Uncounted energies are invested every summer in neighborhoods. People paint their houses, plant and weed their gardens, plan barbecues with neighbors up and down the block.
We at The Evergreen State Society are pleased to work with neighborhood improvement organizations across the country to bring Front Steps to you.
The SAFECO Corporation supports the publication of Front Steps through a grant and other inkind assistance.
Our goal is to pass along good ideas to make neighborhoods safer, more attractive and more fun to live in. This "newsletter for neighborhoods and the people who live in them" will be published four times a year. If you have ideas for future issues, please send them to the address below. We look forward to hearing from you.
More Later,
Putnam Barber
President, The Evergreen State Society
Front Steps -- Volume 1, Number 1, Summer 1997
Marie Sauter, Managing Editor
Larry Williams, Communications Consultant
Melissa Morritt, Writer
Terri Nakamura, Designer
©1997 The Evergreen State Society www.tess.org
1122 East Pike Street, #444
Seattle, WA 98122-3934 USA
Email:
frontsteps@tess.org
The Evergreen State Society works to encourage healthy communities by furthering nonprofits and informal organizations. It was founded in 1990 in Seattle.
This online version of Front Steps lacks the graphics and other features of printed copies. Free printed copies of Front Steps are available by post; please send a complete postal address to the email address above.
Multiple copies of Front Steps are available at no charge to individuals and groups who will distribute them on a non-partisan, non-sectarian basis to low- and moderate-income urban householders. Contact The Evergreen State Society for more information about becoming a distributor.
Look out your windows. Can you attach names to your streetscape? Who lives in the house on the corner? What are the names of the kids down the street?
If you are like most people, you probably recognize many of your neighbors, nod politely to some, visit on the sidewalk with others. Many people actually make a list to keep next to the phone or on the 'fridge. It makes it easier to be sociable. It can also be immediately useful in any sort of emergency.
Taking the idea of a phone list one step further can be a great start to building a friendlier, safer neighborhood. It is easy and fun to do.
To start, just sketch a simple outline of your block using good-sized boxes for buildings and a couple of lines to indicate the street. Put the house numbers next to the boxes. Then fill in as many names as you know. Use the phone book to check spellings. It may help you add a name or two as well.
Now comes the fun part. Take your incomplete map to a neighbor - one whose name you already know! Ask for help with the empty boxes. Add as many names as you can, then decide together whose door to knock on next. Soon you will have people asking you for copies of your neighborhood map to put next to the phone or on the refrigerator door.
A map like this is a great resource for planning neighborhood events.
It can also give a big boost to community crime-prevention efforts, like Block Watch. And it helps you to make a quick call to check if everything is OK if you see a door standing open or the mail does not get picked up across the way.
Things you might want on your map:
Remember - some people may want to keep these details private. Your map should make people feel more comfortable and secure; if there are some who would prefer not to be included, then leaving their names off the map is just the polite thing to do.
Every year, 20% of Americans move to a new place. Chances are, you will bid farewell to some of your neighbors - and see new faces on your block - pretty often.
If you have a map with people's addresses on your block, it offers a great way to say "welcome." Make a copy. Draw a circle around where you live. Leave it with the new people when you introduce yourself.
Here are some other things new neighbors might find useful:
Moving can be stressful. Your new neighbors may not be ready for relaxed visiting when they first arrive. When they are ready, they will welcome being welcomed to their new neighborhood.
The old song tells us in summertime, the living is easy. Anyone with a list of home improvement chores may be humming a different tune.
Outside work has its own compensations, to be sure. A wave over the fence takes some stress out of weeding or mowing the lawn. A more experienced neighbor may have a friendly hint for an unfamiliar task. Someone on the block may know a contractor if the job is, indeed, beyond you.
Many chores are a lot easier with an extra pair of hands joining in the work. We all have times when we just cannot keep ahead of things without a little extra help. And we all have times when we are ready to pitch in with a helping hand for senior citizens, young families just starting out, people who meet an extra challenge like using a wheelchair, or any other neighbor up or down the block.
It is tricky if you want to offer help where none has been asked but some may be needed. The advice of community activists, ministers and other observers is simple: avoid offering help, ask for it instead. Your neighbor may be able to help by providing advice about plant care, a favored recipe, tips on how to use a tool or solve a problem. Then you can offer to lend a hand with pruning or clearing out the gutters or fixing the latch on the gate in return. Just be sure what you ask for is something you need and what you offer is something you really are willing to do.
