FRAGILE THINGS

  I very recently picked up a best seller titled The Nature of Fragile Things. The title alone intrigued me, particularly at this time, or rather in the times of our lives. It opened with a quotation.

"Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable - and life is more than a dream."                   Mary Wollstonecraft

It hit me, then and there, how apt this quote is. Life is certainly more than a dream, but we must add to that statement that most people have a dream to work towards, to toil hard to attain. If we forget those dreams, if they are forcibly removed from us, from any possibility of actuality, then life becomes little more than a grubbing for survival. Life then becomes another category of dreams - that of nightmares, living nightmares.

We all know the living nightmare of the political world we now inhabit. We all know of the eroding base of our democracy, of the two nations that have emerged within its population, a most dangerous turn of events. However, today I will write of a smaller nightmare, of an event of impending breakage, of the fragility of a place now facing an attack on its very being by another group, one known for steamrolling, for forcing issues to courts, after placing facts on the ground, for causing loss of dreams of too many, as they watch them turn into nightmares. As they pursue their 'dream', as they tread heavily over present reality, as they plan to change the entire feel and facts of a development of approximately 14,000 to 15,000 residents, some part time, and many full time, including myself, the fragile nature of the things here are obvious.

They wish to import the crowded nature of urban living to a rural development. Century Village is open, huge swaths of grass between buildings, with trees in the parking areas, with pools and courts for various activities. It is a paradise for many, at times a troubled one, but we overcome and go on. A dream fulfillment of retirement for many. For many who cannot afford to move, who literally are living on their last pennies and have nowhere to go, no funds to spend, no dream to replace this one. I myself would find it difficult in many ways to have to remove myself, separate myself, from my personal dream here. And yes, I resent a group coming in and almost immediately trying to change the aura of this Village, of imposing their requests, their designated needs on others. I truly do. The fragility of my life is at risk. Perhaps I am selfish, but those are the facts, madams and sirs. Those are the facts.

There are many other plots of land undergoing development around the area, again, perhaps too many, but there it is. There are empty plots awaiting development. The fulfillment of their dream, of a southern residence is quite possible elsewhere, building it from the ground up, with their own rules, with their own consequences if they slide by certain safety rules, as they push the envelopes of laws of zoning, as has allegedly been done before. But not in my dream. That is their dream.

 Mine is to live here in peace with all, accepting demographic change as it occurs and has indeed occurred, but we live in peace and harmony - for the most part. We all want this dream to exist, and we are very, very nervous re its fragility and the attack upon it. It is not correct to impose a dream of oneself upon the dreams of others, breaking them, crushing them, in a selfish, unwanted, imposition of their dangerous dreams.

We have seen this group flout laws of safety here in the Village. Violating social distancing at pools in the height of the pandemic. We have seen the very fabric of buildings torn apart, imperiling other apartments, indeed the very lives of others. Now we are being asked to quietly sit by as they wish to cram two more unneeded pools, in precarious physical location, verging on a huge lake of the Village, add ugly fencing, cram the parking area, add yet another two-story building on this site, hence giving us the oh so comforting urban crush feeling. They are removing a building from its service, much needed services, for the people of the Village, as it has done since the beginning of its existence.

Not to forget the impact - the noise of constant cars in and out in a congested area, on a dangerous four corner main intersection, in a Village where driving is not always a safe gambit. Now to add more oil to the fire? NO! No more lies about a reduction in traffic there!! Really!! Is the next target the shows at the Clubhouse which generate traffic and need parking area? Or forbid clubs during the day, the general traffic of a busy important building that services the entire Village? Or change the bus times if they generate too much traffic at prayer times? Or block their cars entries and exits into their narrowed, less buffered parking area?

There are two synagogues within walking area in the Village. One is an Orthodox one, founded by early residents of the Village and there is a place, indeed a physical place already there for their services. If they are a bit crowded during the season, well, so are the other synagogues, and we all manage. To create yet another, within the very heart of the Village is to invite trouble, a great deal of it. It will cascade into more requests for purchases of buildings for private needs, add more traffic, ruining the very air, physically and emotionally. It will add yet more separation within the population. NO, that is not the dream of us, but rather a nightmare.

The Zoning Commission must turn down these outrageous requests or demands. They must. For the sake of all of us. We must all show up for the Zoom meeting and for the two hearings to follow. WE MUST.     PLAIN AND SIMPLE.