Houses. Rows and rows of them

Crys · 05-09-2006, 09:33 AM

I take back roads to avoid rush hour traffic where possible. My usual route runs past farms and fields, and most mornings I have to stop for wildlife crossing the road (yes, I brake for chipmunks and birds). There's been some construction near part of it (they put in a stop light, which I am grateful for; turning left onto 164 without a light really sucks), so I haven't been paying so much attention to the trucks and workmen and signs...

... and then this morning I noticed that where I thought they might be building a house in one of the fields, it's not _a_ house, but a whole subdivision of them! :cry:

There goes my traffic-free commute and my relaxing drive through the country. I mean really, we moved AWAY from the suburbs. You know, getting AWAY from being a sardine. Now here they come following us further out. I'm really getting tired of urban sprawl.

**Kris10** · 05-09-2006, 11:42 AM

My peaceful morning commute is also getting disrupted by building. A massive development of what I think is condos (translation: overpriced apartments) is going in on the two-lane road I take to work. Unless a light is put in, there is sure to be accidents at the entrance of that development!

Most of the development seems so pointless, like boxy condos and McMansions. "Affordable housing" is the biggest oxymoron in Wisconsin! At least industrial parks bring jobs with them.

My husband scoffs when I suggest moving back to the Chicago burbs (I grew up there). I tell him to look out the window... we're already living in a watered-down version of it! At least I can get White Castles in Chicago!

AlumniClub · 05-09-2006, 01:53 PM

Mmmmmmmmmmm.......nothing better than a sack of White Castles!

kmfarm · 05-09-2006, 05:48 PM

What I don't understand is how people will pay very high prices for these houses just to live a few feet from their neighbor. No privacy, usually community "rules", no trees, nothing. I just figure it would be cheaper living in an apartment. Same basic lifestyle, just cheaper.

Mark

Crys · 05-10-2006, 09:45 AM

It is cheaper. MUCH cheaper. Of course, I don't own my property and with minimal legal proceedings, I could be turned out on the street at any time, but my rent is half the mortgage payment on the same size house, I don't pay property tax, heating bills, maintenance... I was going to say "cut the lawn", but I do kind of wish I had control over my lawn. I'm on the ground floor and I would love to turn the twenty foot stretch of grass and trees into a garden.

That said, I do want to have my own house, but not these stupid prefab pieces of garbage that litter the countryside these days and that are, as pointed out, just a few feet from their neighbors!

rudedog · 05-10-2006, 04:09 PM

get ready to move further away.
we have lost the battle of the sprawl here . they build 280,000.00+ clapboard homes like crazy around here in kenosha, and people keep buying them like hot cakes. im sorry but i use to be a carpenter, and we would have gotten fired on the spot, if we had built houses like these. personally i would give about 10,000.00 for one and rip it down and build something decent, but i couldnt stand being that close to my neighbor. something is wrong, when your neighbor can roll over in bed and almost kiss your wife goodnight.
whats worst is that the rest of the state seems to have given up on us! why does the state government allow our turncoat politicans in kenosha to declare a wisconsin city part of chicago? doesnt anyone realize there are still many wisconsinites still living here? im telling you i cant get no respect!
the people move here to excape chicago and then do whatever it takes to make this like the place they just left. and now their going to do it there too. it just a matter of time before they start screaming they want that road you use to be posted so they dont have to deal with you driving through their new neighborhood. they do it here! it was getting so bad that they actually started blocking roads off to keep outsiders from going through their subdivisions. then the fire dept stepped in and told them basically that if they blocked the roads, and if there was a fire, they would stay out ,the way the people wanted and let the house burn. that put a stop to all that nonsence!
Ive been fighting the invasion for years now and ive lost the fight.
im seriously thinking about moving to wausau. i wonder if they would let me kinda hang out there for about 30yrs or so? i swear i won't build a house right next to your bedroom window, ok? and ill even invite my neighbors over for fish frys every once in a while, ok ? good enough?
ok fine, ill listen to your deer hunting stories too, and ill even agree that they are your packers, and all they have to do is listen to you and they would be heading for the bowl again.

Crys · 05-11-2006, 09:59 AM

I've been trying to catch more information from the subdivision sign every day as I drive past. "122 1/2-acre homesteads". If you're on a half-acre, can it really be called a "homestead"? When I hear homestead, I think pioneer cabin in North Dakota or Montana where it's three days hard riding to get to your nearest neighbor.

Luckily, it's two farm fields that are on the same side of the road, so my route won't take me _through_ the new subdivision, just _by_ the entrance to it.

