It’s fascinating to watch messages “go viral” on Front Porch Forum. Recently, a member posted her note about some returned Peace Corps volunteers and their effort to collect used bicycles for people in poor countries… just these few sentences…
Clean out your garage, help others, and get an IRS tax deduction! The Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers are collecting used bikes in working condition for PEDALS FOR PROGRESS.
Pedals for Progress will ship your bike(s) to an international partner organization, where it will be reconditioned as transportation to people who desperately need affordable, non-polluting transportation! (A $10 donation toward shipping is requested. Also accepting portable sewing machines in working condition.)
PLEASE BRING YOUR BIKES TO: Lake Champlain Chocolates Warehouse (444 Pine St, Burlington) between 9am-1pm on Saturday, September 22
In the past ten days I’ve seen the message repeated in about 24 30 FPF neighborhood forums reaching thousands of households! That’s a great outreach effort by the folks working on this project. They sent their announcement to their list of local contacts and ask each of them to post on their own neighborhood forum. Also, someone along the line posted it on the FPF Neighborhood Volunteer Forum and that reached 250 local community organizer types, and many of them are passing on the message.
I’m eager to see what kind of turn out they get!
UPDATE: The Burlington Free Press reports today (9/23/07) that this event broke the previous record by hauling in 276 bikes with dozens as of yet processed and counted. Great news. The Free Press article does a good job of describing the whole story, although it failed to mention how the volunteer group succeeded so fabulously in getting the word out. Congratulations to the organizers!
Alan Sousie of Burlington’s New North End posted this message today on his neighborhood’s forum…
I am sending out my encouragement to everyone for use and promotion of Front Porch Forum. In my mind, the more we demonstrate the Forum’s usefulness by example, the more likely we are to get others to join us. I consider the Forum to be a community voice. With it we can encourage, serve, inform, debate, recognize, and protect our community. With it we can buy, sell, barter, give away and recycle items that are appropriate to respectful and neighborly exchanges. I believe that all computer literate persons would want to use this neighborhood network, if only they knew of its existence. I believe it is up to us, who are already informed, to spread the word. I urge everyone to recruit other Neighborhood Volunteers and other neighbors who will grow our Forum network.
Alan is on his ward’s Neighborhood Planning Assembly, the City’s Board of Health, and he’s an FPF Neighborhood Volunteer. Thanks for all you do for your community Alan!
The Neighborhood Planning Assembly in Burlington’s New North End is recognizing neighbors who make a special contribution to community. Here are two they singled out…
CARMEN GEORGE: After the murder of two women in Burlington, Carmen didn’t feel as safe walking at night. She wanted to get some exercise but was a little too fearful to go out by herself. She wondered if there were others who might be interested in getting out at night.She sent out an email on the Front Porch Forum. It was a simple invitation to go for a walk. The response was good, mostly mothers who were up for getting out of the house for a bit and having some good adult conversation. It’s a nice way to connect.
Carmen does a lot of other things in the neighborhood. She plans block parties, progressive dinners, playdates. She likes knowing her neighbors. She lived in a neighborhood growing up that was close knit and she wants that for her daughter. “We don’t want to walk down the street and see strangers, we want to be among friends.” Thanks to Carmen, this is becoming a reality for many people in her neighborhood. We salute you, Carmen.
I love Carmen’s quote… “We don’t want to walk down the street and see strangers, we want to be among friends.”
BOB DINAN organized a neighborhood sporting event using Front Porch Forum.
- Softball, Soccer, Frisbee (Ultimate) Is anyone in the “Neighborhood” interested in putting together a neighborhood game of some sort? Nothing ultra-competitive, keeping it fun, maybe even playing against another neighborhood. Any ideas?
- Neighborhood softball Friday August 3rd at 6:45 I was communicating with Jim Flint and we decided to try for next Friday. It will be at the Flynn school. I have a few bats I can bring, one is a smaller one for kids. If anyone else has a favorite bat bring it along.
- Just a reminder and a note to the new people we are having a softball game this Friday at the Flynn School field on Starr Farm Rd. Time 6:45pm, meet & make teams, hopefully start playing by 7:00pm. All are welcome.
This is the awakening neighborhood spirit that Front Porch Forum has brought to us via the internet.
