Category Archives: Community Building

Neighborhood Night of Success

Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 by • No comments yet

Burlington is bursting with civic-minded people who act on their convictions… from shoveling a neighbor’s sidewalk to taking on drug dealing.  The City throws a great annual party — Neighborhood Night of Success — to celebrate people and projects, share a meal and music, and mingle.  I recommend attending… March 25, 2009.  Also, Ita Meno is looking for nominations!

To show how long we’ve been at this… Front Porch Forum was recognized at the very first NNS in 2001 and then again in 2007.

Ita, the key organizer, invited me on to her talk show to chat about it.

P.S. Ita is leaving her position with CEDO, so the NPAs won’t have her as a resource any longer… a real loss! Best wishes to her in her new position and I hope CEDO hires well when finding her replacement!

Elated in Starksboro!

Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 by • No comments yet

We’re thrilled with our recent expansion into Starksboro, VT.  This is Front Porch Forum‘s first step outside of our Chittenden County pilot… albeit a small step.  Apparently, we’re not the only ones excited… 50 households signed up in the first week (7% of the town), despite no real marketing effort.  And here’s a lovely comment from one happy new subscriber…

I just signed up and can’t wait to start using Front Porch Forum.  Some friends in Burlington have it and LOVE it. I think this will be an incredible asset for our community.  Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen.  Yahoo!

Elated in Starksboro.

Using FPF to clean up stink

Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 by • No comments yet

We’ve seen time and again that one or two citizens can’t get much action out of City Hall.  But put 20 or 200 neighbors together behind an issue, and voil¡.

Here’s a posting on FPF yesterday from Burlington City Councilor Russ Ellis…

A few days ago, Christy Lorraine called our attention to the problem of sewage backup in the Staniford and Western Avenue neighborhoods with a note in the Front Porch Forum. I exchanged several e-mails with Steve Goodkind at the Department of Public Works about the situation. You will be interested in his positive response which follows:

“Russ – I share your concern that cleaning alone might not necessarily be the whole answer. I have not gotten the records yet, but I have already asked staff to pull what we have to see if there is any pattern to the problem. It may turn out that the problem is less with the line on Western Ave and more with the line it feeds into on Staniford. We will look at the entire system in that area and see if we can solve this. Please feel free to pass this on to any of the neighbors you are in contact with.”

My hope is that this terrible situation in your neighborhood can be corrected.

Make your neighborhood forum sizzle

Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 by • No comments yet

People ask why some FPF neighborhood forums are more vibrant than others.  Here’s one answer…

Greetings neighbors!  When my husband and I moved into the neighborhood in May last year, we immediately signed up for Front Porch Forum. Our previous neighborhood forum in South Burlington exhibited quite a bit of friendly action; everything ranging from seniors who needed help shoveling driveways, teens looking for babysitting jobs, discussions of speed bumps, homeschooling opportunities, and even couches for sale. I think the same opportunity exists for the River Cove forum and I would welcome more action on the forum.

So I recently signed up to be a volunteer. I would like to get more people signed up in the area, and will probably be delivering flyers to mailboxes soon. I will also be checking out posts on the volunteers forum (this transcends the bounds of the neighborhood and even the town) to share things that I think may interest our neighborhood, in a manner that is hopefully helpful without being burdensome on your email inbox.

I welcome any assistance and would love to hear from others, especially if you’d be interested in joining me to get the word out about how to sign up for Front Porch Forum.

Cheers for now!

Thieves target four-year-old

Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 by • No comments yet

So much positive neighbor-helping-neighbor stuff goes on through Front Porch Forum.  This posting today on the FPF ONE West Neighborhood Forum was hard to read…

We discovered yesterday that our storage space at the old April Cornell building on the corner of North Ave and Berry St. was ransacked and things were stolen.  Included in the missing items are a very large storage container of K’nex (my son’s birthday present), other kids games – also being stored for future presents, my kids 3-4 year old spring/summer clothing, my snowboard helmet, 2 sleeping bags and a tent.  In addition to the theft, dozens of vinyl records and CD’s were broken, as well as some glass jars and ceramic figures.  If you have any information regarding this, please contact the BPD.  And if you have any 4 year old boys clothing to donate to us, that would be appreciated.

I hope the neighbors rally around this family.

FPF saving people $200/month?!?!

Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 by • No comments yet

People in Huntington know how to get organized!  A person there posted on Front Porch Forum a question about propane prices… the heating fuel choice of many.  Well, one thing led to another — research, discussion, wheeling and dealing — and voila!  From Linda tonight…

The day I talked to Tina at Suburban she was calling this the Front Porch Forum Group Buy. She had already talked to 24 people from Huntington. This change is going to save us over $200 a month (!) in the Winter season. Shows you the power of communicating with your neighbors. We’re lucky to have FPF as a resource. Thank you to everyone who chimed in and made calls on this subject. If you think you’re paying too much for fuel, you probably are & I recommend the switch.

Goodbye Molly and Thanks to Neighbors

Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 by • 1 comment

Posted by a Front Porch Forum member just now on her neighborhood forum…

Hello neighbors… Some of you know me personally, some only as the woman who walked every morning with my two dogs, something which we did faithfully, rain or shine, just about every day for the last three plus years since moving to the new North End.  I lost my old Molly girl earlier this month. I like to think she’s chasing cars and cats in dog-heaven now. (She was a rascal in her younger days.) I’m posting this message simply to say thank-you to all of the wonderful people in my neighborhood for the comfort and sympathy so many of you offered me. I am deeply moved and very grateful and consider myself lucky to live among such good people. As does Rufus.

We’ll see you on the road.

Front Porch Forum Expands to Starksboro, VT

Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 by • 23 comments

Thanks to the generousity of the Orton Family Foundation, Front Porch Forum is now available in Starksboro, VT!

Any and all Starksboro residents are encouraged to sign up for this free community-building service immediately.  I see that we have two dozens subscribers there already… I guess word got out before the “official” launch.

Finally, thanks to the warm welcome this evening from the Selectboard and Art and Soul folks.

UPDATE: Here’s Orton’s news release (April 13, 2009).  Already 20% of Starksboro subscribes to FPF!

What’s “local?” Define “neighborhood.”

Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 by • No comments yet

U.K.’s Kevin Harris blogs…

Over on the Local democracy blog Dave Briggs asks, how close is local?

I’d say most people regard ‘local’ as geographically within reach, and obviously that differs individually, which is fine. If terminology is fuzzy it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s invalid. We need definitions for administrative areas (wards, cantons, parishes) but not to explain individually-variable experiences of the socially-charged space nearest to the home.

00 graphic av miles travelled And maybe it helps to think about what local is not. For instance, it’s not the same as nearness, and that’s reinforced in this image (courtesy of Indy Johar, 00 architects), which reminds us how transport efficiencies influence our sense of distance.

So why after generations and centuries of people gathering together in villages, towns and cities, are we suddenly struggling with the fact that terms like neighbourhood and locality aren’t rigidly defined? What has happened for instance that causes Dave quite reasonably to suggest that

‘it will be increasingly important to research how people’s notions of their own ‘local’ will determine levels of interest’? …

Harkens back to a post about neighborhood scale based on early Front Porch Forum experience.

The neighbors’ “awesome collective wisdom”

Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 by • 1 comment

Greg posted the following as part of a note to his neighbors yesterday via Front Porch Forum.  He’s searching for advice about new windows that are frosting over.

At this point none of experts we’ve consulted can seem to explain what could be happening, so I’m turning to the awesome collective wisdom of FPF.

You know… he’s right.  More than 90% of the households in his particular neighborhood subscribe to FPF and got his message.  There’s more wisdom in this group than in any one store clerk or telephone customer service person he may have consulted.  And more than a few of these neighbors share the same problem and may have already solved this problem.

I see one response already in the queue for the next issue of his neighborhood forum… and I’m sure he’ll hear from several people directly.

UPDATE:  Greg and family are relatively new to the state.  So, in addition to appreciating solutions for the window problem, the conversation with all of these clearly identified nearby neighbors is valuable in of itself.

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Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more

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