I hope he was smart enough to call off that wedding!
I would love to know what happened with that couple. Contempt ends marriages. Contempt did not look far away.
In this thread,
It is interesting how many posters want to be middle class. It is hard to leave the class you were brought up in and move up.
Well…these people don’t want to be middle class. They want to be upper class. They are upper class. Maybe that is why they are upper class.
Apologies in advance to those who live on SI, but I had to laugh at her assertion that she lived on the “upper class” side (or whatever she called it). Is that like being from the upper class side of Camden?
My nieces and nephews who come from definitely middle class families (income under $50k) all got cars when they were still in HS. A large part of it is because public transit in their communities (Georgia and Kentucky) is poor to non-existent, and their parents work at jobs that do not have the flexibility to allow for driving kids to sports practice, work, etc. In that sense, my niece and nephews were more independent, all had jobs, and were learning to juggle a variety of responsibilities while still in HS. The ones who have graduated from HS got athletic, academic and Army Reserve scholarships at directional schools and flagships.
My kids didn’t have cars, still don’t have vehicles, and we will not be funding one after S2 graduates from college. We live in a high COL, public transportation-rich area; the guys are comfortable riding the Metro, and both chose big-city colleges where a car would be more trouble than it’s worth. My nieces and nephews would have given body parts for the opportunities in our public school system, and my sons were acutely aware that they got a far better education than their cousins, giving them significantly different options for college.
Had my kids taken their good merit $$ offers, funding for a safe used car would have been on the table. They declined that and picked the more expensive schools, knowing there would be no car, they would need to work and take Stafford loans.
College FA offices typically do not take COL in high-priced areas into account, other than the differences in state taxes. Have a big mortgage? Four cars for four people? FA folks view that as a lifestyle choice. For the most part, you’re not going to get additional FA for that.
We all make tradeoffs. We all do the best we can in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. No fancy house, financial help from relatives, nanny, house cleaner, yard guy, renovations or expensive cars here, even when we both were working. We spent $ on college (and my medical bills). Worked for us. Was our way better? I’m not so sure.
Jym626, the link in post 441 deals with the upper class. There are no disputes. These people want to be upper class.
jym, I am sure our sons would like each other.
Jym, you mean like here?
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/05/photos_staten_island_home_of_t_1.html
Or here? This one is in the Victorian neighborhood I live in.
http://www.silive.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2015/01/staten_island_home_of_the_week_20.html
This illustrates my point. In my community, the problem is not lack of money. It’s often the difference between money and class. I make fun of my pathetic driving skills. The reason I can’t drive well is because I’ve learned to be afraid. Hereabouts, every third vehicle is operated by a young man driving a massively expensive, massively sized SUV who would run a person over without even thinking about it.
But you mentioned upper class side. Back story to that is that the NY Times had an article a few years ago calling that area the equivalent of the south side of the Mason-Dixon Line. That’s where that woman is talking about. It really is segregated and not inclusive. It is also populated most exclusively by recent immigrants from Brooklyn, not long time residents.
You made my point ZM. The houses may be big, but the people who live in them are tacky tacky. And that broad was as tacky as they come. No class, and I mean that in the social skills meaning of the word. She insults her own fiancee for living on the “wrong side of the tracks” and making him change where he lived in the engagement announcement. Lovely.
cbreeze- hot dogs and blueberry pie eating contests might be a good pairing 
His was a cancer fundraiser but he won a big trophy. I don’t think I want to know what it looked like.
Wouldn’t you want better driving skills to avoid running into any bad drivers in large vehicles?
Jym, I’ve been saying the same thing all along! Income and class aren’t the same thing. My household income is high, but hubby and I are still white trash. But at least we know that it’s Madonna on the half shell, despite the ignorance of that couple!
Fun fact? The wooded area beside the car is the world’s largest landfill. So how upper anything is that neighborhood?
Seriously, though, there are some wonderful areas of Staten Island. Boardwalk Empire is filmed here and there are areas much more similar to westchester or Long Island than Brooklyn.
Yes I know, Zoos. That’s what I and others are affirming. There is a difference between socioeconomic class and sociocultural class. I think I said that back in post 396.
Oh and Todt Hill is gorgeous. Beautiful. But it was also the home of Mafia boss Paul Castellano and still is home to his colleagues. Another fun fact: that street is two landed and wavy and crosses the highest point on the eastern sea board between Maine and Florida. There is a house on one of the sharp turns, gorgeous house, whose owner thrills in outdoor displays including life sized gorillas, jungle men and other frolicking creatures. Also life sized deer. Yes. Many accidents have occurred there when drivers where shocked by these figures.
So you wouldn’t think I made this up.
http://www.scoutingny.com/a-very-strange-zoo-on-staten-island/
This is that woman’s actual neighborhood. You know, the high class woman.
Why would they do that if they know it will cause accidents by surprised onlookers? Is that another example of their having $ but no class?
The scary thing, as this thread addresses, is that the $1.49M pricetag of the house in your neighborhood would maybe get a 1000 sq ft remodel in the bay area. If you could beat out the other 15 buyers.
http://www.people-press.org/2015/03/04/most-say-government-policies-since-recession-have-done-little-to-help-middle-class-poor/ has this poll result.
http://www.people-press.org/files/2015/03/Nearly-Half-Describe-Themselves-as-Middle-Class.png
We definitely have lower prices than the rest of the city or San Francisco, but it’s not Camden!
I edited the prior post to show you the lawn art.
It’s hard to fathom that people would refer to themselves as “lower class”. It sounds terrible. Must have been a survey where a box is checked. Why don’t people use terms like poor and wealthy. As for ripple who put weird lawn art out to startle piece and cause accidents ( even if that wasn’t the intent) well it’s declasse’ at the very least.
OMG I just opened the link to the pictures! We have neighbors nearby who have boxes and trash in their garage ( window blinds are broken so it’s all exposed) and they park many cars in the driveway and also in the front on the street and halfway on the lawn (they are renters) and have a tacky sign advertising their business on their lawn ( apparently legal but really tacky- there used to be 2 but now we are down to 1 due to complaints) . It’s really cheezy and many neighbors have complained, but it’s nowhere as dreadful as that constellation of animal heads, zombies , zoo and extinct animals. I will never complain about our jerky inconsiderate neighbors again.
You thought I was making that up, didn’t you Jym?
No , I didn’t . It’s just tacky on a grander scale than I envisioned. Unfortunately doesn’t help the stereotype image …
Well stereotypes often have some basis in fact.
OMGosh zoosermom, I went to the last page of this thread and saw your entry at the top about Todt Hill. I was born and raised on SI. My Great grand-father had the second pharmacy on SI and there are many things from his pharmacy in the SI Museum. Streets are named after my family. I was raised on Lighthouse Hill near LaTorette golf club and Richmondtown, one of the three hills where the “rich people” lived. Todt Hill was considered the “richest.”
25-30 years ago people started to buy older houses on the hill and tear them down to the foundation and build mega mansions. My parents 1950’s home recently went on the market for $700,000. It is still basically the original house with only dormers added to the cape-cod. It is only a little over 2000 square feet. Many of the houses on the hill sell for in the millions. Lighthouse Hill has the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in NYC.
Even though we “hill” kids were refered to as rich, many of us just had working class parents. Yes there were professionals, accountants, doctors, business owners. But there were also fathers who worked at the city dump and fathers that cleaned furneses.
Probably not that way anymore.