Moss does not grow on trees who have spirts roaming near them:girlneener:

Gracie should know the fact as well as anyone. Let me explain. The VCCDD that is guardian over Janet Tutt's activities is elected thru a landowners election. That District that I speak of has the boundaries of the Spanish Springs downtown area. Since the Developer owns all that downtown area, he is the only voting landowner. Naturally every elected VCCDD official is done thru the graces of the Developer. Janet Tutt's responsibilities are as a Supervisor for the VCCDD. In this role she is involved in all the activities of the VCCDD. This includes the Architectural Review Committee (ARC), the Ammentities Authority Committee (AAC) and nearly every committee that has activities within the District. The VCCDD receives funding directly from the Residents. Often the VCCDD is involved with the purchase of property from the Developer. An example of this is the purchase of various Rec Centers and the Savannah Center. So the potential conflict of interest arises, on one hand the Developer is selling property to the VCCDD, Janet Tutt is the Supervisor of that VCCDD, yet that board is elected by the Developer thru his landowner vote. Developer sells property, how much does VCCDD pay , do we reach a deal, who recommends the purchase, etc etc.
Bottom line, I wouldn't mind being like in a position whereby I wanted to sell something to a particular group (the VCCDD) , and at a huge price, the people who will decide on the purchase (and price) are the same people who I myself alone elected to office and are usually employees of mine.

Negativity makes me grind my teeth. Some people constantly look for trouble where there is none.

CONSTANTLY.

Soon Mrs. Mouse will be here to call me Pollyanna.

.

An accurate and exceptional summation of how the VCCDD works, Warren. However, this thread is about the removal of trees on land they should not be removed from. Evidently the authorities do not know for certain who is the responsible party. Where does conflict of interest come into this situation? Who would Janet Tutt protect?

First and very important, I would never say or insinuate Janet Tutt has done anything wrong. In the tree issue, I cannot offer a conflict of interest in this particular issue. Perhaps the developer had a hand in having the trees cut. There is simply not enough information to make a sound call.
Someone seemed to not have a full understanding how the governmental system works here in the Villages. Some people just love the way things are and are convinced that everything is hunky-dory. I am the realist, there are problems that could be improved with little effort. For some Supervisor/VCCDD conflict of interest I direct you to have a look at a couple that come to mind. The residents originally paying(reversed later) for a pond liner for on the private golf course property owned by the Developer.
Or the Purchase of the savannah Center for the sum of $80 million dollars. Or the magic gate erected overnight blocking all traffic between the Village residents and WalMart. Or the purchase of the Santiago Club for $350, 000 that will be demolished, leaving the District with nothing more than about a third of an acre of land. It was also discovered that the Santiago property had no parking and could not be reopened as a restaurant. The inspector hired by AAC advised the AAC board to NOT purchase this property. They did anyway. Every example I have offered concerned the Developer, the VCCDD, Janet Tutt and District Legal advisors. I am pleased yopu agree that my information appears accurate. But as the saying goes; where there is smoke there will be fire.

Gracie, I fear you have no true knowledge of how everything works together to make for a great life. If there are areas of improvement, then do what it takes to make life better. We have an organization that at one time lived for the negative, but with time we find this organization has saved we residents millions and made our dream life better. Everytime a person walks the park like areas on the original side they should be reminded of the settlement the POA was responsible for getting for all we residents. Are you of the belief that we shouldn't look for trouble regarding the tree cutting because there is none ??

Anyone have an update on the "Tree Saga"???

The Saga of the Illegally cut trees.

Any news on the disposition of this case?

The silence is deafening.
Although I'm sure the Police are still working "behind the scenes".
It seems strange that a huge issue would get so little media focus.

Because it is protecting all of us and the CDD from the IRS who is challenging the very issue of the CDD.

I love your new font and I think these are legitimate questions. After you are here for awhile you see that no one is accessed anything for these things. There are wise funds held for these repairs. Many people are skeptical about the developers, I am skeptical about their detractors.

The developers are not horn tooters or very big on explaining. They hide and do good things.

Why not go to the district meetings and find out your answers? Rather than reposting the same old questions.

Because rumors and conspiracy theories are much more fun than mere facts.

Lordy, I had thought this topic had sunk to the bottom of lake sumter along with the bridge. boggie shooter is one hundred percent correct! Go to a meeting. There is a period for the residents to ask any question they want.

