[PennBF]

Some are missing the point ! How many bought in The Villages because of great activities? If they are lost and were convinced to buy based on advertising, (e.g. current advertising touting parades as a bait to purchase, etc.) then it was at the least misleading and sad for those that relied on that plus.
I really don't care but to say it is just business is totally missing the boat.
There is an old statement that "business's do not have a soul" and a lot of
people miss this point. Locking out other business could be construed as
creating a non competitive monopoly which allegedly harms the consumer.
Hey, I could care less if there are no Parades or music it would not change my mind about The Villages..BUT I can understand those that rely on
these and mourn their loss. I guess it is having a feeling for the other guy.
To excuse the other person's feeling as a "so what" is unfortunately not what
is appropriate to another persons' loss.

[Warren Kiefer]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Pennbf...that is how business is run. The businesses DON'T HAVe to rent here. AND if I owned The Villages, I wouldn't share with outside realtors. Only the outside realtors are beefing about that..not most of us residents.

No one on this forum that I can think of is mocking people who grieve the loss of parades, but this poll of people who post on this forum shows that well over half won't miss the parades. It well may be that the rest of the people are really upset about this, but I haven't heard it from the people I know. But I am often wrong.

Parades? Who wants them? Would not miss them.

I just don't see that AGAINST is the word I would use here in your quote. "These are very broad issues and deserve not only attention by all but
also appropriate reactions when the policies are implemented against The
Village residents."

And I don't see that the Morses " TAKE and not give" or "don't reinvest the profits back into The Villages." or " don't give a hoot or holler about The Villages in the first place".

But what if all you say is 100 per cent true. So far no other entity has come up with anything as good as this...not by a long shot..So if Gary Morse is really Attilla the Hun...This old lady still thinks he is smart as can be and she is glad he built The Villages so she could spend this part of her life here.

Gracie, you are missing some important points. First not having other realtors in the Villages would only benefit the Developer by giving him a monoply. This would certainly adversly affect the Villagers....Competition is always good for the consumer.
And you not seeing the Morses not reinvesting back into the Villages. Harold Schwartz had a vision, I believe that vision was for him to live a good life and give back as much as possible to the Residents. It has clearly been documented that Gary Morse has accumulated the enormous wealth of 1.2 BILLION dollars. I am sorry, but a person who has a worth of 1200 MILLIONS certainly isn't putting back hat he could into the Villages community.

[swrinfla]

Sorry, but I have one or two major issues with this thread! Among them:

1. The Vescos reportedly do not even live here. Why is this statement undocumented? On what authority is that statement thrown out?

2. Mr. Morse is reportedly a billionaire. Why is this statement undocumented? On what authority is this statement thrown out?

3. It's all the Vesco's personal bottom line. Why is this statement undocumented? On what authority is this statement thrown out?

Granted, if the parades are indeed cancelled due to a personal bottom line, then that is A Bad Thing. But, throwing out "factual statements" such as these without backing them up, that bothers me no end!

SWR

[gerryann]

Originally Posted by Warren Kiefer

Gracie, you are missing some important points. First not having other realtors in the Villages would only benefit the Developer by giving him a monoply. This would certainly adversly affect the Villagers....Competition is always good for the consumer.
And you not seeing the Morses not reinvesting back into the Villages. Harold Schwartz had a vision, I believe that vision was for him to live a good life and give back as much as possible to the Residents. It has clearly been documented that Gary Morse has accumulated the enormous wealth of 1.2 BILLION dollars. I am sorry, but a person who has a worth of 1200 MILLIONS certainly isn't putting back hat he could into the Villages community.

To all of us this is our home, our neighborhood, and our retirement decision. To the developer, it is a business....they are in it to make money...that is what businesses do. Their decisions are based on what will or will not make money for them. They are putting out millions to make millions. Anyone moving here, hopefully has done their homework and already know this. It's a business!!
Also, how can anyone say that the Morses are not giving back to the community? Look around. It's beautiful. It's well maintained. Look at the new square. Mr Schwartz's vision is most definitely the current vision as well.

[janmcn]

Originally Posted by Warren Kiefer

Gracie, you are missing some important points. First not having other realtors in the Villages would only benefit the Developer by giving him a monoply. This would certainly adversly affect the Villagers....Competition is always good for the consumer.
And you not seeing the Morses not reinvesting back into the Villages. Harold Schwartz had a vision, I believe that vision was for him to live a good life and give back as much as possible to the Residents. It has clearly been documented that Gary Morse has accumulated the enormous wealth of 1.2 BILLION dollars. I am sorry, but a person who has a worth of 1200 MILLIONS certainly isn't putting back hat he could into the Villages community.

