How many DUers live in a Gated Community

[Ichingcarpenter]

Poll question: How many DUers live in a Gated Community

If not do you people that live in them?
Do they feel safe?
How rich is the 'community'?

Can they walk to the store?

Do they have armed guards?

Is Gated 'Community a misnomer?

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. Here in Houston, gated community can mean a couple of things.

I don't live in one, but I do live next door to one. They are middle class people in that one. Gated community down here can also mean any number of gated and fenced apartment complexes (in nice areas and out) that are accessible by code only, for security reasons. A lot of gated communities down here were created to keep out speeding thru traffic.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. So .... how do you enter?

Through a checkpoint?
Do you have to tell why you are going there?

Is that healthy for society?

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. Did you see the part where I wrote "accessible by code only"?

I am neither here nor there on the subject. It's not affecting my happiness nor the happiness of those around me.

[zaj]

17. Not sure of your point... but there is usually a point to a gated community

It often results from a basic security issues. Either bad neighborhood or modest neighborhood where renters want added sense of security (ie, stolen cars, radios).

I see them all over the place in Tucson in the college areas.

Often times it's because they have community resources like a volleyball court or swimming pool or similar, and the renters don't want to have to share the limited space with a ton of people who might otherwise treat it like their own pool.

It's really no different than locking your backyard or house up. Just a community lock.

Again, I don't get your point.

[barbiegeek]

31. Single women like gated apartments

it's security from rape or attack, especially in large parking lots it's easy to hide and it's nothing about wealth.

[supernova]

4. My community is rural and very mixed income

Everything from subsistance farming to estates. Mixed bag. But it's quiet and we all like it. Even the estates aren't gated. You could drive up to the front door if you wanted to. But we all leave each other be.

[Cleita]

5. I live with my family in the country on a couple of acres.

We are fenced in and gated on our property with other security measures in place but mostly it's to keep our animals in and other animals out not people. My son-in-law also has an arsenal of guns. However, since we know most of our neighbors we really don't lock much of anything most of the time. Any strangers lurking around are immediately noticed and neighbors advise each other about them. Usually, they are just looky-loos but anyone with nefarious intentions will be dealt with rather swiftly and within the law because it would take too long for the sheriffs to get here. No we can't walk to the store. The nearest one is five miles away.

[Little Star]

6. Is this a joke???? ...................

There is no choice for I live in a gated community so how can you tell how many DUers live in one?

You did that on purpose didn't ya? LOL

[zaj]

15. ROFL... poll fail?

[Ichingcarpenter]

25. So how did you answer the questions

This was a 'thought' poll

Are you more Free because you live in a gated community?

[Electric Monk]

62. If not do you people that live in them?

Do you people?

[zaj]

66. I didn't get your thought...

But I answered as specifically as I could...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x301963#302204

[Vickers]

59. Yup, total fail...Unrec for logic-deficit. n/t

[blondeatlast]

7. I do live in one but the gate never works anyway. I didn't choose it for the gate,

it's just the best apartment I could find and less expensive than others (and not as nice ones) in the area.

In fact, I wish they'd take the damn gate down instead of constantly trying to fix it.

[bluestate10]

53. I live in one too. But like you, I chose it for other reasons.

I am comfortable with people from every economic level and am comfortable that I can deal with any assholes.

[Fumesucker]

8. In "Snow Crash" Neal Stephenson calls them "burbclaves"..

A term I think is pretty descriptive and appropriate..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. Thanks I forgot I read that book 20 years ago

I had other questions in my poll but nobody so far has really answered them.

[WestSeattle2]

9. "Gated community" is a loaded phrase. In Seattle, condo's that

sell for $200k often sit behind security gates (electronic gate requires a pass code to open.) That's quite different than communities of multi-million dollar homes that sit behind security gates that have armed guards at the gate house. (Put in context, a $200k condo in Seattle is entry-level.)

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. I meant the second type as you suggested

not just a gate to get into the parking lot for a condo.

