Nutty Neighbors

[Spearmint]

No, people don't even think when they sign legal documents. Before you sign anything look it over, even if it is a petition.

 

[Darhling]

I'm pretty sure I'm the nutty, but nice and friendly, neighbour!! lol

 

[Viola]

This morning at the dog park, someone had a petition to have another dog park built where the homeowners around it didn't want one. "They live in this bubble and they don't want it disturbed," she said self-righteously. "We have to go out-of-district to go to a dog park." So, their convenience should trump homeowners' enjoyment of their property. I think I was the only one who wouldn't sign the petition. Do people even think about what they're signing?

Why do the homeowners have the right to not live near a dog-park? I mean it's hard to say wanting a park near you is better OR worse than not wanting a park near you. Presumably SHE'S a local homeowner too? Sounds pretty six of one, half a dozen of the other to me.

 

[Diamondback]

I'm pretty sure I'm the nutty, but nice and friendly, neighbour!! lol

You could be my nutty neighbor anytime...

Why do the homeowners have the right to not live near a dog-park? I mean it's hard to say wanting a park near you is better OR worse than not wanting a park near you. Presumably SHE'S a local homeowner too? Sounds pretty six of one, half a dozen of the other to me.

Is she new to the area and trying to inflict her wishes on the neighbors? For some reason, I'm put in mind of the Yuptards around here who want the airstrip and the rifle-range shut down, whining about noise, even though both were there long before said Yupscum were even born and they all knew both facilities were there and chose to move in anyway.

If I ever open a public range and yuppies start taking over the neighborhood, I'm gonna make sure the redevelopment plan is a trailer-park or a landfill or whatever's the most Godawful-to-their-tastes thing I can find. "Range or 'trailer-trash undesirables'*? Your call..."
*Not my attitude, just putting it in terms guaranteed to make the point to the "to-the-manor-born-with-silver-head-up-butt" set.


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[Orsini]

This morning at the dog park, someone had a petition to have another dog park built where the homeowners around it didn't want one. "They live in this bubble and they don't want it disturbed," she said self-righteously. "We have to go out-of-district to go to a dog park." So, their convenience should trump homeowners' enjoyment of their property. I think I was the only one who wouldn't sign the petition. Do people even think about what they're signing?

You could sign it with a fake name.

 

[Diamondback]

You could sign it with a fake name.

"C. U. Latersucker"? lol

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[scottyrocks]

Why do the homeowners have the right to not live near a dog-park? I mean it's hard to say wanting a park near you is better OR worse than not wanting a park near you. Presumably SHE'S a local homeowner too? Sounds pretty six of one, half a dozen of the other to me.

I dont see it that way. Let me give you an example.

I have been working at a particular summer day camp since 1993. The camp has been there, operating every summer since 1930.

For many years, until the 1970s/80s, there was nothing around the camp. Then neighborhoods began to pop up. One in particular began to make demands on the camp, ranging from restricting traffic that passes over the roads in front of their houses on the way to camp, to confiscating parking space for their community pool that had been camp property for dozens of years.

What does this have to do with the dog park situation? Just this: what was there first was there first. Why should people who have been occupying land have to be taken advantage of by other people who arrive, and then want to encroach upon what was there first? Why would you buy a house next to a day camp, knowing there'd be hundreds of kids next door, and 30 buses passing in front of your house twice a day? You bought the house there, then you deal with it. But no, move in and try to bend and change things for your benefit, at the expense of the very entrenched pre-existing establishment. Thats what the non-resident dog park person is doing - encroaching upon established residents for her own benefit, at the expense of the original occupants of the area in question. imho, its not right.

 

[Paisley]

Why do the homeowners have the right to not live near a dog-park? I mean it's hard to say wanting a park near you is better OR worse than not wanting a park near you. Presumably SHE'S a local homeowner too? Sounds pretty six of one, half a dozen of the other to me.

They bought property that wasn't near a dog park, and I can see how dogs barking and baying at 6 a.m. (or any other time) might disturb some people. As I see it, it's the convenience of dog owners vs. the interests of people who want to enjoy their property.

 

[Viola]

Fair enough, scottyrocks, but that's if the dog-park person is a non-resident....when it sounds like she lives right nearby and wants it right near by.

I see trying to take down a local business (whether its a range or a camp or heck even a strip club) as rather different from wanting to build a new business or something in the area. Don't try to kill somebody else's existing business, but owning a house doesn't automatically give you the right to say what can be built near you. I'd defend the owners if the new lady was like "all your houses are ugly colours, repaint them, I've formed a Petition Against Pink" or something, but you don't get to put a whole neighborhood into stasis when you move in.

