36 - Be Neighborly
This one is a little tough for me because I really don't like our neighborhood board. You know the group of neighbors that are supposed to enforce, with common sense, the CCRs??!! Example would be a neighbor had to put a No Solicitors sign up underneath his door bell. (We get an extreme amount of door to door sales people.) He is a police officer and worked nights - the ringing during the day was keeping him up. Well in our CCRs there is a "no signage rule" so they started to fine him on a daily basis. Not really neighborly of the board was it? Then he had to attend a board meeting so they could discuss for an hour if No Solicitors signs would be appropriate signage.
Situations like this is just the tip of the iceberg with this CCR board. I believe that they cause the non-neighborly behavior that exists in our sub-division.
FACTS
- The average dual-career couple works a combined 18.2 hours a day.
- Urban sprawl is creating longer commutes—approximately 25 minutes per day.
- People spend less than 15 minutes per day doing outside chores and gardening compared to over 3 hours watching TV or movies and surfing on the Internet.
- The average person or family has friends over for dinner about 45% less often than they did in the 70s.
- In 1926, the first electric automated garage door opener was invented by C. G. Johnson, beginning the drive-in-and-shut-the-door method of entering your home.
- The increased number of fenced backyards, coupled with the disappearance of front porches and verandas, has privatized residences more than ever.
- Meet a neighbor you’ve never met before. Simply knock on the door and introduce yourself. Take over something you’ve baked or grown in your garden, or invite them to your house for a beverage or a snack.
- Make yourself more available to your neighbors.
- Mow your front lawn, wash your car, go for a walk, or play with your children outside. Or, if you see neighbors doing the same, go out and visit.
- Plan a neighborhood yard sale or a block party.
- Write a quarterly neighborhood newsletter.
Does your mailman know your neighbors better than you do? It’s not enough to just drive by and wave to neighbors from your car window. To get to know your neighbors, you need to have personal interaction with them. But these days, people spend more time indoors watching TV and surfing the Internet than they do outside playing catch, taking walks, and talking to their neighbors. Change that pattern…Be counterculture. You will be amazed when you discover what’s right outside your front door.
