Carl, I appreciate your critical eye, BUT, do you ever look positively on any thing occuring at Casa Ybel since you left the Board.

I've been at Casa Ybel during week 17 every year since 1980 and I think the changes made there are all positive.

Our beach interface has never looked better, if you don't agree, look at old photos and compare the coverage of sea oates, sea grapes, etc. The lawn in front of Thistle Lodge is beautiful, the best that I have ever seen. If the beach view is blocked, move over 2 feet right or left and see if it doesn't improve.

As for the brown lawn, your weeks are at the end of the dry season. When its dry, lawns are not the best whether it be in Kansas or Florida.

Casa Ybel is a beautiful resort, probably the best on Sanibel. We have very competent management, Chris and Christine are doing a great job. I for, one am thankful that we have Casa Ybel Resort, managed by JR and assisted by Amy to book weddings, maintain the resort property and keep Thistle Lodge open as a first class restaurant that we can be proud to patronize. I can remember too many years when it struggled, the building became "run down" and the owners, included myself didn't want to eat there.

Be thankful for what we have!!! I belonged to the Flint Hills Boosters 4-H club in Howard, Kansas for many years when I was in grade school and high school. Our motto was, "we're not the best, but we are as good as the best and better than the rest".

Viva Casa Ybel!!!

Lynn Perkins

Lynn, glad you're back. I'm still interested in what the "increased security" you alluded to previously will entail.

Lynn,

Why bother - You will never please the likes of Carl and Bob.

Complain, complain, complain....and when that doesn't work, complain some more.

I have never been less than 100% satisfied during my weeks at Casa Ybel, including the year following the hurricane. I was the first week back (21) following the lengthly rebuilding. Granted there were some rough edges, but my God, nearly the entire state was affected. South Seas Plantation did not reopen for another year!

As for the boulders, second TV's, interlopers, Mr. Jackson, the Board, landscaping, Hilton (need I continue) keep doing what you are doing. There are 100's of satisfied owners like me.

Take from this blog what it is worth, mindless entertainment.

It’s a bit difficult to tell where you are coming from, David. I assume you meant “George”, not “Bob”, since your note was appended to my post. If you are saying that this forum should not discuss issues that need to be corrected, I disagree. It sounds as though you only want to discuss “happy” things, and, thus, this forum will degenerate into a self-congratulatory Mutual Admiration Society message board. Well, that’s not my vision. I think that we should air “complaints”, as long as they are reasonably substantive and presented in a reasonably constructive manner. That’s how we get a sense of what’s happening, and issues are reinforced, corroborated, or refuted. It’s especially important, in my view, when we have board or management participation (e.g., Lynn Perkins). When I opened the “interloper” issue in January 2009, there was considerable discussion, including two cents from you. This served to apprise the board of the seriousness of the issue and prompted board action. In this forum, we are, of course, going to get the occasional air-headed contributions from the likes of Turtle Soup, and flippant, though not entirely unconstructive, comments such as you provide.

Now, if you look at what I posted to Lynn a few months ago, you would see that, at Lynn’s invitation (“I want you to know that I am always open to receive your suggestions, complaints and comments.”), I commented that the actions approved by the board and, in fact, outlined to me by Chris Cain, were not in evidence during week 52, as promised. When I went on my crusade nearly 2 years ago, all board members were supportive (including Lynn) and, in fact, approved corrective measures. My point recently is that none of the promised actions actually were implemented. Don’t you think that the board members (e.g. Lynn) should know that? My issue is with the resort management. And, I don’t just complain; I offer suggestions and try to marshal some kind of action.

Lynn volunteered, via his July 13 posting, that the board had approved extra security. I have asked Lynn 4 times since, both in this forum and in a separate email, to describe what this security will consist of. I am still awaiting an answer.

We all have our hot buttons, and the interloper issue is mine (people who complain seems to be yours). This issue is the only one I have “complained” about in the 5 years or so that I have participated in this message board. I am dismayed that the resort, and, by extension, we owners, are being played for fools. It’s not just me; check out some of the postings over the past year and a half; others notice this. Is this an acceptable situation? Don’t you think our resort management should be dealing with it, especially after the governing board approved actions? I believe that protecting our security and preserving the exclusivity of the resort should be near the top of management’s responsibilities.

There is much to appreciate about Casa Ybel, but you seem to think nothing can be improved and we should just be happy. Garbage.

