Constantchange

Local Politics

I feel uninteresting and boring lately; my days are filled with playing and caring for my new daughter, who certainly fascinates and delights me, but doesn't do anything really blogworthy. We have a healthy, happy baby girl who is about eight weeks old. And that's my main concern right now.

Other than that, I've gotten wrapped up in neighborhood politics. Last Christmas i got myself elected to our condo board, and the work has been frustrating if necessary. Our converted warehouse boarders a nasty urban brownlot full of trash, kudzu, weeds, and a vandalized trailer. The negligent owner of this blighted property says he'll clean up his trash when he gets permission to build on the lot. I, and a lot of other neighbors, are committed to making it as hard as possible for this guy to build because he's such a dishonest and unfriendly person. In addition to being a negligent land owner, he was also successfully prosecuted for fraud in a previous building endevour in our neighborhood.

Fighting the bad landowner means that I have to attend a condo board meeting once a month and keep up with my neighbors and some emails. I and the husband also now attend some meetings of the Inman Park Homeowner's Association. While it's nice to meet the other people whose homes boarder the brownlot, I also find the whole thing to be a giant headache. At least I'm new to the fight; evidently negotiations with this landowner have been going on for nearly a decade. The trash in the lot behind my house has been there for at least five years. It's obscene and absurd and just part of living in the city, I guess.

Our friends Tony and Andrew - Dot's Godparents, in fact - are moving down to Atlanta next month and I couldn't be happier about that. Skeet called this morning and will be visiting over Labor Day weekend. Our friends continue to draw nearer to us, and I am hoping that everyone will continue to settle here in the neighborhood. One of the midwives who helped with Dot lives within walking distance of me. I like walking around and running into my sister, her friends, our friends, the guy from the bank, our neighbors - I like bumping into people I know while just being out. We're lucky to live in a place like that. We're lucky, and I know this is true.