[Happydaz]

Originally Posted by newguyintv

Absolutely right. I for one don't much give a crap for a bunch of old farts who think they are still kids and play softball. The Softball field improvements are a total waste of money that could be much better spent on making our cart paths safer for all the 100,000 + residents, myself included.

The problem as I see it is not just the expense of striping the MULTI-MODAL PATHS but also the fact that many people are now calling these golf cart paths. Once all these lines are painted, golf cart drivers will be further inclined to consider these as their highways. The engineers who recommended not to stripe the paths mentioned this in their report. They also said that striping will not increase safety. Walkers, joggers, and bicyclists will be pushed to second class users and their safety will be jeopardized. It is becoming evident that more people are beginning to see these paths as golf cart only paths. An expense, not recommended by experts, is not a good use of our money. Leave the softball players alone. Don't bring an important expense that is needed to justify an expense that appears to have a lot of emotion but very little rational basis as evidenced by the expert engineers negative report. Unfortunately many people never let facts interfere with their emotions.

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

I could talk about the need for more dog parks, since we only have three puny little parks.
The dog population is thought to be over 50,000. Many households have two dogs.
We all have our pet activities we'd like to see nurtured.
The Developer is his wisdom decided where money should be spent. He didn't stripe all the golf cart paths.
And he didn't chose to make a lot of dog parks either.
The point is -- we can't all have things exactly the way we want.
So far, I think the Developer made some very smart decisions.

We agree completely. My comment about striping cart paths on the golf courses was just slightly tongue in cheek. Besides I leave a trail of breadcrumbs when I play golf so I can find my way back to the starter's shack.

[billethkid]

Originally Posted by newguyintv

How can you not respect someone you don't even know?

OH oh why does the tone of this post sound familiar?

[hulahips]

Originally Posted by newguyintv

Absolutely right. I for one don't much give a crap for a bunch of old farts who think they are still kids and play softball. The Softball field improvements are a total waste of money that could be much better spent on making our cart paths safer for all the 100,000 + residents, myself included.

What a terrible thing to say. I think it's wonderful so many guys are still in shape to play softball. Softball and pickleball are the most active and popular sports here. Thousands play softball and keeping up the softball fields is as important as keeping up the pickleball courts. I'd say maybe the old farts are golfing but I wouldn't be that rude! It's great to be active in whatever sport you choose! And some of those softball players still look pretty darn good!!

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by hulahips

What a terrible thing to say. I think it's wonderful so many guys are still in shape to play softball. Softball and pickleball are the most active and popular sports here. Thousands play softball and keeping up the softball fields is as important as keeping up the pickleball courts. I'd say maybe the old farts are golfing but I wouldn't be that rude! It's great to be active in whatever sport you choose! And some of those softball players still look pretty darn good!!

Nicely done Hula.

[billethkid]

Originally Posted by newguyintv

Absolutely right. I for one don't much give a crap for a bunch of old farts who think they are still kids and play softball. The Softball field improvements are a total waste of money that could be much better spent on making our cart paths safer for all the 100,000 + residents, myself included.

But a bunch of old farts doing whatever you like to do is OK?
(I had to go back...this one has a familiar ring to it as well.)

[njbchbum]

Originally Posted by newguyintv

Absolutely right. I for one don't much give a crap for a bunch of old farts who think they are still kids and play softball. The Softball field improvements are a total waste of money that could be much better spent on making our cart paths safer for all the 100,000 + residents, myself included.

Interesting judgement about people and opinion on improvements.

Just what sort of things do you give a crap about besides wasting Villagers money on striping that the engineer's report did not recommend?

[njbchbum]

Originally Posted by Happydaz

The problem as I see it is not just the expense of striping the MULTI-MODAL PATHS but also the fact that many people are now calling these golf cart paths. Once all these lines are painted, golf cart drivers will be further inclined to consider these as their highways. The engineers who recommended not to stripe the paths mentioned this in their report. They also said that striping will not increase safety. Walkers, joggers, and bicyclists will be pushed to second class users and their safety will be jeopardized. It is becoming evident that more people are beginning to see these paths as golf cart only paths. An expense, not recommended by experts, is not a good use of our money. Leave the softball players alone. Don't bring an important expense that is needed to justify an expense that appears to have a lot of emotion but very little rational basis as evidenced by the expert engineers negative report. Unfortunately many people never let facts interfere with their emotions.

