Five Environments

A story I picked up on the Internet:

“There are Five Environments you can live in on this planet. There’s The City. The Desert. The Mountains. The Plains. And The Beach.

“You can live in combinations of them. Maybe a city in the desert, or in the mountains by the ocean. Or you could choose just one. Out in the plains somewhere, perhaps.

“But you need to get out there and travel, and figure out where you thrive.

“Some places you’ll go to and you’ll feel yourself wither. Your brain will fog up, your body won’t respond to your thoughts and desires, and you’ll feel sad and angry.

“You need to find out which of the Five Environments are yours. If you belong by the ocean, then the mountains will ruin you. If you’re suited for the blue solitude of the plains, then the city will be a tight, roaring prison cell that’ll eat you alive.”

And I would add: if you lean toward the city, you'll be bored silly anywhere else.

Crime

When I used to drive through the area where I live now,I was scared to death that I was going to get caught in the crossfire of a gang war or be the victim of a drive-by shooting. And when my daughters moved into this area, I was certain they were going to get mugged or raped or worse. But they survived and even thrived in their inner city apartment. Their proximity to Ohio State University and large numbers of young people. I told myself that they were young and didn't mind living in a dicey area. I'd been young once, too, and I could remember the appeal of old homes with character and interesting architecture, high ceilings, wide wooden baseboards and trim, bay windows, towers, and large front porches. Not to mention the huge old trees that lined the streets.

When I went looking for a house I ended up in the same general area because it had more affordable housing than anywhere else in the city. Of course there are reasons for that. And one of the reasons is crime. But crime didn't even enter my mind when I found my house on a quiet side street. The house was as nice as many I'd seen in the suburbs, but it was half to one-third the price. The house prices on the other side of High Street were astronomical, but that didn't stop people from moving there. I figured that the crime rate couldn't be that different since the neighborhoods were just blocks from each other. (I know, I was naive.)

That's the nature of city neighborhoods. One area might be really safe and two streets over you have rampant crime. I've never witnessed a shooting from my front porch but down the street and around the corner a seventeen-year-old kid was gunned down at 3:30 in the afternoon, when children were walking home from school. That was several years ago now, but you never forget it. And that's not the only murder that has occurred in the area.

When you live in a high-crime area you can't worry about what happens on the streets around you. It's quite possible for there to be pockets of safety in even the worst city neighborhood. We happen to live across the street from an elementary school, and outside of the noise issues, we feel that the frequent police patrols do quite a bit to make us safer. Also, there are severe penalties if you're caught with drugs within a certain distance from the school property.

The most frequent crime is burglary, but that can be true of any neighborhood. Sometimes the more affluent neighborhoods are hardest hit. Not too long ago, a better neighborhood north of us was subject to a windshield smashing spree. That's not fun, or inexpensive, but it's better than being mugged or hit by a bullet. You have to learn to prioritize what you're going to worry about.

I've lived in my house for over ten years now and haven't been burglarized once. We don't have one bit of graffiti on our property. Maybe I've been lucky. Maybe it's the fact that until recently I had a dog. Maybe it's the sign for the alarm system that is posted out front (and the actual alarm system that backs it up--some people just put up the signs!) Maybe it's the police presence in my neighborhood. I had a drunk try to kick in the door and force open the windows once, but my neighbor yelled at him and he ran off.

I'm sure I'd have a much better picture of the criminal activities in my area if I talked to a policeman. But from what I've experienced and been able to observe, most of the crime is in my head. A woman comes to the door and wants money which I refuse to give her and I'm afraid she's going to retaliate against me in some way. But nothing happens. A guy stops me in the street and asks if I have a cigarette and when I say I don't, he says "thanks" and walks away. A mean-looking man passes me on sidewalk and says, "Hi, how ya doin'?" and keeps on walking. A bunch of kids hang around my house wanting to know if I have any jobs they can do for money, but when I say no, they stop coming around.