Harold Schwartz had the vision, and together with his son Gary Morse, was able to build that dream. His vision, IMO, was a self-contained village with everything a retiree could want or need: shopping, churches, a hospital, medical facilities, entertainment, recreation facilities including bowling alleys, softball fields, tennis, pickleball courts, swimming, etc etc., a woodworking shop, rv parking, and beautiful plush contry clubs. Fortunately, Harold lived long enough to see his main goal of having his own hospital.

It doesn't appear that a lot of this dream is being replicated by the younger generation that is now running The Villages. The business plan that seems to be in place now is build as many houses as quickly as possible, because that is where the quick return on investment is. Possibly they have plans for more shopping, churches, bowling alleys, softball fields, etc, that isn't apparent.

So many changes have happened since I made my first trip here in 2000, when every visitor to TV was picked up at the airport in a stretch limo with a fully stocked bar and given free accomodations when ordering their homes. The lifestyle visits were still $100 per night, but $75 of that was refunded in Village dollars to spend at any village owned facility; ie Katie Belle's, golf, movies, etc.

It's all speculation what will happen when the build-out occurs. Perhaps the Morse clan will move on to another project. They seem too young and too ambitious to retire at their young ages. After all 1.5 billion here, 1.5 billion there...pretty soon you're talking about real money.

[SALYBOW]

Iagree with that.

[Indydealmaker]

Originally Posted by Warren Kiefer

Gracie, you are missing some important points. First not having other realtors in the Villages would only benefit the Developer by giving him a monoply. This would certainly adversly affect the Villagers....Competition is always good for the consumer.
And you not seeing the Morses not reinvesting back into the Villages. Harold Schwartz had a vision, I believe that vision was for him to live a good life and give back as much as possible to the Residents. It has clearly been documented that Gary Morse has accumulated the enormous wealth of 1.2 BILLION dollars. I am sorry, but a person who has a worth of 1200 MILLIONS certainly isn't putting back hat he could into the Villages community.

Well, since the Morse family has earned too much, how much money do you think we should allow them to keep?

[Villageshooter]

Originally Posted by PennBF

It is NOT Parades. They are the tip of the iceberg. It is all ENTERTAINMENT activities. It is music at the squares, it is supporting any clubs that may be tied to the entertainments new Consultant and so on. It is the developer taking profits out of the Village's (e.g. Retail store rental assessments, Some recreation center revenue, blocking other Reality firms from some parts of business..restriction resale realestate to his pockets, etc.etc.) and not reinvesting some of his profits back into the Villages. These are the things to look forward to vis a vis The Villages. Of course he has the right to all of these things but taking and not giving is allegedly a sign they did not give a hoot nor hollar about the Villages in the first place. If as it is alleged that a person who lives outside of the Villages is now the one in total control of the Village entertainment and this was given up by the Developer without any assurance of basic protection against an abuses then faith has been totally lost and The Villages are essentially a new type of community for over 55's.
Those who mock the ones that are concerned with the shut down of Parades are the same ones who will scream like a stuffed pig when they lose their favorite entertainment.
NET: These are very broad issues and deserve not only attention by all but
also appropriate reactions when the policies are implemented against The
Village residents.

Great post! you see the big picture,,,

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I sent her a link to this thread and I signed MY name.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

GG has to be herself. Everyone else is taken. 😉

[Vinny]

If you think this is something just wait until Morse pulls out and we have to vote how to spend our amenities fee. People tend to not want to spend money or increase fees for things they are not interested in. Been there and moved here to get away from there but it appears that I will once again be in a situation where three wolves and a rabbit decide what is for lunch. When that day approaches odds are that I will find a home with no HOA fees and just pay for what I want to pay for.

[Mack184]

Since we live in a society where people will now sue at the drop of a hat, could it be that there are reasons that are unseen? I am guessing that no matter who sponsors the various parades the organizer/sponsor must provide for some sort of blanket liability insurance. Is it possible that the costs for such insurance, or other required expenses have risen to a point where it no longer makes any financial sense to fund them? If this is the case, are those in charge of the entertainment attempting to pick & choose the most popular, most viable activites where the outlay makes the most sense?

Have they been advised by company lawyers that their exposure to a possible lawsuit for various reasons makes these parades to large a liability?

It is quite possible. TV is a business not a charity, and businesses make choices like this all the time. For that matter, so do charities.

