And, when you think of life, it's not as if people were darlings all the time and just during the brief period of puberty they turned into devils. Every age has its successful and controversial people, the young ones, the tots and teens might be only the most visible ones, since they couldn't care less for what norms society pushes on them.
Surprisingly, the younger group could read the signals in each situation consistently better than the teenagers. The conclusion being that the cocktail of hormones somehow interferes with a teenager's judgement of a situation and a person, which then contributes to the emotional outbursts and lack of social skills.
My occasional irritant is from the local stadium (across the river) in which the Lugano FC games are played. It'd be ok except for the drunken yobs at both ends of the field doing their mindless chanting.
The only thing that gets me in the summer is the teens with their mopeds/dirt bikes. It'd be ok if they had proper exhausts but they're already pieces o' shite and they've only made them more so by gutting said exhausts in a sad attempt to a) be noticed and/or b) go half a sloth faster than their friends. That and they all use my street to cut across from one side of river to another (using the foot bridge) rather than go around and use the road bridge. Meanwhile...the rest of us with proper bikes have to keep them quiet as church mice... (which is fine with me actually)
It sounds to me you want to have your cake and eat it too...When you had small kids you lived next to a park and were able to make use of it. Now your kids are grown and you don't want a park or playground built nearby. If your houses are sets of townhouses with 5 bedrooms, your main buying clientele will be families with young children, and the park will be a huge bonus point.
Maybe you can ask for ways they can make it less of an environmental impact - from the noise point of view. Big trees, fenced off, and like others have mentioned, a locked gate so it doesn't get abused at night. Hey, when we were teenagers it was much better to party in the woods to avoid the cops...but I guess here they are allowed to drink at those ages so they don't have to hide as much?
Of course, I have 3 small children, so I would love to have a park close-by - and I can understand your sentiment that you would rather not have one, but I think where you live is dominated by families. Just a question - do some of the families with children also not want the park nearby?
Not long after all those buildings were flattened and new homes built which I found very sad.
The documentary I was watching wasn't putting a negative slant on it; they were just showing the findings and going some way to explain why teenagers get such a bad rap.
14-17 year olds were the representative sample because the hormones are at their peak at this age and was also taking account of girls hitting this stage earlier than boys. Girls might possibly be coming out of it at 16-17, but boys? Nah.
I think the other issue is that they are suddenly armed with a lot of information and face "grown up" situations but don't have the emotional maturity, nor their hormones under control to react "appropriately".
Also, and in relation to this thread, I don't think there would be many middle aged adrenalin junkies hanging about on a kids' playground.
The area near the schools in the village since the Spring is a "Suchtmittelfreie Zone". This means that anyone using drugs, smoking , drinking alcohol or littering is subject to a fine of 100 chf. So the teenagers now congregate in the village centre where there are benches, and the garbage cans are overflowing the following morning with cans and bottles.
Will these teenagers take the time to walk to the proposed playground near our house? I really don't know but we would like to have it designated as a "Suchtmittelfreie Zone" which means it can be patrolled and fines issued.
The other day I was speaking to a mom of teenagers who lives in our village and she said she is very grateful her children are very involved in sports which not only keeps them busy but tires them out.
mimi1981, I should have been clearer. The main concern raised by those who have posted seems to be the potential problems caused by teenagers.
Our issue was mainly with noise. We have enough now. On the other side of our house there are 4 apartment buildings, with a lot of land and a playground, for the use by the tenants. The rest of the street includes houses and farms. Both houses across the road from us have gardens and trampolines and the noise from 7 kids can be unbearable. I know all their names because they yell them so much .
As I said, even with all our pets we are the quieter ones. We weren't looking for a quiet neighbourhood but I think we have the other extreme.
The deadline for anyone to file an objection is September 16th so we will see what happens after that.
Do you have an old mercury thermometer kicking around your house?
The do get teenagers hanging out every now and then and they had their garage wall tagged once or twice until they got it covered with ivy.
The best bonus for them as oldies is free light from the park - they can walk around at night without switching on a light on.
They love living next to the park and even rebuilt their dream house on the same plot.
I imagine he will be writing a letter. His land slopes and his house sits at the top, and he has discovered, noise travels up. He complained to me about the neighbours in the house on the other side of the playground who sit outside late at night in the summer and talk. They are a family of asylum seekers, they have been living here for about 2 years. My other neighbour found it very amusing and ironic that they also received a letter with the documents about the playground from the commune. But hey, they are direct neighbours, though I someohow doubt they will object.