Monday Musings...
Neighborhoods are exactly like mankind in one aspect; they are meant to EVOLVE. Now I want you to think about your neighborhood and then see HOW MUCH that first statement applies to YOUR area. Hopefully, you can say with assurance that it's true beyond all reasonable doubt.
And a good neighborhood will continue to progress...and grow...and prosper.
A bad neighborhood, on the other hand, will do none of those (in a predictable manner).
Sadly, too many inner urban neighborhoods are in a state of turmoil. They wallow in a stagnant pool of filth. And we've conveniently labelled that filth an a number of ways. We can call it poverty. We can call it crime. Or we can all it apathy. Sometimes, we call it all three.
Quaint streets lined with older houses steeped in history, all wonderfully unique in their architecture are being lost...and for what reason, other than someone else's all-mighty dollar. Many have given up on the "sweat-equity" that goes along with home ownership, supplanting it for the cookie-cutter, quasi-affluent aspects of suburbia. People claim they don't have the time to invest in these older homes. Others have stated that crime has infested the area and they cannot deal with it. Still others are looking for that American Dream, and hope they'll find it somewhere other than within the confines of a city. And these reasons all seem logical by nature.
Now my particular neighborhood is one in (as I like to call it among other things) "transition". It's been that way since my wife and I moved here over 10 years ago, but the process of "transitioning" has accelerated over the past 5-7 years. I can tell you what it has transitioned FROM, as well as where it is transitioning TO very easily.
This area WAS a neighborhood where people had mutual respect for one another. Crime was all but non-existent, and everyone had some type of job somewhere, and some were retired; relegated to being able to finally enjoy the fruits of their lives. Properties were maintained, the local Neighborhood Association was intact with a well-represented membership that functioned as it should, and people were doing pretty damn well for the working middle class households that filled the area. We even used to sit outside at other neighbors steps or porches and just chat a spell.
But within a mere DECADE, things changed about 180 degrees in the OTHER direction.
My neighborhood stopped EVOLVING...and began to DEVOLVE.
An area that reminded me SO much of where my late grandmother used to live in Philly (the Rhawnhurst section of the northeast), was turning into an urban cesspool that you'd find in most ANY major city...and Fort Wayne was far from becoming a "major" city.
People began moving away for various reasons. The crime that affected areas further north was infiltrating OUR part of the Southeast. Like some rising tide of sewage, it flowed inexorably southward, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block, until we were becoming victims of crime ourselves.
No longer could we leave windows up during the summer, or doors unlocked (I never did anyway, coming from Philly), but people not from the area were taking notice to OUR houses, watching US to see when we went to work, when we came home, and when we went to bed. More and more strange vehicles came and went through the area, and at first, you paid it no never mind. But after a time, you started to watch and be aware of those that have no business in your neighborhood. They were (and still are) checking out your area...and you.
A few people passed away and their homes went up for "sale". And of course, someone was always willing to "buy" that house. But instead of placing someone willing to OWN a house in these properties, and otherwise embrace the relative calm this area provided, they placed renters into these houses, and the resulting transience, along with the problems these nomadic people brought with them proved nothing if not fatal to the evolution of this neighborhood.
Not ALL renters are BAD people...I know this from experience. For the first 16 years of my life, my parents RENTED, and never ONCE were WE a problem to ANY neighborhood we in (I have 3 elementary schools to show for our nomadic times).
Some of the people still left in the area tried to ignore the problems that were coming. Having been to many areas in various cities that were much worse off than ours, I could already see the writing on the wall, and where all this was heading. Those that ignored the problem eventually moved, saying they "just couldn't put up with it anymore".
Well, running away is one thing (and works well for cowards), but a strategic retreat to the rear (to regroup) is quite the other. I wouldn't go so far to call my former neighbors cowards...some are simply not deserving of that, but I will say that many just "bailed", because they didn't know HOW to stand their ground. All this "newness" was foreign to them. They would rather give this sub-human trash THEIR house as a victory laurel, rather than say, "No...you can't have what I busted my ass for all these years". Maybe they were never taught how to grow some balls.
Some neighbors came into some serious money (think a hundred thousand bucks and change) from an estate and they moved WAY out in Allen County (they own two horses) so it was justifiable to them and understandable to me. The irony is that they happen to live ACROSS the road from a pig farm now, while my wife and I happen to (currently) live SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF ONE...!
And without exception, EVERY person that moved away was replaced by members of that tide of sewage I mentioned above. No one has been the least bit friendly to us (they can't even say HI, but usually are always HIGH), took every opportunity to disrespect us (I don't want to hear THEIR music to all hours 3 blocks away), showed NO respect to our property (they parked ON OUR SIDE LAWN, nibbling away at our property line). The flotsam that inhabited areas further north had arrived down here, and acted like they were given the keys to the candy store. Nothing was beyond their reach. And boy, could they EVER reach for anything and everything (that wasn't theirs).
We started to see displays of public urination, more break-ins (especially with the more recent copper thefts), more domestic disputes, more loud parties, more gunshots, more fireworks (when they were still illegal), more vandalism, more barking dogs, and an overall sense of anarchy taking hold of our neighborhood. And I know my wife and I had not changed one damn bit. It wasn't US...it was THEM.
During all this time, I must say that the city/county did little if nothing to change, halt or reverse this trend in OUR area. If anything, the city/county saw fit to RAISE all of the property taxes on the houses belonging to predominantly WHITE households (average rise in 2004 was close to 90%). And that helped force more good people the hell out of here. Fortunately, the latest reassessment is giving back a portion of the overinflated monies stolen from the working class survivors in the area. Big frigging deal. Another case of "too little, too late". We can't sell our houses now for assessed value, so why attempt to sell, and lose all the money sunk into them?
How's that for a reward for staying in a (now) blighted area of Fort Wayne?
Now I said ALL that to say this...
The latest news in our neighborhood is another family moving out. Since they were trying to become white trash anyway (the woman there had that "meth-skinny" regimen going for her...helluva diet plan), I say fine...take a hike. They basically "snuck" out of the area Saturday morning...no clue as to WHY...and I don't really care at this point.
Another guy (I call him Drunk Joe, because he never COULD walk a straight line) down the block looks like HE moved as well, because I saw 2 pickups full of "stuff" being moved into the place. Yeah, nothing says ghetto-single-mom-trash quite like the "overfilled pickup truck movers in 2 hours" bunch, does it? I already KNOW what she and her tribe will be like, and as for who will move into the other house 2 doors down? If it's anything like the other houses that were "sold" (and turned around faster than normal behavior on the south side...into rentals) I can expect even more of the same crap that we already "enjoy".

So it begins anew...and becomes more and more like the "Last Man Standing" from where I see it. At least my wife and I are still EVOLVING. That's more than I can say about the others around here...OR the neighborhood.
I'd like to petition the city to change the name of this area from Pettit-Rudisill to "Little Nigeria".
Then I would be a (real) minority, and could start getting all the "perks" those others have been getting for so long for no reason at everyone else's expense.
Tell you one thing...it's damn hard being the LAST island of reason within a sea of chaos.
Like a drop of white paint on a black driveway. That's us.
...And it's ONLY Monday (again)...