Lesson Learned - Don't live in Gated Communities

[FreakinDJ]

They have always represented "Exclusion and Elitism" and now thanks to George Zimmerman "Its Open Season on your Children"

These events are going to be repeated over and over again as long small groups of "Gun Toting Bigots" have the ability to form a legally binding "Homeowners Association" for the express purpose of oppressing, and even murdering your children. What is even more worrisome is they can charge you fees for the privilege of having your children murdered.

Can the Homeowners Association be held legally liable for Martin's death. One would hope so. If not so to extract justice but rather prevent future incidence of senseless homicides.

[BainsBane]

1. The HOA already settled with Martin's mother

for around $1 million, is what I read.

[MrScorpio]

2. I would never live in one nt

[Socialistlemur]

8. I live in one, its fine

I don't see what's the big deal, it sure helps to go down and play tennis and other sports walking about a block, and it keeps the grounds clean. But ours isn't what you are used to seeing, we have small condos in several buildings, designed to save energy. I don't even have air conditioning and everybody is supposed to use the energy saving bulbs. We separate waste for recycling and it's enforced. And guns are not allowed. To each his own, I suppose.

[kestrel91316]

13. Here in the US, people would buy those condos and then screech about

how "you can't tell me what kind of light bulbs to use" and "I own lots of guns and you can't stop me" and "separating waste for recycling is for commies and you can't make me".

This country is all about ME, ME, ME now. Nobody is the least bit civic-minded anymore.

[FarCenter]

3. Travon Martin was a visitor to the gated community

[RedCappedBandit]

4. Visiting family, who lived there

[FreakinDJ]

5. Wasn't he visiting his father

[pipi_k]

10. He was, but

from what I read, his father didn't live there either.

His father's fiancee lived there.

[backscatter712]

6. Gated communities are a sign of cowardice. The people living in them are pathetic.

Try engaging with your communities instead of locking them out.

[wercal]

7. There doesn't appear to be anything 'exclusive'

About this community. It resembles an aprtment complex more than a true gated community.

Often the actual gate is used to in convenience residents who are behind on their rent. You can go to Google street viewer and see that the gates are not capable of physically keeping a pedestrian out.

And HOA's are everywhere...a community doesn't have to have a gate to have an HOA.

I would never live in an HOA myself...and a truly walled off and gated community isn't my style. But a crappy condo complex with a flimsy gate is about as exclusive as my ministorage warehouse and its gate and keypad. Any meme about gated communities stemming from this case is misguided.

[duffyduff]

12. You are correct. A number of the newer complexes are "gated."

It's not the same thing as a real gated community. I am against those.

[kestrel91316]

14. This place had driveable streets, so I'd call it a gated community.

If it only had internal driveways for getting to parking spaces, that's a condo complex. My old BF in Santa Barbara lived in one of those - it wasn't gated, but had driveways for accessing parking. The city streets were on the perimeter.

[markiv]

9. lesson learned, amature security is a disaster waiting to happen

corporations dont pay for uniforms, training, bonding insurance etc for nothing

guns are a tiny fraction of security cost

[pipi_k]

11. Gated communities...

IMO, are pretentious.

I don't think I would ever live in one, and I don't think I would ever live where there's a HOA, either.

Basically, people pay someone to tell them what they can and cannot do with/on their own property. WTF???

[Cleita]

17. It's ridiculous. I read in the paper about a big brouhaha in one of those communities because

someone had painted their house a color that wasn't approved. It was almost the same as the approved color, but the HOA didn't want it. The owner took it to court. I never followed up on what happened. If the homeowner was allowed to keep it. I had a friend who owned a condo. She came home from work one day to find them painting the building an ugly brown color because that's what the Board of Directors had decided to change it to. She was devastated because part of the reason she bought it was because it had an attractive outside as well as inside.

[Cleita]

15. Exactly. I would never live in one.

But maybe it's not a bad idea to allow the racists and other conservatives live in them, away from anything they hate. We should even make an exception for guns for them and let them own all the guns they want as long as they don't bring them out of the gated community. However, maybe they should pay double property taxes for the privilege of being exclusive and the money can be used for better schools in poor neighborhoods.

[MineralMan]

16. I'm sure there are DUers who live in gated communities.

Maybe we'll hear from them with their thoughts on this.

[Cleita]

18. Apparently you must because I don't know how you would know where many other DUers live.

So why don't you tell us what you think?

[MineralMan]

19. That's a strange sort of logic.

I live on a residential street in a blue-collar neighborhood in St. Paul, MN. There are no gates here. Just houses built in the 1950s, homes to mostly young families with children. Every ethnicity in St. Paul is in this neighborhood, and all the children know my name, because I walk my dog, Dude, on its streets and he thinks children are wonderful.

I'm not sure why my reply made you think that I live in a gated community. DU is a place where all sorts of people visit. Some of those almost certainly live in a gated community, but I do not.

I only know where one DUer here lives: Me.

[Cleita]

21. Not strange logic at all. You brought it up. It would lead to one thinking you also

lived in a gated community.

[MineralMan]

23. I can't imagine why it would lead to that.

The thread is about gated communities. Lots of people live in them. There are lots of people on DU, so it stands to reason that some DUers probably live in such places.

Trayvon Martin died because a moron playing cop decided that black kids are suspicious. He followed him, got into a conflict with him, and killed him. Sadly, a jury in Florida decided to let him walk. It is a stain on our society that such a jury verdict could be rendered, in my opinion. Gated communities have nothing to do with that, frankly, except that some hire private security guards.

[npk]

20. Trayvon's parents have already settled a lawsuit with HA

Other than that no the HA cannot be legally held responsible for Martin's death, at least not criminally liable. As far as this happening more and more now in gated communities I would not expect to see a rash of shootings like this one, as to my knowledge gated communities are usually no more safe or unsafe than other open communities.

[ileus]

22. We'll not live anywhere our dirtbikes aren't welcome...

Why would anyone live where others can tell you how to conduct your lives on your property. Fuck that...