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Sunday, October 4, 2009

Westsong Condominiums

Although I ride past these condominiums almost every day I tend to ignore them when it comes to taking pictures. For me there is something wrong with this area. The location is sublime, the buildings are beautifully finished and maintained but the neighbourhood is dead. It's a little like walking around in a graveyard. Perhaps this is because there are a lot of absentee owners and that there are no children. There are also no stores, post offices, shopping centers, playgrounds and most of the time, not very many people.

6 comments:

Dave Harris said...

It does look particularly quiet! I've often wondered about busking along the walkway but it doesn't look like it would be worthwhile. Odd, being so close to town, it would seemingly be busier!

Paulo Camacho said...

This must be a nice place to live.
I like very much these photos and the others. Your blog ist amazing. I will follow it.
I have one photo blog too. It's different, in a city named Funchal on a small island in Atlantic ocean.
If you wont see it you can jump a few seconds
funchaldailyphoto.blogspot.com
Regards,
Paulo Camacho

Dean Lewis said...

Agreed, there is something very wrong there.
Has to be poor planning.
What else?
If not, it is a deliberate move to avoid making this particular neighbourhood too 'people-friendly' because of the associated affects on 'peace and quiet' perhaps for the residents.
The sterile results speak for themselves, and are troubling.
Hardly 'warm' and hardly something to be proud of, despite the 'nice' aesthetics.
Only real estate/property developers could ignore this.

Stefan Jansson said...

That's a bit sad. That the planners got it wrong. The place needs a few small coffee places down by the water for a start. And a few places for the kids to play.

Kcalpesh said...

Spectacular! Leaves me stunned! These are amazing shots!

- Pixellicious Photos

Benjamin Madison said...

Dave it's always pretty quiet - a few people walking their dogs or jogging but that's about it between Songhees Point and Spinnakers. From there to Westbay it's pretty quiet too but because it passes through a more mixed residential/condo area it seems to have more people walking around.

Paulo, thanks for your comment. The structures are very nice but my concern is the lack of community in this area. For me, part of the beauty of a place to live lies in the relationships between neighbours, many of which are developed by social contacts in areas like corner grocery stores, churches, playgrounds, parks, coffee shops, etc. When a neighbourhood is completely devoid of these it seems dead.

Dean, agreed.

Steffe, you're right except there are no kids.

Thanks KC.