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Being Neighborly


scodavis

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A little background here - this year will be my first-ever synchronized display.  At times, my street is quite busy - it is not considered a major street, but it is in between two major streets and people have a tendency to drive very quickly on it.  I don't plan to do heavy advertising of my display beyond having a website and a Facebook page, but I also know the power of word of mouth, and anticipate that traffic will increase.  Fortunately, our street is wide enough where cars can park on both sides of the street and there is still ample room for two-way traffic.  There are sidewalks on both sides of the street.  But even with that, there's always room for drivers (and pedestrians) with no common sense.

To help combat that, I had Demented Elf do commercial recordings for me.  Among other things, he says two important phrases in every recording, which plays every two songs:

- If you drove here tonight, please check that you are not blocking any driveways or street traffic
- If you are here on foot, please observe the display from the sidewalks only

That all said, I really do care about being a good neighbor.  I've set up my showtimes so that they end an hour before noise curfew every night.  And I am going to write and send a letter to my immediate neighbors explaining many things.  Most of it is talking about how I look forward to people enjoying the music and lights, and inviting them to join me while I am testing if they are curious to see how it works or just want to watch.  I also mention the commercials and what they state.  And that's where I am stuck.  I plan to send this letter to 6-8 neighbors - the two on either side of me, and 4-6 that are across the street.  I want to show them that I am trying to set in place contingency plans, and I state that I have the ability to stop the show if people refuse to follow the rules.  As part of that section, I want to offer a "what to do if people aren't following the rules".  I don't want them to come to my door, because the dog barks and is annoying (and wakes up the kids).  So I am thinking of the following options:

1. Give my cellphone number to those neighbors so that they can contact me
2. Tell them to contact Clovis Police (our police department is very responsive here in Clovis)
3. Omit this altogether

Of course, it is entirely possible that, aside from heavier traffic, I will never have an issue.  I'm just trying to be proactive.  With that, I'd like the community's thoughts on:

1. Did YOU do anything like a letter to neighbors when you started your show?
2. Which of the above options do you think is the best idea?
3. Have you ever had to deal with complaints from your neighbors?
4. Have you ever had issues with people not following the rules?  If so, what did you do?

I really appreciate your thoughts - thank you and have a great day!

Scott J. Davis

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3. Omit altogether. Definitely don't encourage contacting authorities. That could really backfire.

Don't like the letter idea at all. Either talk to them in person or ignore them. Best intentions always seem to read differently than intended - to some. They might take a picture and post it on their social media site with hateful comments all around it. Distort it or just use sections they think prove their side.

Some will try to stop you before you start if they see that you already "know" it's going to cause issues.

Have fun and then deal with any issues that may arise if/when they arise.

Oh yeah - noise curfew?? Come on....

Edited by Mega Arch
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26 minutes ago, Mega Arch said:

Oh yeah - noise curfew?? Come on....

Yep, you read that right.  Noise curfew is 10:00pm Sunday through Thursday, and 11:00pm on Friday and Saturday nights.  And Clovis PD does enforce it - I've had to call the cops a couple times due to loud parties and, even a half-hour after curfew, they responded quickly and the noise ceased.

Regarding the rest of your response, I have definitely considered the whole "ask for forgiveness, not permission" thing, and I still definitely consider that to be an option as well.

So that being said - have you ever had to deal with any problems?  If so, what were the problems and how were they resolved?

As another aside - just watched a couple of your videos.  At the front edge of your lawn, you have a bunch of single circular lights - what are those?  I like them.

Edited by scodavis
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I agree with Mega.  Giving them a letter can backfire.  For example, they could say if you know it might cause a problem, then why are you doing it?

I did have a neighbor across the street, that came over to ask us to turn down our outside speakers...so we did.  During the next and last show at 8pm, he said they were still too loud.  At this point I could barely here them at the sidewalk, so I told him we already did turn it down.  He threatened to call the cops, and did.  By the time the officer came, the show was over (we run 20 min shows every hour).  The officer rang our door bell, apologized, and said she personally liked our display, but had to notify us of the complaint.  That was the end of it.  That individual is no longer living across the street any more..

