EDITORIAL BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS.FOR many homeowners, word of a new housing development in their neighborhood is enough to send minds reeling with all the unpleasant possibilities. There's good reason for this: historical precedent. So much of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, was built by developers whose only concern was profit, not creating healthy communities. The result can be seen no more acutely than in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , where housing developments were plopped down wherever and however the city allowed with little regard to the aesthetics or desires of neighbors. That's what makes the Roxford Glen development in Sylmar so remarkable. The development company, John Laing For John Laing, the 15th century bishop of Glasgow, see John Laing (bishop) John Laing plc is a British developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, hospitals and schools through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and Homes, was having trouble selling the relatively small development to skeptical homeowners. Instead of hunkering down Hunkering down A term used to describe a trader selling off a big position in a stock. and fighting it out with high-priced lawyers, the company took a cheaper -- and ultimately more sensible -- approach. Company officials engaged homeowners by asking them to come up with what they'd like to see in the neighboring neigh·bor n. 1. One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address. v. development. The result was a compromise that both the developer and community could live with. It was such a simple solution, but one that has escaped most developers. It's a natural reaction of people to be wary of new construction when they are not part of the process. Breaking out the lawyers at the first sign of resistance only reinforces community concerns. Many of the most successful developers today are behaving like John Laing Homes and being good neighbors before they build new neighborhoods. With Southern California already heavily developed and getting denser all the time, developers and communities must learn how to work together for the common good -- housing that pencils out for the development company but doesn't clash with a community's flavor or the lifestyles of its inhabitants
The game is based loosely on the concepts from SameGame. . |
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