Happydaz - You are spot on! The Villages is dealing with multi-modal paths and NOT glof cart paths! Golf cart drivers who cannot navigate a multi-modal path or who choose to push the limits when using said path should STAY OFF of them! Accepting that these are multi-modal paths and NOT golf cart only paths just doesn't seem to fit in with their agenda.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by njbchbum

Happydaz - You are spot on! The Villages is dealing with multi-modal paths and NOT glof cart paths! Golf cart drivers who cannot navigate a multi-modal path or who choose to push the limits when using said path should STAY OFF of them! Accepting that these are multi-modal paths and NOT golf cart only paths just doesn't seem to fit in with their agenda.

That's never gonna happen, the same way it doesn't happen on the public streets and highways, which are nonetheless upgraded constantly for safety's sake.

I wish people would stop blaming lack of visibility on the MMPs on poor drivers. And telling them when and when not they should drive. Not all accidents are caused by poor drivers.

Besides, people were for this until they found out it would cast them maybe $3 a year for the rest of their lives. Now the hue and cry that it's not needed. Did they think it was going to be free?

[Mleeja]

I can harly wait until the repair of the foundation of the Morse Blvd bridge over Lake Sumter comes up again.... Maybe the cost of striping can be tied in with this cost. ��

[njbchbum]

Originally Posted by CFrance

That's never gonna happen, the same way it doesn't happen on the public streets and highways, which are nonetheless upgraded constantly for safety's sake.

I wish people would stop blaming lack of visibility on the MMPs on poor drivers. And telling them when and when not they should drive. Not all accidents are caused by poor drivers.

Besides, people were for this until they found out it would cast them maybe $3 a year for the rest of their lives. Now the hue and cry that it's not needed. Did they think it was going to be free?

If the engineer's report indicated that safety would not be significantly improved with striping - what else but following the guidelines and better attention to driving will bring about greater safety?

[CFrance]

The engineer's report was more skewed toward keeping the MMPs from being considered by the golf cart drivers as exclusively their own than it was geared toward increasing safety and visibility at night. These reports are about as good as expert witnesses--you have yours and I have mine.

[njbchbum]

Originally Posted by CFrance

The engineer's report was more skewed toward keeping the MMPs from being considered by the golf cart drivers as exclusively their own than it was geared toward increasing safety and visibility at night. These reports are about as good as expert witnesses--you have yours and I have mine.

As you say, we each have our opinions. But skewed? Perhaps that is also personal opinion.

[Mleeja]

I have read the engineering report. It states roughly that based on current standards, the marking of the MMPs are not warranted. In other words, there are not governmental requirements for marking the paths. Also base on accident data, in their opinion there is no evidence that striping would make the paths safer. The key words are "based on accident data". What the report does not say is they drove the paths at night to personally observe the driving conditions. They did not conduct any traffic or volume study on the paths. They did not take into account the serpentine and undulations of the paths to study the effect that these conditions have on driving and night time visibility. They looked a two data points. Hell yes, based on these two data points we would all probably come to the same conclusion. But is this "real world"? Nope... If you want a complete picture of the safety of the paths some type of traffic study needs to be completed. I am not seeing where this was preformed.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Mleeja

I have read the engineering report. It states roughly that based on current standards, the marking of the MMPs are not warranted. In other words, there are not governmental requirements for marking the paths. Also base on accident data, in their opinion there is no evidence that striping would make the paths safer. The key words are "based on accident data". What the report does not say is they drove the paths at night to personally observe the driving conditions. They did not conduct any traffic or volume study on the paths. They did not take into account the serpentine and undulations of the paths to study the effect that these conditions have on driving and night time visibility. They looked a two data points. Hell yes, based on these two data points we would all probably come to the same conclusion. But is this "real world"? Nope... If you want a complete picture of the safety of the paths some type of traffic study needs to be complete. I am not seeing where this was preformed.

That's what I meant when I called the engineering study "skewed." They looked at as little as they had could. It's almost like they had an opinion to begin with and were looking only to uphold that opinion. Who called for this study originally? And what does anybody know about this particular firm--what there area of expertise is, etc.

Were they the same people who suggested the layout of Colony Blvd and the golf cart path intersection?