June 27, 2008 8:10 AM
Got rotten neighbors?
Guess I've just been lucky. My neighbors have been terrific wherever I've lived. Of course I don't know what my neighbors think about me - like there's anything wrong with watering your plants at midnight with Bob Seger blaring from the boombox on the patio or keeping a couple of spare parts cars in the driveway for a couple of years.
People can be so picky. That's why rottenneighbor.com provides a Jerry Springer-ish jolt of "glad-I-don't-live-on-that-street" catharsis. No matter how annoying your neighbor might be, he/she probably can't compare to these folks:
Type in Columbus, Ohio, for instance, and the site brings up a bird's-eye view of the city, a patchwork of trees and rooftops.Click on one of the houses to see comments from agitated residents, like this one from Runaway Bay Drive complaining about a neighbor who "stomps around at all hours of the day."
"He puts his cigarette butts and packages on my patio," the anonymous user writes without posting the address of the man in question. "He also puts his beer cans and spills beer all over my grill."
Most of the postings are anonymous, which is just fine with site co-founder Brant Walker, 27, who came up with the idea when he moved into a new apartment and noticed a rotten smell coming from his neighbor's door.
Walker, a Web site designer from San Diego, said the site averages several hundred thousand hits per day. He said it is a good resource for people moving to a new neighborhood because it offers a glimpse behind closed doors -- "things that a real estate agent won't tell you."
Got lousy, inconsiderate, messy, obnoxious neighbors? I'm sure we can match anything on rottenneighbors.com. Sound off and let us know what areas to avoid the next time we have to move.
June 27, 2008
8:34 AM
gr8fuldude writes:
Can't help but wonder just how many feuds this will inflame.
June 27, 2008
9:52 AM
Tree writes:
Mark, you water your plants at midnight blaring Bob Seger. So you're my neighbor.
Good fences make better neighbors. My neighbors haven't complained about my Grateful Dead noise at midnight. Maybe I should take the name Hannibal Lecter off my mailbox.
My neighbor drives a mid 70's mint chevy van with shag carpet, faded Bush for Governor bumper sticker, 8 track player with K.C. and the Sunshine band blaring all the time, wears Greg Brady groovy clothes, fat wire rim glasses, watches re-runs of Scooby Doo and watches Bill O'Reilly with a beer in his hand nightly and named his dog Shaggy after his carpet install business. I haven't complained, it's entertaining.
June 27, 2008
10:12 AM
Mark Wolf writes:
Jimmy Breslin once wrote a column about a sign he put on his front yard. It read: "People to whom I'm no longer speaking" and included everybody on his block and assorted delivery types.
June 27, 2008
10:23 AM
gr8fuldude writes:
Tree / Mark -
Maybe this is a sign of the times, but I don't even think I know any of my neighbor's names...I can tell you what they look like, number of kids, dogs, etc, but it just seems like it is world apart from when we were kids and you knew the inside of neighbor's homes, because you were over there playing with their kids, you know?
June 27, 2008
10:39 AM
Mark Wolf writes:
That's a very good point. I grew up in a town of 500 people where everybody knew everybody and their business. I've lived in my house for 22 years, know the neighbors on both sides pretty well and a couple of others on the block because our kids are similar ages and went to school together. Past that, they're all strangers who share a zip code.
June 27, 2008
10:43 AM
Tree writes:
8dude-
The hand gun and bad attitude was introduced into our society with cable tv in the early 80's. Our Guv't response was go shopping and as of yesterday the NRA told San Francisco, Chicago and D.C. to go shop some more and blared Lynard Skynard's "Gimme Back my Bullets" thru our national emergency channel, Faux.
You're right tho, growing up in the same 'hood during junior and senior high you eventually get to know everyone and their parents from house party's and paper routes.
June 27, 2008
10:54 AM
Tree writes:
Trivia-
What's the song from the 70's where the lyrics say " I've got clowns to the right of me and jokers to the left" or close to those lyrics.
The Clown to the right of me gets out of his car, makes a point of not looking my way to wave, just looks at his feet and walks to his front door and never says a word. Talking to a friend of mine back in Michigan has a neighbor who has the same behavior. Sure enough my buddy found him on the Michigan sex offender site. I'm scared to look at Colorado's. I don't want to find any of my neighbors on there. Now I'm double curious, anyone have a link to Colorado's? I believe he checked by zip code.
June 27, 2008
11:01 AM
gr8fuldude writes:
ding ding ding!
We have a winner!
"Stuck in the middle with you" by
Steeler's Wheel.
Gerry Rafferty ("Baker Street", Right Down Th eLine") at the vocals
June 27, 2008
11:17 AM
jay writes:
my neighbors dogs bark constantly.
constantly.
June 27, 2008
11:20 AM
Tree writes:
Good pull 8dude. I've heard the song thousands of time and never heard of a band named Stealers Wheel.
