They built it; they came

Future Street of Dreams pre-2014

Skeeter and I have been watching the construction of the Street of Dreams  (SOD) for nearly a year*.  It became a regular scoot route and I was able to document the transition with my trusty iPhone.  I'm guessing the SOD organizers consider 'the hood' residents to be major pains, but they needed to deal with us.  All in all, we were pretty reasonable and they were fairly responsive to our concerns.

The streets were terrible when construction began.  As the property morphed into the Highlands of Lake Oswego, we got better paved streets, improved street signs, and more sidewalk.  It's actually easier for me and Skeeter to ride along the road, even though there wasn't room for a wider street.  Current hood residents are getting used to sharing the road with a lady on a motorized scooter.  When the new homeowners move in, bringing more traffic, Skeeter and I will orient them by haunting the Highlands.

Highlands of Lake Oswego

Like many cities, the Street of Dreams Event hosts a month-long tour of newly built and thoroughly decorated homes.  Being that our street is only a block away from the tour, we were concerned about unauthorized parking on the upper part of our street. No one would be desperate enough to park toward the bottom and then hike uphill for a quarter mile. The organizers had arranged for remote parking, shuttle buses, security and installed 'No Event Parking' signs on our property.  Bottom line–no unauthorized parking happened.

Last minute congestion

The last week before any major event is crazy busy and this was no exception. Contractors, designers, and vendors all vied for any available place to park their trucks (legal or not).  I was a little irritated when one truck obstructed the handicapped street access requiring Skeeter and I to go around.  Whenever I felt my Elphaba nature coming on***, I had to remind myself that the last minute traffic was nothing compared to some of the obstructions we had encountered.  Mostly, I was just glad the week before the SOD opened was someone else's headache.

The neighborhood was invited gratis to the Street of Dreams Event and Opening Barbeque.  It was a nice gesture and I'm sure part of the 'Keep the Natives Happy' strategy.  I can't speak for all the residents, but Earl and I can be bought so we went.  Skeeter and I had been going up the roads in the Highlands all during construction.  I wasn't concerned about navigation.  But, how do you enjoy the home interiors on a scooter?  Earl and I had experienced the advantageous uses of technology on our roadtrip***.  I stayed outside on the one level street.  Earl Facetimed me on his phone from the multilevel interiors.  Not ideal, but not bad and better than staying home.

The trend this year was outdoor living.  That is an ongoing fantasy of mine, given that we spend so much time outdoors (in the summer months).  Complete outdoor kitchens right next to the indoor kitchen? Outside gym area and a big screen TV outside was a little over the top.  I wanted to remind the designers that this is Oregon, not Arizona.  But that seemed a bit too snarky and besides, no one asked.

The lesson: Thanks to Skeeter and technology, new neighborhoods and multilevel homes aren't a deterrent and can't keep us out.


*Previous post: If you build it, they will come, paragraph 5
**Previous post: Pity Party––Underrated??
***Previous post: The Road Trip: Part 1 of 5, paragraph 11