My rant wasn't directed at you Carl. I think you are one smart fella.


I was trying to hold back but I have been hanging out with those who just let it loose sometimes...and you know what it felt good. I LOVE this place JUST the way it is. Carl, I should not have put it in answer to your post directly, because it was NOT directed at you at all.. I think when you evaluate things more you will see that there is no need to worry about changing things.


People move here because they think this place is great and right away want to change it. I think that like most of us, they have served on a LOT of committees and are really smart. I say...LEAVE this alone and retire now from running things. If it is fine, then just enjoy it. If there comes a time we need to change things....then we will. IF we can.

I agree. If, as others have said, the Morses are contributing to the flowers now, and that funding disappears in the future, it would certainly be worth looking at reducing the changes to three times a year. And the bonus is, as master gardeners (the real experts, IMHO, not a bunch of bureaucrats or administrators) say, it would actually be more beautiful since plants would be allowed to grow until they've reached full potential. We don't always have to be afraid of change - sometimes it can be good. The Morses are not omnipotent - every single decision that has been made in The Villages is not always the best one. Its OKAY to think out of the box a little, and that's what this forum is for, is for people to voice their thoughts. We have a lot of very intelligent, qualified individuals living in The Villages, and I for one, like to see the great ideas that come out here. If it ever was possible in the future, I'd love to see the Master Gardeners have direction over the plantings. A committee could be in charge of researching the best flower types, when to change them, etc. You might be surprised at how much nicer the plantings would be, and how much $$ it would save the homeowners. I've never been a proponent of the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" mentality. That is akin to saying "let's wait for things to break until we fix them". A healthier, more proactive attitude, in my opinion, is not "why do we have to?" but rather "why not try?" We should be looking at all big ticket items in our budget and find ways to tweak and cut costs, with a thought to improving services whenever possible.

My comments were not made to "change" anything nor to save money. My comments were to say that it hurts me to see beautiful, mature planting stripped out of the ground. It would be aesthetically pleasing to let the plants live longer and as a side benefit there would be savings. Yes, TV is beautiful just as it is, but maybe it could be just as beautiful with three plantings.

Don't go on Topix and lie about me.
 

I wrote it. I feel better. I have taken it down.

Topix no longer exists.
 

I never visit Topix. After the previous episode I doubt that I will ever visit it again.

They are a bunch of :jester::jester::jester::jester::jester::jester:

You are being too generous, calling them jesters...............................

I'm sure that I was less than clear in my discussion of the budget. The amount listed for Landscaping and Landscaping Maintenance would seem to me to include not only rotating the flowers but also all of the lawn mowing, tree trimming, shrubbery pruning, mulching, weeding and who knows what else.

Another poster had said the cost for flower rotation was "astronomical." It seemed to me that he thought the entire Landscaping budget was devoted to flowers. I was wondering what portion of the entire budget involved the flowers. If we had that figure I would think it would be less than astronomical.

Like some other posters, I like the four plantings a year. I'm sure changing to three a year would not reduce the amenity fees.

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Barbara was getting her hair done the other day and another patron was fretting about how this place was going to deteriorate when the area is built out and the Morses leave. I don't believe we will be abandoned by the Morses for a variety of reasons, one being that I'm sure this has been a labor of love for multiple generations of the family. You don't abandon your baby.

The patron also felt the amenity fees would skyrocket when the Morses left. I wonder how many residents of The Villages are unaware that the amenity fees cannot increase each year more the CPI.

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Personally, I think the Morse family has built the most amenity filled, diverse, enjoyable community for active seniors to be found anywhere. In Walt Disney's original plan for EPCOT this is what he had in mind. It was to be a community. EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. The only difference in what we have and in what Walt intended is that the residents of EPCOT were not to be retirees, but working people.

After the Disney Board changed EPCOT into a theme park, a weak shadow of Walt's original plan was built in an area that Disney called Celebration, FL.

Having rambled much too long, I'll close with I LOVE IT HERE!

Well said!

My bad. I thought of the symbol as " clowns."

Accepting that meaning for the moment, let's make it: