What have you done on the Neighbors Checklist?

Being neighborly sounds nice, but how do you actually do it, especially if you're busy or like your privacy? We've compiled lists of easy ideas that many of your neighbors are already doing. They range from the extremely simple to the involved, since we all roll differently. This isn't a contest or neighbor purity test; just a list of ideas from which you can pick and choose.

We're adding how-to guides for each item on the list, as often as we can. Add you own, and we'll link it. Plus, we periodically profile inspiring stories of people actually doing stuff on this list in our "Meet your neighbor" blog series.

Everyone

0 Minutes / Simple Substitutions

Say hi to your neighbors. How: everywhere, Brooklyn, Chicago
Walk, bike and take the train or bus (cabs qualify). Get rid of your car if you have one, unless you absolutely need it. How: Chicago, San Francisco
Shop locally. How: San Francisco
Tip your cab driver extra for driving safely. How: everywhere
Call out your neighbors for comments or behavior that perpetuates limiting stereotypes.
Jog in the street if the sidewalks are crowded. How: everywhere
Don’t automatically fight against the opening of a homeless shelter or drug recovery clinic in your neighborhood.
Curb your dog. How: San Francisco
Be open to new architecture.
Shop at your neighborhood or downtown farmers market. How: San Francisco
Keep your trash vermin-proof when you put it out for collection. How: Chicago
Help overburdened strangers carry their strollers, packages or other items up and down stairs.
Open doors for people who need help.
Make sure your neighbors get their mail if it ends up in your box or on the floor. How: everywhere
Lock your bike up in front of your home (without blocking the sidewalk).
Use your stoop, porch or balcony. How: Chicago

An Evening/Afternoon

Pick up trash and shovel snow in front of your house. How: trash, snow
Join your neighborhood or block association. How: everywhere
Actively support increasing the number of affordable homes in your neighborhood.
Speak up at neighborhood meetings.
Join or start a Community Supported Agriculture program.
Play catch in your street and/or alley. How: Chicago
Advocate for people-scale development and design.
Call the police, attend local community policing meetings or join or start a community policing group. People: Clare
Read and engage with your local papers and blogs (as well as the national and international ones), or start your own. People: Kit
Use the public library.
Put up a sign for a political candidate in your window during election season.
Go to film fests in the local park.
Ask for bike racks everywhere.
Report any sanitary, safety or building violations you see.
If you throw a party, invite your neighbors, or at least warn them. How: everywhere
March in your local parades and attend your local street fairs. How: Chicago, everywhere
Be a trick-or-treat stop. How: San Francisco
Join your neighborhood list-serv. If you don’t have one, start one.

Weekend Project

Volunteer locally.
Work with developers, not automatically against them, by asking them for concessions in return for building, like adding more affordable units, improving the streetscape or adding a public playground.
Support local artists and musicians whose work you like, and help them live and work in your neighborhood.
Be a friend of the park, and enjoy its programs and facilities. How: San Francisco
Throw your small children birthday parties in the local public park.
Request a street tree. How: San Francisco
Plant your windows, porch/stoop/balcony or other publicly viewable space with plants and flowers. How: everywhere (Earthbox, flower pot)
Install a bench in front of your home and/or at your local bus stop. How: everywhere
If you live in a multi-unit building, hold a potluck with all of your neighbors.

Seasonal Project

Get to know all of your elected officials—in person. Vote, volunteer and hold them accountable as your representative. How: everywhere (public meeting, volunteer)
Send your children to public school, work to improve them and stay involved. How: Chicago
Organize a block party. How: Chicago
If you start your own business, employ local folks.
Cultivate your community garden. How: Brooklyn
Make your neighborhood stroller and ADA accessible.
Patronize a local bank company (if any exist), especially for mortgages.
If you see an empty lot, find out who owns it and organize a neighborhood clean-up and turn it into a functional neighborhood place.
Become a community representative on your local school council or for your local PTA.
Reclaim public real estate lost to personal parking for a wider sidewalk, play space for kids, bike parking, a small garden, a place to sit or something else everyone in the community can enjoy. How: San Francisco
Arrange for free Wi-Fi access for your whole building, block or neighborhood.

Year-Long Project

Run for political office.
Become a developer yourself.
Hold your wedding in your neighborhood. How: Chicago, everywhere

Photo by alankin from the flickr.com Neighbors Project photo pool.

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