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I apologize for the judgemental attitude, I am concerned with the GreenHills Estates in my community of Chowchilla, California. The division is manned 24-hours a day by security guards and has flat tire strips if you even try to enter without permission. Is this really necessary? Our town is small only 13,000 people. I know for a fact that this community does not get involved inside the gates much less outside the gates. There is no commitment to humanity. It's really heartwrenching to see people moving into our community from out of town and never getting involved or stepping out to help with societal woes. Complain, Complain, Complain is all they do. Those are the people I direct this message to.
Then QUITE obviously, your problem is not about "the gates". It really has nothing to do with the gates! I live in the Pocono's of Pa, there are quite a few gated communities scattered around, and I don't think a single person choose to live in them because of FEAR. Where I live, there is basically no crime on the inside or outside. Your comments about fear being the factor to choosing to live in a gated community are rediculous at best.
Your view sound like some of the locals I have met here in Pa. How much do you really know about the people who live in that community? You made a comment to join a church, get involved, do you mean to tell me that none of the people in this community venture outside to go to church?? I can tell you that at least 1/2 of our local parish is comprised of the people behind the gates in my community.
you are speaking of what you know in one community, but it does not relate to any other gated community.
I guess that it's hard to see others view's when you sit on the other side of the debate, or gate for that matter. I do know that safety is the main reason why people choose to move into gated communities,[b] So, safety means fear of others.....In your case, you may have other reasons or motives for moving into that environment. I would like to know what persuaded you to move there? You sound like the exception to the rule and that's refreshing to me. Please understand that I appreciate your commitment to humanity, I will not continue to debate you about how devoted some members are..... I am just concerned with the others who don't.
I spent my teen years in a gated community... and my parents still live there. I like it when I go back and visit. I wouldn't say a gate is on my personal "must have" list, but a nice neighborhood is a nice neighborhood, and if I'm looking for a house, I like that area, and it is gated, cool.
I don't think there's really anyone in my parents' neighborhood that believes that the gate's keeping them safer, but it IS keeping the streets quiet at night, the speeds are lower, and kids can retreive a ball from the street without having to go into lots of fast traffic. I never personally felt stuck in a fortress, as a paying member of the community, one has a say in the rules, it's not like they're being made to make your life worse... you don't like a rule? Go to the meetings and make your vote. It's good for real estate values, too, and having lived an a place with no homeowners association before, not having to put up with the guy mowing his weeds and plummeting your home's value is worth something. Not to mention the only solicitors are for girl scout cookies once a year.
In my apartment, there are days I can't count on one hand the amount of solicitation I receive, and having grown up in a place where it wasn't allowed, it really bugs me. I know some people that are anti-gates would think I'm a recluse for disliking this contact with everyone, that I'm not living in the "real world" outside of the gates, but the fact is that I go home to be home and relax at the end of the day. If I want to have social contact, I give my friends a call and they come over or we go out.
Again, I'm not saying that I would ONLY live in a gated community... but I have lived in one, and what if the community is nice? The gates can be a plus. I guess some people think they're better because they live in one, but that's just a jerk for you... they tend to be the new money types with something to prove, and you can find a jerk anywhere. I once had a next door neighbor in an apartment complex in college that would file a noise complaint when I ran my garbage disposal at the dinner hour. haha he's just as bad, if you ask me!
Julie, the only reason why I speak so strongly about gated communities is that I think you are very wrong about people living in a gated community out of fear.
I live in my community because of what it offers, all in a resonable distance, golf course, pools, beaches, lakes, a ski-hill, mini-golf, tennis courts, playgrounds, a walking trail through the woods, an awesome restaurant, low speed limit, and sewer and water in a mountainous rural area. The gates, in my opinion are useful in keeping the people who don't pay to use all these amenities out. It has absolutely nothing to do with fear, if there were an AX murderer who wanted to get in, he could just walk through the woods. I do not get any added sense of security from the gates. The community I live in was once farm land or meadows many years ago, so what is on the outside is rural. Bigger preoperties, older homes, and no sewer and water, not to mention all the things that there are for the kids to do.
Yes I do Live in one of the most prestigious gated communities in my area.
Yes, they greet me as Mr DLS.
Yes, there are patrols.
Yes, I am still armed and Ready...
But, I would rather live in a nice city w/o a need for a gate...
When we were looking 5-6 years ago it did not matter if it was gated or not, if it was in a nice area and well kept we looked at it. We almost built a house in a very small gated neighborhood. We ended up finding a pre-existing home that is a neighborhood that CAN be gated but is not. It really did not matter to us and it was not for "FEAR" or to "hide" or anything like that. I'm not stupid enough to think that a gate or a manned gated entrance is going to keep someone out that would steal or do harm.
A couple of years ago we had some homeowners that wanted to put the gate in. Well in our city if the neighborhood is gated the roads and sidewalks are then privately owned and taken care of. At the time our HOA barely had the funds to keep the fountains going and the little bit of landscaping done much less pay to upkeep roads. They had all of the stats that prove homes in gated neighborhoods have a higher value (funny thing there is these same people were the loudest complainers about the value the tax office put on their property, lol, want it both ways huh?). Then they brought up security. WHAT??? I was the loudest mouth arguing that false point. What is going to keep a neighborhood teens friends from being the one from stopping and stealing golf clubs out of an open garage? NO ONE! Now I could do w/o the teens speeding in the neighborhood but some of them LIVE HERE! But it would keep the friends from cruising by nonstop to see if they are home. I also would like the fact it keeps all the trash from gathering on doors and porches left by solicitors even though w/ our city ordinance we have signs posted at the entrance that says they are prohibited.
Gated communities are fine and I have no personal problem with them or the people that live in them. I did not grow up in one (I was on the OTHER side of the tracks ) but I harbor no ill feelings towards those that do. Same w/ people that drive luxury car or live in a more expensive house or whatever. They paid for it, who cars as it is NOT hurting me one bit. As a matter of fact the people that DO have the money and they ARE spending it on luxury items actually HELP our economy and keep jobs going.
I grew up in a gated community in the sixties and seventies. It was just outside of New York City. I could see the Empire State building from my bedroom window It was one of the first gated communities in New York.
Actually it was a residential U.S. Army fort. We had M.P.s driving around 24 hours a day and if you didn't have a military I.D. you couldn't come onto the base.
Now my neighborhood is a city park. My old house is now an office building for the Parks Dept. of N.Y.C............................... go figure.
After living in both. Yes! I've had too many slob neighbors that're too lazy to mow, allow junk to accumulate around their house, peeling paint, crappy cars and a general lack of care. If you can't or don't want to take care of a house and yard..MOVE TO AN APARTMENT!
I'm getting the impression that "gated" doesn't necessarily mean literally having a gate at the entrance to the community, right? Sounds like some define gated as an over-regulated, prescriptive place with private recreational facilities and perhaps private security where like-minded people can make and enforce their own rules.
Different strokes!
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) but I harbor no ill feelings towards those that do. Same w/ people that drive luxury car or live in a more expensive house or whatever. They paid for it, who cars as it is NOT hurting me one bit. As a matter of fact the people that DO have the money and they ARE spending it on luxury items actually HELP our economy and keep jobs going.
