis, she said, but at least she can get to them.

"I can go in five minutes," she said. "I take my golf cart."

[JohnM]

And a very different view from a young urban planner in Maine fearful about the impact on the towns left behind:

DEVONOMICS...the blog
May 5, 2008
Fear of a Laid-Back Planet: a book review
I just got done reading an eye-opening new book: Leisureville, by Andrew Blechman. This book rips the shiny veneer off of the age-segregated retirement cities of Florida and Arizona and shows them for what they are: corporate-run ghettos where fear-stricken old white people can escape from the horrible realities of modern society.

Mr. Blechman is very much like me–a thirtysomething professional raised in big city suburbia now raising his family in a small and semi-idyllic small town in New England. One day his childless and recently retired neighbors plunk a For Sale sign in front of their home and announce that they are relocating to The Villages, a 100,000 person age-restricted megalopolis carved out of Central Florida swampland. He hears his neighbors gush about the carefree, laid-back lifestyle behind the gates of The Villages, where the toughest life choice is “which golf course should we play today?” and immediately decides to write a book about the happy world of leisurely retirement.

There is, of course, a dark side to all the sunshine, one that smacks a bit too loudly of fascism. You see, buying into The Villages (you are of course, not just buying a home, you’re buying a lifestyle) requires submitting to the draconian and sometimes downright evil law of The Villages corporation and, more specifically its ruthless and reclusive boss, Gary Morse. The Villages operates its own Soviet-style media empire (TV, radio, newspaper) and goes to great lengths to both limit the exposure of its residents to bad news from outside the walls and to stifle free speech and political participation. The sad truth is that “Villagers” are essentially subjected to taxation without representation: they pay their association fees to the “central district,” a quasi-governmental board basically run by the management which offers very little meaningful representation.

Beyond its control within the gates, The Villages has gone to great lengths to use its money and politcal muscle to effectively gain control of the local county government, to the point that the county’s public schools are strangled by the fact that an age-segregated community filled with people who don’t want to pay school taxes now effectively holds its purse strings. In the case of Sun City, Arizona, The Villages’ older western cousin, Sun City seceded from the local school district by mutual accord, as the school district grew exasperated at having every necessary expense shot down by the miserly oldsters next door. While this may seem to be a good solution, it sets an awful precedent–now a whole class of retirees can effectively avoid paying for the educational needs of younger people simply by moving behind the protective walls of a retirement fortress.

Mr. Blechman pours out dozens of other vignettes about life in Leisureville. On the amusing side, he goes undercover in the 55+ singles’ scene (which has resulted in shockingly high STD rates), sits in on a bingo game, and investigates the insidious rumor that The Villages’ “wine club” is really a front for a swingers’ group. On the not so amusing side, he befriends a troubled transgendered person who cannot seem to fit into the conservative culture of The Villages, chats up local teenagers outside the gates who are constantly put down by Villagers, and attends an intentionally confusing seminar on local governance run by an employee of the Villages. My favorite moment is his visit to the one and only playground at The Villages, which is all but deserted. During this visit, he spots two sheriff’s deputies asleep in their cruiser in the parking lot and asks them about their jobs. They reply by telling him that it’s pretty easy dealing with the “frogs”–so called because “they come down here to croak.”

After the alternating humor and harshness, by the end of the read I found myself fuming at the idea that a whole generation of Americans was not only allowed to drop out of society to live out their days on the golf course, but was choosing to do so. Members of this segment of society apparently believe that they have served society for long enough, and now it is their right to stop contributing to the maintenance of an orderly society and to the funding of public education. More troubling, as Mr. Blechman points out, is that the lifetime of wisdom accumulated by these retirees will not be passed on to the youth in their communities–because there ARE no youth in their communities. When a society cuts off these links, it risks losing its sense of history and falling into chaos.

I find it quite ironic that most of the denizens of The Villages, Sun City and their ilk are self-professed conservatives. I ask: what is conservative about willfully cutting off links to your cultural past and leaving your children and grandchildren to fend for themselves? Myself, I would call that a radical and thoroughly frightening notion.

While I respect the right of those who have worked hard all their lives to retire in comfort, I simply do not understand why people believe that, after a certain age, they no longer need to participate in society. The same society that educated them, employed them, and allowed them to retire at a relatively young age needs them to stay involved so that future generations may follow in their footsteps. If a whole generation of soon-to-be-retirees feels that playing golf while not paying taxes is more important than the survival of our society, then I fear for the future.

There is some reason for hope, however. Market research is showing that, for all the stereotyping of the Baby Boomers as the “Me Generation,” Boomers are not likely to embrace the Sun City model. Instead, Boomers want to live near cities, near family, and near cultural outlets. Mr. Blechman reviews research that shows that even Boomers that prefer age-restricted developments are seeking out smaller developments located close to their current homes, rather than far flung Leisurevilles like The Villages.

