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.
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.
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.
News flash… Valentine’s during a recession can be an important event for retailers and restaurants. Or maybe that’s obvious. We’re seeing a rush this week of free postings and paid advertisements coming into Front Porch Forum.
In fact, I just called one of our advertisers, StrayCat Flower Farm, to place an order for my own sweetie (hope she’s not reading this blog!). And the owner, Diana Doll, enthusiastically shared this quote with me…
“We’ve received more business from our Front Porch Forum ad than from any other media.”
Glad to hear it! We love to help. In fact, we’re getting more and more micro-businesses buying ads. However, the small and medium-size businesses are more limited. Those that do advertise with FPF also report remarkable results. Still others are not yet interested in testing the waters… I guess changing old habits and understanding new opportunities aren’t easy. Here’s a list of some of our advertisers.
Meghan Dewald posted on Seven Days’ Blurt today…
One thing I like about my Front Porch Forum listserv is the regular updates from the Burlington Fire Marshal’s office whenever there’s a fire in my neighborhood. It’s rare to get detailed information directly from a public official about what happened at the scene of an accident — and despite the rubbernecking aspect, each update also drives home a particular point abut fire safety.
The most recent such update from Assistant Fire Marshal Thomas Middleton detailed how rodents were to blame for a bizarre Hill section blaze last weekend…
I understand that this is no laughing matter; lots of Vermont houses have mice living in the walls, and they can wreak havoc with property… But I have to admit that I giggled at the title of the “Mice Caused House Fire” update on my Front Porch Forum…
Nice post. Although Meghan clearly didn’t get the “listserv” memo.
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.
I had to share a posting from Sarah Judd tonight on her FPF neighborhood forum in Burlington’s Old North End…
Please join us for the opening of the ONE Woman photography show this Friday, January 30th, at the Burlington College Community Gallery, 95 North Ave. in Burlington. The Gallery will be open from 3-9 p.m., with a reception from 6-8 p.m. If you can’t make the opening, you can see the show at the dates and times below, or by calling Burlington College at 862-9616 to make an appointment:
Friday, January 30, 3-9 p.m.
Saturday, January 31, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, February 1, 10 a.m. -4 p.m.
Monday, February 2, 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Tuesday, February 3, 8:30 a.m.-2:45 p.m.
Friday, February 6, 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.The ONE Woman photography project is a display of 200 photographs taken by 170 women living, working and learning in the Old North End. Project participants included women who have lived in the ONE for two months and women who have lived here all of their lives. Our youngest participant was 10, and the oldest was 85. The project, I hope, is a document of women’s lives in the ONE, illustrating who our unique neighbors are and how we live, and shows connecting links between the diverse groups of women from many backgrounds living in the same community.
This project was inspired, in part, by a Front Porch Forum post by Bridget Burns, who witnessed a group of children throwing rocks at a Somali family last April [emphasis added]. I thought if I could show who we are living in the ONE, the things we all care about like our families, places we love, pets, streets, etc., this commonality and familiarity with each other would hopefully prevent things like the rock throwing incident from happening again. We live in a great place, filled with great people, and I hope the show reflects this. So thanks, for your post, Bridget.
I also got several participants for the project through a post on the FPF, so thanks FPF ONECentral and the ONE women who participated!
This makes my day (week, month!). The posting that inspired this artist has haunted me for months. This is the power of a tool like Front Porch Forum. The problem was shared on FPF and much discussion ensued. Out of that (and other sources of inspiration) came this art project. The artist used FPF to pull her project together and bring in collaborators. And, now, she’s using FPF to share word of it with hundreds of nearby neighbors.
UPDATE: Mike Ives filed a good piece about this show for Seven Days. In part…
Judd’s inspiration came last April, when she read a post on the local listserv Front Porch Forum titled “Neighborhood Bigotry.” The post’s author, a twentysomething Old North End woman, reported seeing a group of boys throwing rocks at a family of Somali refugees. Judd, 42, a Connecticut native who grew up in a multiracial family, wondered if the incident would have occurred if the boys had known more about the immigrants they chose to terrorize.
Wow! Once Front Porch Forum members got the hang of our “Nine Words for 2009” contest, the entries started to roll in… 990 at last count! And more than half were submitted from subscribers who had never posted before. Hopefully, their neighbors will be hearing from them again, now that they successfully posted their first message to their neighborhood forum.
I intended to write a thorough blog post about the nine-word entries, but the 25 pages of brief missives proved overwhelming… there’s a book hiding in there. So here’s a random sample of nine-word wonders… there’s more where these came from…
And on and on! Here are a few more…
Front Porch Forum members are having fun with the Nine Words for 2009 raffle. Any resident of Chittenden County, VT may join FPF and enter the raffle! Some entries from today…
UPDATE 1: Posting a comment to this blog will NOT enter you in the raffle! You must post to your FPF neighborhood forum to enter the drawing.
UPDATE 2: More entries and the winners!
Front Porch Forum gets lots of predictable postings among neighbors, but I didn’t see this one coming…
“Does anyone know of a place that would have a vintage style Hearse that I could rent like a Limo? Do I just start cold calling Funeral Parlors?” -Brennan in Burlington’s Old North End
“Cold calling” indeed.
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