Category Archives: Neighborhood Watch

Bear Market finally hits Baldwin Rd

Posted on Monday, March 23, 2009 by • Comments are off for this post

Bill’s not letting the economy — or a bear attack — get him down (as posted to his Hinesburg neighbors on Front Porch Forum today)…

Bear Market finally hits Baldwin Rd

Delighted with the Budd and Schubart bird delis and their cornucopia of curious feeding devices, a hungry black bear, out for a Saturday evening ramble on the old French Farm, made short work of the feeders and poles, leaving a scattered array of mangled metal and plastic on the deck and front lawn of each residence and making a great deal of noise. Great fun.

Bill@Schubart.com
http://www.Schubart.com

Children stoning refugees spark community response

Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 by • Comments are off for this post

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.

Front Porch Forum in Two Slides

Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 by • Comments are off for this post

Here’s Front Porch Forum boiled down to two slides…

Community More Powerful Than Locks!

Posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 by • Comments are off for this post

On the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, Hilary just posted the following to Front Porch Forum in Burlington’s Old North End…

Community More Powerful Than Locks!

Hi folks – With all this talk about bike theft, thought it would be a good time to share with you that my bike, which I reported stolen about a month ago, was spotted by a friend and successfully returned to me!  I’d also like to share how super supportive this community was in response–I received over 10 offers to borrow or keep spare bikes.  I feel very, very, fortunate to live here, and appreciate the ways we work together.  Thanks to everyone!

Another great example of how many of us are surrounded by inherrent goodwill. Regrettably, it mostly goes unnoticed and untapped.  Front Porch Forum is in a privileged position… to be able to help people help their previously anonymous and unknown neighbors… it’s hard to describe the impact of these small gestures as they accumulate.

Alleged vandal faces prosecution in wake of community response

Posted on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by • Comments are off for this post

Burlington Police Officer Mike Hemond posted an update on Front Porch Forum today about a well-publicized vandalism case (this blog, Seven Days and Burlington Free Press).

Hello everyone, it’s been a pretty steady late summer / fall for me, so I’ve not been able to post on the Forum for a bit. I’d just like to take a minute to get two updates out, if you have a few minutes to spare:

I wanted to let everybody know that in regards to the VENSR graffiti case, the first hurdle in the process has now been cleared. He was charged, as everyone knows, and then the case grew to include acts in 3 different towns, in large part due to the community response. The suspect was arraigned a short time ago, and the judge ‘found probable cause’ and released the suspect on a court order. This means that the case was sent by the police to the State’s Attorney, reviewed and submitted to the Court by the State at arraignment, and then reviewed by the Judge and found to have merit, an arraignment held, and now the case is in the ‘pre-trial’ process. SA Donovan has elected to prosecute this case himself, and considering the workload over there, that’s no small thing.

In other news, information in this case was also rolled into another occurrence of vandalism, so a second, smaller, string of graffiti cases was solved as well. That individual was also cited into criminal court, and I anticipate SA Donovan taking a firm line on that case as well.

So in short, somewhere on the order of 60+ charges were filed in two strings of cases, the first one closed with help from the community, and  the second closed with the aid of information gained in the first. It’s a great example of a neighborhood getting involved, stepping up to the plate and hitting a home run!

Thanks again to all those who helped out, and I’ll see you on the sidewalks.
Mike

FPF BIRTHDAY AND Q AND A

Posted on Thursday, October 2, 2008 by • 1 comment

Front Porch Forum is two years old!  Thanks to everyone helping this local invention grow… 11,000 local household subscribing and counting.  Recognition continues to roll in… PBS just included Front Porch Forum on its short-list of great examples of local community building online, and we’re a finalist for a national award from the Rural Telecom Congress.  http://frontporchforum.com/blog/recognition-and-awards

We get questions…

QUESTION – My friend Sally is not on Front Porch Forum yet, and she swears she’s never heard of it!  But I know I told her to sign up months ago.  What gives?

ANSWER – We hear this kind of thing every day.  While one in five Chittenden County households subscribe to FPF already, that leaves LOTS of people who are not on board yet.  And we depend wholly on our members to spread the word.  Most people need to hear about something like this 7-8 times before they actually register.  So please… reach out today to everyone on your local e-lists (any resident of the 19 towns within Chittenden County are welcome to join this free service)… send them a note encouraging them to join FPF at http://frontporchforum.com Thank you!

QUESTION – Does FPF really work?

ANSWER – Oh yes!  Quotes from FPF members…

  • “Because of Front Porch Forum we found our lost cat! Home safe and sound now!”  -Ila Abramson
  • “Front Porch Forum exponentially multiplied our community’s response to the fundraiser for a neighborhood child battling cancer.”  -Vince Brennan
  • “I was overwhelmed with 15 offers to loan a post hole digger… thanks to Front Porch Forum!”  -Doug Graver
  • “We sold our minivan today to a neighbor through Front Porch Forum. More people called from FPF than from the Burlington Free Press, Cars.com and Craigslist combined.”  -Wolfgang Hokenmaier
  • “More than 80 people turned out for the Neighborhood Planning Assembly… thank you Front Porch Forum.”  -Linda Deliduka
    Lots more… http://frontporchforum.com/testimonials

QUESTION – How can I reach people beyond my own FPF Neighborhood Forum?

