Kind of a S/O - what do your neighbors hate the most?

[tvguy]

We are a bit of the outcasts too! I love my neighborhood and neighbors, I enjoy chatting on occasion, will watch your house/collect your mail while you are on vaca, will wave and smile as we drive by..........but I just don't want to be a part of the stuff like community potlucks, neighborhood get togethers, parties etc. We are pretty low key, keep to ourselves, private people.

LOL, never seen that on ours. Just reports of suspicious vehicles, loud noises, and updates on every time the sheriff's helicopter flies over

 

[wenrob]

Drama is inevitable but if you can just scroll past it, there are some beneficial topics that are discussed. We have a lot of people who post recommendations for lawn companies, contractors, etc. Or you can post seeking recommendations, which I have had success with. It's been helpful when neighbors' pets get out. Neighbors who need a babysitter or help with something. Organizing a neighborhood yard sale. And even notifying other neighbors of those darn coyotes! IMO, it's better to be a part of it so you can be aware of your neighborhood and surroundings, and just scroll right past any drama and arguing.

Meh, I can find out all of those things on my own. I'm going to trust my own judgement or that of a friend before I take Mrs. Kravitz's up the street word for it. If I see your dog out I'll return him to you or if I see you need a hand I'll gladly offer. I don't need to develop a personal relationship and know every minute detail to be aware of what's happening in the neighborhood or be a good neighbor.

As far as scrolling past the drama, yeah, I can do that but it's still there and I'd rather not be a part of it in any form or fashion. If I'm sitting on my front porch or go for a walk with my kids the scuttle but is immediately brought to me whether I like it or not. I just move along the best that I can because I really don't want to know that so and so's kids got kicked off the bus, the old biddy up the street is the one who will turn you in to the HOA in a heartbeat, the guy across the street has more than one baby mama. I've figured these things out on my own with simple observation, I have no need to discuss them. Good fences make good neighbors as they say.

 

[nkereina]

Meh, I can find out all of those things on my own. I'm going to trust my own judgement or that of a friend before I take Mrs. Kravitz's up the street word for it. If I see your dog out I'll return him to you or if I see you need a hand I'll gladly offer. I don't need to develop a personal relationship and know every minute detail to be aware of what's happening in the neighborhood or be a good neighbor.

As far as scrolling past the drama, yeah, I can do that but it's still there and I'd rather not be a part of it in any form or fashion. If I'm sitting on my front porch or go for a walk with my kids the scuttle but is immediately brought to me whether I like it or not. I just move along the best that I can because I really don't want to know that so and so's kids got kicked off the bus, the old biddy up the street is the one who will turn you in to the HOA in a heartbeat, the guy across the street has more than one baby mama. I've figured these things out on my own with simple observation, I have no need to discuss them. Good fences make good neighbors as they say.

To each their own. Fair enough. I don't talk to any of my neighbors except for a "Hi" and a wave, so I definitely don't have a personal relationship with any of them, even though I belong to the Facebook group. From a neighborhood watch perspective, I just think a communication medium can be a positive thing. Everyone is looking out for each other, even if there's some bickering that goes on. It's very easy to ignore and scroll past the things that are of no interest to you, but you may find value in some things, which is why I belong to it.

 

[rastahomie]

I know a couple people who use wood to supplement the gas heat in their house. And no, we're not out in the boonies. My dad keeps one going in their basement most of the winter.

Where I live (in the woods of southeastern Missouri), you can either heat your house with wood or be cold. Wood is the most abundant natural resource around here, none of the houses have underground gas lines. and for those houses where wood isn't an option (say an old person lives there and can't be carrying around logs), they get by on either electric baseboard heaters or space heaters. I couldn't imagine anyone complaining about neighbors using wood to heat their homes; 99% of the houses here have wood-burning furnaces.

For what it's worth: the prevailing wisdom is that burning wood is carbon neutral, since whatever CO2 is created by burning the wood had already been sucked out of the atmosphere by the tree that provided the wood. I'm not a scientist, so I can't say for certain. Just what I remember reading somewhere.

 

[kimmar067]

Where I live (in the woods of southeastern Missouri), you can either heat your house with wood or be cold. Wood is the most abundant natural resource around here, none of the houses have underground gas lines. and for those houses where wood isn't an option (say an old person lives there and can't be carrying around logs), they get by on either electric baseboard heaters or space heaters. I couldn't imagine anyone complaining about neighbors using wood to heat their homes; 99% of the houses here have wood-burning furnaces.