Edited by toddm1919
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1 hour ago, scodavis said:

.... Regarding the rest of your response, I have definitely considered the whole "ask for forgiveness, not permission" thing, and I still definitely consider that to be an option as well....

 

It's your house & your hobby. Try to be nice, but I don't ask anyone but my wife.

1 hour ago, scodavis said:

....As another aside - just watched a couple of your videos.  At the front edge of your lawn, you have a bunch of single circular lights - what are those?  I like them.

 
Coffee cans that we punched patterns in the sides of 25 years ago. Added C9 leds to illuminate them. Starting to be a little rusty, but I think they still light up nicely. 
Thanks for asking.
Edited by Mega Arch
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I agree with Dan and Todd.  Omit the letter and don't be apologizing in advance for problems you don't even know if you'll have.

You can't be responsible for everyone else's behavior.  The fact that you've thought about potential issues already gives you a leg up in dealing with any that come along.

Announcements will do the job of keeping ordinary responsible people in control of themselves.  In all probability, the biggest problem you'll have is people who don't think about or know how to turn down their headlights.

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I am going to organize a block party where everyone brings food/snacks, and at the end of the event I'm going to light my display. I figure that will be a fun way to get the neighbors involved in it, and hey they can't complain if they don't come :P. I am in a new neighborhood and this will be my first display as well. I think there will be a lot of people interested to show up if not just to meet all their new neighbors. I wouldn't send a letter either. You don't want the idea planted in their head that Christmas could potentially be a traffic nightmare lol.

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I believe that most actually get into the Christmas spirit and will probably enjoy the show. However, there always is that one Scrooge who will always complain no matter what you do and as long as you are complying with all your local laws/rules then I wouldn't worry about it.

When I start doing my setup each year I usually play 2-3 non Christmas songs, you know the catchy popular ones, to test my lights and the neighbors usually come out and watch. This is when we usually talk about things and many times they offer to help.

When I first moved to my current house a few years back I noticed that my street was completely dark during the Holidays. Now about 90% of the houses put up some type of lights, so yes it does become infectious.

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Last year was our first synchronized display, and we didn't do any of that.  We did have an uptick in traffic from years' past, but it wasn't bad (and our roads are more narrow and do NOT allow parking on both sides).

If you are out mowing the lawn, or gardening, or getting your mail, and you see a neighbor outside, just strike up a conversation about it - tell them you are doing a bigger display, and leave it at that.  Once your display is up, you can act accordingly if there are issues.  No need to make your neighbors anxious about something that may not end up being an issue.

I overthought things last year as well, and it was all for naught.  

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I want to thank everyone for their comments and suggestions. I have decided to ditch the letter and just wait and see. I am sure that people will start asking questions when I am outside testing, which will offer an opportunity to talk about the display and tell them how it works too. I have a good rapport with my neighbors so I anticipate a positive response.

So once again, thank you all and good luck with your 2016 displays!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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For heavy visited display, managing traffic is a major tool.   If you search the forums, you will find past threads on "managing traffic".  John Storms on his listentoourlights website also has a nice writeup on manage traffic by managing you display length/timing.

 

Would also eacho the idea of not inviting or making it easy for people to complain. Some peole are just cronic complainers and no benefits in impowering them to complain even more agressively.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've been doing this for a few years, 2 at my current house. This will be the third with many more to come.

i've had to deal with my neighbors a few times... They complain because I don't get the show up and running fast enough. Or they say I need more songs lol.  In all honesty I've never had any problems.  On Halloween they convert my street to one way for cars that drive around but mostly it's walkers. I put a radio out and I have people dancing in the street. Everybody loves it. Even my old cranky neighbors enjoyed it. 

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