This kind of give and take is even easier, of course, if you have a chosen day for "Fix Up" on your block. Spending some time taking care of your public spaces leads naturally into giving a hand to a neighbor where some extra elbow grease may be welcomed.
Some neighborhoods have a tradition of sharing the cost of renting specialized equipment that only gets used once a season - like a pressure washer or a post-hole digger. If you need a big machine for some task around your place, check with some neighbors. It is likely you will find others who want to go in on the deal with you. If you do, you can not only split the cost several ways, but you also divide the errands of hauling the machinery back and forth and can share insights into making sure it performs properly.
You step into your oldest clothes, shoe covers, and a painter's cap. It is time to paint the old homestead and you intend to tackle the job in style.
Take a minute to do some checking before you jump to this task. If your place was built before 1978, you will need to be careful to avoid spreading lead around the neighborhood in the dust from your sanding. Heavily leaded paints could be anywhere - walls, windows or doors, railings, furniture, even play equipment. Lead poisoning is especially serious in children and it can harm babies even before birth, damaging the brain, causing learning disabilities and slowing growth.
Lead paint in good condition and out of reach of children poses only a minimal risk. But when it is chipping, cracking or peeling - or when you go after it with the sandpaper - it can be dangerous indeed. You will want to be sure any hazards are handled completely and safely. The worst of it is, just painting over the area cannot make a permanent repair, since the lead from the layers underneath will still escape if the new paint is chipped or sanded away.
Removing lead-based paint is not a do-it-yourself project. A state-certified contractor for this kind of work - called lead-based paint abatement - should be brought in so the work is done correctly. Talk to your city's building department or a neighborhood improvement association before you start painting a pre-1978 building. Or you can call 800-532-5323 toll-free (TDD 800-526-5456) for information on protecting children from lead hazards and for resources in your area.
Before air conditioners, people had all sorts of tricks for staying cool in summer, many worth revisiting.
Getting out of town this summer? Whether for a long vacation, a couple of weeks on the road or a weekend with the in-laws, let trusted neighbors know before you head out of town. That way they know to keep an eye on things while you are away.
Offer to do the same for them when you ask neighbors - front, back and both sides - to help out at your place while it is vacant.
Here is a checklist of ideas you can use, and add to yourself, as you get ready:
It is one of the simplest steps you can take to make your home more secure and your block a safer, friendlier place - leave your porch light on from dusk to dawn and encourage your neighbors to do the same thing.
If there are shadow areas around your house that might conceal an intruder, think about adding new outside lighting or just put a light on a table where it can shine out the window. But be careful too - avoid shining unwelcome bright lights in neighbors' windows.
Motion detectors that switch on the lights when someone comes near can make areas safer while sending a warning message to prowlers. Timers and light-sensitive devices can also turn lights on and off for you.
Leaving porch lights on is only one of the things everyone can do to improve neighborhood security. If there is no Block Watch or other cooperative organization for your street, consider starting one. Your neighborhood association or someone in the police department should have some information on how to begin.
Blocks where the porch lights send out welcoming messages look friendlier to everyone - except the bad guys. It is truly one of the best things you can do for your community...and all it takes is flipping the switch.
Use this formula to estimate the annual cost of leaving your porch light on for an average of twelve hours each night. Then check to see if switching to a compact flourescent bulb could save you money. They burn just as brightly, use far less power and last much longer than incandescent bulbs.
_______ ¢ per kwh X _______ watts X 4.38 = $_______ per year
Cost per kwh (kilowatt hour) should be on your electric bill and wattage is listed on the bulb itself. (4.38 equals 12 hours per night times 365 days per year divided by 1,000, to allow use of price-per-kwh.)
It is always hard to say goodbye to your house plants when you leave on vacation. It is true...they will miss your special touch. But you do not have to hire a specially trained plant sitter to keep them healthy. If there is no neighbor with a green thumb who will look in on them, then try this trick (from Mother Earth's Hassle-Free Indoor Plant Book) to keep your plants thriving until you get home.
Fill your bathtub with about six inches of water. Take all the plants that need watering into the bathroom and set them above the water - inverted flowerpots make good bases. Then tape several sheets of transparent food wrap or a drycleaning bag over your whole bathtub garden and leave the light on in the room while you are away.
Your plants can rest on their own for up to a couple of weeks in this makeshift greenhouse.
The Evergreen State Society and community-based organizations across the country cooperate in producing and distributing Front Steps. This work is supported in part by SAFECO Corporation (www.safeco.com).
©1997 The Evergreen State Society, Seattle, WA USA
Permission is hereby granted to quote without alteration and with credit to The Evergreen State Society as the source.