Do you ever spend time on NextDoor?
It’s a local online bulletin board. I check it out maybe twice a week.
Some practically live on the site, it’s clear.
For the most part, it seems like the site attracts people who seem acutely worried about minor things. A trash can is full and overflowing. A helicopter overhead is making noise. A dog will soon be put to sleep if it isn’t rescued today. A homeless guy someone just saw looks kinda creepy.
I don’t mean to minimize such concerns; in the aggregate, they all add up and diminish our quality of life. But I’m not sure anyone is really paying attention or is in a position to do much about most of this.
Then there are the online political battles carried out on NextDoor. Republicans don’t like Democrats. Democrats don’t like Republicans. Many from both parties are mad at Karen Bass.
I’m not sure anyone is actually changing anyone else’s mind with all the back-and-forth. If anything, I think all the “I’m right and you’re an idiot” postings just cause people on the other side to dig in.
Years ago, I posted in the Brentwood News a “22 Point Plan” to end homelessness in LA. I then posted a link to this article on NextDoor and was amazed by all the comments this article drew, from all across the Westside.
One person wrote something like, “These are all great ideas, Jeff, but none of this will ever happen. You are making too much sense.”
I think that’s the source of so much frustration in Los Angeles, expressed regularly on NextDoor: that is, even the simplest things are viewed as really hard to do. Bureaucracy, politics, inefficiency, and red tape get in the way. This causes people to give in and lose hope.
A guy named Mark Patel, who lives in Santa Monica, recently suggested on NextDoor that those in power take a common-sense approach to problem-solving, starting with cleaning up streets, sidewalks, alleyways, and other public spaces.
He followed with another article about how these conversations don’t have to be political. Let’s focus on common-sense solutions instead, he argued. If you are on NextDoor, look for Mark Patel, from Sunset Park in Santa Monica. You can find his writings there.
Both articles are generating quite a response.
I posted a comment congratulating Mark on his clarity of thinking. He and I started exchanging DMs, and we just met for breakfast at the Country Mart.
He understands all the frustration and is giving voice to it. If you like his message, DM him on NextDoor. Mark told me he wants to “make a lot of noise.”
So here’s my practical idea for the day: Let’s have a big party one weekend and everyone in Brentwood can go out and fix a cracked sidewalk near his or her residence, using concrete or blacktop to smooth over dangerous ridges.
The city pays way too much to settle cases brought by those who stumble and fall, injuring themselves. Shouldn’t all that settlement money instead go toward fixing sidewalks, vastly reducing the risk of injury in the first place?
We can all chip in and do this at our own expense. We can all just worry about sidewalks in our immediate neighborhood. Getting together to work on this could be fun, and if we wait for the city to act, we might be waiting a very long time.
Here’s another idea: Let’s start an LA-based online think tank devoted not to griping, but to actual problem-solving.
It would be a place to discuss issues with the Mark Patels of the world instead of having to sift through tons and tons of whiny complaints before you get to an occasional nugget of gold.
I just registered a domain name, LAthinkTank.org. I can’t do anything with this just yet, but if there’s support, we can talk about building a simple site where problem-solvers can hang out.
If you like these ideas – or have another suggestion of your own – send me an email: jeffhall@mirrormediagroupla.com.
