Question yourself first before speaking out | Letters | Oct. 8

Published 10:48 am Friday, October 8, 2010

If I were a resident of the Commodore Lane community and looking at the covenants, I’d ask myself these questions:

If a family with six kids moved in, would the traffic with trips/carpools to various activities, and/or a teenage driver, with pals, be an unacceptable intrusion?

Do I, or anyone I know, have an elderly parent who might sometime need to have 24-hour care?

Do I, or anyone I know, have a child with disabilities who needs a supportive household as he/she becomes an adult and gets a job? Perhaps the caring parent will no longer be able to provide.

Has anyone who committed to the neighborhood covenant declared a “business use of home” tax credit to the IRS?

Is there something that can be done to discourage high school students from parking in our neighborhood?

Shouldn’t I make sure my inexperienced, bike-riding child sticks to sidewalks until I teach him/her to navigate with cars?

Answering these questions honestly would help me sleep at night, if I had to look at the covenants of the Commodore Lane community.

I recall a time not long ago when the threat of “black people” moving into my neighborhood would make the property values go down. It didn’t happen.

Terry Schneider

Bainbridge Island