A lot of people I know can't understand why I live in the "ghetto." They tell me cautionary tales all the time. Some think I should never answer the door. Some think I should get a gun. Some warn me about giving out money. Some tell me to keep my shades drawn all the time. But I refuse to live like a prisoner. This is my home and it's been a good and safe one for some time. If I were to worry about something awful to happen all the time, I might as well not venture outside of the house. I like to work in my garden. People walk by and comment on how nice the garden looks. This is a neighborhood. Families live here. Kids play on the sidewalks. It's not an ideal place to live crime-wise, but is any place really?

I could move to the suburbs, but I'd be giving up everything else that I love about living in the city, and I might not be any safer. I might not see as much graffiti or trash, it might be a little quieter, there would (presumably) be less guns. But I would also miss the atmosphere, the liveliness, the sounds of life, and the convenience. I might be more protected (maybe), but I'd be infinitely more bored. It's a trade-off. There are definitely worse ways to live. You just have to pick the right one for you. (See next post.)

Negatives: Noise, Pollution and Trash

There's no denying that there are negatives about city living. While crime is probably the number one concern, noise. pollution and trash are daily nuisances that can make city living a less attractive option. As for noise, it is not always seen as a negative. Some people like the excitement of living in an urban environment, and view the sounds of fire engines, ambulances, traffic, horns, and people as proof that they do indeed live where the action is. But even the most ardent city dwellers tire of the noise level at times and find themselves yearning for some peace and quiet.

I live across the street from an elementary school where the noise of children and schoolbuses bombard me daily. But you can live near a school in the suburbs, too, so it's not really a urban issue. When I bought my house, I didn't think about the school being noisy (I first saw the house during Christmas vacation and owned it before the New Year.) But it's quiet on the weekends and during vacations and the noise is usually over by five o'clock on school days.

I live near a firehouse, too, which accounts for some of all the sirens we hear. But the only time sirens bother me is when I'm sleeping with the windows open, which isn't very often. You get used to them after a while.

Then there are the helicopters. I can't ignore them as easily. There are the news helicopters every day reporting on in-town traffic, but they're generally pretty high up and I rarely notice them. But we do occasionally have helicopters flying low over this neighborhood, sometimes with spotlights, presumably looking for some kind of fugitive. That's a little scary but kind of exciting, too, especially when the police talk through a loudspeaker to talk to the would-be criminal down on the ground. I'm not really afraid that the person they're chasing could end up in my backyard; I always see the situation as "out there" somewhere. But I suppose it could happen.

One noise that really bothers me is when people walking by our house are fighting--or sound like they are--it's hard to tell sometimes. That makes me a little nervous because I'm afraid one of them is going to pull a gun and shoot someone.

And that leads me to the sound of gunfire. That's definitely not a welcome noise. But I've only heard it once where it actually led to someone being shot--that I know of. There have been shootings that I never heard, or wasn't aware that I was hearing. It's not always easy to differentiate between gunshots and backfires, fireworks, and other loud noises. But this type of noise, as well as that of helicopter searches, are more disturbing because of their connection to crime than because of their actual noise level.

I could have grouped noise and trash under pollution, but by singling it out, I meant to refer to the pollution that is not always visible--except when you dust (the dust tends to be black). It's hard to measure the effects of or the amount of pollution that is in the air, but it's a no-brainer that there's more of it in the city than in the suburbs. I developed a phlegm problem after I moved to this house, but I suspect that has more to do with my smoking than with city pollution. Fortunately there is no major industry near where I live. I recognize that this is not always the case when you're living in the city. So I would have to say that pollution is a valid concern for anyone contemplating a move to the city. Of course, if you live in a climate-controlled high-rise, it's going to be less of an issue. But most city-dwellers don't have that option.