As I look back at your postings, I noticed that you provided solutions, in your usual flippant way, to this problem last January, so you (at that point) felt the problem needed to be addressed. I actually liked your solutions, since they were the same as some of mine (I offered many to the board members and Chris Cain), but management is loathe to even touch the towing issue. As for signs, I again disagree with you. Nowhere on Casa Ybel property is there signage saying that non-owners/guests cannot use the resort parking lot. There absolutely should be, and in strong language.

It appears we are largely of the same thinking, so your reproach of my pursuit for a solution to the interloper problem is mystifying.

I was wondering who that new contributor Appleburg
really was, until I realized from the content it
really must be me.
Kidding aside, Thanks for your interest in our Forum, I feel it will be a refreshing touch for all of us to hear from the Board what our Board is doing on a shorter time delay than reading Board meetings after the fact (annual meeting) mail.
I also wish we could stay on one item at the time and reach some decisions on subjects that owners are still waiting to hear from about the final rulings.
At this time I will only bring 1 item up, since you mentioned it in your insert, that I feel never was explained to our satisfaction.
During my July stay I met many guests asking why we still had the "Berlin Rock Wall" shaped as large rock boulders dividing access and blocking our original path from building H by Thistle Lodge after 30 years of pleasant use, mostly from H and also IJK units.
It used to be a short cut and direct path to the pool since the present Casa Ybel was built.
It was suddenly blocked. Was the board approached about this construction? Did it have anything to do with interference by owners walking to the pool during the wedding program that took place there?
Recently a new row of large bushes (Sea Grapes) have been planted in a row at the continuation of the Berlin Wall all the way towards the beach. It has further created a new separation for us from Thistle Lodge.
Our property line is in the center, did the board ever receive an application for approval to have this new separation planting started?
From the looks of it, Building H and it's depressed lawn are now fully separated from Thistle Lodge and it's super Hi grade lawn for wedding parties only.
There is no comparison between our neglected H lawn and the new party lawn now separated with the row of large bushes. And they will grow tall and dense.
And to answer the lawn condition question:
June, July, and August are the months of the rainy season, if anything the lawn had too much water.
Lee county was blessed with more rain than before.
The reason for the poor condition of the H lawn is
due to the new Hi grade lawn in front of Thistle lodge being off limits to the tractor trailers hauling chairs for rent back and forth to the beach morning and night. Truck traffic was observed using the IJK entrance to beach and back, with chairs tearing up the H lawn.
I heard from the pool bar that an elaborated new cement surface was to be built around the pool, and since FGHIJK are the main users I am wondering if our boards have any say in the cost etc, cost that we sooner or later will have to pay as the main users?

David - I was at Casa Y'bel during that first week 21 after the storms. I don't remember seeing you, but then I don't know what you look like. What do you look like?

Hard to miss....

About 6'2", blond hair, tanned skin. I was lifting alot back then, so I have lost some muscle since, but I am still playing rugby and running marathons.

Wow! Quite a specimen. And so unassuming, to boot.

I doubt I would need a physical description; I think I would recognize him after 3 ½ minutes of conversation.

George,

I'm sure it won't be hard to spot you - the one taking down license tags in the parking lot. I'll be on the beach worrying about sun block.

I'll be doing more than taking down license numbers.

I'll also be 4 months ahead of you.

Now you see why we need a private site

j. ball is right. Bickering online for anyone and everyone to see is a poor representation of Casa Ybel and those of us who participate in this forum (the reason I prefer to remain anonymous). Make this forum private for owners only and insult one another without having to sacrifice our own week resales and rentals to poor perception.

I cannot see any purpose in anonymous contributions, unless you have something to hide. I don't mind readers knowing who I am.

Regarding making this forum private, I have been advocating this for ages, and it can be done very simply. When the site was passworded a while ago, it was too complicated, and this made it too much of a chore to log on. All we need is something simple, so that casual surfers and non members don't just stumble accross our forum. We can just be given a word (in the same way that the Casa Y'bel Resort site does) that we owners will know, but others will not. That way, we can keep our discussions amongst ourselves, without any inhibitions, and it would still be easy for us to log on.

I agree with Paul. We should have a system as simple as that used for accessing our credit card statements, or bank statements. Also, I think anonymity should be discouraged, if not prohibited.