Exploring St. Louis from the inside-out since 2008.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Daydream #381
Where you live, in large part, defines who you are. The apartment, the condo, the home, the neighborhood, the city you choose: it all adds up to be a good indicator of who you are and what you're all about and what you hold dear.
Yes and no. For many people it certainly does, but for others where they live is a simple cost-benefit analysis. They simple want the best house, schools, and neighborhood they can get for their money. It certianly isn't wrong, as I'm sure anyone who has bought anything ever wants the best bang for their buck.
But for many of us, where we live comes down to more than monetary value. We want to live in area with history, unique architecture, diversity, within walking/biking distance to destiniations, where public transport is plentiful, where people care about their environment not just their property values, and is full of unique/quirky people and places. Of course we want to be safe, have good schools, and live in a "nice" neighborhood too. But we have to balance a lot more to get the perfect house than the typical suburban folk.
^Joseph 9:34, I see your point about those who simply live somewhere for low hassle, good school, cheap rent/martgage. However, I think there are less of those kinds of folks in the city. I mean, let's be honest, people aren't flocking here for the kick ass schools (although our magnets are free and among the best in the nation).
Furthermore to my original thought in this post, if you don't take care in where you choose to live, you probably don't take care in where you choose to shop, dine, recreate, etc.
Benign housing begets benign strip malls begets benign chains begets huge drive thru/surface parking begets less ability to walk/ride bikes and so on and so on....
I don't know why you keep sucking me in but here we go again. First, the definition of benign is "kindly: having a kind and gentle disposition or appearance - not life-threatening: not a threat to life or long-term health, especially by being noncancerous - harmless: neutral or harmless in its effect or influence." So I think you want a different word here.
Second, as I always state in my posts the city is a wonderful place be it St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Des Moines, Pittsburgh, etc...
Not everyone lives in cities although in the third world people flock to them because the opportunities in the countryside are no longer available because some would argue that corporate agriculture (I would put Monsanto in this group)has rendered their simple life unsustainable. This includes activities in the "green revolution" up through biotech foods.
The cities in the third world are either unwilling or unprepared to deal with the influx of poor people. Thus, they are relegated to living in the worst of slums where building codes are an unknown concept.
That is just my long winded point that in conjunction with your reasoning in Daydream #381 - where someone works is also a good indicator of who you, what you're all about, and what you hold dear.
Banal -lacking originality, freshness, or novelty : trite
I would definitely call new housing complexes banal.
However, I just need to point out that I simply want you guys to differentiate where you're talking about. South County has a wide variety of housing. I can find houses built in every decade including some houses over 80 years old. I wouldn't classify it as banal nor generic.
Again, the four family flats that cover large areas of St. Louis city are generic if you mean uniform or built alike. I am not knocking these buildings but call them what they are. Every plan for those units are exactly the same.
This will be one of the last statements I make on the us v. them issue that it seems everything these days comes down to. It seems like there is always someone pointing out a division in the U.S. i.e...the Republicans, tea baggers, and racists etc...
I realize that people in the city of St. Louis are more sophisticated than me. As chief Joseph of the Nez Perce said, "I will fight no more forever."
Dan I agree with you for the most part regarding the us vs. them thing. It's usually counter productive and can get ugly (esp. with politics and other polarizing issues like abortion, health care, race, religion, etc). However, I'm sure you can relate to a situation where you felt you were overwhelmed with opinions and speak you didn't agree with and you felt the need to speak up. I believe that's all that's taking place in these city blogs. Discussion and dialog, not city:county or county:city attacks. Comparing the city to the suburbs is a popular and provacative subject. If those engaged in the discusssions can avoid taking things personally and be objective, we might be able to pull the region together more than the previous generations could.
I thought I posted a reply here last week but I guess it didn't go through. First, I was grumpy when I replied here the last time. In the end your dedication to the city is exemplary. I have taken the road more traveled as I have done at many crossroads in my life. Our regional divisions are indeed crippling our progress. We can't keep running away from the issues by building farther and farther away. I will not argue contrary points because in the end this site is for the city and that should always be its goal. Great job once again on it! However, I will just take a sentence to state that people in all areas are contributing members of the regional community and do good work for people in their communities and in surrounding communities. That said I will remain positive and hopefully, take action to contribute to the strengthening of our region.
^Dan, totally understood. I was actually surprised that this post was one that went down the city vs. county road. It was a generic thought, nothing more....no suburbanite baiting was intended. A house makes a home, a home makes a person, that type of thing.
