install an inexpensiveish Hikvision camera

plug it into your power outlet (probably secure this in a steel box)

if you have line of site from the neighborhood entrance to your house or the community office then install a pair of these to create a wireless bridge (like an invisible ethernet line up to a half mile distance. you can now monitor the camera as often as you want from just entering its ip address. let me know if this is a route your interested in and I can provide more info if needed

I read around on a few forums and settled on this PTZ https://www.amazon.com/Megapixel-4-7%7E94-0mm-Optical-Security-507-20XB/dp/B00S0C7WCO/
 
I also took your advice regarding going for a 4MP with WDR: https://www.amazon.com/Hikvision-DS-2CD2142FWD-I-Network-English-Version/dp/B017Y4CD9U/
 
Also, it looks like I'm going to need to buy a different PoE injector as the one I linked to only supports 802.3af.

thank you for the list

I am still researching DORI and differences between cameras, but from what I gathered so far here is what I need:

• blue iris $70 (with a phone app)
• pc (since it only supports windows) likely i7-6700 something like this
• PoE switch: something like this
• router, I have an old lynksys with dd-wrt which should do it
• several very long ethernet cables with some couplers
• most likely also a UPS
• ONVIF, PoE cameras

the last bit I am still looking at. I am not ready to spend several hundred dollars per camera (one of your examples is Dahua 2MP Starlight which seems to be super expensive). While I understand it might be much better than the rest, I'd like to see if I can be in a $50 to $100 dollar range per camera. Is there any such cameras you can recommend?

I can see some (ONVIF, PoE): Hikvision 4MP, ONWOTE 5MP, ONWOTE, 4X Optical Zoom Autofocus, Amcrest ProHD, GW Security 5, JideTech PTZ, etc. but I am not sure how to gauge the quality.