[Carl in Tampa]

Originally Posted by Steve9930

If people keep bringing this up this path is going to be closed permanently. Leave this alone and everything will be fine. Keep bringing this up and some one is going to ruin it. I have no idea why people keep flogging this horse. There is no need to clarify anything. At this point in time everyone is just turning a blind eye but keep sticking the nest and it will be closed. Stop calling Duke Energy !!!! Go play some golf.....That's what you came here to do in the first place.

Originally Posted by leftyf

I just came acroos the path and Duke Energy has placed handouts at each end of the path. It says that Duke Energy will no longer accept liability for this path. They are willing to transfer ownership of this property to another party. If no party takes it, Duke will be forced to close it. The letter is a lot longer than this, I just reduced it because I don't like to type that much. If you want a copy, hop on your cart and drive over. To make matters worse, some idiot has put 4 empty gas cans where the litter bag is.

I must commend Steve9930 for remarkable restraint. I suspect that if I had made his post then my reply to the post of leftyf would have been "I told you so."

I agree with Steve9930 that it was a great mistake to continue to bring this issue up, and particularly to continue to bring it up to Duke Energy. The rational thing would have been for those who use the path to continue to use it until Duke took some affirmative action to close the path.

This is simple. If Duke Energy wanted to close the path, it could be accomplished in a couple of hours by bringing some earth moving equipment and plowing great trenches across the property.

The rational thing to do would have been to not poke the sleeping giant. This is a case where it was easier to get forgiveness than permission.

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by Cajulian

Wow Rubicon! That's sounds pretty absurd. The Stonecrest and Del Webb communities have their own Rec Centers, Swimming Pools, golf courses, clubs, fitness centers that are equally as nice. What ever makes you think that anyone else outside your Red Zone wants to use your facilities? That is paranoid thinking.

The Villages public facilities are available to everyone. That is great for insiders and outsiders. Retail businesses need all the help they can get.

This topic is about the use of the Duke Cart path for Villagers, Stonecrest, and Spruce Creek. The Villages Lifestyle is not the topic here.

Cajulian: Absurd! I have pretty good recall and when all of this first started Stonecrest residents complained about the fact that they could no longer travel the MMP for their joy rides.

As for use of facilities again my recollection points to many a thread speaking to the issue of non-residents sneaking in to pools, rec centers and executive courses with or without the assist of some village residents. In fact ambassadors had to chase more than one non-resident off the executive courses which they entered by climbing over a fence.

Because I'm paranoid doesn't mean non-resident are not sneaking in No my red zone analogy is on solid ground Interesting enough for me is that it is not the act that bothers me its the hypocrisy of it all. and like all bad situations if you don't nip it in the bud it will grow out of control. A village without borders is no village at all

Personal Best Regards:

[Allegiance]

Originally Posted by rubicon

Cajulian: Absurd! I have pretty good recall and when all of this first started Stonecrest residents complained about the fact that they could no longer travel the MMP for their joy rides.

As for use of facilities again my recollection points to many a thread speaking to the issue of non-residents sneaking in to pools, rec centers and executive courses with or without the assist of some village residents. In fact ambassadors had to chase more than one non-resident off the executive courses which they entered by climbing over a fence.

Because I'm paranoid doesn't mean non-resident are not sneaking in No my red zone analogy is on solid ground Interesting enough for me is that it is not the act that bothers me its the hypocrisy of it all. and like all bad situations if you don't nip it in the bud it will grow out of control. A village without borders is no village at all

Personal Best Regards:

Build that wall.

But not on the Duke path.

[outlaw]

The big mistake was the group that took it upon themselves to "upgrade" the path without the owners permission. IMO, this was an underhanded attempt to claim access via prescriptive easement or implied dedication. Most likely, one of the users concocted this plan, similar to the attempt to force TV to open access through the historic villages based on medical access necessities, and even trying to get national organizations and US representatives involved. Duke recognized this immediately, and thus, the letter of impending closure.

[Steve9930]

Originally Posted by ColdNoMore

Cute, Always liked a sense of humor, thanks.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by justjim

If the path remains open, those living outside The Villages (Stonecrest, Spruce Creek South, Water Oaks, and others, still won't have the same full lifestyle as Villagers. By that I mean, access to recreation centers, executive golf, hundreds of clubs, traveling in your golf cart to Squares, supermarkets, restaurants, etc. etc. However, if the path is closed, some Villagers will be impacted from using the path to get to their desired locations via golf cart outside the Villages. Of Course, they can use their car or if they don't have one they can travel with a friend or call a taxi. Obviously, residents of The Villages can still use the 27/441 golf cart bridge to travel anywhere within The Villages.

When you think about this situation logically, isn't that what we bought into when we purchased a home in The Villages. We have no legal right to drive our golf carts outside of the boundaries of The Villages unless it's legal to do so. The gate (instead of a wall) on paradise lane was put up to allow Villagers to travel in their golf cart where they had been allowed to travel (for many years) but this required traveling outside the boundaries of The Villages and on private property.

