I’m Not A Bad Neighbor

(I Just Play One On TV)

To the Editor:

If it weren’t for a news crew from ABC’s Good Morning America showing up on my front lawn on June 7, I would have ignorantly believed that I was lucky to own a home in a quiet, relatively carefree neighborhood.

GMA showed up asking my husband to justify the condition of our property for a feature they were doing on bad neighbors and poor property conditions lowering the value of other homes in the area.

We were shocked and offended at the accusations. We bought our house back in January. It was in need of total rehabilitation, but we were excited about its potential and the opportunity to live in Newtown. Since then, we’ve been putting nearly all of our free time, money, and energy into fixing the place up, only to get halfway through construction and have a national news crew appear on our lawn implying that we’re a disgrace.

We’re a young couple with a baby, working hard to start a life in struggling economy. We’re not out causing trouble, we’re not holding loud parties late at night, heck we haven’t even moved in yet and we’re a national model of bad neighbors? Ouch!

My outrage increased the next day when GMA aired their feature, titled, “Hate Thy Neighbor.” “Poor Adam and Amy Kennedy can’t sell their picture perfect house in Sandy Hook because they have nasty neighbors.”

GMA was polite enough to leave my house and my husband off their story at his request, but I was awestruck and furious to see our next door neighbors weren’t as lucky.

While we were hurt at them implying our house was an embarrassment, it does need work. Our neighbor’s house however, while not the biggest or the best house in town, is a cute little house that’s meticulously maintained, with a cute little lawn that is constantly cared for.

I couldn’t comprehend it. The same couple who’s been offering to loan us everything they own, and help us with anything we can think of, were being clouted as the epitome of bad neighbors, and labeled as one couple’s “worst fears?” What?!

Coincidentally, the story failed to mention that none of the homes or lawns featured were even on the same road as the Kennedys. While GMA did have their real estate “expert” on to say that the conditions of neighbors’ property could depreciate the value of other homes, they failed to mention one of the biggest determinants of property value… Location!

Mr Kennedy even went on to complain that “theirs are $300,000 homes, ours is a $600,000 home.”…and yet the $300,000 homes are decades older than his. Who builds a $600,000 house next $300,000 houses and then complains because they are not worth as much?

As for the bad neighbors in our little Sandy Hook neighborhood…while I have yet to move into it, all of them that I have met are awesome. Funny, the only neighbors that I have any reason to “hate” are the ones I found on TV.

Sincerely,

Jody Morris

19 Cricket Trail, Sandy Hook                                             July 1, 2008