Housing and Community Response

This chapter was interesting and packed with information. I have always wondered how all of the inner workings of local government organized housing and community. In terms of a reaction to this chapter, I have to say that I feel pretty overwhelmed by how much information was embedded in the writing. I guess in a way its nice to know that there are so many people and so much thought put into the issues of housing. Also, I definitely appreciate that if I was in a situation where I wanted to dispute something, there is actually an outlet for my voice to be heard. From my experience, the process of dealing with the local government to resolve an issue related to zoning and housing can be a tedious one.
Last summer, I was hired to do an architectural rendering for a homeowner in a historic district neighborhood. The homeowner had a small one level house with a small front porch that he wanted to enclose with a screened porch. Taking the proper steps, he and his builder contacted the city to get his permit. This put him in touch with a gentleman named Mike Cowhig with the city of Greensboro’s Historic District. Mike told the homeowner that he needed drawings of what the proposed porch would look like so he and the committee could give a thumbs up of down to the project. The city’s main concern was that the porch would be keeping in the look and style of the Historic District. Apparently, this tiny little porch was actually a really big deal because up till then, no one had ever been allowed to add a screened porch in the neighborhood. If the homeowner’s porch was approved, the city knew it would become the catalyst for multiple other people wanting to do the same things to their houses.
This is how I fit in the picture… The homeowner had already contacted an architect about the project, and the architect wanted a thousand dollars to do the drawing. Trying to avoid the high cost, the homeowner asked Mike at the City of Greensboro if he knew of a cheaper option. Mike contacted my Dad, who is an architect to see if he knew of any one who could do it for cheaper. My Dad suggested me since all they really needed was a rendering. Luckily for me I learned a lot in Suzanne’s drawing class last year, so I was up to the task. I had a meeting on the site with the homeowner, the builder, and two city representatives about how the project would look. After much deliberation between all parties involved, we all reached a decision on what would be done. Then I came up with the rendering which was turned in to the City of Greensboro. The drawing showed what was needed and the porch was approved. Honestly I felt bad for the homeowner who went through so much just to have a screened porch built!