My neighbor just painted his home a vibrant blue. The joke around the neighborhood is that the owner should hang up a giant sign saying: “It’s a boy”. Villas and apartment buildings should be a canvas of various designs; nevertheless there are some structures that are distasteful as well as offensive to others.
Abu Muhammad lives in the elite Hamra district. Eight villas have been built in the land right next to him. Each villa is three stories high, with a dozen windows overlooking Abu Muhammad’s whole house and swimming pool. The villas are cramped together duplex style. To add insult to injury, the houses are all a ghastly dark deep red.
Abu Muhammad is at a loss. He has to spend a whopping SR30,000 just to put up aluminum screens along the walls of his land, enclosing his home like a box, just to give him back his privacy. This will ultimately spoil the beauty of his home and garden.
One must respect the tastes and choices of others. Nevertheless, you have to draw the line somewhere. All over Jeddah, housing projects and shopping malls are being erected faster than you can say municipality. Occupants should have the right to choose the designs and plans of their homes. Yet there should be respect for the rights of their neighbors as well. Privacy should not be invaded.
Abdur Rahman is an owner of an apartment building in Jeddah. He has been living overseas for the past five years. Before he left, he asked a friend to take over the management of his building. But the residents are out of control. They park their cars wherever they please, especially in front of other people’s houses. They have set up a basketball hoop on the sidewalk and play in the middle of the street. Bachelors have moved in, defying the families-only policy. There is no one to address these complaints to because the friend is nowhere to be found.
Another neighborly complaint is noise. A Saudi couple who are both doctors were very happy when they moved into their new house. The only problem is that they both hold very demanding jobs and never seem to get a good night’s sleep. Their neighbors stay up till dawn and turn their television on full blast. They also give parties every weekend and crowd the area with cars.
What about private schools in the middle of residential areas? Residents can forget about reaching or leaving their homes at times when school is let out.
It would be nice if every district had a committee that could deal with these disputes. A group of neighbors would volunteer to handle matters as a group, and that way no one would be alienated or annoyed. This committee could also follow up on utility and construction problems. It could oversee complaints and suggestions, because many neighbors will not file official complaints for fear of not being “neighborly”.
Every day as I leave or enter my home, I am blinded by the flamboyant house next to us — a house whose occupants are very nice people but are oblivious to the upset they have caused.
The only advantage is that when I am giving directions to people, I just tell them that I am next to the big blue house. They never miss it.
(Hadeel Shaikh is a poet, freelance writer and an advocate of children’s rights. She is based in Jeddah.)