Do You Like Your Neighborhood?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Happy Holidays to All on CC!</p>

<p>I was walking to work this morning, in the freezing rain that’s come to upstate New York on Christmas Eve (O the joys of the Great Northeast) and thinking about how much I really like where we live. Ours is a quirky urban neighborhood with lots of interesting 19th century architecture and a beautiful Olmstead-designed park. But what I like best about it is its diversity, of all kinds: there are owners and renters, students and senior citizens, young singles and young marrieds with toddlers. There’s a dog park next to a community garden. We have Baby Boomer, type-A professionals in suits with Blackberries, and the semi-homeless who pick up the soda cans on recycling day. There are blue-haired 80-year olds and blue-haired 20-year olds. Black, white, and Asian, gay and straight. Modest old row houses originally built as housing for laborers and stately brownstone mansions. Social activists and corporate lobbyists. Wonderful little hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurants share the same block with a very swanky, posh place with Manhattan prices.</p>

<p>We actually chose to move to this neighborhood about eight years ago, because it was exactly the kind of diverse environment we wanted my daughter (then around eleven) to experience. And it’s been a happy choice for our whole family. Now that we’re empty-nesters and entering a new phase of our lives, we are appreciating the benefits of our simpler urban lifestyle even more.</p>

<p>More stories?</p>

2

<p>I love my neighborhood. As I enter, there’s a pond and small park, that attracts with geese, ducks, and storks. I can easily walk to it from my house. There are lots of trees in my neighborhood, and lots of people walking. My street has such a small amount of traffic that my kids would sometimes literally play in the middle of the street My neighbors are friendly, and my neighborhood is only about a 10-15 min. drive from most places that I go to.</p>

<p>It’s so quiet that when you’re outside, you can see birds sing. I’ve seen owls, opossums, raccoons, and someone even saw a fox at the pond. </p>

<p>When we saw this neighborhood 16 years ago when we moved to this city, we thought it was terrific, but assumed there was no way we could afford to live here. Fortunately, then prices were very low, so we got to move to what we consider our dream place to live. </p>

<p>The one thing it could have would be more racial/ethnic diversity, but in general, the neighborhoods here aren’t that diverse.</p>

3

<p>I love our neighborhood also. We live on a dead end street that runs along a ridge overlooking a river. We moved here for the quiet and the woods. But our neighbors are the real treasure. Twenty-two years and counting.</p>

4

<p>Love my neighborhood! VERY diverse–ethnically and economically. I can walk two blocks north and Im in the mountains (state park). Two blocks east and Im in our little town–no traffic lights, but plenty of small businesses–restaurants, one bar, private grocery, and two little coffee stands where we can run into friends and neighbors. And Im only a 1/2 hour drive to downtown LA. I wouldnt live anywhere else…though Paris would be sweet.</p>

5

<p>No. I live in suburban sprawl. I like my house, it sits on a nice lot with some woods behind, but we have to drive everywhere. The street is 50 year old, mostly 3 bedroom ranches, which families no longer want because they are smaller than new stuff being built. So we have a mix of older people and childless couples who move after having children. We’ve lived here over 20 years, so I know some of the neighbors, and it is convenient to H’s work, but there are other places I would rather be.</p>

6

<p>A big yes here. Our house is in a nice residential neighborhood within the city. Houses are just off the sidewalk, and one can easily connect to the neighbors and wlakers by, and we can walk in 2 minutes to everything from the grocer to transit, coffee shops. </p>

<p>It’s economically upscale at this point, but still incredibly ethnically and economically diverse. We know all our neighbors, everyone from those who live half time in Hong Kong, a few physicans, two former founders of Greenpeace, some retirees, a yoga teacher, a bus driver, a nurse, several artists, someone who fosters seeing eye dogs, and someone who works as a laborer for the railway. </p>

<p>You know it’s a great neighborhood when you discover someone has shoveled the snow off your sidewalk, and you can’t possibly know which one did it. We take care of each other.</p>

7

<p>Yes, even though it’s a rinky-dink little town. Nothing to do and have to drive everywhere.</p>

8

<p>Love ours! We moved to middle TN 2 1/2 years ago and managed to make a great pick in one weekend of looking. It’s new, but has lots of trees and hills. It’s great for my running and H can be in the country in 5 minutes to bike. My commute to downtown is only abut 25 minutes (for work). We are near all the stores and restaurants that we need and found a perfect church in our town. The neighbors are fun- we have lots of happy hours and book club gatherings. I’m happy. :)</p>

9

<p>Love my neigborhood, but could live without a couple of my neighbors who clearly belong somewhere on a farm.</p>

10

<p>I used to love my neighborhood. Nice and quiet, deer in the backyard and the neighbor across had a beautiful pond with heron, etc. She was also a good neighbor. Unfortunately the people who bought her house have been doing major work including trucks parked all along our small street so that half the time I can barely back out of my driveway.
They also tore up part of the lawn to create RV parking so that when I am in front yard I am staring at their RV.
I have been debating asking someone on our HOA board what the RV parking rules are but it’s tricky. They have kids who know my kids, etc.
Yuk!</p>

11

<p>Love it. An inner-ring suburb of Philadelphia with beautiful older homes, 20 minutes via car or commuter rail to downtown, and easy access to NYC and DC. We’ve lived in the same house for 22+ years, and we have lovely neighbors. Most shopping is under a 10-minute drive, and we can even walk to some stores. And Trader Joe’s is very close by!</p>

