False security at gated communities

[Jen]

I onced lived in a gated community in Palm Beach Gardens. It had a guard at the gate checking if you were a resident or had someother business being there. Did I feel secure? Yes, until my townhouse was broken into and we were robbed. By whom? Well, probably by the crew of groundskeepers or by the property manager who had a key and let in the pesticide sprayers every month.

Regardless of who, they were probably inside the gates for a legit reason and pulled off a few jobs just for kicks.



http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000037558may28.story?coll=la-headlines-california

 

[perryair]

Gated communities are the standard fare in south florida. I think that the intangible feeling of being behind a wall and having entrances and exits consolidated into chokepoints provide most of the actualy 'safety' feeling, and not the guard. Not that i'm for the gated communities either. Euclidian at it's worst?

 

[Unregistered]

I agree with the writers that state there is a false sense of security with gated subdivisions. As a planner in a rapidly-growing suburban region of California, it galls me to hear these subdivisions referred to as "gated communities." They are the antithesis of community. By walling themselves off from the rest of the city or county, the residents apparently feel they don't have to deal with the problems that other citizens are trying to address. Just drive up to the gate in your Lexus and the ills of the world are forgotten. What a way to plan a community!

 

[kguru]

Gated communities are still vulnerable to those within (ie. landscapers, neighbors, etc.). The gatehouse also slows emergency response time.

 

[JNL]

I have been reading some literature on gated communities and the overall theme seems to be that people living in them feel safer, but in terms of crime stats, they're not any safer. I am concerned that they seem to be growing in popularity here in New Zealand. I agree they are the antithesis of community.

 

[Jen]

I have friends who live in Metro Miami in a subdivision built in the seventies where a wall was erected around their "neighborhood" sometime after they moved in during the mid eighties; which is different than a newly plannned gated community. In this instance vagrancy was a problem, (not to mention the hyper security mindset of most miamians)and the barricades deterred unwanted traffic and pedestrians.

So they at least like their walls and chokepoints

Where I lived in PGA National there were miles of bike/golf cart paths and for conveniences a Publix/Eckerd's plaza. The Turnpike exit was nearby and that was it for miles. I imagine that entire area is now transformed by development.

 

[Dan]

The small town I work for banned gated communities after two were built. Remaining developable residential land in the town is adjacent to the original townsite, the interconnectivity of which the residents want to see continuted.

I lived in an "exclusive" gated (and guarded!) apartment complex in Denver for about six months. My mountain bike was stolen from the balcony of my apartment one afternoon. In the big, bad gentrifying-but-still-at-the-time-thought-of-as-a-bit-scary neighborhood of Northwest Denver, absolutely nothing happened to my property, except a spray painted dot on the garage door facing the alley.

Americans are increasingly aware of the fact that crime isn't as bad as it's made out to be by the popular media. I can't remember the source, but I've read several times that outside of the worst ghettos, property crime in the United States is about the same, if not less, than in other First World countries. If you aren't dealing in hard drugs, you don't have to worry about violent personal crime, either. Gated communities are promoted as a status symbol now, more than anything else; they're supposed to elicit "oohs" and "aahs," that you're living with celebrities in a very private area.

 

[PlannerGirl]

There is a gated community in the Georgetown/Foxhall part of DC known as Hill n Dale. Its a serious gated community - this is where the DC power brokers live. Think Gated Community on steroids.

Ya pull up and a gard with a machine gun checks your ID to a list, calls the resident your going to see, writes down your tag number and buzzes you in. *dont think about going the wrong way in the other side-saw a pizza guy do that and lost his tires and rims on spike strips.

Once in the complex dont think about driving about looking at the whos who, if you get lost or wander a nice black SUV pulls up with a guard inquiring as to what your doing etc.

Lol my little Saturn felt very out of place in those parts.

Damn nice houses though

D

 

[Planderella]

I don't see how anyone can "feel safer" in a neighborhood that is protected by a security guard that probably makes minimum wage (or a few nickels above) and can't afford to live in the same type of neighborhood he/she is hired to protect.

 

[PlannerGirl]

Well based on who lives there, the guards inside the community are Secret Service I tend to think. They were not John Doe idiot.

This is where Joe Lieberman lives when hes in town.

The rest of gated communities *there are not many in DC* are not near that secure.

By in large I think they are horrible things, very false security

 

[Tranplanner]

Hey Plannergirl, is this where your new boyfriend lives?

I live in a "gated" condo, and it's a pain in the ass for residents and visitors alike.

My condo features the most secure recycling/garbage room in Toronto - I have to go through two locked doors to get in. I also have to go through a locked door to get into the parking garage from inside the building. Visitors coming by car have to buzz the gatehouse to get into the visitor's parking area, buzz them again to get into the lobby of the building, and then buzz the person they are visiting to get into the building.

I hate it. I think there is only one gated subdivision in the city itself, but most newer condo developments, especially in the suburbs tend to be like little gated fortresses.

 

[PlannerGirl]

Lol no and new bf is old news-NEXT!

No a guy I went out with earlier in the spring lived there. It was hard to just "pop in" and see him. It was hard to go for a late evening stroll *they watched you I swear*

As far as high rises DC *to some point* and N Va are going high rise and like you said they are like mini forts. i refuse to live in one of those things!

D

 

[Planderella]

No late night bootie calls, huh???? (Sorry, I just couldn't resist going there!!)

 

[BKM]

Ya pull up and a gard with a machine gun checks your ID to a list, calls the resident your going to see, writes down your tag number and buzzes you in. *dont think about going the wrong way in the other side-saw a pizza guy do that and lost his tires and rims on spike strips.


Sounds like a description of where the Communist Party bigwigs live in Beijing.

 

[gkmo62u]

Plannergirl: maybe the reason he is old news is the "pop in" Nobody likes the "pop in."

 

[PlannerGirl]

lol

I didn't do the "pop in" he wanted me to. I was a G.R.I.T.S too-i have some dignity! *hrumph*

But back to the gated community. It was right beside the French Embassy, there were cameras everywhere.

I checked its the ONLY gated community in DC.

 

[green22]

I remember when I visited friends in the projects in Philly.The security guard would call up to make sure they wanted you before theybuzzed you through the door.The school I worked at in Newark was in a gated community that was built where they tore down the old projects.Other than the people that worked at the school,every body drove in and out of the "community".There is only one way in and out ,so it is not pedestrian friendly.I think that gated communitties should be outlawed.If you do not want to live in a community because it is too dangerous, move somewhere else.Walling off the community not only impacts upon the gated village,but creates a no mans land withinin the community.Some developments which are not gated developments share many of their traits;one way in and out,nice signs like"keep out",fences and parking lots marking their territory...