Subdivided

I just finished watching the documentary "Subdivided". It's about how society has changed from people moving to the suburbs. It was really interesting and got me to thinking.

I grew up in a subdivision during the 1970's that can best be described as a "themed subdivision" and that theme was horses. The subdivision had these horses and I'm not sure how it worked but families who lived in the subdivision could lease these horses. Most families did and during the summer we had "pony shows" that were elaborate productions. We all dressed up in show clothes and you and your horse won ribbons for different events. It was really neat cause it was something that you could do together as a family, and the rest of the community. Besides the pony shows there were movies shown on the tennis grounds, potlucks, Santa parade and other things that I'm probably forgetting. It was the ideal place to grow up. This documentary I just watched got me thinking about how unique that place was in that it was a real community.

Then I thought about other places I've lived. One of the best places I've lived is Bloomington, Indiana located in southern Indiana and home of Indiana University. This campus is BEAUTIFUL. It looks and feels like a state park and the buildings are all Indiana limestone. Bloomington is a relatively small town outside of the university. One of the things I love about college towns is that they are set up for WALKING. Cars had no power and pedestrians rule. I loved being able to walk to my classes, to work, to clubs,bars,restaurants, live music and shopping.

When I moved to Indianapolis what I hated was having to drive everywhere. All around the city are these little islands of shopping centers, one on the north side is exactly like one on the south side. No diversity. Then when I lived in Denver I saw HUGE swatches of land being made into these giant subdivisions. The west is being eaten up by sprawl. Sprawl is constant from Colorado Springs (and probably now from Pueblo) all the way to Boulder and probably Fort Collins. These massive houses being built all look the same. It is so depressing. And the main thing you notice when you look at these houses is the garage being at the front of the house. I could never understand this until my husband explained it to me that developers could build more houses on smaller lots that way.

When we decided to buy a house we chose one in what is probably the oldest neighborhood in town and has been run down by absentee landlords and drugs. The houses are all old and beautiful and BIG! They just don't build houses like that anymore. One of the reasons we bought this house was because we got a lot of house for the price. Another reason was because I wanted to commit to rebuilding our urban areas as liveable communities. In our town people are fleeing the city and going to the suburbs and the neighborhoods in the city are really suffering. I didn't want to contribute to that. My mother keeps telling me I've got to get out of that house and neighborhood, but I like it. The only thing I don't like is that cars drive too fast down the street and I don't feel comfortable letting my kids ride their bikes in the street. And that's sad. Where I grew up we owned the streets during the summertime, playing kick the can and ding dong ditch em and what not.

I know there is movement in creating communities that revolve around people and not the automobile. Communities where you could walk to shopping, the library, cultural events, museums, theater, restaraunts and clubs. I hope we get there. Otherwise I just have to wait until I retire and can move back to Bloomington