Community Development District 3 Supervisor Bill Ray now carries a trash bag with him on his daily one-hour walk in The Villages.
His recent treks have netted more than 150 glass bottles and aluminum cans, food wrappers, Styrofoam containers, 250 cigarette butts and even a cast iron skillet. Ray has been performing his regular trash pickup in CDD 3, which includes the Villages of Belle Aire, Glenbrook, Polo Ridge and Summerhill. He said he is finding a lot of discarded trash near Savannah Center, at the postal stations and at pools, particularly the Summerhill pool.
“It’s sad. But these cans and bottles and stuff are obviously being thrown from golf carts into the shrubbery,” Ray said during a report to his fellow CDD 3 supervisors at Friday’s monthly meeting at Savannah Center.
“I think it makes sense to keep our district clean,” Ray said.
Director of District Property Management Mike Harris conceded that there is a problem with discarded trash in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
“There is a steady stream of trash being thrown out of golf carts all over The Villages,” Harris said. “I see it all the time. Especially, the bottles and cans.”
Landscapers are supposed to incorporate trash and debris pickup into their regular routines. They are cutting grass once a week in the height of summer, so several days can go by before the landscapers return to a certain area.
Supervisor Gail Lazenby suggested encouraging the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office to start handing out citations to litterers.
“Aesthetics are everything here. That’s why we pay as much as we do,” Lazenby said.