Your census form

The census form for our summer home came before the letter at our permanent residence (tied to the door, not delivered by mail). Most of the owners at Lakeside won't see their form until late May, and it is due April 1. Even the people I know who do claim a permanent residence there are either in Florida or Arizona for 3 months. My husband was there last week-end, so he brought ours home and made an attempt at filling it out; it's impossible since there's no question to reveal that you don't live there. Just answering zero to how many people live there won't do it, folks. I think the same people who write the tax code, the health care bills, and the instructions for the can opener made in China also write the Census forms. My husband then tried the phone number but that was a frustration round robin of multiple choices, that brought him back to the original question. I realize no one has ever really been prosecuted for incorrectly filling out the Census, but now that we have the Chicago Mafia in charge of our census, I suppose that could change, especially if there's a way to gather some fees or pay a clutch of lawyers.

This reminds me of my 2009 $250 Social Security refund check. I don't get Social Security.

New roots in Vermont

The architectural article in today's WSJ is about a 3 generation Korean-American family (via Communist North Korea over 60 years ago) with a retreat reflecting Korean culture and Vermont practicality. They own quite a chunk of land and built the family compound for about $300 sq. ft. With 48' of glass in the 12' wide dining room, the children can play in the middle of winter without shoes as the room can heat up from the sun to 87 degrees. Our little manufactured porch, 6' wide, at Lakeside does that too--in the winter sun we can almost heat the entire house built in the early 1940s.

I grew up in northern Illinois and even in the 1940s and 1950s I saw many out-buildings of similar concept on farms. They were probably designed by a clever farm wife who helped support the family and send the kids to college with her butter and egg business. These buildings had steep pitches to drop the winter snow and clerestory windows for warmth and light, the nests for the chickens were framed high enough for manure droppings to fall to the floor (also helps with heat and composting), with easy access waist high to reach under biddy for her precious eggs.

Outsiders who come in to rural areas or the inner city or to vacation/leisure towns and set about to recreate a feeling, or to preserve the past, or to establish a name for design, need to realize that eventually, the locals will not be able to afford to live there. I've seen that myself at Lakeside, where my husband has beautified the town with about 35 projects, being the architect for a renovation, a total remodeling or completely new designs on empty lots. When an area is "improved" the property values around it go up, and then the taxes go up. The early sellers do quite well; those who wait or who want to stay there because of location (ice fishing, boating) or family (generations of quarry workers from east Europe) may be out of luck. We have home owners from across the nation coming there for a few weeks in the summer to stay in fabulous cottages--that would have never happened before the 1970s gasoline crisis when leisure spots closer to home began to look more desirable to Ohioans, and the idea spread. Water mains and gas lines were laid and roads improved, and real estate development boomed. I've seen many homes in Lakeside, Marblehead and Catawba leave a family after 3 or 4 generations because the heirs cannot afford to own it, so it is sold to wealthier families. And I've seen owners sell because although they haven't "preserved" or "renovated," the neighbors have and they can't afford the taxes and insurance on a home they only use a few weeks of the year.

Most noticeable is what happens to the urban poor, what happens when a city neighborhood is "improved" or as we say these days "gentrified?" When I drive through some of the wonderful neighborhoods of user friendly townhouses in downtown Chicago full of white and light brown yuppies, close to the parks, the lake, museums and shopping, I do wonder what happened to all those poor and black welfare families of razed Cabrini Green. Did they go on to be middle or upper class citizens, no longer dependent on the government for housing?

When we moved to Columbus in the 1960s, one of the first architectural tours we took was German Village, which had been a run-down slum, and was experiencing a new birth. It was so exciting to see--I still have the fading color photos we took. Tiny brick houses and duplexes that still looked quite traditional on the outside and were already being subjected to some fairly rigid codes, were light, airy and contemporary on the inside--never really reflecting the humble origins of the German working class that built them in the 19th century. That was 42 years ago, so I'm sure those kitchens I lusted for have been done over again, once or twice, and now maybe are being subjected to all sorts of green remodeling to conserve energy, fight radon or remove toxic materials installed just 20 or 30 years ago. So where did the poor go when the gay decorators and lawyer-doctor trendy couples moved in? Well, they moved further out, maybe rented or got a foreclosed house with help from the government and started that neighborhood on a downward slide with trucks up on blocks and broken windows covered with plywood.

Some may have ended up on the Hilltop, where in the past 10-20 years non-profit housing groups with government grants have been trying to "improve" the housing, fairly solid early 20th century 4-squares cut up into 4-plexes. If they succeed, they will push the poor further away from jobs and city services, which are being cut back anyway, strangled by new environmental codes and regulations and the housing meltdown created by our government's belief that everyone needed a piece of the real estate pie.

I don't have a solution; but every improvement, whether private or government, has consequences. The green ones more than most.

Lake Erie Living, first anniversary issue

Lakesiders! Pay attention. There's a beautiful article with great photos of the Drackett home on the lakefront. If you vacation there, you've walked past it many times and probably wondered what it looks like inside. There's also an inset on the lovely lilies you see along the shore in that area.

If your cottage or vacation spot is the Put-in-Bay area, you will enjoy the article on Rattlesnake Island, which is about 2 miles west. It is a private retreat and summer playround of 85 acres--but it is for a very exclusive group and it's tough to join this club.

On the newstand, Lake Erie Living is $3.95, and a year's subscription (6 issues + travel guide) is $17.95.

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Real estate in Lakeside

The WSJ on Thursday featured real estate vacation homes. The taxes were breath-taking. Supposedly these places were "kid-friendly," but you don't know what that means until you visit Lakeside, OH, a Chautauqua gated community with no alcohol sold on the grounds (i.e., no drunken sailors wandering the streets like some other Lake Erie hot spots). WSJ reports that sales of vacation homes rose 4.7% to a record 107 million in 2006. However, if it is convenience, accessibility, great entertainment, educational opportunities, supervised playgrounds, an arts center and family recreation and activities you're looking for, consider Lakeside.

It's not usually this peaceful--but it was before 6 a.m. and most of the kids were still asleep while parents slipped out for a cup of coffee

Isn't this little "doll house" sweet? But $209,000? That's California prices!

Two families selling their vacation homes. The 2-story is a new one designed to look like a 19th c. home. I walked around it--has some great features.

If you buy this one 3 blocks from the lake, you'll have terrific neighbors (red house) next door and also across the street.

Children under 10 get in free at Lakeside. Now that's kid-friendly.