How is your neighborhood?

[cattledog]

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.

[pinkytoe]

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.

[catherine]

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.

[puglogic]

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.

[JaneV2.0]

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]

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.

[redfox]

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.../dp/1576750620

It is what I hope to accomplish on my little corner of the world...

[ctg492]

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.

[ctg492]

Redfox, nice story.

[fidgiegirl]

Yes, Redfox - lovely!

Enjoying this thread a lot!