If you are contemplating retirement of know anyone who is doing so, I urge you to read Leisureville. You will not find a better written, more entertaining or more insightful account of the myriad implications of the segregation of our society by age and income.

[Muncle]

Originally Posted by JohnM

And a very different view from a young urban planner in Maine fearful about the impact on the towns left behind:

DEVONOMICS...the blog
May 5, 2008
Fear of a Laid-Back Planet: a book review
I just got done reading an eye-opening new book: Leisureville, by Andrew Blechman. This book rips the shiny veneer off of the age-segregated retirement cities of Florida and Arizona and shows them for what they are: corporate-run ghettos where fear-stricken old white people can escape from the horrible realities of modern society.

Mr. Blechman is very much like me–a thirtysomething professional raised in big city suburbia now raising his family in a small and semi-idyllic small town in New England.

What an ignorant tirade by a blithering fool on a subject about which he know absolutely nothing. This clown claims that both he and Blechman are "thirtysomething professional(s)" but doesn't say professional what. That seems to be a self-awarded title taken on by those who have the diplomas but no accomplishments to accompany them. I thought Blechman was totally off-base with his book, but he looks brilliant compared to this "professional." Ah, the curse of the internet that allows anyone to claim to be a "blogger."

[captain1202]

Funny thing about all this....I thought after we'd paid our dues we could enjoy a few years doing what WE want.

Let's see, self employed business, town politics, volunteer EMT squad, finance committee, numerous other volunteer activites, school PTA, etc.etc. We've done our bit...now it's time to ENJOY.

Perhaps Mr. Belchman, Ooops, Blechman would prefer we live near "Killadelphia" or Baltimore with their daily menu's of murder and mayhem.

Has it occurred to him that it's time for him and his friends to pickup where we left off??

As I am still working around the aforementioned cities, I look forward to my monthly "vacation" at home in the Villages with all it's "hokiness".

Originally Posted by Muncle

What an ignorant tirade by a blithering fool on a subject about which he know absolutely nothing. This clown claims that both he and Blechman are "thirtysomething professional(s)" but doesn't say professional what. That seems to be a self-awarded title taken on by those who have the diplomas but no accomplishments to accompany them. I thought Blechman was totally off-base with his book, but he looks brilliant compared to this "professional." Ah, the curse of the internet that allows anyone to claim to be a "blogger."

Tell us how you really feel! Muncle-you are not going to win the "Nice"
award.

[gfmucci]

Muncle, I couldn't agree with your accurate assessment and indignation more.

Both of these self-ordained social critic Gen X fools (Belchman and Blogster) reflect a vivid gulf between the generations.* The greatest generation (ages 80's and 90's now -* our parents), the "lost generation (ages mid-60's to 70's) and the boomers have gone down in social history as being hard working, dedicated, principled, family oriented, patriotic souls who built and defended our nation.* Of course there are exceptions.

On the other hand, the Gen X'ers, who these protagonists typify, have already developed a reputation among human resource professionals and corporate executives as being self-centered, undisciplined, irresponsible, nihilstic, rebellious slackards who care only about their own self-indulgence.* (Of course, there are exceptions - our military is a big one - but most of these are under 30 Gen Y's who have matured beyond the egoism of Gen X'ers .)*

But the rest of them are prone to a disdain for the characteristics of their elders, with a pinch of jeolousy.* They feel they are "owed" by society without having earned anything.* They are resentful of those in our 60's and 70's who have earned our right to live as we choose.* These characterisitics, along with their criticism of the choices made by those 20 to 40 years senior to them cause them truly to be worthy of the label "fool."* Many of these are the same ones who fawn over politicians who promise a federal government that will parent and regulate its helpless, clueless, insatiable population.

Now, ask ME how I really feel.

[gfmucci]

Originally Posted by JohnM

Blechman, who named a chapter after Mr. Midnight, said there's undue "prudishness" about one of his favorite Villagers.

"He's a great character," Blechman said. "He breaks a lot of the stereotypes about older citizens."

Or it could be said that with Mr. Blechman there is undue "sleaziness" in his obsession with abberant behavior.* Mr Blechman is proving his amorality - his "nihilism" - his own warped character.* So, some of us are prudish because we are critical of Blechman's prurient and misrepresentative obsession with a male whore? [My wife read the book, too, and this is her label for Blechman's favorite character.]*

Any misrepresentation of an entire community to sell a book, eh Blechman?* Sooo Gen X.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by Muncle

What an ignorant tirade by a blithering fool on a subject about which he know absolutely nothing.

Muncle, Gfmucci: Villagers play golf while not paying taxes? What a misleading rant.

