[LG]

I hear they ( The Family ) are looking to build a similar community in Louisiana.. Need to keep the appearance up here to sell the newer communities.

[jtdraig]

:bigthumbsup:You nailed it, Kahuna! Good Job!!!!

[Skip]

Think about this for a minute. Aren't all the cities, towns, villages and counties you came from up north governed by the residents? You vote for supervisors, mayors, councilmen or managers and you vote about budgets, taxes, spending, even zoning. The mayor may have been your neighbor. It'll be the same here. That's what the Florida law is suppose to do, gradually move control from the developer when few people here - to the residents when it's fully built out.

What's a little scary is for the new owners of the Country Clubs to take them (and the Championship Courses) private with dues, greens fees and monthly restaurant tabs. But I doubt this would happen anytime soon. There's too much competition from the CDD owned Executive Courses.

And as far as forming it's own city or town, The Villages stretches over 3 counties plus incorporated (Lady Lake) and un-incorporated areas. It's nearly impossible to pull this off. Do you think Lady Lake wants to lose this tax base? We have rich tax payers and don't need schools. Also seniors mean lower crime rates. Lady Lake is the luckiest town in Florida - lots of income and little out go.

Skip

[chuckster]

Barb1191...........What has people "riled" up is the windfall the 5 mentioned resident POA members (300,000) plus their attorney's (6,700,000.00) will receive as self appointed reps of those north of 466 and stand to gain in future dealings for those south of 466. I don't recall appointing or electing the aforementioned "Village Five", do you?

It would seem that these funds (especially the 300,000.00) should be applied towards all village residents fees and not be a personal windfall for 5 self appointed reps.

[Muncle]

Originally Posted by barb1191

Please.....This is strictly my opinion and do not care to get into any kind of disagreement with anybody. I do not wish to argue other opinions but will attempt to explain how and why I arrive at my own opinions.

Hey Barb, you do not care to get into a disagreement with anyone, yet you have no problem telling Kahuna "How do you explain your duplicity?" Don't accuse someone of "being deceptive, dishonest, or misleading" (per Encarta dictionary) then plead that you are above it all.

And by the by, in his 4 month old posting that you cite, Kahuna states his belief that it would be 10-15 years before the residents assume control of TV. It is patently obvious to the most casual observer that while inevitable in the long run, this is not a situation with which he is comfortable. This is totally in keeping with his recent posts re the POA lawsuit.

This thread is a prime example of where I live now as well as the two previous resident operated locations that I have experienced.

Lets imagine for the moment that the developer has turned the management over to the residents, Now what? I guess an election would be held to place people on our new board of directors. And the winners are:

Barb
Kahuna
Muncle
Chuck
Skip
JT
Fran
Hyacinth

Just an example, please do not misunderstand me, I am not knocking anyone, Good people all. Now based on all their written opinions, some of which seem to be getting a little testy, what, if any, rational decisions do you think would come out of a group, that going in, already have a clash of personalities and some very diverse opinions about what is in our best interest. There you have it ! TV will be just like all the other community's that are in the hands of the home owners. This is the same recipe for disaster that permeates other community's. My opinion, for what it is worth is TV is so much better off in the hands of a professional management team then it would be with an untrained resident board, all bringing their own agenda to the table.

The thing that attracted us to TV is the management. One look at this place is all one needs to get the feeling that it is special. If it has to change, then so be it but, We have decided to wait awhile before we invest in another resident run community. We still love TV and can't wait to get there but, we will rent and wait and see.

[Villages Kahuna]

I'm from Chicago, the home of a decades-old and very effective form of government called a benevolent dictatorship. I haven't found many communities that would adopt such a form of governance, except those with a lot of ex-Chicagoans and then only if there was another generation of the Daley family around.

But seeing as that is my favorite form of governance, I guess that's what attracted me to The Villages, where the Schwartz-Morse family performs the same role as two generations of Daleys have in Chi-town. So while I am concerned what form of democracy will ultimately prevail in running this place, there's no way I would get involved in electoral politics...whether I'm asked, told or drafted! I'm not certain of my own benevolence.

