Good post and nicely sums up the situation.

We don't need Sharpton. We can organize our own sit-in. Now who's going to volunteer to get there early to save the rest of us some seats?

Gracie, if the entertainment staff would simply hand out chairs as folks showed up, there would be no problem. Can't save a seat that isn't there. Or they could do as they used to -- remove anything that saves a seat and politely explain that seat saving is prohibited. But nothing can really be done without event staff being told to step up and stop this type of behavior. If individuals try, it will ultimately lead to a very ugly confrontation one day. Fists have flown over this in the past. One day it will be much more.

As to deed restrictions, I hate that they are ONLY complaint driven. Seems to me that if CW sees something amiss it would be pretty easy to note it on the clipboard and turn it in at the end of the shift. Personally, I don't want to whine to Community Standards about my neighbor's flamingo.

Agree on both:rant-rave:

You are right. I'll get out my tie dyed shirt, bell bottoms, sandels and bring Joni Mitchell on down.

Wife and I have saved seats before, and we've also been frustrated when seats are saved when we go not having saved seats...so I can see and understand both sides of the issue. To me, the issue is two fold. (1) There is no clear rule for the problem. For example, there is a clear rule smoking is outside the square area and nobody breaks that rule. The villages staff needs to set a rule and enforce it. (2) The second part of the problem is the villages staff has no authority and folks just ignore them. I've seen dozens of instances where staff people ask folks to sit down and not block the view, or ask them to move out of the aisle way, and folks are openly rude to the staff person and just ignore the requests. That is especially frustrating for folks who are sitting and can't see the show.

What will it take for a decision to be made on rules, and for rules to be enforced?

My husband and I were at Spanish Springs the other day and purchased coffees from Dunkin Donuts. The sun was hot so we decided to seek shade to sit, relax and enjoy our coffee. It was 3:30 pm and some of the chairs were out around the square. We found a shady spot where there were 8 chairs in a row. Only a handful of people on the square so we chose two of these 8 chairs to sit down. We were only there a few minutes when a man appeared with cut up terry cloth rags in his hands, he stood in front of us and just stared us down. We knew what he wanted, after a few minutes my husband told this man that we were not staying for the entertainment, only to relax with our coffee and he should come back a little later. Well, 5 minutes later he's back, putting the rags on the chairs around us and standing there staring at us. Not wanting a confrontation, we left.

That guy's behavior is about as childish as it gets. It's almost sick, knowing that there is live entertainment there 365 nights per year.

First, the chairs should not all be out. Chairs should be handed to people as they walk in, after 4:30pm, as Brownwood did and I think still does. Secondly, event staff should have come to take away the guy's seat marker rags.

This is the kind of behavior that comes when something is offered for free. People HOG it and can't get enough of it for free. Charge them $1 for a seat for the night and they'd have a holy sh** hemorrhage.

Several people have called to complain only to be told that there was nothing that could be done about it.

If you work for the entertainment department perhaps you could explain what the rules are and if they are in writing somewhere.

If the rule is indeed that people are not allowed to save seats and the entertainment dept is not willing to enforce it, what alternatives do we have as residents?

You make some excellent points, but the first thing that needs to happen is to determine if there actually a written rule regarding this problem. If there is then we need to demand that the entertainment department enforce the rules. It doesn't matter if people are rude to the entertainment staff or that the staff does not want to be involved in confrontations. They are there to protect us by enforcing the rules.

If there is no rule then we, the concerned residents of The Villages need to put pressure on the entertainment department or The Villages to create a rule which will define exactly what is allowed and what isn't.

The fact that we've never seen anything in print about this or hear any announcements about it leads me to believe that no rule actually exists. That, to me, is understandable as the powers that be probably never anticipated this to be a problem. It has however become a problem and there needs to be a written rule that can be enforced.

As some have stated we have a few different situations here. On one extreme, we have people that come in at 3:30 and rope off 50 chairs. In my opinion, that should simply not be allowed. But again, I've never seen a rule that bans it nor have I seen anyone from the entertainment department enforce it. On the other end of the spectrum, we have a couple that places seat cushions on their chairs and gets up to dance to get a drink to use the toilet. I think that most reasonable people would agree that that's acceptable.

And we have a lot of things in between those two. A couple is waiting for another couple for example who is supposed to arrive with a half hour. Should they be allowed to save seats? Is there a rule defining whether or not this is acceptable.

Like I said, we can debate all kinds of things for hours on end. We can make a point that some people won't follow the rules even when there are rules. And that may be true. But it is impossible to enforce rules that don't exist.

The first step in fixing this problem is to find out if there are written rules that cover this. If there are not, then the first step needs to be to have some written rules that a staff member can point to when trying to enforce them.

As far as making people obey the rules, that would be up to staff members. If a person becomes uncooperative or belligerent or threatening, then it would be time to get the police involved. Isn't that how most rules are enforced?

A post in an older thread gave this link to the policy:

FAQ - The Villages Entertainment * Special Events * Box Office

In that link, the last FAQ under the topic "Free Nightly Entertainment" addresses saving seats:

"Q: May we rope off a group of chairs prior to an event?

A: No. Roping or taping chairs together inhibits event setup. If you need to hold chairs, at least one person in your party needs to be with your chairs at all times."

:pray::pray::pray::boxing2::boom:


Gracie you have outdone yourself!

I was at Brownwood a few weeks ago and all of the chairs were out by 4:20PM.

I don't believe that saving of seats will ever be stopped. Think about it. If someone come to the square early to save seats there's a good chance they're out and about spending money in the businesses that surround the squares.Although I think it's rude and would have no problem sitting in a "saved" seat myself,I believe the powers to be see it as more money!!

That may be true, but what about the people who don't go because they can't get a seat, so they are not out spending money with the vendors or the other businesses and restaurants. I know many of my neighbors have stopped going to the squares because of this and other hassles.