View Full Version : How is your neighborhood?
awakenedsoul
7-5-12, 10:43pm
Are you happy in your neighborhood? Do you feel safe and secure? Do you plan to stay there long term? I'm interested in hearing about where people live, and why they chose their home. What are the positives and negatives? I love my little cottage and mini farm, but the neighborhood is rough. The price was great, $89,500. but there are a lot of problems with drugs, drinking, and undesirables. I'm super close to everything I need: the library, post office, credit union, thrift stores, grocery stores, and drug stores. I can bike everywhere. Our public transportation is excellent. I can grow all my own food, and my utility bills are super low. (average electric bill is between $15.-$20.!) There is a school nearby where I can walk my dogs and use the track. It's fenced in, beautiful, and green. We have 30 miles of bike paths, and an excellent Farmers Market. There are horses across the street, and I have a few really nice neighbors. One of them gives me her horse manure for my compost. I give her my extra organic fruits and vegetables from my garden. I've had some safety issues here, so I am training my German Shepherd to be in the front yard. It's fenced off. Hopefully that will solve the problem. How about you?
ToomuchStuff
7-5-12, 11:14pm
My neighborhood is considered inner city. It is where I grew up. I hear about so much of the bad, from all the leo's I know. But I know so much of that goes on no matter WHERE you go. (seen expensive homes used as drug labs, prostitution or theft rings in good area's, family abuse issues, etc)
Doesn't matter WHERE you go, a house is a box, a home is what you make of it, a neighborhood, really isn't any different.
When I was a kid, more of these houses had clotheslines and elderly people. People knew their neighbors and their dirty laundry (quite literally from laundry to the old days of no a/c and hearing through houses, etc). Now, I don't know a lot of the neighbors, and am not sure I want to, after seeing some of them. That said, over the years, I have helped get drug houses out of here, and some other issues (try to improve the neighborhood).
I live in the best neighborhood in St. Louis.
http://www.lafayettesquare.org/Photos.aspx
It's a Victorian village in the inner city. I'm here because of the architecture, and the old houses here are the fabric that binds everyone. Most people here are house huggers. While my immediate neighborhood is beautiful and is also fun with it's centrally located park and business district, nearby neighborhoods include public housing and we get all of the crime that comes with that.
This is a great community where we have lots of activities. I'm not as active as I once was in neighborhood affairs but I still attend things off and on, and all of our friends are from this neighborhood.
Safety is a big issue.We've lived here 23 years and had only minor crime--car crimes and minor thefts--until last fall when our house was robbed. Our neighborhoode has a strong safety programs with patrols and cameras and a beloved policeman who is currently assigned here. We all pay attention to crime issues and wtch what is going on around us at all times.
Miss Cellane
7-6-12, 6:28am
I live in a small city in New Hampshire. Large enough that there are things like the farmer's market, a small theater group, local museums, decent stores within a reasonable distance, close to the coast, easy to get to the larger cities and Boston if you want more things to do. The state university is one town over, so there's a lot of activity there.
My immediate neighborhood is safe--well, pretty much the entire city is safe. Walking distance to the library, town hall, local bakery and coffee shop, the center of town with small, local businesses. Lots of old Victorian houses, some old factory housing from the city's heyday as a manufacturing center--all those rivers gave a great deal of hydroelectric power.
It's also large enough that the small-town cliquishness isn't too overpowering--newcomers to town are welcomed, not viewed with suspicion. The big change over the years is that more and more people from Massachusetts are moving to the general area. They are willing to commute for three or four hours a day from Boston to southern NH, for the lower taxes. But they bring different expectations about what government should do and provide, so it makes for some interesting times.
My immediate neighborhood has lovely old houses, and an old cemetery at the heart of it. The city maintains it like a park, and people push their kids in strollers or go jogging amongst the old graves from the 1700s and 1800s. It seems odd, but the old and the new are intertwined in this old city. I love the sense of history here, and the feeling that there are roots.
Our previous house was in a neighborhood that we loved for its proximity to everything, including a university, a great bookstore, restaurants, bakeries, parks. We had the best neighbors there in the adjacent houses - unfortunately, there were many transients who wandered through the neighborhood and often slept in the park. We had an alarm on our house and never left the windows open at night (1-story). We experienced 2 thefts in the 5 years we lived there. My neighbor had an ongoing problem with mail theft.
Our current house, we chose for its construction year - after lead paint and asbestos, as we had a toddler - and for the ample green space around us due to wetlands. It is in a very safe suburb with an excellent school district, and we have a great yard for growing food. When we moved here, we weren't certain how long we would be here, for job reasons; but now we intend to stay for the long term, unless the job situation changes. We have many friends in our neighborhood and I love that DD is growing up with her friends - something I did not do as we moved many times.
I agree that a home is what you make of it. Any house you move into, is just a house. It takes a few years for it to really be home, in my experience. And anything can become a home... the 80s split-level we moved into 8 years ago was pretty generic, but now it is ours and despite the general lack of space and storage, we are all comfortable and "at home" here. It is where we want to be.
IrisLily, that is a beautiful neighborhood! Thanks for sharing the photos.
I live in a city of approx. 86,500 in Southern NH. My neighborhood is considered inner city, though we are just outside of the "rough" part of town. To be honest, I don't think much of it. My neighborhood is fairly transient (lots of apartments surround us and we are the only actual house on the block (all others are apartment buildings) so I don't know my neighbors. The house is a bit big for dh and myself but is fine when my college aged son is home. It's 964 sq ft on the main floor. Three bedrooms (one is dh's office). I also have a 300 sq ft fininished space in the basement that is my art studio. We have a good sized level lot and the back yard allows for line drying, gardens and relaxing. When it's quiet and you are in the back yard you forget you are in the city. We also have a two car detatched garage with attic storage above. Price wise we are overhoused now that dh is no longer working as a software developer, but rents for a one bedroom, plus separate studio rental would be very close to what we are paying for our mortgage (within $300 a month).... so we stay. I'm on a dead end that backs onto a Rail Trail that goes all the way downtown (empty's at city hall). I can bike to the library, post office, dinning and shopping from the rail trail. One street over and in the opposite direction is a trail head to 325 acres of state park land that is all wooded biking and hiking trails. This will take me to dinning, shopping, the movie theather, grocery store, my family doctor and the gym. I'm within 3 miles of everything.
