The best response I've seen yet. Three cheers.

:bigbow: Thank you!

In 2030 we will not have much of an electric bill if we install solar panels.
Sunroof is a Google project. https://www.google.com/get/sunroof/about/
Google takes on all sorts of problems and tries to solve them.

Using the data they gather from Google Earth Google can predict what your payback period will be if you install solar panels for electricity. Right now the software only works in Boston and the San Fran area but some people's payback period is 8 years according to a podcast I heard from TWIT [this week in technology] https://twit.tv/.

They say by next year the software will be available for the entire country.

Wouldn't this be a great area for solar power? What would the resale value of your home be if you didn't have an electric bill? Could the villages also be there own cable and internet provider? We are in a unique community where most people own their own homes and we do not support a school system. How to we leverage that power like the Morse's did for our mutual benifit?

I realize this thread was started as a bit of whimsy but..................

I don't see the developer having that mush land nor would they destroy the beauty of TV, with a mass transit system. IMHO

I am more concerned about being alive in 2030!!!

Do you have information to the effect that those in power are not thinking about this issue?

It seems to me that with few exceptions, the powers that be have done a great job in planning this place. There's nothing to make me believe that they won't continue to do so in the future.

I believe that the developer group is as focused on an outerbelt as they are on having an airport in the Villages. My point is that it takes one a lot of time to travel from one end to the other in the Villages as is. If we would see an increase in the size of the Villages by 50% in 15 years, this drive would become even more painful. The developer probably does not have any better crystal ball to see into the future than we do.

It would be nice to make Micro Racetrack to Rolling Acers a partial outerbelt to travel at higher speeds and without roundabouts. I use it now as is but may not as many people in the new build area will discover this short cut.

The Morses are quietly behind the scenes, thinking and planning. I believe that they have thought of almost every possibility and have in their employ or at their fingertips, people whose exclusive job it is to be a Civic Planner. This place did NOT get to be this level of perfection without much planning and hiring the right people to do the job and earmarking the funds to do it out of their OWN pockets..


I don't see any of us needing to help the Morses think about the future of this wonderful monument to their lives work.

I get the sense that you think it would be better if we all could vote on decisions...and I do not agree with you.

If I am doing any travelling in 2030, it will just be my ashes in the wind.

As this great nation of ours is a republic, I would tend to agree with your assessment of my beliefs. However, this should not and does not take away anything of how the Villages have been developed.

It’s a great place and many only need a few tweaks in the future to be made even better.

What's the hurry?

Just my opinion, but I'm not sure that many Villagers would agree with your dire description of the situation. I've never considered that drive to be anywhere near what I would call "painful".

I've experienced what were to me painful drives many times. The Villages has none.

:agree:

After you spend a few years in The Villages, perhaps you will absorb the ethos and be less concerned with getting around quickly!

From my house in Collier to Lopez is 14 miles. That's about an hour in a cart or bike. To me, anything longer than a half hour in a cart, once the novelty wears off, is not fun. It's discouraging.

Thanks to 301 I can be there in 22 minutes by car. I think if this is a thread about brainstorming than the possibility of a wider, faster route on the east side is worth examining.

They are widening 466A. I wonder if the long range plan is to widen it all the way to 441? A lot can happen in 15 years. If there is not a build out and TV continues to grow at the current pace it will have a population of 260,000.

I think you can have both. I walk the courses and do not own a cart. I have an e-bike and enjoy the ethos.

But in my little smart car I drive from my house in Collier to Lopez in 22 minutes and Fresh Market in 16 minutes. I like driving in the comfort of AC in the summer and heat in the winter listening to NPR.

I want to get to anyplace in the villages in 22 minutes. And this thread is about brainstorming and what will be 2030, isn't it?