Neighbourhood connections and NIMBY

As I have mentioned in several of the previous blogs, I am starting to make some serious neighbourhood connections through doing walking my dog 2x/day in the park. Whether the easy converstaion start-ups are a result of a friendly neighbourhood, or the fact that my dog has no social boundaries is another discussion. The point is, in utilizing the park, connections happen.

The other day, i was walking the mutt, and Jesse (the dog) went running up to a lady who was also out for a stroll. She was a dog lover, and so, as usually occurs, she began talking to Jesse, and then asking me questions about the dog, which eventually evolved to a conversation between the two humans. Turns out, she lives on my street and not only got me on the listserve for the "friends of summit park", but was also hosting a neighbourhood block watch party on the weekend.

Why a neighbourhood block watch? Well, there is one house on the block which has, on occassion, fallen on hard times. From what nieghbours have told me, the occupants were long time residents, who though a series of unfurtunate events got mixed up with some heavy street drugs. When this happened, it eventually progressed to increased break-ins in the neighbourhood, and at least one violent incident.

It is important to note, that this neighbourhood is neither predominantly low or high income. There are a few low income rentals, and a few apparently affluent, but on the whole, I believe it to be mostly middle class. I was pleasantly suprised to find that when the crimes began to affect the neighbourhood, the people who live here neither ignored it and wished it away OR used there influence to push it out of their reality. The latter for which I refered to is a symptom of NIMBY, which stands for Not In My Back Yard; which is a phenomenon whereby the affluent can buy their way out of having to live with unpleasantries such as poverty and industry.

What occured when one of the locals was having a difficult time? The neighbours communicated. They acted. They let the people in question know that it was not OK to bring unsafe elements around their children. They patrolled, they documented. It may sound somewhat like vigilante action, but the end result is this....the family who own that house, (and have lived in this neighbourhood for sevare decades) are still there. they are healthier, and the illegal activity has subsided. I say "hi" on a regular basis. And I think that this had a happy ending due to community connections: people working out problems together.