Pound Ridge info (New York, Bedford, Scarsdale: transplants, apartments, transporting)

[kletter1mann]

The following was for submission to the UrbanDictionary.com, which has helpful and entertaining profiles for many Westchester and Connecticut towns. While possibly a bit over-the-top in style, the claims are grounded in fact. Unfortunately it was rejected. Perhaps readers here will find it useful.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Pound Ridge, NY

Pound Ridge, NY is a fabulously wealthy, rural, NYC suburb roughly 40 miles from midtown. Often associated with Greenwich, Bedford, Scarsdale, Chappaqua, New Canaan and other so-called enclaves of privilege, power and affluence, Pound Ridge is truly in a class of its own. The factors separating Pound Ridge from such lesser, though superficially similar, communities follow.

Geography and Housing:
Spread over 23 square miles, Pound Ridge is rugged hills, rocky outcroppings, ancient stone walls and winding roads. With a population of only 4700, the population density is only 207 people per sq./mi. Scarsdale and Greenwich, overcrowded and overrun by comparison, have population densities of 2686 and 1300 respectively. Pound Ridge has no apartments or condos whatever, not a single traffic light and only 2 sidewalks. With low end properties starting at 2 acres and $1 mio, everyone is either rich or richer. The closest thing you’ll find to an apartment is a restored 18th century barn converted into a guest house. Indeed, virtually all Pound Ridge properties have a guest house of some sort. Fully 1/3 of Pound Ridge properties are weekend homes to New Yorkers seeking to avoid the rat race in The Hamptons and the mobs on MV and Nantucket. Housing stock in Pound Ridge is comprised entirely of 2 styles. The first is “New England charm,” usually a sprawling compound with barns, outbuildings, greenhouse, pond and paddock. Such homes are often the result of transporting 4 or 5 New England farmhouses &/or barns and grafting them together. The second is the all glass and steel über-contemporary. This style invariably has an extensive underground garage and other facilities reaching at least 3 stories below the surface to store the art collection, private server farm or indulge other interests. Imagine a lunar base or HQ of a James Bond villain. All Pound Ridge properties have emergency generators, most are capable of running for 2 months off the grid. Because of the large property size residents can’t hear, or even see, their neighbors. Privacy is therefore total. Pound Ridge completely lacks the gaudy, ostentatious, mega-mansions of the Connecticut towns and Bedford (much less Armonk, where the neo-guido Italianate style is as pathetic as the nouveau riche Albanians living there). These faux chateaus are intended to be seen, reflecting their owners insecurity and lack of sophistication. Pound Ridgers are far more self assured.

Inhabitants:
Pound Ridge residents are blessed with both extraordinary intelligence and talent, and these are invariably the source of their wealth. Pound Ridge is not on a train line to NYC, so residents tend to be untethered to occupations requiring a daily commute. In superficially similar commuter towns (Greenwich, Scarsdale, New Canaan, Bedford, etc.) the breadwinner commutes to NYC. Hence the money is either plundered from the middle classes by the criminal enterprise collectively referred to as “Wall Street” or paid as fees to the parasitical industries feeding off Wall Street (lawyers, plastic surgeons, psychiatrists, etc.). In contrast, Pound Ridge is populated by high IQ, technical or creative types. These include doctors with medical implants named after them, software geniuses that collect a $1 royalty for every PC sold cause of 2 lines of code they licensed to Microsoft and media/show biz types seeking absolute privacy. “Business consultants” are also well represented. The specific nature of their practices are certainly sinister since they invariably involve some combination of technology, finance and unexplained international travel. The net result is a complete absence of guidos and other lowlifes. In fact, the only minorities to be found are either celebrities or exiled third world leaders. The latter are considered to be excellent neighbors since they value privacy over all else and so actively avoid all contact with the outside world (ncluding gov't officials).

Local Culture:
Pound Ridgers are by nature possessed of an ecclectic combination of quiet self confidence, practicality and modesty in grooming and dress. The pace is far slower and more relaxed than the almost frantic neighboring towns. Pound Ridge parents casually chat in the local market wearing jeans and flip-flops about the summer at a Tuscan villa or plans to summit Denali. Unlike their counterparts in Greenwich or New Canaan, Pound Ridge kids are not uniformly preppy. Feeling no need to conform, they simply wear whatever they want. Handmade $260 leather flip flops are popular. Nobody brags about them, they’re just more comfortable than Reefs. Pound Ridger families sensibly own at least 4 or 5 cars, and use each only for its intended purpose. The BMW M5 is for the trip down I-684 to NYC, for example, while the Suburban is for ferrying the kids and their pals around. The 1970 280SEC ragtop is reserved for summer cruising. Scarsdale moms, by way of contrast, frantically attempt to elevate themselves over local guidette transplants from the Bronx or Long Island by racing their CL600 to the tennis club, whining about how the trunk is too small and screeching about their $50,000 Bat Mitzvah plans. Only in Pound Ridge does the town barber own a collection of exotic Italian cars and cheerfully dispense investment advice.

