Get Real
 

Let's get real. The Residents pay the bills for the Squares but are getting to be the lesser of the users. With all of the apartments being built outside of the Villages and these renters or owners using the Villages assets without contributing to the costs makes the Residents payers just plain "suckers". Getting into the Villages property is very easy so the thefts go on. Think of the fact that the Villages (Developer, et al) have developed a formula that makes the cost of Sumter Landing greater for the residents than the Business's that get the benefits of the outsiders using the area. This is a fact! Now the outside users of the Squares are starting to prevent the residents from using or enjoying the squares. We use to enjoy the Sumter Landing Square but it is so infused with outside attendance that we no longer go to the entertainment. It is now a scene of drunks, and non residents that the only enjoyment is to drive through and watch the drunks and mob scenes: The residents are "suckers" who don't pay attention to what they are getting and therefore deserve what they get!

What is the secret to identifying the "outsiders," is there a mark on their forehead or a special way they carry themselves? I'd like to get the same discounts on my property taxes that pay for the squares or on beer at the huts or food in the restaurants that you say the "outsiders" get.

Haven't seen the drunks or the mobs... I guess I'm one of the "suckers." I'll have to pay more attention and stop being distracted by the performers on the stage.

That "Walmart gate" people refer to, I was told to me, that the blacktop golf cart path leading to Walmart was funded
by the Stonecrest people with funding from a golf outing a year or so ago.

Anyone hear that also?

The "Walmart gate" out of the Villages is not near the Walmart store. Perhaps there is a separate blacktop golf cart path since the Villages gate has been discussed for well over a year.

I know the answer to this but first what does the blacktop path have to do with entering The Villages via the Paradise gate which for the upteen time is not accessable without a resident key card (no button).

Not sure how residents are paying for the Squares.
Entertainment is funded by tourism grants from Sumter County & funds from business's at the squares.

You mean, non-resident Villagers as outsiders. Pretty easy to tell. They are younger etc. The problem for me is not that they are there sharing the fun, the problem is overcrowding in general. We can go to Orlando for that and I do.

They can, and some of them do. They'll wait at the gate and tell the next cart to show up that their card doesn't work, or that they left their card home and just want to get home. And many Villagers, being eager to be helpful and generally trusting of strangers, will happily let them in.

Some of them, like me and Nucky, will ask them to show some ID to prove that they actually live in the villages.

There were some arrests near the Lowe's parking lot last year of golf cart thieves. They'd drive the cart out that gate by pretending they left their card home. And someone would let them just drive right on out, and load the cart onto a flatbed. They stole several carts before they were finally caught.

In fact the blacktop path you speak of was pretty much funded by Stonecrest and residents from the community directly across Stonecrest to get to Aldi's, Lowes, medical offices and restaurants there. So, yes, pretty much everyone benefits from it.

Why all the hoo-ha?

Dunno about the rest of y'all but seeing a winsome young lass or handsome lad in the sea of crabby old geezers is a welcome sight.

You are kidding, right?

At some point, they felt this entitled them to come through to the Villages and use the 50+ square miles of MMPs that Villages pay to maintain through our own fees. A barricade was erected at the location of the Paradise gate, preventing anyone from coming or going through it. Eventually, that barricade was taken down and replace with a gate with no button. You must use a card if you want to drive a golf cart in or out of that gate.

Some Stonecrest folks have bypassed that requirement by purchasing gate cards from uncaring, or possibly ignorant Villages residents. And some, as I mentioned up-thread, will simply lie to whoever else is at the gate and claim that they lost their card, in the hopes that they can scam their way through. The Villages Paradise gate is PRIVATE property. That little section of path leading from that gate onto Paradise Drive is PRIVATE property. Stonecrest residents are not entitled to use it. The only way they can, is to lie, or to intentionally cheat everyone else.

In general, I'm all for limiting who can enter the Villages, for more than one reason. Including that it might lessen some of the thefts and other crimes that go on.

It seems a bit hypocritical that hundreds of Villages residents use the paved cart path from Aldi’s to Walmart that is paved by Stonecrest people, paid for by Stonecrest, and mowed each week by Stonecrrst people. Should A gate be put up to stop Villagers use of this path. NO! Stonecrest is neighborly and doesn’t whine about use by Villagers. They consider it is good for everyone.

Stop whining about trivial things.

I think most Stonecresters are getting passes from a friend in the villages. It's easy for a villager to legally obtain an extra gate pass.
And in my opinion, it depends on where they are going. If they're going to play a championship course, come on in. If they're going to an executive course , they should be arrested, tried and executed. If they're going to a square, I'm OK with this because, as I mentioned, the entertainers performing at the squares are paid for partially by county taxes, so technically the good residents of Stonecrest are paying for it.

