A crew took down the “Berlin Wall” at 5 p.m. Friday on the Historic Side of The Villages.
As when the famed Cold War barrier came down in 1989, there were cheers and drinking.
And like that triumphant day, those who suffered harvested souvenirs.
Villager Kent Williams protested the initial installation of the wall on Monday and then celebrated with a souvenir from the wall Friday evening.
Lady Lake Mayor Jim Richards, who watched the dismantling, said the matter will still be up for discussion at 6 p.m. Monday when the Lady Lake Commission meets at town hall.
“There are still some questions that need to be answered,” he said.
He said it was the Village Center District that set in motion Friday’s removal of the wall.
Watch a video of the wall’s removal at the link below:
http://villages-news.com/the-wall-comes-down-on-historic-side-of-the-villages/
District Administrator Janet Tutt did not return a call seeking comment.
Anne and Jim Winn of the Village of Winifred were visiting the site of the wall shortly before it was dismantled.
“We don’t live here, but we had to come see for ourselves,” Anne Winn said while sitting in the golf cart with her husband. “We feel really bad for these people.”
However, Dottie Nichols of Rio Grande Villas, also visiting the wall site prior to the dismantling, said the wall should be preserved.
“Save the wall. Save the wall,” she chanted. “The Villages should be Villages-only.”
The documentation indicates that the concern 15 years ago was residents’ ability to reach medical facilities.
“This morning in our research we found that back in 1998 a resolution (see attached) was approved to vacate lot 3422 so that it may be used as a thoroughfare for golf carts pursuant to a site plan approved by the Town Commission (we have also located the 1998 site plan and it shows the concrete golf cart path with signage),” Town Manager Kris Kollgaard wrote earlier this week in an email to Mayor Richards and town commissioners.
And Kollgaard indicated that a construction company attempted to file a demolition permit with the town to tear down the wall.
“A few minutes ago an application for a Demolition permit to prepare the site for a new single family residence was brought in from Murrays construction for this lot (1157 Paradise Dr),” Kollgaard wrote in the email.
“I gave the permit back to them and advised that there will be discussion at Monday’s meeting regarding this lot and that they were welcome to attend the meeting,” she said in the email.
Janet Tutt Blames Social Media
Tutt on Thursday blamed social media for the controversy which erupted around the wall.
She said social media has spread misinformation about why the wall was erected.
She said the wall was erected due to “a situation with liability on property and security.”
She also said that she and VHA President Bill Gottschalk came up with the compromise solution of installing a gate at the site and that together and on their own initiative they approached the developer.
That compromise solution will be the subject of a special Amenity Authority Committee meeting next Thursday.
She took issue with the “rumor and misinformation” that the developer had approached she and Gottschalk with the plan for a gate.
“I manage the district,” she said.
Opponents of the new barrier had been circulating petitions to bring down the “Berlin Wall.”
You can see an online version of the petition at the link below:
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-villages-developer-tear-down-the-wall
Fresh pink paint covered the wall Tuesday morning after it was defaced with spray paint some time earlier. The phrase “Take Down This Wall” had been painted on the wall.
The phase made famous by President Ronald Reagan during the Cold War has become the rallying cry for residents who feel they are wrongly being denied access to stores in the area including Wal-Mart, which is not on Villages’ property.
Community Watch was seen closely patrolling the area around the new barricade.
Meanwhile, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office launched an “education effort” Tuesday to warn golf cart drivers on a renegade route across the grass along U.S. Hwy. 27/441.
You can read more about that at the link below:
http://villages-news.com/deputies-warning-golf-carts-on-renegade-route-bypassing-berlin-wall/
“We have a lot of old people who depend on their golf carts to get to their doctors’ offices,” said Villager Judy Ventura as she eyed the pink wall from her golf cart this morning. “This is unAmerican.”
She added that many of the older Historic Side residents got rid of their automobiles and rely entirely on their golf carts.
Villager Chris Bryant signed the petition which had been championed by the Property Owners Association.
“This is wrong. So wrong,” Bryant said.
Villages Vice President for Development Gary Moyer appeared before the Fruitland Park City Commission on Aug. 12, trying to woo city leaders into a relationship. The possiblity of this potential new courtship was playing out against the ‘Berlin Wall’ saga enraging The Villages’ original community members.
Fruitland Park leaders are weighing the pros and cons of allowing The Villages into their city boundaries.
Read a report from that meeting:
http://villages-news.com/villages-wants-to-move-ridiculously-fast-on-466a-property-purchase/
Protesters chanting “Take Down The Wall!” gathered Monday morning in Spanish Springs Town Square.
You can see a video from that protest at the link below:
http://villages-news.com/take-down-the-wall-protest-in-spanish-springs/
