We were told there were cameras by a sales agent and by an owner who said thats how they knew who busted the gate at 1:00 am in the morning coming in drunk.

That's funny. I also was stopped at a gate going over to Southern Trace area...digging in my purse for gate pass when the gentlemen behind me got out of his cart and pushed the button. I was so embarassed, said thanks and went on my way! :laugh:

good point!
 

also, once through the gates, unless otherwise posted the max speed limit is 25mph, as noted in other threads. this was a request by the builder as it is not the 30mph norm on local roads. All were part of the plan to limit speeds and increase safety. The gates do take pictures of people entering which are available for review should any crime occur...:police:

I am still getting over the shock that the gates cost 1.5 million.....we could get a really big indoor heated pool for everyone

WHAT??? NO indoor heated pool???? CRAP!!! That does it!!!! :cus:

Just kidding....

Does your gate pass work in all gates?
 

Probably a dumb question, but does your gate pass work at all gates, or just the gate for the Village you live in? When I rented in Chatham in July I just assumed my gate pass just worked at the Chatham entrance gate. I will be back in October renting in Sabal Chase so I thought I would ask before Oct.

Works at all gates.

Thank you!

Didn't I read somewhere that will change to 20 MPH effective Jan. 1, 2012?

Hi Asianthree,
Gates or no, it would have to be one "really big" pool indeed to serve the 80,000 living in TV, let alone the 110,000 population at build out. I can't see that just a single heated indoor pool included in the amenity fees is feasible for a population the size of TV. All of the other included amenities are located throughout TV for convenient access and are built for so many thousand per facility. They may be crowded at times, but are available to all Villagers as some times. A single heated indoor pool could not serve the demand.

The gates and cameras are a deterrent to crime, serve a purpose in slowing traffic and separating carts and cars entering neighborhoods and add charm to the community. To me, the price-tag is not high for a community this size.

We had a pool
 

We had a pool. You paid to use the fitness center and the pool.
Harold planned for many of these fitness centers with pools. You will find indoor pools in every gated community around here.
Many cannot take the full sun and in the winter there are many days the air is too cold to use the pools.
For many elderly, that indoor pool was the only exercise they got all winter.
A reason some moved.
One more example of the good old days for us who have lived here for 7 or more years.
I know this will bring on the posts about how everything is perfect in the Villages. Well I have lived here long enough to tell you, both my wife and I used that pool. Many people were very upset when it was taken away.
I like it here too but we should have an indoor pool. Go see how many people wrote that in " the what I hate about the Villages' thread.

Back to thread. Not one crime or robbery was ever prevented or solved by those gates. Yes, we have crime in the Villages. Our best friends and others have been robbed. Not often reported. But on the whole we are safe here .
I do agree the gates are good for slowing down traffic. I also agree many people hit the gates.

We have crime in The Villages? Yes, there are some golf clubs taken from golf cart at a parking lot now and then. I have heard of unoccupied homes being broken into by service techs from some companies or even groundskeepers on a very rare occasion. I have not heard of ANY violent crime such as strongarm robbery, muggings, or things like that. I see people walking safely at midnight here.

I have seen the teenagers from Lady Lake area hanging out at Spanish Springs and the Church on the Square at night. No one is causing any problems.

This is the most crime-free community I could imagine.

Phone number, not 911
 

Is there a phone number one can call, if there is suspicious activities going on or someone walking who doesn't seem to belong in the neighborhood?

You can always call Community Watch at 753-0550. They have no police power at all but would be willing most likely to "check out" suspicious activity - such as a group of people emptying out a house at 3 am.

I do wonder about the phrase of "someone walking who doesn't seem to belong in the neighborhood".

Everyone knows this is my hot button.

I agree with you completely. I think people bring their fears with them from their old place. Relatively speaking...this is a VERY safe place.

We have had one murder, before we came three years ago. Someones adult child was somehow mixed up with drugs and someone came and shot the mother of that child...am I correct on that one? We had a domestic abuse case last year where a woman shot through the bathroom door at her husband and wounded him badly.

We have had clubs and carts stolen. The cart stealing was done by a villagers son and he was caught.

We have had appliances stolen from homes not yet moved into. We have had reported instances of expensive jewelry being stolen out of a home when people were not present.

When taking our grandson to the hospital two years ago in the middle of the night we saw two women jogging down Morse at four in the morning.

I feel safe here, but you are gonna hear that others do not.

And you will then hear about carrying guns here in order to feel safe.

We are all different in how we percieve things.

The villages has never advertised itself as a gated community... It always advertises itself as FLORIDAS FRIENDLIEST HOMETOWN....

The Villages are not restricted access. The Gates, however, are a deterrant. Just the fact that a outsider has to interact with someone to gain entry and there are cameras are enough. The point about the slowing of traffic at cart crossings is also a good one.

All-in-all I believe the gates are well-worth the money we pay for them and do deter crime and other unsavory entry to our communities. Nothing will completely prevent crime - not even restricted entry.

Overall, the Villages is a safe and secure community and the gates help keep it that way.

After! I'm not real happy about not being told, it is underhanded practice that I didn't expect from TV.:boxing2:

When you first look at properties with a Village Agent, I believe they deliberately try to give the impression that it is a gated community and you cannot get access without a resident card. When we purchased, we believed we would be living in a gated community.

However, having said that, now it doesn't matter to me one bit. I feel perfectly safe. I think the current system works just fine. Gates are a bit of a deterrent to anyone unfamiliar with the entry system. And we don't have to pay to maintain the roads.

Not a Gated Community
 

I have read material recently in the Villages publications, clarifying that this is not a gated community. The gates are for the purpose of slowing traffic, and to the extent entrants are photographed or access the voice commuinication there may be some control. The roads in the Villages are public roads. I did know this before moving here, and am fine with it.

gate pass
 

I was just told by a staff person at the VCDD that our gate passes have "ID numbers" on the back that are exclusively yours. They can track you using your gate pass ID number. Cameras must just be a backup measure.

I'm not liking the fact that I can be tracked. However, I have nothing to hide and never will - but the idea just does not sit well with me.

If that's the case, never look at a retail site online, never use a credit card, a grocery or drugstore card, and never put a toll transponder in your car. You may also want to avoid using a cell phone with GPS.

The company that I use to work for used the same security system for access to their buildings and even doors within the building. I got to play around with the system a bit and yes it can do a lot. For example our system would sound an alert when someone tried to enter a door that they were not authorized. Also a quick hit of a function key and up pops a picture of that individual from their employee badge. Lists could be created to show when any person entered the building if HR or a manager requested.

All the programming was done on a central computer in the security department and changes took effect instantly and it changed the access at any location around the country. The access cards are RFI cards and can be wiped out with a magnet. All identification was done within the cards via the programming.

A nice system and I was very surprised to see it when I first visited TV.

One other thing about the system is that it has the ability to set the distance from the card sensors needed to read the card. The larger the receiver (the gray square you hold your card up to ) the farther away the card can be held to be read and again that can be controlled by the program.

VG

The main reason for gates is not for security. They are there as a traffic control device to make everyone slow down so merging and crossing busy intersections can be a little safer.