Thursday, October 8, 2009

Why I don't want to live in a retirement community

Roxie raised some good questions about what my issue is with retirement communities. The big one we visited is full of beautiful homes, sculptured golf courses, clubhouses and flowers changed out 4 times annually. It is largely populated by people roughly my age (55-65) who retired early and have time to play and socialize to their hearts content. It isn't the "heaven's waiting room" that some of the Arizona retirement communities are.

It isn't the rules and fines or even the homeowners association checking for open garage doors that bothers me. What sets my teeth on edge is the lack of diversity in the population (read no one under 55). I live in a community that originally was advertised as a retirement destination. The people who migrated to Lake Havasu were of a different sort than those who reside in retirement communities. Our retirees wanted to live in a traditional town with children! They wanted to read in schools, help with programs for teenagers, work with young parents, provide their knowledge to new business owners etc. In short, they wanted to contribute to their community.

Retirement communities feel a little too homogenous for me to be comfortable in them. So there you have it.

6 comments:

Amy Lane said...

I get that--I love diversity too. And it just seems like a world without children would be a little... quiet.

Louiz said...

Mmm, that's pretty much the same reason I dislike the "new developments" they're building around where I live. Huge housing developments, but they forget the useful things like... shops, schools, transport links... which means the only people living there now are active young retirees, or people who both work. no children, no old people, no community at all.

roxie said...

Now that's about the best reason I have ever heard! Since we have no kids, we'd better look at adopting a young couple to help us stay in the house till we leave feet first.

Donna Lee said...

That makes sense to me, too. I like having people of all shapes and sizes and ages and colors on my block. I'd miss that. What would I watch out the window if the girl gangs on the bicycles weren't there?

Saren Johnson said...

Grilltech and I don't plan on moving any time soon. So we're right there with you.

Em said...

That's a great reason for not wanting to move into a retirement home. One of the things I like best about our neighborhood is the variety of people around us. Still, I can't help but think it would be nice to be in a place where we didn't have a local garage band that only knows one song and only rehearses the chorus over and over playing til eleven once a week.