I will say I miss living in Lowell Ma. I was born there, dh and I both attended college there and lived there for 10 years following graduation. The city was rough and it had it's crime ,but it also has a history and culture that you just don't find here in NH. The art community is alive and active and wonderful. The moto of the city is "art is the handmade of human good". This statement is even on the police cars. From sports, to concerts, dance, fine arts, cultural events etc... The city has a heartbeat. Dh and I are considering moving back to Lowell when he retires.
Iris, your neighborhood is very beautiful. We enjoyed our visit with you a few years ago immensely. The architecture in your neighborhood is stunning.
I love my neighborhood. I live in the neighborhood I grew up in. It's a first ring suburb. The city of Minneapolis is within walking distance of my house and it's a short drive to either downtown Minneapolis or St Paul and the University of MN, but it's very small town. The school district here, to give you some idea, has 1700 kids from K-12 and almost half of those are open enrollment kids.
My neighborhood is like a resort. It was built in the 1960s as an experiment in how landscape design can promote a sense of community. It has walking paths, gardens, two ponds, two swimming pools, tennis courts, a basketball court, a volleyball court and a giant sandbox. Across the street we have a regional park on a lake. Their focus is on arts and the environment. They have walking paths by a lake, a picnic area on an island, an organic coffee shop with a dining space where you are allowed to bring your own food, a patio with a fireplace overlooking the lake, a woodfired oven, a ceramics studio, art classes, nature walks, canoe rentals and a dyer's garden with plants that can be used for dying fabric and fibers. We are also within walking distance of an area with a lot of shops and restaurants, including a grocery store and our bank.
We are very community oriented here. We have neighborhood book clubs, gardening clubs, a walking club, a Resiliency group that brings meals to those who are ill or post-partum, a Women Who Cook group that I belong to, a monthly mens gathering at local ethnic restaurants followed by ping pong and lots of potlucks. We even have a neighbor starting a prayer group for those of us who are interested.
I live in a town of 10,000 in central Massachusetts. I'm on a dirt road that connects to the back of a state park, and has 11 houses on it (were 7 when we bought this house). I bought it because we had lived in a condo for 10 years- the market had dropped out so it was unsellable. We sold it after 10 years at about 60% of what we paid for it, and the prices have still not recovered after 25 years. We had been on top of people, and as the units were unsellable, the neighborhood became all rentals, and many of the renters were from environments where "sharing" your loud music was the norm, as well as having loud and late night parties. I just wanted to be as far away from people as I could, without making any work commute too awful, so we bought this house on 3 acres.
While I love the rural nature of my particular house, my town is kind of a desert for anything cultural or even things like farmers markets. Most people commute elsewhere for work.
But they bring different expectations about what government should do and provide, so it makes for some interesting times.
I'm experiencing this as well. There have been 4 new houses built in the last 7 or 8 years. For a few years, we didn't have a building inspector in place and some houses were given occupancy permits that really shouldn't have: one was too big a house for the lot which as a result had to be built up more than 10 feet from the surrounding property, another has a steeply sloped dirt driveway without adequate swales on each side. As a result, we started to have some road erosion. The new people who have moved in are all from cities and are petitioning the town to widen and pave our road, ie destroying every reason for why I bought this house in this location. :( We had meeting of the residents about this the other night, and it got really ugly and heated. One of the proponents got really angry about there being a public hearing open to rest of the town next month about whether we should spend 1/2 the town's paving budget on a road that services 10 families, she thinks it should be done just because she demands it.
I'm rural and 6 miles out of town (sort of - hilly/curvy roads, if I could fly straight it'd be more like 3). Town is two towns with a river lake (dammed at both ends) dividing the towns. One is a population of 5000 and the other may have reached 10,000....but we get millions of tourists a year.
Our 'neighborhood' use to have a big empty field and woods that you'd drive through before getting to our 1/2 mile loop which had 6 houses on it. That field and wood is now full of 23 houses and we now have 13 additional houses on our loop. But it seems like less of a neighborhood because people aren't real chatty. And some of the new people drive way too fast on our road. I'm glad my house sits back from the road and that I've got 1 acre of woods on my left and 4 on my right and 60 acres behind me. The owners of those properties show no interest in building or sub-dividing.........yet.
I'm ready to move further out and have more land to myself (we only have 1/2 acre). I've never lived in town except when I was in college in a small town of 5,000 (+ 2,000 college students) and when I worked in Memphis, TN and Alexandria, VA.
We live in a university town of about 280,000. This is by far the biggest town I've ever lived in and so its a nice compromise between the prairie that I would probably choose and mid-town Manhattan that would be DW's preference. It's very midwestern, genereally conservative (politically and otherwise), family oriented. The university adds enough diversity, social liberalism and cultural activity to the mix to make this white bread town (homogenous beyond imagination) bareable for us.
We are closing on a new-to-us house in less than two weeks. It's a bit of an experiment for us both in terms of size (small) and neighborhood (inner suburb). We have met a few of the neighbors when we were at the house measuring and lining up bids for the renovation we will be doing. So far so good. This house is in what they call the "bungalow district". It's an area of small houses that borders an area of the grand old houses.
Our new street is one of those transitional streets. All the houses are smaller: I can't think of one in the area that would beat the national average size and most are half that. It is centrally located. All necessary goods and services are within easy biking distance, most within a moderate walk. Public transportation is average at best, but at least available. Lots of bike paths and parks in the area.
Until recently it has been a mix of elderly folks that have been there for many years and rental housing. There are a few houses that have been renovated and are very well done. There are a few that still have chain link fences and a collection of well used furniture/auto parts in the front yard. Many are still well maintained by long term residents. A realtor friend of ours, who is very successful because he is very good at identifying trends early on, said this is THE place to be right now. He believes, as do we, that the multiple trends of empty nesters downsizing, couples choosing to have small families or none at all, people choosing to remain single for the duration and young families looking for smaller, more efficient homes are all going to converge in neighborhoods like ours. The sales activity seems to confirm that. The average days on market for homes in this area is less than half of what it is in the rest of town, and we actually have a very strong real estate market here. Can't wait to see what the next 5 years will bring!
I live in a major Midwestern city. I love living in the neighborhood that I do. It's quiet and we are walking /biking distance to parks, city lakes, the farmers' market, restaurants, shops, etc. I love old houses, so living in suburbia was never on our radar. Plus, I like sidewalks. I'm so used to them I can't imagine having to take a walk in the street. We bought our house years ago as a fixer-upper. We were planning to sell after a couple of years, but we were never able to find a house we liked better. My DD starts school in a couple of years. I would like to stay put for her sake. I think it's kind of nice to not have to be the new kid.
