What does it mean to say a city is unfriendly?
I suggest the following: If we were to take the question seriously, it would, in part, be a matter of comparison. If you find some way to decide a city is/is not friendly, then the judgment is comparative.
If I say El Paso is unfriendly, I am comparing it to other cities. Now, the truth is that my judgment depends more upon the infrastructure of the city and its basic physical set-up. That alone suffices to make the city an unpleasant place to be. Too many hours inevitably spent in vehicles in a competitive relationship to other human beings who are inevitably invisible (black tinted glass is unfriendly) in and of itself makes a city unfriendly, no matter what else happens.
In my own case, one background assumption is that using public transport is less irritating than driving a personally steered monstrosity of climate destruction. Driving is unfriendly. (No matter government officials say.....)
A city which makes no real effort to encourage pedestrians or bicycles (and I think that describes El Paso) is unfriendly.
A city where people drive very close (unsafely so) on the (so called) "freeways" is not friendly.
A city where the road signs are unhelpful is not friendly. (If you have to drive a road three
times before you can drive with the confidence that you won't take a wrong turn, then driving
is not friendly....)
A city whose every road is full of bumps and cracks is unfriendly. (There's only one exception to this: the recently paved parking lot of a nearby bank ........Now, that tells you something about what this society is really about.....)
A city where drivers flip off pedestrians (just for the hell of it) is unfriendly.
A city where anyone who is " naked" after dark....(Oh yes"naked" here means walking
without a car nearby.....) is suspicious and will be watched by the police is unfriendly.....(All normal citizens do not appear in public without a vehicle.---or, more simply: A respectable individual always appears in public with his or her vehicle. Persons without a vehicle are automatically suspicious.)
ETC.
So, yes, in sum, I stick by my original assessment. El Paso is unfriendly, and I shall be very happy to leave it.......
Are there individuals who, on occasion, smile and exhibit helpful behavior? Of course, occasionally
there are. But one swallow does not make a summer day, and one isolated bit of friendliness does not suffice to make a city friendly.......
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I have been living here in El Paso for eight years now. I am a native of another country (not Mexico).
ReplyDeleteI am struck by the similarity of our perceptions of this city. I have been stopped by police several times for the direly sinister practice of walking in my neighborhood after sunset. I constantly note the indignant and accusatory barking of dogs (mainly pit bulls) as I walk down residential streets. I have been eyed suspiciously many times because I do not conform to the El Paso male stereotype of shaven head, fat stomach and athletic wear.
Every visit I make to an El Paso restaurant, no matter how high quality the establishment is supposed to be, is ruined by a visit to the reeking, miasmatic restroom. I miss bookstores, I miss museums that do not look like haphazard displays of someone's grandparents' antiques.
It is good to learn that I am not alone in these feelings.