We have lived here at the same address for almost five years and loved all of our neighbors, at first. As soon as you have a pool put in, there will be someone who has issues with it. We have a neighbor to the north of us who didn’t like the choice of retaining wall, so he filed a complaint and was told that we were compliant. Then he kept filing for anything that he could think of, adding some untruths as well, to try and cause trouble for us. We were still compliant with everything. They must be expecting retaliation because they have put cameras all the way at the back yard by the wall, and all along the side between our two houses. We have never done anything to them. Needless to say, we are no longer friends, even though we live next door to them. I considered the woman one of my best friends, and I miss her. I asked her in the beginning if she thought that her husband was the one filing those complaints and she angrily, emphatically exclaimed that he would NEVER do that! Well, hello no more anonymous filing of complaints. He kept filing and then The Villages changed the rules and we found out exactly who it was, and I was right. I did not even get an apology from her and did not expect one from him. I feel like we are kind and helpful to everyone. My life partner even bought his own AED for $1,400 so that in the event someone needs it while he is teaching pickleball or whatever, he will have it. The pads cost $100 a set and are not re-usable. He has already saved a man’s life, and they are so grateful.

Round Two: One of the neighbors on the other side of us doesn’t like music. I know, right… The Universal Language. But her husband likes it a lot and loud. We’ve been to Hard Rock Tampa many times with him for concerts and had the best time. She would never go because, well you already know. Anyway, she has asked repeatedly for us to turn our music down whenever she is here (they vacation a lot) so I turned it down the first two times she asked. Then the third time I just turned it off because it was already low and I could hear the traffic noise, dogs barking, lawn mowers, people talking, even those neighbors talking (he’s Italian and she has to talk over him. Her words, not mine.) The fourth time she asked me to turn it down I said. “No, it’s already low and I can hear all the other outside noises.” She said “Well, I can’t and you’re a terrible neighbor.” I had come outside to do some yard work, because I had been so sad that I felt lucky to just get out of bed and get dressed. I had recently lost my mother unexpectedly, and we were very close. She already knew that my emotional state was fragile due to my son having Stage 4 PMP cancer, but it didn’t matter to her. After that, she called the police on us for a noise complaint twice within two weeks. She was told both times by Wildwood police that it wasn’t too loud. Human speech is about 70 db. We keep our music at about 50 db. She was so angry about being told that it wasn’t too loud, so she filed six complaints against us with Community Standards about weeds (there were a few), dead grass, (which Mike G, the person who brought the complaints to us said it was everywhere due to no rain), lawn ornaments (we had two which we thought were allowed), and then our backyard landscaping she said was too close to the wall and she said our bird cage was too large and it has flashing lights (night time party lights which are on sometimes for about an hour and very seldom in the flash mode) but were already approved. Now, they have put cameras up facing our yard, front and back. Why is The Villages allowing us to be picked on and harassed by disgruntled neighbors? Mike G and other Community Standards people have told us that they don’t look at anything people do in their yards unless someone files a complaint. Even though there may be numerous neighbors with the same things going on in their yards, NOTHING is done about it by The Villages Community Standards unless someone files a complaint. That is Selective Sanctioning, and it is against the law in Florida. How is it that The Villages Community Standards is allowing this to happen without having a lot of lawsuits filed against them? To me, The Villages allowing bullying, harassment, and causing major stress has been the worst thing that I have experienced about living here, and people need to know about it.

Debbie Gammon is a resident of the Village of DeLuna.