Cheap Sightseeing Tour: Your Neighborhood: Locations Part 3

A cheap and easy sightseeing tour idea, explore your own neighborhood like it were a new exotic location, locations described.

Sightseeing in Your Own Neighborhood

16. Condominium Townhouses. These townhouses have just been built on a lowland and marsh. The builder has installed a pond to collect the water that used to flow to the marsh, but this doesn't work and flooding now occurs. People who are buying the townhouses, according to the realtor, are very successful older couples. No one under the age of 18 is allowed to live here. "No burden on the schools," says the realtor. So far, families who have moved here all have 2 cars, which has added significantly to the traffic on Alps Road. The designer of these townhouses, an architect by the name of George Boswell, has won an award for his scheme. He admits, however, that they should never have been built on this land: "It was really too wet for townhouses, but if it's going to be built it may as well be designed well." Whether the well-designed buildings survive on this soggy ground, only the future will tell.

17. Streams. Water on this side of the neighborhood flows into a nearby tidal marsh and then into the bay.

18. Farm. This farmer presently raises corn for sale, vegetables for his family and friends. He also keeps some old horses and cows which graze on the fertile hillside. He has good, well-drained, upland soil which developers of nearby condominium townhouses covet. They've asked the farmer to sell, but he's holding out.

19. Marsh. Gradually being filled in by yet another developer, who plans 75 apartments here. His action has destroyed the marsh, forcing out ducks and other birdlife that once used the area. But, the developer argues, now that the area is filled in, how can the town deny me permission to build here? The neighborhood wouldn't grant permission if it had its way, but it's the town's planning and zoning commission that will give permission. Its members don't live around here.

20. Homes. Large, newer homes on large lots. Mostly wealthy families live here with 2 to 4 children. Of course, they oppose the nearby apartments because they will reduce property values.

21. Drain. In this part of the neighborhood, water flows directly into the bay either through a natural stream bed or storm drains beneath the built-up areas.

22. Old Section. Homes in this section of the neighborhood were built on small lots and narrow streets over 50 years ago, as summer cottages for city people who wanted to be near the beach during the humid months. The houses are mostly wooden. Many have screen porches running around 3 sides. Since the soil here is quite rocky and there are no sewers, waste often flows untreated and unabsorbed by the land, directly into the bay with its beaches. The area is no longer a desirable resort spot and over the years has become a year-round neighborhood. Owners have winterized their cottages, closed in the porches, and either live here themselves or rent their places out to students during the winter.

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