There’s a little story going on here in Austin about this wonderful event where Habitat for Humanity built a house for a single mother and her two children. It’s got a fairly cheap mortgage ($450/month, about three hundred cheaper than my shithole of an apartment), and the lot was bought and paid for by Habitat prior to the house being built. It’s nice to see things like this going on in the community, it really helps you think that there’s some good in people after all.
Until some group of people has to take what little respect you’ve gained for mankind and SHIT ALL OVER IT!!! Like I said, Habitat bought the lot the house was to be placed on, built the house at the local Texas Star Rodeo, and moved the house to the lot after it was completed. While they were busy setting up plumbing and electricity, the fucking nieghborhood had a meeting and decided they didn’t want the house there because it “looks bad.” For them, the concept of a house built not on the actual lot it is located on is tacky, and this depreciates the value of the nieghborhood. From all the shots I’ve seen, the nieghborhood isn’t anything that fucking impressive, so where the fuck do these people get off telling this woman she can’t live there? It’s not a racial thing, because the majority of the people living in the nieghborhood are black, and so is the woman moving in. I’m just apphauled that these people can simply turn someone away like that. Here’s a struggling mother with two kids, and a lot of people went out of their way to do something INCREDIBLE for this woman, and now these people tell her it’s shit and they don’t want it on their carpet. What the fuck is wrong with people?
The nieghborhood sold the lot to Habitat for Humanity knowing what was going to happen, and now that the house is sitting there, in the lot, READY TO BE MOVED INTO, they’re going to tell this woman and her kids they have to LEAVE? I don’t care if the woman’s house looks like a big shoe or a carnival House of Mirrors, the lot’s been paid for, she now owns it, she should be able to do whatever the fuck she wants with it, and if that means PUT HER NEW HOME THERE and LIVE A BETTER LIFE, then I think she should be able to without anyone having to say stupid shit like “I just don’t think it fits in with the nieghborhood.”
By now, if I were that woman I wouldn’t want to live in that nieghborhood anyway, but as a bystandard, I just can’t believe the gaul of some people. For all you home owners out there, how important to you is the “look” of your nieghborhood?
Well, I don’t want a 40-year-old rusting singlewide parked next door, and I’d not be too happy if my neighbors put a refrigerator on their front porch, but these are not allowed in the neighborhood association covenants. Nor are purple picket fences or vehicles on blocks on front lawns.
Beyond that, seems to me if the residents keep the outside neat and they comply with the rules that were in place before they moved here, I’m not going to sweat it. If I wanted a neighborhood with a certain “air” I’d have moved there in the first place, being assured that it would remain that way.
Where am I going with this… Oh yeah, I agree - sounds like the “neighbors” are less-than-neighborly. Also sounds like a case of NIMBY - sure, Habitat does wonderful things, but I don’t want to live by “those” people… Snobbery?
A similiar thing happened in my neighborhood a few years back. This was shortly after a state election, where there were two bills up for vote. One of which was a parental consent bill which stated that people under the age of 18 could not get abortions or abortion counseling without written approval from a parent. The other also had something to do with abortion but I can’t recall exactly what - I think it had something to do with state funds being used at clinics that supply information about abortions.
Something like 50% of our neighborhood had polictical signs on their front lawn promoting the pro-life stance on these two items.
At the same time, a woman was building a house that she planned to use as a shelter for four or five pregnant college women. She was planning on providing free food and housing for these women while they were pregnant and in the months afterwards. There was all sorts of information given out about this, and it was very well planned and organized. There were regulations on things like “no late night visitors” and “no extra cars will be parked on the street” etc. etc.
The neighbors got together and petitioned the city to not allow this woman to offer this service. Seems they were worried about their property values.
I was so pissed off - here’s the majority of this semi-affluent neighborhood espousing their beliefs on abortion, but when a woman in the neighborhood actually does something to help women who became pregant and decided to have the child as opposed to abort, well, that can’t happen in MY neighborhood! What about my property values? What are these brazen hussies going to DO to the neighborhood? What if they venture outside, pregnant and fatherless, and do such things as pregnant women do - walking, talking with their friends, standing while pregnant, showing themselves out of the house whilst pregnant? What will my kids think?
Like FairyChatMom, I don’t really care what my neighbours’ houses and yards look like, as long as they’re neat and clean. I absolutely hate the look of the cookie-cutter neighbourhoods, which is all that is being developed in Calgary. If you want to buy a new house, you have a choice of:
a. Beige neighbourhood
b. Grey neighbourhood
c. Coral/fake Mediterranean neighbourhood (Where’s that puking smiley when you need it?)
Heaven forbid you should paint your house a nice white with blue trim if you live in a Peach neighbourhood. And yes, I do belong on an acreage, where I can build my house any damn way I please, and paint it any damn colour I please. As for the woman in the OP, I would fight tooth-and-nail to live in that neighbourhood, just because I know it would piss them off (a little insight into my psyche, if you like).
The real irony here is that the Habitat house probably looks better and for damn sure is built better than the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. Of course, Habitat for Humanity just happens to be one of my favorite causes, so I may be a wee bit nearsighted when it comes to seeing the other side here. I have served on the Board of Directors for the local chapter and they let me come out and use hammers and saws and nails and stuff a coupla times a year during building blitz weeks. Loads of fun and doing something nice too!
FCM dear, no refrigerators on the porch, no cars jacked up on blocks, no purple fences? What do you people do for yard art then!
