Flowertown is wilting

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Flowertown is wilting

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Flowertown is wilting

A city’s success can only be measured by the quality of its inhabitants. The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker these are the unit by which one can measure the value of any city, town or village. It’s not as if no other factor or unit of measurement exists, in fact sociol, economic and environmental factors make up just a few of the thousands of variable one may encounter when assessing the value of any given town. For example a town located on a river bed would by default posses far more "upside" than a town that lacked free flowing water all together. Like wise a town that has a healthy irrigation system would not only be a more sanitary place to live but would clearly posses a far greater "upside" than a town that lacked these kinds of basic essentials. However these equations are often not so cut and dry, a town lacking free flowing water can often be a much better place to live than a seaside resort and although an example does not immediately jump into my head I’m sure there is at least one village without a competent irrigation system that is a better place to live then Hollywood, California. So the question is . . . Where do these equations fail? What factor could possibly be potent enough to make a town that on paper is far inferior to its neighbouring metropolis a force to be reckon with and a point of pride amongst its residence? What is this mysterious variable? The answer is all around you, on either side of you and likely directly across from you (your neighbours) greeted at the local paper stand, double cupped at the coffee house (retailers) weekend inquires and water cooler chit-chat (co-workers). What is the one factor that can truly make or break a good town? The answer . . . is people.

My town, the flowertown is wilting and the people are the reason why.

If a good town, that people are proud to live in is made by the people that live in it than a bad town with its loss and desperation must be maintained by a village of pirates and thieves.

Flowertown, my town, the town of my youth and my image of community. The once mighty industrial suburb capable of piggy backing several tiny outskirt communities well acting as an overflow can to a bordering metropolis is crumbling under its own immense weight no longer able to carry those around her and far too polluted by those who dwell within her flowered confines. My city is stale and nobody is sure how to return the cool, crisp breeze that once engulfed the city filling every back alley, bordering room and halfway house with an air of everlasting optimism that is seldom see in the city today. Why? Overpopulation, the ware of industrial tread, political bickering and financial mismanagement, infrastructure, inequality or infertility all would create a world of debate at next months town-hall meeting but none of them are at the root of this problem. Flowertown is wilting and it’s because of its people.

A community meeting this week for residence of the central-east portion of Flowertown gave residence an opportunity to voice their displeasure with plans to build a multistory residential metal health complex on a vacant lot in the community. Residences of the community were more then glad to seize the opportunity, showing up in droves to let both city officials and the project builder know just how unwanted the new development was in a community they, the residence feel has already been saturated by affordable housing. I was present at this meeting and privileged to have heard many of Flowertowns citizens some of whom have resided here longer than I’ve been alive explain just how unselfish there motives were. I heard things like what about the families with young children? The unprotected seniors? What about those crazy schizophrenics? Is it really a good idea to have them living under limited supervision in our neighbourhood? I listened to apologetic citizen after apologetic citizen as they listed their concerns mixing in a deranged apologetic pity for the future residence of the mental health complex. Mrs Mckovery a forty year resident of the area stated her displeasure with the up coming building project sighting the fears she already has walking the street with all the "riff-raff" that exists in a neighbourhood already littered with public housing. Mrs Mckovery stated that in her forty years as a resident in Flowertown she has "never seen anything like it" "it’s as if the city is deliberately trying to over burden our community".

Mrs Mckovery and the others that make up the concerned majority are right. No city should take it upon it self to people zone. Separating low income from high income or middle class from upper class or one race or religion from another is just human nature but we as civilized people are able to separate good nature from bad nature. Therefore imperative that we eliminate those bad qualities that come natural to us as human beings and this form of segregation, property segregation should have been outlawed along time ago. But these are only my conclusions not the stated concerns of the town people.

Mrs Mckovery I love you, you are a fixture in our community, a bastion of hope and I hope that one day the city names a street after you but you might want to abandon this article here.

I am no entirely convinced that the issue of people zoning exists in our town or perhaps I am just too ashamed to face the fact that my town could be guilty of such an atrocity but this was not what I heard at the local town meeting I had attended. I heard no bitter revolt against town officials for people zoning, hardly evened a word of it beside Mrs Mckoverys comment. No, what I took in was mostly greedy capitalist home owners angry about a project that is certain to put a dent into their property values1. They said it in many different ways each one finding new manner of sugar coating the brutal truth. Dollars, dollars, dollars that all I really heard, not one person concerned about just where else these individuals should be housed. Not one suggestion, not one example, not one person who was concerned enough that they took the time to research another option. Just a chorus of me’s, me, me, me.

Flowertown is wilting

Zoltan Black

1.-None of the speakers at the meeting ever went on record saying anything regarding property value