ANSWER – Join the FPF Neighborhood Volunteer Forum.  More than 350 local FPF members/boosters participate in this online exchange of county-wide postings… and many volunteers forward what they find there on to their neighbors via FPF.  http://frontporchforum.com/tour/volunteers.php

QUESTION – Can FPF really make a difference?

ANSWER – Well, PEOPLE can and do make a difference when they have easy access to their nearby neighbors.  Some recent discussions on FPF…

  • Essex Junction shooting leads to a neighborhood watch forming and a block party getting organized to help nearby neighbors get to know each other.
  • About 40% of Westford households participate in discussion about town meeting vs. Australian ballot through FPF.
  • Richmond rallies to deal with bridge closure.  Local officials, businesses and citizens turn to each other through FPF.
  • Winooski residents debate City leadership issues.
  • A South Burlington neighborhood starts sharing “Local Secrets”… under-appreciated restaurants, “hidden gem” tailor, etc.
  • Burlington Old North End residents challenge police response to car break-ins.
  • Burlington South End neighborhood debates offensive/clever name of new pizza joint.
  • Burlington New North Enders use FPF to question development of little-known disc golf course being built in Leddy Park.
  • Burlington Hill residents work with police through FPF to catch vandals.
    More… http://frontporchforum.com/blog/?cat=9

QUESTION – How does FPF pay the bills?  And, can businesses reach customers through FPF?

ANSWER – Front Porch Forum sells ad space to local businesses to generate much of its income.  And we’re hearing back from these advertisers (75 and counting) that they are getting solid results.  We have a handful of ad slots still open for this fall for any businesses or nonprofits interested.  And to everyone else reading, please support the FPF sponsors by clicking on the links in their ads and checking out their offerings.  Learn more… http://frontporchforum.com/sponsorship/sponsors.php

QUESTION – I’m not receiving my FPF neighborhood forum anymore.  Help!  [okay, that’s not a question.. ]

ANSWER – Please check your FPF account and keep your email address current.  Also, check your spam filter… PLEASE train it to allow/whitelist incoming messages from frontporchforum.com  Details.. http://frontporchforum.com/faq/#20

Here’s to a colorful fall!

Graffiti Arrest Made

Posted on Saturday, September 6, 2008 by • 1 comment

Posted by Officer Mike Hemond of the Burlington Police Dept. on Front Porch Forum tonight (Sept. 6, 2008)…

Hello everybody – I just wanted to make sure people saw that an arrest was made in the graffiti case that started on the 15th on Hayward Street. Officer Belleville, Mr Derbes, and I worked together to generate some good information for the case, and with the help of Front Porch Forum, the cooperation of the media and the community at large, the suspect was identified, and an arrest was made.  With that being said, I do need people to let me know if they have a “VENSR” tag on their property that hasn’t been reported. All the ones on Hayward and Marble Ave have been taken care of, but if you’ve got other “VENSR”s out there, please let me know. The “PH” tag is part of this case as well, but I have all the ones of that that we need.

Without the help of the neighborhood awareness that we share, and the willingness of members of the community to take action addressing problems in their area, this case would not have been possible. Thanks again for all your help and support as we worked through this, and your patience for the 3 weeks it took to put this together.

See you on the sidewalks,
Mike

WCAX has photos and the Free Press provides a name.

Past posts about this issue… here, here and here.

Using online services to fight vs. commit crime

Posted on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 by • Comments are off for this post

I like CraigsList and am in awe of its unfathomunable scale (estimated value: $9 billion).  And occasionally people will draw comparisons to our comparatively tiny start-up, Front Porch Forum.

So it was interesting today when someone pointed out that the local versions of both services are in the news this week here in Burlington… but with different spins…

CraigsList for being used to commit crimes (alleged prostitution) and…

Front Porch Forum for being used to fight crimes (vandalism, theft, speeding).

College Students Rush FPF

Posted on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 by • Comments are off for this post

We tend to get high marks from local college students… a little surprising coming from the “Facebook Generation”… we love to hear it.  And the other day we had a rush of 200 UVM off-campus undergrads register in response to this note from their student government president…

Live off campus? Join Front Porch Forum

If you live off campus then you should definitely join the Front Porch Forum. Front Porch Forum is an online community or your neighbors. In my forum (the South Union Neighborhood Forum) I receive word about trends in vandalism, break-ins, road construction, yard-sales, help-wanted, help-offered, and all sorts of other things going on just a few doors down from mine. Living downtown means you have neighbors and you’re a resident of a community. Front Porch Forum offers you one easy connection to that community. Check it out!

About Blog

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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