此内容暂无简体中文译文，以下为英文原文。
Historical September–October 2005 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
This past May I had knee replacement surgery.
The convalescence presented time for contemplation.
The recovery has progressed very well but I have been left with a greater sense of my own age and mortality.
In addition, I keep thinking about the past, from cooler summers in my Michigan home or from how we existed before cell phones, VCRs, DVDs, etc.
I have a friend who considers herself a Luddite and eschews some of these newer inventions.
I don’t eschew them but I wonder how I lived with only 3 television channels or how I could have typed on a manual typewriter. Moving in this vein, I also thought more about the neighborhood.
In May and June, I sat on the front porch and ruminated.
There was more pedestrian traffic than I remembered and it was more diverse. Two sets of neighbors moved in, both with academic connections.
It certainly seemed a great deal safer than when I first arrived in Skinker De Baliviere in 1987. (There was the construction of course – METRO – but I don’t want to deal with that again!) Skinker DeBaliviere has changed a great deal. Property values are up. We’re very desirable.
It is safer. But, many old timers have moved on and new residents did not participate in our struggle for stability.
The neighborhood pulled together during adversity and residents participated in major decisionmaking.
The result was not always unanimity, e.g., the fate of Nina Place.
But there was awareness and participation.
The Times helped.
It published the Historic District Ordinance and the Delmar Redevelopment plan among others. Is it wrong to ask if important changes today should be brought to the neighborhood? Do people still care? Is consultation still a good idea? Although the Housing Corporation did not involve the community in its decision to sell Rosedale Square or in how the proceeds would be allocated, it is now asking for comment on the course of future activity in these pages. Perhaps there is a learning curve. I’m not totally resistant to change but I wonder if things have changed too fast. Skinker DeBaliviere is an extremely successful neighborhood. Hopefully, the traits and customs that made it that way won’t all fade away.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September–October 2005.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Author says first arrived 1987, contrasting 1969 statement in November 2004 column. Preserve printed chronology, flagforreview.
Original source: SD_Times2005_09.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
