On My Mind
Executive editor — issues and opinionsBoth Sides of the Street
Somewhere in a synagogue close to home, the phrase “love thy neighbor as thyself” was said during Rosh Hashanah services.
When it was heard, the congregants all probably automatically nodded in agreement.
And then the thought was gone, and it was about turning the page to the next passage.
Why is that sometimes we can read or hear a phrase like “love thy neighbor,” a clear instruction from HaShem, and so fervently agree with it, then do nothing to live it.
When it comes to actually loving our neighbors, well maybe we don’t always.
This morning, I came to the intersection of Strathmore and Cross Country to make my usual left turn on my way to work.
As we’ve reported in the Jewish Times, this isn’t an easy intersection. There have been a handful of drivers coming from the area of Taney Road in one direction or Clarks Lane in the other, if driving too fast, can have a difficult time slowing down. So making that turn is often a dangerous “adventure.”
Today that adventure had another little twist to it. A driver in a minivan was at the intersection going the wrong way on a one-way street.
We both waited for traffic to clear as best as possible, but instead of taking an easy right turn, she went left.
Beyond her van I saw at the corner house a zoning hearing notification sign. The zoning sign it turns out is notifying neighbors of a public hearing that will enable the home to house a day care center. The van didn’t help the cause of the day care center.
Mind you, this house sits on a corner where a car plowed through a fence and into its yard.
There is no implication here that the people who own the house will run anything but a stellar day care center. But all the planning in the world can’t prevent a person in a van from going the wrong way down an already busy, dangerous intersection, and making the more difficult left instead of right.
The recent accidents at the intersection happened during the warm months. There was no ice on the road…yet. The approach on Cross Country of that intersection is known to be slippery as black ice forms near the sewage drains.
While many neighbors certainly don’t mind the presence of a daycare center at the corner, there still are others who fill find it objectionable. Most, if not all, of the neighbors have been in their homes long before this house was even constructed.
Love thy neighbor?
Everything will be done on the up and up and legally. The zoning hearing will come before people who possibly don’t walk the streets on Shabbos and look both ways twice before they even think of walking or pushing a stroller through the intersection.
In the past eight weeks, there has been a utility pole knocked over, the fence smashed in and pieces of automobile wreckage strewn many yards away.
And what else is this going to do?
It could open up a can of worms that I don’t think many of the neighbors would care to face. And that is the operation of several basement businesses, perhaps some without appropriate licensure, creating foot and car traffic in neighborhoods zoned only for residential use.
If this day care center proposal gets more than a cursory look by neighbors and elected officials then it isn’t beyond the impossible, that oppositional neighbors will start making the authorities aware.
However, if the City doesn’t care, and doesn’t look into it, then there is nothing that will ever change in the spirit of the “love thy neighbor?”
And why is it that on the same street on the corner intersecting Park Heights Avenue, that the construction of a building has caused so much angst among its neighbors and the Cross Country Neighborhood Association leadership, City Council Woman Rochelle “Rikki” Spector and even CHAI?
The strewn remains of construction debris are a common site on the construction grounds. It seems as if little if any effort has gone into the care and concern of the people who live adjacent the property. There’s nothing anyone can do. There aren’t any laws or codes that have seemingly been broken.
The only code broken is the one asking for civility. People have lived in the vicinity of this construction site for generations. They deserve better than the disregard for their dignity as homeowners and tax paying citizens.
“Love thy neighbor? Maybe it is more of a case of loving thy neighborhood.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 09/21/09 at 12:11 PM | Comments (2)
