In 2005, when I was working for another White Rock area publication, seemed all I ever reported on was neighborhoods feuding over McMansions.
The issue hit the southwest-ish sides of the lake hard; it didn’t so much impact the Lake Highlands area, where only a handful of families tore down and rebuilt supersized homes.
I mean, the teardown and rebuilding of ginormous homes on relatively small lots and the attempts to regulate such things was so contentious in some East Dallas communities that neighbors stopped speaking to each other. One couple even started a website called OutwithSheffie.com aimed at ousting the city councilman who voted down neighborhood zoning restrictions. It was ugly — not just the houses, but also the atmosphere.
During that era I always wondered what psychological factors fueled the anger. Sometimes I think it might have been the guy in the little house feeling jealous of the guy in 5,000 sq. feet next door. As pointed out in this 2005 episode of 60 Minutes “Living Large”, “The Joneses, that mythic family America vainly tries to keep up with, are setting an impossible standard.” To illustrate, the show features a little girl’s bathroom that is the size of “two Manhattan studio apartments”.
The aforementioned episode replayed last night and I found interesting the update at the end: The economic recession has brought much of this bigger-and-bigger building to a halt, says the anchor, and the McMansion trend is succumbing to a new trend — smaller smarter homes.
