Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

THE SIDEWINDER – We have lost too many of those neighbourhood values and have devolved into a place where we live -- but it isn't home as we once knew it

Like many other old folks, nowadays I find my mind more frequently drifting down nostalgic paths to those good old days when things were simpler, and life for most of us was more fulfilling. It leads me to wonder if we, as an urban civilization, are evolving or devolving.


Not that many decades ago, life out here in the suburbs meant that families with three kids probably lived in an affordable 1,200 square-foot, three-bedroom home with an unfinished basement on a large lot. I think it's an important distinction that we called it home, not just a place where we lived.


Some families called the same house their home for several generations without any need to build a bigger house.


As property values increased insanely, and more families were forced through economics and other circumstances to live in townhouses or apartments, fewer and fewer people thought of them as homes. They became just a place where they lived, but it wasn't really a home.


Nowadays, that same family with three kids would be looking for a 3,000 square-foot, four or five-bedroom house with a finished basement and a bonus room above the three-car garage, all on a postage stamp-sized lot.


Somewhere along the way, we slipped from being able to live our lives contentedly, in those modest smaller homes, over to the dark side and the insane demands of today's lifestyle.


As our communities grew, and the age of subdivisions and small lots emerged, it seems that more and more people from the city were attracted to home ownership -- even if it required two incomes plus commuting to keep up with the mortgage payments.


While both parents worked when it was their choice, the negative aspects of our expanding lifestyles didn't seem so drastic, but that eventually changed and family life has suffered ever since.


Years ago, it was commonplace to have a couple of fruit trees and a small vegetable garden on your own property. Some families even had a few chickens.


We were able to some extent to be partly self-sufficient but those days are long gone.


Small lots, huge houses and the requirement for two incomes has left the vast majority of people with no time, energy or space for even the tiniest vegetable garden or fruit trees ... and God forbid anyone who wants to raise a few of their own chickens.


In our old neighbourhood, we knew everybody, their dogs, their kids and what they did for a living. People chatted over their fences. We even communicated without cell phones and computers and we didn't hold block parties to get acquainted because we already knew each other.


Nowadays there seems to be such a lack of neighbourliness even in our local stores. Years ago, when we did our weekly grocery shopping, we went to neighbourhood stores where we knew the owners. Almost nobody owned a freezer but many of us rented frozen food lockers from the local butcher.


We knew our local store owners, many of whom even carried some of their customers on credit. It was no surprise when they became our friends and town leaders.


Many people view mega malls and sprawling subdivisions as progress. That might be true but, at what cost?


In the past decade or so most communities have witnessed the loss of small community halls, neighbourhood schools, small local stores and many other qualities which made our communities far more livable than what they have since become.


We have lost too many of those neighbourhood values and have devolved into a place where we live -- but it isn't home as we once knew it.


Where have all the flowers gone?


 

SANDY Macdougall ... is a retired newspaper reporter. He was elected for three consecutive terms to Maple Ridge municipal council in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and also ran for the Progressive Conservatives in Kim Campbell's ill-fated federal election campaign. He now makes his home in the BC interior community of Kelowna.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

FORSETH -- If having three un-happy MLA’s leave the party, is what it takes to have unity within caucus, then I say, “Fine; let it be so”

Regrettably, in recent days, issues within the Conservative Party of BC have come to the surface resulting in one member being removed from Caucus (Dallas Brodie) and the party, and two others (Tara Armstrong and Jordan Kealy) leaving of their own accord. As of this morning (Saturday March 8th) all three are now sitting as independents in the BC legislature. So, what does that mean? In the last twenty-four hours social media feeds have lit up with support for leader John Rustad, while others have been negative, accusing the party, and Rustad, of being bullies and not standing up for conservative values. Ryan Painter, who has personally worked with John Rustad, had this to say: Since the beginning, he's had one target: the BC NDP. He knows that British Columbians deserve a government that works for them, delivers on their promises, and doesn't tax them into poverty. He believes in his team and the power of a focused opposition. He knows who the enemy is. He knows BC deserves ...

WARD STAMER: “Hopefully he’s actually listening to what people have to say, and not just showing up for a photo op”

In his latest travels across the province, BC Forest Minister Ravi Parmar touched down in the Okanagan. A trip essentially, he said, to be on the ground meeting industry people. I read what he had to say, and about how he has been tasked with getting more timber to market. Let me start by saying, “ He hasn’t been tasked. He and Premier Eby guaranteed 45 million cubic metres of available wood fibre – they guaranteed that .” BC Timber Sales is a government agency within the provincial forest’s ministry, which is responsible for managing a portion of the province's Crown timber; specifically, 20 percent of the province's annual allowable cut. Unfortunately, BC Timber Sales did not provide anywhere near that amount last year, it was just 12.2 percent. Three years ago, BC mills cut 52 million metres of wood, bringing in nearly $2 billion dollars to the provincial treasury. That figure doesn’t include the taxes from 55,700 people directly employed in the industry, nor from the tens o...

Conservative Opposition demonstrates focused and policy-oriented approach in first four weeks of the legislative session

In the first four weeks of the legislative session, the Conservative Official Opposition has scored significant policy wins as it proves every day that the Conservative team has fresh ideas and real-world experience to bring to the table. At the same time, the NDP government has been listless, struggling to find a policy agenda that addresses the problems that British Columbians are facing. “This NDP government led by David Eby has tried to do everything under the sun to distract from their disastrous fiscal record and the fact that they are utterly out of ideas,” said Conservative Opposition Leader John Rustad. “They’ve tried to use the U.S. President to deflect from their eye-popping $11 billion deficit, the worst business confidence in the country, and the fact that they’ve created almost zero private sector jobs. This is no way to run a province or an economy.” Since the legislative session started on February 18th with the Throne Speech, the opposition...

Labels

Show more