I’ve read many of the Letters to the Editor in support of keeping the gates and the gate attendants here in The Villages. Most of them relate the friendliness of the attendants and seeing their smiling faces, and the safety and security they provide, etc. etc.
For me I’m not sure it’s worth the cost but, if we are going to keep the gates and gate attendants then we should get better service for the expense. My wife and I often fly back and forth to our home here in The Villages. We often arrive late in the evening most times after 11 or 12 p.m. and drive a rental car from the airport. Because we are in a rental I don’t have my gate card with me and we usually enter at the southernmost gate on Meggison Road. To my surprise when we get to that gate the person in the booth has never once gotten out of their chair to inquire where we are going at that time of night, they just push the button that opens the gate and we drive in. My point is that we pay a lot of money for very little service. I don’t want the attendants to be put in any danger but would suggest they at least ask visitors without gate passes where they are going and if they need directions. Otherwise they actually could be replaced by a sign and an arrow pointing to another red button.
My wife and I live in an area without an attendant so the red button is well known and used by people entering that don’t have gate passes. If someone pushed the red button it could be set to ring an attendant at the nearest manned gate houses to just ask the question, “Where are you going?”, they then could raise the gate to allow the person entry. My point is, I actually like having the gates and the attendants, I agree they do slow traffic down, but don’t think we can justify the expense for the service they are currently providing.
Mike Sirianni is a resident of the Village of St. Johns.