What Goes Around . . .

Mary Korber, who lives in one of the larger new houses in Harbour Green, answered her door the other day with a phone at her ear. A furniture store had failed to deliver one piece of new den furniture. Her house, on a raised foundation, has two stories, five bedrooms and a total 6,200 feet of space on a lot that once held a modest three-bedroom ranch.

“I have mixed feelings,” Ms. Korber said, a hand resting on the head of one of her four children, Collin, 5. “We moved here because we loved the charm of the neighborhood. I know people think our house is too big, but we thought it fit in. On the other hand, the land here is very expensive, and people who come here are not first-time homebuyers. They want a little more room. They have a lot of stuff.”

Her phone rang a lot: The furniture store calling back. A brother who lives in a house nearby. A friend down the street.

“But I have to tell you, that house where they were taking down that tree the other day,” she said. As it turned out, she had driven by at the same time that Mr. Kobs was watching the removal of the cedar tree at Bay Drive and Nassau Street.

“That was one of my favorite houses,” she said. “It was horrible when they knocked that down.”

New York Times 04/23/07:
Views Clash Among Neighbors as Builders Destroy Old for New