Right now the new urbanist Stapleton development in Denver is having a bit of a crisis.  There are more kids in the development than there are seats for in the 2 neighborhood elementary schools.  There is no money to build a new school due to the way Stapleton set-up funding for school construction which is dependent on taxes raised by development within Stapleton.  You can see the flaw in this plan of course since we are currently in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.  Not to mention the land that was originally set aside for a 3rd elementary school is contaminated and the funds to clean it up were to come from AIG (’nuff said).   Another significant element in the equation:  the number of kids projected to live in Stapleton was severely underestimated.  By their estimates, in the next two years there will be 500 kids needing to enter kindergarten with no room in Stapleton’s schools.  That is a huge number.   I can’t help but think this underestimate stems from a similar problem that happened in Bradburn–marketing studies somehow concluded families wouldn’t be as heavily drawn to new urbanist communities as they actually are.

In Bradburn, our developer told us a marketing study conducted before they built the neighborhood didn’t come anywhere close to predicting how many families would move into the neighborhood.  The original plan for our neighborhood pool reflected this–there was no kiddie pool.  Once our developer realized how wrong that prediction was and that Bradburn was in fact a HUGE draw for families–about 80% of the homes here are occupied by families with kids under age 10–they changed the plans for the pool to include a kiddie pool.   In Stapleton, a survey found 40% of over 1,000 homes sampled are occupied with families with children under age 2! 

I hope future new urbanist developers learn from this FUBAR situation in Stapleton, and I would like to extend an invite to any parents in Stapleton who decide to move as a result of this mess–you are welcome to come to Bradburn Village in Westminster. We would love to have nice new, social neighbors. Our schools are great, and there’s plenty of room in them.

We’ve had a very mild winter here in Colorado and last weekend we had a very nice 68 degree day with no wind (unusual for Jan-March is usually like living in a wind tunnel here then).  Everyone in my neighborhood came out of the woodwork and the parks were filled with neighbors chatting and kids playing.  It’s like that here pretty much every warm day.  I was walking home from an impromtu park party and two nice women walking their bikes called out to a group of us in the park (another park party LOL) “does anyone have a tire pump?”.  We have a very large, awesome open space area behind my neighborhood with extensive bike trails so frequently have people riding through the neighborhood to go to our businesses–usually for ice cream.  I told the women I had a pump and they could follow me to my house and use it.  So we start walking down the street and one of the women asks “So, what do you think about living here?”. 

We joke about this frequently in the neighborhood–that when people looking at Bradburn Village or people visiting ask this question (which is a lot) we freak them out with our enthusiasim–”Thisisthebestneighborhoodeveryouwanttolivehere!”.  We are afraid we scare people off since loving your neighborhood with a passion (especially in the suburbs) has been dead for some time in America–so people may think it’s freakish. 

I answered the woman’s question:

Me: “I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else”

Visitor: “Why?”.    I pointed to the houses on my street,

Me: ”Because I am friends with every person in every house”. 

Visitor: [incredulous] “You know every person on your street?”

Me: “No, I know every person in nearly every single house in the entire neighborhood”.

Visitor: [thoughtful] “So it’s not just marketing.” (meaning she’s heard promotion materials for Bradburn or new urbanism in general).

Me: “Nope”. 

It’s not. 

The other night we were walking around the neighborhood and I was noticing how many empty lots we still have for houses (around 40 or so).  I said to my husband,

“Bradburn is such an awesome place to live, I don’t know why we aren’t totally sold out!”.  My husband said,

“Well people drive in here and say, oh my God the yards are too small and the neighbors are too close!”.  Which it totally true.  Bradburn is so different from the surrounding suburbia–all large lot subdivisions with giant, useless setbacks and large yards–I think people go into shock when they drive in here.  It got me wondering, when did we start thinking of neighbors as something negative–something we wanted to get away from as much as we could afford to–instead of positives?  Where did the prevailing idea of being far away from other people as the ideal way to live (the “American Dream”) come from?

I have to admit, the first time we drove in Bradburn I was a little taken aback by the smaller lots and how close the houses were to each other because I was so used to seeing the suburban standard.  Interestingly enough, we originally bought in here because of the architecture and because of the walkable, mixed-use aspect.  I didn’t consider neighborhood friendliness at all at the time, but after living here for 4 years, my neighbors are by far the best thing about the neighborhood.  Knowing your neighbors well has so many benefits and is to me, the largest part of what makes Bradburn special. 

Stapleton and Bradburn Village are pretty similar.  Both are new urbanist neighborhoods, mixed-use, walkable with lots of parks.  When we were looking to move to Denver from Fort Collins, we went to look in Stapleton.  There were three main reasons we picked Bradburn over Stapleton and in order they were 1. Location (Stapleton wasn’t close enough to Boulder for us) 2. Price.  The same home in Stapleton (I mean exactly the same house, New Town Builders builds in both neighborhoods) was $60,000 more than in Bradburn. 3. The neighborhoods surrounding Stapleton.

