A series that runs every Tuesday, where I ask questions unrelated to the environment, fair trade, or local politics that I’ve been wondering about but haven’t been able to google the answers to. Any advice is appreciated.
So reading Deep Economy made me think: I really gotta get to know my neighbors. It’s not good that I know the names of the dudes on Entourage and not the names of the dudes next door.
Actually I did intro myself a while back — and in fact stop to have chats with them once in a while. The problem’s that I’d totally forgotten their names.
So today I found out what they were again — by asking my landlord what they were, since I know her name (Margaret, hub Peter).
I’m typing it down now so I don’t forget: The boys next door are Nathan (white, brown hair), Kenn (blond) and Calvin (Asian). The older gentleman that lives downstairs and grows pretty tomatos is Jim.
Now I’ll no longer have to be like, “Hey — You!”
Do you know your neighbors’ names?
I agree that this community piece is a bigger deal than the eco-blogosphere has caught on to. Great effort to start the conversation about how un-natural it is to know all about the people living in Jerry Seinfeld’s sitcom building but not the people living within a 10th of a mile. . .
Happy Spring!
Comment by deliberately — May 2, 2007 @ 3:46 am
We live in a small building, and know all of our neighbors except for the one who just moved in. However, I do not know the names of the gang-let that hangs out in back of the building with one of the residents.
Comment by Kate — May 2, 2007 @ 6:43 am
We do pretty good, although it’s one set of neighbors who really kind of do the heavy lifting on this since they seem to know not just everyone in the building, but everyone within a three mile radius. Having neighbors who are friends with everyone really makes the community thing a lot easier.
One thing that helps is to take regular walks through the neighborhood. Dog owners and parents seem to have the easiest time meeting neighbors.
Comment by don hosek — May 2, 2007 @ 6:57 am
I lived in my previous home in Old Bank District for about 5 years and only knew my direct neighbors, even though the building had 100 units. I knew more people from the restaurants and cafes on the street level. I think the reason is design of the building. The hallways are long and narrow with multiple entrances. One door even goes directly to the parking garage with no interaction with people on the street.
My current building currently has about 60 units, but I know more of my neighbors here. It has a single lobby and everyone is forced to walk outside to get to their cars. It also helps that our bulding has a blog and mailing list for everyone to communicate with each other.
I think that is a big problem with many of the apartment buildings with underground parking. Everyone goes directly from elevator to their cars with no interaction with people outside or even other floors.
Comment by jason — May 2, 2007 @ 8:45 am
This is important, slow and sometimes uncomfortable work. Thanks for bringing it up Siel. One way to get involved in your own block is to join the Neighborhood Watch. I live next to a church, and the minister there (although a Bush lover and findamentalist) is very community minded. He initiated a Neighborhood Watch 4 years ago and it’s really helped connect people here on our block in Highland Park. We meet once a month and talk mostly about crime. I’ve also met the Senior Lead Officers of our neighborhood there, and the City Council Field Deputies. I had the same problem remembering people’s names and wrote them down several times but still forget.
Another great way to connect is to actually canvass your neighborhood – go knock on everydoor. I’ve done this a few times to promote various larger community events I helped organize. I have a language barrier with many of my neighbors, but now I at least recognize some of the faces and wave. The last way I suggest is – work/hang out in your front yard or on your stoop. Garden, read the paper, drink your coffee out there. People walk by, say hello. They often make small talk about the plants or whatever. It’s a start.
Comment by Jennifer — May 3, 2007 @ 8:29 am
I definitely agree with Jason that the setup of our residences affects our interaction and with Jennifer that our use of that setup does the same!
We live in sort-of attached bungalow apartments – two rows face each other. Since we work from home, we’re here a lot – and we keep the door open and hang out on the front stoop a lot. That’s pretty much the only reason we know our neighbors (and their names) – we’re right there and we all make an effort to say hi and chat.
But, if we lived in a traditional apartment building w/ hallways and private balconies, I think we’d just know faces and not any names.
It’s something to really think about – how we develop our individual residences and our towns/cities. Encouraging biking and walking, and having open, safe, clean public spaces, is so key to us connecting with each other and feeling a sense of community.
Comment by melissa — May 3, 2007 @ 5:38 pm
It does sometimes feel like community-building happens IN SPITE OF the way our physical structures are set up, as opposed to in conjunction with them…. I wish my apt. had a stoop! We do have the perfect weather for a porch / stoop culture here –
Comment by Siel — May 4, 2007 @ 1:25 pm