[OwnedByFerrets]

12. No, I live in a gated country

[pampango]

35. In some ways. Big fence to keep those poor people (and their problems) away. n/t

[cali]

13. You forgot "don't have a lock on the door". I lost my house key at least 10 years ago.

and I don't know anyone who lives in a gated community.

[Obamanaut]

30. Me too. And here's my response on another thread re nice neighbors.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=302029&mesg_id=302377

edited to paste earlier response:



I am so glad we have nice neighbors. I live on a dead end road, and the lots are 4 acres each.

The guy next to me is only home on weekends, and not even every weekend. Last summer he fenced his entire yard, and put a really big gate in the side toward my house. I asked him why, and he told me in case I needed to get into his yard for any reason when he wasn't home, because the front gate is locked. Last summer he asked if I'd pick all his squash and okra during the week (while he was gone)and give it to whoever needed/wanted some.

The guy across the road built an elderly-friendly house about four years ago, because none of his siblings wanted their mom living with them. Shortly before the construction was finished, he asked Mz O (she was still in rehab from a motor scooter accident, and not yet walking all that well) to come and test it out to see what might need to be modified.

That same guy came over to check on us one day because we had not talked with our daughter in several days, so she texted him to give a check. I had just spoken with him the evening before, but he came anyway because the daughter asked him to.

He has a deer feeder in his back yard, with a camera set up at night to capture photos of wildlife. Edited to add - no guns, just camera.

I am so sorry you don't have neighbors like mine.

[shanti]

38. you don't lock your front door??

:wow: the only way i could even imagine doing that (i live in the suburbs) is if i owned a mastiff or some other large dog.

[remember2000forever]

39. Nope, Don't lock my door either. Rottweiler

[cali]

70. I live just outside a little village in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont

I don't remember the last time there was a crime of any kind. It's perfectly safe. Hell, I went a way for over a month a couple of years ago and didn't lock the house.

[Arctic Dave]

14. Gated community? No. I rarely lock my front door.

[Ichingcarpenter]

16. Do you think that gated societies are healthy

to a nation's well being? ....... Do you think they are counter productive
in that they create a Us vs Them society which is unhealthy to the community at whole?

[Arctic Dave]

22. I think gated communities are more of an elitist self image circle jerk.

Is this good or bad, don't know. The people that I have known that lived in GCs seem to have a "odd" sense of the world and how they fit into it.

Are 80,000.00 cars bad for society?

A 8,000.00 dollar car will get you from point A to point B just as well.

[kestrel91316]

18. Does a security apartment complex (with gated parking and pedestrian gates)

qualify as a "gated community", lol??

[blondeatlast]

20. Apparently not, but the OP doesn't make that clear. I live in one of those too but

the gate never works anyway! :rofl:

[Ichingcarpenter]

43. I'm not talking about a condo or apartment complex

That's not big enough to be considered a community.

[blondeatlast]

44. Okay, got it. nt

[Tx4obama]

56. That's not true

Down here in Houston we have HUGE gated apartment complexes that have more apartments in them than house in some of the gated stand-alone house communities do.

[Codeine]

63. Big enough?

I've lived in 500-unit apartment complexes before. We had pools, clubhouses, a gym, book clubs, gaming clubs, big BBQ parties, community watch, childcare-sharing groups, carpools, etc. All the hallmarks of a community -- hell, more than most communities have these days.

[Ichingcarpenter]

21. I live in Europe and many Apartment Blocks are gated

In the sense that you need a separate key to access the stairway
and the big doors to bring your bike in and into the common area.

I'm really talking about the community where its a drive in type situation
with a guard not subdivision.

[Hydra]

19. Good on you to remind me

I don't now, but when I was outside the country one of the places we rented was gated- it was on a golf course. We barely noticed except when people would hop the wall along the highway. The people in charge didn't take too well to that, so it was surprisingly secure.

Not the place's best feature, but an interesting experience.

[Uben]

23. I live in one

I feel a lot safer here

It is a retirement community so most of the folks are well off

Some are close enough to walk to hte store, most drive a car or golfcart

The guards are not armed, but patrol 24/7

"Gated community" fits just fine for us. One way in, one way out, cameras on both


I live here for the lake. I am an avid fisherman and our lake has great fishing. The security is nice, I seldom take the keys out of my car or lock my doors, but a good dog makes that possible, too. This place was around for 25 yrs before I moved here.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

24. I live out in the sticks and had to put up the mother of all security gates to keep off roaders out

We used to find motor homes and trailers in what amounts to my front yard when we came home. Signs did no good. Sheriff was tired of responding too.

[Monique1]

26. A month ago I lived in a gated community

today I don't and I now feel safer. Our area is connected with the police department working for a crime free area. We have the police department in my area driving through my complex at different times, we have unmarked security people driving around the area. If feel safe plus my windows have protection on them and we also have the option of renting a security system. I also have bolted locks on my front door. I sleep better now. For years I was waking up at 3am, sometimes before and rising, now I've been sleeping between 6-7:30. that tells you someting and me too. I am just so relaxed when I wake, I say what the heck and go back to sleep.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

72. Out where I am cougars and snakes are the real risks

Law enforcement response time is nominally 30 minutes, depending where the deputy is in his pattern. The house and outbuildings came with electronic locks...kinda cool.

[Ichingcarpenter]

28. Maybe you need to hire guards ask the neighbors to support

Or is this what a community should do within their political sphere?

Privatise security could be an answer.....or maybe not

Pinkertons use to do so stuff ..... XE are experts these days.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

71. What neighbors?

I am out in the twigs, well past the sticks. The off roaders were convinced my property was BLM land, which it is not. Turned out that a local off road store was giving out bad gouge which made it out on the Internet as well. One of us would get home and there they would be. They had to remove a locked chain and pass several signs. For a while I was having them towed, but the OHV riders got really upset and the sheriff was convinced that someone was going to get seriously hurt over it. We put in the mother of all security gates at a choke point. Its a PITA even to climb around.

Scary part was that most of them had no idea what kind of risks they were taking. Urban/suburbanites have no idea how close the serious wild life here is. Several lost their dogs to cougars.

[bluedigger]

27. I don't even lock my front door. Shh! Don't tell anybody!

[seabeyond]

41. ba haha. secret safe with me. promise. nt

[Ichingcarpenter]

45. My father said that a lock only keeps and honest man

honest....... didn't understand that back then.

But I think there is some truth in that.

[seabeyond]

46. oh, i so agree. i like that saying, too. nt

[barbiegeek]

29. We have them here & not all are for Rich it's about dock/river waterway safety

Some are fishing 3 season shacks with private docks. They own the road & sewer & pay for everything themselves. But when I say shack--I mean SHACK-a sink, toilet, & hammock. It's a redeveloped former flood zone.

They did buy a fancy gate with brick & everything. Then you go by on boat to the neighborhood & it's a tiny 1 room house. Since people don't live there-- it is for trespassing and getting sued if someone gets hurt.

I don't live there, I have been in it though.


Now we do have a REAL gated community that aren't about private water property- Million $$ homes, private lane, gate, some have a guard. I would assume they are armed, it's a open carry state. It's not about safety from Revolution it's about robbery. Some are wooded and need to keep hunters out. But mostly it's about controlling who comes in your neighborhood--the right people (family & friends). No they don't walk to the store that is miles a way. Do they feel safe-ah, probably a little but they are not that secure-climbable fences, weather can screw up the gates. Some have cameras, some don't.

[Codeine]

32. I've lived in a shitload of apartment complexes that were gated.

No way in without a gate clicker, so the principle is the same, though that sort of puts paid to your sanctimonious poll wording.

I think gated communities are fine, and they keep people from fucking with your car or jacking shit from your garage, but I wouldn't want to live in one for the simple fact that I'm way too impatient to deal with a guardpoint. Holding me up for more than a few seconds gets me antsy.

[spin]

33. I don't live in a gated community nor do I have guards ...

I can walk to the grocery store, the hardware store, the library, the court house, the fire station, the police station and my bank.

