Who's side are you on?

An interesting  phenomenon occurred at Vista Dunes.  At last visit, I realized the access door for the residents to the adjacent park was welded closed.

Remembering back to early on in the design stages of the project, the approval process required that there was access to the park.  We achieved LEED-H credits for access to this park.  Nearly the entire property was lined with a 10 foot block wall- excepting this narrow window of supposed opportunity to venture- a door to the park.


The neighbors originally resisted.
I heard ...."we don't feel safe"...."they have some grass inside the property"......."they can walk around"....

Why was the gate there?  Because the wall was there?  Which came first (the chicken or the egg)?

Did the wall keep the residents in, or did it keep others out?

In fact here it is the latter.  The problem would be those trying to get IN to the property.  Several instances of vandalism were reported even before the project opened.  Once opened, the residents observed people propping the door open in order to access the property and its amenities. 

The on-site YMCA is bursting with kids for the after-school program and activities.  In my interviews of residents outside the project, I found that a large number of those kids participate as well. We'll save that report for another day, but my point is that a project that was originally adamantly protested by those on the other side of the gate..... is now touted as an amenity to the neighboring community. 

Imagine what can happen when you just break down the barriers and intermingle people, neighbors, and opportunities.  Imagine if cities praised this through policies.....gates would open everywhere.