This kind of thing happens so frequently in neighborhoods that embrace Front Porch Forum, that it slips my mind to share. So, here are two postings from the Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum. First from Lanny last night…
pair of women’s glasses found near Catherine Street. seem to be prescription. brown and blue narrow plastic frame. call Beth.
And then from Sara this morning…
These were mine! and while I’d finally given in and replaced them this week, I don’t like the new glasses as much and was feeling bereft. Just thought you might like another success story!
(1) Immediate problem solved. (2) Two more neighbors become acquainted in a way that they’ll likely remember next time they bump into each other. (3) The sense of community within the neighborhood — of neighbors watching out for each other — grows just a tiny bit. Day after day, neighborhood after neighborhood.
Posted by Wendy in one of the FPF Winooski neighborhood forums this evening…
Hello neighbors. Its hard to believe that the night is slipping in on us sooner than later and the temperatures have grown cooler. I fight to keep the windows open as long as possible. One- because I appreciate the fresh air. Two- because winter isn’t far off and we’ll be holed up indoors. Unless you’re a snow sportsman. I meant to bring in my houseplants on Sunday but it rained. Decided it would do them good to stay out another week.
My parents moved to Essex Center in August. A year ago my dad was diagnosed with ALS. My sister bought a home and built an apartment unto it. She and I take turns putting my father to bed at night. There just aren’t enough LNAs in the VNA Hospice program to work evening shifts. Dad can no longer talk or walk or even support his own head. It makes you wake up and take notice of simple things you take for granted. Like being able to scratch an itch on your nose or say thank you or eat ice cream. We don’t know how long he’ll be with us. But each day on this earth, I consider a gift. Because each day he is alive, I can show him how much I love him.
I’ve got daffodil bulbs we salvaged from the old home. Need to put them out soon. Dad was the one who loved gardening. He misses working the soil. Weeding. Sharing the harvest. I’m the only one out of five kids who makes the effort to garden. Such as it is.
Days grow shorter and the geese are headed north. Sometimes it good just be able to acknowledge that.
Thank you, Wendy.
Earlier today we saw on the ONE Central Neighborhood Forum in Burlington’s Old North End…
My bike with kids tag-a-long and kids helmet were stolen yesterday from in front of the Multi-Generational Center on N. Winooski yesterday at 4:40. It was a dark green trek “ladies” knobby tired bike and a dark green alley cat shadow tag-a-long. The helmet was red with cars on it. A guy was seen riding south on it. If you know anything call. Thank.
And now this evening the beginning of a happy ending…
I found a guy with my bike today. I left the guy but took the bike. He gave it back very easily and said he was “borrowing” it from someone else. Unfortunately the tag along was no longer tagging along with it. (Hey “John” If you are reading this please ask the guy you borrowed my bike from to let you borrow the bike that was attached to it and get it back to me…) Thanks to the Front Porch Forum posting, a friend was able to recognize the helmet by her dumpster as the one that was stolen with the bikes, and so we got that back too! I suppose there is a moral in here somewhere. 1 bike and helmet back in my possession. 1 dark green alley cat shadow tag-a-long still out there in the dark somewhere.
This whole incident stinks! But I love to see neighbors helping neighbors.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, Melissa just weighed in too, from a few blocks away…
On Saturday Sept. 8th mine and my neighbors bikes were stolen right out of the back yard right in the middle of the afternoon in broad daylight.
-Mine is a purple & silver Road master women’s bike. Also has (Designed for women) printed on the side of the seat. Another clue that it is mine is that the brakes do not work.
-My neighbors bike is a maroon mountain bike.
These bikes may have been abandoned together. If you see them please call me. Thank you very much.
UPDATE 2: More success on the first theft, from Meghan…
So, because of the posting about the stolen bikes on Front Porch Forum everything got returned. The tag-along bike was found in a dumpster on Grant st. when J read the post she knew to call me and tell me she had found it. I’m just glad the joy-riding bike thief lives in my neighborhood and discarded the parts he didn’t need within my FPF reading area!
I was chatting with a local university professor today when he said something like “I’m hearing about Front Porch Forum nearly everyday all over town.” With 130 local neighborhood forums each having their own conversations, that’s a lot of fodder. It’s no wonder that FPF comes up at his faculty meetings, student office hours, cocktail parties, on the sidewalk in his own neighborhood, etc.
