# Should We Forbid "Gated"Communities? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 26, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228 "2013-12-26T19:47:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/21 "2013-12-26T23:00:35Z")
No. They should have portcullises instead. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/22 "2013-12-26T23:06:03Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > No. They should have portcullises instead. And don’t forget the moats. With alligators, or maybe pirahnas.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/23 "2013-12-27T00:17:13Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > (What if Godzilla goes on a rampage?) Not a problem. He can’t get in. There is a gate. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/24 "2013-12-27T00:21:20Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Local Zoning boards could do this very simply. > Every building and every street in the city are built to standards set by the local government. > Residential streets must be of a specific width,lots must be of a specific size, mailboxes must be built at specific locations, etc. > It would be easy to pass a regulation, say, that all lots containing residential houses must be built with access from a public street. If necessary for reasons of politics, this could be “camoflaged”, and presented as an issue of public safety, saying that all houses must be accessible to fire/police/ambulances. Sure you can do it locally. And the “gated community” kinda people will move to a place that does allow it. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/25 "2013-12-27T00:23:47Z")
Gated communities are more symbol than anything else. Gates are actually a lot easier to get past than closed apartment buildings with coded entry. and until Amazon can deliver groceries by drone and most people telecommute, everyone will still be out and about. When gated communities become a) effective at keeping undesirables out, and b) are self-sufficient enough to make it unnecessary for anyone to leave the confines, then you’ll have something to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/26 "2013-12-27T00:59:48Z")
As the shadows fall the wealthier kind of gated communities will have difficulties starting when the minimum wage guards begin turning their gaze inwards rather than outwards. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/27 "2013-12-27T01:02:50Z")
Gated communities make it easier for the [ringing of revolution](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tis4xaoddWA). ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/28 "2013-12-27T01:16:21Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I’m also opposed to public streets having restricted parking, often near colleges (for the obvious reason that thousands of college students try to find parking places.) If I have to pay for that street, then I retain the right to park on it. If it’s for resident parking only, then bill the residents for the cost of the street. > > Having it both ways is bad government. The residents pay for the street with their taxes. That’s why some towns restrict parking to residents only. The people who pay for the streets don’t like having their parking spaces filled up by outsiders. > [@Penfeather](#): > > No. They should have portcullises instead. I believe the term is portculli.😉 ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/29 "2013-12-27T01:39:53Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > As the shadows fall the wealthier kind of gated communities will have difficulties starting when the minimum wage guards begin turning their gaze inwards rather than outwards. First, guards that have to actually use force to keep the masses out will get a really nice salary making it worth their while, as compared to minimum wage guards who just watch for criminals. Second, the upper middle class is huge in this country. The poor number only what, 20%? Unless things change dramatically, no matter how much wealth disparities increase, there will still be a lot more well off people than poor people, which means no revolution, no mass violence, and if there is any mass violence by the poor, the government will put it down brutally with the active support of the more numerous well off. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/30 "2013-12-27T01:40:04Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I believe the term is portculli.😉 Portculles. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/31 "2013-12-27T01:47:19Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > The outward manifestations of privilege are not the privileges themselves. I agree. People don’t become isolated because they live in gated communities. They move into gated communities because they already want to be isolated. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/32 "2013-12-27T02:01:14Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > The residents pay for the street with their taxes. That’s why some towns restrict parking to residents only. The people who pay for the streets don’t like having their parking spaces filled up by outsiders. . . . But what degree of “local” do we use as a measurement? Same city? Same community or neighborhood? Same street? My street doesn’t have sidewalks or planting or lawns; the other neighborhood’s street does. I’m paying for it, as taxes are city-wide. But I’m not allowed to park there. Doesn’t seem like good government. (But…I don’t know: does having a city sidewalk and plantings and lawns in front of a house increase the house’s assessed value for tax purposes? That would go a way to mollifying my gripe.) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/33 "2013-12-27T02:13:33Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > I used to know a family who lived in a gated community. I would say (based on what I saw) that it was for middle class families. The apartment was small and non-luxurious. There certainly wasn’t a pool or tennis court or anything like that. > > It seems to me that the wealthy mostly live in single family homes in ungated areas near other wealthy people now anyway. And not many wealthy people join the armed forces, whether they live behind gates or not. If this goes the way most of the threads started by Ralph he won’t be back. But I have no idea where he got the idea that gated communities are full of rich people. All the ones I know are middle class. Most aren’t even upper middle class. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/34 "2013-12-27T02:42:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I agree. People don’t become isolated because they live in gated communities. They move into gated communities because they already want to be isolated. I moved into a gated community because that’s where the house I wanted was. I actually would have preferred it not to be gated…but oh well. Also, for the OP, I certainly don’t qualify as rich. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/35 "2013-12-27T02:49:30Z")
The vast majority of Hilton Head SC is gated areas. One funny thing, they have a Wal Mart but it’s well hidden off the main road behind a lot of trees. There is just a small sign on the road for the store. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/36 "2013-12-27T16:00:58Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I say yes. Allowing rich people to isolate themselves from the rest of the citizenry is a very bad trend. it will lead to the establishment of a “entitled class”-one where the children forget about their fellow citizens, eschew military service, and generally ignore the poor. When such people enter politics, their actions seem to favor themselves-to the exclusion of the other classes. > I can understand the desire to be safe-but is living behind locked gates going to be good for this country? I think not. I agree. As a guy who makes a living delivering door hangers, anything you can do to help my delivery teams get access to rich neighborhoods, the better. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/37 "2013-12-27T16:21:01Z")
When I lived in Miami, I lived in a gated apartment complex in West Kendall. Previous to that, I’d only lived in gritty urban neighborhoods. The kind where people look at you askance when you tell them you live _there_. Give me a “bad” neighborhood any day. That gated nonsense is not for me. It was all window dressing. If you pulled up in front of the swipe key thingie and your card wasn’t working or you couldn’t find it, the driver of the car behind you would let you borrow theirs. Or you could just drive through, since the gate was often out of order anyway. Or you could just park your car in the Publix parking lot across the street and _walk_ through the entrance. Which meant that if you wanted to walk across the street to go shopping, you had to take the long way through the complex’s main entrance rather than the most direct route, since the campus was surrounded by an annoying iron fence. If the apartment complex had been more spread out, so that there had been more separation between the fence and the buildings, perhaps it wouldn’t have seemed so prison-like. The apartments were not delux or luxurious. Most of the residents were lower-middle class. We had a swimming pool, sure. But it was Florida. Everyone’s got a swimming pool. I’m sure it made people feel safer. Personally, I’d rather trade some of that illusion for practicality. But not everyone is me or shares my tastes. Free world and all that. ---
**Author:** ![ethelbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ethelbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ethelbert)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/38 "2013-12-27T16:49:54Z")
While I think that there is a societal benefit in the mixing of the classes, outlawing the gated nature of these communities would do nothing to encourage this. The gate is merely a security device. Does the OP suggest that the lower classes would come to these communities to sight see, or just introduce themselves? Perhaps they could use it as a short cut to their place of work? Most of these communities are isolated physically and residents come and go by cars. It is the car that does far more to isolate these people than the gates. Many New York City residents live in doorman buildings which are surely the equivalent of gated communities, yet they have far more contact with different classes than people in many suburbs who do not live in gated communities, simply because they walk. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/39 "2013-12-27T17:46:20Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I think not. As I read the OP I could not figure out why the poster would even suggest such. Then I read the last sentence, which explains it all. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228/40 "2013-12-27T22:39:57Z")
I couldn’t imagine living in a gated community, or even a community that has a HOA. I like my freedom. Which is why we live in a township in a rural county. I do pretty much whatever the hell I want. I love it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-forbid-gated-communities/677228.md?page=3)