It's a nice neighborhood though. It's a nice mix too- families, retirees, singles. Everything I need is within one or two miles. Since I stay home now, I barely even use the car.
I live in a 1950s Leave It to Beaver neighborhood a few miles from downtown Austin. The homes are mostly classic ranch style on large, heavily treed lots. The residents are presently a mix of elderly, young couples, gay couples and recently, families with children. A nice mix. It is quiet, shady and when the weather is agreeable, the streets are filled with walkers and cyclists. Groceries, library and park are all within walking distance. There is a lot of community involvement - neighborhood association meetings, safety patrols, 4th of July parade, etc. It is a great place to live but sadly gentrifying as those with more means are buying houses and doubling their size. We figure we have about two more years before we must move on as the high property taxes will not be doable on a retirement budget.
Iris Lily, I LOVE your neighborhood! It looks absolutely gorgeous.
My neighborhood is a typical suburban subdivision in Central NJ. It was built in the 70s, and it was probably the next step up from the 1st generation housing that was built on farmland in the 50s here. Now, there have been "next step up" homes built across the road--McMansion-syle. There was a law on the books back then that if a developer were building x number of houses he also had to provide a school, so my neighborhood has an elementary school plunk in the middle of it--in fact I look out my window across the park and there it is.
What I like about my neighborhood is the diversity. Lots of all different kinds of people from all over! What I dislike is the fact that it is definitely a "suburban sprawl" type of neighborhood, where there is no real center of town.
I like that I CAN walk to a LOT of services--the express bus to NYC, the post office, the convenience store, pharmacy, cleaners, big Asian supermarket, church. But I don't like that if I DO walk there, my neighbors assume my car is broken down and they offer me a ride, and when I say that I prefer to walk, they look at me as if I'm weird.
I live in a town of about 30,000 which is rapidly becoming an exurb of Denver (if it ever wasn't). We're small enough to have a neighborly feel, but big enough to have a farmer's market, library, movie theater, theater troupe, museums, organic grocery store, etc. There are interconnected parks everywhere, which makes it easy to stay active as I get older. My particular neighborhood is made up of sprawling ranch homes from the 60's and 70's on half-acre lots. The elk and deer browse on the front "lawns" (though few people have lawns, more like native grasses) and people look out for each other. There are buses into Denver for commuting.
I moved here from the city, where I lived the hipster life downtown for a while. I just got tired of being so vigilant all the time, trying to steer clear of crime, drugs, etc., and having grown up in the ghetto, I decided enough was enough. I could no longer deny that safety and peace of mind were just too important to me.
What I like about here the most, probably, is that we're very mixed politically -- lots of right, left, and in between --- and yet we still seem to be able to have civilized conversations publicly and see each other's point of view, and policy is very fair and balanced. There are a handful of extremists from both sides but they just don't get a lot of attention in the big scheme of things. I like that.
I don't think Iris Lily's neighborhood is real. It's a movie set, a Potemkin village, or maybe a Photoshop mock-up. It's just too gorgeous. And so tidy! (No wonder you love it there...)
My neighborhood is heavily treed, no two houses alike, subject to wildlife incursions, close to totally crime-free, surrounded by natural (and not so natural, if you want to count the golf course) beauty: a big lake, hills, a river, mountains in the distance, a couple of forests down the lane. It's lovely, but not particularly walkable. I've walked to "town" and back a few times, but it's a long slog up and down a hill and I'm not into endurance sports. The only downside really is that you need a car to go anywhere but the local substance-abuse mart, and if you want to do any real shopping (like for underwear), you'll need to drive one, two, or three suburbs over. That's not as bad as it sounds, because all of the Eastside is pretty, the Kirkland waterfront is spectacular, and there are inspiring views all over the place. My heart and soul live here; it will be difficult to leave.
awakenedsoul
7-6-12, 2:20pm
Thank you for all of your replies! Everyone who responded is such a good writer. I really get a feel for where you live from your descriptions. My goal is to love my neighborhood, whatever that means I have to do. This thread has made me see that although I love my cottage, gardens, and low cost of living, I hate my neighborhood. When I moved here, I saw the potential, not the reality.
puglogic,
I can really relate to what you're saying. Always keeping your guard up is intense. Thanks for your honesty and insights.
I live in SE Seattle, in a HOPE VI redevelopment neighborhood. We bought in 2001.
Pluses: I love the racial & ethnic diversity here. 9 languages spoken on my block alone. Habitat built many homes here, and the Seattle Housing Authority has about 40% of the homes as rentals. There is a fantastic library, community center, and several parks. I am organizing a Community Kitchen here, and hope to have it operational by fall. We have a commercial kitchen available, as well as a meeting hall for dining.
We have at least four major world religions represented, and there are always celebrations happening. The homes were built 10-12 years ago, so we moved into a new, insulated, comfy, needed nothing place with DH's traumatized children. And it is affordable!
Minuses: It's been very hard to make friends. Language barriers are my biggest stumbling block. After 11 years, I feel close to only one family. Having lived in a small rural island community for nearly 20 years, the contrast is stark. It would be so much easier if I spoke Mandarin or Cantonese. Or Tigrinya, Oromo, or Arabic!
I am working on making more friends & community. I had a powerful experience with my 23 year old Mexican American neighbor, Johnny, last month. They moved in about 6 months after we did, we watched their Habitat house be built, and he was 12 at the time. He went through a gansta phase when he was 15, and now is in college, a first in his family. We often talk philosophy when he's out working on his muscle car... It's one of my favorite experiences.
He came over on his birthday to bring us some carne asada he made - he is an awesome cook - and said he really wanted to make community in our neighborhood. I got quite excited, and we're making some plans together. Then I told him that we had chosen the neighborhood in the hopes of building community. He looked at me as if I had descended from Mars... It was quite a dramatic moment. Then he said "You CHOSE to live here?" I said yes, and he replied "I didn't know you could do that. We only ever went where we could afford."
I nearly burst into tears. Right there was the race & class divide in housing. It was revelatory for both of us. In all my years of doing both community organizing and housing work, nothing as clear and powerful has ever revealed itself to me about the divide. I am looking forward to collaborating across these divides, as well as age & gender, with Johnny, to have some fun & get to know our neighbors. He's interested in assisting with the Community Kitchen effort! Yay. I'll keep y'all posted...