According to the picks, looks like Reservoir Dogs used it in the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpWzbZGk3eA&feature=related
June 27, 2008
11:34 AM
Tree writes:
Jay-
My neighbors dog started barking at 4:30 am as he left for work, separation anxiety. Fido has a dog door to the backyard and would just bark at the moon real loud- big dog. Since he lives alone, he had no idea until I asked him if he could give Fido a chill pill. He fixed him in a week. Ordered one of those dog whistle machines we can't hear. He didn't want to do the bark o-matic shock collar. He says there are sensors on his fence that pick up dog barking noise and that triggers the whistle to blow and for some reason Fido doesn't bark anymore.
June 27, 2008
12:03 PM
Holier Than Thou writes:
I have good neighbors these days. The ones with noisy ORVs usually take them somewhere else to ride them. If they don't then I'm not the only neighbor who does things to make them wish they had.
Sure, the dogs bark occasionally. I can mark the precise location of anyone walking their dog by the barking of others. If dogs bark excessively, I send them a copy of my dog recipes. These include barbecued flank of dog, dog leg marinated in spiced wine, dog pot pie, and my favorite dog stew. Frequent barking is always an indicator of the tenderest and juiciest of dogs. Even my dog would agree with that.
My neighbors and I do things for each other. I move snow off their roads and driveways. We help each other with two-man repair jobs. In return, I get breads, cupcakes, cookies, and friendly greetings.
Knowing your neighbors is a good thing. I reckon people these days don't know their own neighborhood because they're scared of each other. And that leads to rudeness, conflict, and misunderstanding.
Then again, some people are just plain stupid like that rude dude with those barking dogs. Try my recipes.
June 27, 2008
12:35 PM
jay writes:
tree that is brilliant. i've been wondering if those things work. good advice.
these guys are just irresponsible dog owners. the dogs go from crates inside to a larger enclosed pen in the back and get walks once a week if they're lucky.
i have had dogs all my life. it makes me sick to know that people treat their dogs that way.
June 27, 2008
12:41 PM
ML writes:
Jay, call animal control. Nothing like a ticket from the cops to make the neighbors shut the dog up. Worked on our neighbor. Speaking of our neighbor...they have (at least) 4 teenage kids that all drive their own cars. Since we're at the back of a cul-de-sac, our block now looks like a used car lot! And talk about coming and going all night long...sheesh!
June 27, 2008
3:29 PM
history buff writes:
I live in Boulder, so I hear the younger crowd coming and going late into the night. It doesn't bother me. I like living in a college town, because college was the best years of my life. Actually, the students are friendlier than the yuppies who have moved to Boulder in the last 20 years. The yuppies seem to be so status conscious, which I thought was a suburban disorder where the houses are all the same and the model you live in determines your relative status. Maybe they moved from the suburbs. But it seems to me that dog owners are friendlier and better neighbors than those without dogs. Maybe caring for a dumb animal makes people more forgiving, more outgoing, although the guy who walks around with a pair of well muzzled pit bulls doesn't seem to fit the mold. As for me? I can play guitar like a mother $%*&^#@ riot. I can smoke a jay and blow a room away. Materialism is for the untalented.
June 30, 2008
3:58 AM
KathleenH writes:
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June 30, 2008
9:24 AM
JMH writes:
I am pretty outgoing and having grown up in NYC for years, I was kinda used to knowing most of my neigbors on my block. It was a great time. My parents were always "down the block" at one of the neighbor's houses hanging out and it seemed like everyone on the block knew everyone else.
This had alot of advantages (though not always for a wild kid like myself). The town I grew up in was not exactly "upscale" and the fact everyone knew everyone else helped protect our homes and persons. Everyone looked out for evreyone. This was great (though with everyone knowing my parents, I got "ratted out" alot when I was up to no good).
When I moved to Denver I made a point to try and meet everyone on my block. Eight years later, I love my neighborhood. I have alot of friends that are people my age in my neighborhood and have introduced many of my neighbors to the other neighbors. Over time, it has started to really feel like an "old school" neighborhood. I have never had a problem and absolutly love most of my neighbors. I have never had the police called when I have had parties, I have to only speak respectfully to any of my neighbors if there is a problem (dog barking all night or whatever) and the problem is taken care of. When someone needs a hand (have a few older couples around), I let them know time and time again, all they need to do is knock on my door if they need a hand and likewise, if I have ever needed a favor, my neighbors always seem to come thru.
Maybe I am lucky to live in such a great place, but I think it is more than luck. I wonder, how many people that bitch about their neighbors ever went out of their way to talk to them? Offer them a beer as they get home from a day at work? Welcomed them into the neighborhood when they first moved in? Invited them to parties at your home? We have become a reculsive and scared bunch (Americans as a whole) but it doesn't need to be this way. But you can't expect everyone to come to you, put your hand out and your fears aside and you will see what good it can do!