The third negative, trash, is the one that bothers me the most. Perhaps because it's the one people actually have control over. I have a pet peeve about people leaving trash on the ground anyway. In my mind, there's no excuse for it. I'll put trash in my purse or my pocket till I can get to a trash can, before I'll drop it on the ground or throw it out a car window. In all fairness, some of the trash is blown around from dumpsters. But most of it is deliberate and that makes me crazy. And when I see trash in someone's yard, I wonder where they're pride is. Maybe they don't care because they're renting. But that's no excuse.

A few years back I participated in a trash clean-up program in this neighborhood, but I'll never do it again. It was disgusting. We wore gloves, but still. I can sort of see picking trash up from the streets but when it's in someone's yard or on the sidewalk in front of their house, I just get mad. Why should I pick up something that they should take care of?

Sometimes when I drive through a nicer city neighborhood (mine is borderline) or the suburbs, I look longingly at the trash-free yards and streets. But I live here partly because it's what I can afford (like so many city-dwellers), so I have no choice put to take care of the trash I can control, and look the other way at the trash I can't control.

That's pretty much the only choice you have with any city-living negatives.

Green Cities

Green spaces are usually at a premium in the city. Those cities that have incorporated trees, gardens and parks into the urbanscape are considered to be more desirable. But most urban areas have a long way to go in this area.

Some urban neighborhoods are known as garden districts, according to Get Urban! by Kyle Ezel. They are usually made up of single- or double-family homes which have yards (usually tiny yards, but nevertheless, there is enough room for trees and small gardens). Many of the streets are lined by trees and there are often parks sprinkled throughout. If you took these neighborhoods out of their city environments, you could mistake them for small towns or older suburbs (which is what they were before the city swallowed them up). These neighborhoods are usually close to main arteries of transportation and within walking distance of stores, boutiques, restaurants, art galleries and movie theaters. They are a good compromise for people who want the convenience of city living but don't want to be surrounded by "hardscape."

But when you get closer to downtown, green spaces are usually at a premium. There may be open plazas and pedestrian-only avenues but grass and trees are often forgotten in favor of large planters or hanging baskets of flowers (which are better than nothing, but don't quite satisfy the soul's longing for nature. And that's not even taking into account the roles trees play in offsetting pollution.) Many people figure that lack of greenery is just the price you pay for urban living, but it doesn't have to be that way. Even New York City has Cental Park.

Americans could do worse than to look to Europe for inspiration. In many countries trees are planted in every conceivable place. They are even liberally sprinkled throughout parking lots--what a concept! People are more prone to planting gardens in containers on their balconies and in the smallest patches of land in between buildings and along sidewalks--and they take care of them, too. All too often, we leave the job up to municipal entities instead of doing what we ourselves can do to make our environment as green as possible.

"The Urban Gardener," in the urban area of Columbus, Ohio known as the Short North, does a brisk business helping people to bring greenery into their city scapes. It's a relatively small nursery built on a former parking lot and it's literally a breath of fresh air. It's largely geared toward container and small gardens, but at least it makes it more convenient for city gardeners to get most of what they need to plant them.

Columbus has invested a lot of money in planting trees along city streets, but park space is still at a premium in the city proper. There are a fair number of small parks but not that many large ones. We do have the Franklin Park and its Conservatory, but it's two miles east of downtown Columbus. Still, it's 88 acres of green space and a popular place for weddings.

You can find out about the parks in any city by visiting its department of parks and recreation.

What's Happening?

One of the criticisms of urban life is that it is noisy and in your face. There's no respite from it as soon as you step outside of your building. Even where I live, which is basically a residential neighborhood made up primarily of single-family homes, there are people walking by at all hours of the day and even into the night. They're not always noisy, but they're out there. You can't sit on your front porch and not see at least fifty people a day walk by. Some say hi or comment on your garden or your dog ("You need to get that dog into your house!"), but most are silent. But they're active. There's always something happening.

