A few years back I was flying over the city of Phoenix, AZ, I looked down and I saw a city of walls punctuated with square patches of green. In a city surrounded by desert scrub they walled themselves off from nature and each other. Walls are symbolic of keeping one side away from the other, The Berlin Wall, The Great Wall of China, fire walls, emotional walls.
The Other Side
In Los Angeles we have "gated communities", a metal gate separates us from them, to keep out the fearful elements from their warm hearths and other tangible items. I live in a neighborhood of open front lawns and low fencing to keep the dogs in and kids playing in backyards safe from traffic. Other than tall scrubs, we don't have high walls surrounding the homes here. Until now.
Two weeks ago I noticed wire going up over a metal fence across the street, and plaster being slathered over the wiring. The new home owner was building a wall over six feet and only a foot from the curb. Our first wall.
Behind the Fence
In our neighborhood we have a mix of people. Most of us are anonymous and go about our lives quietly. One day barb wire went up around a house, not just a string of barb wire but your industrial prison issue barb wire. I stood there thinking what were they keeping out or what was in there that needed to be kept in. After over a year of wrangling with the Homeowners' Association and the city, the owner (a television actor on a long running series) took the barb wire down. Now we have the wall being built across the street at the home of a movie starlet, I am assuming she is afraid of paparazzi, I am not taking it personally. This morning as I was taking in my trash cans, I noticed the workers dismantling the wall, I asked the foreman what was happening and he said the Homeowners' Association and the city inspector told them to take it down, it was illegal because of its height and distance from the curb. Too many homeowners have said "Just build it and they can fight it later".
"All in all you're just another brick in the wall."*
A neighborhood of walls is not a neighborhood, but a collection of boxes. If you don't want to interact with the people you live a few yards from, then you will never build a connection with the place you rest your head at night. It might as well be a solitary home on a deserted island. To acknowledge your neighborhood is to care about it.
This is Part Three of a series to highlight KCET's participation in a Knight Foundation project titled "Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy." Please go here to fill out a short survey.
Image: Ophelia Chong
* from Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2"
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walls and / or fences are not only for keeping things or people in or out . they are one of the ways that the human animal marks what is his or hers . they set the boundary of what is ours . since some other animals use urine to mark their territory and for humans that is not really an effective option we build walls and or fences . now i like a well designed wall or fence . the visual experience and the effective solution for keeping the kids and pets in and the salesmen out . remember robert frost " good fences make good neighbors ".
now barbed wire or high walls i do not like . if it stops the wind i do not like it . so good design is important to me .