Breaking the chain link fence....
My neighborhood commonly referred to as the 'south side' is without a doubt the most humble and poorest within the city. There are problems here, and this area shows up perhaps a little too often in the 'police beat' section of the paper, yet my immediate neighbors are some of the best I've lived around. Which is more than my sister could say when she lived in an exclusive, high-dollar subdivision with a next door neighbor she absolutely loathed. When I remember her complaints, I fully realize how lucky I am in that regard.
I am not blind to the troubles that plague this neighborhood-- I see the drug addicted, the teenaged moms, and the high school dropouts that are, sadly, much too prevalent around here. I see this stuff daily, and then on top of those troubles you can throw in the single parent households with low income, and the elderly on small fixed incomes, as well. Then you can see this area's troubles are daunting.
I've heard it said that a city's poorer neighborhoods are a quick-read barometer on the direction of an area's economic health-- It's said that a locality such as mine has trouble weathering any kind of downward fluctuations fiscally as there is less wealth to fall back on when times get a little tight, which is perhaps less noticeable in a more affluent district, as higher income (often dual) can see them through most money crunches with hardly a ripple. There may be some truth to this, as I see the beginnings of some rifts in the social fabric around here, more 'surly' types hanging about late at night up to who knows what, as well as having the nights around here punctuated by the blast of gunfire perhaps a little more than in the recent past. Does this portend a new dangerous period around here? Too early to tell. I, however will not let any of the troubles around here to feed my fear-- I refuse to 'fort' up inside my home. I further refuse to withdraw into a 'ghetto' of my mind, walled off and desensitized to what is going on around me.
Fortress. Ghetto. Now I finally segue poorly into my topic: The chain-link fence. Utilitarian to a fault, nothing ghettoizes my neighborhood more then the numerous, sagging and rusting bits of cyclone fencing that dot my street and neighborhood. Now, don't get me wrong: There's nothing better for holding little Billy or the pooch from straying away-- and I have no problem with that type of fence, in the backyard, where it does its job well, and at a relatively low cost. My problem is when they are a front yard item, as nothing showcases the isolated fortress mentality in my 'hood as that type of fence. You must understand that most of these are aging, bent, sagging and rusted; more then a few of them even have trees growing right through them, and no matter how tidy the home, that kind of fence quickly becomes an eyesore, and contributes to an isolated mind set and even personal seclusion-- The "fortress mentality" as I understand it.
I haven't any quick fixes for the above problems, I've no magic touchstone to make things right, yet a small step in a more open and neighborly neighborhood could perhaps be as simple as removing some of the overly industrial styled fence-- and not putting it up with new construction projects around this area in the first place. It may just help to make things a little more friendly around here for a start, and nobody around here could, or should argue against that.
I am not blind to the troubles that plague this neighborhood-- I see the drug addicted, the teenaged moms, and the high school dropouts that are, sadly, much too prevalent around here. I see this stuff daily, and then on top of those troubles you can throw in the single parent households with low income, and the elderly on small fixed incomes, as well. Then you can see this area's troubles are daunting.
I've heard it said that a city's poorer neighborhoods are a quick-read barometer on the direction of an area's economic health-- It's said that a locality such as mine has trouble weathering any kind of downward fluctuations fiscally as there is less wealth to fall back on when times get a little tight, which is perhaps less noticeable in a more affluent district, as higher income (often dual) can see them through most money crunches with hardly a ripple. There may be some truth to this, as I see the beginnings of some rifts in the social fabric around here, more 'surly' types hanging about late at night up to who knows what, as well as having the nights around here punctuated by the blast of gunfire perhaps a little more than in the recent past. Does this portend a new dangerous period around here? Too early to tell. I, however will not let any of the troubles around here to feed my fear-- I refuse to 'fort' up inside my home. I further refuse to withdraw into a 'ghetto' of my mind, walled off and desensitized to what is going on around me.
Fortress. Ghetto. Now I finally segue poorly into my topic: The chain-link fence. Utilitarian to a fault, nothing ghettoizes my neighborhood more then the numerous, sagging and rusting bits of cyclone fencing that dot my street and neighborhood. Now, don't get me wrong: There's nothing better for holding little Billy or the pooch from straying away-- and I have no problem with that type of fence, in the backyard, where it does its job well, and at a relatively low cost. My problem is when they are a front yard item, as nothing showcases the isolated fortress mentality in my 'hood as that type of fence. You must understand that most of these are aging, bent, sagging and rusted; more then a few of them even have trees growing right through them, and no matter how tidy the home, that kind of fence quickly becomes an eyesore, and contributes to an isolated mind set and even personal seclusion-- The "fortress mentality" as I understand it.
I haven't any quick fixes for the above problems, I've no magic touchstone to make things right, yet a small step in a more open and neighborly neighborhood could perhaps be as simple as removing some of the overly industrial styled fence-- and not putting it up with new construction projects around this area in the first place. It may just help to make things a little more friendly around here for a start, and nobody around here could, or should argue against that.
posted by Rob at 7:51 PM
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