[mickey100]

Originally Posted by PennBF

Some are missing the point ! How many bought in The Villages because of great activities? If they are lost and were convinced to buy based on advertising, (e.g. current advertising touting parades as a bait to purchase, etc.) then it was at the least misleading and sad for those that relied on that plus.
I really don't care but to say it is just business is totally missing the boat.
There is an old statement that "business's do not have a soul" and a lot of
people miss this point. Locking out other business could be construed as
creating a non competitive monopoly which allegedly harms the consumer.
Hey, I could care less if there are no Parades or music it would not change my mind about The Villages..BUT I can understand those that rely on
these and mourn their loss. I guess it is having a feeling for the other guy.
To excuse the other person's feeling as a "so what" is unfortunately not what
is appropriate to another persons' loss.

Originally Posted by PennBF

Some are missing the point ! How many bought in The Villages because of great activities? If they are lost and were convinced to buy based on advertising, (e.g. current advertising touting parades as a bait to purchase, etc.) then it was at the least misleading and sad for those that relied on that plus.
I really don't care but to say it is just business is totally missing the boat.
There is an old statement that "business's do not have a soul" and a lot of
people miss this point. Locking out other business could be construed as
creating a non competitive monopoly which allegedly harms the consumer.
Hey, I could care less if there are no Parades or music it would not change my mind about The Villages..BUT I can understand those that rely on
these and mourn their loss. I guess it is having a feeling for the other guy.
To excuse the other person's feeling as a "so what" is unfortunately not what
is appropriate to another persons' loss.

I agree with you. I think any of us could look and find an activity that is funded by The Villages that is something we're not interested in, but we know a number of people that bought homes here in part because of that activity. Softball fields for example. Polo. The Villages Woodshop. Bowling Alleys. Add Parades to that list. The majority of the people here may not want parades, but a big percentage do (if the unscientific poll is to be believed). The same way the majority of people don't play softball but a large percentage do, and so on. The lure of this place was it had a little something for everybody, or so it was advertised.

And it is misleading if not unethical to advertise certain amenities, allow people to purchase homes based on the promise that the amenity will be provided, then discontinue the amenity.

But we need to keep the past in mind and learn from it. We've learned in the past that the Morses have an unethical side to them as evidenced by the class action lawsuit that Villagers filed a few years back that said monthly amenity fees paid by every homeowner had been misused by the developer . They at first tried to settle out of court and got nowhere. Luckily for us they went to court, and the lawsuit resulted in $40 million to replenish maintenance accounts to to cover repairs and maintenance to facilities.

And how about the latest business regarding improper refunds of bond payoffs. Can we really trust the developer?

[Cisco Kid]

Originally Posted by Indydealmaker

Well, since the Morse family has earned too much, how much money do you think we should allow them to keep?

[Challenger]

Virtually all developers in larger projects provide amenities at one level or another as partof their marketing package. Many times , as in The Villages, this includes the contribution of capital assets such as buildings and playing fields and their equipment. As the development matures it is usually the case that the developer turns these activities over to the residents who determine at what level they will operate and how much they will volunteer to contribute. IMHO The Villages has provided us with a superior array of amenities and services and their withdrawal over time was entirely predictable. As residents we need to now evaluate the things we want to perpetuate and begin to step up as the developer steps out. We have 1800 +/- clubs. If they want a parade then organize and raise the funds needed to put on a parade. We probably have a few more years where the developer is still making significant marketing efforts. We need to begin preparing now for their total withdrawal from these activities.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by mickey100

I agree with you. I think any of us could look and find an activity that is funded by The Villages that is something we're not interested in, but we know a number of people that bought homes here in part because of that activity. Softball fields for example. Polo. The Villages Woodshop. Bowling Alleys. Add Parades to that list. The majority of the people here may not want parades, but a big percentage do (if the unscientific poll is to be believed). The same way the majority of people don't play softball but a large percentage do, and so on. The lure of this place was it had a little something for everybody, or so it was advertised.

And it is misleading if not unethical to advertise certain amenities, allow people to purchase homes based on the promise that the amenity will be provided, then discontinue the amenity.

But we need to keep the past in mind and learn from it. We've learned in the past that the Morses have an unethical side to them as evidenced by the class action lawsuit that Villagers filed a few years back that said monthly amenity fees paid by every homeowner had been misused by the developer . They at first tried to settle out of court and got nowhere. Luckily for us they went to court, and the lawsuit resulted in $40 million to replenish maintenance accounts to to cover repairs and maintenance to facilities.

And how about the latest business regarding improper refunds of bond payoffs. Can we really trust the developer?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/...es-fees-lawyer

Elaine Driedame is the president of the POA