Housing Fetish

Kunstler.com ^ | 2007.01.29 | James Kunstler

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

She came along in the late 20th century as a kind of spirit guide to a society whose bad choices and misinvestments had led to the wholesale destruction of any place in America that people called home.

Usual hippie dippy liberal crap.

Martha Stewart was a interior decorator who came along when people had enough money to indulge their desire to decorate their homes in a way that was formerly reserved for the very rich. If he see her as a spirit guide he badly needs to rework his religious sense.

Sadly some people can not just accept that not everyone wants to live like you. That is the wonder of the modern age that people are able to live as they wish whether it is in a apartment in the city near the trendy stuff, in a house in the burbs or out in the country.

I wish these petty tyrants would mind their own business, and let the rest of us live as we please.

Living in one of those little 50's houses made of ticky-tacky with one neighbor after another piled right next to you gives me the creeps. But if that is the only kind of community this man enjoys then that is his right and I will not try to stop him.

Unfortunately the petty tyrants are not willing to allow me the same privilege.

Equally as unfortunate far to many people who label themselves "conservatives" believe that anything that is old is good and keep trying to stuff the rest of us in their tiny narrow boxes. "It is tradition" they cry, even if their vaunted "Traditions" were never as long lasting widespread or universally embraced as their Hollywood inspired memories would lead you to think. In fact their grandparents would have been horrified at what they would have considered the soulless and materialistic existence that these people long for. Such is life.

We conservatives would do well to remember that real conservatism isn't about trying to control how our neighbors think, breath and live but about protecting our freedom to live as we wish.

[neb52]

zzthank you!

[Rte66]

" ... They'd like everyone to live in tiny boxes in huge cities with no automobiles. .."

Ummm, that would be me now. But this isn't by choice.

[when the time is right]

I call is "hamster living". You never see anyone in these neighborhoods outside. They are all inside their little boxes on their treadmills looking at the outside world through the windows cut in their box.....just like hamsters.

[freedomfiter2]

I moved from the suburban cesspool over 27 years ago to 25 blissful acres in the mountains, no regrets.


Ssshhhh. Don't encourage anyone. Next thing you know they'll be bringing a horde of inspecters and zoning officials.

[Moonmad27]

Even those old neighborhoods were the planned communities of their own day. My previous home was in one and I still have a copy of the original developer's brochure from the 1910's, sounding much like any new subdivision's advertising and promoting the fact that the area was fifteen minutes from downtown Houston by railcar. At least the houses didn't look alike in the old areas. I'd still rather live in a historic home than a brand new one in one of today's bland master-planned communities!

[sergeantdave]

Families with young children are leaving big cities by the millions. Polls consistently show that 80% of people want the American dream - a house on an acre with a white picket fence and a garden in back.

People moving believe cities to be souless with no amenities for children.

Seattle has more dogs than children.

The fastest growing areas in America are in exurbia.

The old cities in the Midwest are dying because taxes are high, crime is rampant, the infrastructure is crumbling, bureaucrats are communists and the politicians are crooks.

[lifacs]

We conservatives would do well to remember that real conservatism isn't about trying to control how our neighbors think, breath and live but about protecting our freedom to live as we wish.

Ditto!

[peggybac]

My old house that I grew up in until 4th grade is on the market now for for a RIDICULOUS price and has gone down already. My sister and I strolled through it when we noticed they were rehabbing (repairing) the home and afterward when it was finished. It was a 5 bedroom, now turned into a 3 bedroom. If I had the money, I'd grab it in a second. My dad sold it for 25,000 and now they want 310,000. Amazing.

[peggybac]

After living in Los Angeles for 18 years, I am thrilled to move to the suburbs. And now I can afford it. I'm single with no children and most people like myself wouldn't even think about moving to the burbs - I can't believe I'm doing it, but am so excited. (I wish finding a husband were as easy as finding a house). But, that's a different thread. LOL

[B-Chan]

We conservatives would do well to remember that real conservatism isn't about trying to control how our neighbors think, breath and live but about protecting our freedom to live as we wish.

