[Carl in Tampa]

Originally Posted by mark47

I've been planning on moving to the Villages for almost a year now. Next month I'm scheduled for 6 days for another lifestyle visit. This third visit was to narrow down areas to live. With the LLC gone TV is just another very large retirement community. I'll probably spend 4 of the 7 days looking outside TV. Sad for me but probably sadder for all those already invested in TV

1. Just out of curiosity, please provide the names of other "large retirement communities" that are more attractive places to live in than The Villages now that the LLC is closed.

2. What makes them more attractive?

3. If you were one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit do you think you might make some anonymous posts on TOTV pressuring the LLC to give in by claiming you were a prospective purchaser who was disinclined to buy here if the LLC remains closed?

[bagboy]

Originally Posted by Wavy Chips

Not trying to be funny or disrespectful, but if the plaintiffs are deaf/hearing impaired, how can they hear the presentations in the first place and then be able to sign for the the rest of the attendees?

That's a decent point well taken. But, possibilities could be lip reading, pre printed text of the class content for that day (would require a lot I know and wouldn't be perfect), speech to text software for the interpreter, possibly instructors who sign. There is almost nothing that can't be accomplished in life with a little ingenuity, will power, and cooperation. I hope this gets worked out.

[EnglishJW]

Originally Posted by rexxfan

And requiring interpreters for each and every class be paid for by everyone is reasonable? No matter the cost? Sorry, that's where I part ways with you.
--
Bob C

I fully agree with virtually every comment you have made on this topic.

[EnglishJW]

If 18,000 or so Villagers have been harmed by this action, do we as a group have any potential legal recourse with respect to the plaintiffs?

[ProximaMan]

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[Chatbrat]

phrase everything as an opinion, not fact

[BINKY]

We belong to both the Villages "POA" and the "VHA"... We can only HOPE that Both of these "Resident/ Owner groups" will take a MAJOR stand to "Right this Wrong"!!! It is a MOST TERRIBLE WRONG against TV and ALL of us who live here (atleast 99.9% of us who love and support the LLC)!!! Hoping we can "Get It Back", for sure!!!

[Taltarzac725]

Very hard to get a libel suit to stick against something written on a public discussion forum like this one.

[fourandrew]

Originally Posted by Chatbrat

Rode by the lead plaintiffs house this morning two modest cars and two golf carts in the garage/driveway--IMHO-- the man is on a $$$ hunt

Why did you ride by the plaintiff's house? how do you know the cars and golf carts are theirs? You sound pretty presumptuous to think that they want money based on autos in a person's driveway.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

I have to side with Bogie and JW on this one.
First of all, health care did not change---health care INSURANCE did---quite a different thing
We may be in the process of losing the LLLC, but, on average it is a very small part of TV lifestyle. In fact, we may lose a resource that most other retirement communities never had in the first place.
You need to do what is right for you, but don't get bogged down in the emotional response to the closing

Whether most other retirement communities had an LLC is immaterial, in my opinion. We had it, that was a large reason for our moving here, and now it's gone. It does me no good to say, "Oh, well, nobody else had one either."

[maddie101]

Originally Posted by fourandrew

the q-tip comment was mean

Originally Posted by TexaninVA

A number of people have already made positive suggestions about what the community can do next … contact Orlando media, contact AARP etc. I support those ideas.

Other believe our best hope is convincing the Developer to reopen negotiations with the plaintiffs. It’s ok to hope, but hope is not a strategy. If I was the Developer, there’s no way I’d touch it at this point but maybe we’ll get lucky? But I’m certainly ok with asking again etc

In the meantime, and given the feckless letter from the VHA, the POA is now the only group we can look to who will actually fight, and fight hard, to protect the interests of all TV residents. The President of POA, with approval / inputs from his Board, should appoint a “Lifelong Learning College Task Force (LLCTF)” Leader whom in addition to being a Villager, is also ideally a retired attorney with a proven track record in litigation.

