To the Editor:
I am pretty certain that anyone who lives in or travels through The Villages is well aware of what these “security gates” really are, nothing more than lipstick on a pig.
Lets look at the reality of the situation. Just this morning an ambulance with lights and sirens was impeded from entering “The Villages,” at a two lane “manned” gate, due to traffic being backed up. Now, part of this is the fact that seemingly drivers in The Villages are not bright enough to get out of the way and “curb right,” but also the fact that the gates were going up and down and the attendant was waving his hands like a fool for vehicles to move.
Another reality is that these are all PUBLIC roads, owned and maintained by three individual counties (Sumter, Lake and Marion in a small geographic area). This is where the question come to – “What right does The Villages and or their staff have to stop me and my Constitutional right to Free Travel and impede my access to any public, taxpayer funded road?” The gates are a laughingstock and do not stop ANYONE from entering The Villages, and the public roads therein. Everyone knows that worst case scenario you simply press a red button and the gate goes up.
Then, we have the people who say that it is because of the “security cameras.” Well, seems to me that the tollway and red-light cameras can capture very good images at over 100 mph of not only a car, but, also its license plate, driver and any other physical aspect of a vehicle in motion. The camera argument lost its standing before it even started based on the reality of the capability of the current video systems.
If you would like to see a “real” gated community there are many in the area. Del Webb, On Top of the World and others. In these communities every vehicle is checked, every guest is checked in – but more so, the roads in those communities are simply not public roads, and not maintained by the tax base.
Now, a story about “Upgraded” cameras with license plate information integration? Supposedly to save Lady Lake police time? Well, the issues with that are many. Currently, according to the story on this website; “Recovery time, if someone goes missing, will definitely go down. A computer can do in seconds, what people will take hours to do.” Sure, that is if some ONE goes missing, not some THING. It also is dependent on the person being in a car (not a cart) and knowing the license plate number. If there is crime, simply the plates are of no help as they first need a suspect car description and plate number for anything to go any faster. Plus, who is giving The Villages the right to not only take images of our license plates, but also have the ability to know who the plate belongs to?
Simply, the gates are wasting everyone’s time. Thinking they provide any security is akin to planning to retire on your eventual lottery winnings. They have damaged cars. They have injured people. They have impeded travel. They should all be either taken out, or The Villages should buy the roads and become a “gated community.”
Wayne Borell
Oxford