You are 180° wrong. The philosophy that advances individual liberty above all else is Liberalism. Conservatism is the political philosophy which holds as its central tenets "the necessity of religion, the wisdom of tradition, the authority of the family, the advantages of legitimate monarchy, and the constant need to maintain political, moral, and economic dikes against the ever-swelling sea of popular ignorance, cupidity, violence, barbarism, and fertility" (The Age of Napoleon, Will and Ariel Durant, Simon and Schuster (1975) ISBN 0-671-21988-X).

[B-Chan]

My 1952 inner-city brick rancher has appreciated more than 20% in market value in the five years I've lived in it.

[devane617]

To each his own...I live in the burbs, and miss the small towns on my youth. However, I am less than two miles from any type of shopping or entertainment that I may desire. I will not give up my current neighborhood, unless it is for another like it.

[B-Chan]

I'd love to have a cozy cottage somewhere in the Hill Country... and maybe one in Michigan for summertime use, too.

And an apartment in New York...

...and a flat in Paris...

(TT0TT)

[B-Chan]

Cooper St. is bad enough and you want to take the turn lane out and put a trolley in?

Actually, I want to dig up Cooper from Division to Park Row and replace it with a curving, treelined brick boulevard. The electric trolley tracks will go down the middle, with a single traffic lane in each direction and an emergency vehicle/bus/cab only lane at each curb. The idea is to make it so inconvenient to go down Cooper that car drivers will go by some other route.

A-town's plan is to get rid of the center turn lane and put a curbed median in.

What good will that accomplish?

I am sorry but Arlington is the poster child of big suburb.

"Arlington is nobody's damn suburb." - Bob Greene, Mayor of Arlington 1987-97

Arlington was a growing city long before suburbanization. It had a racetrack, a mineral well, many fine neighborhoods, a cotton gin, an Interurban railway stop, and a high school decades before the D/FW Turnpike or Six Flags was built.

That may change when all the vacant residential land is developed here in the next year or so. At that point the only way Arlington can grow is upwards.

Arlington has been "built out" for residential for several years now. That's why Mansfield is so popular -- plenty of cheap, empty land for ugly mini-mansions.

I think the way Fort Worth has done things is the best model.,/i>

I agree -- which is why Arlington needs to do what Fort Worth has done and get to work rebuilding downtown. Joining the T (Fort Worth bus system) would be a good start.

As for the future, the citizens of Arlington are going to have to decide between being "the ghetto north of Mansfield" or reconfiguring things so that Arlington can be a real city again. The folks that run Arlington had better start thinking about making life better for people instead of for cars or risk seeing the city turn into Irving South.

[neb52]

The center median thing was to cut down on accidents when two cars going in the opposite direction enter into the same space. I have never seen it happen, but supposedly it has.

The problem with reducing Coopers' capacity is that Collins is already expanded out and the Southern stretch will be done soon and that will be it. Fielder as will can't be expanded without taking out the 60s/70s homes along its side. So there really is no good alternate North/South routes. Joining the T (or FART as we call it) is to expensive and has been turned down. They are asking for .5% in sales tax which is better than the DART which is 1%. Arlington would have to be aloud to expand the sales tax rate past 8.25% to do either one. Supposedly part of the Cowboy Stadium will include an extension of the TRE to the South along 360. If so then it could be taken all the way to 20 then a 20 West/East Leg could be put in. Then perhaps a leg through downtown like on Abrams or Division..

All in all though I think for Arlington to survive(and this is shared by many others) it needs to merge with either Fort Worth or Grand Prairie. Fort Worth people I put the question to say HELL NO! So I guess that leaves that out. Also Arlington does have some vacant land left. It is down deep South in what is called the Harris Rd. area. This backs up to North Mansfield. It will not be long though and it should be built out. The main hold out is poor water/sewer infrastructure in the Southern portion of the city. Bad water pressure. The Arlington Utilities has so far been a model government ran utility in that it is self sufficient, but they have said to expand to meet the demand in the South would require heavy borrowing or tax subsidy.