PS... One of my driving principles is reflected in the title of this book, which I highly recommend:
Creating a World That Works for All, by Sharif Abdullah.
http://www.amazon.com/Creating-World-That-Works-All/dp/1576750620
It is what I hope to accomplish on my little corner of the world...
YOur neighborhood sounds very nice to me awakensoul. I have found I can not have everything I search for. I have moved 26 times since 1980 and never seem to find the perfect forever spot. I have been out there in the boonies and had crappy neighbors. I have been in the city and had great neighbors. I had a horse and property and then I felt like I was out there too far. I had the street fill up with the cars parking to get to the football game, so I was too close to everything.
Somehow my ship crashed in the township, three miles outside a city that I am not fond of, 10 miles from a small city I do like so I bike 20 miles round trip almost daily to the smaller city. Perhaps I never planned to be here, it was for a job that is no more, I have no family close by and I can pick a part everything I do not like, but after 2 3/4 years here I am starting to feel at home. It is safe, clean, friendly, paid for, I started the gardens this year,Made conections with the farmer down the street the other day for some manure this fall, if I wanted a chicken I could have one. I know I can make this place anything I really want with effort. I planted some trees last week. SO maybe I will be here a while.....................or maybe not but for now it is OK.
Adding it is a {{{subdivision}}} a place I said I would never live. But we have an acre, neighbors have 15 and everyone else is assorted acres, no two homes the same and only about 25 homes of differing ages and designs. Well water which is really nice.
Yes, Redfox - lovely!
Enjoying this thread a lot!
I live in a University town of about 115,000 in the Southeast. My neighborhood is only a few blocks from the University. It's perfect for me, since I'm in Grad School here. I can walk to work/classes. In the other direction, I can walk to my credit union, an organic grocery store, a drug store, a bike shop, two coffee shops, and several restaurants. My neighbors are mixed students and older people who work at the University. And they're friendly, for the most part. Rent is reasonable. I miss having a garden, but I can put my collection of flowers, vegetables, and herbs in pots on the lawn in front of the building and the landlord doesn't care.
Public transportation could be better in this town. I can take the bus downtown, or to shopping, but it's a hassle. Still, I drive very little now that I've moved to this neighborhood. There's an awesome Farmer's Market on Saturday and Wednesday, lots of music and other cultural stuff, great bookstores, restaurants, and a beautiful Botanical Garden a couple of miles away where I love to walk. The town is fairly diverse. I really like my neighborhood and my town. This is the first time I've lived in-town and I wasn't sure I would like it. But I'm really content here. I'm not sure I'd want to live in this neighborhood forever - I really do miss having a garden, and no way I can afford a house in the neighborhood. But I could see staying in this town for the rest of my life.
PS... One of my driving principles is reflected in the title of this book, which I highly recommend:
Creating a World That Works for All, by Sharif Abdullah.
http://www.amazon.com/Creating-World-That-Works-All/dp/1576750620
It is what I hope to accomplish on my little corner of the world...
You guys have to quit recommending books! My gazingus pin in action here with one-click purchase power for my Kindle! I just downloaded this book, redfox. it looks awesome.
Your story was very poignant as well.
Gurl, the library!!! Though I share your gazingus pin, so lotsa sympathy... Let me know what you think of the book!
Our neighbourhood (and community) is super-great! Safe, kid/family friendly, and just the right size. We're no more than about 10 minutes away from whatever, and are graced with world-class recreation.
I don't think Iris Lily's neighborhood is real. It's a movie set, a Potemkin village, or maybe a Photoshop mock-up. It's just too gorgeous. And so tidy! (No wonder you love it there...)
haha, those photos are of course showing the best bits, but these days there aren't any boarded up houses here so the 'hood looks the best it ever has in modern times.
redfox, I do so wish that the HOPE VI project two blocks from me had the wide range of culture that yours has. Instead, we've got ghetto culture with a few Somalis or Ethiopians tossed in. It's the usual drugs, mayhem, killings that come with ghetto life and I feel sorry for the immigrants there. I suppose they are better off there than being in the place from which they came, but not by much. This version of The Housing Authority has been unable to stamp out typical crime as has every other Housing Authority bureaucratic regime. They are useless.
A community kitchen might be wonderful with all of those ethnic cooks in your area, egad, sell me tickets to dinner, I'd go every night!
Sad Eyed Lady
7-7-12, 12:48pm
I have an ongoing love/hate relationship with my town. I have lived here so many years that I feel "comfortable", it is safe except for some petty stuff, and it's nice when walking outside to have neighbors wave or speak because I have known most of them for so long. Almost anywhere is in walking distance, but what is there to walk to? We are one of the sad, dying little towns, (although it hasn't had much life in a l-o-n-g time), with not even a small cafe to walk to for a cup of coffee. On the outskirts of town there are several of the fast food places like McDonald's, Hardees, Sonic, etc. But as for in town itself my favorite things are: the library, the city park, and oddly enough the cemetery. The cemetery is quiet and peaceful, a good place to walk with hills to give a bit of a work out. That's it for the love side. On the hate side - no farmers market, a well paid mayor and city council that doesn't seem to consider any progress other than industry is needed. I regularly tell them that yes, we need jobs but also we need a place to spend the money we make or it will continue to just go to the next town. I have talked to them about recycling, (DH & I load ours up and drive it to the next town); a wildflower meadow somewhere in the park instead of the mowers going constantly, (even in this drought); incentive for small businesses to open in town, etc. No action on anything. Very frustrating when we have to drive to the next town to us which is a university town with lots to offer, when we want to do anything. Thankfully it is only about 20-25 miles away, but still with gas prices it is not always convenient. So, yes love the low crime and knowing so many of the people, hate the lack of things that make a town an community. A couple of other things I need to mention: there is no sense of community here (and I am not saying this lightly), and one thing we do have is LOTS of public housing. We have people who have come from many other areas and states to enjoy our public housing! At risk of sounding judgmental that fact has greatly increased our population of non-working, non-tax paying residents. I know that not every person who lives in public housing should be subject to this label - I worked with two hard working single moms who lived in public housing and I was constantly encouraging them to move since they were paying almost as much, (because they did work), as they would have in a privately owned apartment. Our population ( around 2000) has remained almost constant for many, many years, so with the influx of the public housing residents, that tells you there has to be an almost equal outflow. Sadly, this is our young, educated people who have to go elsewhere. Some vent/rant here I guess. But, you asked!
redfox, I do so wish that the HOPE VI project two blocks from me had the wide range of culture that yours has. Instead, we've got ghetto culture with a few Somalis or Ethiopians tossed in. It's the usual drugs, mayhem, killings that come with ghetto life and I feel sorry for the immigrants there. I suppose they are better off there than being in the place from which they came, but not by much. This version of The Housing Authority has been unable to stamp out typical crime as has every other Housing Authority bureaucratic regime. They are useless.
