Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The new hustle and bustle

Gutterson's piece was disturbing. I grew up in a traditional neighborhood, too old to have all the restricting laws. All the houses in my suburb were different, with different races, class, cars, pools/no pools and so on. However, I have been aware of mini-cities like this all my life. My hometown, Nashville, is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. Definitely top 10.

The idea that "Green Valley" is a verb is true. The people with power built this subdivision and therefore implaced certain rules and regulations that they felt were important. Then people who needed a new house and agreed with them moved in. I dont see anything wrong with this. People of accordance minds have been living togethor for all of human history: they were called ghetos in the past and subdivisions now. Some new regulations are house size and design, attendance to the local country club, and not talking bad about the area.

Gutterson uses as condecending tone. He talks about it in terms of a corporation, which now-a-days has an automatically bad connotation. He also really upplays the couple not wanting their name known during the interview. He misses the fact that people choose to live in such places because it brings them happines.

I believe that some suburbs are safe while some arent just as some places in a city are safe while others arent. One of my giant pet peeves is when people are cut and dry, black and white, about things that are complex. when choosing a home, look for the evidence. Crime rate, rate of expansion, local areas. i grew up in a suburb 15 min from the heart of downtown and was completely safe and happy. i have seen the sprawling cities of identical houses and felt safe driving through.

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