To the Editor:
I was considering being a future resident of The Villages, but after following the news in The Villages after the unfortunate “White Power” event made national headlines, I can’t see myself retiring here. Please do not get me wrong, I love to live in a community filled with different types of opinions and people. I do believe it is unfortunate that The Villages was thrust into the national spotlight from a video of what one resident said and the president for whatever reason felt inclined to re-tweet it.
However, what I have come to realize is that The Villages suffers from what most people aspire not to deal with in their golden years. Things like disputes over little things that should have been handled neighbor to neighbor, greedy developers corrupting community politics, regular petty crimes, and add that I have not seen anything yet where the community as a whole is expressing empathy towards other Villagers who have lost their lives during this once in a century pandemic?
I apologize if this is not the case, but from the outside looking in, this is what I see and is not what I would have signed up for. In defense of The Villages, it would be hard these days to find a utopian retirement community in the USA, but one thing is for sure, The Villages is no longer America’s friendliest retirement community.
Robert Smith
Former Future Resident