A community kitchen might be wonderful with all of those ethnic cooks in your area, egad, sell me tickets to dinner, I'd go every night!
Iris Lily, I am sorry your HOPE VI community isn't more diverse. I think we got lucky in Seattle for a few reasons; we are a Pacific Rim port city, and have many many cultures here. The school district has 111 languages represented! And, the housing authority took a very progressive approach to the redevelopment process, involving public housing residents in the redesign process. Many moved back in after the redevelopment, so there are some of my neighbors who have been here for 25+ years. They hired a community developer, who started work before the redevelopment, and is still here. She & I have become friends, and I often support her in projects that are designed to bridge the class gap between homeowners & public housing renters. It's been a tough nut to crack...
We also have a strong progressive community of middle class home buyers who see the value in buying in this community. The 60% that are private market purchased homes are owned by mostly young families of many races who have chosen to raise their childn in a mixed income, mixed race neighborhood. It's a very interesting experiment, to be sure! I do have to laugh at outside critics who call it "social engineering", as I view everything humans create as social engineering. Red lining certainly was that.
I am determined to continue the community building process personally, even though there are days when I am bummed about it. I look forward to getting the Community Kitchen up & running, and you darn well better call me if you're ever in Seattle! I so want to meet you. I'd be delighted to host you for a CK meal.
Ok, out to the garden!!
When I moved here, I saw the potential, not the reality.
AS, potential was a big part of why I chose to live where I am now. I live within the city limits of Saint Paul, Minnesota, in one of the oldest neighborhoods that didn't get washed out every spring with Mississippi River flooding. It's hard between downtown Saint Paul and Crocus Hill, an "emerged" neighborhood that boasts some of the most beautiful mansions in Minnesota, dating back to the founding of the city (families like the Weyerhausers and Hills) . When I moved here almost a decade ago, I saw signs that this was the next place to be "discovered" since the neighborhood was between two desirable, higher-priced neighborhoods, almost everything you need is pretty convenient to get to, even without a car, and housing prices were much lower than they were on "the Hill" (there's no way I would have found a three-bedroom rambler on "the Hill" for anywhere near what I paid for my place even though I bought it at the height of the housing bubble).
Downtown Saint Paul still needs some sort of renaissance. It's not a bad neighborhood (though I'd just as soon not be strolling around outside after bar-closing time anywhere in Saint Paul). It's just ... dead. Not much reason to be there after working hours. The hockey arena helped buoy some new businesses not far from us. There is a former brewery nearby (dating back to the 19th century; many of its employees lived in this neighborhood) which eventually became an ethanol plant -- until the stench and management's unwillingness to do much about it closed it down. They keep promising to redevelop it as artists' lofts and entertainment/dining venues and maybe even a museum of breweriana, but so far no one has made much progress and the Great Recession has not helped. The Great Recession did help weed out a few overextended absentee landlords here -- though it meant a fair number of abandoned houses for a few years. Most of those are occupied again, "under new management", as they say.
So the idea that this neighborhood was going to be the next new fancy neighborhood here -- well, it's on hold AFAIC. In the meantime, I've got some really good neighbors (and a couple of clinkers), mature trees, easy access to the places I want to be, I didn't go house-poor to buy what we have, and the first guy out after the winter storm (not always me) still helps snowblow other people's walks and driveways. We do look out for each other, we share the produce from our gardens, we sometimes get to listen to the neighbor's music (or, more usually, their dogs), we wave 'hi' when we see each other ... So even though we're still far short of the potential, the reality here ain't so bad.
I live in western Massachusetts in what is commonly referred to as a hilltown. :D I'm actually 3.5 miles outside of this little town of ~3000 people, and yes, this is where I chose to live! I love it because my little town is close enough to the five local colleges that I have all the amenities of a major city with none of the downsides. Although we live on 20 acres, we have three neighbors who are very close to us in proximity because our houses are situated along a ridge. They are all wonderful people who like many of the same things we do: (mostly) organic gardening, backyard chickens, peace and quiet! :cool: The town itself is limited in it's commerce, but there is a public library, a very nice restaurant (which is owned by some of our friends), a small grocery store that carries at least some local produce, a little bike shop, and random people with little farm stands in their front yards selling asparagus, strawberries, and sweet corn. Having grown up in the southwestern part of Minnesota on a dairy farm in the middle of nowhere, this existence feels quite urban to me! Sure, I have to drive to get to almost everything (there is a great public bus system, but the closest stop is 4 miles from us), but I work from home so it is pretty easy to coordinate all of my errands into one outing. The best part about the "neighborhood" and one of the primary reasons we bought a house here is its proximity to a state forest. It is under a mile to the trail head and from there I have access to more than 100 miles of trails for running, mountain biking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, horseback riding, and hiking. Makes for a lot of beautiful, nature-filled, cheap entertainment!
awakenedsoul
7-7-12, 7:47pm
I just LOVE hearing about where everybody lives! My German shepherd has really solved my problem for me. The neighbors who were throwing stuff in my gardens and antagonizing, (with no reaction from me,) have stopped. I think they're afraid of her. She seems to LOVE being the guard dog. It's a relief. I trained her to be in the front yard now, without trampling the flowers in my cottage garden.
This is what I can afford, so I will try to focus on the positives. There are many. I've noticed since the recession that the new home owners, (who got great deals,) seem to be putting a lot of time and money into their homes. I see new fencing, landscaping, some farming, (yay!) and it really helps.
I was having a problem with the neighbors taking turns with drug dealers waking me up every night at 11:30 p.m. They would drive up to the house, bounce a ball loudly on the street, accelerate several times, blare their music, then drive away. It was really stressful. They threw a rock at my house the other night, and that really upset me. The police can't really do anything. But, my loyal German shepherd has solved that for me. She seems so happy to be "working" and to have a job. She read them the riot act. She was galloping around and it reminded me of how excited I was as a teenager when I first started working.
