Tag: neighbors

Old Drafts- Assuming class & income

This is a post that for some reason I did not publish. If I did it would have been published on 7/29/2008.

Taken June 14, 2019 at Archives-Navy Memorial

I’m writing this post to acknowledge that when I observe my neighbors and fellow citizens, talking about their wealth or lack thereof is at best a guessing game. I hesitate to talk about the ‘suspected’ homeless guys who hang out all year, near where I work, because I don’t know if they are homeless. They don’t have a shopping cart of stuff and they appear cleaner than some of the ragged tourists who march around. It’s just that they hang out in the same spot day after day, winter, spring. summer, and fall, during work hours and occasionally one guy will whip out a cup with some change and shake it. There are all sorts of signs that strongly signal that they are homeless, but to my knowledge few to none have self identified themselves as such. So when I question and analyze my presumptions, I’ll say I’m about 80% sure. Because honestly, taking in their ages 1/2 of them, and they are doing what my retired uncle is doing, sitting around and staying out of Aunt M.’s way. They could be the same.
There are things about our neighbors that point in this, that and the other direction as to which is their economic class. Because we are not privy to that which, frankly is none of our business, our guesses about whether someone is a member of the underclass, the overwhelmed middle class, or wealthy is just that, a guess. Unless they tell us.
I guess this comes from some people watching I was doing.

It’s time to go

This weekend one of the neighbors was out doing some minor painting, reminding me I have to do some minor painting to my fence and security gate. Ah, home ownership. When asked about the sprucing up she was doing she confirmed that she is indeed planning on selling the house and moving back to her homecountry. “It’s time,” she said.
She’d been on the block a little bit longer than I have, by some months to 1/2 a year. In that time she’d done some home improvement, so at least 1/3 of the house is new. She’s also been a good neighbor in that she’d taken on the alley cat issue, trying to catch cats to get them spayed and neutered and the kittens adopted. Hopefully someone can fill that role when she does sell the house, and provided it isn’t listed at some super high price, it should sell. And hopefully, whomever buys it will integrate themselves into the fabric of our block.
And so another person makes an individual decision that can change the block adding to the dynamic nature of neighborhoods and neighborhood change. Which reminds me of the various reasons people I have known have given for moving, job relocation, family pressures, marriage, house too much of a burden/downsizing, etc. For renters, sometimes the decision is not theirs and is more financial when the owners choose to cash out or fail to keep up with their mortgage. No organized effort here, just individuals, with a tiny sliver of land, doing what they think is best for them.