Originally Posted by gfmucci

Muncle, I couldn't agree with your accurate assessment and indignation more.

Both of these self-ordained social critic Gen X fools (Belchman and Blogster) reflect a vivid gulf between the generations. The greatest generation (ages 80's and 90's now - our parents), the "lost generation (ages mid-60's to 70's) and the boomers have gone down in social history as being hard working, dedicated, principled, family oriented, patriotic souls who built and defended our nation. Of course there are exceptions.

On the other hand, the Gen X'ers, who these protagonists typify, have already developed a reputation among human resource professionals and corporate executives as being self-centered, undisciplined, irresponsible, nihilstic, rebellious slackards who care only about their own self-indulgence. (Of course, there are exceptions - our military is a big one - but most of these are under 30 Gen Y's who have matured beyond the egoism of Gen X'ers .)

But the rest of them are prone to a disdain for the characteristics of their elders, with a pinch of jeolousy. They feel they are "owed" by society without having earned anything. They are resentful of those in our 60's and 70's who have earned our right to live as we choose. These characterisitics, along with their criticism of the choices made by those 20 to 40 years senior to them cause them truly to be worthy of the label "fool." Many of these are the same ones who fawn over politicians who promise a federal government that will parent and regulate its incapable and insatiable population.

Now, ask ME how I really feel.

OK OK How do YOU really feel?

Originally Posted by barefoot at last

Muncle, Gfmucci: Villagers play golf while not paying taxes? What a misleading rant.

Barefoot,
Compare your Canadian taxes to Florida's. I know I pay alot more in NY.
I am not defending the book. I was just trying to joke.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by JohnM

And a very different view from a young urban planner in Maine fearful about the impact on the towns left behind:

DEVONOMICS...the blog
May 5, 2008
Fear of a Laid-Back Planet: a book review
I just got done reading an eye-opening new book: Leisureville, by Andrew Blechman. This book rips the shiny veneer off of the age-segregated retirement cities of Florida and Arizona and shows them for what they are: corporate-run ghettos where fear-stricken old white people can escape from the horrible realities of modern society.

Mr. Blechman is very much like me–a thirtysomething professional raised in big city suburbia now raising his family in a small and semi-idyllic small town in New England. One day his childless and recently retired neighbors plunk a For Sale sign in front of their home and announce that they are relocating to The Villages, a 100,000 person age-restricted megalopolis carved out of Central Florida swampland. He hears his neighbors gush about the carefree, laid-back lifestyle behind the gates of The Villages, where the toughest life choice is “which golf course should we play today?” and immediately decides to write a book about the happy world of leisurely retirement.

There is, of course, a dark side to all the sunshine, one that smacks a bit too loudly of fascism. You see, buying into The Villages (you are of course, not just buying a home, you’re buying a lifestyle) requires submitting to the draconian and sometimes downright evil law of The Villages corporation and, more specifically its ruthless and reclusive boss, Gary Morse. The Villages operates its own Soviet-style media empire (TV, radio, newspaper) and goes to great lengths to both limit the exposure of its residents to bad news from outside the walls and to stifle free speech and political participation. The sad truth is that “Villagers” are essentially subjected to taxation without representation: they pay their association fees to the “central district,” a quasi-governmental board basically run by the management which offers very little meaningful representation.

Beyond its control within the gates, The Villages has gone to great lengths to use its money and politcal muscle to effectively gain control of the local county government, to the point that the county’s public schools are strangled by the fact that an age-segregated community filled with people who don’t want to pay school taxes now effectively holds its purse strings. In the case of Sun City, Arizona, The Villages’ older western cousin, Sun City seceded from the local school district by mutual accord, as the school district grew exasperated at having every necessary expense shot down by the miserly oldsters next door. While this may seem to be a good solution, it sets an awful precedent–now a whole class of retirees can effectively avoid paying for the educational needs of younger people simply by moving behind the protective walls of a retirement fortress.

Mr. Blechman pours out dozens of other vignettes about life in Leisureville. On the amusing side, he goes undercover in the 55+ singles’ scene (which has resulted in shockingly high STD rates), sits in on a bingo game, and investigates the insidious rumor that The Villages’ “wine club” is really a front for a swingers’ group. On the not so amusing side, he befriends a troubled transgendered person who cannot seem to fit into the conservative culture of The Villages, chats up local teenagers outside the gates who are constantly put down by Villagers, and attends an intentionally confusing seminar on local governance run by an employee of the Villages. My favorite moment is his visit to the one and only playground at The Villages, which is all but deserted. During this visit, he spots two sheriff’s deputies asleep in their cruiser in the parking lot and asks them about their jobs. They reply by telling him that it’s pretty easy dealing with the “frogs”–so called because “they come down here to croak.”