They're using the amenities because they know the pools are under (or completely un-) staffed. They BUY guest passes from Villages residents using IDs from "up north" to get them. They're also using "guest passes" that they BUY from country club members to use the Country Club pools.

Not a conspiracy, it's actually a thing.

Can't Help You
 

I can only explain how you are being subject to abuse financially but I can't help you to understand it! If you decide to take the time to actually determine what this means you may want to look into how the costs of maintaining Sumter Landing are allocated, the impact to residents when they pay for the infrastructure for the usage of these non-residents, and the merchants don't pay a fair share even though they get the advantage of revenue associated with this group. This is only addressing Lake Sumter and it is happening in a number of financial goings on in The Villages. If you are going to encourage more non residents to come to the Village's without contributing to the costs it is obvious you don't understand the impacts and facts of your misled opinions. I would encourage you to study the issues associated with these action and then make an informed opinion as to the direction we are going.

Ahhh, so you are concerned about the wear and tear on the sidewalks.

Was at LSL again last night - enjoyed the music and the dancing. Which part of the square has the drunks and the mobs? I missed them again. We were some of the youngest in the square (other than the toddlers of course) so maybe you counted us as some of the outsiders.

Does the funding algorithm favor the few businesses over the thousands of homes and can that be interpreted as the businesses not paying their "fair share?" Absolutely, but that isn't new and that isn't unique to the Villages. I have been paying for schools since I've owned a home and never had one child in them. I've been paying for maintenance on hundreds of miles of roads that support businesses but that I will never travel. Paying a little less than $2,000/year to support three venues that I enjoy regularly (with more on the way) seems like a deal to me.

As I Said
 

As I said I can explain the problem BUT I can't help you understand it! :ohdear:

That is such a great quote, I hope you don’t mind if I borrow it some time?

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

OK, let's look closely at your "explanation".

1. "The Residents pay the bills for the Squares"...Really? I think this statement requires a bit more explanation. What do you mean by "the bills for the Squares"? The developer owns and charges rent for the commercial space, and the entertainment is paid for by a variety of means. Are you talking about maintenance and upkeep of the actual square? Perhaps you could be more specific about exactly what, and how, the residents of TV pay for "The Squares".

2."Now the outside users of the Squares are starting to prevent the residents from using or enjoying the squares. We use to enjoy the Sumter Landing Square but it is so infused with outside attendance that we no longer go to the entertainment. It is now a scene of drunks, and non residents that the only enjoyment is to drive through and watch the drunks and mob scene"...
Anyone who read this statement, and believed it without ever having been to a square to listen to the music would imagine a scene with people stumbling around drunk, similar to our college Spring Break days. I have never seen one person doing this. And "non-residents"? Since they first built Sumter Landing, how many fold has the Villages grown? Of course there are more people at the Square now than when there were only 50,000 residents. There are 130,000 or so now. And the squares have always been open to non-residents. They don't need to buy gate passes to come and listen to the music. And how can you tell a non-resident from a resident?

I don't think you've explained why it's a problem for me. You've described a scenario that doesn't exist, and you've made statements that require more explanation before they can be evaluated for relevance and accuracy. Perhaps you can start with a deeper explanation of how the squares are funded?

We don't go to the squares for entertainment very much but in all honesty, though crowded particularly during high snowbird season, the people don't appear to be particularly unruly. Oh, there's the occasional loud drunk but nothing more, and probably a lot less, than you'd see at any equivalent gathering of non-village folks in a scenario where booze is available.

Even petty crime seems to be nonexistent during square entertainment times. We park our cart usually well away from the entertainment and have left items such as sunglasses, jackets, etc. inside in plain view, and have return to find them undisturbed. I certainly wouldn't do that at, say, Wal-Mart, but it doesn't seem to be a problem at the squares.

Question: Is that path on Stonecrest property?????? I doubt it, which leads to the question of why they would pay for it (other than to increase the convenience for Stonecrest residents and possibly provide a backdoor entry to TV). Wasn't there a small development by Doggie Do Run Run that blatantly advertised that their residents could get on Villages property and use our amenities?????

Do The work
 

The question(s) being raised is pretty much an indication that some don't want to do the hard work and I repeat that I can explain the problem but cannot help them to understand it :ho:

So, you have done the "hard work" of figuring out exactly how, and by whom, the squares are funded, but you don't wish to share that information in order to support your claim that it's funded "mostly by the residents"?
I think I smell horse pucky.