Thursday, October 6, 2011

Safer Neighborhoods: Ogden's Proposed Gated Community

Recently I have been made aware of efforts to make Ogden's neighborhoods feel safer.  One of these efforts includes a proposal to create a unique gated community in Downtown.  Here is a map of that neighborhood:


Basically, the proposal includes gating Eccles, Van Buren, and Brinker Avenues at 20th Street and also at 19th Street and Jackson Ave.  The four gates would  enclose a community of approximately 150 homes, most of which were built in the 1940's. 

The idea is to create an environment that would allow home owners to feel safer but also create an environment that makes it more difficult and less opportunistic for criminals. 

Interestingly, crime is not necessarily higher in this neighborhood than the surrounding area but rather the geography and street layout provide a unique opportunity to create a gated community with the least amount of infrastructure expenditures.  It will also be interesting to see how this kind of project will affect crime statistics once it is completed.

The project is still in the research stage so it will be interested to report on this again as community buy-in gets underway and plans are presented for approval. 

Watch for a report on this again in the future.

1 comment:

Laura said...

I think this will only create more division. What happens when you tell a child there is a candy bar on the top shelf which you know he wants but you tell him in no way can he have?

I'll give you an example. When my kids were young, our home had a walk in pantry. Being very young and given the variety of items in the pantry, we put a simply latch lock on the door. The kids were 6, 5, and 3. The counter was close by but we didn't have moving chairs only hanging attached chairs.

When we moved from the home several years later, the kids laughed as they shared their pantry secret with us. One would be locked in while the others stood watch. Keep in mind they had to pull a heavy chair from a far distance in order to even reach the lock. Apparently they would take turns being locked in while the others watched. These were siblings were very close in age and there was no lack of fighting. Yet, to get to that which was controlled or forbidden, they gladly came together.

I predict tensions will increase as will crime when these gaits are erected.