[Frangyomory]

Check your North Sumter Utility Company bill this month! You will note that the $1.47 is no longer a single charge. It has been rolled into your trash charge. Used to pay $15.45 but now pay $16.92.

Is this the way the developer responds to our inquiries about charging for something that makes him money???

This absolutely sickens me!!!

Also heard that the developer received a large check from TECO which was supposed to go to certain homeowners who were billed in their closing costs for the gas meters on their homes.

How much more are we supposed to take from this family?????

I love the Villages but have seething feelings about the current people running the show. Mr. Schwartz was an honest man who cared about the people to whom he sold homes. What happened to that????

This is still the best place to live but any more of this sneaking around and some people are simply going to revolt!

[villages07]

Fran,

The extra charge for recycling, to be included in trash bills, was announced quite some time ago. No surprise to me. There does seem to be some debate about the cost and profit from recycling. Personally, the extra fee for recycling doesn't bother me. Trash and landfill costs continue to rise. Back in MD, I paid $103 per year for the privilege of taking my trash and recyclables to the dump. So $204 per year for curbside pickup, essentially 4 times a week (2 regular trash, 1 recycle, 1 lawn waste) is a pretty good deal. Like many others, I do notice my 'regular' trash is now very minimal.

As to the TECO payment, I would defer from commenting until more facts are known.

Yes, no doubt things have changed from the days of Harold Schwartz strolling the streets of OBG. We are no longer a sleepy town nestled amongst orange groves and cow pastures. Like it or not, the Villages is now a big city and that comes with the expenses, politics, and complexities to run such an operation. I view the Morse family as benevolent dictators. I truly believe they have some family pride in what they have built and have a genuine interest in seeing it live in perpetuity...the family legacy. But, they are also business folks, looking to make a profit from their risks and labors. I don't begrudge them that at all.

My greatest hope (and biggest fear) is that the Villages of 20 years from now is as beautiful, well run, and economical to live in as it is today.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by villages07

Fran,

The extra charge for recycling, to be included in trash bills, was announced quite some time ago. No surprise to me. There does seem to be some debate about the cost and profit from recycling. Personally, the extra fee for recycling doesn't bother me. Trash and landfill costs continue to rise. Back in MD, I paid $103 per year for the privilege of taking my trash and recyclables to the dump. So $204 per year for curbside pickup, essentially 4 times a week (2 regular trash, 1 recycle, 1 lawn waste) is a pretty good deal. Like many others, I do notice my 'regular' trash is now very minimal.

As to the TECO payment, I would defer from commenting until more facts are known.

Yes, no doubt things have changed from the days of Harold Schwartz strolling the streets of OBG. We are no longer a sleepy town nestled amongst orange groves and cow pastures. Like it or not, the Villages is now a big city and that comes with the expenses, politics, and complexities to run such an operation. I view the Morse family as benevolent dictators. I truly believe they have some family pride in what they have built and have a genuine interest in seeing it live in perpetuity...the family legacy. But, they are also business folks, looking to make a profit from their risks and labors. I don't begrudge them that at all.

My greatest hope (and biggest fear) is that the Villages of 20 years from now is as beautiful, well run, and economical to live in as it is today.

Well said. As usual I am in awe of your ability to communicate and in sync with your views!
YOU are the nicest person !

[The Great Fumar]

VILLAGES07

Why is it all your communications sound like they comming from a control tower and I'm being cleared to taxi to 26right........

looking for blue lights fumar :dontknow: ;D ;D ;D

[Frangyomory]

My comment was not about the $1.47 but the fact that it suddenly is wrapped into our regular trash charge as though we will all forget that we are paying a fee for something that actually makes money and we are using non-recyclable plastic bags to do our recycling. Somehow all this bothers me.

Yes, I know we are not a sleepy little town anymore but I don't like having "benovolent dictators" running the show. Guess we have no choice and that's something else I don't like.

Fortunately, the Villages is still a wonderful place to live.

[ejp52]

There's always a choice.

[Muncle]

Originally Posted by ejp52

There's always a choice.

What a sensational comment, not specifically to this thread but to almost all of them. Can you set it up that this comment is automatically generated whenever there are more than 5 or so replies on a thread? People tend to forget that we are basically free agents who live here or are considering it of our own volition. The courts didn't sentence us here and we can leave.

There's always a choice.