I’m embarrassed to admit #3 but it’s the truth.  Stapleton used to be the airport for Denver and as a result, all the neighborhoods directly bordering it aren’t the nicest ones in Denver (they are far, far away from “bad” neighborhoods that other cities have though).  I was worried about crime and the state of the public schools mostly.  I have a neighbor here in Bradburn who moved from Stapleton so I asked her about crime.  She said crime had been increasing in Stapleton (no idea if that’s actually the case but it was her perception), lots of car theft, break-ins (cars, not homes), and vandalism.  Then I read the morning about a fatal car jacking in Stapleton which was a real downer.  There are have been three car jacking attempts apparently in this same area very recently.  So does this mean I was right to worry about higher crime in Stapleton?  Yes and No.

Crime statistics for Denver do in fact show a lot more crime in Stapleton than in my area, but it’s still not something I think anyone who lives in Stapleton really needs to worry about, even with the recent car jacking and I’ll tell you why.  Those kinds of things can happen anywhere in a metro area, and they are rare.  We’ve had 3 cars stolen from Bradburn in the last 4 years that I know of and some car break-ins and garages thefts.  Even in the suburbs you will get crime if you live in an area that has people in it.  Stapleton is in an area with greater density than Bradburn so it stands to reason greater density itself will equal a coorresponding increase in crime. However, people don’t really think that way.  I’m wondering if people in Stapleton will see the headlines about the shooting and be looking to move to a more suburban area because of it, I hope not as I think Stapleton is an excellent neighborhood and is safe.  

Our neighborhood, being full of tech savvy up to date folks, has an internet board (Yahoo Group).  It’s a great and easy way to inform people of neighborhood events, ask for a recommendation, or ask for help. 

Two years ago we had a mother of a blizzard here in Colorado (actually 3 of them on 3 successive weekends), one of them dropped 3 feet of snow in 48 hours.  None of us could get out because the plows couldn’t get in.  One of my neighbors had a medical emergency and needed to get to the hospital, so he posted on our internet board that he needed help digging out.  Many neighbors showed up at his house shortly thereafter and dug out the entire alley so they could get their car out.  This is an example of when the neighborhood internet board comes in very handy.  However, it does have a dark side.

You would think that having everyone know your name and where you live would inhibit you from posting stupid crap but alas, that occasionally turns out to not be the case.  The perceived anonymity of the internet seems to short circuit peoples’ brains when they are at the computer, that combined with an odd sense of humor and the lack of verbal and visual clues as to a persons’ real meaning (no facial expressions, no inflection) leads to posts which Really Piss the Neighborhood Off.  Then we get a slew of response postings/emails that clog up everyone’s inbox and angers up the blood. 

We had a discussion a bit back if we should moderate the group and decided that no, if people wanted to make asses of themselves they were free to do so (the American way!). Luckily this doesn’t happen that often, I’d say a few times a year.   I think it’s inevitable given the nature of the internet, the nature of people, and the challenges of living in a community.  I have a friend who lives in Civano (another new urbanist neighborhood) in Tucson, and they have the same problem.  One thing they’ve done to try to combat this  is to require every person to post a photo of themselves, which I think is a great idea, as it eliminates that sense of anonymity, and hopefully encourages the civility the internet sucks away.

I will have to say though, I’ve had many, many amusing conversations and long running neighborhood jokes come out of these flaming postings so I suppose they are good for something. 

There’s 100 plus people in this photo of our new urbanist

neighborhood’s July 4th parade this year, amazingly none of them are actors!

My new urbanist neighborhood is a real place full of real people with real lives.  Our lives are not any less authentic than those of people living in “real” urban areas.  My life and the lives of my family and neighbors are not less authentic because our neighborhood doesn’t mix beautiful historic homes next to falling down crap shacks.  We are not less real because we don’t see grafitti and homeless people every day.  I am sick of “real” urban hipsters saying people in new urbanist neighborhoods are shallow for wanting a new home in a mixed-use neighborhood with good schools instead of living in the “real” gritty city and living an “authentic” life.

I like cities and I like city living.  Denver especially is a great city with many wonderful city neighborhoods but, I don’t want to live in them at the moment.  First, I can’t afford to.  Suburbs are cheaper than the city core at least in Denver and by a significant amount.  For what I paid for my brand new 2400 sq foot house, I could get an old 1200 sq foot bungalow in need of major repairs in one of Denver’s city neighborhoods.

The people who accuse new urbanist neighborhoods of being fake, well every neighborhood was new at one time–even your historic neighborhood.  I’ve read multiple articles written by urban dwellers–most, I’m sure who do not have children–asking why would anyone want the “fake” thing when you can get the “real” thing like them?  Because not everyone wants to live in the city, and they should be able to have the benefits of urbanism (walkable, mixed-use) if they want to live in the suburbs in a new house with great public schools.  Have a kid and then look at the schools in your urban area and then ponder your question of real versus fake again, your perspective will change believe me. 

We have a great book club in my neighborhood.  A group of ladies (ranging from 5-25) meets each month at a different person’s home.  Everyone brings something to eat or wine, both are which are consumed in abundance.  It’s a great, fun time, but book club for me has one problem: the books.