Yes and no. For many people it certainly does, but for others where they live is a simple cost-benefit analysis. They simple want the best house, schools, and neighborhood they can get for their money. It certianly isn't wrong, as I'm sure anyone who has bought anything ever wants the best bang for their buck.
ReplyDeleteBut for many of us, where we live comes down to more than monetary value. We want to live in area with history, unique architecture, diversity, within walking/biking distance to destiniations, where public transport is plentiful, where people care about their environment not just their property values, and is full of unique/quirky people and places. Of course we want to be safe, have good schools, and live in a "nice" neighborhood too. But we have to balance a lot more to get the perfect house than the typical suburban folk.
^Joseph 9:34, I see your point about those who simply live somewhere for low hassle, good school, cheap rent/martgage. However, I think there are less of those kinds of folks in the city. I mean, let's be honest, people aren't flocking here for the kick ass schools (although our magnets are free and among the best in the nation).
ReplyDeleteFurthermore to my original thought in this post, if you don't take care in where you choose to live, you probably don't take care in where you choose to shop, dine, recreate, etc.
Benign housing begets benign strip malls begets benign chains begets huge drive thru/surface parking begets less ability to walk/ride bikes and so on and so on....
I don't know why you keep sucking me in but here we go again. First,
ReplyDeletethe definition of benign is "kindly: having a kind and gentle disposition or appearance
- not life-threatening: not a threat to life or long-term health, especially by being noncancerous - harmless: neutral or harmless in its effect or influence." So I think you want a different word here.
Second, as I always state in my posts the city is a wonderful place be it St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Des Moines, Pittsburgh, etc...
Not everyone lives in cities although in the third world people flock to them because the opportunities in the countryside are no longer available because some would argue that corporate agriculture (I would put Monsanto in this group)has rendered their simple life unsustainable. This includes activities in the "green revolution" up through biotech foods.
The cities in the third world are either unwilling or unprepared to deal with the influx of poor people. Thus, they are relegated to living in the worst of slums where building codes are an unknown concept.
That is just my long winded point that in conjunction with your reasoning in Daydream #381 - where someone works is also a good indicator of who you, what you're all about, and what you hold dear.
^Jeez already. Scratch benign, substitute generic. I am proud of where I work and what I do. I won't take that bait.
ReplyDeleteBanal, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteBanal -lacking originality, freshness, or novelty : trite
ReplyDeleteI would definitely call new housing complexes banal.
However, I just need to point out that I simply want you guys to differentiate where you're talking about. South County has a wide variety of housing. I can find houses built in every decade including some houses over 80 years old. I wouldn't classify it as banal nor generic.
Again, the four family flats that cover large areas of St. Louis city are generic if you mean uniform or built alike. I am not knocking these buildings but call them what they are. Every plan for those units are exactly the same.
This will be one of the last statements I make on the us v. them issue that it seems everything these days comes down to. It seems like there is always someone pointing out a division in the U.S. i.e...the Republicans, tea baggers, and racists etc...
I realize that people in the city of St. Louis are more sophisticated than me. As chief Joseph of the Nez Perce said, "I will fight no more forever."
Dan I agree with you for the most part regarding the us vs. them thing. It's usually counter productive and can get ugly (esp. with politics and other polarizing issues like abortion, health care, race, religion, etc). However, I'm sure you can relate to a situation where you felt you were overwhelmed with opinions and speak you didn't agree with and you felt the need to speak up. I believe that's all that's taking place in these city blogs. Discussion and dialog, not city:county or county:city attacks. Comparing the city to the suburbs is a popular and provacative subject. If those engaged in the discusssions can avoid taking things personally and be objective, we might be able to pull the region together more than the previous generations could.
ReplyDeleteI thought I posted a reply here last week but I guess it didn't go through. First, I was grumpy when I replied here the last time. In the end your dedication to the city is exemplary. I have taken the road more traveled as I have done at many crossroads in my life. Our regional divisions are indeed crippling our progress. We can't keep running away from the issues by building farther and farther away.
ReplyDeleteI will not argue contrary points because in the end this site is for the city and that should always be its goal. Great job once again on it! However, I will just take a sentence to state that people in all areas are contributing members of the regional community and do good work for people in their communities and in surrounding communities.
That said I will remain positive and hopefully, take action to contribute to the strengthening of our region.
^Dan, totally understood. I was actually surprised that this post was one that went down the city vs. county road. It was a generic thought, nothing more....no suburbanite baiting was intended. A house makes a home, a home makes a person, that type of thing.
ReplyDelete