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Dec

18

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

By: Amanda Hoffman, PR Specialist | December 18, 2006 |

Mrrogers You may have read about (or experienced!) the major windstorm that hit the Seattle area this past weekend.  I was on vacation in Whistler, B.C. and as much as I tried to leave life behind and simply enjoy hitting the slopes, I couldn’t help but worry about all the damage I kept hearing about on the news– and that very large, half-dead tree in our backyard we’ve been meaning to take down.  My worries were further confounded when I received an email on my Blackberry from a coworker, telling me his roof had been smashed by an 80 foot tree (thankfully no one was hurt)!

This got me wondering… if a tree fell on my house, or some other disaster struck while I was gone, how would I know?  I don’t really know any of my neighbors beyond a friendly wave and hello while walking the dog or taking out the garbage.  Would anyone call me if something happened to my house?  Would anyone even know how to get a hold of me? 

When I was a kid living in suburbia, we knew our neighbors by name, knew when they were on vacation and how to get a hold of them.  We even fed their cats and watered their plants while they were gone.  If I threw a party while my parents were out of town, you better believe they would find out about it when they returned!  What a difference from the polite yet impersonal "relationships" I have with my neighbors today.

Is this neighborhood dynamic an example of the urban legend known as the "Seattle freeze?"  Is it simply a sign of changing times?  Or is it more of a suburb vs. city thing?  Whatever the case, I’m going to try a little harder to get to know my neighbors… and I’m having that tree removed before the next windstorm hits.

Photo by Family Communications, Inc.

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Topics: Real Estate, Zillow |

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Comments

4 Comments so far

  1. Robert Melton on December 19, 2006 9:28 am

    I’m glad to hear you’ll be making a new effort to meet your neighbors. I’ve just moved to a new place and I will be making a similar effort.

    I’ve lived in a number of neighborhoods on the East Coast and I don’t think the problem is unique to Seattle. I’d blame it on the people (everyone’s busy and it takes an effort to become friends with your neighbors) and the neighborhoods (some neighborhoods are simply structured in a way that increases interaction).

  2. R.P. Aditya on December 19, 2006 10:17 am

    Neighborhoods and communities where the residents WANT to know their neighbors exist — if you really want to know your neighbors, live in an “Intentional Community” (www.ic.org) and for something that isn’t “hippie” or “commune” or similarly threatening, you should check out a Cohousing (www.cohousing.org) neighborhood — several of which are in and around Seattle. Cohousing is a tangible way to express the value of living in a neighborhood where the neighbors want to also!

  3. Si on December 20, 2006 11:57 am

    I have never heard of the Seattle Freeze but now that you mention it, I do see it from time to time.

    From the standpoint of a longtime renter, I’ve noticed that it depends on the apartment complex you live in and the neighborhood. My last apartment had a very nice manager who would take the time to get to know you; curiously, everyone in the complex seemed to be the same way.

    In my current apartment, it’s reversed - I’ve never seen the manager in person and though everyone here is nice, nobody really seems to want to exchange anything past pleasantries.

  4. Mariana Wagner on December 22, 2006 8:40 pm

    Knowing your neighbors… It is SO important. I have lived in several ‘hoods where I knew maybe 1 or 2 people. Our new neighborhood is amazing! Summertime brings huge BBQ’s in the neighborhood park, Also, we had a ton of snowfall over the past couple days and everyone was out digging everyone else out of their homes. It was beautiful - such that I created a blog- just for my neighborhood. Community is so important.
    Im glad that no one was hurt by the tree!

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