Sometimes we don’t think of “Quality of Life” issues until, a close friend, family member or we are diagnosed with a serious illness, our pets are suffering from old age, we are getting divorced or suffering a financial hardship. Some of us deal with these things as speed bumps in life and others are devastated and feel like they just hit a brick wall.
Other times when things seem to be floating along seamlessly “Quality of Life” takes on a different meaning. I know we are all told don’t sweat the small stuff, but sometimes it is the smaller things that bother us, like litter on the streets and in parking lots where we live, a neighbor’s neglect of their home or yard, a pot hole you hit year after year, cigarette butts hurled from the balconies of the multi-story apartment buildings, cars parked the wrong way on a street or on the front lawns, dogs on leashes defecating along side streets, commercial vehicles parked in yards, storefronts with merchandise piled 4 feet high and broken signs, absentee landlords with dilapidated overcrowded houses, menacing dogs roaming neighborhoods, massive ponds of water that cover half the street you may live on, the smell of a sewer plant, the noise of music, cars and motorcycles racing up and down avenues, police lights flashing in your windows at 3 am in the morning as they chase someone who didn’t stop for a stop sign that is full of graffiti, wood stacked in front yards and scrap metal in the back, and no place to dock your boat. I am sure we all could add to this list.
Some will say, that if these things bother you move, or that you are old and crotchety, or have nothing better to do. But the fact of the matter is, maybe you are just a little more aware of your surroundings and you try to comprehend why human nature is the way it is. Young and old talk about the “Quality of Life” in the Village and it doesn’t always revolve around money. Just because it may generate income for the Village coffers doesn’t mean it generates a better “Quality of Life”. I have heard people say we don’t live in X, we live in Patchogue as if because we live in Patchogue we are supposed to accept less than a wealthier geographic area. Throughout the years there have been studies done and we have compared ourselves to other Villages, Towns and Cities, looking to them for answers to our problems. It is up to the Residents to fix the problems and be persistent in bringing them to the attention of our local officials. They can’t fix things they don’t know about. Please make your comments here and they will be brought to the attention of the appropriate people. See Something Say Something, NuVillage Civic