Why are folks sick and tired of this post even paying attention to it? If you are tired of it don't look at it and let those that wish to continue to discuss do so without your negative comments.

Because after 22 pages of comments NO one says anything new.

Tired of these posts? Stop opening!!!

Amen!

:BigApplause:

In my opinion, again I say..........There isn't a conspiracy. Our amenity fees are based on cost of living. We won't have a special assessment. I say that after living here for eight years.

Hide and watch. You won't pay a penny, I won't pay a penny. BUT if it was a traditionally run community, run less efficiently, we would be wasting money all over the place.

I am hoping that the people who are critical have gone to the meetings particularly the orientation meetings that explain how a CDD works.

It isn't clear whether the people who are critical have gone to the meetings or not. I can't see how the culpability for the illegal tree removal is linked to how the district is run. It is clear to me that some homeowners have commissioned the tree removal to restore the clear view they THOUGHT they were entitled to and a government agency saw otherwise about cutting down protected live oak trees and fined the owner of the property where the oak trees grew; THE DISTRICT..

If amenity fees are utilized to mitigate the unauthorized & illegal tree removal ..... then you and everyone that paid those fees ARE in effect paying.

It might not be via a special assessment that is specifically earmarked for the mitigation .... but residents of districts south of 466 ARE paying.

I still say they should put up a reward of 5k or more to anyone, no questions asked, for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible. Money talks.

I believe that their was / is currently a reward posted for info that is in excess of 5K,

Out of shear curiosity I dove to the area where his happened and IMO, their is NO POSSIBLE way that this amount of tree removal could have happened without SEVERAL adjoining properly owners not being fully aware of who did it (both company doing the cutting and who paid for it). It is a conspiracy of silence that is costing each and every property owner south of 466.

I think the neighbors can guess which one or two of the four is responsible but that isn't something you can tell the police with absolute certainty. You might be able to guess real good who was of that mindset and felt what they wanted was above authority...but that isn't something you can tell the police with absolute authority. I am NOT standing up for this action, just trying to explain why someone hasn't stepped forward. I doubt the choppers themselves wore logoed clothing or drove a truck with insignia..

So much time has passed that it is probably just history to those concerned. Nobody there is going to say anything, and it's probably getting close to cold case time with the authorities. Let's hope any fine is negotiable.

I am not a conspiracy guy, however, IMO there is more than just normal reluctance to rat in this situation. The cost of fixing the damage far exceeds grand theft if there had been a robbery. I think that someone is scared to talk, for some reason.

Perhaps it's time for a peaceful protest march down Lake Miona Drive. If hundreds, maybe thousands, of residents showed up with their signs, the perpetrators might be flushed out of their hiding places. Marchers could march until they confess, as long as it takes.

Remember how quickly the wall got taken down when residents showed up to protest in Spanish Springs, almost two years ago. And BTW, the press also showed up.

My sign will say 'Heck no, I'm not paying', only it won't be heck.

I hope you're funnin' us.

I like that idea!! What about setting up a rotating shift schedule to have maximum coverage, like unions do at non-union job sites. Hey...and maybe someone can locate one of big, inflatable Rats to have floating overhead, marking the location!! lol

I don't think so...... :mademyday:

Probably about $.50/lot.....................

There is a precedent being set,the rich and privileged can break the law with no consequences, and the lambs will pay for it.

Noone would like it if someone said something demeaning about all of the people who live in Gardenia's or in Hadley.

This is probably the most classless place you could ever live. Big houses or small, we are all OLD. AND none of us are getting out alive.

AND you can't take it with you.

Won't the vegetation grow back?

I could be wrong, and am sure someone would correct me if I am, but I thought it was only 4 , maybe 5 CDD's that would pay for the trees, and all CDD's south of 466 would pay for the repair of the island under the bridge. Luckily, I am in both of these groups, so I do have a couple irons in the fire, so to speak. I think they should bill those 4 houses in Lake Miona they talked about earlier whose view was improved by cutting the trees. I can guarantee that anyone of the 4 who actually was not involved, would start talking very quickly if they thought they were going to have to pay such a large amount. As far as the island/bridge goes, IF the residents have to pay, then all residents should have to pay. It is not the amount, but about a half(or so) of the residents below 466a have been here under a year. They shouldn't have to pay when residents who have used the bridge for 10+ years don't have to pay. Again, I realize the amount would be small, but it is the priniciple, and why do several CDD's have to pay 2 of the fees, some CDD's have to pay 1 and some none. That just isn't right.