This is my post for #freewriters 2483 prompt neglected suburb hosted by @mariannewest
A couple of days ago my husband noticed a small hermit crab in the baitwell of his boat. Since he is not going back trout fishing he decided he would take it to the Roseland community dock and release it. He came back home with it because he said the water looked too fresh for it to survive in, they are a saltwater crab. He put it back in his baitwell and gave it a small piece of squid to eat. He was on his bicycle and said he would have taken it to the river to let go but realized there was no longer any place along the river to get to the water, there was either a house there or a posted sign. For someone who grew up here and who could get to the river any place he wanted, this hit him, hard. The only places we can get to the river is a boat ramp or our friend's dock 5 miles from our home. They call this progress.
Today he thought about the piece of land that is at the end of Roseland Road, he thought it had to be county property, he put the hermit crab in the basket of his bike and went there to find POSTED signs at the end of the road. Not wanting to bring the little guy back home, he headed south looking for a spot where he could let it go. When he got past the old crab house that Arlo Guthrie bought and remodeled he saw a small area where he could get to the river, there was not a posted sign. He parked his bike and walked to the edge of the water and let him go.
With all of the development along the river, this remains a neglected suburb, it is only two miles south of town and was started 25 years ago and still sits like this, my husband thinks that they might need to tear them down, he says the concrete might not be any good for homes after being exposed to the weather for this long. I wish I knew the story of them. No one can get to them from the road, it was to be a gated community and they do have them gated.
I wish they would bulldoze them down and let nature take back her land, it is bad enough to go down the river looking at all of the houses and then you come to these eyesores.
photos are mine
Edited I found this article about the neglected condos
https://abandonedfl.com/the-river-preserve/#google_vignette