I am collecting stories of great neighbourhoods, and what they do to be great.
For an example, I love my neighbourhood: it seems like everybody is happy to talk to each other, there are no rotten kids, and the adults are all pretty cool.
Several times each summer, we all gather in the local park. Someone brings a projector, someone else brings a screen, or a boombox, or a DVD player, or a bunch of drinks and popcorn, and 120 people will sit down together to watch a movie. It’s something that I value immensely.
Another thing that I think is going to be great, but it is still in the works, is a big community barbeque. By springtime, hopefully, we should have a large iron barbeque installed. Every Friday will be the unofficial barbeque night. Whoever comes brings their own food, and briquettes. Everyone seems to be pretty gung-ho about getting that going.
So, do you live in great neighbourhood? What makes it great?
Full Disclosure: I have an ulterior motive for asking the question: Inspired by my neighbourhood, I’m trying to build a website that gives communities the tools to become great. I’d love to use your ideas as case studies, but I will ask permission first. The site is villagetoolbox.com, although it is not very functional right now. And yes, I got mod-approval to start the thread. Hopefully it’ll be a good one.
I like that my neighbourhood has a decent bus service, it’s got restaurants, pubs, a cinema, supermarkets and other stores within close walking distance. It’s an old town, its recorded history dating back to 500AD and before. It has a castle, it has a round tower. There’s a heritage festival once a year that’s kinda shabby but endearing. If you work locally you get to know a lot of people and for the most part people are friendly. There are people here from all over the world and they all seem to fit in fairly well. My street is a miniature UN.
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that recently a bunch of my neighbors banded together and all separately called the city’s streets department to complain about the horrendous condition of our road – and it worked! The pavers showed up about two weeks later, and now we have lovely new blacktop out there.
So, I guess that would be “neighborly consideration” or something like that.
I can see only one of the three other houses in my neighborhood situated in a 500 acre forest owned by the university. We have neighborhood association nights that involve drinking cold beer form coolers under the stars while attempting to sort out the nature of the universe. We tend each others’ dogs when needed and no car rumbles without someone taking a peek at it. While the Ms. was in Costa Rica the neighbors had me over for dinner repeatedly.
We just moved into a new house about 8 months ago, and our neighbor across the street is a real class act. He helped us when we got locked out of our house (twice) and watched the house and took care of our dog when we were gone for three days.
I like our neighborhood because everyone actually acts like neighbors! If a dog gets out, someone’ll put it back in the yard. If a kid does something dangerous, someone either yells at the kid (in an appropriate way) or tells the parents. We’ll pick up each other’s mail when they’re gone, or mow a lawn if someone’s sick, or watch the house when the kids are home alone. When my neighbor’s kid got locked out of the house, she felt comfortable coming to my house to wait for a parent to get home. We lend eggs, flour, sugar. We give each other plant cuttings. We help each other with projects. We lend an ear or a shoulder or a hand as needed.
My town does all the things from the OP, has great restaurants, and a nice little downtown street with a couple cool bookstores and nightlife that isn’t sleazy.
Ok, so this neighborhood is my first real neighborhood (we always lived in the country before this) and I am realizing how unusual it is to be in a place where everyone knows each other, and has each other’s backs. Most places aren’t like this, and I want to know why. What makes the difference between a ‘neighborhood’ and a ‘community’. What makes people become engaged with their surroundings, and how do we make it happen elsewhere?
My neighborhood kinda sucks. I’ve got an old retired Asspipe California cop down the road who is always sticking his nose in other peoples business. Of the 10 or 12 other houses on my street (Thats right. Its MINE!), I’ve maybe met 4 or 5 residents EXACTLY ONCE in the last 10 years. The house directly next door, before they moved to Arizona, I spoke to the owners 3 times. Halloween is a consistant disappointment.
What makes my community great? Direct access to about a million square miles of prime dirtbike and Jeep terrain. I’m gonna find Fosset yet!
Yeah, see this seems to be the normal course of things. Is this just how most people want to be? I don’t think so, but most people don’t know what to do about it.
My town only has about 500 people and frankly it’s just a tiny Louisiana town. Nothing special about it.
We have Christmas decorations up now, though, and one in particular is the best thing ever–it’s a lighted decoration of Santa Claus in a little boat (a pirogue, I think) being pulled by not reindeer, but alligators. I want to make the town an offer for the thing when I leave, because I need that decoration.
