[bargee]

Just heard from a friend in TV.Sanity rules in our home town.The signs are coming down.Understand there was quite a turn out.Congrats to all who attended and voiced their opinion.I'm sure we'll hear more as time goes on.

[jime]

Joy (and even a little jubilation)!!!

[villages07]

Bargee,

Your sources are correct. I went down to Colony Cottage for the meeting, sauntering in right at 5pm. Oops, nowhere to sit, nowhere to stand. I'm no crowd estimator, but, I would guess somewhere between 500-800 folks showed up.....the vast majority of whom seemed to be there to oppose the 'no thru traffic' signs on Oak Forest. There were also residents of the Oak Forest neighborhood there, and they were, understandably, disappointed in the outcome.

I could not hear the actual commissioner discussion, but, the gist was they voted to rescind the signs. The impression I got speaking with a coat and tie guy later on was this was now a dead issue.

I do have empathy for the folks on Oak Forest, but, in my own HO, logic did prevail here. As Sydney and others have stated, to allow this on Oak Forest would have set a terrible precedent for other neighborhoods.

So, for those of you out there thinking about buying in the Villages, the lesson is....study your road map carefully and try to analyze your location/traffic patterns from as many current and future angles as you can imagine.

[redwitch]

I do have a lot of empathy for the residents of Oak Forest but the signs just made no sense -- it is a public street and, thus, really shouldn't be restricted in such a fashion. Heck, even Bezerkley with all of its idiosyncracies didn't try this one -- they did block off streets with huge, ugly round barricades so they couldn't be through streets (thus making them inconvenient to residents and visitors alike) but they didn't post signs that really would be pretty much unenforceable (and this in a town that declared itself to be nuke free).

[Sidney Lanier]

I empathized with the Oak Forest residents right up until the point of insults and name-calling, and even then I felt that one rude person who could not accept being disagreed with did not necessarily speak for all his neighbors who honestly felt that they had a legitimate gripe. My concern was not just Oak Forest becoming a private street but more with the potential of countless other streets following as private streets, thus creating unbelievable havoc. After all, nearly every street in TV, with the exceptions of villa neighborhoods and cul de sacs, are potentially 'through traffic' streets.

We are up north at the moment and obviously could not attend the meeting, but we did write emails to the commissioners. Everyone played a role in getting them to 'see the light' of the potential problems, and they did indeed see the light. Thanks to those who posted information for those of us who could not be there!

[santiagobob]

i NEVER REALLY UNDERSTOOD THE OAK FOREST AREA RESIDENTS PROBLEM. SOUTHERN TRACE HAS MUCH MORE TRAFFIC AS DOES CARIBE DR., SAN MORENO AND MANY OTHER THRU STREETS. I LIVE ON ONE OF THOSE STREETS AND ENJOY WAVING TO ALL WHO PASS BY AND TALKING TO FRIENDS WHO STOP TO VISIT. I DO HAVE TO WAIT FOR A FEW MINUTES TO BACK OUT OF MY DRIVEWAY WHEN SEVERAL CARTS/CARS PARADE BY, BUT IT IS NO BIG DEAL.WE ARE RETIRED PEOPLE!!!

[johnfarr]

As was mentioned earlier, it would help if the rock n' roll cart path parallel to Oak Forest on Buena Vista were made a decent alternative by widening and removal of the many bumps.

Originally Posted by johnfarr

As was mentioned earlier, it would help if the rock n' roll cart path parallel to Oak Forest on Buena Vista were made a decent alternative by widening and removal of the many bumps.

That's probably something that should be suggested to The Villages management?? Who is the right person to contact about something like widening the golf cart path along Buena Vista?

[dgammon6]

Thanks to those that attended the meeting. That sign was ridicules. If the problem is that bad I think the solution is to ticket speeders and people that run stop signs.

[Floridagal]

About time they listened to the voice of TV. Great news.

[JohnM]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac

That's probably something that should be suggested to The Villages management?? Who is the right person to contact about something like widening the golf cart path along Buena Vista?

I understand that CDD-3 and the AAC are considering widening and paving the golf cart path along Buena Vista. I hear that it would be very expensive and that they are considering using some of the settlement funds to pay for it. I would contact the CDD-3 board or the AAC.

John

[JohnM]

Originally Posted by Floridagal

About time they listened to the voice of TV. Great news.

I came away from this issue with two "pearls" (there are probably more):

(1) Government (and the "benevolent dictator") do listen to residents...democracy basically works;

(2) We need to stay "connected" as Mark Morse said in his speech to the VHA. This issue started as a minor item on the 6-24-08 BOCC agenda and then the signs went up shortly after (I know Oak Forest residents have been complaining for some time, but the issue and the proposed solutions were not generally known).

My $.02...

John

[Sidney Lanier]

What had to have helped considerably was the number of people involved in opposing this conversion of a public street to a private one. On another post somewhere I read about how to get people out 'into the streets' and involved; this shows that it can be done! Too often I get the feeling that the only way to get people involved and active is to turn off television nationwide for 72 hours....

[MikeH]

Really like your idea, Sidney. Let's turn off the TV (television) permanently, not just 72 hours, and go out and meet all our neighbors and get to know one another. Bet we'd have fewer disagreements and find easier ways to find solutions to our problems. Remember back before TV was the universal baby sitter for young and old? If you're old enough to live in The Villages you probably remember those days.

Glad our elected officials came to their senses. Remarkable how the desire to be reelected can motivate elected officials!

[bymar]

The No Through Traffic is a dead item but the safety issue on Oak Forest is not. The County Commissioners duty according to http://sumtercountyfl.gov/bocc/index.htm is
“adopt(s) ordinances (local laws) and resolutions, which establish policies and programs to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the county”. It was easy for them to wash their hands of the matter, but by law, they can’t. The Commissioners must have believed there was a safety problem to have put up the signs and now they are ignoring it. The safety problem is still there and some of these days someone is going to be hurt or worse. Some already have. And, the probability that it will not be someone that lives on Oak Forest is pretty great.

I want to see harmony between everyone so I have suggested an information blitz. People north on Buena Vista and El Camino seem to go in the Glenbrook gate and go down Oak Forest to get to Wal-Mart. Carts would find it far safer, shorter and quicker to take the Addison cut off Talley Ridge over to Davenport and then on to Wal-Mart. The problem is that many if not most don’t even know about it.

And, why would anyone want to go by car onto Oak Forest? Chances are good, especially in busy times, that they will follow an18 mph golf cart and possibly have to stop and wait for a car from the other direction because of a parked lawn maintenance guy. It would far quicker to go Buena Vista, at 35 mph) at lease to the Polo Ridge gate or if by car, why not Rt. 466.

I would like these directions be passed along to everyone you meet including the snowbirds in the busy times.

Oak Forrest was originally intended for Polo Ridge, Glenbrook and golfers. There was no Wal-Mart or were there any hints of such. In fact, I may be wrong, but about 8 years ago, New Covenant UMC owned part of that land.

Sure, the street is open to everyone again, but, as with all streets in The Villages, we should respect the residents. Try smiling and waiving at the people you meet. It’s a great place to live. And, obey the law.