Reconstructing the Past

He stopped by a property under construction where he engaged in no illegal activity and remained for only a brief period.” [More]

This is one of my problems with this and another reason I haven't jumped on a bandwagon. When I was a child the tract we lived in was just starting to be developed-- our road wasn't even paved yet and ours was the first one on our end of it. Over the next few years, dozens of houses were built, and most sites weren't fenced off because people who lived there weren't the types to steal building materials or to sue over their children getting hurt while exploring -- which we regularly did.  One neighbor kid was a hero of sorts because he could jump from the top of a dirt pile all the way into the basement excavation, something I never dared try.

We just used to be fascinated walking through and playing in the structures as they went up and were developed and finished. I can still recall the smell of wood, of poured concrete... And somebody yelling at us to get out of there because we might get hurt was a rarity.

Nowadays, such construction is typically behind a chain-link fence that is locked at the end of the workday, so any unauthorized presence is clearly an act of trespassing. I confess if I saw a site being built today that was not fenced off, I'd be tempted to go in and look around, albeit I'd make sure to be obvious to minimize the impression that I was sneaking.

Has anyone seen any reports on whether the site was fenced off?

[Via bondmen]