Burlington | Ghost of Midnight

Neighborhood Lullaby

Posted on Monday, April 23, 2007 by Michael • 1 comment

Isaac is our youngest and, at ten months, not much on sleeping… up with a wail every 30 minutes all night long.

This evening, after awakening number one, I carried him to the front porch for some pacing. What a gorgeous night! Warm, breezy, bugs chirping away… did I mention that we had a snow storm last week? We’ve endured a painfully long winter. Welcome sweet spring!

Isaac and I moved our barefoot back-and-forth to the sidewalk and picked up something new… the faint strain of a fiddle. The sirens’ song set to work immediately and we trundled across the street, through a couple of dark backyards strewn with toys, over an old rock wall, brushed past some brambles… the music getting closer.

Finally, we came upon a couple of neighborhood dads. Bill (violin) and Andy (guitar), barely visible still at ten paces, were playing a string of Appalachian tunes. They stopped the music to say hello and Isaac burst into tears. As soon as they revved it back up, he calmed… eventually snuggling in against my chest and falling asleep as we swayed in time.

I could have stayed there all night… an unexpected treasure of a moment. A bit later the smell of skunk wafted over the fence and broke the spell. I bid our musical neighbors a good night and ambled back to tuck my baby boy in his crib. May everyone live in such wonderful and real community with those around them.

Need Movie/Book Review? Ask Neighbors

Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 by Michael • 1 comment

Here’s a new use of Front Porch Forum’s service from a member in the Oakledge Neighborhood Forum…

I’ll bet some of the folks in this neighborhood are reading some good books and seeing films and plays regularly. It would be really interesting if folks would write a few words for the neighborhood forum about a book or film they have really enjoyed and think others shouldn’t miss. -N.A.

Our mission… helping neighbors connect and foster community within the neighborhood. This message certainly fits the bill! Now, I hope she gets some folks to give it a shot.

Missing Child updates on Front Porch Forum

Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 by Michael • No comments yet

Members have been using Front Porch Forum for neighborhood watch type activities for some time. Here’s something similar. Burlington police use a nationally available service that automatically calls all phone numbers within one or more neighborhoods to alert the community about a missing child… wonderful use of technology. (I can’t imagine how terrible this situation must be for the people caught up in it.)
The downside… after receiving this alarming call from a machine, with few details (you don’t know who the kid is typically… just that a neighbor boy or girl of certain description is gone), you get nothing more… no follow up. No “we found Billy and everything is okay.” The service can’t be used that way, only for emergencies.

So it was interesting to read the minutes from the March 2007 Neighborhood Planning Assembly meeting for Ward 5 today:

Corporal Fabiani informed the NPA of a localized “Child is missing” alert that was activated recently and was successful in finding the child safely. Currently there is no ability to make a similar phone call to cancel the alert. Suggestions were made that the Front Porch Forum could be used to alert neighbors of the status. Local TV and radio stations are already used.

That’s another great use of our neighborhood forums, and, in fact, this has been done at least twice recently, once in the South End and once in the Old North End to good effect. Put the word out on the forum and it spreads across the neighborhood.

New Forum Member Gets It

Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 by Michael • No comments yet

A new member of the Centennial Neighborhood Forum in Burlington, Vermont, writes today to her neighbors:

I’m very glad this exists… and it looks like many people are using it. The forum seems like a great supplement to “front porch” conversations, especially since the snow and cold often keeps us indoors (or playing far from the front porch)! Looking forward to conversations and meeting many more neighbors.

That’s what Front Porch Forum is all about!

Forums induce behavior change directly?

Posted on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 by Michael • No comments yet

As I reported in a recent post, some neighborhood forums are being used to elicit action from local leaders. In one case, the ONE East Neighborhood Forum’s ongoing discussion about college student noise and poor behavior as neighbors has been raging for weeks. And the City of Burlington and University of Vermont are now responding… that’s great!

And now another result… apparently the students themselves are starting to respond. Those who live off-campus in this neighborhood of lovely old homes (many of which have been split into multi-unit student dwellings) are joining Front Porch Forum too. They’re reading what the permanent residents are writing… about the late-night awakenings, the broken bottles, the “my kids’ swingset is not a toilet” remarks… it’s all starting to sink in for some students. This is a real neighborhood, full of real people, real families… time to shape up or move this behavior elsewhere.

I’ve been told of group discussions among students. One will say something like… “only students live here so we can do whatever we want… right?” Someone fires up the laptop and produces dozens of ticked off neighbors’ messages from Front Porch Forum. “Oh… I didn’t know. I’d never act this way back home.”

Ahh… to be 21 again. I, for one, didn’t know which way was up at that point in my life. [For the record, I now know which way “up” is… but with none of our young children consistently sleeping through the night, that’s all I’m willing to commit to right now.]

So, in addition to providing a place to vent and a way to organize neighbors to get an official response, Front Porch Forum appears to be directly effecting the parties involved… a civilizing impact.

P.S. I hear from some “official” type folks who have been working on this issue for years that they now can use Front Porch Forum postings as leverage to pry their higher-ups into action.

Neighbors’ Forum-Talk spurs Action

Posted on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Michael • 1 comment

Regular folks are using Front Porch Forum to get the attention of local media and elected officials. Some examples:

1. Neighbors on the ONE Central Neighborhood Forum have several interesting threads going recently. One is about the state of the new beltline bikepath… trash, homeless folks, human waste, and various ideas for making it all better. Lots of good input and ideas. Relevant officials are tuning in. Mention of a grant for fencing. Progress?

