I used to feel the same way until some of the shittiest neighbors in the world moved across the street from me. Getting the city of Little Rock code enforcement folks to do their job was like pulling teeth.
We live in sort of a gated community, a vertical one. A 36-story tower, one of four forming a complex. Security cameras out the wazoo. Special access keys to the building. As someone who has been burgled before (in Hawaii), I like it just fine, particularly since as a farang (Westerner), I’m an automatic person of interest to any local burglars.
Some Gated communities are Section 8 housing or similar economic status. And most of the (wealthier) gated communities I see could easily be penetrated by crime/danger if someone really wanted to. If anything, they might seem even more inviting.
portculles, I would think. 
(portculli would be the plural of portcullus, amirite?)
ETA: Oops, I see ninjaed by Penfeather above.
If you think we’re still waiting for the establishment of an entitled class, you need to look around.
Before answering the question, I think that we need a good reason for it.
“…is a very bad trend…” ???
“…ignore the poor…” ???
“…forget about their fellow citizens…” ???
These are reasons that they became rich. Just because you aren’t happy about how people spend their own money doesn’t mean that you have a better idea than they do about how they should spend it.
While I feel that living in a rural county is the best option for me too, I can imagine why some people want to live in gated communities. If they want to have an HOA call the shots, it’s fine by me.
I’m not sure where the ire is coming from; it’s not like “gated communities” = little self-sustaining gated enclaves, at least nowhere I’ve ever been. They’re just areas where the houses and things like playgrounds, parks and pools are within the walls, and are reserved for the use of the residents. The residents still have to go to work, school, shopping, etc… outside of the walls, so it’s not like they don’t interact with the larger community. They just want that extra layer of security that walls, gates, security guards and regulated access provide them.
I don’t see a problem with this- usually these playgrounds, parks and pools are on private ground and maintained privately by the residents, so they have every right to exclude anyone they want from them. It’s like your backyard writ large.
Personally, I tend to think it’s more than a little bit snooty, and/or paranoid, in that most of the gated communities I know of are already in well-to-do areas and don’t really need extra security in the first place.
But… if someone created a gated community in Detroit, I’d understand why.
These are EXACTLY the same arguments used to promote school desegregation.
Why is economic segregation any different?
Actually, good point – most cities have plenty of limited-access microcommunities in the form of controlled-entry apartment buildings or condo complexes. Hardly anyone lifts an eyebrow.
You’re decrying the economic segregation of the middle class?
But it is a trend … The man that use to own Domino’s pizza and sold it … didn’t he open a for ‘believers in Christ Jesus only’ gated community in Florida?
This trend will continue with gay’s (no offense here I’m not Phil Robertson) only gated communities to female only or male only gated communities to outdoor sports only gated communities to CEO’s only gated communities to Jewish only gated communities to LDS only gated communities to well you get the picture.
Until the problem rest with the Supreme Court.
How long did unnamed Country Clubs have male only golf clubs/
How long did certain other clubs restrict members to being white only?
What’s the difference in where you live vs where you play golf?
And ours and the other three buildings are very narrow towers, a maximum of only six rooms on each floor. Very tall at 36 floors each, very narrow. Easy to control and see if there are any baddies roaming around.
Not to hijack the thread, but how common are gated communities? I live in a city of 150,000 in the Pacific Northwest, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a gated community here. Of course, this is a city where some people refuse to lock their doors because to do so would send “negative energy” into the neighborhood. :rolleyes:
We had at least one inside Albuquerque when I lived there some decades ago. And enmity for them is nothing new, as I had a friend there who spewed volatility at it whenever we passed by.
“Rich people” are isolated by virtue of their wealth and status, not the gate.
If you want to tackle these things, we’d be far better off addressing the issue of how the poor and working class are treated in the courts compared to the very wealthy. You know, how it’s SUPPOSED to work. I think this is a better approach than outlawing private citizens from erecting a fence. If you’re opposed to the community fence, would you also be opposed to the individual home owners putting up a fence around their respective properties?
Also, you seem to be under the impression that only wealthy communities are gated. This most certainly isn’t the case. There’s at least one “high crime” apartment complex in my town that even has a security guard working at the little booth near the gate entrance. I have no idea of the effect on the crime rates in the area, but I’m skeptical.
Your home is not a Public Accommodation. BUT: At least in the USA ***there already exist Equal Housing laws ***so depending on what are the protected categories in your state you may no longer exclude people from the housing of their choice on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, etc. Other criteria, however, are a fair shot.
Here in my area there was a trend in the 90s and 00’s to take formerly “open” parts of regular middle class developments and “convert them to gated” as a way to control crime. Hardly enclaves of the rich. Recently we had a Federal Court case that ruled that since even then the *streets *had remained legally a public right of way (i.e. the communities had not bought them out from the municipality), they had to allow, for instance, Jehovah’s Witnesses to have access to those streets. That they could have controlled entry but not deny access for peaceful lawful purposes.
If the people who OWN the properties want it gated off, who the fuck are you (you in general not the topic creator) to tell them no? As long as they aren’t building a compound for an armed revolt or pedophile paradise or something already illegal on its own, let them live their way and you can go live yours.
For me, any sort of HOA would be an absolute deal-breaker. One of the first questions I would ask the real estate agent is whether there’s any form of HOA covering the property, and if he/she said yes I would turn around and walk out of the house without a moment’s hesitation. I don’t understand the people who consider that sort of Orwellian enforced conformity to be a plus. If my neighbors don’t like the color I painted my front door, or object to me having a Virgin Mary statue in my back yard, or whatever, well too f’ing bad for them.
I was reading this thread simply because I’m looking for a gated community to move to.
Look, it was once fair to call gated communities snooty rich people wanting the riff-raff, meaning the rest of us ninety-nine percenters out.
But today, let’s face it. Much of America is in decay, socially, and economically for sure. This is an ongoing trend and it WILL get worse as the economy continues to stagnate and decline.
Right now, in Durham, NC, I own five townhomes, split between two very upscale developments. I live in one and rent the other four. In the past month there have been 12 daylight break-ins in the place I live, and in the other there have been 10. Just in the past month! Two of the units I own and rent were broken into and the poor gals came home to find , what do you think missing? Yes, a TV, yes, a notebook. . . but mostly FOOD!
The unemployment nightmare is not getting better, despite the propaganda from the Ministry of Information in Washington.
I’m heading a motion to gate both communities. . . FOR SAFETY! The whole reason today’s neighborhood wants a fence around it is to stop theft. They are expensive, but I’ve argued they’re cheaper than a full time patrol force that still doesn’t prevent burglary.