For what it's worth: the prevailing wisdom is that burning wood is carbon neutral, since whatever CO2 is created by burning the wood had already been sucked out of the atmosphere by the tree that provided the wood. I'm not a scientist, so I can't say for certain. Just what I remember reading somewhere.

.....hmmmm....I vote for "wood"......

 

[ronandannette]

I just remembered a monumental one - the McDonald's war. We live in an upscale mid-town neighbourhood that was planned in the early '50's as a residential enclave and when large regional shopping centres began to emerge. It has only one access off a major thoroughfare, with a single, small commercial and retail development at the entrance (small grocery store, liquor store, drug store, medical offices and a casual bistro-type restaurant). Everything needed for the convenience of the average mid-century family.

Several years ago the gas station closed and the lot was acquired by McDonald's. The development permit has been hung up ever since by protests and lobbyists insisting "that sort of place" isn't right for the area. Too low-brow and "gasp" might lead to non-residents roaming around on our streets. There have been rallies, petitions, phone campaignes and fliers delivered at least once a month. We actually had a first face-to-face meeting with a neighbour shortly after we moved in when she came around looking for signatures on a "Stop the McDonald's" petition.

We are in the (much less visible) camp of "who cares"?!? Build it, don't build it - doesn't make any difference to us.

 

[kimmar067]

I just remembered a monumental one - the McDonald's war. We live in an upscale mid-town neighbourhood that was planned in the early '50's as a residential enclave and when large regional shopping centres began to emerge. It has only one access off a major thoroughfare, with a single, small commercial and retail development at the entrance (small grocery store, liquor store, drug store, medical offices and a casual bistro-type restaurant). Everything needed for the convenience of the average mid-century family.

Several years ago the gas station closed and the lot was acquired by McDonald's. The development permit has been hung up ever since by protests and lobbyists insisting "that sort of place" isn't right for the area. Too low-brow and "gasp" might lead to non-residents roaming around on our streets. There have been rallies, petitions, phone campaignes and fliers delivered at least once a month. We actually had a first face-to-face meeting with a neighbour shortly after we moved in when she came around looking for signatures on a "Stop the McDonald's" petition....

....sounds like some of hose people need to get a life. [possibly the premise for a great comedy movie perhaps? ]

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Meh, I can find out all of those things on my own. I'm going to trust my own judgement or that of a friend before I take Mrs. Kravitz's up the street word for it. If I see your dog out I'll return him to you or if I see you need a hand I'll gladly offer. I don't need to develop a personal relationship and know every minute detail to be aware of what's happening in the neighborhood or be a good neighbor.

At least with our two sites there is no way that the majority of the dogs/cats that get out would be returned to their owners without the two sites. People post pictures, give descriptions of what type of dog/cat (and their demeanor too like scared of people ran away when I tried to get close to it, etc), tell the location of when the dog/cat was last seen, notify that the animal was picked up by animal control, etc. Owners can report their animal is lost and give notice if they have a collar on or not or if they are microchipped or not, etc. They can quickly communicate that the animal was found and reunite them without getting animal control involved many times too. Just the other day a cat was found that had been missing for 3 1/2 months and was reunited with the owner due to Nextdoor. The cat did not have a microchip nor a collar. The cat by the way was nowhere near the owner's home. At least with Nextdoor which as already mentioned is more encompassing than my own neighborhood (which will have around 700 homes in it when it's fully complete) you're not developing a personal relationship with your neighbors across the city you're just sharing information (though yes drama def. occurs).

 

[wenrob]

At least with our two sites there is no way that the majority of the dogs/cats that get out would be returned to their owners without the two sites. People post pictures, give descriptions of what type of dog/cat (and their demeanor too like scared of people ran away when I tried to get close to it, etc), tell the location of when the dog/cat was last seen, notify that the animal was picked up by animal control, etc. Owners can report their animal is lost and give notice if they have a collar on or not or if they are microchipped or not, etc. They can quickly communicate that the animal was found and reunite them without getting animal control involved many times too. Just the other day a cat was found that had been missing for 3 1/2 months and was reunited with the owner due to Nextdoor. The cat did not have a microchip nor a collar. The cat by the way was nowhere near the owner's home. At least with Nextdoor which as already mentioned is more encompassing than my own neighborhood (which will have around 700 homes in it when it's fully complete) you're not developing a personal relationship with your neighbors across the city you're just sharing information (though yes drama def. occurs).

