Did you happen to catch the story about The Villages on NPR last night? If not, the audio is embedded below for you.
I enjoy just about any story that highlights the things that are unique and interesting about The Villages. This story does have some inaccurate facts and statements, but it seems that is nothing new with most reporting these days.
Here’s a link to the story on NPR’s website. Like I mentioned in my comment on the story, there are good things and bad things about living in TV. Is The Villages perfect? Not by a long shot. But ultimately thousands of retirees every year (even in a bum real estate market) decide its good enough for them.
I’m interested to hear what you thought of the story, either as a prospective Villager or someone living there now. Leave a comment below.
I thought the NPR story about the Villages was right on the money. We visited there last year and fell in love with Villages. As far as the Villages not having children running around, isn’t that one of the reasons we want to live there. The children can always visit. I can’t wait to actually spend a week there so I can really decide if it is for us on a full time basis.
Remember that NPR has a blatantly liberal bias, so it has no love for communities (The Villages or otherwise) with strong GOP support. The article itself was OK; the comments were for the most part absolutely sickening, written by people who have absolutely no intention of moving to The Villages but wanting to criticize those who don’t see things their way. I recently ordered The Villages video and will be ordering the book featured on this website shortly.
The Villages is such a great thing, please don’t let the whiny liberals who live miserable lives ruin it before I get there! These do-gooder’s will try to change the age laws and let children in on a permanent basis. After 55 years of life a lot of us have had our fill of children, even though we love our grandchildren on a limited basis. I could go on and on……
Me and my wife visted the Villages five times we both love itand hope to move there.Its a great place to live.
Mark and Derek,
Did your even READ or listen to the NPR story?
As the owner of this website states, there were a couple of inaccuracies: 1. They state at least one person per household must be 55. This is false. The laws that govern 55 and over communities must allow at least 20% of under 55s to buy – in The Villages many of these are our retired military. 2. They say kids under 19 can’t stay more than 3 weeks. Actually they can’t stay more than 30 days per year. 3. In the photo they refer to Lake Sumter Landing as “Old Towne” or something like that.
They said nothing of a “liberal” nature. The comments about kids came from Andrew Blechman (sp?) – the author of the infamous “Leisureville. They also interviewed many Villagers – to balance out the story – and wanted to interview Mr. Morse – who declined. The Morse family does own the TV station, the newspaper and many of the commercial properties. If they wanted to slant the story they could have mentioned the visits by many right-wing radio hosts and politicians, but they didn’t. That may be the style of MSNBC (ugh) – but not for NPR. A good friend of ours here is a soon-to-be-retired Army Colonel – and far to the right of my moderate/fiscal conservative views. He LOVED the article and had passed it along to many friends.
I agree with Kathy – one reason I moved here was to live my life – away from other peoples’ children, heavy traffic, cold weather etc etc etc on a daily basis. Ok – off my soapbox now.
Some of the comments are really distracting – not sure what all the “liberal bashing” is about, but it seems like any opportunity is taken anymore to do so. I happen to be proudly ultra liberal and I find The Villages to be very charming. As with most places, there is good and bad, but if my neighbors are going to have such judgemental attitudes as displayed in some of these articles, I’d have to think twice before moving there. The whole point of being in a free country is to be able to think and believe freely. The older I get, the more liberal I become, and the more open to hearing other perspectives. Let’s stop the bashing – some of my best friends are conservatives!!!
As future villagers, my husband and I are thoroughly researching everything TV so there will be no (or fewer) surprises. I did hear a couple of minor NPR inaccuracies not worth mentioning and was not offended by what the speaker said. We figure so many people can’t be faking happiness and contentment. We look forward to starting a new chapter in our lives at The Villages.
hi all. new to the villages and want to say as a whole very nice well designed. coming from lots of snow, this is heaven. Made the mistake however of attempting to see movie on a friday night in sumnter landing. Changed ticket to sat. afternoon. Would love to have parents of the teenagers secretly hang out and watch and listen to the language and behavior of some of their loved ones. At the very least where are the security people to control these kids mouths and behavior towards each other, while decent kids and us older folks are there to enjoy ourselves as well ? Not blinded to life at all, just feel they should be held accountable. very dissapointed and sure if posted in certain circles this comment would never see the light of day. Too bad that a few bad apples have to spoil the whole bunch. facebook mentality should stay at home and seniors should be able to go out and enjoy the respect they deserve. Tainted slightly but still believe in the dream. Good night and good luck.. Jeff