Not having a dot.com focus, he summarized FPF’s contribution as opening a community conversation in each neighborhood in the region, attracting a critical mass of neighbors to join in, keeping the tone civil and constructive in each one, and sustaining it all over time. No mean feat. Nothing about “citizen journalism,” “online social networking,” or “local search”… just meeting a real and largely unmet need… helping neighbors connect and build community.
On Sept. 3, Front Porch Forum member Rob posted on the ONE West Neighborhood Forum…
A few nights ago, maybe 3 or 4 days back, at about 4am, there was a loud noise of breaking glass. It sounded like a storefront window had shattered. It was near the corner of North Street and Park Street. Police were called, 3 cruisers responded and they were parked the wrong way on Park Street while the scene was investigated — did anyone ever hear about what happened?
Now today (Sept. 5) he writes again…
Thanks to any and all who responded to my request. I am sure there have been several incidents of broken glass in the neighborhood recently. The definitive reply to my specific question came from Andi Higbee of the Burlington PD, who told me: “it was a burglary into Pete’s Ice Cream. We apprehended 2 people and they were both charged.” Thanks to Lt. Higbee for the information from BPD. And thanks to my FPF neighbors!
This is the everyday low-key kind of thing that makes Front Porch Forum work for so many people. Not only did Rob get his answer, but he connected with several nearby neighbors who he probably didn’t previously know, AND hundreds of FPF members in the neighborhood were informed of the crime and police work.
Matt Ryan of the Burlington Free Press yesterday covered a troubling story that’s been a hot topic of conversation on the Westford Neighborhood Forum for some time…
Harmony Schutt and her neighbors on Osgood Hill Road in Westford are fed up with theft.
The thieves, whom victims identify as neighborhood teens, break into cars and homes to steal mostly beer, gas and loose change, but the petty crimes are costing homeowners more than just stolen property…
Schutt lives alone and said her house has been broken into six times this summer. Schutt’s house is hidden from the road behind a row of trees, which makes it an easy target, Schutt said. The most recent break-in occurred Aug. 22 when thieves broke her sliding glass door to get in. The door will cost between $650 and $850 to fix, Schutt said. Thieves have cut holes in screens to unlock windows and have stolen wine, beer, cash and condoms. She called Vermont State Police and recently installed a surveillance camera to deter criminals.
The police “say they can’t do anything, so I’m hoping to catch them on that little camera,” Schutt said.
Local victims are turning to other means…
A few neighbors had posted signs in their yards asking for stolen items to be returned. One sign, nailed to a telephone pole, read, “Two 18-packs of beer — $35. Money in truck — $17. Look on thieves faces when caught — priceless.”
Rose Elder, 52, said thieves stole a cooler of beer from her son’s truck in her driveway and have siphoned gas from her car.
“They steal just the easy stuff that they can take,” Elder said. Warren Oalican, who lives next door to Elder and across the road from Schutt, responded to a message Schutt posted on Front Porch Forum, an online site where neighbors can share information. Oalican, 38, said he’s been trying to organize his neighbors to stop theft.
“We’ve been here three years, and ever since we moved in, I was aware there was a crime problem,” Oalican said, citing theft, loitering and underage drinking. “It’s been really bad in the past three or four months.” He said he had not had anything stolen.
Oalican, who lives with his wife, 2-year-old son and 4-month old daughter, said he worries about the potential for homeowners and criminals to get into violent confrontations.
“I don’t care why you broke into my house, you might as well be after my kids,” Oalican said. “I don’t want people to get hurt.”
UPDATE: Seven Days reported on this story this week too…
The irony is that locals believe they know exactly who is committing the crimes — the neighborhood email listserv, Front Porch Forum, has been abuzz with speculation.
Rebecca of the Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum chimes in today…
BTW, thanks for all your work on this forum. I do a lot of travel in my job, and it’s fun to be out of the country, often in the third world, tracking down an “internet cafe” – and I use that term lightly for some of the places I’ve been – and reading news or drama from the neighborhood.
Interesting to think of Front Porch Forum, the most local of online services, being used in the global way.
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