Living in the ghetto.. (rantish)

[draggar]

I need to rant about this.

Yes, I live in the ghetto (not that bad of a ghetto but it's still one).

What pisses me off is that no one cares about their property, including owners, because it's the ghetto.

But why does it look ghettoish? Because no one cares.

See the catch-22?

I like seeing some of the properties taken care of, there are things you can do even if you don't have the money. For less than $20 you can have a nice herb garden growing.

For $20-$40 you can have quite a few flowers (more if you just buy the seeds).

But so many lawns are not taken care of, so much garbage thrown around the bus stop (again), so many people just not caring.

They park on their lawns while their driveway is empty. A window breaks? Oh well, leave it broken.

It's really sad. Yeah, it would still be a ghetto if people cared but at least it would look like a nice ghetto - someplace someone would want to live.

[Pedersen]

Yes, I live in the ghetto (not that bad of a ghetto but it's still one).

I can honestly say that I've never before heard of a ghetto with an HOA. I guess you really do learn something new every day.

[draggar]

We're just a small part of the ghetto. Our community is 29 units but I'm also referring to properties outside of our community (like across the street etc..).

[Magpie]

It's not just the viscous cycle that you described. It's also that stuff gets trashed more often. I've been in the student neighbourhoods for a while. No where else do they throw half-eaten bananas against the car windows just to see them stick. No where else have I had traffic cones dragged 200 m and thrown onto my tomato plants. No where else have people thrown that volume of garbage on the front lawn and into my recycling bin. I tried keeping the place presentable my first time, but it was just such a large chore compared to doing it anywhere else.

[protege]

I refer to the neighborhood I work in as a "ghetto." Drug busts aside, the area I work in is pretty shitty. Nowhere else have I ever had to step over trash on the sidewalk or dog shit in the morning. Nowhere else have I seen more mullets and missing teeth...than when I was working late, and there was a traffic accident outside. Oh, and there really is a crack house next door--that place got raided after an FBI agent was shot outside of town last summer

At least now, several of the abandoned buildings are being torn down, but still. Most of surrounding area is falling apart, probably because the buildings aren't worth much, and the landlords don't maintain them. There's literally no pride in the neighborhood, and yes, it is a vicious circle.

Not that I'd live in the neighborhood anyway, but things like that are *exactly* why I live out in the 'burbs. We take care of our properties...and fine the hell out of those who don't. That's why, for the most part, we don't have dog shit everywhere. Nor do we have abandoned cars and other junk rotting away in vacant lots.

[Exaspera]

How did those little pocket communities get started in NYC? The community gardens on the abandoned properties?

Just using that as an example. Once the community came together on cleaning up a site, the area around it improved. And it usually began with one person.

[Sheldonrs]

Another catch-22 living in a "ghetto" is that you have a lot of residents who live there because it's all they can afford and then they worry about the costs going up if the place is cleaned up. It used to be called gentrification.

IMO, I'd rather clean up the place. The longer you live in a pig pen, the more you start acting like a pig.

[Aut]

I live in the ghetto too. Just because you can't afford a nicer place (and if they could, they'd likely still trash it), is no reason to toss your trash about and be rude and careless. I've lived in this area for 10 years, and have always been considerate of neighbors and the maintenance that should be fixing stuff next door rather than spend 2 hours picking up garbage everyday.

I've heard that the manager of the complex next door has been cracking own on litter - expecially cigarette butts. Suddenly there's an increase of butts on my side of the fence. Only for a little while though, because I go out there early every morning and toss them back over. I can't believe some of the crap they will toss over the fence because they are so lazy. The best was a full bag of garbage that I ended up ripping open while pulling it out of a snow drift. Found some mail with it and knew whose it was and then took it and dumped it on their doorstep. Nice try.

[Exaspera]

The best was a full bag of garbage that I ended up ripping open while pulling it out of a snow drift. Found some mail with it and knew whose it was and then took it and dumped it on their doorstep. Nice try.

LOL! Talk about pwned! I love when stuff like this happens!