I'm kind of tempted to take my camera with me every morning, pull off the road in the same spot, and take a picture every morning from exactly the same spot, then put them all together in a time-lapse animation. I'd call it "death of a field" or something catchy like that. Unfortunately, the fields were plowed pretty early, so they aren't all grassy and pretty, which would make for the most effective contrast.

rudedog · 05-11-2006, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Luckily, it's two farm fields that are on the same side of the road, so my route won't take me _through_ the new subdivision, just _by_ the entrance to it.

but whats on the other side of the road? is it farm land that is going to skyrocket in value? if there is open space to build there, its just a matter of time before they do. then you'll be driving throught their neighborhood.
1/2 acre is actually a pretty good size lot for a subdivision, but it definitly isnt a homestead. i believe i heard once, that to have a homestead in wisconsin it had to be 20 acres. i would check on that but im not sure how to.

beside the developers will say whatever sells lots, if homestead sounds good to perspective customers, then its a homestead. when people start looking for settlements on mars, the developers will paint the ground red and call them greater milwaukee lunar outposts.

Crys · 05-12-2006, 10:47 AM

It's right by where Swan takes off from 164 at an angle, so there's just a very small grassy area and then a church that has entrances on both 164 and Swan, and on the other side of 164 is a Wal-Mart, a bank and a Pick'n'Save in a strip mall, so no area on the other side to add to the subdivision, thank the gods. Immediately after you turn onto Swan it's like ... well, WAS like ... you're twenty miles from other civilization because there're lots of trees and then open fields and farms.

Of course, that grassy area might just be big enough for a gas station. I don't think I'd complain if we got a station out there that wasn't ExxonMobil. I've been boycotting ExxonMobil and any station that sells their gas for years over their response to the Valdez spill (or rather, lack of. Gee, why would we expect them to pay to clean up their mess?), but it's the only gas station in several miles from my apartment, so sometimes I have to break that and buy from them anyway because they're the only option. So a new gas station is one development I would be happy to see.

That doesn't change my opinion on all the McMansions and McRanches cropping up in the corn fields though. And you might be right about the next several fields along the way. I'm kind of worried that the small wooded area an 1/8 of a mile up the road might go the same way. I know there's a lot of wildlife that takes refuge there.

I wish we were ready for settlements on Mars. I'd so be there. :lol:

rudedog · 05-13-2006, 07:47 AM

you would have to find a way to beat the mining companys to it. i heard they are already trying to lay claim to the moon. as soon as they find a way to exploit natural resources in space, im sure the developers wont be far behind. it'll go from strip mining, to strip malls.

oneinthewoods · 05-14-2006, 06:57 PM

Yeah they are moving in even out by me way out here in the quiet, where teh bull frogs sing. Hmmmm....build a great big house, put it in a little sub division and keep up with the Jones, hang your Christmas lights just a little better than the neighbor, work your A** off every day of your life just to live that way to pay for that huge house, then half of them go to loss due to a divorce rate being what it is. Tee hee.....I say ya gotta be silly to live a life like that. Greed is the root. American Idiots are we, to live in such a way that the government has nearly complete control over the poor farm boy who is the real man trying to make a living. They lose the land to a cheap price and move the greedy ones in to build property that aint worth a second look. I think it looks more like a MONOPOLY BOARD.........they are turning beautiful farmland into a park avenue or a boardwalk.

rudedog · 05-14-2006, 09:51 PM

oh yeah i forgot to address one issue here.

Quote:

Mmmmmmmmmmm.......nothing better than a sack of White Castles!

dude thats demented!
you havent been fishing of the Kewaunee power plant again have you? lol
them things have to be the worst burgers on the planet. we have a white castle here in town, you can have the whole place, just do us a favor and move it to two rivers. im kinda scared that my children might accidentally eat one of those some day, and i dont think there is an antidote for them. :P

Quote:

American Idiots are we, to live in such a way that the government has nearly complete control over the poor farm boy who is the real man trying to make a living. They lose the land to a cheap price and move the greedy ones in to build property that aint worth a second look.

that sounds like a really negative, narrow minded remark, but its true.
ive watched the local government here completely screw local farmers out of their land so that subdivisions can be built. its a no win situation if you try to fight the greedy.

heres one of the ways its done, in simple terms. the developers want some land. the local government wants some tax money. the farmer wants them all to go to h#$%. so the city decides they need to put a road through the farm for the "public good". then they send the bill to the farmer, who then expresses his opinion of them and their bill. :roll:
when the farmer refuses to pay for the road they add it to his tax bill. when he refuses to pay the tax bill, they take the farm for back taxes ,and then sell it cheap to the developers. bottom line is they stole the property, intentionally. the developers make huge bucks, the city makes huge bucks, the farmer gets a room at a flop house, if he's lucky.

AlumniClub · 05-19-2006, 07:11 AM

[message removed by user]

rudedog · 05-19-2006, 07:47 AM

good question. i wish i had a good answer.
maybe because the whole process takes to long and is disquised as legal.
maybe becuase this process doesnt even matter any more, after the supreme court ruling that says they can just take it if they want, and can give it to whoever they feel will use it better.

submit their first complaint? to who?