Where do you park your car? Of course, in front of your house. What would your neighbors say if you parked in front of their house?<\/p>\n
How quickly do you shovel your sidewalk after it snows? Do you shovel your steps and the elderly lady\u2019s next door?<\/p>\n
If there is garbage on your street, do you pick it up, even if it\u2019s not yours, even if it\u2019s not in front of your house?<\/p>\n
Remember why the big fat Greek wedding family was embarrassing? Not because they cooked a lamb on a spit (though that\u2019s a little weird), but because they cooked it in the front yard. They broke the unwritten rule of suburbia, cookouts happen in the backyard!<\/p>\n
The appeal of suburbia is its rules. Early suburbs weeded out the rule breakers with money\u2014you had to have a chunk of cash and maybe even a car to make suburban living feasible. The rules got really strict in communities with convenants. \u201cSome of your best friends\u201d couldn\u2019t live next door. We laugh. We\u2019re sophisticated now, we would never tolerate such exclusive behavior in our communities in this enlightened era.<\/p>\n
But leave your garbage can at the curb all week and see what happens. Paint your house pink and you\u2019ll end up as a community curiosity, maybe even featured in the local newspaper.<\/p>\n
The rules of suburbia make it quiet, safe, and\u2014as confirmed in any piece of pop culture\u2014dull.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Picture21.jpg\" "\\"Picture2\\"")
<\/a>\nYou want to raise bees, keep a chicken, or hang your laundry to dry, forget about it. There is bound to be a law. But if you want to plug in a nine-foot high, inflatable plastic snow globe on your front lawn, no problem. You can buy it at Costco, it must be okay.<\/div>\n