The Charter of the LLCTF should be something along these lines:

1. Investigate what legal recourse is available for TV residents, if any, to recoup damages from the responsible parties, and to include approaches for disincentivizing any similar future lawsuits. Determine what assistance, if any, is needed from independent outside counsel as well.

2. Determine what legal and other steps need to be taken now to better protect our interests from potential future attacks upon the RLGs, Clubs etc from unreasonable and/or financially impossible demands, while also fully complying with the law.

3. Craft a plan to recreate a LLC-like entity, using alternative means and volunteer efforts to included restoring classes, even if in a limited way at first. Consider using the Rec Centers and/or Savannah Center as facilities, club-like membership etc. This effort could logically branch off into a separate Task Force later on at some point. It should also address reasonable means to address the needs of deaf students, where applicable.

We also need legislative remedies longer term. After the LLCTF gets started and has a chance to better research the specifics, the President of the POA should then personally visit both Congressman Daniel Webster and State Senator Dennis Baxley, and other political leaders TBD. The POA President should ask them for their assistance to begin examining legislative remedies at the Federal and State levels. Invite them to attend and address a future POA meeting as well. I note that both of these gentlemen visited, and made personal presentations to, a meeting of The Villages Straight Shooters (i.e. Gun Club) a few weeks before the election. We have 120,000 voters here in TV … they will pay attention!

The ADA statutes need technical improvements and reform. The protections afforded the disabled MUST be preserved (i.e. after all, we will ALL be disabled at some point). However the imperfections which currently allow blatantly unfair and arbitrary actions such as this lawsuit need to be eliminated for good. The recent CBS 60 Minutes expose is further evidence this is already a national problem, and not just unique to TV.

Maybe we should all send letters to the Congressman and senator NOW, not after task force is appt. we don't know they will form a task force for sure. Someone sent me a pm that they called AARP and sent them the newspaper article. If the Congressman and Senator get 500 plus email in a week, a sleeping giant might wake up. Even if the ADA gets fine tuned to avoid the problems shown on 60 minutes. I don't know if it needs to be individually crafted letters or one strong appeal that some bright poster can put together that we all simply print, sign and mail. I only say that because I believe many more will actually send the letter faster that way. The faster, the better, in my opinion.
I am more upset this can happen , than I am about the actual closing (but I did use and really enjoyed LLLC).

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by CFrance

Whether most other retirement communities had an LLC is immaterial, in my opinion. We had it, that was a large reason for our moving here, and now it's gone. It does me no good to say, "Oh, well, nobody else had one either."

The context of the comment was the sub-thread from a poster that was now going to spend more time looking outside TV for a retirement home---hence the comparison. I too had a class cancelled and am unhappy. But the sky is not falling. Carl in Tampa put it best---even without the LLLC, where is there a better place to live?

[pbkmaine]

My concern is that we are becoming a less nice place to live. Facilities are already very crowded during the busy season. The LLC took some of the pressure off the crowding by offering alternatives to the free-with-amenities-fee activities.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by pbkmaine

My concern is that we are becoming a less nice place to live. Facilities are already very crowded during the busy season. The LLC took some of the pressure off the crowding by offering alternatives to the free-with-amenities-fee activities.

It is not dead yet. We can bring it back in some other form. The need is to have reasonable accommodation for those who are deaf who want to share in the educational experience. I do think that we each should write our State and Federal representatives to make sure that the ADA is being applied in a reasonable manner rather than a bureaucratic one where the words of the ADA are more important than the spirit of the law. We do not need red tape loves; we need more people who actually act like Christians or those who follow the Golden Rule which is found in many religions.

I still think the whole mess is two sides in a ****ing contest with the community being showered. Faults on both sides mainly related to pride.

[PennBF]

I just heard that the person's who were impacted by this decision and had children in the Charter School allegedly lost the right for the kids to go to the Charter School because they no longer worked in the Villages. If that is true or even close to the truth and just one child allegedly lost his or her right to attend the Charter School that is the worst to happen. That is a terrible shame that because of some adults allegedly acting out they lost their rights to a good education. We should all be ashamed to allow something like that to happen to a child..In my opinion this is disgusting.