[njgranny]

Let me politely take issue with "there's always a choice." I think a person has the right to air their grievances without being reminded that they could move elsewhere. That's a response that always comes up on our local Jersey BB. Just because a person has feelings about certain issues doesn't mean that they don't like the place they live.

[ejp52]

Originally Posted by Muncle

What a sensational comment, not specifically to this thread but to almost all of them. Can you set it up that this comment is automatically generated whenever there are more than 5 or so replies on a thread? People tend to forget that we are basically free agents who live here or are considering it of our own volition. The courts didn't sentence us here and we can leave.

There's always a choice.

Muncle for Prez. :bigthumbsup: :joke:

[Muncle]

I certainly agree that a person has the right to air their unhappiness and/or disagreement with anything. And my comments were certainly not aimed at Fran. I've disagreed with her and likely she with me a number of times on various issues. And though I do not know her, I perceive Fran as an individual who has looked at the positives and negatives of TV and determines it weighs heavily on the positive. Probably I would agree with her on far more than we would disagree.

Yes, everyone has a right to speak out against what they find wrong in our society. In fact, I believe we have a duty to do so. My concern is with those who find more negatives than positives, who seemingly live to complain. We've had several posters who rave about TV, except they want fences, statues, free plastic garbage contrainers, golf cart licenses and air bags, no visitor passes, increased visitor passes, no kids, more kids, increased gates, no gates. But they are still determined to move here and get the rules changed to fit their specific desires. People have to be reminded that TV is not for everyone. That does not make the person good or bad, nor does it make TV good or bad. People are different and have different interests, desires, and need. People have to be reminded that "There's always a choice."

And while I'm pontificating, when exactly did Gary Morse :edit: in everybody's soup? Mr. Schwartz has been canonized, primarily because he is dead, while Morse and the rest of the family are blamed for everything and credited with nothing. Yes, good old Harold used to walk the streets greeting everyone and undoubtedly knew everyone by name (kinda doubt it), but the reason he could do so was that Gary was in the office or at the construction sites working, making this place what it is today. Did he and the family get rich doing it? Hell yes, and they deserved it. I hope they make millions and millions and millions more. But The Developer is not responsible for everything one dislikes.

[chuckster]

Muncle absolutely the best statement yet concerning the morse family, etc and our individual choices.
I would prefer to say that if someone finds themselves so unhappy with present circumstances it might be time to make one of those choices.

[njgranny]

I am one of the people who would like to have a fence because of my dogs. However, I never said, or thought, that TV should change their rules because of my wishes. I will simply get a CYV, or one of the fenced ranchers.

I think people know they have a choice. I don't think they have to be reminded. I thought the purpose of the board was discussion.

There are things I don't like about my home town, but I'm not moving because of them. I'm moving because I'm tired of freezing my buns off all winter (and into the spring this year).

I really have a "thing" about telling people to move because they criticize things.

[SABRMnLgs]

While I am absolutely NOT all knowing, I still would like to figure this recycling thing out.
1) We have to buy the bags.
2) We have to sort the items.
3) We have to put these bags out.
4) We get charged for doing this.
5) When the items get picked up and turned into whatever, when do I get a return on items 1 and 4?

[Muncle]

Originally Posted by SABRMnLgs

While I am absolutely NOT all knowing, I still would like to figure this recycling thing out.
1) We have to buy the bags.
2) We have to sort the items.
3) We have to put these bags out.
4) We get charged for doing this.
5) When the items get picked up and turned into whatever, when do I get a return on items 1 and 4?

Well, you get rid of your trash and you make the world a better place in which to live. Now, don't you fell better? And I'm not all knowing either.

[ejp52]

Originally Posted by njgranny

I am one of the people who would like to have a fence because of my dogs. However, I never said, or thought, that TV should change their rules because of my wishes. I will simply get a CYV, or one of the fenced ranchers.

I think people know they have a choice. I don't think they have to be reminded. I thought the purpose of the board was discussion.

There are things I don't like about my home town, but I'm not moving because of them. I'm moving because I'm tired of freezing my buns off all winter (and into the spring this year).

I really have a "thing" about telling people to move because they criticize things.

I wasn't suggesting anyone move,I meant they can choose to recycle or not,I should have been more specific. The way I see it is I drag my trash and recycling out to the street and they pick it up,the small fee to recycle is worth it if it helps the landfills last longer.