Recreation:
Opportunities for outdoor recreation in Pond Ridge abound, with numerous preserves, parks, and sanctuaries. Cross country skiing, hiking, parkour, cycling, rock climbing, skeet shooting, riding, and hobby farming are all popular. Private ATV courses are also common. Apart from a golf course, the town park facilities exceed those of most private country clubs. Not satisfied with that, the town recently voted to construct a $4.5 million recreation center. Pound Ridge kids are prized by their Fox Lane High School classmates for epic parties. Though not widely known, these parties are vastly wilder, larger and more excessive than other infamous Westchester and Connecticut party towns. Amazingly, Pound Ridge teenage excesses generally stay under the radar of police, neighbors and newspapers because of the distance between houses. This privacy allows as many as 1000 high school and college revelers to exhaust themselves in weekend-long binges of drinking, smoking, f#@$ing and puking without drawing any attention whatever. Summer parties can go on literally for weeks, since the ‘rents are usually off doing something exotic. Helicopter landing to/from NYC or "The Islands" are frequent and pass without notice. On Monday the cleanup crew comes in to tidy everything up. On the very rare occasions that police do arrive everyone just scatters into the woods. The revelling resumes after the heat cools. Sadly this era may be drawing to a close, as local police have equipped themselves with MIL-spec night vision goggles to pursue youthful miscreants as if they were illegal immigrants.

[Viralmd]

A BIT over the top? That's a gross understatement.

[bmwguydc]

Originally Posted by kletter1mann

The 1970 280SEC ragtop is reserved for summer cruising.

Perhaps the factual inaccuracies were causing a problem? Mercedes did not make a 280SEC convertible. It was a 280SL (W113) roadster or a 280SE 3.5 (W111) four seat convertible in 1970. The SEC designation in Mercedes was traditionally reserved for coupes, not convertibles, though some aftermarket coach builders did convert the large body coupes into convertibles to make up for the deficit in the Mercedes line up, such as the 560SEC from the late 80s/early90s.

Other than that, I really cannot imagine why they would not have accepted that to be an accurate portrayal of the area.

[Viralmd]

I wouldn't say it's 'fabulously wealthy' either. A huge exaggeration. There are many areas JUST as wealthy in Westchester (and beyond).

[hsw]

Stereotypes are often amusing...reveal much about insecurities and poor data/obsvn skills of proponents, as well as targets

Most who know quirks of many of wealthy in NYC region realize some may favor residing in places like Upper East Side or Greenwich....and mysteriously avoid many other parts of region....but many of wealthy are divergent in preferences/backgrounds....and many dislike each other and have strongly negative views re: many allegedly wealthy parts of NYC region and types of characters who favor certain suburbs/areas; and many are irreverent guys who openly mock the weaknesses in QOL of any part of NYC region (or any region), no matter money...can't take any of this stuff too seriously...every place on planet is mockable

The politics/petty inferiority-superiority issues btwn those of various industries; new vs old money; smart vs dumb money; billionaires vs non-billionaires; WASP vs Jew, etc etc is, if nothing else, a reminder that humans will be humans, no matter alleged socio-economic status

BTW, bmwguy, impressive knowledge re: MB models Often observed that Manhattan is town where many of wealthiest, smartest guys on planet are driven around in blk, scuffed-up S550s....and in SiliconValley, many of similar crowd (both tech and financial) tend to drive self to office in some new, silver or blk S65 or other big AMG...amusing cultural differences among similar crowd of low-profile guys (admired/feared by guys in those industries but unknown to general public)....differences of a car culture in two enormously wealthy regions where both prefer a low-profile, but CA tends to have more guys who actually enjoy driving...and weather, topography and fast fwys make AMGs more daily-enjoyable than in NYC region

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by bmwguydc

Perhaps the factual inaccuracies were causing a problem? Mercedes did not make a 280SEC convertible. It was a 280SL (W113) roadster or a 280SE 3.5 (W111) four seat convertible in 1970. The SEC designation in Mercedes was traditionally reserved for coupes, not convertibles, though some aftermarket coach builders did convert the large body coupes into convertibles to make up for the deficit in the Mercedes line up, such as the 560SEC from the late 80s/early90s.

Other than that, I really cannot imagine why they would not have accepted that to be an accurate portrayal of the area.

You're right, it was the 280SE cab I referred to and it should have been 1969. Here's a picture of the body style

In any case, they abound in Pound Ridge, South Salem and environs. Oddly, Urban dictionary has approved far less accurate descriptions of other towns.

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by bmwguydc

Perhaps the factual inaccuracies were causing a problem? Mercedes did not make a 280SEC convertible. It was a 280SL (W113) roadster or a 280SE 3.5 (W111) four seat convertible in 1970. The SEC designation in Mercedes was traditionally reserved for coupes, not convertibles, though some aftermarket coach builders did convert the large body coupes into convertibles to make up for the deficit in the Mercedes line up, such as the 560SEC from the late 80s/early90s.

Other than that, I really cannot imagine why they would not have accepted that to be an accurate portrayal of the area.

You're right, it was the 280SE cabriolet I referred to and it should have been 1969.
In any case, they abound in Pound Ridge, South Salem and environs along with their coupe cousins. Oddly, Urban dictionary has approved far less accurate descriptions of other towns.

[MomOfToo]

Guido's and other low lives??? A bit ignorant if you ask me. Maybe that is why it was rejected.