If you're into people-watching, this is a dream come true. Sometimes I wish for more privacy, but mostly I enjoy seeing who is out and what they're doing. I think I would enjoy it even more if we lived in a more congested area of the city. I think I'd like looking out my window and down at the activity on the street. (My husband, however, likes a little more solitude.)

Unfortunately, illegal activity--or at the least, socially unacceptable behavior--is also a part of urban life. Or at least it's more obvious than in the suburbs or the country. The prostitutes and drug dealers, gangs and burglars, shooters and murderers--you can kid yourself that they're not around, but the news often brings you back to reality. I wince when I hear on the evening news that a shooting occurred in our neighborhood, or other inner-city areas. I know that these occurrences give city living a bad name. And rightfully so; I'm not so naive as to say that anyone can stomach that part of urban living.

I used to drive through the neighborhood where I live now in terror, sure I was going to become the victim of crossfire in some kind of gang war. Now I walk these sidewalks without fear (although not at night--that's just asking for it). Not long ago there was a shooting in a parking garage on the edge of the university district (which is approximately seven blocks away from our house). The result was a fatality and the shooter ran away into the surrounding city streets before he finally gave himself up. We weren't even aware of it happening until we saw the evening news. Yes, we could have been in that parking garage--there's a movie theater attached to it. But how do we know that it couldn't have happened in any parking garage? You just have to trust that you're going to be safe as long as you don't do something stupid. That might not always be true, but safety can be uncertain in the suburbs, too.

For the most part, you are safe in the city. There are some areas you want to avoid at all costs, but that's not the kind of city living I'm talking about. You do have to use some common sense when you move to a city neighborhood. You might be surrounded by a lot of activity, but not all, or even a majority of it, is illegal. Only you can decide what kind of activity you're comfortable being around. But if you're like most city dwellers (at least the ones who are there by choice), you'll thrive in the environment.

"Urban" Decorating

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Getting Around by Foot

Here are the places I can walk to with ease: a grocery store, several carryouts, the library, Ohio State University, a movie theater, a Barnes and Noble bookstore, Panera's, the bus stop, an ice cream shop, various boutiques, nightclubs, bars and restaurants (including a sushi restaurant and a tea house, three churches, one mosque, three parks, Starbucks, a check-cashing store, art galleries and a nursery (yes, right in the city--it's called Urban Gardener's). If the weather is bad, I'd want to resort to a car or bus for some of these destinations, but most of them are practically at our front door.

My husband and I had no car for several years, but most of the time we made out just fine without one. Sure, we had to walk to the grocery and the library and lug home groceries and books in backpacks and tote bags. And it took a few extra minutes to get there and back. But the grocery and library are less than five blocks away from our house. Driving seems almost pointless, unless we're really in a hurry or have too much to carry home. Unfortunately, now that we have a car, we rarely walk anymore. But we can if we want to.

Walking in the great outdoors is great exercise, but so is walking in the city. And it's less boring.

Proximity to Downtown

One of the hassles of modern life is the hoops you have to go through every time you have something to do with the government. To add insult to injury, you usually have to travel to the downtown area to go to court, make a police report, pay a fine quickly, get a license or visit any government bureau or entity. If you live in an outlying area, the commute alone can take up half your day. And then you have to pay for parking.

As I said in my last post, I can be downtown in 1o minutes and if I go by bus I only pay $3 for the round trip. The downtown area being fairly compact, I can walk anywhere I need to go in minutes. Dealing with the government can be intimidating enough without worrying about getting there to begin with. And who wants to spend any more time than is necessary on a government errand?

Columbus happens to be Ohio's capital, so there is even more to see and do that pertains to the government. It's nice to know that I'm so close to the Capitol Building and the state legislators if I would want to visit them. Most of the state departments are situated downtown, or if not, are not far for someone who is starting from the inner city area.

Being close to government entities is probably not one of the main reasons a person would want to live in the city (unless, of course, he or she happens to work for one), but it is definitely one of the perks.

