Where are you going to live when you retire? Stay in your present home and community or join the dozens of others moving to “Leisureville?” Andrew D. Blechman has written a book called “Leisureville: Adventures in America’s Retirement Utopias” that takes a dim view of just such a move.

Starting back in the 1950s outside of Phoenix, one of the first retirement communities (only 55 and older allowed) was created. Soon Del Webb followed with the Sun City concept. There have been court fights but the ability to limit residency by age has been upheld.

Now there is a community in Florida called The Villages with a population of more than 100,000 spanning three counties. Blechman’s neighbors in New England retired and moved there. To understand why they did so, he took them up on their invitation and spent a month in their new community.

What Blechman found was a bunch of people in their 60s and 70s on a permanent vacation. In The Villages, only good news is published in the community newspaper, Muzak-type music is piped over the local radio station and anyone younger than 55 comes under scrutiny and is asked for a pass.

In The Villages, you can play golf on a different course every day of the month, go to one of the downtowns and participate in a club and or a craft, visit a restaurant or dance the night away (bar time is 9:30 p.m.) at one of the local clubs. On a map, the outside world is blank.

Everyone the author spoke with seems blissfully happy (almost Stepford-like) and content without having to worry about the outside world. The developer takes care of all the maintenance and all the residents have to do is follow the rules. Visitors (including relatives and children) can only stay 30 days out of a calendar year; hedges can only be 4 feet high, and don’t even think of changing your house color or adding lawn ornaments. A golf cart is the major means of transportation. 

The downside is lack of nonconformity. Most of these communities are built outside of city limits so there is no local government. What government there is consists of appointed friends of the developer. Questions about the effect of overdeveloping the area and the resulting sinkholes due to the water table shrinking are shunted aside.

And then what happens when the price of maintenance goes up? Will the residents on fixed incomes keep paying the increases? In Arizona some communities had to start letting in younger families just to fill the vacancies. More of these communities have had to add assisted living and nursing home facilities to take care of the always aging population.

Blechman doesn’t see baby boomers wanting to join the herd and be told what to do. After attending a conference of “50+ housing” developers, he saw that some are moving toward smaller communities closer to big cities and their entertainment offerings. But will boomers want the safety and companionship of only being with others their own age? Time will tell.

My parents live in a 55-and-older development in Phoenix. They resisted some of the regulations at first but now they are getting too old to participate in the community activities. My first impression was it was a nice walled prison. As much as the sounds of children in the neighborhood can annoy me, I don’t see my baby-boomer self playing golf every day in one of these senior utopias, although my partner would love it.

Sue Stranc is a La Crosse County Library staff member at the Holmen branch.