Returning today from my daily walk, one timed to take advantage of a bit of dry weather, I came upon a neighbor standing on the sidewalk engaged in wistful contemplation of his next door neighbors’ house.
Said house having recently been put up for sale, this man was doing what most on the street now do, which would be hoping the new owners won’t be idiots.
It’s about a 50-50 gamble these days.
This once sedate neighborhood populated by mostly well-mannered families, has declined noticeably.
Now, this elderly couple has opted for apartment life elsewhere, leaving their house to be bought by someone new.
On the upside, if their asking price is met, the sale will put yet another boost into property values.
On the downside, if yet more out-of-control neighbors move in, it will quickly erase that gain.
The neighbor musing on the vacant house lives to the immediate right of it, and on the corner of the block. I told him he could just buy this neighboring house, rent it out to normal people, and thereby have a buffer.
I don’t have the option of relative isolation living three houses down to the left. This has been a peaceful week with my irritating neighbors to my right on vacation all week. But they will return soon, I’m sure.
Even worse, my neighbor to the left is contemplating selling her house, with all the uncertainty that would produce.
I spoke briefly about the neighborhood decline with this pensive neighbor, reciting chapter and verse about problems. I, and many like me, moved to neighborhoods such as ours in the Johnstown suburbs to escape the horrors of the Greater Johnstown School District for our children.
Understand I graduated once upon a time from Johnstown High School, have a son who teaches there, and have had considerable contact with students from recent years. I wouldn’t want to send a child of mine to that school district.
I paid the economic price to escape in the form of a higher purchase price and property taxes. That was supposed to provide an economic moat of sorts. But now I find through various governmental subsidies and programs, the troublemakers have had the way paid for them to follow me.
My neighbor was unaware that just this morning, within a stone’s throw of his house, a report on the police scanner had told of a passing driver’s concern that a man was prone in a yard.
Police investigated and discovered the downed man was laid low by a drug overdose, while he was in charge of not one, or two, but three young children.
The police activity continued for some time at that house.
Meanwhile, up the street and on the other side, a group of people (I hesitate to use the term family) moved in late last year, prompting the erection of two massive fences by neighbors on either side of them.
We still have people who think our street is a dragstrip. Often these are not residents but instead just people who feel the need to race through a residential area to bypass the never-ending sewer, gas line, water line, whatever construction on nearby Goucher Street.
As a side note, my rental garage a block away is a strip of such storage spots associated with a small apartment building that of late has taken on a Section 8 tenancy.
This affects me because their supposed economic hardships don’t seem to prevent them from owning cars. Lines have been painted on the pavement to help them park those cars correctly parallel to the building, leaving space for garage owners to exit their stalls.
A couple of tenants don’t seem to understand what those lines mean, parking well outside them, and even at a 45-degree angle to the building.
I tracked down one offender and noted she really needed to do a better job of parking. To her credit, she was apologetic and, for the most part, has parked correctly since.
But her scofflaw role has been taken by another poor parker. And I’m left to decide how to communicate to these people the need to park closer to the building.
I’ve gone so far as to contemplate renting a three-car garage miles away, presuming that might reduce my problems with access.
I’ve also contemplated moving to a house with more of what used to be called elbow room in terms of surrounding land. Skyrocketing house prices – thank you Biden Regime inflation – have put that on hold while I await the virtually inevitable rapid decline in housing prices that an economic recession and financial contraction bring.
Similarly, any plans to acquire yet another hobby car – although I’m a Mustang guy I’ve been researching C-4 Corvettes – have been sidetracked by unrealistic price rises.
Life for me has become a bit of a waiting game, spiced with observing our unfortunate case of neighborhood limbo – how low can things go?
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