On my way to view a residential property today, we passed a Trailor Park in Upstate NY. Being interested in the Tiny/Small House Movement, I was curious about this park. I have never been in a Trailor Park, only passed them from various highways and roads on the way to something else. It seems as though the Tiny/Small House Movement has a lot in common with Trailors because of the spirit of saving money, convenience, and freedom of movement. I resolved to check out this place after we had viewed the potential property.
Turning into the neighborhood, we noticed a sign that said "Office" in the most prominent and nicest looking trailor on the corner. From there we saw various people out on the porches of their neat, multicolored trailers. There were some obvious retires - it would make sense to retire to a trailor so that you won't spend all your savings and pension checks on taxes, upkeep and so forth.
Then we noticed a sign on one of the streets- "10 MILES AN HOUR OR GET OUT!" We remarked to ourselves on what an unfriendly sign that was. Imagine seeing that day in and day out. We saw another sign on the road encircling the trailor park - DRUG FREE ZONE. As though they had to let the world know that there were NO drugs being done in this particular park, even though the reputation of trailor parks was that there ARE drugs there. Another eyesore to have to live around, a constant reminder of the negative attitudes put forth about trailor parks and the people who live there.
I remarked to my partner that the worst thing about living there would be the feeling of malaise, seeing as how the people living there seem to genuinely believe that they are in a "bad" or "inferior" place, or accept that at least somebody thinks this way to put such signs there. My partner remarked that the owner probably put them there. That the owner probably purchased the entire plot and a lot of the trailers, and it was his little fiefdom - he lived in the nicest trailor on the lot and ruled the place, put the signs there, and generally imprinted his negative attitude upon the place and the people living there.
The Tiny/Small House movement is mostly made up of intellectuals, philosophers, students and so forth, who have rejected "McMansion" culture and embraced books like "Walden", and more importantly, have recognized that the USA is affording them such little opportunity now that they need a backup system that WILL NOT FAIL NO MATTER WHAT - a home that is paid for. It's a different "crowd" than the trailer park crowd, one that regards itself not with a low self esteem but with a very high self esteem, of MORE worth than those in McMansions. They see the failing in the USA system, not themselves, most of whom have at least some college study or a degree, sometimes multiple degrees, and come from an intellectual background, yet have hardly any job prospects here. NO Tiny/Small Housers would tolerate someone treating them as though they were suspected of a crime (a flagrant NO DRUGS sign posted right outside their house) or a really rude sign (10 MILES AN HOUR OR GET OUT) glaring them in the face every day, or other forms of oppression.
I hope that the Trailer Park culture can pull out of their malaise and force the owners of their subdivisions to start treating them with respect. One day, maybe soon, ALL average houses could be the size of their trailers, and possible the cost could be close to the same as well, as it is in other industrialized, civilized nations.
Turning into the neighborhood, we noticed a sign that said "Office" in the most prominent and nicest looking trailor on the corner. From there we saw various people out on the porches of their neat, multicolored trailers. There were some obvious retires - it would make sense to retire to a trailor so that you won't spend all your savings and pension checks on taxes, upkeep and so forth.
Then we noticed a sign on one of the streets- "10 MILES AN HOUR OR GET OUT!" We remarked to ourselves on what an unfriendly sign that was. Imagine seeing that day in and day out. We saw another sign on the road encircling the trailor park - DRUG FREE ZONE. As though they had to let the world know that there were NO drugs being done in this particular park, even though the reputation of trailor parks was that there ARE drugs there. Another eyesore to have to live around, a constant reminder of the negative attitudes put forth about trailor parks and the people who live there.
I remarked to my partner that the worst thing about living there would be the feeling of malaise, seeing as how the people living there seem to genuinely believe that they are in a "bad" or "inferior" place, or accept that at least somebody thinks this way to put such signs there. My partner remarked that the owner probably put them there. That the owner probably purchased the entire plot and a lot of the trailers, and it was his little fiefdom - he lived in the nicest trailor on the lot and ruled the place, put the signs there, and generally imprinted his negative attitude upon the place and the people living there.
The Tiny/Small House movement is mostly made up of intellectuals, philosophers, students and so forth, who have rejected "McMansion" culture and embraced books like "Walden", and more importantly, have recognized that the USA is affording them such little opportunity now that they need a backup system that WILL NOT FAIL NO MATTER WHAT - a home that is paid for. It's a different "crowd" than the trailer park crowd, one that regards itself not with a low self esteem but with a very high self esteem, of MORE worth than those in McMansions. They see the failing in the USA system, not themselves, most of whom have at least some college study or a degree, sometimes multiple degrees, and come from an intellectual background, yet have hardly any job prospects here. NO Tiny/Small Housers would tolerate someone treating them as though they were suspected of a crime (a flagrant NO DRUGS sign posted right outside their house) or a really rude sign (10 MILES AN HOUR OR GET OUT) glaring them in the face every day, or other forms of oppression.
I hope that the Trailer Park culture can pull out of their malaise and force the owners of their subdivisions to start treating them with respect. One day, maybe soon, ALL average houses could be the size of their trailers, and possible the cost could be close to the same as well, as it is in other industrialized, civilized nations.
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