Translation
Anyone who thinks of boom cities in the US, think of San Francisco and its IT billionaires. Or to New York and its investment bankers. But the city, the fastest growing in the United States, is hardly anyone. They called The Villages is located in Florida, an hour northwest of Orlando. Here now live 114 000 people every month 300 new homes completed. All residents are old, The Villages is a retirement community.
Time for a city visit. Between Orlando Airport and The Villages is one of the poorest parts of America. Swings rust in the front gardens, windows are boarded up, the streets dusty and potholed, which are a few stores that are still open liquor stores or one dollar discount. Then again turn to the entrance of The Villages. Behind the barriers is paradise. Paradise for Old. Who wants to buy a house, must be over 55 years old. Children are forbidden, they may come to visit more than 30 days a year, and by appointment only.
The Villages is a gated community. Anyone who intends to enter, is photographed and recorded, who wants to sleep, needs a guest pass. The palm trees swaying in the wind, sprinkle lawn sprinkler, the perfectly paved roads hum almost only golf carts. They even have their own lanes. There are 76 swimming pools, 40 golf courses and supposedly a black market for cheap, non-prescription Viagra. Who here is a young person to visit, is eyeing, especially young women. "Take care of yourself, with the ancients, you never know," advises Dave, one of the bartenders in the retirement community. "The old people hang around here for irresistible."
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Behind The Villages puts a real estate developer who died almost a year ago. He never spoke to the press and the Villagers never got to see him, even though he lived in the middle of the retirement community, behind high hedges. The "developer", as he is called by the inhabitants had, during his lifetime purchased hectares as land and The Villages hoisted. His family is all here: The local newspaper, the local radio station and the television station. The Golfcarthändler, insurance, banking, kiosks, where you can buy a beer at happy hour. She sends private vigilante by The Villages, the community watch, patrolling with white carriage through the streets so that no one loitering or a dwarf is in the front yard. Front yard decoration is prohibited. All the houses look the same, the grass is everywhere the same length and green.
The Villages is a Utopia for Old. Holiday to the end, fun, fun, fun every day. Is this the future of aging?
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