North End nonsense

I grew up in the New North End of Burlington, VT. It's a safe neighborhood, but decidedly middle-class. I lived in a modest home with my one-income family until I was 14, when my parents decided that they wanted to live barely within their means, and move to the Appletree Point section of the neighborhood. I protested the move. We were living not far from North Avenue, the neighborhood's main thoroughfare. School was a convenient walk or bike ride away, and public transit was easily accessible, which was necessary in a one-car family.

But of course, being 14 years old made me unilaterally ignorant, so my parents purchased the home anyway. Instead of being surrounded by blue collar neighbors who for the most part, were quite genuine and pleasant, we were now surrounded by yuppies and disgrunted old people. I recall constantly saying "this neigborhood would be better if there were a pizza place down the street", something not to be found in a suburban-style housing development.

Of course, it's the people that make the neighborhood, and as indicated by a story in today's Burlington Free Press, some of these people, in the words of John Mellencamp, "ain't no damn good." Apparently, being a good neighbor is only a good idea when you restrict them. I'd like to beat the NIMBY angle into the ground, but it's already been done, so instead, I'll focus on this:

When Bill Niquette of Infill tried to enter the meeting -- which he understood to be a Neighborhood Planning Assembly meeting -- to explain the project, they wouldn't let him in.

That's right. The residents of Appletree Point don't even have the cajones to confront the developer. It's bad enough that Staniford Road might have 30 extra cars travel over it per day (the street's not that busy...trust me, I lived there for 20 years), it's worse that a nice home for senior citizens (who are increasing in number) is in jeopardy of not being built, and it's downright unconsciable that Appletree residents (to whom I actually give the benefit of the doubt), rather than have a bull session in which they air out their concerns, don't even listen to a proposal.

Luckily, many of these people are already old, and will hopefully be long dead by the time I have to place my father and/or mother in an assisted living facility. Perhaps they'll be able to end their lives peacefully in the city in which they've lived for 50 years, if only common sense can prevail, and the powers that be realize that any argument regarding "traffic" in the New North End is complete bullshit. It's an example of people trying to have it both ways. Burlington is a CITY. If you want to be near urban conveniences (as I do), you will deal with vehicle traffic. If this is a problem for you, you can find much cheaper homes in other areas of Chittenden County where nobody will bother you. Go live in Jericho or Westford if you don't want to deal with people.