Chinese
 |
Submitted by Scott Hettrick on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 12:00am.
by Scott Hettrick
Sometimes resurrecting old traditions is the best way to start new ones.
For nearly ten years my wife and I would see many people on our street regularly while taking our afternoon/evening walk, but we didn't know the names of many of them, much less anything about them. There isn't much time to say more than hello or make a comment about the weather or their dog when you're walking past each other in opposite directions.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Block Party Boosts Neighborhood Friends and Security
by Scott Hettrick- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
So, four years ago my wife decided it might be worthwhile to throw a block party to get to know the people on our street a little better. After typing in a few lines and a couple graphics in a Word document on the computer and printing out some flyers on plain paper, she and I spent 20 minutes handing them out door-to-door. Within a couple days we were pleased to receive a number of rsvp calls from neighbors who seemed genuinely excited about the idea and very appreciative that someone took the initiative.
Last Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. we watched as more than 40 of our neighbors began coming out their front doors and walking towards our cul de sac carrying folding chairs and all manner of potluck food and drinks. Within minutes everyone had gathered around the several portable tables at the end of a driveway to nibble on appetizers and start chatting and introducing themselves to each other. Our street, like many others in Arcadia, is a delightful cultural blend of Caucasians, Chinese, Japanese, Hispanic, and East Indian, some who are new to the street and some who have lived here for decades. Most all of them have attended this now-annual gathering, and this year we were joined by the friends of one of our neighbors from the cultrually exotic lands of New Jersey and Philadelphia.
It's delightful getting to know more about our neighbors, what they are involved with, where they came from, places they've been recently or things they have done, tips they have about local shopping or dining, and the names and interests of the children on the block. It's also easy to enjoy the enormous amount and variety of great food and wine that everyone brings.
This year one of our neighbors was prompted to share with the group that he is involved with a support Chapter of the City of Hope and that he would be hosting a big garage sale at his home on our street this weekend. We were all also interested to hear from a couple who are involved with the Arcadia Public Library, who offered brief summaries of the opportunities to donate and buy books and volunteer to teach English to Chinese. All of this information was news and of great interest to most everyone.
It's such a simple thing to do for a couple hours once a year, and so appreciated by all involved and helpful for months and years to come, but so few people take the time to do it anymore.
If you need a more practical reason to motivate you to do the same thing in your neighborhood, we learned just a few days before our block party last week that one of the newer families on our street suffered a break-in at their home one weekday afternoon last week. So, my wife invited a couple of our friends who work with the City's police volunteers (VIPS) to come and join our block party. They, along with one of our own neighbors who is also a police volunteer, provided all of us with some great home safety tips. And they said that one of the best thngs we could do was exactly what we were doing, take the time to get to know one another in order to establish a familiarity so that we can feel comfortable contacting each other or the police when we notice something out of the ordinary. And with a more personal investment in the well-being of neighbors with whom we have established a relationship or even a friendship, we are more likely to make an extra effort to keep an eye out for one another, which we were told would be one of the best ways to prevent a crime from happening.
But best of all, organizing an easy and brief neighborhood activity gives you a chance to get to know your neighbors, who, it turns out, in most cases and for many reasons, are really worth knowing.
Know Thy Neighbor
By the pictures, it looks like the weather was nice for your recently concluded block party. During my fifties and sixties youth years in Arcadia, I fondly remember fun and neighborly get togethers on our "cul-de-sac", which in those politically incorrect days was referred to as a "dead end". Not only did our "block party" give us rambuncious boys an opportunity to chase the girls around, I think it provided one of our more gregarious neighbors, legitimate turf to satisfy an insaitiable appetite for his overt inquistiveness and need to know. (He would have made a great reporter). Crime was a distant concern, as it was common practice to leave our house doors unlocked most of the time, certainly unthinkable in these times.
Arcadia has several local homeowner associations. Depending on which association you belong to, and their meetings are also excellent venues to know thy neighbor, share one another's hospitality, and discuss neighborhood safety concerns.
It was nice to learn about you and your wife leadership in organizing what turned out to be a very nice Sunday afternoon for one and all.
Gene Glasco
Director-Highland Oaks Homeowners Association
Post new comment