I make out my to do list everyday, and check everything off. I can really live the simple life here affordably, and it's ideal for retirement, too.
I gotta say, the Somali community in my 'hood just rocks. We had a gathering in the park, and it was mostly Somali women and their darling kids. We gave away ice cream, and it was sooo fun.
We're planning an Eid al Fitr celebration for the end of Ramadan in August as an excuse to have a block party/BBQ. I'm going to learn Halal cooking! Now, to work on getting other ethnic communities out to join us...!
I was having a problem with the neighbors taking turns with drug dealers waking me up every night at 11:30 p.m. They would drive up to the house, bounce a ball loudly on the street, accelerate several times, blare their music, then drive away. It was really stressful. They threw a rock at my house the other night, and that really upset me. The police can't really do anything. .
I don't understand this non-response from the police if these neighbors were doing this at the same time every night. Seems like a simple stakeout and some arrests on the spot would have done the trick. Especially when they are escalating to actually throwing a rock at your house. But sounds like your dog seems to have halted things.
awakenedsoul
7-7-12, 8:25pm
Lainey,
Yes, the dog did the trick. The police suggested I put up cameras and motion sensors and take them to court. I just hate to waste any time and energy on people like that. I agree with you, but where I live, you pretty much have to take people to Small Claims Court. I did that ten years ago. Another neighbor told me that used to do the same type of stuff to an elderly lady who lived alone across the street. They would throw all of their trash in her garden and in the middle of the night she would get out and put it in their truck...
The man who orchestrates it all is a chain smoker and he has lung cancer. He knows exactly how far he can go, and still get away with it. The friends I have here think he's jealous of how cute my cottage and garden look.
There are some other great neighbors. It's just partially ghetto. Live and learn...
fidgiegirl
7-7-12, 10:38pm
Wow, everyone, such cool neighborhoods, for the most part people seem pretty happy where they are at . . .
Steve, I know your neighborhood, and I agree about downtown. Deadsville! In fact I bet Macy's is outta there in a few short months - I read that soon the clause in their city loans that obligates them to stay will expire. Our functional "downtown," in the sense of shopping (don't do much anyway), is Roseville area, and sometimes Midway. But mostly we can get everything in our own little few blocks.
cdttmm, jealous about the trails. Sweet.
SadEyedLady, your comments reminded me of a story I read in the book Switch, where some high school kids helped to revitalize their town by challenging everyone to spend at least 10% (can't remember exact number) of their retail IN TOWN. Made a world of difference. But sometimes it takes the starry eyes of youth to create the buy-in for such an activity - "I want my town to be great so I can stay here and live!" My hometown is much like yours. It makes me sad to visit sometimes. No character really left, and no cute downtown anymore that had anything the seniors might need who lived nearby, just closed storefronts and few thrift stores.
Redfox, still loving your stories.
Awakenedsoul, glad the dog has done the trick. Hope she continues to do so.
Here we have moved into quite a picturesque area of St. Paul. We lived in the same neighborhood before, but further east, and the homes are smaller but still cute. A year in retrospect, with housing selling faster, we think we lucked out to get in to this house when we did. We are six blocks from the Mississippi River, including trails that connect into Minneapolis's far superior trail system, and about a mile's walk from all the shopping we could want. Smaller shopping like Whole Foods, pharmacy, hardware store is also really close. We are near a large private university that pre-dates the neighborhood itself and the current political stink is on whether or not the city should ban further student rental housing in the neighborhood, which I feel to be pretty unenforceable.
Our immediate neighbors have been super friendly, and I am feeling much more private and at home in a lot that is not a corner lot. Isn't that strange? But in our old house (I realize now that we are out of it), I felt on display all the time. Here, only the neighbors on either side can see what we do in the back yard. But DH doesn't feel quite as safe being on an interior lot. He worries slightly about people breaking in and whatnot. For example, I wanted to leave first-floor windows open when the heat broke one night overnight, and he couldn't sleep for worry. So we shut them - no big deal. We are getting our back door redone soon to help with energy and security, too. But overall, I myself have very very very little worry about crime apart from car break-ins. And generally, that happens when someone stashes a laptop or purse under the car seat and then walks away only to come back to find out that someone had observed them doing that. So we are always cautious with that.
Public transit is here if I needed it, but my job now involves a lot of driving so that is moot. If I had to work in either downtown I could hop on light rail pretty easily starting in 2014. If I could arrange my job just so, we could go to one car or even carless. But it would need to be a work-from-home or at the university or at one of the walkable schools. Oh well, I love my current job so not changing anytime soon!
Steve, I bet you can guess my 'hood now, too. :)
... And, the housing authority took a very progressive approach to the redevelopment process, involving public housing residents in the redesign process.
I assume they were required to do that since the Housing Authority bureaucrats did the same thing here. For literally years, no exaggeration, I went to design charettes and joint meetings with public housing residents and residents of my neighborhood to plan Hope VI, but in the end we still got crapola buildings with ticky tacky plastic "architectural features" over the doorways and just plain weird facades. The high rises were razed only to make room for more cheap government junk (but they are still better than the bombed out high rises.)
During those meetings I learned that public housing residents have no interest in design that blends well with historic structures, and since my #1 interest in my neighborhood is preserving the historic architectural fabric, I can't relate to them. So I won't be crossing the line between my 'nabe and theirs anytime soon, we've got nothing in common.
The Somalis in the housing projects here are so beautiful, what a gorgeous people! I think they are probably horrified by the behavior of their American neighbors in the projects much of the time.
Wow, how interesting that designing with residents happened in St. Louis as well! I wonder if it was a requirement.
I cannot imagine that most low income folks have any notion of historic housing, since their primary concerns are usually safety & affordabity. It takes having extra time & brain power to think about this, and when one is struggling to make ends meet, that's pretty much the bandwidth. The class divisions in housing are stark, IMHO. Sadly.
Our neighborhood is modern, mass built, vinyl sided, pretty bland, though with cute front porches, a nod to the New Urbanism, though there really wasn't the budget to build a true NU neighborhood. The blank slates inside allow for folks to be able to decorate however they choose, and I've seen some dramatically diffent interiors, from simple & spare to elaborate, and each highly culturally specific. I love the variety of aesthetics here, which extend out to the front porch. Many Buddhist homes have small altars with fruit & incense offerings on them year round.
