[njbchbum]

Published by the media source not to be named here:

"During its regular Welcome Wednesday presentation this week at the District Office at Lake Sumter Landing, District officials announced restrictions on personal chairs at the town squares.

"The announcement follows:

"For the safety of patrons, personal liability, and maintenance of the aesthetically pleasing town squares, no personal chairs or property are allowed at the town squares unless otherwise approved by the District. Chairs or other property may be removed by District Property Management. We appreciate your attention and support in helping keep our squares safe and well maintained."

[ColdNoMore]

Sheesh, the next thing they will be trying to do...is to outlaw dog poop in public places.


Should be fun to watch the responses.

[DonH57]

Are they referring to the personal chairs left unattended in the dance or foot traffic areas of the square? I think it would be hard to remove a chair with butt in it.

[Bryan]

Watch out what you ask for because you may get it!

Villagers have long been carping over “saved seats” at our town squares, especially on “big” days like St. Paddy’s. Numerous personal chairs appear in prime seating spots as early a 8 AM on some days. “Our” chairs (meaning those owned by The Villages and placed by the Entertainment Division for the enjoyment of all visitors to our squares} are often ’reserved’ by ribbons, string, ropes, cushions, etc. minutes after being put out by Entertainment staff – with no one in sight to use them. How many posts have you seen on this forum and in local news media complaining about these inconsiderate ingrats who glom all the good spaces, sometimes not even bothering to show up until well after the event is underway. There have even been fights and arrests over “reserved” seats – hard to believe!

It appears that in response to resident demands, your local government and the Entertainment Division are stepping up to the plate. They will start addressing these issues. We’ll see how that works out.

Frankly, I think it’s well past time for them to start enforcing all the rules. I wish then great success in curtailing all this “seat saving” – whether they be personal or public chairs. That will be one less minor irritant to interfere with my retirement.

[rubicon]

The Villages government seems to tread lightly when it comes to entertainment (ie ambassadors v golf rangers).
Explain to an ambassador that there is slow play and they smile and drive away.

So the communication presented by the OP is surprising because by TV standards its a bold move.

Personal Best Regards:

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by rubicon

The Villages government seems to tread lightly when it comes to entertainment (ie ambassadors v golf rangers).
Explain to an ambassador that there is slow play and they smile and drive away.

So the communication presented by the OP is surprising because by TV standards its a bold move.

Personal Best Regards:

I think if they really want to address the issue, they should have started with the seat saving of public chairs. It's their chairs, and they can control what people do with them if they want. It's also a bigger issue and has led to more conflict than personal chairs. And having made this announcement, just what do they plan to do with personal chairs? Confiscate them? Hold them for ransom? Looks like a classic cart before the horse situation.

[VApeople]

We bring our personal chairs whenever we go to the Squares. If we move, we fold up our chairs and take them with us.

[Chatbrat]

They control coolers, why not chairs

[John_W]

I went to the Johnny Wild (formally Johnny D) show at LSL last Saturday and I noticed the 5pm recorded announcement had changed. Now it's something to the effect, no saving of chairs is allowed before 5pm unless a member of the party stays with the chairs.

With this new stragedy of no private type chairs, they are going to need to buy a lot more chairs. We arrived at 4:30 and all the white plastic chairs were already gone. It was one of the largest crowds I've ever seen and I seen some big Rocky N the Rollers crowds, it looks like Johnny Wild and the Delights is the new king of crowds. I saw dozens of private chairs already in use, if they had been disallowed the standing room only would of gone up a couple of hundred more than the already large amount.

I'm glad they are stopping the saving of chairs, however I never considered that LSL had the big a problem, it was mostly SS. I can remember going to a movie at SS that let out at 4pm and going over to see a 5pm Rocky N the Rollers show and every chair was already saved at SS an hour before the show and nobody was around or with most of these chairs. I would of been happy to sit in a chair at 4pm and waited an hour if there had only been an available chair.

We had also gone to Brownwood the night before (last Friday) and saw Cactus Jack. We arrived at 4:30 and the brown folding chairs had already been set up in advance, which is a good thing because if you leave it up to the residents they are all over the place. However all the chairs had already been taken, however we just sat in the bleachers which there was room for to do. We eventually were able to move into an empty chair when it became available a few minutes later. So Brownwood hasn't quite reached the overflow condition as yet, but Cactus Jack hasn't quite reached the big level yet. I did notice at about 6 to 7pm more than a couple of hundred people were standing, I guess as people had finished dinner. So maybe more chairs are needed at Brownwood as well, especially during a Johnny Wild, Rocky N the Rollers or Uncle Bob show.

[Love2Swim]

In response to Chatbrat - Yes but the coolers are cutting into their profits on drinks, so it is money driven, surprise surprise. The chairs are another story. I'm assuming this is their way of dealing with the saving seats situation but the way it's worded is rather weird. Most people who bring a personal chair will sit on it then take it with them when they leave, no harm done.

[Polar Bear]

I'm very much against it, but could it be because of possible liability issues with private chairs blocking aisles.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by Polar Bear

I'm very much against it, but could it be because of possible liability issues with private chairs blocking aisles.

I don't know. Could someone block an aisle with a public chair?????

[dbcolli]

Maybe a Villages rent a chair concession would solve the problem.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

I don't know. Could someone block an aisle with a public chair?????

Some of the parades would bring in a lot of people bringing their own chairs to sit on the parade route outside of the Square. We did this a few times. Once in a while the sidewalk would be blocked but usually by people gawking at the parade golf carts and people.


Seems though that this would be a hard case to win if someone fell when bringing in their own chairs or caused someone else to fall. Unless there were some other strange facts brought in that would make the Villages' Developers liable. Like hiring a stilt walker they knew was a drunk who then fell over on people and hurt some of them, etc.

[twoplanekid]

As long as there are enough supplied chairs and they are kept clean, I will be OK with the change. I have noticed that many of the white plastic chairs are very dirty.

From Districtgov under welcome Wednesday -> Dropbox - Screenshot (8).png