My husband and I moved to Bowling Green upon his hire at the University. For years, we rented a low-quality apartment. The 30-year-old carpet was home to carpet beetles, cockroaches by another name. They persisted despite intensive cleaning and claims that the apartment was professionally scrubbed before move-in. We overlooked several shades of white on the walls, never repainted between tenants.
The smell of neighbors’ cooking was one thing — odors of feces harder to tolerate. We lived with this for seven years, saving for a down payment on a home.
Finally, we were lucky to have a friend planning to sell her house. It was close to downtown but also nestled in a neighborhood. We wanted to live in a residential zone and purchased our home under that pretense. Now, the proposed zoning changes feel like an attack on the lower middle class, those of us who have just enough to afford a house but not enough to buy in communities further from downtown.
Why are these changes imposed on our neighborhood and not others? It seems like the goal is to promote substandard rentals, preventing young people from building wealth by buying property.
With the rental community in Bowling Green exceeding 60 percent, why does the city have so little interest in improving current properties? I often hear “rentals are just for the college kids,” as if young people don’t matter. This entirely overlooks the fact that not every renter in Bowling Green is a student.
PR proposals are an insult to this community. They don’t build on the assets Bowling Green already has. When my husband and I purchased, we talked about improvements —re-siding our house, changing the colors, rebuilding the garage. But if zoning changes are approved, we see little point to that.
Our first home, that we love and were proud to be able to buy, will feel as temporary as that apartment. If someone can turn any house on our block into a townhouse or duplex, the neighborhood we invested in will no longer be a sustainable asset.
If rezoning passes, specifically targeting affordable homes, we will follow many of our young colleagues and move away, maybe to Toledo. Affordable properties are already difficult for first time buyers to attain in Bowling Green, rezoning without adequate restrictions may make it impossible for young people to call BG home.
Please keep residential zoning for our neighborhoods.
Chris Humble
Bowling Green
