Weird 4th of July discovery

by: Rachel Berger

Tue Jul 13, 2010 at 15:01:00 PM EDT

Last weekend, I took a trip up to the Poconos for a little 4th of July fun: bbq’s, canoeing, and seeing the gorgeous mountains in the Delaware Water Gap. If you went to Jewish summer camp somewhere along the East Coast, you’ll remember this place; it’s got level 1 rapids which means that there is no way you can fall out of your canoe, unless you are my dad, in which case you fall out twice.

Next door to our bed & breakfast was basically what looked like summer camp for adults:  a private community along the Delaware River with a several groups of bungalows and a shared lawn. I did a little digging and discovered that 25% of Pennsylvania residents live in private communities: closed off communities-- the one I saw was gated-- where private companies are responsible for making sure residents get services that governments otherwise provide.  Services like road plowing after a snow-storm, trash collecting, even maintaining septic systems and dams.

This might sound a little like a co-op building, something many urbanites are familiar with, where owners pay a bit every month for maintenance and upkeep of the building, to pay building workers, etc. The difference is that in these places people pay for services twice, once to the municipal government and once to their local development association. Many residents find that they don’t actually get what they need once: roads don’t get plowed along the far edges of the development, wells that need fixing. Not to mention social services. And with a co-op, you are a part of the ownership structure. Not the case here.

Last year the Pennsylvania legislature passed a resolution to learn more about the private communities that 3 million Pennsylvanians live in.  Meanwhile, I don’t know if it’s just because I grew up in a city, but the idea of privately owned community in an isolated region strikes me as kind of scary, even scarier than white water.