7.10.2002
So many subjects; so little time! Some days I feel like I could just spend the day writing. I have other things to do today so I guess I'll just cover one topic:
Freeland board's idea of "maintaining the small town flavor in downtown Freeland" A few people in this town - some relative "newcomers" and others kids that grew up with my kids - think they know what's best for this little community we chose to live in forty-five years ago. As a child I lived in Freeland for a short while - with my Aunt Fleda, a teacher in a one room school house at that time. The store, Sarle's, was a general store where you could buy much of your food items out of big barrels (the original bulk food concept). I remember Aunt Fleda let me take a coffee bean out of a barrel and chew on it to see how it tasted... yucky! Where Sarle's stood is - well - I think it's the bank's parking lot! That was added before the current generation of "village fathers" took over.
I remember when we drove to Midland from Saginaw to visit my mom's family, we would stop at Gaffney's for ice cream cones! The current group of board members allowed a Burger King to be placed there. That edifice produces much of the litter along some of our formerly scenic drives... and of course, we have a McDonald's! The main road through town is a state highway where you have to slow down because we have a traffic light on the corner where Gaffney's used to be. Freeland has an abnormal number of gas stations, bars, restaurants and car dealerships along that strip, considering the size of the village, but somebody on the board has decided we can't add another used car lot in the place where we currently have an ugly abandoned building! Could it be because one of the people who "runs" Freeland already owns a used car lot along this strip?
When we were remodeling our home twenty-some years ago, the "fathers" ruled that nobody could build along our road unless they owned a five acre plot of land. Smaller lots already existed at that time. We were not allowed to attach a garage in front of the house (we wanted to do so to block road noise and westerly winds) because it would be too close to the road. A few short years later a huge new house was built as close to the road as our garage would have been and the five-acre rule was apparently abandoned. The new generation "fathers" have allowed giant houses to be built so close that each resident can shake hands with his next door neighbor. Fields of corn, beets, wheat and beans are continually replaced by more ot those edifices - many of which are built for more than one family; they look like duplexes but I'm told there's a new fancy word for them. Is it possible that the "rules" change as needs and desires of the board members and their friends change?
Somebody on the board decided she wanted pretty lamp posts along a small portion of town... and iron fences in front of some of the uglier buildings. Then they planted flowers in front of the ugly iron fences. Did they really think that 3 foot fences would hide an ugly abandoned building and it's deteriorating parking lot?..... or a gas station? Do the pretty flowers draw your eye from the fences? Come on folks, get real! The REAL small town charm of Freeland is gone and no amount of talk can bring it back!
Freeland board's idea of "maintaining the small town flavor in downtown Freeland" A few people in this town - some relative "newcomers" and others kids that grew up with my kids - think they know what's best for this little community we chose to live in forty-five years ago. As a child I lived in Freeland for a short while - with my Aunt Fleda, a teacher in a one room school house at that time. The store, Sarle's, was a general store where you could buy much of your food items out of big barrels (the original bulk food concept). I remember Aunt Fleda let me take a coffee bean out of a barrel and chew on it to see how it tasted... yucky! Where Sarle's stood is - well - I think it's the bank's parking lot! That was added before the current generation of "village fathers" took over.
I remember when we drove to Midland from Saginaw to visit my mom's family, we would stop at Gaffney's for ice cream cones! The current group of board members allowed a Burger King to be placed there. That edifice produces much of the litter along some of our formerly scenic drives... and of course, we have a McDonald's! The main road through town is a state highway where you have to slow down because we have a traffic light on the corner where Gaffney's used to be. Freeland has an abnormal number of gas stations, bars, restaurants and car dealerships along that strip, considering the size of the village, but somebody on the board has decided we can't add another used car lot in the place where we currently have an ugly abandoned building! Could it be because one of the people who "runs" Freeland already owns a used car lot along this strip?
When we were remodeling our home twenty-some years ago, the "fathers" ruled that nobody could build along our road unless they owned a five acre plot of land. Smaller lots already existed at that time. We were not allowed to attach a garage in front of the house (we wanted to do so to block road noise and westerly winds) because it would be too close to the road. A few short years later a huge new house was built as close to the road as our garage would have been and the five-acre rule was apparently abandoned. The new generation "fathers" have allowed giant houses to be built so close that each resident can shake hands with his next door neighbor. Fields of corn, beets, wheat and beans are continually replaced by more ot those edifices - many of which are built for more than one family; they look like duplexes but I'm told there's a new fancy word for them. Is it possible that the "rules" change as needs and desires of the board members and their friends change?
Somebody on the board decided she wanted pretty lamp posts along a small portion of town... and iron fences in front of some of the uglier buildings. Then they planted flowers in front of the ugly iron fences. Did they really think that 3 foot fences would hide an ugly abandoned building and it's deteriorating parking lot?..... or a gas station? Do the pretty flowers draw your eye from the fences? Come on folks, get real! The REAL small town charm of Freeland is gone and no amount of talk can bring it back!
# posted by sherle : 10:17 AM