With Election Day around the corner, remember the old Chicago adage...

Vote Early and Vote Often!

[Frangyomory]

Kahuna is just telling it like it is. I have two fears of the future:

1. The developer walks and our lifestyle is left in the hands of owners who will never vote to spenda dollar.

2. The developer stays and continues to manage in some form and continues to charge high fees for everything and continues to sell commercial property to the highes bidder in order to continue to support our lifestyle.

Does anyone see a problem with my fears??????

[Muncle]

Fran, I see nothing wrong with your "fears" for the future. I too dread a management regime who's primary objective is to keep costs down at the expense of quality of life. Frugality is good, but not at the expense of what TV really is. We could all live somewhere cheaper, but it wouldn't be the same.

And I'm also concerned about a time when the developer divests himself of the major assets and brings in multiple companies who have no local connections or emotional ties to the history of TV. But, in all honesty, there's probably not much I can do about any of this now. So, unlike one of our more witty fellowmembers, I'll keep buying green bananas and I'll enjoy my life in TV. I'll bitch about stuff that bothers me and probably take potshots at the POA, which will then probably tick you off. But hopefully we'll have a lot of good years here to share the enjoyment and tick one another off about little stuff before armageddon. 040 040

[gfmucci]

I don't share these fears.* Not to say it will be easy to transition.* My experience comes from the City of Coral Springs, the only City in the nation to win a Baldrige award for high performance organizations.* That is not achieved through bickering, but by finding common ground among the leaders, having a common vision for the community, and professionally running a responsive and efficient organization.

How did Coral Springs become what it is, both aesthetically and governmentally?* Because it started off as a planned community, it attracted people of like mind who had a passion for a quality planned community.* They perpetuated their passion, 30 years later, to keep their community "top notch."

I see The Villages in a very similar situation.* The residents came here having a passion for the quality - for the lifestyle.* One way or another, they will assure that quality is maintained through a professionally operated, minimal bickering, cohesive and visionary organization.

I hope I'm right.

[chuckinca]

We all need to play some SimCity to help perfect the future of TV.

I grew up in a planned community of 25,000, similar to Levittown, and when the builder finished and left after fifteen years of construction, life went on and the home owners elected people and hired mangers to operate the town.

[lm01]

I think the family will move on to bigger and better things and then it will become our turn.

[gfmucci]

I played some SimCity.* Great game! ;D* Ya gotta keep them Sims happy!

[Villages Kahuna]

After doing a little research on the settlement proposed to resolve the class action lawsuit regarding the recreation facilities and programs, maybe an answer to this question was made a little clearer. (There's another thread on that subject elsewhere on TOTV.)

The residential districts will be governed by residents elected by the other residents of each district. That's already happened in all the districts north of CR 466 and will also happen in the newer districts south of 466 a few years in the future. That whole process is governed by Florida state law.

The three commercial districts (Spanish Springs, Lake Sumter and sometime in the future, Brownwood) will be governed by the owner(s) of the commercial property in those areas. Right now that's the developer of TV. He owns all the commercial property both in TV as well as a lot of it on the periphery of the development. He's made no move to sell out to other owners or investors and has said that The Villages is part of his family's history and there is no way they'd leave and permit a new owner to change the lifestyle that they worked for decades to produce. There's certainly no guarantee of a sellout not happening, but the developer's statement provides some comfort, at least. After the last house is built and sold, there will still be a sizeable commercial real estate management business remaining. It sure could be argued that the developer will have a very large and profitable commercial business remaining, even after he finishes building and selling houses.

An elected resident body, the new Amenity Authority Committee, which will be formed as the result of the proposed settlement of the lawsuit, will be most influential in governing our recreational facilities and programs. Will they have the same power as the owner of the facilities? Probably not. But if the proposed settlement is approved by the court, the role of residents in governing recreations facilities and programs will be significnatly increased.

[Hope2b]

ust keep the POA out of it