About two years ago, a nice woman moved to our Lakes Area of Oakland County, into our neighborhood at the end of the street. I had yet to meet her until a little over two months ago because I am at the other end of the street where we would not easily cross paths on a normal day.
Well, it wasn’t a normal day when we met. Unfortunately, some not-so-neighborly neighbors on her end of the street have been squatting on community parcel, leaving their watercrafts and marine toys all over our community dock and on her property as well.
For the last ten years, these bullying neighbors have been lying to the whole neighborhood that it is their property. However, after a little digging by another neighbor who is a realtor, we found that while they do own a parcel to the left of it, the larger area and the dock belong to the neighborhood. To the right of the community land is the new neighbor’s property.
When the realtor and another neighbor went down to explain the facts to the bullying neighbor, they got irate and called the police, hoping to get everyone off the area in question. Thankfully, the realtor had all the necessary paperwork from the township to show the police, and the bullying neighbors were told they were wrong and needed to move their stuff.
That’s when the new woman neighbor came down and asked if they were there because of the bullying neighbors. Once she understood what was going on, she shared that they’d been doing this to everyone, and the other neighbors didn’t like their nonsense either.
After that, the new neighbor decided to throw a block party to get to know each other and work together on how to move forward with the difficult, bullying neighbors. She had a lovely gathering on her deck overlooking the lake, with lots of food and good company. We all walked away feeling a lot better about our neighborhood and its future.
According to Building Blocks, in rediscovering the art of neighboring and block parties, “A neighborhood block party is the opportunity for neighbors to get together, meet each other, have fun, and maybe work together on a common activity.
10 REASONS TO HAVE A BLOCK PARTY
- To have fun – no excuses or reasons are needed to celebrate.
- To provide an opportunity to know your neighbors and where they live.
- To establish friendships.
- To increase that sense of belonging to a community.
- To learn a little about each other and know who might need a little extra help from time to time.
- To meet neighbors on your block that might be able to help you with a gardening problem, or lend you that needed ingredient for your recipe.
- To encourage neighbors to look after the neighborhood.
- To help with safety/crime prevention by knowing who lives where and who does not.
- To increase security by knowing each other’s schedules.
- To develop an opportunity to meet some of the old time neighbors and learn about your community history,”.
How do you get to know your neighbors
One of the favorite ways I had the pleasure of getting to know my neighbors was when my boys were elementary school age, and they were Cub Scouts selling popcorn during the annual fundraiser. By the way, Girl Scouts sell cookies, and the boys sell popcorn. Let’s just say it was a much harder sell with that expensive, albeit delicious popcorn.
Instead of just handing over their sales sheets to their parents to take to our places of work, or only calling family members for the sure sale, I taught my sons how to go on foot (walk), go door to door, pitch their product to the homeowner face-to-face, fill out their info on the sales sheet, make the sale, and inform them when to expect delivery of the popcorn.
It did not end there. Once the popcorn was delivered in bulk to our Cub Scout Pack, we referred back to our sales sheets, matched up the product to each customer, and then hand-delivered their purchases.
Most importantly, we got to know our neighbors, which we otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do. Furthermore, it was really cool for our neighbors to see kids out there fundraising in an old-school way.
What are some signs of a toxic neighbor?
One of our most notably toxic neighbors, houses an excessive number of pets. Unfortunately, this person is the sibling of the bullying neighbors and is not very neighborly either.
They have more than twenty cats that are not properly vaccinated, leaving their droppings on other neighbors’ properties, spreading diseases to other animals, and riling up and taunting neighbors’ dogs, but they are also left unsupervised. They also have a dog that roams the neighborhood unsupervised, leaving their feces on other neighbors’ lawns.
Furthermore, this neighbor has drug dealing/using people in and out of their home day and night. The police are constantly at this house. One night, one of the junkies tried to rob my son in our own driveway, but luckily, his brother was there to scare the guy off.
They also do not take care of their home:
- The grass is overgrown
- There are holes in the windows covered with black plastic garbage bags
- Overgrown foliage
- Diseased trees
- Scraggly shrubs
- The porch is sinking
- The roof is falling apart
It is very disheartening because the rest of the neighborhood maintains their properties and homes, but this person’s trashiness is bringing down everyone’s property values.
On the flip side, here are some ways I believe we can be good neighbors to each other:
- Keep landscaping, yards, and trees trimmed, clean, and beautified
- Maintain your property grounds, keeping them free of rubbish, non-working vehicles or tools, infectious pests or rodents, garbage, etc.
- Do safety/ well checks on elderly neighbors; offer to help with tasks
- Keep your noise levels respectful
- Wave hello!
- Keep pets safe by staying on your own property, make sure their waste is cleaned up and not on other neighbors’ property or communal areas, ensure dogs are trained, up to date on shots and licensing, do not have excessive barking issues, are not aggressive to other neighbors, their pets or children, and at the very least, behave respectfully in the neighborhood on walks or while in their yard as people walk past
- Do not house an excessive number of pets
- Keep home up to date, up to code, and maintained properly
- Be kind and courteous
- Host block parties and getting-to-know-you parties with a potluck menu
- Do not leave personal items in shared community spaces
- Be helpful when applicable
Neighborhood block party
In conclusion, strong neighborhoods begin with simple connections, mutual respect, and shared responsibility—and sometimes, one thoughtful block party can bring everyone together.
