Living On Main Street
I live on a busy, main arterial street in Philadelphia.
I chose the location mostly due to this; I wanted cheap, accessible, and affordable. What sealed the deal for me was the fact that across the street is a huge graveyard, which thankfully attracts no parking, but offers a pleasant year-round green view from my porch. However, as with any 'Main Street' that runs through any town, it tends to collect fly-by-night businesses, endless traffic, restricted parking, and a bottomless chasm of trash. However, none of it stays long...
'Main Street' Benefits:
- Quick Access to Highways
Some direct and close (within blocks), others slightly off the beaten path and offer a respite from sitting in traffic on major highways. Arterial roads like mine are designed this way. Ensuring that Highway is also light on traffic and flowing is another issue altogether... - Block Recognition
Philadelphia's grid design helps here, but major arterial roads tends to cross major parts of the city, and are recognized by many as landmark roads. I don't have to tell someone twice where my neighborhood is. - Free Street Cleaning
The city runs their massive street cleaners down my block (both sides) once a week for 9 months of the year, and it certainly helps keep the endless litter down, and forces all the cars to move off the block once a week (less abandoned vehicles). The PPA is quite diligent about ticketing and snags a couple scofflaws every week. - Property Values
Mostly due to the first two benefits listed above, there's also a higher chance of being seen by drive-by traffic (No one likes driving more than 15 minutes off the highway to get home.) Alas, with the massive land-use tax-cheat permanently entrenched across the street, we're missing out on real neighborhood benefits of our tax dollars due to the tax-free status that religious groups somehow still enjoy.
'Main Street' Takeaways:
- Traffic
Especially rush-hour traffic (morning and night), and the resulting block-long line of backed up traffic due to poorly planned turning signals from one arterial road to another. I don't even bother moving my car during these hours, as other frustrated traffic is unwilling to let you in or out. - Loud Cars
Cars are normally just loud (engine, wheel/road noise), but there's a special type of asshat that likes to skulk my busy street: They have loud (or non-existent) exhaust systems and very poor taste in music, which is being loudly broadcast for blocks via open windows. Every one of these douche knuckles also likes to use their car stereo for speakerphone conversations best not shared with an audience. - Emergency Vehicles
Sirens a-blazing at all hours, both Ambulances and Fire Trucks race down my street always on the way to somewhere else. While I appreciate their service, I hate their routine predictability. - Exhaust Dust
All that traffic results in a black grainy film of exhaust fume dust all over everything on the front of my house. My backyard has not a speck of this, as it tends to be so heavy it falls within 30 feet of the road. I noted this very issue when I lived on a 'Main Street' in center city Philadelphia, and find it has followed me here. - Higher chance of DUI accidents
Coming off that traffic problem means higher volume, and therefore higher volume of lawbreaking asshats. In my poor neighborhood, they rarely have insurance, so property damage is basically a cost eaten by the homeowner, and we're obligated to have higher homeowners insurance premiums because of it.
I'll possibly touch back on this piece and add more positives and negatives as I recall them, but I wanted to get my initial ideas down and proofread first. Thanks for reading!