Reply #168: Real communities ARE the people who inhabit them.

[Coexist]

"A REAL community is not walled off and cloistered away from "lower" classes, so that its inhabitants' offspring never have to interact with poor people and minorities."

PLEASE. And why do you think we have no minorities in our community? Three of the people on my street speak Spanish as their first language. There are many African-American families on adjacent streets - yes they make a good income too. So what.

As for income diversity, there are many trailer parks interspersed with sub-divisions here. Because they are a mile away instead of next door makes my life petty? My kids play with these kids on sports teams, they go to school with them, they run into them at the Rec Center, they come to my house - my kids have sleepovers with them (gasp) at their homes. I don't judge children by where they live - I have lived in a poor neighborhood and I know that I was a decent person. My children are taught that through my interactions with their friends and their parents. I put myself through college waiting tables and tending bar - same as many of my neighbors. Just because we can afford to pay for our children's education doesn't make us plastic. We do buy things we don't need sometimes - it supports local businesses - is that bad? We do have many family owned restaurants and florists, as well as some friends who own franchises with fast-food chains or Blockbuster. or The UPS store. Do they not count as real people?

Farmer's here retire and sell their land to developers for a mint. They worked hard all their lives, struggled with poverty and want a nice retirement. I will not condemn them for that.

You are a snob. People like me ARE the norm here. I'm sorry we don't fit the image you would like us to so you can feel superior to us.