In summary, we as Villagers have no right to travel outside of The Villages in a golf cart unless it's legal to do so and those living outside The Villages have no right to travel inside The Villages in a golf cart unless it's legal to do so. It's should be noted that a Street Legal Cart might get you to a lot of places that a regular cart will not allow you to legally travel. However, monitoring these activities, will at best, be a challenge. I wonder if it is even worth the time and effort to do so? Fore!

Worth posting again.

[Steve9930]

Originally Posted by Allegiance

Build that wall.

But not on the Duke path.

Some people just see bad guys everywhere. Like I said before Paradise Gate did nothing but add expense to the villages. The traffic continues via Golf Cart for those that wish to do so. If you need help with the wall let me know I'll help and we can make it about 30 feet high.........

[Steve9930]

Originally Posted by outlaw

The big mistake was the group that took it upon themselves to "upgrade" the path without the owners permission. IMO, this was an underhanded attempt to claim access via prescriptive easement or implied dedication. Most likely, one of the users concocted this plan, similar to the attempt to force TV to open access through the historic villages based on medical access necessities, and even trying to get national organizations and US representatives involved. Duke recognized this immediately, and thus, the letter of impending closure.

How does that saying go:"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." We will just have to see how this plays out. Never know someone may take responsibility. If not I'm sure for the next 10 years there will be threads and threads of complaints. Keeps the Talk of the Villages in business selling advertising.

[Steve9930]

Originally Posted by Carl in Tampa

I must commend Steve9930 for remarkable restraint. I suspect that if I had made his post then my reply to the post of leftyf would have been "I told you so."

I agree with Steve9930 that it was a great mistake to continue to bring this issue up, and particularly to continue to bring it up to Duke Energy. The rational thing would have been for those who use the path to continue to use it until Duke took some affirmative action to close the path.

This is simple. If Duke Energy wanted to close the path, it could be accomplished in a couple of hours by bringing some earth moving equipment and plowing great trenches across the property.

The rational thing to do would have been to not poke the sleeping giant. This is a case where it was easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Carl, I'm afraid its too late. When I heard about the improvements to the path my first reaction was "Oh Boy".
I believe that before the path was improved Duke was under the impression the traffic was minimal. However after learning about the improvements, I can hear the comment now", "We have a problem. With the increased traffic there is going to be an incident and we will be libel". That's all it takes to wake up the legal staff. Everyone will just have to sit back and see what happens now. I believe that Duke also sees this as a PR Nightmare. You get these when you ignore the obvious. Duke should have closed the path years ago to avoid what they have now.. We will just have to wait and see. Sometimes if you just sit back and be quiet the legal staff goes back to sleep. For me I see some white light in this. I was looking at the Elio. If the path closes I'll have and argument with the CEO of the family to buy one when they become available.

[TVMayor]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

Yes, but they don't have access to rec centers, pools, golf courses and other amenities.

The streets are public streets. The golf cart paths are owned by The Villages and are limited to Villages residents.

If a person brings a golf cart on a trailer to TV, unloads it behind the Rialto Theater and drives around The Villages for the day, they can not drive on the golf cart paths???? What if they rent a cart???

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by TVMayor

If a person brings a golf cart on a trailer to TV, unloads it behind the Rialto Theater and drives around The Villages for the day, they can not drive on the golf cart paths???? What if they rent a cart???

Of course..........they can walk and ride bikes on the paths too.

Not his point.

[Steve9930]

Originally Posted by TVMayor

If a person brings a golf cart on a trailer to TV, unloads it behind the Rialto Theater and drives around The Villages for the day, they can not drive on the golf cart paths???? What if they rent a cart???

The Doc needs a dose of reality. Hey Doc, they rent carts everyday to non-villagers, there are LSV carts on those paths everyday and they are not villagers. I have rented a cart and taken guess visiting on a days journey through the villages. There is no way to keep outsiders off the paths because they are not secured. Now percentage wise of villagers versus non-villagers is very very very small but it is going on daily.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by Steve9930

The Doc needs a dose of reality. Hey Doc, they rent carts everyday to non-villagers, there are LSV carts on those paths everyday and they are not villagers. I have rented a cart and taken guess visiting on a days journey through the villages. There is no way to keep outsiders off the paths because they are not secured. Now percentage wise of villagers versus non-villagers is very very very small but it is going on daily.

Refer to post 191.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by TVMayor

If a person brings a golf cart on a trailer to TV, unloads it behind the Rialto Theater and drives around The Villages for the day, they can not drive on the golf cart paths???? What if they rent a cart???

Many prospective purchasers rent carts to look around. Of course they are allowed on the MM trails.
As you know, the paths aren't being monitored so it's entirely possibly for non-Villagers to use them.

[Cajulian]

Originally Posted by ColdNoMore

Excellent point.

While I am one of those that don't use that path/trail and have no vested interest, as a decent and caring human being I would like to see those who do need it...be able to keep using it.

Some of the comments here that in essence are saying (paraphrasing).. "we are the true Villagers and would rather see other Villagers lose their use of it, rather than have an 'outsider' use 'our' paths/MMP's"...seems pretty cold-hearted and selfish to me.

I mean really, other than a few more carts that would be impossible to distinguish from the hordes already here...what difference does it really make?

But hey, that's just my opinion and observation.

Here's hoping that a viable solution is put in place and those who now use it...will be able to continue to do so.

I like your compassion. Thank you.