12

<p>I LOVE our neighborhood. It was in danger of being redlined in the early 60’s and the neighborhood worked with the real estate agents to keep it diverse. We have white, black and Hispanic families on our block. Economically it’s somewhat less diverse. There is a smattering of rental houses, and older families who lived here before housing prices shot up. A lot of middle class professionals, many professors. The houses were mostly built in the 1920s and 30s and are a mix of tudors and colonials, there was some infill that came later, so there are a few newer houses as well. There’s a pond in the neighborhood that is stocked with trout in the spring. We have a neighborhood block party in the summer and a lively neighborhood association. My kids were able to walk to both the elementary school and the high school. There is shopping and a train to Manhattan within half a mile. And one of our neighbors shoveled my sidewalk last week too! What’s not to like?</p>

13

<p>I forgot to share this other major feature of our neighborhood: we can both commute to work, by bike, almost entirely through an old growth forest. It’s a blissful thirty minutes each way.</p>

14

<p>I love our neighborhood. We have been here just under two years and moved from a busy state highway in the same town. Though we were set back pretty far, we had not much in the way of neighbors…had to take our kids elswhere to trick or treat and forget riding their bikes.
This is a big improvement…most of the people are friendly, some just seem uninterested in any type of interaction ( not even a wave ) It is diverse too.
My daughter an take out her bike and go to her friend’s houses anytime. We have Christmas parties with about half of the neighborhood attending. We have a large wooded area behind the house, so we have some wildlife visiting. Deer, turkeys, possums, raccoons , rabbits , owls and foxes.
Not that close to much , but our business is only about a mile away. The crime rate is really low too…the most we ever hear about is an occasional car surfing.</p>

15

<p>We love our neighbors because they are all exactly like us!</p>

<p>oh… by that, I mean they are very nice people!</p>

<p>oh, neighborhood… yes, we like that too, a lot. It’s just a little strange for us living in a subdivision because there is a bit more uniformity than we are used to, ie walk in a neighbor’s house and… wow! it’s the same floorplan as our house. But overall, very nice here.</p>

16

<p>wonderful stories, thanks for sharing, and keep 'em coming!</p>

17

<p>I love my neighborhood even though it’s changed a lot since we moved in 15 years ago. Back then there were lots of families a lot like ours, with young children and stay at home moms. Now there are still children but also empty nesters. We have lots of different ethnicities now and we all get along. Trees have gone over in hurricanes and fences have gone up and down. We share and pull together in power outages and respect each others’ space. Most people pick up after their dogs and everyone waves when we pass. It works for me.</p>

18

<p>We, too, love our neighborhood. We have lived here 22 years. It is residential area in the city. Our lot is small, but there are parks very near by where our kids spend hours playing growing up. We are 2 blocks from a large lake. We have over a dozen restaurants within a mile walk each way as well as stores, grocery, etc. Until our oldest got his license at 17 we managed with only one car since the bus is so convenient. The best part is the people. Our immediate block is very friendly. We, too, will sometimes wake up and find our walk shoveled without knowing who did it. We all have dinner together once a month - our regular Sunday Soup Supper. In addition we have bigger social gatherings as well. Sometimes I think about moving to a condo because the snow is such an issue lately, but I can’t imagine leaving my neighborhood!</p>

19

<p>We also have a mix of retirees as well as young families with infants and toddlers.The people we bought our house from had 4 generations living here</p>

20

<p>We moved here to Seattle 25 years ago, from a block off the lake in Bellevue, because we had a young child and we didn’t want to raise her in the burbs! :eek:
:wink:
Twenty five years ago, this neighborhood was affordable- blue collar, semi industrial, bungalows from the early 1900’s and Cape cod style homes from the 1940’s. Lots of older people, a couple rental houses with college students and a sprinkling of families.
When we moved in, there was an italian bistro a couple blocks away, where we wanted to go for Sunday brunch. Sidewalks and grocery stores, schools and parks within walking distance. The bistro, closed and when it finally reopened it was as a prix fixe French restaurant.- we haven’t ever eaten at the restaurant, but we have eaten at the tiny attached lounge which is fantastic even though the drinks are $11.</p>

<p>This neighborhood used to be an independent city, until 1907, when Seattle put a dead horse in it’s water supply, forcing it to cave to annexation.
[Free Ballard](<a href=“http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332275_neighborhoods20.html”>http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332275_neighborhoods20.html&lt;/a&gt;)</p>

<p>I like the some of the changes that have occurred over the years, still very walkable, although my kids never attended the public grade school that is 3 blocks away. I love that my elderly neighbors ( now in their 90s’) are still able to live in their own homes- but I don’t like the affordable Cape cod homes, being replaced by expensive condos with no parking.</p>

<p>I love that an altruistic developer, renovated the neighborhood theatre, instead of making it into a huge multiplex, and I like that the neighborhood is becoming more diverse, we still have elderly Scandinavians, but they are being replaced by immigrants working in the fishing & computer industries.</p>

<p>So I guess that mostly I love it- except when it is tax time- because it doesn’t seem fair that our house assumed to have increased in $80,000 of value every year, when , we aren’t the ones putting on an addition or a new roof.</p>