Be warned: This is not so much a gardening-related post as it is a home ownership-rant. You have been warned…
This is our first house and I know some of you readers are in the same boat because I have read your blogs too. It’s hard getting into that first house, especially in Portland. Jay and I value living as close to the city center as possible for several reasons: cuts down on commute times to and from work, reduces reliance on cars if you can walk/ride a bike to nearby destinations, easy access to public transportation, yadda yadda. So we turned up our noses at moving to the nice quiet suburbs and opted for a lovely little (emphasis on little) 1927 bungalow in not the best area in town. Not the worst either, mind you, but certainly far from the top of the list.
We have put a lot of work into our house and sometimes I feel like it’s all for nothing. We are not the biggest house on our street, but I think we’re close to the nicest. And it’s for stupid reasons, such as: we don’t park on our lawn, we don’t have random people living in a trailer next to our house, we don’t get in domestic disputes that end up on the street, we don’t sell meth, we don’t let our kids (if we had any) run wild in the street day after day with nary an adult in sight.
Whew. That felt good to write. It’s a deep feeling of frustration I have that people can live in a home and not care about maintaining it or the neighborhood they live in. I can’t understand or be sympathetic to that kind of irresponsibility in grown adults that should know better, and do know better. After 4th of July, most of the houses on our block didn’t EVER clean up their used fireworks off the street. Everyone has five new cars in their driveway, but I would guess most live in thousands of dollars of debt. Every other house has a pit bull that has to run up the fence snarling at me every morning and evening as I walk to and from the bus stop. Yes, dog, it’s still just me. Again.
I came home tonight to find the neighbor kids that are never supervised during the day had littered all over our front yard. And I mean all over. I counted five pop cans on top of more than a dozen candy and ice cream wrappers. I was so frustrated I was shaking. Instead of just bottling up my frustration, I realized this was an opportunity to teach these kids that their behavior was not okay. Even if their parents think it is. So I went to their house, knocked on their door and had a conversation with their parents who kept saying it couldn’t be their kids. Then the kids walked to the door, I asked them about it, and they both readily admitted to it: “Oh, yeah we threw our garbage under that yard with the big tree.” I asked them if they were ready to come clean it up and we all walked together to my house and they cleaned up every loose paper.
It took me about an hour of watering the backyard to stop being so mad about the whole thing. And I know it’s not the end. I am sure there will be more annoying things. But I will be damned if thoughtless people stop me from trying to make a difference in my own small way. I will still build my food forest and make people clean up their litter. I will still take on the task of building chicken coops and trellises, despite my neighbor behind me making sexist comments the whole time I am in earshot. I might not be able to change their behavior and their choices in life, but I will leave this little urban lot in a better place than when I found it.
Okay, thanks for weathering that little storm with me. What is a blog if we can’t write about what we’re feeling, right?
I completely understand. Sometimes you’ve just got to get in people’s faces. (Or in my case, get in dog’s faces)
I only wish I could walk with you from the bus. Pitbulls or not, I could “re-educate” all of them.
(I had a little spat today, as well. So I can relate. Check out the latest post on my blog for details.)
By the way, your house is cute and litter, while horrible, can be picked up. So don’t lose faith. Keep doing what you’re doing.
You know what? People do what they are allowed to do. Most neighbors don’t talk to each other so the kids just do what they want because no one has told them not to. I’ll bet that those kids you talked to won’t be littering in your yard again. Good for you for taking that step.
Just wanted to say to that I love my neighbors having chickens. I just like the sound they make.
Steve and I have this back-and-forth sort of conversation going on about the benefits and the image of gentrification. In Portland, it’s become a bad word, but honestly, there’s nothing wrong with raising the cultural standards in a neighborhood, and I don’t think that incarnation of gentrification should be demonized. Unfortunately, the visual impact of keeping a clean yard and encouraging your neighbors to do the same has been unapologetically associated with the ugly side of gentrification, which is generally predatory behaviour perpetrated by corporate entities or plain old greedy developers.
My position is, there’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing. If the result is that the people who want to live in a socially irresponsible manner feel compelled to leave the neighborhood because they’re called to the carpet for their behaviour, So be it. If they clean up their act and hang around, it’s a win win situation.
Thanks for the great feedback guys. Jay and I have the gentrification discussion a lot too, since it’s a hot issue in Portland. But I think what we want to see change in our neighborhood (and American in general) is for people to simply be more responsible. For example, don’t sell drugs on a street where kids live, don’t neglect your animals by leaving them outside all day/night year round, etc. I know I don’t have control over that stuff.
But it does get disheartening on a sustainability level to work so hard to do my part and then have people two doors down that work double time to reverse any progress we have made. I need to continue to keep my head up though, because one more person recycling is one less person adding to a landfill.
Gentrification may be a hot issue in Portland… because there are so many socialists here. Anyone who finds fault with fixing up a neighborhood is just nuts, if you ask me.
That having been said, there’s a huge difference between gentrification and just picking up after one’s self.
Next thing you know, litterers will defend themselves by claiming they’re keeping the neighborhood shitty so that property values wont go up and poor people wont have to be displaced.
ARRRGGGGHHH!
(By the way, Renee, I’m NOT saying that your neighborhood is shitty. Merely trying to make a point. I like your house.)
They actually do defend themselves that way…and it’s unfortunate. I object to that defense because it unfairly characterizes people based on their income. Trashy is trashy, and nice is nice and you find both ends and all aspects of the spectrum at all income levels.
Unfortunately, the anti-gentrification set, in Portland, has succeeded in creating the public opinion that moving into a neighborhood and refusing to be as trashy as the current residents is gentrification, and only rich people do it. That is definitely not the case.
do you feel better now?!!!yes it’s so frustrating sometimes to try to keep things nice and to see people spoiling it…we had a program on tv the other day explaining how many tons of rubish have to be collected along the beaches of brittany every year…so stupid…anyway , good lesson for the kids…I like your blog very much, I’ll come back…found the address through Irene…
see you all