One of my elderly neighbors tripped and fell and hurt herself quite badly in front of my house a few weeks ago. The sidewalk, as like most in my small development, are uneven due to the town planting trees with surface roots in the grass island opposite the front lawn. I felt terribly seeing her with her hand in a sling and her poor face looking as if she went a couple rounds with Ali! It was a little scary too, when you hear that someone falls on your property. You worry if there will be repercussion. But she's a good egg and a great neighbor so I pushed that aside.
But as quickly as you can say "lawsuit", the township guys were out marking most rises (but not all, which I don't get) the gas and electric company came out and marked the lines, and this morning the concrete company is out ripping up the old sidewalks and framing out for the new. While I'm terribly sorry she was hurt, I'm glad that they're stepping up and doing the right thing.
But here's my issue, because, well, I gotta have an issue, right? The concrete guys dug up my invisible dog fence (the only thing that keeps the vagabond from darting through the neighborhood like a moving target for cars!) They fixed it when my alarm went off, and fixed it just fine, so not really an issue...now. The second issue, which cannot be "fixed" per say, is said concrete guys dug so close to one of the trees (a beautiful flowering pear) that they dug it up until it was at a 30 degree angle. The result? Said township guys came out with chainsaws and actually took the tree down!! Why? It was perfectly healthy! It wasn't sick or blocking wires! It simply needed to be up-righted and the soil tamped down around it. It would have certainly been worth a try at any rate! Makes me mad (and sad.) The township will promise to replace it, I'm sure. Thing is, they took a tree down over five years ago from said grass island due to disease, promised to replace it and, well, still waiting. So based on that, I'm not too confident.
My issue isn't only no longer have a lovely tree to gaze at out my front window, but that it was removed without a thought because it was easier than trying to save it. My township has a tree company on retainer so why couldn't they have been called? Well, maybe not as they're usually called to take DOWN trees (some of the most beautiful and oldest in town).
I'm no tree-hugger. However, I'm so sick of seeing things sacrificed for either convenience or to make or save a couple of dollars. There is an empty lot at the end of town. A HUGE empty lot located where other warehouses sit. One of the companies decided to expand their facility which I think is great that their business is doing so well. Problem is, instead of using the giant empty lot located across the street and less than 100 feet from the existing warehouse, they tear town a beautiful wooded area because it's easier than, what?, putting in a walking bridge or pedestrian traffic light?!
There's an empty warehouse in this same area that is absolutely huge. Like HUGE! With office space within. So someone explain to me why yet another company is tearing it down to put a new one on the exact sight. Please, there has to be a reason, right? Nope, no reason other than it's easier and cheaper to raze the existing warehouse than to update it. Oh, and faster of course, because everything today has to be done yesterday.
We vacationed down the Shore this summer and fell in love with a sweet little cottage-y house for sale about a block from the beach. It was beautifully and lovingly maintained; it was obvious. Just so pretty and quaint in among these Goliath duplexes that rent for $5,000 an week and sell for $2+ million. So for giggles, we looked it up on Zillow and it was priced at $1,250,000!! What?! No way!! But then we looked closer at the listing and it said "quaint little home or a great site to rebuild". Ah, now I get it! Even though this house is in fine shape and well-maintained (per the listing), they'd rather sell the lot to a builder who will tear it down and put up yet another monster house (blocking the ocean views from all of the people living across the street three houses wide), wasting this beautiful house in which a family may have been raised or, at the very least, a house that saw years of happy families during the Summer months.
Why? Because it will make MORE MONEY!! What....a....waste!!!
So as you can tell by now, this rant has no point; it's just me thinking out loud and tricking you into being my audience and letting me annoy you. And maybe to plant a new seed or watering the existing one already planted in your psyche. I just think the Depression Era viewpoint of "waste not want not" and the New Age "Reuse Recycle Reduce" has to be followed before we are like Logan's Run; living in a marble and glass dome because we've destroyed our environment to the point of near distinction. (and if you've never seen the movie, you should) I'm not saying re-use your teabags and paper towels (though I'm guilty of the latter), just be more aware of what you're buying to ultimately toss or fixing what you've already bought instead of replacing it.
Okay, now I'm starting to annoy myself and the air is significantly thinner up here on my soapbox!
~ Eileen Cassidy Bishop
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