 

[Viola]

They bought property that wasn't near a dog park, and I can see how dogs barking and baying at 6 a.m. (or any other time) might disturb some people. As I see it, it's the convenience of dog owners vs. the interests of people who want to enjoy their property.

How far does enjoying your property go? Can you ask your neighbor to not do tasteless things to their house/yard? I don't imagine it's legal to say "hey I bought this house WITHOUT bratty rude kids next door..." lol

 

[Diamondback]

If she did her due diligence, she knew what the neighborhood was like, including distance to nearest dog-park, before she chose to buy in there. If it was so much a showstopper, she shoulda bought closer to one...

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[Viola]

Sometimes when I look at neighborhoods I think about making do, or the potential for new businesses cropping up? (I think this is a big thing in Philadelphia, in a lot of neighborhoods they market houses by "picture where the neighborhood will be in five years...")

Is it not okay to think of opening new businesses or building/redoing new houses?

 

[Paisley]

In some neighborhoods, yes, you have to ask permission to paint your house a different color. My parents live in that general area, and that's the kind of place it is: way out in the suburbs where people go to avoid being disturbed. Want to put in a K-mart in such a place? Get ready to fight city hall and rile up your neighbors.

And for goodness' sake, there's a dog park five minutes from there, away from all but a few houses. There are two more 15 minutes from there.

As for bratty kids, oh well. At least their families tend to move often.

 

[Paisley]

Sometimes when I look at neighborhoods I think about making do, or the potential for new businesses cropping up? (I think this is a big thing in Philadelphia, in a lot of neighborhoods they market houses by "picture where the neighborhood will be in five years...")

Is it not okay to think of opening new businesses or building/redoing new houses?

It depends on the business or renovation. Does it fit in with the neighborhood? Will it disturb a reasonable person living nearby? Will it create a lot of traffic? Will it create jobs and bring in revenues? And most importantly, will property owners' right be preserved?

Several years ago, the city where I live was looking to bring in new businesses. One was Wal-Mart to go where a defunct shopping mall was, and the homeowners agreed to it on the condition that they make the building look nicer than a typical big-box store. Another plan was to re-do an old theater into a concert hall, and that worked out well. One old woman wanted the theater to be dry--that idea didn't fly, but the theater did get up and running. It had been there since the 30s and was on the main street--so in a sense, it wasn't exactly new.

Someone else planned to put in a wrecking yard where an iron works was. The homeowners successfully fought that; now there's a city bus garage there. It doesn't sound great, but really, the building and grounds are beautiful.

Some of the houses around here have been renovated, mostly to bad effect. Some small houses (say, 800 s.f.) were scraped and replaced with big houses or condos that aren't selling. Others were expanded and look atrocious. That's the downside of living where people are only somewhat particular about what goes in the neighborhood.

 

[Lincsong]

Whatever happened to "private property" rights????

 

[Diamondback]

Whatever happened to "private property" rights????

They were demolished along with Suzette Kelo's home.

 

[HadleyH]

omg....am i the only one here who has normal neighbors ? lol lol lol

my neighbors are ok....honest ...they are just fine, bless their souls!

 

[Paisley]

IThats what the non-resident dog park person is doing...

I don't know whether the person I talked to was a resident of that area or not. She said she helped established the dog park where we were. But I'm not a resident of that area of the proposed dog park, and didn't want to help force it on people who do live around there. Mostly, I didn't like her smug, superior attitude towards people whose desires differed from hers.

 

[jamespowers]

I had a similar problem with one of my neighbors. She wanted all kinds of speed bumps installed on my street. Nevermind that is has dipps at just about every corner.
My wife called me from work telling me that she was collecting signatures to have them put in. Obviously she wouldn't sign. So I whipped up 150 flyers at work to give people the real skinny on what it would mean---slower Emergency service times, increased noise(bump bump all the time), increased pollution and a host of other things such as increased car wrecks etc. I handed them out with the local Council's phone number and that was the end of that.
Yes, she is a newer neighbor and realtor on top of it.

 

[Paisley]

Yeah, my parents have speed bumps almost in front of their house, about 40 feet from the stop sign. It doesn't slow down the people who really do want to go fast. And yes, the cars go "bump" every time they go by. My parents' former neighbors wanted the bumps, and complained about every nitpicky thing you could think of. They didn't even want me to park on the cul-de-sac next to their house when my parents' steep driveway was covered with ice. They're part of the reason you couldn't pay me to live in that area. We're glad, glad, glad they're gone.