I have firearms inside my house for self defense and I have a concealed weapons permit as does my daughter and son in law who live with me. We have a pair of Boston Terriers who serve as alarm dogs but are primarily pets

We don't live in any fear and have many friends of all races who visit us regularity and sometimes room with us in our old big home that was once a hotel.

[NNN0LHI]

34. No gates or locks around here. Except some for looks maybe?

No one I know ever takes the keys out of their cars or lock their doors on their homes even when they go on vacation. I haven't seen the keys to my house since we moved in. Put them away somewhere over 20 years ago and thats where they are still at. I always know where my car keys are at though. In the ignition.

Pretty low crime rate around here.

Don

[Angry Dragon]

36. I live in a maximum security federal prison

does that count??

[Ichingcarpenter]

37. Well.... you need to fly out of the states and

get a real pat down....... be sure to arrive 4 hours before your flight leaves.

[seabeyond]

42. gated, lock on door, security system AND guards. wow. you won. nt

[seabeyond]

40. lock on door and security system. wouldnt want gated for anything. but

i do like security system.

[tech9413]

47. No I just have a lock on my door

but I don't really need to use it. I have lived in one (corporate property for transferring executives), it wasn't comfortable for someone from a small working class neighborhood. Too stifling and isolationist. You feel uncomfortable doing simple thing like going for a walk or working on your car. It's like a sign that " you don't belong here". The ex and I did a weekend getaway in Ybor City and went out for a walk. We ended up around some of the gated communities and it got tiring with private security stopping every few minutes to find out who we were and why we were there (we're both very WASP in appearance). I couldn't live that way, I like to feel connected to my surroundings not isolated in some protective bubble.

[TBF]

48. Have in the past, our current subdivision is not -

although we are next door to one. I think they put up the gates to keep thru-traffic out because the houses are smaller, and lots smaller, than our community and the one across the lake.

I'm glad we don't have one - from past experience it's just a pain because the gates often break.

[BOG PERSON]

49. i live in a very exclusive gated community

[annabanana]

69. GREAT graphic! Everyone should grab this one.

Puts a lot into perspective. Thanks for posting it.

[Vickers]

74. *right click* *set as desktop background*

:thumbsup:

[flvegan]

50. My fence has a gate. I lock my door. My pit bulls

great dane and guns make me feel safe.

No interest in a gated community with some overbearing HOA.

[Codeine]

64. Can you imagine the look on a burglar's face

when he sees a Great Dane hurtling toward him? "I'll take the pit bulls! Please! Just keep that dog-shaped horse off me!" :rofl:

[flvegan]

65. Any burgler would have to be deaf

to actually make it IN my house. The dane is very protective of his daddy, and his bark damn near blows the windows out.

But yeah, that would be pretty damn funny.

[sarcasmo]

51. Even if I could afford one I find gated communities way to pretentious for my taste.

[Liberal_in_LA]

52. poll doesn't include option for me. Live in a gated community, yes

Lots in Los Angeles. condo communities and housing communities. from lower middle class to super rich.

[Liquorice]

54. No gate, but I have a security system and sleep much better because of it. nt

[JI7]

55. even if i was wealthy i don't think i would want to live in them

i assume you mean the gated communities of the wealthy types that want to keep out "certain types" as opposed to ones like in apartments that have something for security reasons.

[MorningGlow]

57. We don't have gated communities in my area

In fact, there's been talk of building one, and the developer who proposed the idea has been getting a lot of flak about it. Not sure it's ever going to get off the ground.

I live in a very small village where nobody locks their doors. My neighbor also leaves his key in the ignition of his pickup.

[Vickers]

58. I live in a gated community, but it's just a gate, no guard.

Didn't move here to feel more "secure" in fact it was not a consideration at all...we just liked the house.

But it sure does cut down on the extra auto traffic (no kids racing around, for instance, , very little soliciting, etc.).

