NO ENTRY!
Trespassers will be prosecuted
The sign is simple. It looks innocuous. It’s
meaning is plain. If you don’t fit in, then don’t come in.
The sign is posted on the front gate of a gated
community just south of Dobbins road on 7th St.. The
gates require a pass code to get in. Behind the gates are houses
that would take 100 years of my current salary to pay off. They are
houses for people with money and power. Not your common every day
Joe or Jose.
If you read the real estate advertisements for
the area, they talk about security and peace of mind. In reality
gated communities are not any safer than one’s without the extra
“security”. They feel safer though. Like driving into your own
private castle, with all the “common folk” outside gazing inwards.
Teresa Caldeira comes to mind. In her article
“Fortified Enclaves: The New Urban Segregation” she talks about the
walling up of San Paulo. It rings an interesting note in harmony
with what is happening with South Phoenix.
As I sit looking at the advertisements for the
gated communities in South Phoenix, they look ironically familiar.
“Their advertisements propose a “total way of life” that would
represent an alternative to the qualities of life offered by the
city and its deteriorated public space.” (Caldeira, 4) In my ads,
“Come to the Mountain View community. Close to the city center but
far from the ordinary.” Back to Caldeira, “…the facilities promised
inside closed condominiums seem to be unlimited…” My ads, “Private
pools in most houses. Public pools, parks, tennis and basketball
courts accessible by key only.”
It is
kind of ironic how not much changes over the centuries and across
the oceans. From 10th century castles, to the walled
cities of San Paulo, to the gated communities of South Mountain
Village. It makes no sense to me.
--Christopher Way |
