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any of us will fondly recall growing up in our childhood home,
usually located in a suburban neighborhood. This may have
been your parents’ second home, the home they purchased
to start their new family. This was a nice neighborhood with quiet
streets on which you could play hockey or ride your bike. Your friends
from elementary school likely lived within walking distance. Maybe
there was a park nearby, but you would still have to jump in the car
and drive to the grocery store or cinema.
If you lived in Jersey City, Hoboken or the boroughs of New
York, your home was likely a midrise condominium or apartment
building, but it was still your neighborhood. You knew the people
living on your floor. You went to school with the other children
in the building. Your building or the block would have picnics
closing down the street. Your neighborhood had a certain feel
and energy that you still remember.
In my neighborhood, the parents set boundaries for the chil-
dren based upon the major streets that ran north and south of
us. All the lands, backyards and woods between those two
streets were fair game for our adventures. My best
friend lived in a two bedroom apartment build-
ing downtown. All the children in that
building played together after school
and I still remember racing down the
hallways and riding the elevators up
and down the floors.
But in cases above, those neigh-
borhoods have become fewer
and fewer over the last
three decades. Even
the sprawling neigh-
borhoods of the early
2000s are giving
way to super high-rise
condominiums and
self-contained commu-
nities. These changes,
The Changing Shape of
Our Neighborhoods
By Richard B. Linderman, Esq.,
Ansell Grimm & Aaron, PC
"...the sprawling
neighborhoods of the
early 2000s are giving
way to super high-rise
condominiums and self-
contained communities."