Getting Around

City living cuts your commute, sometimes drastically. If you work in the city, you're already there. Even if you work in a more outlying location, you can get there in a reasonable amount of time because you're usually starting from a central location and have easy access to the freeway system.

Most cities evolve from a hub and spread outwards. Some cities are so large they have multiple urban neighborhoods, but still only one downtown. These neighborhoods were usually once suburbs that were at the end of a railroad or trolley line, making them easily accessible from the city proper. Now freeways continue that tradition. But it's still true that the closer in you are to the city center, the less traveling you will have to do.

I live in one of those urban neighborhoods. Technically, I don't live "downtown," but I'm still only a couple of miles away. I could walk to the center of the city in forty minutes (and I walk slowly!). I can take the bus and be there in ten minutes, tops. The area I live in is made up of single family dwellings, duplexes and apartment buildings that were built between the 1890s and the 1910s. At that time it was a suburb. The city gradually crept north up High Street, leaving behind neighborhoods and districts like the layers of an onion. My neighborhood is known as Weinland Park and is located between the Short North and the University District. I can walk to Ohio State in 15 minutes and be there by bus in five. (It's almost embarrassing to get on the bus for such a short ride.)

I used to live on the southeast edge of the Columbus metropolitan area and it took me forever--okay, close to an hour-- to travel to the northwest where my sister lives. Even with the freeway. Now I can be there in twenty minutes. I don't have the lot size that I used to have, but I do have two parking spots and enough yard to garden in (and a lot less grass to mow). Our house is as big as the one I used to own in the suburbs, if not nearly as new. (It was built in 1915 as opposed to 1995.) One thing I don't have is the high cost of transportation. With gas prices being what they are today, that's a tremendous plus. (I don't know if I could afford to live in the suburbs these days.) This makes city living a better choice economically, if nothing else.

Characteristics of City Living

There are all kinds of ways to live in the city: lofts, studios, high-rise condos, town or row houses, garden districts, industrial conversions, residential hotels. And of course, homeless shelters and Section 8 housing. There are also all kinds of reasons to live in the city. Some people live in the city by choice, some because there is nowhere else for them to go. Some live there because they don't have a car and need to be close to mass transportation systems. Some want to be close to work, or to the night life, or to other amenities a city has to offer. Some like to get lost in the crowd; some like to watch the crowd. Some people even feel safer where there are lots of people, notwithstanding the city's reputation for crime.

For these reasons and many others, it's hard to generalize about city living. The experience gap between the professional person in a penthouse and a homeless person on the streets is about as wide as it can be and still be within the same square mile. This diversity is one of the leading characteristics of an urban environment. Only in the midst of the downtown area can one find the mix of activities, occupations, education, incomes and housing that we traditionally think of as typifying city living. Being in proximity to the downtown does not automatically make one's lifestyle an urban one. But there are some characteristics common to all types of city living.

1) Closeness to the arteries of the city's transportation systems (including freeways).
2) Closeness to government entities.
3) Ability to walk to many types of enterprises and activities.
4) Constant activity (legal or illegal).
5) Open spaces are at a premium.
6) There is generally more noise, more pollution and more trash.
7) Crime is a major concern.
8) A diverse population.
9) Exposure to things that are unfamiliar.
10) Easy access to more cultural experiences.

I will discuss each of these characteristics in upcoming blog entries.

Wouldn't Want to Live There

"Fifty-nine percent of Long Islanders could never imagine themselves living in an apartment. Asked which type of neighborhood they preferred — one where you could walk to stores or one that required driving — 56 percent said they would rather drive. Meanwhile, only 7 percent agreed that 'creating ethnically and economically diverse neighborhoods' was the major advantage of building more affordable housing. Asked what the worst disadvantage was, 20 percent said 'bringing in the wrong kinds of people.'"