[quiller4]

60. Does a gated mobile home park count?

The gates to our senior mobile home park are locked at 10 pm each night. The average household income in our census district is $59,000. That is probably the median for park residents, too. Through doorbelling for political campaigns I've learned that about 1/3 of the heads of households are retired military. My next door neighbor is typical. He served 20 years in the US Army, worked as a Teamster for 25 years, retired at 63 on his military and union retirement and just filed for Social Security at 66. His spouse worked as an RN at Madigan for 28 years and retired at 58. She collects her pension now and will apply for Social Security in 6 years when she is 66. They spend 4 months of the year in another mobile court in CA and the rest of their time in Washington. They paid cash for both mobile homes in 2004 when they sold the Tacoma home where they raised their children. They pay space rent and untilities in both parks year 'round.

There are no armed guards or guards of any type in the park. We can walk to a speedy mart, a small Asian market, a city park, a theatre, a casino, a Mexican deli and a smoke shop but there is no full service grocery within walking distance.

Is the mobile park a community? I suppose it is of sorts. The park's community center is a busy place, hosts weekly potlucks and Bingo, serves as a Red Hat Society meeting place and one resident holds church services there twice a week. He is a retired Marine chaplain. Other than attending one memorial service for a former resident and the 60th anniversary celebration for a resident couple, my spouse and I don't participate in park social gatherings.

[nadinbrzezinski]

61. This is the US

This is Mexico



And this guy is not armed. Some of them are armed, and some of them have really heavy handed ... security checkpoints.

So you are trying to tell me that places with a gate, automatic and all, are equal to physical checkpoints?

Oh and one more thing... the complex I live on actually is gated... (which is a joke) and supposedly has a guard, who I expect to run, cannot blame him, the moment hell breaks lose. There is an advantage though... UPS, USPS, and the rest will drop packages there. When we came to the States my dad did not want us to be in an ungated place... two single young women and all that.

[Ichingcarpenter]

67. PS...... you all live in a gated community

just try to leave the country or come in....

Anyway, I just wanted to bring up some thought chains
on security, freedom, community and public health.

Public health is what I'm going for.
and the societal implications of Gated communities


What makes a community?

[social_critic]

68. I live in Venezuela, where crime is incredibly high

We live in a building with a locked gate and a guard house. After you get through that gate, there's a locked building door. If you get through the locked building door you have to get into the elevator - but this requires a key to make it go. When you get to the floor, there's a closed door, which requires another key. All windows are barred with thick steel bars, walls are concrete so nobody can use a sledge hammer to get in by making a hole. The property is surrounded by a tall concrete wall topped with an electric fence.

The parking lot has two gates, activated by radio control. First you open the outer gate and drive your car in. Then when the outer gate is closed you push a second button to open the inner gate. To go from the garage, which is underground, you need a key to call the elevator, and the second key to make the elevator go to any floor. Your keys only work for your individual floor.

This set up is very common. Some properties also have tv cameras everwhere monitored by an outside service, and the properties are swept for bugs and detectors to make sure would be kidnappers aren't picking up signals to know who is coming in and out.

Caracas today is considered the most dangerous capital city in the world, with about 30-40 killed in a typical weekend. Kidnapping is a thriving industry, carjacking is very common, and of course hold ups are a dime a dozen. Crime has become so violent, we seldom see pickpockets or car thieves anymore. If they want your car, they just wait and put a gun in your face, and take it. You twitch, they shoot you.

[bigwillq]

73. Not me (nt)

[delightfulstar]

75. No gates, but I do have a large security door...

That doesn't lock, strangely enough - I don't have a key that works. I live in an extremely safe area, just outside of PHX. The only thing I've ever seen happen, besides speeders, is the aftermath of a robbery at the BofA down the street. (I wouldn't be surprised if it was a disgruntled ex-customer, given the housing market....) There are a few gated places around, but most of them are further north. Our community has a pool and tennis courts, which are both gated, and the residents are the only ones who have keys...it keeps the loiterers away.

And for the record, I can walk to the store pretty easily...I have a Walgreen's and a Safeway in very close proximity. ;)