[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Colleen Kelley-Rogers

TV is a great place to live but fall short in so many ways. Brownwood is so much SMALLER than the other town centers and who puts bleacher seating in for the elderly and retirees. Bar stools in their restaurants should all SWIVEL. They pack the stools in so tight you can't get in and out of them. I think the biggest problem is TV has a budget that doesn't allow common sense some times. They need to increase their budgets and cut their profit margin a bit. Now that they are no longer running the eating establishments the owners are responsible for the furniture but it still goes through TV decorators in most cases. Just not enough space at Brownwood for any outdoor events but its still the "happy place".

Really, the Developer telling a business the distance between stools? What a stretch.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Vernon Hud

I think The Villages were the ones responsible for the negative talk for the southern area. They went into Finny, and built one sales office, a small restaurant, and then a ton of homes. There were no activities for the people that bought there. Suddenly there was an uproar from most of the residents living north of 44, because these people had no place to go for recreation, shopping or dining. So the developer had to scramble, and called in the food trucks to try to satisfy the dining, Wow, food trucks. Then they decided maybe they should build a couple 9 hole golf courses, whoppee. Well, they have been struggling ever sense trying to get a shopping plaza done. They had a great plan when they built north of 44, and completely went away from it, and it bit them in the rear. Maybe what they should have done, is build all the bridges first, plus some golf cart paths that could get residence around without having to jump in their car every time they wanted to go somewhere. A lot of the people that bought there don't know what really happened there early on, which I think has still caused a lot of negativity for living south of 44. Once the developer gets caught up with some of the amenities, I don't think you will hear all the negativity.

Do you think the negative talk, like your post, from those that don’t live south of 44 will stop?

[Bilyclub]

You gotta love the guy who doesn't live in TV telling Villagers how to live their lives. I've been to Downtown Leesburg and it's a dump. There's the dirty bar there that falsely claims to have Chicago food.

[Dgizzi]

Well said. It is ridiculous to enjoy. They need to build more squares. More everything. We went and it was wall to wall people and honestly not worth it. Everything is sooo overpriced!

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Actually as this place continues to grow might be even more people attending.

I'm thinking maybe you just let the point of that other post slide right on over your head.

[zuidemab]

Wow! I'm sure we all thought we found "our special place" and we bought whatever that was. No matter where we came from I'd imagine we shared that place with others who found it a good place to live as well. The Villages is not / will not be a quiet secret only a few share. It is open for regular folks who plunk down the down payment - like we did. Hello neighbor!

[terrild53]

Whenever there’s a “festival” in any of the squares, it’s a nuthouse, unless it’s during the summer. I agree a little traffic control would benefit everyone.

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by twoplanekid

I forgot that the Strawberry Festival was taking place today at Brownwood when I went for my afternoon treat at Scooples. The huge volume of both car and golf cart traffic exiting the Hillsborough gate heading south should have alerted me that something big was taking place near Brownwood.

The traffic was what I would image takes place in New York City during rush hour. There were so many cars and carts just cruising to find a place to park. It would have been nice if the Wildwood police would have directed traffic at the first intersection as you enter Brownwood from the east.

I found a parking space for my cart. But also found that the line at Scooples was too long for me this afternoon. As the population of the Villages continues to grow, the planners of these types of events need to consider better traffic control measures. Or, maybe just add an extra day to the festivities to let more people in on the fun as the Villages continues to grow in population.

Definitely a good suggestion to make these events multiple day happenings... but not a lot of confidence that would ever happen, just so crowded for the roads, the facilities, the number of automobiles, etc.

[John_W]

Originally Posted by donassaid

That's what happens when all tge parking spaces are taken up by developments like the the apartments and other commercial businesses.

The apartments, you mean The Lofts. They were built on the grass space between the northside parking lot and 44A, where the Brownwood Logo with circle is located on the map. No parking spaces were taken away. I know because I use go to the grassy strip of land and hit golf balls. It was really a muddy mess most of the time with overgrown grass. Plus I go to MVP 3 days a week since 2014 and I use to look out the big windows at the grassy area and wonder was going to be built there.

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by Dgizzi

Well said. It is ridiculous to enjoy. They need to build more squares. More everything. We went and it was wall to wall people and honestly not worth it. Everything is sooo overpriced!

It's interesting that over the years (and of course prices go up over time but..) that everything went up in price even though the population grew, and grew, and GREW. The reasonable price for movies, the "home town" holiday/Christmas parades shuttled first to the polo fields rather than the "community" feel of going and setting up chairs to watch such parades like people have done in big cities and small. The prices of a simple treat at the "festivals" has gone up much more than the normal cost of living, and the amounts (like for the strawberry festival) have become disappointingly small. Now some will say, so what, things change, but seems a lot has changed very quickly and become very very crowded.... ?

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by Cranford61

Like a pristine ghetto

Yes, agree completely and not even "pristine" anymore... went to Colony Cottage to pick up AARP taxes. When I came out, I sat on the front porch for a few minutes to check envelope with in it copies...then noticed the mask on the cushion of the chair I almost sat on, and then looked at all the discarded masks in the flower beds, across the grassy area against bushes (from winds I guess ? ... of course residents could be more sanitary about that too, but.... it's a very different place than when we built our home.

[Katieburr]

Running around maskless is not only irresponsible, it is uncaring, disrespectful, and so very ignorant to others who would like to stay alive. Every time you refuse to wear a mask in public, you are putting someone in jeopardy. Masking is easy. If you had any common sense at all you would at least make an effort to do your part to end this nightmare we are all living in.

[tophcfa]

Who would have ever imagined that the uncontrollable allure of the strawberry would cause such a fuss? Just imagine the carnage if they had a Strawberry Daiquiri Festival?

[scottiesrgreat@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by J1ceasar

Unfortunately The trouble with The villages is that they are not the city of New York .....

Oh, golly —— all I can say is ‘Thank God!’ The exact reason I chose to move here :-)

I pray people aren’t moving here to change how we do things in The Villages to how they do things in NYC..... if so, I hope I am dead by then and my heirs have sold my property. Hahahaha (seriously, tho). I love the hustle and bustle in the squares - if it is too crowded for me - I wait and go back later :-) no need to think that “problems” in The Villages will be solved if we adopt the governing methods of NYC. Hahahahaha...

[gettingby]

Originally Posted by JohnN

soon enough, we'll all be yesterdays news.
I'd prefer to be today's news and in the middle now.
To each their own

We also had to decide what we wanted now and our future. My 91 year old dad and 86 year old mom live near us as well so we’re not living our live like the end is soon enough. I guess it’s a matter of a positive mind. No doom and gloom in this house. We look forward to an exciting retirement and have wonderful neighbors that seem to share the same attitude, as I’m sure you do too. Blessings....