This is a quote from an op-ed piece in the New York Times on January 29, 2008, "The City is the Future of the Suburbs, and Other Heresies." In it, writer Lawrence Downes is protesting the optimism of some city planners about what suburbanites will accept as solutions to the housing crisis on Long Island. The survey that found the above statistics also found that "a significant number of Long Islanders (38 percent) said they could see themselves living someday in a downtown apartment, condo or townhouse, forsaking the old Levittown ideal for something walkable, interesting and, above all, affordable. Half of the respondents could imagine a child or parent doing so. Sixty-one percent supported building more homes and apartments in some downtowns, and 49 percent said they would favor taller downtown buildings — up to four stories, from two." Mr. Downes points out that these statistics hardly depict wholehearted support for the urban lifestyle.

What is really happening is that the two kinds of responses, pro and con, were given by people with radically differing views of urban living. Living in an upscale apartment building with security and maybe even a doorman is worlds apart from living in the projects. Being surrounded by theaters and art museums bears no resemblance to living in close proximity to drug houses. Gentrification adds a veneer of respectability to an urban neighborhood, but it also pushes out its former residents, begging the question: where do they go? To another "undesirable" urban neighborhood, of course.

City planners have long struggled to find a way to reconcile both types of urban dwellers. How do you provide affordable housing in city neighborhoods without bringing down property values? Is it even possible to get the poor and the rich to live side-by-side? In my experience, you can't. Oh, you can mix things up, but the poor and the middle and upper classes will never meet on common ground. Each group acts as if the others don't even exist. Some neighborhood civic associations are geared to attract homeowners; renters are not encouraged to participate. Others focus on the needs of the transient. The homeowners don't feel that these organizations apply to them. The needs and wants of the various groups rarely overlap.

But there are some things that everyone wants. One is to be safe. This doesn't just refer to crime, but also to unsafe and non-hygienic housing. And whether it seems like it or not, everyone wants surroundings that are pleasant and attractive. (We just differ at times about what constitutes "attractive.") But pleasant, attractive, safe--all require money: for repairs, a police presence and remodeling and landscaping.

Columbus, Ohio has a program called "Home Safe and Sound." Basically, the program provides no or low interest loans for home rehabilitation in targeted neighborhoods. A family has to make 80% or less of the HUD recommended income guidelines to qualify and the repairs needed must be to protect health and safety or prevent deterioration of the property. I live in such a neighborhood and qualify for the program, so I called and put in my application. I don't know if anything will come of it.

We're typical of a lot of the homeowners in the area. We're house-"rich" and cash-poor. We can keep up with some repairs, but not all. And in a house that was built in 1915, there are going to be a lot of needed repairs, most of which are not even cosmetic. For instance, we have missing soffits around the perimeter of our roof which make perfect homes for pigeons. Our sidewalk which lies under the roofline is encrusted with pigeon droppings, and the only way to get rid of the pigeons is to take away their home. We had an estimate of what it would cost to fix the soffits and some missing gutters and it was $2700. So we have to put it off for lack of money. It would take us more than a year to save that much money, if then, and that's assuming that other repairs or purchases will not be needed. With a combined income of $38,000, there's not a lot of wiggle room in our budget. We don't even have two cars and we just got the one we have two years ago (after five years of marriage). And we probably have it better than most in this area. Some bought their homes thirty or more years ago and might be able to make a good bit of money from their equity if they sold their homes, but then where would they live as cheaply? They're often on fixed incomes. There has been a little gentrification although there are signs that more is coming. We live just blocks away from some areas that have been highly gentrified and the property values reflect that. But we have the highest percentage of government-subsidized housing the in the city and that makes for a lot of instability both in property values and daily affairs.

These are the realities of the kind of urban living I live and write about. I'm sure this is not the kind of urban living that the survey respondents approved of. And yet this is the way to revitalize and reclaim neighborhoods instead of using up more resources building new ones. There are a lot of reasons why I live in an urban neighborhood, but that is certainly one of the major ones.

