Gated Communities
 

I don't like gated communities, the whole concept irks me on multiple levels, they seem like these creepy places where everyone has to follow these vaguely orwellian codes of conduct and the whole concept of shutting off entire areas is very, very socially destructive. At any rate these smartarses decided to do something about it and make a series of 'viewing platforms' allowing people to see into some of the larger gated communities in LA.

There was a fun X-Files episode where someone raised a demon to enforce the rules of his gated community.

I like the idea of turning them into terrareums.

That's kind of funny because when you put platforms around a gated community, the community becomes a prison. :lol:

What a bunch of art-fag asshats. They own it, they pay for it, they can do what they want with it.

No one is being exploited and their taxes are being spent paying for roads and police that never enter the facility except to take out the trash.

gated communities cut of swaths of cities, enforce social boundaries and help heighten segregation. All they're doing is pointing this out, the built it, it's on public land, they can put it there.

I don't like them; I hate having to ask a guard or pass security barriers merely to go anywhere. That would go triple for my own home; I wouldn't live in one. They don't put them in places which make sense, anyway. If you're building a gated community, why not put it in North Philadelphia or central Detroit? The land is cheaper and the security barriers feel a lot more necessary.

I didn't say that they couldn't do it. I just said they were a bunch of pretentious art-fag asshats for doing it.

That's one of the many rights in America. Be as stupid and self-aggrandizing as you want.

Edit: That includes the self-aggrandizing asshats behind the gates too.

This is Los Angeles. There's no place you can go in the city that's more than a minute away from a very dangerous part of town. Even in the heart of Beverly Hills, you're only 30 seconds away from Culver City or Ingelwood. The West Side beach front property is just a minute or two from South Central. Mulhullond and the Hollywood hills are just a step away from Korea town and North Hollywood.

The talk about community and togetherness and socialization is all fine, but there are people who like to steal things and hurt people. I see no problem with making it hard for those people to get to the people I care about most. I see no problem with my wife feeling safe walking through the streets of the neighborhood alone and pregnant. If that takes a wall and a gate and 500 armed guards with rabid dogs, shouldn't it be my right to pay for those things?

One of the reasons that so many of these gated communities are going up is because of the housing crunch. There are no homes for sale in the areas people want to live, so developpers are buying out whole blocks in less desirable areas, levelling the houses and building new ones. The only way to convince someone to buy a half million dollar house in Inglewood is to put a gate around the block.

-sm

and building gated communities is the answer?
Ever been to south africa?

Gated communities are a perfectly acceptable part of the answer. Increasing the economic base of the community is another. Decreasing the types of drug-related activity that causes people to commit violent crimes is another. Increasing police presence and effectiveness is another. Getting kids to finish high school would help.

There are systemic problems going on that undergird crime, especially violent crimes. I think addressing those problems would be a very good idea. But simply stating that as a goal isn't going to make it so, and in the interim, protecting myself and mine seems like a perfectly appropriate middle ground. I really don't see how increasing my families safety decreases anyone else's rights.

And what the hell does South Africa have to do with anything?

California has to go the gated community route because they have gun control. Only the criminals have guns there. Oh, and Senator Feinstein.

So will her bullets have numbers like the proletariat?

It's not difficult to commit rape and murder with out a car.
Asshats.

If I want to live in a gated community that's patrolled by rent-a-cops, in effect keeping out people who don't have any fucking business being there, then why can't I?

If you have a reason to be there, there's no problem getting in.

Try explaining your "socio-economic isolation" bullshit to the guy whose house was vandalized, broken into, jewelry stolen, wife raped, and kids beat up.

Fuck THAT. I'll be moving into the gated community near me.

we've got quite a few gated communities here in phoenix. and damn near EVERY neighborhood (including mine) is walled off with only a couple of access points. it helps with the block watch system and all that jazz. if there are only 100 homes in the neighborhood and only 2 ways in and out for cars, then pretty soon you recognize all the cars and a different one sticks out pretty easily.

i like the set up. if you don't live in a neighborhood, and you aren't visiting someone who does live there - why exactly should you have access to that neighborhood?

Well, it causes traffic congestion. You have all these gated communities that dump traffic out onto the main streets. If you have a typical grid setup of streets, traffic can cut through on any number of streets. If you want to travel from a house in one gated community to a house 500 feet away in another gated community, you have to drive all the way out to the entrance, out onto the major clogged street, back in to the entrance of the other gated community and then to the house you want to visit. Grid systems are MUCH more efficient for traffic (And fuel consumtion, but that's another story.)