OK Just Moved to Naples/FtMyers area-Here is a "Virgin" Impression (Cape Coral: insurance, condos)

[tommy-105]

Originally Posted by kroeran

my take on gated is that it is a meaningful enough barrier to keep out the brainless riff raff that might engage in petty crimes of opportunity or vandalism.

Any criminal with a couple of brain cells to rub together can overcome the barrier or figure out how to sneak in, but once they have a couple of said brain cells, they are smart enough to figure out that the risk reward ratio is not good for theft, rape and pillage in most gated communities.

There has to date never been a crime of any importance in my gated community. Personally, I would not do Florida (or most of America) without a gate.

Do you think that a lot of other Canadians feel this way as well? Are we that barbaric down here? (Just asking. It seems like a very strong statement.)

[Ruby24]

Originally Posted by tommy-105

Do you think that a lot of other Canadians feel this way as well? Are we that barbaric down here? (Just asking. It seems like a very strong statement.)

Well, if they read this forum they might think so.

[Florida Paradise]

We just bought a town home off of Cypress Lakes near Winkler. As we are not permanent residents down there... (from Pittsburgh) and are not quite near "snowbirds" (we are in our late 30's) we still plan on staying about 5 weeks per year there. I can say that we just love South/mid Ft. Myers. We have spent many a dollar in the local stores: Home Depot/Lowes/American Signature/some Thrift shops/etc... When we were down there just a few weeks ago, we saw quite a few people in these stores. There was actually a line at the Lowes. I hope it is good sign. I know I feel very blessed to be a part of such a lovely town and although I know there are issues (I read up on crime, chester molesters, unemployment and politics, I hope things turn around for the perma residents, so that everyone in SW FL can enjoy not only the weather, but thier economic status.

[Ruby24]

Originally Posted by Florida Paradise

We just bought a town home off of Cypress Lakes near Winkler. As we are not permanent residents down there... (from Pittsburgh) and are not quite near "snowbirds" (we are in our late 30's) we still plan on staying about 5 weeks per year there. I can say that we just love South/mid Ft. Myers. We have spent many a dollar in the local stores: Home Depot/Lowes/American Signature/some Thrift shops/etc... When we were down there just a few weeks ago, we saw quite a few people in these stores. There was actually a line at the Lowes. I hope it is good sign. I know I feel very blessed to be a part of such a lovely town and although I know there are issues (I read up on crime, chester molesters, unemployment and politics, I hope things turn around for the perma residents, so that everyone in SW FL can enjoy not only the weather, but thier economic status.

Welcome and best of luck to you.

I am on the Cape, but like Ft myers as the landscaping is more mature and nicer. What kept out of the Ft myers area was the traffic and all the lights.

[kroeran]

Originally Posted by tommy-105

Do you think that a lot of other Canadians feel this way as well? Are we that barbaric down here? (Just asking. It seems like a very strong statement.)

don't take that statement the wrong way...I don't go for American bashing, which is commonplace and mainstream in Canada, and is based on cultural insecurity and envy.

Personally, I prefer the States to Canada and I prefer the company of Americans to Canadians.

Part of the statement comes from the basic rule of having to be overcautious in a strange land. For example, 30 minutes from my door you are starting to get into fairly rugged wilderness.

An american moving up there on the edge of town from a large southern city could get themselves into serious trouble with weather, driving conditions, wildlife, going out on ice, and so on, and would need to be overcautious.

Similarly, Canadians are naive and unskilled in certain respects. I live in a city of 2 million, and we maybe have half a dozen murders in a year. You could drop a 13 year old girl in any of the worst neighbourhoods in the middle of the night, and she would be very likely to make it home within the hour.

We don't have the wealth, and we don't have the underclass, which is one of the results of a more socialized system, but as well we don't have the same history regarding slavery and we don't share a border with a much poorer country.

We also have more oil and electricity than we need, which we sell to you, and we have been freeloading off of the American security umbrella, until very recently, all of which pays for healthcare and other social programs.

As a general rule, I don't understand why all neighbourhoods are not gated.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by kroeran

As a general rule, I don't understand why all neighbourhoods are not gated.

Yes. Well, as you know, America is a huge country, as is Canada, of course. You haven't seen most of it. Neither have I.

What I have seen is my native Massachusetts. Very few gates, and none where I lived. Beautiful area and very little crime. I am positive of this. I got the stats every week for 10 years so I could report it to my neighbors.

