Research Made Easy

There are three construction dumpsters on the street right now.  Here's the update.

At the incredibly large house on the other side of Kathy and Steve's house, the one with the great views of our back yards, the siding is up, the windows are in, and the brickwork that covers the foundation is getting done.  The architect has posted his name in front of the house, suggesting a certain disconnect in perception between him and most of us who live nearby.

The siding on the house is yellow, and I assumed that was the final color that the house would be.  That seemed to me to be one of the less objectionable things about it, but Tom thought it was a completely terrible color and was speculating that it was just primer.  Now several different colors of gray have appeared on the front of the house.  I am hoping maybe we'll get to vote for which color we like best.

It seems like that would be a small concession to the neighbors who have been inconvenienced by construction vehicles that obstruct our driveways and the nails left in the street.  One day last week I picked up three 2-1/2 inch nails from the pavement in front of this house.  

Two houses down, at the duplex, they've started removing trees.  Lynsley said that last Wednesday her house shook when they brought them down.

The picture below was taken back in September, after the city posted the announcement that the owner was allowed to remove some trees.  It's not a very good picture -- the back yard was very overgrown -- but they were big trees.  And now they're down.

The only good news on the construction front (at least I hope it's good news) is at the corner of Wessyngton and North Highland, across the street from the still-vacant lots were the apartments used to be.  That house sold a few months ago and has been vacant for a while, but now there's work going on there.  It looks like the insides of the house are getting ripped out, which suggests renovation and not demolition.  They are taking apart the garage - the white building on the right side of the photo below, so maybe they plan to add on to the house.  Or maybe they just didn't like the garage.

There's an article in the New York Times today about researching one's future neighbors, about how neighbors really matter to lots of people, and how the real estate agents either can't or won't tell you anything much about them.  (This being New York, the neighbors are in your building, not on your street, but the principle still holds.)  Since the real estate agent is unlikely to know anything about our street other than which houses might be future knock-downs, I will provide some helpful information that will be easily available to anyone interested in our street who can spell it properly (admittedly, not the easiest thing) and do a Google search.  

Tuesday night a small dog, owned by the parents of one of our neighbors, escaped from their daughter's house and made a run for it.  This prompted a street-wide search involving a large number of people.  Sally brought over Christina's father to give me a description of the dog and Christina's phone number so I could send an email out, which I did.  Separately, another neighbor posted the missing dog information on the street's Facebook page, and the neighbor that had found the dog posted it on Nextdoor.  (Myself, I don't have a problem with redundant systems.)  The exchange on Facebook that followed the dog's return said it all.  Several expressions of relief that Christina's parents had their dog back, and then Christina said thank you, and how relieved her mother was, and "she also commented about what an amazing street we live on!"

That's our street.  If this sounds good to you but >$1 million for one of the new houses is outside of your budget, there's a house for lease right now.  One the plus side:  immediate availability, as best I can tell.  On the down side:  it's between the first and the second construction sites described here, and soon there will be neighbors on both sides with great views of your back yard.  But if this is the kind of neighborhood you want -- a great neighborhood and great neighbors at a more affordable price, or your dog is an escape artist -- it might be worth putting up with the noise for now.  The lack of privacy in the backyard, unfortunately, is forever.