Residents spoke out Wednesday before the Amenity Authority Committee on its budgeted intent to pour more “ink on paper” in the Recreation News.
“The money is wasted as far as my friends and the residents I talk to are concerned. Residents don’t read Recreation News, at least in my area,” said Andrew Aschmann of the Village of Santo Domingo.
He is among those objecting to the $14,000 weekly press run for the Recreation News, which is distributed on Thursday to those who purchase a home delivery copy of the The Villages Daily Sun. Recreation News, with other production expense, costs residents about $800,000 per year.
“Please look at this funding. Explore all options. If somebody wants it, they can pay for it,” Aschmann said.
Community Development District 2 Chairman Bryan Lifsey reiterated the same message he delivered June 1 to the Project Wide Advisory Committee, the AAC’s amenity oversight partner to the south.
Lifsey again pointed to the 2017 “ambush” in which a 74 percent increase in the cost of Recreation News was foisted on residents. He has ridiculed the “ink on paper” approach to Recreation News, comparing it to the days of Johannes Gutenberg who invented the printing press in 1439.
Lifsey called for a technology solution that would make Recreation News less expensive and more in step with Villagers who prefer to get information on their smart phones.
Last week, Community Development District 9 Supervisor Don “Smoke” Hickman suggested the frequency of Recreation News could be reduced from weekly to monthly. It was a sentiment echoed by Community Development District 8 Chairman Duane Johnson.
With the end of the recycling program in The Villages, the thousands of weekly copies of Recreation News will be burned after they are discarded.