Leisureville (33 page)

Rich Lambrecht of CDD 4 and Joe Gorman of the Property Owners Association continue their relentless pursuit of fairness and equity for all Villagers. Lately they've had some successes. Rich got The Villages to pay the lion's share for fixing the sinkhole on the Nancy Lopez golf course, and to assume a liability for eighteen other retention ponds. Rich was much relieved: “With two or three sinkholes a year we had a big issue on our hands,” he said.

Joe's relentless crusade for fair representation led to another concession by Morse: The Villages agreed to let residents in the older
of the two central districts vote on whether they want to elect representatives to the central district government or leave it in Morse's hands. However, most of the big decisions have already been made in this central district, and so far there are no plans for a similar emancipation of the newer Sumter Landing central district.

The nonbinding resolution passed narrowly, but its future remains uncertain. Democracy is messy, and many Villagers prefer the convenience of government by contract. Concern over outsiders using The Villages' pools seems to get more attention from residents, particularly after one Villager's wallet was stolen. Other Villagers have complained about contractors who use clubhouse bathrooms, and about the increasing number of children who arrive without guest passes.

Villagers may be able to exclude young families and the poor, but Mother Nature still plays by her own rules, sometimes to frightening effect. In February, a powerful tornado came through central Florida and hopped across newer construction in the Sumter County area of The Villages. Hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed, a country club near the Andersons' is no more, and an untold number of golf carts were tossed around like discarded Jolly Ranchers. Although neighboring communities reported more than a dozen fatalities, there were none in The Villages.

Although many of my friends were shaken by the tragedy, life in The Villages hardly skipped a beat. The deadly tornado interfered with plans for a chili cook-off the next day; but as Sassy reported, somewhat surprised, Spanish Springs was still filled with suntanned seniors happily strolling about as if the tornado had never happened. And the severe weather did little to dampen Mr. Midnight's lusty enthusiasm.

“We escaped with no damage,” he wrote to me a day later. “We have plenty of food and water. Please send Viagra.”

I'
D LIKE TO THANK THE MANY RESIDENTS OF
T
HE
V
ILLAGES WHO
let me tag along with them for days (and nights) at a time. I'd particularly like to thank my former neighbors for opening their lives to me, as well as their home. This book would never have come to fruition without their help and generosity. I'd also like to thank Erin Cox, formerly of
The Orlando Sentinel
for acting as my initial Villages tour guide and sounding board, and
The Orlando Sentinel
as a whole for their brilliant investigative work on Chapter 190, The Villages, and Gary Morse. Central Florida should consider itself fortunate to have journalists of this caliber. I'd like to thank the following people for kindly enduring hours of seemingly endless questions: Joe Gorman, Rich Lambrecht, Jim Roberts, Dan Connelly, Mark Fooks, and Edson Allen.

There were a number of people who were instrumental in the writing of this book. I'd like to thank my keen editor, the ever-dapper Jamison Stolz, Morgan Entrekin, Catherine Drayton, Sid Plotkin, Dr. Gerald Lucas, JHK, my wonderful parents, and of course, Erika and Lillie.

Lastly, I'd like to thank my hometown for being a real community by nurturing its elders and youngsters, demanding participation, and holding fast against the forces of mindless sprawl and other community-destroying trends. May we continue to live in generational harmony for years to come.

For more information regarding the subjects I write about, I highly recommend the following books:
Fortress America
by Edward J. Blakely;
Prime Time
by Marc Freedman;
Geography of Nowhere
by James Howard Kunstler;
Suburban Nation
by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck;
Privatopia
by Evan McKenzie; and
I'll Be Short
by Robert B. Reich. There are some groups out there working to promote social reengagement—civicventures.org is one of them. For more information regarding
Leisureville
, please visit
www.andrewblechman.com
.