Neighborhood news
May. 6th, 2006 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmc_bksI don't think I've blogged about my neighborhood before, have I? I live in South Baltimore. Newcomers, yuppies (which I guess I am) would say I live in Riverside Park or lower Federal Hill. But oldtime residents just call it South Baltimore...or South Balmer, pronounced with the vowels drawn out and the consonants barely enunciated. I love my block, despite the inconvenient construction that's going on. It's a sign of prosperity and increased property value, I remind myself. But it also means the neighborhood is changing, gentrifying, which is both a good and bad thing.
Tom nextdoor grew up in my house -- I bought it from him and his brother after his mom died. He inherited the house next door when his aunt died. When I want to know about the history of the roof or the plumbing, he knows the answer. He even knows what's hiding under the faux wood paneling that I hate -- 50 years of wallpaper over plaster, which I am not brave enough to handle. So for the time being, I'm planning on painting the paneling rather than tearing it down.
The house on my other side has been renovated extensively, and has been on the market for 9 months. I think it is way, WAY overpriced for the neighborhood, but the owner has to set a high price because the renovations took twice as long as anticipated and probably cost twice as much as estimated. The zoning hearing for the permit was August, 2003 and they bought the house March, 2003 and have been carrying the mortgage since then. Can't imagine that he is going to earn back his investment. :shrugs: Who knows, maybe someone with more money than sense will fall in love with the house :)
The next house up from Tom belongs to Miss Margaret, the best alarm system or neighborhood watch I've ever seen. She knew who belonged and who didn't, and which vehicles belong to whom, etc. When my Mom visited once and arrived before I was home, Miss Margaret chatted with her and told her that she noticed that I left early every day and seldom came home before 7pm, was my boss working me to death? Miss Margaret moved into her house when her oldest boy was an infant...he's 75+ now. In the evenings, she would sit on a lawn chair out front and talk about the neighborhood. She told me once that the lower street used to be a rail road track; a fellow who worked for the railroad would come and warn the ladies it was coming so they could get their washing off the lines and avoid having it ruined by the smoke and soot from the engine. And she knew which houses nearby had been speakeasies, and would tell stories about when the building across the way was a thread and linen factory. She had both knees replaced five or six years ago, and her boys wanted her to move to a retirement home with an apartment on a single level - no stairs - but she didn't want to leave the neighborhood and Tommy, her boy next door. In the depths of summer, she only turned the AC on when one of the boys was coming to visit - she didn't think it was needed. Sadly, Miss Margaret fell last summer and broke her hip. She's been staying with her oldest son and complaining that she wants to come home, but it looks like that won't happen. The neighborhood isn't the same without her.
Tom nextdoor grew up in my house -- I bought it from him and his brother after his mom died. He inherited the house next door when his aunt died. When I want to know about the history of the roof or the plumbing, he knows the answer. He even knows what's hiding under the faux wood paneling that I hate -- 50 years of wallpaper over plaster, which I am not brave enough to handle. So for the time being, I'm planning on painting the paneling rather than tearing it down.
The house on my other side has been renovated extensively, and has been on the market for 9 months. I think it is way, WAY overpriced for the neighborhood, but the owner has to set a high price because the renovations took twice as long as anticipated and probably cost twice as much as estimated. The zoning hearing for the permit was August, 2003 and they bought the house March, 2003 and have been carrying the mortgage since then. Can't imagine that he is going to earn back his investment. :shrugs: Who knows, maybe someone with more money than sense will fall in love with the house :)
The next house up from Tom belongs to Miss Margaret, the best alarm system or neighborhood watch I've ever seen. She knew who belonged and who didn't, and which vehicles belong to whom, etc. When my Mom visited once and arrived before I was home, Miss Margaret chatted with her and told her that she noticed that I left early every day and seldom came home before 7pm, was my boss working me to death? Miss Margaret moved into her house when her oldest boy was an infant...he's 75+ now. In the evenings, she would sit on a lawn chair out front and talk about the neighborhood. She told me once that the lower street used to be a rail road track; a fellow who worked for the railroad would come and warn the ladies it was coming so they could get their washing off the lines and avoid having it ruined by the smoke and soot from the engine. And she knew which houses nearby had been speakeasies, and would tell stories about when the building across the way was a thread and linen factory. She had both knees replaced five or six years ago, and her boys wanted her to move to a retirement home with an apartment on a single level - no stairs - but she didn't want to leave the neighborhood and Tommy, her boy next door. In the depths of summer, she only turned the AC on when one of the boys was coming to visit - she didn't think it was needed. Sadly, Miss Margaret fell last summer and broke her hip. She's been staying with her oldest son and complaining that she wants to come home, but it looks like that won't happen. The neighborhood isn't the same without her.
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Date: 2006-05-07 06:27 pm (UTC)Dogcrap Green