I originally joined book club to try to expand my reading selections.  I read–a lot–but I read a rather narrow range of interests.  Non-fiction (usually science related, although not always), or science fiction.  I thought I should expand my horizons a bit, maybe find something enjoyable I wouldn’t normally read on my own.  This was a good idea in theory.

I read about six books I would never normally pick, books that book clubs all over the U.S. are reading, books that get great Amazon reviews, books that have a consensus: they are good.  Most of these fall into the category of “women’s fiction”–whatever that means.  I pretty much hated every one of them.  They bored the crap out of me. A lot of the books feature extended sessions inside the protagonist’s head: what they are thinking about, their demons, what they think of events.  Romances, moral quandaries and the like. The thing is, unless there’s some crazy space faring science/alternate dimensions/worlds blowing up/black holes or the story is actually true and not fiction, I can’t bring myself to care much.  Perhaps this is a side effect of having to read so many boring Thomas Hardy novels in high school.  

So, I’m a book club failure.  I can’t decide if I should keep torturing myself by reading these books, just so I can attend the fun social aspect without looking like a loser, or if I should just give up and realize–I like what I like.

There’s an interesting essay in this month’s issue of Metropolis called Where’s Home.  It explores the meaning of this emotional idea in a country where people move–on average–every five years.  We are such a transient country I think in part because of two things: Hope springs eternal in the U.S. (a nice thing) and our culture, which focuses on the accumulation of things and being happy at all costs (the two things are not really related but the advertisers sure like us to think they are), the American idea of–You Can Always Do Better (not such a nice thing).

There have been people moving out of Bradburn since we’ve lived here the past four years.  A lot of that time it’s because of a job change and the people who are moving really don’t want to.  One lovely couple that lived on my street got a job offer they couldn’t refuse in a Midwest state and hated to leave but luckily found another new urbanist community in their new state and love it there also.  Other times moving is due to divorce or other sad life events.   But there have been a few that have moved because they just thought it was time, they wanted something different.

I have to admit when people tell me they are moving and I ask why (because I’m nosy like that, ask any of my neighbors) and they don’t say a reason that’s really beyond their control, it comes, like a reflex almost to me (I say it in my head, not out loud)–”How could you? Why would anyone want to leave?”.  Sometimes I joke our neighborhood is like “Hotel California” (the “you can check out but never leave” part).  I also silently think–if you can’t be happy in this neighborhood I can’t imagine you will be happy anywhere–which is of course, judgemental–different strokes for different folks and all that.

Moving often doesn’t allow for people to develop a true connection to place, which has a variety of negative effects–social isolation, less community involvement, less care for the environment.  I can’t help to think this is part of the reason so much of our grand country looks like unmitigated crapola–endless series of strip malls, big box stores, horrific, cheap housing that isn’t.  It looks like that because people don’t really care too much–they’re just going to move somewhere else soon.  Except there isn’t anywhere “else” really in this country–it all (with some exceptions of course) pretty much looks the same–crappy.

Man did I get a kick out of this letter and answer on Salon.  It’s an advice column, and the advisor is surprisingly with-it in regards to new urbanism.  The comments section is amusing, most people have little or no sympathy for what they see as a rich dude bitching, but it just illustrates how many people really don’t get it–they don’t think about or understand how much our daily environment affects us.  I of course, also wrote a letter.

Then the infamous Gawker picked up on it, saying the advisor suggested the advisee move to “Fantasy Land“.  Guess what Gawker?  I live there, and it may be a fantasy, but it’s not imgainary.  Look it up–Bradburn Village in Westminster, Colorado–and yeah it rocks, so stick that in your cap and go back to hating everything (which is admittedly why I like you!).

Humans.  We’re an interesting lot.  No other one species in the history of the Earth has dominated it like we have.  Why is this?  Humans are the most socially adept animals in Earth’s history—we combine intelligence, tool-making, the ability to cooperate, and the ability to pass down information from one group or generation to the next.  We survived and prospered because we are social.  As a result, deep down in each one of us is the evolutionary need to belong, to be connected to other people.

The author of a new book, The Geography of Bliss, travelled to different places to see what makes people happy.  The short version?  Other people. Places that have great senses of community are the happiest.  This makes total sense to me of course because it supports my own personal experience.

I was sitting in one of my neighborhood parks the other day, just hanging out.  I’d spoken to, geeze, I don’t know, probably 7 different neighbors I knew in the prior hour on my walk around the neighborhood.  People I knew were everywhere, walking dogs, riding bikes, etc.. I know all these neighbors because the design of Bradburn Village facilitates easy social interaction.  I heaved a big sigh of contentment and I realized why: This is my place. This is where I truly feel I belong, I have a strong connection to this place as a result of my connections to my neighbors. Some of those connections are casual–the “Hi” variety–others are now close friendships.   Do I think this sense of connection can occur in a non new (or old) urbanist neighborhood?  Yes, of course, but I bet it’s harder.