After the alternating humor and harshness, by the end of the read I found myself fuming at the idea that a whole generation of Americans was not only allowed to drop out of society to live out their days on the golf course, but was choosing to do so. Members of this segment of society apparently believe that they have served society for long enough, and now it is their right to stop contributing to the maintenance of an orderly society and to the funding of public education. More troubling, as Mr. Blechman points out, is that the lifetime of wisdom accumulated by these retirees will not be passed on to the youth in their communities–because there ARE no youth in their communities. When a society cuts off these links, it risks losing its sense of history and falling into chaos.

I find it quite ironic that most of the denizens of The Villages, Sun City and their ilk are self-professed conservatives. I ask: what is conservative about willfully cutting off links to your cultural past and leaving your children and grandchildren to fend for themselves? Myself, I would call that a radical and thoroughly frightening notion.

While I respect the right of those who have worked hard all their lives to retire in comfort, I simply do not understand why people believe that, after a certain age, they no longer need to participate in society. The same society that educated them, employed them, and allowed them to retire at a relatively young age needs them to stay involved so that future generations may follow in their footsteps. If a whole generation of soon-to-be-retirees feels that playing golf while not paying taxes is more important than the survival of our society, then I fear for the future.There is some reason for hope, however. Market research is showing that, for all the stereotyping of the Baby Boomers as the “Me Generation,” Boomers are not likely to embrace the Sun City model. Instead, Boomers want to live near cities, near family, and near cultural outlets. Mr. Blechman reviews research that shows that even Boomers that prefer age-restricted developments are seeking out smaller developments located close to their current homes, rather than far flung Leisurevilles like The Villages.

If you are contemplating retirement of know anyone who is doing so, I urge you to read Leisureville. You will not find a better written, more entertaining or more insightful account of the myriad implications of the segregation of our society by age and income.

With age comes wisdom. He is nothing more than a kid with a big mouth who has not lived long enough to come in out of the rain.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by mcelheny

OK OK How do YOU really feel?

You know, in my view a person should not reduce another person's impassioned and articulate comments with such a very dismissing sentence.

I looked back at other comments and realized that you had disagreed with Muncle about politics.

When a person is right, it does not mean they are always right.
When a person is wrong, it does not mean they are always wrong.

[fizzbyn]

We lived in a Stepford community for kids called Ladera Ranch in South Orange County, CA. It wasn't age restricted, but it might as well have been since in catered to 30-somethings with 2.5 kids. We moved there because it had great walking trails, parks, and a little town sort of like a mini-TV town without the entertainment. It took about a year to realize we didn't belong there. Every activity was for kids. The only adult activity was one cocktail party where everyone exchanged business cards. We didn't go since we hate that kind of thing. Kids were spoiled and undisciplined. Everyone was very paranoid about their kids, too. Kids didn't walk to any of the three elementary and one middle school, they were driven in SUVs by a mom with a cell phone in her ear. No kids played alone in the park without their parents present. If a man was alone in any of the parks and children were near, the police were notified. The last straw for us was when adults were kicked out of the Fourth of July parade and only kids were allowed to be in it. We loved to decorate our wagon and be in the parade. So that was it for us. We moved to a retirement community as fast as we could, and now will move to TV as fast as we can because TV will have parades we can be in, plus all the other fun stuff. All this to say that the 30-year-olds have their communities too, complete with water and skate parks, and us old guys aren't particularly welcomed there. I used to say I wanted a Ladera Ranch for adults. Well, I've found it now... only 1000 times better!

[Lil Dancer]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

You know, in my view a person should not reduce another person's impassioned and articulate comments with such a very dismissing sentence.

I looked back at other comments and realized that you had disagreed with Muncle about politics.

When a person is right, it does not mean they are always right.
When a person is wrong, it does not mean they are always wrong.

Gracie, I generally agree with you, but this time I think McHelney's post needs some explanation. Muncle has posted some absolutely demeaning and quite mean spirited comments to some members of the political forum, myself included. Its one thing if you disagree with someone's opinion and let them know it, but to attack them personnally with name calling, etc., as Muncle has done, is way over the line, in my opinion. I think there are a number of us who have just had it with him.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Lil Dancer

Gracie, I generally agree with you, but this time I think McHelney's post needs some explanation. Muncle has posted some absolutely demeaning and quite mean spirited comments to some members of the political forum, myself included. Its one thing if you disagree with someone's opinion and let them know it, but to attack them personnally with name calling, etc., as Muncle has done, is way over the line, in my opinion. I think there are a number of us who have just had it with him.

OH. :redface:

I just hate it when someone says "tell me how you really feel" to ME and it is generally when I am all fired up about something that really matters deeply, and I don't let that show very often.

I can see that I am NOT aware of frictions here. I am sorry for sticking my nose into something I know nothing about. I am embarrassed too.