Lower Income Housing

There's a lot of Section 8 housing in the area where I live. I guess that's one way that you can tell that you're in an inner city neighborhood: things are located here that wouldn't be tolerated anywhere else in the city. Not that we're the only place where there's Section 8 housing--there are pockets of them all over the city and even in some of the suburbs. There's been a lot of talk from the homeowners in the neighborhood about getting rid of the Section 8 housing, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Anyway, where would all of it go?

I have a neighbor--a homeowner--who said to me once: "I wish those people weren't in our neighborhood." I thought that was a pretty shitty thing to say. First of all, there are actually a lot more of "them" than there are of "us." So, if you go by statistics, it would technically be "their" neighborhood, except that they don't count because they're not homeowners.

Sure, this neighborhood would be better off if there was a higher percentage of homeowners. There are a surplus of houses here that are run-down or empty because the landlords don't bother to keep them maintained or even rented. But there are also homeowners like us who can't afford to do all the repairs that our houses need. So just having the houses owned is not necessarily a guarantee that the area will be well-maintained. You can be "house-proud" but not have the resources to take care of it. And that describes a lot of homeowners around here.

There is help available, however. Weinland Park (where we live) has just been designated as one of the neighborhoods which will receive financial aid to fix up its properties: 3% or 0% loans. I just called and put our name on the list, so we'll see what comes of that. We already qualified for weatherization work about a year and a half ago: the whole house was insulated--for free. We had applied for the program so long before, we actually forgot that we had and then suddenly they called out of the blue and said that they were ready to do our house. Hopefully, we'll be able to qualify for this new program, or we'll never be able to afford to fix the leak around our chimney or the soffits that are falling off the house.

Why I Live in the City

When my husband and I came home last night there were at least four police cruisers with lights flashing blocking off the traffic on one of the main streets around where we live. There were also helicopters circling overhead. The next morning I asked my husband, who makes a habit of reading the police reports, if there had been anything about it in them. When he said, "No," I said, "How can there not be, with all that going on?" "Maybe it was just an arrest," he said.

Just an arrest. That's par for the course for this neighborhood. Not so much our particular street, which is made up of several single-family homes and a couple of doubles on one side and an elementary school on the other. But there are streets north of us where I don't even like to drive, let alone walk, and that's where the commotion was last night. That isn't to say that nothing happens on our street. Three houses down a windshield was shot out of a car and later a license plate stolen from another one. A couple of the houses have had break-ins, including an attempted break-in at our house. These are all things that have happened in even the best neighborhoods. But not everyone lives so close to violence and criminal behavior as we do. It's a price we pay for living in an inner-city neighborhood.

So why do we live here? The answer is complicated. Part of it is economic: I was able to find more house for the money here than in almost any other area of the city, and the house had already been rehabbed. But that's not the only reason that I was looking in the inner city for a place to live. I was attracted to it, for reasons that I can't easily articulate. Certainly I wasn't looking for an area where I would be treated to the sounds of gunshots every week or so. (At least it's not every day.) And I can't say that I was comfortable with the idea that most of the homes were in poor repair and rentals, rather than occupant-owned (a fact that doesn't usually bode well for the atmosphere of a neighborhood). But I loved the feeling that I would be in the center of everything. We are as close to downtown as you can be without actually living there. We can be there in two minutes by car, can even walk there. The bus line is conveniently located nearby and when I get on the freeway I can be anywhere in the metropolitan area--even on the other side of the outerbelt-- in no more than twenty minutes.

I also like the fact that I'm not living in a homogenized neighborhood. My neighbors come from all incomes and races, although predominantly low income and black and Hispanic. I don't socialize with them--but then I don't socialize with too many people period. Maybe that's one reason why I wanted to live here. I could keep pretty much to myself while still being around a lot of people. I say hi to the people who pass by my house while I'm working in the garden or sitting on the porch. And I know my immediate neighbors and a couple of not-so-immediate ones who circulate around or travel through the neighborhood. But I felt more exposed and more lonely when I lived in the suburbs, especially the new one that I lived in before I moved to the inner city. There I rarely saw a soul.