The lots are small, with detached garages located at the back of the lot rather than in front - nice to not face a blank façade of garages down the street. Also buried power lines! Landscaping was bare minimum, and now, 11 years later, we actually have noticeable street trees. Back yards are narrow, and bordered by garage's; the neighbors on one side, and ours on the other, and we have shared fences. It sure does compel communication! My Mandarin is non-existant, but trading veggies across the fence is universal... even if I am still stumped by kohlrabi & Chinese bitter melon.
I'd love to live in a classic NW Craftsman, but they are incredibly expensive. And, I am dedicated to community building right where I find myself.
I don't understand this non-response from the police if these neighbors were doing this at the same time every night. Seems like a simple stakeout and some arrests on the spot would have done the trick. Especially when they are escalating to actually throwing a rock at your house. But sounds like your dog seems to have halted things.
Ditto, Lainey. I would be so in their face to do their jobs, which we pay for! Sheesh.
Went to my folks yesterday, they have lived there since 1956. It was once a cute middle class neighborhood with working families, kids ans veggie gardens and pride in homes. The home and area served them well. The area now in slang is called PoHo :( just north of Detroit. As the local paper says, the Detroit element is coming here daily. The neighbors on both sides make me cringe.
Amazing how areas change. Both for the better and the worse or time.
Stella, fidgiegirl, and Steve: I'm loving your descriptions of MSP neighborhoods! My mom lives in St Anthony Park and my brother in the Loring Park neighborhood -- perhaps I need to explore some more of the fabulousness MSP has to offer the next time I visit them. :)
Stella, fidgiegirl, and Steve: I'm loving your descriptions of MSP neighborhoods! My mom lives in St Anthony Park and my brother in the Loring Park neighborhood -- perhaps I need to explore some more of the fabulousness MSP has to offer the next time I visit them. :)
cdttmm, if you can get past the winters here (and, lately, the summers), it really is a nice place to live. As Kelli guessed, I now know which neighborhood she lives in (a nice one, too; we looked in that neighborhood when we were househunting). I'll have to look for Stella's post; I must have missed it.
A picture of the house next door (ours isn't nearly that photogenic; oh, and the picture is a little dark to protect the innocent [my neighbors]):
http://i48.tinypic.com/260385i.jpg
I live in the outskirts, if not the suburbs, of Denver in a neighborhood of '50's ranch houses. Most of my neighbors are elderly with a smattering of ethnic diversity and a few young families starting to move in. There is a network of bike trails within a couple of blocks of home and a highway leading to the mountains close-by. The county has an excellent open space program with something like 40,000 acres with hiking and biking trails. Many are an easy drive from home and I use them a lot including some open space volunteer work. So it is a great place for outdoor recreation with easy commutes. I can do about half of my errands by bicycle on trails or bike lanes in good weather.
The older population has some trade-offs. It's a pretty safe and quiet area and people are friendly, but the older folks pretty much keep to themselves and I miss the sense of a vibrant and sharing community. I occasionally look at other areas to move to, but so far the pluses have out weighed these smaller things. Things could be far worse and no place has it all, at least that I've found. I moved here from a neighborhood where the police frequented neighbors for various disputes and annoyances and had adopted the attitude that good fences make good neighbors and am thankful for what I now have.
I've really enjoyed reading about where everyone lives. A few places sound close to perfect.
Gardenarian
7-9-12, 1:20pm
I live in a small town of around 3500 about 10 minutes from downtown San Francisco.
Pluses: Great weather - we rarely use heat and air conditioning is unnecessary, need fewer clothes, can enjoy the outdoors virtually every day of the year, year-round gardening (though I could do with a bit more rain), safe community, very friendly community-oriented folks, 2 blocks to library/ market / weekly farmer's market / swimming pool / tennis courts, located adjacent to state park so lots of hiking trails and wildlife, 10 minute commute to work, easy access to everything (airport, museums, concerts, kayaking on the bay, wilderness areas.) And, real estate prices have not declined much. It's a family town with lots of kids, unlike San Francisco itself - when dd was small it was great to have all the parent support. The houses were mostly built in the 40's and are on the small side (650-1700 sf.) A diverse community in every way.
Minuses: It's a very congested area, the streets are lined with cars (those old houses were not designed for 2,3,4 car families!) it's noisy, airplane noise (which has escalated alarmingly in the past few years), very hilly - biking all but impossible, small town cliques are annoying, everyone knows your business and likes to tell you about it. Very expensive, but the cost of real estate is partly offset by not having to deal with extreme temperatures. Poor public transit.
I am sick of the congestion and noise and recently bought a cabin in a little hippie community (no town as such) in the Santa Cruz Moutains (about 45 minutes from SF.) SO quiet and beautiful! I love it and am somewhat torn - I'd like to live in the cabin full-time, but I am attached to my town.
Are you happy in your neighborhood? Do you feel safe and secure? Do you plan to stay there long term?
I'm sort of in transition now because I sold my house to travel full time but stay with my sister (or rent a temp furnished place) between traveling. So no, I'm not planning to stay here full time although it's the area I've lived a large part of my life and where I was a home owner for years. It's a SoCal beach community about 40 miles south of LA. It's fairly sprawled out urban/suburban area that, short of the great beaches, low key surf-bum lifestyle (it's not nicked named "Surf City" for nothing!) and weather, hasn't anything charming or interesting about it. Sort of the land of tract housing, strip malls and big box shopping centers. If my sister wasn't here (my only family) I probably would have left permanently long ago. I had moved out of the area when I first quit my job years ago. Bought a place up in the local mountains about 100 miles from here. A great little 4 seasons ski and lake resort town at 7,000 ft. Much more like "home" to me then this part of SoCal. The town, lifestyle, community, and even my cute little chalet, fitted my personality well. But it also isn't anywhere I'd want to live long term for a variety of reasons (too small, too isolated, too hard to get up and down the mountain, etc..). So have no idea where I'll eventually end up. I'm pretty open to many places and am enjoying checking them out while I travel. I've lived in many many places in my life (military brat, in the military myself and married to a guy in the military so moved alot) so have some experience of living in different places and know what I like. May not "settle down" to a permanent place for many years to come, but when I do - and if I choose to buy again - it'll probably be the last place I live so it better be good!
