When the bus shelter idea became the biggest vote-getter at the Horizons Study Circle group, the first negative comment I heard was that “no one is going to want an ugly bus shelter in their front yard.”
So the bus shelter committee is trying to change that thinking by showing how an installation can be an asset to the neighborhood. The City Repair Project (http://www.cityrepair.org/wiki.php) has many great stories that should inspire you to want a community structure in your neighborhood. In residential intersections, they build structures that include gardens, flower pots, artworks, a tea station (for free hot drinks), and a kids clubhouse to play games, read a magazine, play with a doll house and other toys. They also have neighborhood poetry garden with poetry books and a book where you can write poetry yourself, an information station: blackboard, bulletin boards, beehive newspaper box, produce station (take and leave fruit and vegetables from local trees, gardens… or bring a present) that was transformed into a recycle/distribution center, neighborhood library
The leader of the City Repair Project calls their community structures “the intersection of community health,” backed up by a study that found the people in a two-block area experienced mental and physical health benefits just from the City Repair Project intersections being built in their neighborhood. They have found the intersections get more eyes on the street, get people talking to each other, and make streets safer and cleaner.
So if you ever hear anyone saying they don’t want “one of those things” on their street, tell them that the way we want to do it would actually improve their neighborhood.