The Villages, Florida resident Wayne Bentley is deeply concerned that the corporate interests who manage the vast retirement community are selling out to corporate interests, Bentley writes in a letter to the editor of Villages-News.com titled “The Villages management has lost its way.”

“The Villages site plan for reserved parking for those living in the new apartments on Spanish Springs Town Square, even more questions are raised than answered about the future of The Villages original town square. Besides the closure of Katie Belle’s for the planned apartments and supposed renovation of the Rialto Theater, what else lies ahead?” asks Bentley, adding “Villages management is forgetting about what drew so many to The Villages in the first place, that sense of community and the friendships and camaraderie created by that community. The Villages management has lost its way, lost sight of its beginnings, instead, it now focuses more on the almighty dollar. They need to look back and rekindle the vision of its founder.”

Note the use of “management” and not something like “our city council” because there is none in the Villages, which is not a Democracy at the local level but a semi-sovereign corporate fiefdom, governed by a covenant remarkably similar to that of nearby-ish Disney World which has come to the fore recently with Ron DeSantis’s crusade against the entertainment giant. So basically instead of a concerned voter taking issue with elected leaders, Wayne Bentley is more like a hipster complaining that his favorite brand sold out and is no longer as “authentic” as it once was to him. LOL.