PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Residents living at and visitors coming to the 55-and-over Century Village community in Pembroke Pines are still dealing with major backups to enter the community after it introduced new security procedures.
Local 10 News first reported on the long waits on Friday. Residents and visitors report being stuck in line for anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours.
The delays began when security staff began implementing new identification check after old or fake IDs were being used by people to gain access, which sometimes led to crime in the neighborhood.
But the result of the tightened security is now a traffic nightmare.
“This is a bigger problem than the problem,” resident Irving Treusch said.
A nurse told Local 10 News it’s affected residents’ ability to get timely care.
“By the time I get in (to) my next appointment I have to leave right back out,” she said. “This is so this is ridiculous. They need to do something about this.”
Treusch said, “My wife has an illness, she needed physical therapy yesterday. The physical therapist couldn’t wait in that line. She has eight or 10 other people that she has to work on for that day so now my wife didn’t get physical therapy and she won’t get it until this ends.”
Jan Warmund, whose mother lives in Century Village, said her mother was left soiled for three hours waiting for a home health aide to arrive.
“The whole time that I’m waiting for them to get there is the longest wait for me of my life,” Warmund said.
Treusch and others believe the system is outdated.
“It’s the system,” Treusch said. “It doesn’t take a Rhodes scholar to figure out that’s the problem.”
Answers from those in charge are hard to come by.
“I have called the head of security and it doesn’t matter what he says to do,” Warmund said. “The people that work there are not listening, so it doesn’t matter.”
Treusch said, “Go try and talk to somebody in that office. They’re just employees. They’re never gonna get you to the top guy.”
Treusch called on Century Village’s founding family to step in.
“If the Levy family wants to ignore the fact that there is a solution to it, then shame on them,” he said.
A representative from Century Village told Local 10 News “no comment” in a phone call Wednesday, then hung up after being asked a follow-up question.