I live in a privatized community. It's a new community, not just built by a passel of large developers but more important, planned and designed by a passel of large developers.
It's not a town; towns are a type of political entity largely absent from my state. In most places, it's the county that matters, and for a variety of reasons the county here doesn't care, or bother. No, it's not a town; it's a conglomeration of housing developments.
The results are curious. What in most places would be public responsibilities are private ones here.
Roads, for instance. By in large, neither the state nor the county builds them or maintains them. So the developers build them as suits their purposes. A country road built long ago that has become a major arterial reflects this limitation: it's now a four lane divided road as it passes the developer's project, but reverts to its old, narrow, rough and poorly maintained nature as soon as it's past that project ... until it reaches the next developer's project.
In new residential developments, roads sometimes don't quite connect between developments, as neither developer seems interested in incurring that last expense needed to tie their development to a competitor's. The disconnection is apparent even in roads that connect; if a street passes from one development to another, it's sure to change its name as it crosses the boundary - that makes if difficult for a stranger trying to find an address, but I wonder if it might also create potentially fatal delays as emergency service providers attempt to respond to calls for help.
Sidewalks are the same way. They're largely absent along state-maintained roads, and there is no consistency - and rarely connection - between the sidewalks of different developments. Which means that pedestrians suddenly run out of sidewalk when they reach the boundary of a development, and are forced to navigate as best they can along the roadway or its shoulder or the rough ground beyond. Sometimes the gaps are a matter of a few feet (again, the failure of developers to connect their sidewalks to each other's) but they sometimes stretch a mile or more.
Then there's the lack of planning for non-automotive users. Long stretches of road lack any accommodation for pedestrians, and road design ignores bicyclists - there are no bike lanes, nor are the right lanes of multilane roads widened to accomodate bicyclists. There are a few meandering shared-use pathways for pedestrians and bicyclists, but they're clearly designed for the casual recreational rider and walker, not for people who want to go from somewhere to somewhere else under their own power.
Local governance is also privatized, and it matters. Homeowners belong to the "proprietary" that substitutes for local government, but renters don't. Some public amenities which would normally be public, such as community pools and local elections, are restricted to land-owners. Other public amenities most citizens take for granted, such as libraries, post offices, governmental offices and social service agencies are simply missing. We do have a public safety office, but it closes at 5:30 p.m. There is no public transportation whatsoever; if you don't have a car, you simply can't get there.
Formal taxation is low, of course, but de facto taxation isn't, in part because the "proprietary" spends an inordinate amount of effort on beautification efforts tax-supported local governments cannot dare to attempt. But of course, those beautification efforts aren't free; rather, their cost is built into the fees paid directly and indirectly to the proprietary ... but without the oversight that is normal with public entities.
Overall, the residential areas are well planned. The neighborhoods are attractive, in a sterile, plasticized way. Small, tasteful shopping areas abound ... but there's a frustrating limitation and a stultifying sameness to them; they're populated just about exclusively by chain stores, but with whole sectors of the consumer-oriented retail industry are missing. It is impossible, for instance, the buy shoes, clothing, pots and pans, bicycles, hobby goods, books, electronics and a whole lot more without jumping into your car and driving at least ten miles to shop in "normal" communities across the county line.
If this is the privatized future that neocons desire, come visit it here. I have seen their future, and I don't like it.
05 May 2012
01 May 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
