Post 55 communities question - downside? [View all]

I'm visiting some friends in AZ this week and they live in a "55 and up" community. It looks like a nice place, unbelievably low property taxes (because no schools), lots of social activities and the whole world here is geared towards folks my age.

It seems a little odd to me that the local ecology is so narrowly designed. There are no young families here, unless they are visiting Grandma. No schools, no day cares, no public parks, no police... Weird.

So what is the downside to this? What am I missing here? It just seems unhealthy to me that a community is so narrowly designed, but I can't come up with any real reason why that is so.