60 degrees this morning, walk 38:24 minutes
Well, I did hear from the Councilmembers Assistant, who was very nice and informative. However, the basic message is “Commercial is king and can destroy residential areas with immunity”.
The unspoken message was that as long as they keep contributing money no one at the city really cares about the residents, the commercial developers, housing developers etc. can do whatever they want.
Of course, this is all hidden carefully in “legal rights”. The legal right to put up a huge video billboard in the backyard of residents! Or throw up a huge strip mall with all kinds of lights etc that destroy the value of about 10 houses!
When I asked about screening or buffering I was advised a “6 ‘ fence!!” or “vegetation” (ha), was all that is required. This, for a 40 foot tall building, a huge video billboard etc.!! Of course “vegetation” is defined as some straggly trees that will die in a year and no one will care.
We decided we are moving. It may take a while and we may lose some money, but we are getting out of this city where residents are 4th class citizens (after commercial, housing developers and builders and sign polluters, so maybe we are 5th class citizens!)
We actually really enjoy our house and neighborhood (we aren’t directly affected by the commercial development, except in the sense that our neighbors are affected, so we are affected also and it shows the complete lack of concern by the city for residents.
The idea of a residential development here is a developer throwing up some houses on tiny lots, “donating” some junk land for a substandard amount of park space and throwing up some substandard equipment and then requiring the residents to pay for the maintenance and repairs!
To my knowledge there are no public parks planned for this area! In spite of throwing up thousands of apartments, there are no public parks, no street improvements etc. to handle the increased traffic. That is very poor planning, actually, no planning. It is letting the inmates run the prison or in this case the developers run the city.
I read about Boulder, Colorado having an election on an Ordinance (or Charter amendment) that will allow residential areas to vote on new zoning changes. The opposition is that it will “stop development”. I haven’t read enough about it to really form an opinion, but our experience here certainly provides a reason for such initiatives!
While it didn’t rain as much as we expected, it still rained enough to create mud problems, and I was pleased on my walk this morning to note very little mud. The developer and builders are actually doing a reasonably good job at erosion control, I was pleased to note!
Sone 494 or 6, 544, the “Orange Blossom Special”, probably my favorite song. I especially enjoy hearing it done in person. It actually creates a physical reaction in me, even when I hear it on a recording and more so when I hear it live.
Oh yes (I guess today is a “rant day”, which I don’t really like to do), our less than one year old car now has had TWO new tires required in just 15,000 miles! I really think it is the poor quality of the tires. For some reason, when we bought they car, they tried to sell us all kinds of junk “extended warranties” to increase their profit, but they didn’t offer a basic “road hazard” plan that even Wal Mart offers!
There comment yesterday was there was a “pinprick” in the side of the tire that ruined the tire! I questioned why tire was such poor quality that it got a “pinprick” in the side of the tire, and was told that probable “nail flicked” it. Sure. When we weren’t even offered a road hazard warranty and the tires are obviously junk so bad they can’t last, I really wonder.
I am going to check around, I may be better off to replace the two tires left that came with the car now before they develop “pinpricks” that require an entire new tire at an outrageous price! I am going to check around for a reliable tire shop that is close to me that I can trust.
Anyway, I am glad that the weekend is here. I am glad I enjoy my job, I was just thinking how horrible it is to hate to go to work and live for your time off and the weekend!
That’s it for now, Saturday, October 24, 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment