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The Eleven: April 2015, The DC Edition
April Showers Bring New Customers
April – 2015
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NextDoor.com – The Future Is Here
NextDoor.com – A Great New Way to Meet Your Neighbors and Build Community
If you’ve been anywhere near me in the last year or two, or have been reading my newsletter, you’ll know I’ve been doing my best to spread the word about NextDoor.com.
I have been a fan of local all my life. I love the idea of the 20 minute neighborhood – being able to walk to everything you need in 20 minutes – which leads to less car use and having a lighter impact on the Earth. It leads to a lot of other benefits, as well. Not being in a car means you use other modes of transportation such as walking, biking and roller-skating. And while you’re out you end up meeting your neighbors and catching up – sometimes learning important news that you wouldn’t find out any other way. Knowing who lives around you also creates safety as everyone can keep an eye on things. This is what life used to be like in village days of yore. We’ve lost much of this familiarity as the United States has developed suburbs and we’ve designed our world to fit the car rather than what’s best for our thriving.
Enter the internet and social media platform, nextdoor.com. Nextdoor is a combination of social media worlds that many of us are familiar with (particularly, Facebook). Once you’ve signed up (which is a simple process where you, a real person, living at a real address are verified) you suddenly land in the neighborhood you live in on-line. There’s a newsfeed where you can see what your neighbors have posted, and you can also view the feed of your surrounding neighborhoods. For me, that’s North Richmond, Portland, Oregon = 200+ members, and the greater area about 2,000 members. I can connect to the people on my block, or to all the people in about a mile radius around me.
What I’ve seen so far is a mixture of things. People use NextDoor to offer each other extra of what they have (fruit was popular last Summer), kind of like Freecycle, which I helped jumpstart in 2003. The conversations are about everything from people seeking recommendations for home improvements; bodyworkers; tech support; local events; to neighborhood-watch type notifications about break-ins; missing pets and the like. There’s also a fair bit of discussion about how our neighborhoods are developing. Currently, in the neighborhood I live in there has been an increase in old houses being torn down to be replaced by much larger scale buildings and that’s led to a lot of discussion of where we’re headed as a neighborhood and city. These type of discussions used to happen on community discussion lists and at neighborhood council meetings, but this new forum provides an opportunity to use collaborative technology at the neighborhood level. Without ads! Then, there are the yardsales and notices from the City and other odds and ends – things for sale; re-posts of Craigs List ads; homes for sale or rent; and new groups forming (the first of these I have seen is a local singles group).
There are many reasons why I am so gung-ho about Nextdoor.com. As someone who has been involved in high-tech for years, I am always excited when I see something come along that will help on a local level. I see this as that – a way for us all to get closer – to build community resilience through locals being in each others’ lives more. To make local bonds rather than keeping up networks that take a lot of fossil fuel to maintain. NextDoor also dovetails with another passion of mine: Farm My Yard. Farm My Yard is an effort to connect homeowners who have sunny yards with those who have urban farming skills and would like to grow food, but are lacking the space to do it. I also see Farm My Yard as a possible youth employment/business opportunity. In my dream I see teenagers using the Farm My Yard agreements and walking their neighborhoods to find a few yards to farm. This can and does lead to real income; vegetables for all; and less trips to the grocery store for everyone.
So, for me, it’s all coming together – and, I hope, we’re coming together. I see these types of developments leading to something fantastic in the future. Nextdoor.com is not perfect yet – it doesn’t always correctly identify neighborhood boundaries; the tech support can be iffy; disputes are left up to neighborhood “leaders” who sometimes make questionable calls; and I’m sure there are other imperfections, as well. That said, for now, this is one horse I am betting on! And, I recommend, if you’re not a member yet that you give it a try and see what you find. If you have comments, please leave them below.
For a better world,
Albert Kaufman
February 21, 2015
Update: 6.25.18 – Here’s a new article about Nextdoor by yours truly – about How to use it effectively for neighborhood change
9.24.15 – My neighbors pulled together via a great conversation on Nextdoor.com to preserve some giant trees and build community at the same time in Portland, Oregon, The United States.
NEXTDOOR2 – neighborhood change
NEXTDOOR3 – how to build a local community via Nextdoor.com
NEIGHBORHOOD NOTES – The main issues
All You Wanted to Know about Facebook But Were Afraid To Ask
The Eleven
Hi there,
Yes, it’s The Eleven, a little early, but I have something exciting that I want you to know about. Besides my new effort to Do Something Today to Right the World!
Facebook. Huh. What is it good for? Absolutely … many things 🙂 Do you wonder what to do while you’re there, perhaps? You might have questions about how to use your fan/business page to your best advantage. You might be wondering what the best ways are to stay connected to those to who you are closest. In general, it would be great to know how to navigate Facebook so that you waste less time and get more out of the time you do spend there. Right?
Enter Albert Kaufman, also known as the Facebook Guru. Yes, I’ve spent more time than your average human both teaching about and using Facebook. And I have tips and tricks to share that will make your experience more streamlined and interesting. I’m offering a low-cost webinar on Monday 2.9.15 at 11 am PST. Come join me online and learn a few of my moves. I also have a free in-person class on 2.12 – featuring my friend, Tshombe Brown. We’re both huge fans of the Portland Fruit Tree Project and I’m sure this class will be scintillating! Forward this to a friend you know who could use a hand with their online marketing, please.
| In other news – I’ve been having fun learning about terrariums from a new friend down the street, Gregg Harris of Roosevelt’s Terrariums. I’ve started making my own. |  |
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I’ve been noticing the new public art along Division Street and elsewhere around Portland. It seems like there’s been a slew of new sculptures and murals in my neighborhood, recently. I’m also working to remove billboards. |
| And then there’s the ongoing – ecstatic dancing – oh, I got to sing and play guitar outside around a campfire during the full moon the other night, that was incredible! And, I’m continuing my love affair with NextDoor.com – a great way to get connected to your neighbors :)Pictured on the right is Marcia Wiley – the maker of Wileyware on a recent visit to Stumptownlandia! |  |
That’s all for today. I hope life is treating you well and that it’s full of love, hope, visions, friends, dreams, good health, great food, and happiness!
All you need is love,
Albert
DeCluttering
Getting Rid of Stuff
I’ve been having fun decluttering my world. I made a little internal pact that every day for a while I’d fill some bags and bring them to Village Merchants, a nearby 2nd hand store. I’ve learned a bunch through this effort. Village Merchants, for one, is more than just a 2nd hand store – it’s a hub of my community – and also the merchandise there changes almost daily = 2 pairs of almost new shoes $16/a piece!
2. I’m getting down to a level of stuff that includes more things I actually use on a daily basis. And, I’ve removed many things that I’ve been carrying around for a long long time – I feel lighter without them in my space.
3. I look forward to my daily routine of the walk to the place. It takes me by Richmond Elementary and the school kids there playing in the playground – what a joy – the squealing laughter has been a nice reminder of play, youth, vibrancy, etc.
4. I’m excited to figure out what goes in tomorrow’s collection because I feel I have a long way to go to really get to the cleared space I want to live in.
5. This all reminds me of my early days of helping Freecycle get started through building up FreecyclePortland in 2003. The joy of passing along precious things to new friends. (Wow, I just learned that the group has almost 50,000 members – hoo boy!)
I think part of this decluttering urge came from visiting some homes in the end of 2015 which were very Zen-like. Max Ribner’s place has almost no tschotchkes in it and being there for one of the Kilikina Chocolate events in December was such a joy. My living space doesn’t look all that different from all the de-cluttering I’ve done, but I think with a few more trips, it will.
I’ve also noticed something else that’s surprised me. I’m now looking at a higher proportion of things that actually have meaning to me. Which means focusing on them, more. Massage tools, prayer flags, plants, tarot cards and the book shelf full of un-read books.
I’m also excited to learn more about decluttering and the beneficial effects that it probably has on one’s psyche – because I feel I’ve just begun the journey.
If you have any thoughts on decluttering, please share them below. I’m curious what you know, what you think, what you’ve learned and where I might go from here 🙂
Thanks, and happy new year! 
Update: 10.2017: Death Cleaning – it’s a thing!
And more 10.20.17 – Clutter is Bad even if you’re not a Hoarder
1.13.2020 – Here’s a great article on Decluttering.
4.20.2020 – Another great article on the topic out of the UK!
Vote! Ballot Endorsements for 2014 Election in Oregon
Vote!
Ready to send in your ballot, but not sure about all the measures? A group of us put together the ballot endorsements below just in case you wanted suggestions in filling out your ballot. After studying the issues, here’s our 2 cents worth:
