Last Friday, I had the good pleasure to be in our Nation’s Capitol. It was pleasant to walk down blocks with three-story brick houses with common setbacks from the street. The similar building designs were offset with different colors. Much of the landscaping was quite contrasting. Side yards varied and the window patterns were unique.
Newer developments tend to look the same. When every house has the same color brick, window placement, and driveway arrangement, even those settings can be boring.
Marlinton is a unique place in its own way. We have zero monotony and very little repetition of design. These are important elements. Marlinton is no DC – thank the Lord – but, we can do better.
The one thing we can all do is clean. We want our town and individual neighborhoods looking their very best. While we (the Town) plan larger projects that require outside funding and/or private investment, I am asking the people of the town as well as community clubs to make 2017 a year of clean-up.
We must begin to take community appearance issues seriously. A clean community adds a pleasant appearance. A clean community adds to home values. I believe a clean community helps to attract business investment. A clean community improves neighbor- hoods overall reputations.
Are preferences constant for every place and every time? No. But, some things are fairly enduring over the course of a couple of decades.
For anyone thinking about new designs, I am told the trick is to not overdo the variation in an area. The good news is everything does not have to be perfect to make a pleasing difference on your street and in your neighborhood. Unless your eyesores are really bad, the neighborhood will still be well liked. Make your neighborhood just a little bit distinctive. You’ve probably gone through towns or heard it said that one town is junky, another town is so well-kept, and so forth. These statements reflect property maintenance initiative and property owner attitudes about the place they choose to live. These types of efforts are really what distinguishes one town from another.
The Town Beautification Committee supports such a campaign to eliminate as many eyesores as possible – Marlinton Matters.
Jill Wong, with the Family Resource Network, will assist in this campaign setting up incentives that will be part of a summer contest.
A cleaner and neater community will make us all feel better about where we live.
We, the people, may not like change, but sometimes it is the only way.
Most of you have heard the saying; “the only thing constant is change.”
Who likes change? Nobody.
But if we change nothing – nothing will change.