2. Meanwhile, just up the hill a bit, the ONE East Neighborhood Forum has been focused on college-student noise in this residential neighborhood. Frustrations have been aired, the problem defined, history provided, solutions proposed… and now an official response. The City of Burlington and UVM issued a press release outlining all that they already do on this front and what they plan to add… a step in the right direction. One subscriber writes to his neighbors:

This Forum is the first time people have had a vehicle to express their thoughts, make suggestions and actually have an impact on a variety of topics; but it has been very interesting to see how local officials and social activists are reacting to the ‘elephant in the room’ – indignity over student behavior and the determination to put and end to it. This is an elephant, by the way, that has been in the room for decades now.

3. And the remarkable situation of city council Democrats lining up behind a Republican for council president, rather than a Progressive… several people have made their voices heard to their neighbors and councilors via their neighborhood forum. In fact, the Burlington Free Press almost mentioned Front Porch Forum in its April 8 article:

[Councilor-elect Ed] Adrian explained why he is voting for Wright in a message he posted on the Buell Street Neighborhood Forum. He said Wright, a state representative as well as councilor, has more experience than Ashe, would offer a balance to the Progressive administration of Mayor Bob Kiss, would be fair, would be unable, as one of just three Republicans on the council, to “stack” council committees, and, Adrian pointed out, Democrats, even with five of them on the council, don’t have a candidate for president this year.

[Councilor Joan] Shannon justified her vote for Wright in similar terms in a message posted on the Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum.

(The material referenced for this article should have been attributed to Front Porch Forum, rather than (or in addition to) the individual neighborhood forums.)

Forum keeps Member on Trampoline

Posted on Friday, April 6, 2007 by Michael • No comments yet

It’s tough to put into words how wonderful it is to be the moderator of Front Porch Forum‘s 130 neighborhood forums in and around Burlington, Vermont. In addition to the sheer magnitude of the response (4,300 members, 8,000 messages in our first seven months), the quality is remarkable. In this catbird seat, I see good news flit by every day. While the big stories stand out (see many past postings), it’s the shear volume of the little day-to-day beauties that inspire my wife and I to keep going against the odds. Take this sample from this evening’s inbox:

It is with mixed emotions that I write this post. I am selling my house after living here for 15 yrs. Among the things that are the hardest to leave behind will be this forum. I have used it for emergencies (thanks to all who responded to my dire need for heaters) and for my craft sale announcements (one is coming up later this month) and to feel connected to my home on my frequent trips away. I want to publicly thank Front Porch Forum. Just having it makes me feel safer, like the netting around the trampoline, it helps me from feeling like I could fall off the edge. Thank you all. -L.C., Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum

See what I mean?

More Kudos for Forum Members

Posted on Monday, April 2, 2007 by Michael • 3 comments

Front Porch Forum received it’s second award of the week last Thursday when the City of Burlington recognized it with a Neighborhood Leadership Award. Wow! We might have to take down some toddler artwork to make room on the walls of FPF World Headquarters for the new hardware.

To the many well wishers… thank you for the congratulations. That said, it’s all a bit misplaced. You see, we didn’t write the 10,000 messages or personally recruit most of our now 4,200 subscribers. No… this is a group project in a big way. Front Porch Forum provides the foundation and ongoing support and it’s the members who breathe life into each neighborhood forum by getting folks on board and using it. So, to all FPF members: Print the two plaques shown here and stick them to your wall too.

Both award ceremonies last week were moving events. The City’s Neighborhood Night of Success, in particular, showcased dozens of people who find ways to make their communities wonderful places to live… old, young, rich, poor, all sorts.

Lauren Ober wrote a nice piece about Richard Kemp, longtime community activist, as he took home the Herb Bloomenthal Award.

Sure sign of spring in Vermont…

Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 by Michael • 1 comment

Winters in Vermont are long. When the snow finally starts its final retreat a collective sigh wafts over Burlington… followed by a “Oh sh#t! I just stepped in dog crap!”

I’ve been avoiding this topic (who wants to focus on dog poop?), but the sheer volume of dog poop posting the past week overwhelmed me. On neighborhood forum after neighborhood forum the call has gone out… “please scoop the poop!” All those layers of melting snow are revealing months of accumulated rogue deposits.

As unpleasant as it is to encounter this subject offline, reading neighbors’ online postings do provide a dose of antidote. It’s good to learn that I’m not alone in my aversion to this sign of spring.

The top two terms used, by the way, are the classic “dog poop” and the softer “dog poo.” I do take issue with the alternate spelling used by some folks on their forum… “dog pooh.” I’ll never think of Winnie in the same way.

And kudos to those like the following Front Porch Forum member…

“Enough talk. My shovel and 30 minutes cleaned up two buckets worth. Who’s next?” -South End resident

Amazingly, in all the poop postings, no one turned nasty. Most people, it seems, want to be and have good neighbors… regardless of the occasional mess.

Thousands of Front Porch Forum Members Honored Tonight!

Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 by Michael • 1 comment

Ain’t that a pip! Preservation Burlington honored Front Porch Forum tonight at its annual meeting with its 2007 Ray O’Connor Community Improvement Award. Although I got to be the person up front receiving the plaque and certificate, this recognition really goes out to the more than 4,000 people who have signed up and put their neighborhood forums to work. It’s a beautiful thing to watch it all unfold.

So… thanks to Preservation Burlington and congratulations to all the members of Front Porch Forum! What’s next?!?!

Category Archives: Burlington

Neighborhood Lullaby

Missing Child updates on Front Porch Forum

Thousands of Front Porch Forum Members Honored Tonight!

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