We don't have that many roaming animals in our neighborhood. Over the years in different neighborhoods we've successfully reunited three dogs with their owners without social media. The dogs tend to lead you to their home. We have also notified a neighbor that their elderly dog was roaming to which we were told, "oh he'll come home." We have an overall awareness of our neighborhood and what animals belong to what home. It's not that we are ignorant to our surroundings it's just that we have no desire to involve ourselves in neighborhood politics. It's what works for us.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We don't have that many roaming animals in our neighborhood. Over the years in different neighborhoods we've successfully reunited three dogs with their owners without social media. The dogs tend to lead you to their home. We have also notified a neighbor that their elderly dog was roaming to which we were told, "oh he'll come home." We have an overall awareness of our neighborhood and what animals belong to what home. It's not that we are ignorant to our surroundings it's just that we have no desire to involve ourselves in neighborhood politics. It's what works for us.

Well I can understand that. We just have completely different situations then. That's really why I brought it up because I can understand if it wouldn't work for your specific area but for my area it's a lifesaver literally to use social networking sites set up. There's no doubt that some of the animals would have died (especially in winter and summer) without the sites.

In my area it's not so much that there are roaming animals in our neighborhood. It's more that dogs/cats from all neighborhoods around. Nextdoor like I mentioned earlier has 23 other neighborhoods just in my city alone so I'm not just speaking about my own neighborhood (which is large in itself).

On Nextdoor there are 283 neighbors in my neighborhood but 4,050 nearby neighbors that can communicate with me on the site......just to give you a scope of what I'm talking about. People communicate that they saw a dog at the so and so shopping area for example which can alert the owners or just get people to keep an eye out.

On eNeighbors (which is just for my neighborhood alone) there are 452 homes enrolled out of 502 homes currently built.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

No, we don't have a community facebook page, thank goodness. I honestly don't care what my neighbors hate.

I'm wondering, then, why you bothered to answer the question "What do your neighbors complain about?"

 

[DaisyJ]

I'm wondering, then, why you bothered to answer the question "What do your neighbors complain about?"

The question was "what do your neighbors hate the most". I answered.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

The question was "what do your neighbors hate the most". I answered.

Got it.

That really didn't answer the question, but thanks for your...input, anyway!

 

[MomofKatie]

Neighbor complaints that are the most common on our FB page:

-Teens speeding in the neighborhood
-People parking on the street making it hard to drive.
-Nosy questions about people that are breaking HOA covenants.
-HOA dues in general- why so expensive? Where does the money go?
-Wildlife in the neighborhood- watch out for the Canada Geese and ducks when driving, or that they are messy and we should try to get rid of them.
-Pool issues- the pool is dirty. The pool furniture is broken. Kids are going to the pool when they should have adult supervision. The pool is closed but should be open.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

-HOA dues in general- why so expensive? Where does the money go?

Random honest curiosity here do you get an explanation of the expenses the neighborhood incurs like for the upcoming year's budget? I only have actual knowledge of how my HOA works so I don't know how others work. For example the paperwork for our dues includes that and for 2017 they anticipate spending $38,000 for water, over $33,000 for mowing (eta: common property and vacant lots but not individual yards) $25,000 for electricity, over $13,000 for just the pool maintenance contract, etc

 

[MomofKatie]

Random honest curiosity here do you get an explanation of the expenses the neighborhood incurs like for the upcoming year's budget? I only have actual knowledge of how my HOA works so I don't know how others work. For example the paperwork for our dues includes that and for 2017 they anticipate spending $38,000 for water, over $33,000 for mowing (eta: common property and vacant lots but not individual yards) $25,000 for electricity, over $13,000 for just the pool maintenance contract, etc

We get an annual report that breaks down expenses, but many must not read it or they think they are frivolous expenses. The main expenses are for landscaping/mowing, pool maintenance and lifeguards, and the HOA management company.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We get an annual report that breaks down expenses, but many must not read it or they think they are frivolous expenses. The main expenses are for landscaping/mowing, pool maintenance and lifeguards, and the HOA management company.

Oh ok thanks for sharing. I can def. see people not paying attention to the report just wondered if they gave you one or not.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Well, just saw a post to the neighborhood listserv from someone offering their services as a horticulturist to help those interested to grow cannabis at home (legalized here recently).

Will be interesting to see the responses to that one... ...