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Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

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Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#301

Post by dugmartin »

tptacek wrote: post #193
TeaBrain wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, you weren't kidding about the relative density between those areas. I'd consider Oak Park dense compared to most suburbs, just not as dense as some neighborhoods in Chicago. I'm most familiar with the north side neighborhoods and had those kind of lots in mind, with their near non-existent front yards, with front steps right off the sidewalk, and virtually no front driveways. https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9405…

My old stomping grounds. I lived in Lakeview (incl. this block) for a long time. https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9403868,-87.6590203,3a,75y,3...

Apartment building on Pine Grove in Lakeview for me and then a beautiful old two flat in Ravenswood. My rent in Pine Grove in 1999 was $400 I think for a two room apartment.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#302

Post by m463 »

jimbokun wrote: post #73
happytoexplain wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>just lots of people occupying neighboring space and rarely talking to each other. This is a bitter stereotype that is leveled against both city-dwellers and suburb-dwellers, and, like many stereotypes, has some truth to it in both cases, but amounts to uncalled-for negativity. Some people don't want to interact with their neighbors, regardless of whether they live in a city or a suburb. Others are sociable with thei…

Suburbs often have physical constraints with the way houses are laid out making this "stoop coffee" approach more difficult, if anything. Houses laid out in a way that you're more likely to drink your coffee on your back patio surrounded by a fence or hedges to avoid being seen. And even if you are sitting in front of your house, neighbors are more likely to be driving by instead of walking so not very likely to stop…

> to avoid being seen

well, there's also security, physical containment of your pet/children.

I think of Frost's "Good fences make good neighbors"

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#303

Post by usmannk »

archagon wrote: post #252
jcdavis wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its roughly a 2x2 block area of The Mission (not a hard boundary to participating, but almost everyone lives in it). I won't get more specific than that in case the author doesn't feel comfortable since it wasn't mentioned in her post.

Cool! I live close to Valencia/17th. Was just wondering if it was somewhere in my area: the houses looked Missiony but I couldn’t immediately place them.

hi neighbor! i had the same thought.. looks so familiar. must be nearby

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#304

Post by cortesoft »

jacobolus wrote: post #253
lolinder wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Suburbs often have physical constraints with the way houses are laid out making this "stoop coffee" approach more difficult, if anything. Houses laid out in a way that you're more likely to drink your coffee on your back patio surrounded by a fence or hedges to avoid being seen. This has not been my experience in the surburbs. A typical suburban home has both spaces: a front yard/patio and a back yard/patio. If any…

It’s easier to sit out in the suburbs, but the layout and infrastructure don’t generally encourage walking around, so there are a lot fewer neighbors walking past.

Really? My experience in the suburbs is that there are a lot of people "going on walks" with dogs and kids in the evening. People aren't walking TO places, but there is a lot of just walking around.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#305

Post by EasyMark »

afavour wrote: post #2

> my husband Tyler and I wanted that sense of community that feels like it’s only possible in the suburbs, but we believed we could achieve this while living in San Francisco. This genuinely threw me because in my experience the suburbs are the antithesis of this, just lots of people occupying neighboring space and rarely talking to each other. Still, a heartwarming story all the same. And yes, this is _exactly_ what…

I know all my immediate neighbors, and am great friends with one, and amiable with all the others. You just have to not be shy, I have a type A personality so not afraid to walk over and say howdy. Most people are good with small talk if you open. Not everyone wants to be your best friend and I keep that in mind, but would rather say hello than a total stranger.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#306

Post by kropotkinrules »

Anarchism in action, baby! (Not "the purge" style anarchism, anarchism in the "self organizing to build nice things" style.)

Turns out that this is the fundamental nature of people. People want to feel connected. People want do to nice things for one another. Bonding and socialization is the natural state for people.

Organizing doesn't have to be hard, and often, the best organizing is just doing something visible and inviting anyone who is coming by to participate.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#307

Post by kropotkinrules »

dfltr wrote: post #55
non- wrote: post #39

When people say "you can just do things" this is what they mean. Fun article, I hope everyone reading this who wishes they had something like it in their neighborhood starts this weekend by inviting their nearest friend for coffee on the stoop.

These people are anarchists! No really, they are. The stoop coffee to "It takes the hood to save the hood" pipeline is real.

Haha, I came here to post this and I was beaten! This is one of the clearest expressions of anarchist praxis I've seen in a while. (Of course, people will not understand this, because anarchism is seen as a weird, deviant, punk subculture.)

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#308

Post by pchristensen »

mmooss wrote: post #167
pchristensen wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suburbs are typically more socially homogenous, with more institutional connections between residents (kids go to the same school, people work for the same local employer, same church, etc) with a physical environment less conducive to connectivity. City neighborhoods (again, typically) have better physical presence with neighbors that are less likely to have things in common. I think that's what the author is trying…

> more socially homogenous An old rationalization of prejudice. Everyone seems homogenous to me and what was heterogeneous yesterday (e.g., Italians and Irish) is homogenous today. Just stop worrying about it. People with different backgrounds are much more interesting, all else being equal. All are Homo sapiens. Also, kids in city neighborhoods also go to the same schools. In suburbs I've seen people don't generally…

Those were generalizations covering 100M+ people in each category, just in America, and my guess at what the original author meant by the statement that GP was surprised by.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#309

Post by jacobolus »

gonzobonzo wrote: post #298
jacobolus wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s easier to sit out in the suburbs, but the layout and infrastructure don’t generally encourage walking around, so there are a lot fewer neighbors walking past.

Generally, surburbs are better at encouraging walking/cycling around (since there's very little traffic), but worse at encouraging people to walk to commercial areas (since they're usually far away and the path there is unpleasant). In my experience, you're far more likely to see kids biking/wandering around neighborhoods in the suburbs than in the city. This is the reason why people want things like cul-de-sacs, bec…

> better at encouraging walking/cycling around

This doesn't match my personal experience, at all. Even the cutest and most pedestrian friendly suburbs have far less walking than typical cities, with faster more dangerous traffic, and less infrastructure for alternative modes of travel.

> far more likely to see kids biking/wandering around neighborhoods in the suburbs than in the city

This also doesn't come close to matching my personal experience (though it does match many people's inaccurate stereotypes, which I have heard repeatedly in conversations with people who don't live in cities). There are tons of kids and families around in cities.

> eliminating through traffic means that people are able to use the area much more freely

Quite the opposite. Cul-de-sacs cut places off from easy pedestrian access and make it usually significantly more difficult and dangerous to get anywhere by walking, because to get to destinations requires crossing massive (sometimes 6–10 lane) quasi-highways with high-speed traffic. Such places typically also come with separated residential and commercial zones and few useful destinations nearby: not as many schools, museums, libraries, parks, coffee shops, restaurants, retail stores, etc. within a reasonable distance, and lower population density with much more pavement per person. The predicable result is that in most places with many cul-de-sacs hardly any trips are made on foot or bike and people end up driving everywhere. Public transit also tends to suck in places with cul-de-sacs everywhere.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#310

Post by usmannk »

usmannk wrote: post #303
archagon wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool! I live close to Valencia/17th. Was just wondering if it was somewhere in my area: the houses looked Missiony but I couldn’t immediately place them.

hi neighbor! i had the same thought.. looks so familiar. must be nearby

aha! i geoguessed it. i live only 2 blocks away. would love if someone could email me the whatsapp link. usmann@usmannkhan.com
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