Rhythms of the City/Country

[scrabbler1]

I live 1 block from my Catholic Church's kindergarten -8th grade school. I think i live in a terrific neighborhood, the public school is 4 blocks from me is rated 10/10. It seems every students mom or grandfather is waiting outside for them to exit like its a kidnapping zone. Some how the guardians that drive to pick up the kids all own monster SUV's. If you live in the parish you cant be more than a few blocks away to begin with. I know that from 215pm-3pm my driveway will be blocked , double parking and triple parking is everywhere. The bright side is that every one so far is nice. i havent gotten "the finger" yet when i ask them to back away from my bumper when they are in my driveway. All my other neighbors dont have driveways they street park, they dont dare venture out with their car at those times they wont be able to get down the block to get a spot.

Here on Long Island, I live across the street (a narrow, one-way street) from a church which has a catholic school within it. Every day from 2:30-2:45 PM it becomes a zoo on my street with lots of cars and big-ass SUVs clogging up the street. I have to make sure I am not on my way home in that small time period or else I can't get through my street to the entrance of my apartment building's parking lot. Similarly, shortly after 8 AM the street gets clogged with those same cars and big-ass SUVs blocking the way as the kids get dropped off. In the winter, it gets worse because the snow plowing sometimes shrinks the width of passable roadway and has totally blocked the street even though my small car could get by. It is rare that I am on my way home via car at 8 AM but it has happened when I drove my ladyfriend to work so she could avoid a tough walk to her bus stop following a snowstorm.

I also have to make sure I am not driving any long distance eastbound during the PM rush hour (away from New York City) because the PM rush hour starts around 3 PM. The Southern State Parkway is already a parking lot by 3 PM, one I often see as I travel westbound (against the rush hour) home in the mid-afternoon.

I try to do any errands in the late morning, between 10 AM and 2 PM, so I can get to and from the stores easily, and those stores are nice and empty.

 

[W2R]

I can understand why mothers of elementary school kids today might worry about kidnappers. There are so many awful stories in the news. I would imagine that it's not as easy to be a mom (or dad) these days as it once was. So, personally I tend to give worried moms a pass on that one.

Frank and I know routes that skirt around the elementary schools so that we don't get caught up in too many school zones with parents picking up their kids.

We never choose to drive later on during rush hour. Just once since we retired, I accidently found myself on the "main drag" at 5 PM. Never again! I was horrified. People were driving so aggressively that it was as though my perfect little suburb had turned into a war zone. Not only that, it took me forever to get home due to all the traffic.

Of course, during Carnival season and Mardi Gras, I keep the parade tracker app on my phone so that I can figure out the best way to get around the parades, if I should be so foolish as to try to drive somewhere.

I don't drive at night or on the Interstate at all any more if I can help it. I blame old age for that. I am not willing to deal with it any more. You all would think I was an old fuddy-duddy, because I am perfectly happy staying close to home and not driving too far.

 

[Winemaker]

I can understand why mothers of elementary school kids today might worry about kidnappers. There are so many awful stories in the news. I would imagine that it's not as easy to be a mom (or dad) these days as it once was. So, personally I tend to give worried moms a pass on that one.

I don't.

I live on a cul-de-sac with 12 homes, cars backed up 6 on each side morning and afternoon. Neighbors even. Why can't parents take turns with their precious little ones. i think it is a " keeping up with the Jones's I cherish my kid more than you cherish yours" kinda thing. After all, we have so many kidnappings a week in our town ship, school district, county, state they're gonna close the schools cuz there's no more kids.

Don't tell me that the kids are vulnerable. Twenty-five years ago, when my hand slipped off a wrench and smashed a few knuckles, I said a few choice words that I would only use in a coal mine. Although I thought I was alone (which is no excuse for my profanity), my 6 year old told me not to worry, " he'd heard it before because he rode the school bus".

 

[SpinDr]

My problem is I have 3 schools within 5 miles of me and kids no longer ride a school bus . Seems every mother has to deliver and pick up their child. At specific times traffic will back up 1/2 mile .


I think there has been a generational change in how kids get to school. When I was in grade school I'd say 5% of kids were driven each day. Based on what I've seen near school areas, over the past 10 years, I'm guessing 70% of kids are driven. A whole lot could be written/discussed about the reasons for, and the impact of that change.

 

[Scuba]

People around here have a habit I've never understood. Every morning they put little Susie in the car and drive her half a block (seriously, like 200-300 feet) to the corner where the school bus will pick her up. Then they park the car right at the stop sign until the bus comes. Other cars have to work around them. Even on really nice days the child is not allowed out of the car until the bus arrives, but the parent will get out and enjoy the fresh air (often smoking a cigarette).



In the afternoon, they're back parked at the corner again. When the bus delivers the little angel they drive the half block back to the house.



This is in an upscale neighborhood in one of the most affluent towns in the county. Quiet, uncrowded, with the lowest crime statistics in the state.



Like everyone else here, I walked three miles to school uphill both ways, wind always in my face during a perpetual blizzard, starting with first grade, so it all mystifies me.

Too funny! Ever noticed how most of the gated communities are in areas that are supposed to be super safe anyway? I don't understand why one needs a guard and gate to live in a safe area.

 

[Mdlerth]

I live on a cul-de-sac with 12 homes, cars backed up 6 on each side morning and afternoon. Neighbors even. Why can't parents take turns with their precious little ones. i think it is a " keeping up with the Jones's I cherish my kid more than you cherish yours" kinda thing. After all, we have so many kidnappings a week in our town ship, school district, county, state they're gonna close the schools cuz there's no more kids.

I observe a similar pattern on my street, also a cul-de-sac with fewer than twenty houses on it. After a decade of zero trick-or-treaters, our little road has enjoyed a baby boom over the past five years (must be something in the water!) so suddenly there's a significant crowd of school-age children again. Rows of cars line both sides of the street at the intersection where the big yellow bus drops off its cargo, even though the whole street is barely a half mile long.

But in my neighbors' defense, I don't think it's a rivalry. It's the modern version of the gossip fence.

I was a kid in a neighborhood built in the 1950s, where the houses (3 BR, 1 BA, 900 square feet!) were all of 15 feet apart. We all had clothes lines in the back yard for hanging laundry out to dry. It required multiple yards to play a decent game of tag or kickball, so both children and adults tended to be in close proximity more often. Neighborly chitchat occurred continuously throughout each day.

The houses on my street today are ~500 feet from each other. Nobody hangs laundry any more, and all youth sports are played in organized leagues at municipal athletic field complexes. They only time my neighbors get to see one another is when they're waiting for the bus.

Sigh! Thank all of you reading this for indulging my nostalgic daydream of simpler times.

 

[Walt34]

But in my neighbors' defense, I don't think it's a rivalry. It's the modern version of the gossip fence.

I suppose that might be it. The people with school age kids do the same thing here, we live on a court with perhaps 12 houses on it. We're at the end of the court and can see the intersecting street from the house. And perhaps the schools themselves are telling the parents to do this?

The only times we were driven to school was perhaps, if she had the time and it was pouring a hard rain, Mom might drive us to school. But that was pretty rare and of course stopped entirely when she got a job. I only rode the school bus once because I found that the bus stop was almost as far as the school and my stop was the last on the bus route so it was actually faster to walk about a mile to school.