The GOOD Guide to Better Neighborhoods

in community engagement, community stories, Place-based communities, Safety

Recommended resource: GOOD Issue 19, The Neighborhoods Issue. GOOD started planning the issue back in January, inviting its readers to help plan and produce it. The printed magazine went out to subscribers this month, and pieces are being published online in daily increments. Dozens of good articles in the issue (here’s the rss feed), but in keeping with the Our Blocks focus on getting practical information into the hands of people who want to make a difference in their neghborhhoods, these are articles I like the best:

The GOOD Guide to Better Neighborhoods: A Neighborhood Manifesto. Closer to a Table of Contents than the Communist Manifesto, lists 12 articles from the issue that provide readers “with the tools you need to make your neighborhood more than just the place you live. What all these tips have in common is the fact that they connect you to the actual human beings who live around you—and make your neighborhood better as a result.”

Start a Community Garden. Tips from Marvin Yee, the community garden program manager for San Francisco: Find a plot of land; Secure some seed money; Put together a dedicated team; Draw up your proposal and begin talking to your neighbors; Contact your parks and recreation department with your proposal. For more information check out the American Community Gardening Association.

Throw a Block Party. Tips from Jon Lawrence, who puts on an annual block party for up to 300 people in Bloomington, Indiana: Form a planning committee and pick a date and location; Make sure it’s legal; Promote the hell out of it; Work out your budget; Decide on food; Plan entertainment and activities; Enlist volunteers; Wrap it up. More on block parties from Our Blocks here.

Meet Your Neighbors Without Seeming like a Crazy Person. Tips from Kit Hodge, founder of the Neighbors Project. Say “Hi”; Spruce up your outdoor space, and spend time there; Practice common courtesies; Hang out in your neighborhood, and shop locally; Get involved with your neighborhood in a formalized way. More crazy things you can do with the neighbors here, here, and here.

Share Your Yard (or Get Your Neighbors to Share Theirs). More space, lower bills, and enough pooled cash to install that solar-powered hot tub—there are a lot of practical reasons to share yards with your neighbors. As with any kind of sharing, however, it’s best not to go into the situation willy-nilly. Here’s how: Identify what you want; Approach your neighbors; Plan for a social space; Make an agreement.

Join a New-and-Improved Commune. Tips from Stephanie Smith of WeCommune and Alex Marshall of Brooklyn Cohousing: Decide on your community’s values early on; Keep lines of communication open; Trust the power of consensus; Enjoy the economic benefits of communal living; Learn from the success stories; Don’t think being in a community is the same as being friends.

Create a Neighborhood Clubhouse. Artists/Professors Ted Purves and Susanne Cockrell of fieldfaring ran, among other things, Oakland’s Temescal Amity Works and the Reading Room – a store that sold nothing. Their tips: Pick your vibe; Have a purpose; Make it inviting; Have a bathroom people can use; Tap other people’s talents.

Get on Community Access Television. Pepper public access television with shows by people with useful skills they can share with their neighbors. Here’s how: Figure out who runs the stations in your area; Respect the station’s ethos; Have a good idea; Get organized; Find someone who actually knows how to use a camera; Spread the word; Make a good show.

All images by Trevor Burks:

Blog roundup: How to block party

in community engagement, community stories, Place-based communities, Safety

Bike Your Block Too: Tips for Bike-Themed Block Parties 15 Oct 2009 by MikeOnBike
An hour into NOPA’s popular Bike the Block party last month, a few neighbors announced, “We’ve got to do this next year” and “We should do this every month.” But the comment that grabbed our attention the most was “I wish we could do this in my neighborhood.” Well, you can! Here are some suggestions for bringing a Bike the Block party to your street.

The ‘er’ Files: Neighborhood Block Parties 14 Oct 2009 by Kelly
This month, a local magazine is featuring a story I wrote about neighborhood block parties, an activity that usually takes place (at least in this neck of the woods) when the weather outside is nice. And yet, in the past week, just as the article was unveiled, it has snowed here — TWICE! Ah well. If you’d like to get a jump start on planning next year’s block party, you can get ideas from my story: Neighborhood Block Party

Steps for planning a neighborhood block party 9 Oct 2009 by Kitchen Gadget Girl
Depending on where you live, it is not too late to plan your own block party. Find a couple other neighbors who want to help and divide the tasks – someone can send out the invitation (Evite works well for this); someone else can be in charge of the permit to close the street; one person can take care of nametags and contact list (block parties are a great way to meet any new neighbors); and someone else can be in charge of organizing tables for food and the BBQs.

See also Block Parties (a guide)

Meals unite Claremont neighborhood

in community engagement, community stories, Place-based communities, Safety

All it took to rally the neighbors was a little prime rib and an invitation.

“I know how easy it is to make friends when you’re a chef,” Crocker said with a chuckle. “So when I moved to Claremont, I thought I would combine both. I bought the largest prime rib I could find, put out fliers inviting people who lived around me to come and eat and waited. I thought I might have a lot of food to eat, but 40 people came, and the only thing on the agenda was to get to know each other.”

The spontaneous dinner invite led to driveway parties, where one person or family was asked to serve as host and people were encouraged to attend and to help out.

Little by little, the neighborhood got a bit bigger, as the neighborliness started extending farther down the street.

As people sat and ate, they started talking.

“We started sharing honest communications with each other. Then we started finding out that a truck had been broken into twice. Then we found out other families had had their cars broken into. My car was broken into twice. And a house had been burglarized during the day,” she said.

“I got mad. This was destroying my dream. I said, ‘I think we can handle this craziness,”‘ she said.

So she decided to talk to Claremont police Capt. Gary Jenkins about ways to protect her turf – from Mountain Avenue to Indian Hill Boulevard and north of Baseline Road to the Thompson Trail – which amounts to about 400 homes. Jenkins was more than enthusiastic.

claremont

Again, Crocker put the call out and 200 people attended a meeting with the Police Department. She collected e-mail addresses of the attendees.

“And I found out we now had an electronic communications board to use,” she said.

The concern and interest shown at the meeting resulted in the placement of 30 new Neighborhood Watch signs in the area.

“First, we wanted to get educated, and we did that. Then, we wanted to make sure our community continued,” she said.

The once loosely connected collection of homes now is a strongly forged neighborhood. The fall gathering is now a tradition.

Suzanne Sproul, Staff Writer. Read the full article: Meals unite Claremont neighborhood – DailyBulletin.com