I also love the historical feel of this neighborhood. Most of the houses were built from 1890 to 1920 and many of them are in good repair. My own house was built in 1915 and when I bought it I was given the abstracts that go all that way back to the 1790s when this area was nothing but military land given out as rewards for service during the (Revolutionary) War. I have a record of every single person who owned this house and we have even been able to find records that describe that one owner was advised to build this house and two others just like it on her land for tax purposes. I loved my new house in the suburbs but it lacked the feel of permanence and history that my present house has.

I believe that some houses carry, if not the actual spirits, then the atmosphere of its past. When I walked into this house, I immediately felt at peace. Granted, it was a weekend and there were no schoolkids or buses around, but I still had the feeling that this was a small cottage in the country. In some ways, I was not so far off: we've had raccoons and pigeons living in the soffits of our house and have spotted woodchucks, possums and even deer (and fortunately no rats, although I'm sure they must be around somewhere with all of the dumpsters). There are nights that are noisy, but not as many as I would have thought there'd be and even though our street is a fairly busy one, the traffic is more interesting than annoying. All in all, at least there are sounds and sights of life!

I don't know that I will always live in the city or that I will always live in this house. I won't lie and say that I am never attracted by the loft condos that are popping up all over, for instance, or that I won't want more privacy (and maybe no staircase!). But for now this seems to fit me just fine and I have no intention of going anywhere. One thing I can honestly say about living here: I am never bored. And I abhor boredom.

Maybe that's what it boils down to in the end: I was attracted to a place that would always treat me to new sights and faces, that could put me in touch with the best the city had to offer without feeling cut off from that which gives it its life. If that's the case, it's no wonder that I gravitated here.

Urban Living and Decorating

There's an alternative weekly here in Columbus that recently began a column called "Urban Manifesto". Please. It's not urban and it's certainly not a manifesto. It's amazing what some people consider urban living. For instance, there are some new condominiums going up downtown which are being advertised as being for people who like to live where they work. The prices start at $450,000. Actually, the advertising may be right on, if you don't count the janitors and waitresses and office clerks, because since Columbus is the capital of Ohio there are a lot of lawyers and overpaid government bureaucrats. But to me that's not the kind of urban living that would be covered by a manifesto. I myself don't actually live right downtown, but I think the way I live puts me in touch with more issues of urban living that someone who lives ten floors up in a $450,000 condominium.

For example, one of the first columns of "Urban Manifesto" was about IKEA. I'm sorry, but the vast majority of people who are attempting to make a home for themselves in the downtown or inner city area are more likely to decorate in the cast-off cool style. And those in the know already know that Target's IKEA knock-offs are even cheaper that IKEA, and attainable, considering that IKEA's closest stores are in Illinois and Pennsyvania. A much better article would have been about how inner city inhabitants make do with thrift store finds and occasional IKEA left-overs from college students. And the bottom line is, for the most part they have more important things to worry about.

Writing about furniture and decorating reminds me of how college students made do (and still do) when I was in college, and it made me realize that at least part of the reason why I like living where I do is that it reminds me of that period in my life, when no one really cared if you had the latest fashion or the most expensive whatever.

Welcome to Urbia!

Welcome to Urbia! It was either this or "Urban Alchemy"; I got that idea from a book titled "Suburban Alchemy". But I didn't really want to use that, even though I like the sound of it and the idea, because most of the idea was the author of the book's (I guess---well, at any rate, it wasn't mine). But, "Urbia", that's all mine, probably with good reason, because it kind of sounds like a burp when you say it, but the thing is, when I got to thinking about it I couldn't help but wonder why we have the word "suburbia" but not "urbia"? I kind of like it; and besides, I'm sick of the word "urban". Muse: What connotations does the word "urban" have?