4 ms·
My neighbourhood which I've lived in all my life has changed drastically, dramatically, creepily. The original owners were part of a sort of Habitat for Humani
by dghughes 3y ago
My neighbourhood which I've lived in all my life has changed drastically, dramatically, creepily.
The original owners were part of a sort of Habitat for Humanity type organization only it was a local thing a co-op. This was 1972 nearly ten years before early 1980s super crazy inflation so even then it was hard to afford a home.
Everyone on the street knew each other even one street over either way people knew everyone's names and children's names. As people moved away new owners bought the homes it was OK for a while new people. But now a younger generation starkly different in attitude and behaviour.
Now it's like living in some dystopian alien hellscape. OK maybe that's a bit too much but it's surreal. Nobody goes outside, not even to sit on decks former owners built, vegetable garden plots and not planted, laundry is not put on lines, food is all "Ubered", windows are all shut (for AC?) blinds down.
Grass on lawns is a foot high, plants of former owners grow wild and are unkempt. Supposedly "no mow may" for dandelions (local bio prof says is bunk) or to be green but I suspect it's linked to never seeing anyone outside ever more than for environmental reasons.
Every single one has a dog too which was rare years ago maybe a few people had dogs. Now maybe 1 in 10 or even 1 in 20 homes has any children human children I should clarify.
Here I am outside in the vegetable garden, or on the deck in summer. Yet all homes are sealed up, no activity except for thumps of car doors as people leave or come home. The bluish glow of monitors nearly constant. Sometimes it feels like I am living in a horror movie.
It's hard to greet people as they run to and from their cars never to be seen again.
- eitally 3y agoThis varies wildly neighborhood by neighborhood. In our first house, in suburban Raleigh, NC, we had a modest 1972 split level worth about $200k. We knew all our neighbors and it was, for lack of a better word, neighborly. In our second house, which was a huge upgrade house-wise (4500sqft on 1/3ac in a subdivision with a big pool greenways, playground, etc), we got to know just two of our neighbors very well, and we almost never saw anyone outdoors in the 6 years we lived there. This house was only about 2 miles from the previous one, but the vibe was entirely different. In our current house, in San Jose, we're in a neighborhood originally built in the 1950s from what was cherry orchards, and almost all of the original owners have died or moved. We've been here since 2016 and it feels like that year was when the current wave of "refresh" started. Ever since the neighborhood has gotten younger and younger, more and more kids are outside, and the majority go to the neighborhood pool & neighborhood schools. We have tons of friends and acquaintances and it's reminiscent of my neighborhood growing up (in Virginia) in the early 80s. That said, you only have to go a few blocks to get to areas that are more like what you've described. The morale of this is just that it pays to spend time in, and talk with, a few possible neighbors before buying into a neighborhood. You might not like what you find.
- titanomachy 3y agoDon’t they at least walk their dogs?
- dghughes 3y agoSurprisingly no for many but a few do. Big huge dogs howling stuck in the house I can see them looking out of the windows nose pushing blinds aside. Small dogs too I can see or at least hear barking for hours while the owner is gone.
- fnimick 3y agoMowing lawns is pretty bad for insect life though, to be fair. And even having lawns should be avoided from an environmental perspective.