Montavilla Neighborhood Association

Are You a Good Neighbor?

Apr 10, 2000

On March 21, a small gathering of Montavilla residents met with SE Crime Prevention Specialist Marcia Dennis, SE Precinct Deputy District Attorney Danny Reynolds, and Portland Police Officer Brian Duddy. While the focus of the meeting was to draft a Good Neighbor Trespass Agreement with a local church, issues involving prostitution, abandoned autos, speeding cars and drivers failing to stop at stop signs garnered the most attention. Many neighbors expressed an interest in having traffic-calming devices (speed bumps, islands) on their street. Officials with the city admit that its a long (two year) and tedious process to accomplish, even on those streets where its feasible. But the truth of the matter is that much of the speeding is being done by those of us who live and work IN the neighborhood! A starting point might be for us to slow down in our own neighborhood first.

Running stop signs isn't just a problem in Montavilla. We may want to ask ourselves, do we only stop when there is cross traffic? Are red lights merely "optional" and only if we're not late for something? Neighbors at the meeting joked with our local pastor as news of his "careening" around a corner was recounted by a resident down the street. While everyone present had a good laugh, it really drove home the fact that we can ALL do a little more to be better neighbors.


When the question of neighborhood livability came up, many residents responded with one or another pet peeve. It occurred to me that city and neighborhood officials are available to help us solve major problems. Besides offering their mediation services, however, they can't really help us with the little things, the common articles of courtesy that often bother us about neighbors or neighborhoods. By this I mean things like litter or trash in an unkept yard; parking on the wrong side of the street (opposite the direction of traffic)*; parking in the planting strip or across a sidewalk*; allowing a dog to bark unattended for hours or late at night without checking for the reason; or allowing your kids to taunt the next-door neighbor's dog to the point of barking.

The good news is that most of these matters can be resolved by getting to know your immediate neighbors and speaking calmly with them when problems arise. It is important to remember that we are ALL neighbors, whether it be nexttdoor, down the street, or across town. Perhaps if we slow down, stop, show a little courtesy toward one another, and discuss problems before they get out of hand, our neighborhood won't only be livable, it will be great.

*Remember, these are Oregon ordinances, not Als' ordinances!