Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Lebo: Good Fences, Good Neighbors

I grew up in suburban California, where we took fences for granted. Everyone had a fence around their backyard. A lot of front yards were fenced in, too.

So it took a little while to get used to the suburban East, where fences aren't so common, but we did, and pretty quickly we learned to like the fact that kids felt safe using our back yard as a short cut from whatever Point A they liked to whatever Point B they needed to get to.

But not everyone agrees. Many people in town probably noticed this story, about a Mt. Lebanon family that exercised its legal right to build a fence gate on the edge of its property -- but in the process blocked a long-standing shortcut that the neighborhood had come to enjoy. More than a few people more than noticed; they were, in the words of the proverbial joke about a chicken and a pig and their respective contributions to breakfast, committed.

The episode reminds me most of all that our little Mt. Lebanon idyll isn't really so idyllic after all. Many of us, maybe even most of us, can follow up tales of generous neighbors with story after story of pettiness, nastiness, and plain old mean-spiritedness directed at us (always at us, never by us!) by the people we see next door, day in and day out. Whether it's failure to shovel the sidewalk or to trim the dangerous dead trees or pick up after the dog, Mt. Lebanon simply isn't immune to the endless small-mindedness that humanity is capable of. And people here are no better and no worse at sorting out their problems on their own, with common sense and some trust, than they are anywhere else. Paging Justice Larotonda!
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4 Comments:

Blogger Steve said...

How's this for neighborly:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06012/636825.stm

But seriously, I think Lebo is probably more friendly than other suburbs, but that doesn't mean that we don't have our share of problems, just like everyone else.

January 12, 2006 1:14 PM  
Blogger Josephine Posti said...

I'm not sure MTL is more or less neighborly than other places I've lived. What is unique is that neighbors here can be Neighbors-For-Life. Do the math - calculate the average residency of the neighbors just on your side of your block. My guess is that the average is 15+ years. Most of my parents' neighbors are people who I delivered the Pittsburgh Press to as a kid. This may be the key difference in our community vs. the community that the Hoodridge Lane folks moved from and our expectations differ accordingly.

January 12, 2006 9:02 PM  
Blogger Mike Madison said...

Josephine's comment shows how Mt. Lebanon's neighborly reputation cuts both ways. Surely, among Pittsburgh suburbs, Mt. Lebanon has one of the most transient populations. Yet still we take pride in how long people live here.

Length-of-residence promotes understanding; those of us, like Ken, who move from other parts of the country, often see this immediately and appreciate it, particularly when we come from areas, like Seattle and San Francisco, where length-of-residence is a sort of local joke. On the other hand, length-of-residence can breed complacency and intolerance of change, even good change. Population turnover and neighborhood dynamism (economic growth, cultural interest) are often related.

The trick -- the almost impossible trick -- is to balance these things successfully on a consistent basis.

January 14, 2006 11:25 AM  
Blogger Joe Wertheim said...

I moved here from northern Virginia 19+ years ago, and purchased my house in late July. It only took until school started in late August/early September to realize that my yard was the path used by students walking to Markham elementary, a practice that had (has) been going on for as long as anyone can remember. I suppose that, legally, I could have put up a fence to stop this practice. It took no time at all, however, to realize that it is rather enjoyable to watch children, who knew that this was OK, and parents who always wondered if they were somehow intruding, walking to school, or Bird Park for soccer practice. Mt. Lebanon differs from other local communities because it is a walking community and a true neighborhood. It is a shame that some who move here decide to barricade themselves behind gates. Perhaps they should have considered other areas to live if they did not want any contact with their neighbors. If one doesn't want any inter-action with their neighbors it may be best to consider living elsewhere.

January 15, 2006 12:05 PM  

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