Of course, Orlando was a shock, although I liked it very much. I lived there for almost two years. I didn't live behind gates. I survived.

Lived in Fort Myers, Bonita Springs and Estero. Lots and lot of gates there. I found it to be very humorous, all those instant towns with the pseudo-exclusiveness. Lots of people that were trying to hard to shake their roots and impress their neighbors and they played right into the hands of the developers. There was this frenzied hysteria to buy before Millie and Harold got it first. Goodness. They still had the velvet Elvis in storage.

Now I'm up in Tennessee where the guy in the overalls comes from a lineage of judges and he is a retired one himself. Lives in the family home that has been around for a couple of hundred years. His kids wear perfectly rumpled Ralph Lauren. Just like Mass. No gates. Ah. I'm home.

Gates are purely psychological, but in most of the United States you are very, very safe.

Also, when I lived in Florida, I remember a couple of home invasions being in gated communities. One was in Estero. It's all nonsense.

And my relatives that live out in the countryside of Canada are well-prepared, as were their ancestors.

Relax, kroeran. It's going to be fine.

[tommy-105]

Thank You for a well written reply kroeran, interesting points about the wealth and underclass. I'm well aware of the American bashing that exists up there, and didn't take your comment that way.

I think more typical Canadians visit Florida for years before finally buying a property. They might not have the same security concerns that you do, because they no longer feel like strangers here by the time they buy.

As someone that used to work in gated communities every day, it's been my experience that once I was past the gate, I became part of the scenery. If I was there, I must belong there kind of mentality. People assume that the kid at the gate is doing his job, and don't give strangers in the neighborhood a second glance. I think that having a gate lulls people into a false sense of security and they have simply fallen for a marketing ploy.

There is a community nearby me that has a real fancy manned gate house at the front entrance. They also have an automated gate on a side street delivery entrance that can be circumnavigated by driving on the gulf cart path.

On the other hand, when I was in Cape Coral after hurricane Charley, we had a lot of unsavory looking outsiders cruse up and down the streets looking for scrap aluminum (pool cages). I would have felt more secure with a gate then.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by tommy-105

Thank You for a well written reply kroeran, interesting points about the wealth and underclass. I'm well aware of the American bashing that exists up there, and didn't take your comment that way.

I think more typical Canadians visit Florida for years before finally buying a property. They might not have the same security concerns that you do, because they no longer feel like strangers here by the time they buy.

As someone that used to work in gated communities every day, it's been my experience that once I was past the gate, I became part of the scenery. If I was there, I must belong there kind of mentality. People assume that the kid at the gate is doing his job, and don't give strangers in the neighborhood a second glance. I think that having a gate lulls people into a false sense of security and they have simply fallen for a marketing ploy.

There is a community nearby me that has a real fancy manned gate house at the front entrance. They also have an automated gate on a side street delivery entrance that can be circumnavigated by driving on the gulf cart path.

On the other hand, when I was in Cape Coral after hurricane Charley, we had a lot of unsavory looking outsiders cruse up and down the streets looking for scrap aluminum (pool cages). I would have felt more secure with a gate then.

Oh, yes, because surely the gate would be there and still working, even though the electrical was out everywhere else.

[Florida Paradise]

The town home in our neighborhood we bought (Cypress Lakes Estates) doesn't have a gate, the one down the road in Summerlin Woods does. We placed offers in both neighborhoods, you see. The gate was nice. Felt very secure, plus we checked into the County Sheriff's website that lists situations at addresses. Summerlin Woods was good. Our neighborhood definetely had many many more police visits, one because we had a chester molester (who has since moved out) Point is, I think safety, we would have been better off in the gated community, BUT that community had no character at all, felt like an apartment complex, looked like an apartment complex...and just felt "stuffy" . I am not down there to "fit" in and hide behind a gate. My neighborhood is neat... the town home, although similar, have unique arcitecture... and they don't feel like an apartment. The gate was something we thought lond and hard about and in the end decided, that in most cases... you are pretty safe in most areas in the USA. Since our move, the HOA has installed security cameras EVERYWHERE! So perhaps that is a step up in safety, without the gated feel.

[twobums]

as stated elsewhere in this chat, gates only keep out the least ambitious criminals.

Congrats, Florida Paradise, on finding a home down here. We moved a year and a half ago from an area about an hour and a half south of Pittsburg. P- Burg is where we did the major shopping, IKEA, real mall etc etc. That city smartly redesigned itself after steel left. Now, it is a desirable place to live.