And we do have world famous Dog Beach where all the pups are surf-pups:
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=830&d=1341950267http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=831&d=1341950483
awakenedsoul
7-10-12, 3:44pm
I'm realizing now that 98% of the time I love it here. This neighbor is very controlling, and I let him get his hooks in for a while. I just donated my old stove to the Salvation Army, and I'm flying high. They were so appreciative, and said it will be sold by tomorrow. Now I'm feeling like myself again. This location is ideal as far as convenience and for retirement. When I bought it, everyone said, "Wow! They will probably develop this area and then you can sell your lot for $500,000.!" That's how it looked in 1998. I have the freedom now to travel to place like Big Sur. Also can rent a cabin in the mountains very cheaply. So, I think it will work out. They recently built a college a few blocks from here, and the restaurant on the corner just reopened and they really fixed it up nicely.
Chauvinism can be frustrating, but it makes me so glad I was born in this country. It was fortunate that I took advantage of all of the opportunities that came my way. There are a few other single women on our street who are very strong, talented, and successful. One is a horse vet tech. The other two are animal trainers in the movies. These little houses work well for single, artistic people.
Tussiemussies
7-10-12, 5:26pm
We live in a nice development that is very safe. When we were looking around for a place to live safety was the first issue before all else. We do pay a lot more per month but I feel it is peace of mind for us and it has been we don't have to think about it at all. :)
Tussiemussies
7-10-12, 5:29pm
Spartans just love the surf pup pictures!
awakenedsoul
7-10-12, 7:08pm
Yeah, those are so cute! I've been to that dog beach...it's fabulous! They have a great one in Carmel, too.
Spartans just love the surf pup pictures!
I'm trying to tempt Iris Lily into bringing her hoarde of french bulldogs out here for the dog-surfing and dog-skate boarding. It seems like the bulldogs win all the competitions. Must be those short legs and low slung bodies.
Dudes, like, ya know, come to SoCal dudes, it's like, gnarly dudes ....
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=833&d=1342034027
awakenedsoul
7-11-12, 4:36pm
I want to come! When is it? My dog is great at frisbee, but she doesn't surf or skateboard.
I want to come! When is it? My dog is great at frisbee, but she doesn't surf or skateboard.
Mot until Sept so your pup has time to train to hang 20 ;-)!
www.surfcitysurfdog.com
jennipurrr
7-11-12, 5:43pm
I have a love/hate relationship with my neighborhood and house, which I have lived in for 7 years next month. My house is perfectly functional and I love that it was very reasonably priced. Its 1400 sq ft and perfect for myself, DH and our animals. Its a 50s ranch in a little neighborhood nestled off a main road in my college town of 100,000. Our neighborhood is a lovely mix of rent/own, races, ages. I know some of my neighbors but we don't have a huge sense of community, which I would definitely like more of. However, I am such an introvert I am not sure I would do anything other than say hi to everyone I can when I am out walking the dogs. If I drive down the main road it is less than 4 miles to my office...some times I do take the long way and jog about 5 miles down a different path of streets.
Unfortunately I can't walk or bike the short way because the neighborhood backs up to a really bad area, which is where most of my present distaste springs up. Our little neighborhood is a gem, but very close to it is some of the worst housing stock in the city. Before last year I locked my doors when I drove through that way and I am not one of those naturally fearful or irrational people. I have seen folks flash guns and there were always plenty of drugs and prostitutes out in full view. We had a natural disaster come through last year and demolished a lot of this area, and so I am hopeful about new things with the rebuilding. Right now though much is vacant land. Lots of talk of happy pie in the sky plans, which I feel are mostly just lining certain people in this city's pockets, not actually changing things for the better. I'd like the campus to come this way and have a variety of students and other people, but we'll see what happens. Some people are against student housing, but anything beats what we had before. Also with the students come interesting restaurants, pubs, etc. I would love to be able to walk to a grocery store or enjoy a drink on a little local patio place - neither of which is possible now. We occasionally have sketchy people traipsing through the neighborhood although nothing of mine has been stolen, others have had issues. The schools are marginal. The elementary school is close knit mostly comes from our neighborhood and a few other similar nearby, but the middle and high schools are dismal. It seems though that over the past seven years all the new people in the neighborhood have been really nice, a lot of young families, so hopefully it will continue to be a positive place. We are set to pay the mortgage off next year so I am looking forward to that. The issue is we would like to redo the kitchen and put in a back porch. I don't know if I want to invest that much in this house...we'd have to make it our forever home.
That said, there is a house I totally have my eye on in a chi chi historical district. It would be about 1/2 mile to the grocery store, 1 mile to work, a stones throw to the library and near tons of other stuff. The neighborhood is in the best school district and has its own park, lots of stability. The house is an eyesore, total fixer upper, but the cost would likely be a steal as the woman who live in it for the past 30 years passed away...just lots of work Its not a beautiful house but it has all my requirements regarding a big front porch and the potential to be really cute. It is surrounded by some truly beautiful homes from the early 1900s and I would love to live around them without the upkeep of actually maintaining them. The house is tucked back enough off the main road that it would be safe for my cat who is a roamer. It is still in an urban area and is only about a 1/3 of a mile from the homeless encampment known as "tent city" hidden behind the AA clubhouse and the library, so who knows if it would actually be any safer than what I've got. Everyone I know who lives in that area truly does love it, so who knows, still thinking about it...the family isn't in a hurry, so I am in no hurry to make a decision.
...And we do have world famous Dog Beach where all the pups are surf-pups:
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=830&d=1341950267http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=831&d=1341950483
No WAY! That photo has a Frenchie, a (what looks like) pug mix, and a bulldog sitting in 3rd place. Plus a long-nosed dog in back! ha ha, This is GREAT!
So sure I'll bring the wee French ones out to Calif and test their surfing skills ahtletic things that they are (snort.)
awakenedsoul
7-11-12, 10:36pm
jennipurr,
Wow, you're making me feel better about my neighborhood. I've never seen people flash guns or seen any prostitutes. It sounds like yours is mixed, like here. I really hope you get that fixer upper! It sounds incredible! We have some really nice homes in our neighborhood, too. It's eclectic. I can't put a price on the orchard and gardens, though. I put 15 years into developing those. The soil was white when I moved in...
There is a new housing development a few blocks away, and those homes are going for $500,000. and up. The landscaping is beautiful. I guess tha's a positive sign. The mail lady told me ten years ago that they had already mapped out the routes for a huge housing development here. So, maybe in time this will pay off and I will cash in...they could build two houses on my lot.
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