In Defense of Chain Link Fences?

What's great about getting older is that there is a never-ending supply of social developments to complain about. Keeps the mind active and dementia at bay. My current thing is white picket fences that are plastic. People will literally renovate a million dollar house and then put a plastic fence around it to save a thousand bucks or something. It makes no sense. It's like putting a Picasso in a bad frame. What's interesting to me; however, is the way it's caused me to reconsider a previous pet peeve: chain link fences.

When we moved to Somerville, I was so appalled by the proliferation of chain link that I took to rating them on a scale of most offensive to least offensive. Here's how that went.

Most offensive are the rusted ones. No surprise.

Next, however, are the new, shiny ones. You would think new would be good, but when it comes to chain link fences, new and shiny makes the property look a prison.

Next, are the ones that are painted either black or dark green.

Best, are the ones that have shrubs obscuring them.

Here's the thing. What unadorned chain link fences have that plastic white picket fences don't have, is what the modernist architects called "integrity of materials." If your building is made of concrete, embrace that and let people see that it's concrete. Look, the fake picket fences aren't fooling anyone. You can see that they have no surface texture, and you can just feel the fact that they are hollow. As Tom Papa says: Stop. Just stop.

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