I
grew up on a rural country road where my nearest next-door neighbor was about a quarter mile down the hill, and the population density was so low the cable company did not deem us fiscally worthy of cable lines.
I knew most of the families in the vicinity at least by name, and neighborhood news and gossip was spread via phone trees and front porch conversations. My college and post-college years were spent in dorms, apartments and rented houses, and mostly in cities.
I had never even heard of a homeowners association( HOA) until my husband and I bought our first house together and we entered the fascinating world of suburban neighborhood living, complete with an HOA board, committees and by-laws.
By-laws are serious stuff. They uphold the standards for civilized living in close proximity to other families and give us grounds to confront our wayward, non-grassmowing, lazy next-door neighbor.
Without them, someone might go rogue and install a mailbox that doesn’ t match the rest on the street, or get the bright idea to put a chicken coop in the backyard.
One time I received a politely written letter that the color I had chosen to paint my front door was not in compliance with neighborhood codes and that I needed to: A. repaint the door and B. get prior approval for the color before I repainted.
Another time, a letter arrived because the side of our house needed to be pressure washed. Of course the HOA was right. The color of the door wasn’ t all that great and the house was pretty dirty on the one side.
Mostly I laughed when the letters arrived and bonded with my other neighbors about letters they had received about not taking their garbage cans in from the curb in a timely manner.
I have served on the HOA board in every neighborhood I’ ve lived in since. Not only has it helped me meet people when we were the new kids on the block, but I like knowing what’ s going on and what issues people care about. And, really, it feels nice to be a part of the community, even if it’ s just in a small way.
By-laws, street beautification and warning letters aside, I love a good neighborhood event. I’ ve helped plan luaus, Easter egg hunts, sleigh rides, visits with Santa, cookie exchanges, Halloween parades, progressive dinners, Fourth of July breakfasts, block parties and wine tastings, all in an effort to get neighbors together.
Newsletters and fliers were our main means of communication, and don’ t forget the directory. God bless the poor souls across this country whose job it is to keep the directory up to date. It’ s a full-time job making sure you have current phone numbers and email addresses.
Then along came the game changer: social media. With private Facebook groups and
platforms like Nextdoor, it felt like it brought us closer in a way. Not to mention, social media lets us see a side of the seemingly nice man who lives on the corner that we never knew existed.
Belle Valley, a neighborhood spanning the area north of I-90 along Wattsburg Road, uses Nextdoor. com to keep up with the news and events happening in the‘ hood. Currently 126 people living there are registered to participate in the group.
Nextdoor is limited to only those people within the boundaries and streets of your specific neighborhood. It also lets you connect with neighborhoods nearby.
People averse to Facebook like having an alternative. It allows you to create events, post items for sale and post general information you want to share. You can also message individual neighbors who have registered.
“ I love being on Nextdoor,” says Belle Valley resident Natalie Keeley.“ We use it for break-ins and lost pets. Someone lost their ferret the other day. We also use it for garage sales, finding babysitters, meeting new neighbors, and block parties.”
Social media has also become the new crime-watch hub. Within minutes you can report suspicious activity or alert your neighbors of a break-in— but, beware, it can sometimes lead to a comedy of errors.
Last winter, an Erie neighbor alerted people via Nextdoor. com of a white male wearing a hoodie walking through people’ s backyards, presumably to case the houses. A few others corroborated the sighting of the hoodie-clad intruder and of seeing footprints in the snow of their own backyards. Fortunately, the mystery was quickly solved, and it turned out to be the meter reader for Penelec and all was well!
It will be interesting to see how and if social media will change the way we interact with our neighbors. Will it bring us closer together? Will it create feuds as epic as the Hatfields and the McCoys?
At the very least it will be easier to borrow that proverbial cup of sugar, and if my Shih Tzu, Zoe, ever gets lost, I know that I have an army of concerned neighbors ready at a moment’ s notice to help me find her. n
Millcreek | Winter 2016 | icmags. com 39