South of Sunnyside started as an exploration for me; I had blogged before starting here, but not consistently, and without focus. With the crash of the housing market I found myself trying to cope with the loss of value and potential community in my neighborhood, and I needed a way to process all that Kim and I were experiencing. Looking back over the last several months, the posts started to wane as I started to feel more and more like we were fighting a battle we just can’t win. I’ve since turned my attention outside of the neighborhood.

With the New Year comes new commitments: I avoided the typical weight loss pledges and resolved to trim the blogging fat. I’m consolidating my blogs and tidying up my web footprint.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll turn the lights out, and point everything to my latest endeavor, JamesCollier.me. All old links and content will be kept, they’ll just be under a new domain, archived with all of my current thoughts. I’ll do the same with jrcollier.com and a few other sites I’ve dabbled with.

All of this is really so I can focus more on my passions, especially Paprika Studios and TasteFresno (and maybe a new idea or two).

To those who have read and commented, thank you.

Perhaps we should define “good” when using this phrase. If the term refers to privacy, I suppose that depends on the neighborhood, after all.

But privacy isn’t all that a fence provides; it also provides visual boundaries that can used to enhance a property’s aesthetics (think “white picket” here). It can also detract from the aesthetic. Case in point: the modified barrier separating me and my next door neighbor. It’s comprised of the standard six-foot divide that the developer installed, and extended by a variety of boards, all of different heights.

Supposedly, this is to keep the neighbor’s dog from jumping, but given its age and size, I’m a bit skeptical that this feat is even possible (and he didn’t manage it in the first two months of living here).

Nonetheless, I’m at a loss of what to do; I’m not the only neighbor annoyed by the change in scenery, and I hear that I can report this as a violation, but our neighborhood hasn’t really connected as a community, and the family just reclaimed this property from foreclosure.

Perhaps it’s time to grow vines.

I could write a book about the things I’ve learned in that time (not to imply that anyone would read it), but there are a few overarching themes/lessons learned:

• No person is perfect; thus, no community of people can be perfect
• You get out of a community what you put into it (somewhere a former school teacher is smiling)
• Success is a relative concept
• Dogs make everything hairier

For historical purposes, I’ll offer a short overview of the move out here:

I was done with school—and with the South; Kim and I had been dating long distance for a year and I wanted to be closer; I had saved enough money to buy a truck, rent a trailer and fuel the 2,211 mile trek. What I didn’t budget for, however, was the expense of two (yes, 2) transmissions and an extra three nights in Elk City, Okla., where the first one left me and my brother stranded.

After five years, I’m proud to call Fresno home. Most of the time.

Come to think of it, I’m not sure I do any of those things well…

Perhaps that’s something to explore in the next year. In the mean time, I’ve outlined a few of my favorite posts from the last. Since many are about my awesome bike (see the first post referenced above), and our city leaders are trying to make Fresno a more bike-friendly community, I’m also opening up a photo contest. Details of both are below.

Favorite posts:

• Found: Used underwear
• Boarded Windows Theory
• Things your mother shouldn’t know…
• You’re fat, and your vacuum sucks, too
• When dogs attack (the house) – see here for a balanced perspective
• An open letter to Danil Monteleone – try searching for his name
• Of cities and nose rings
• Skype call girls

Photo competition:

One of the frustrations I’ve found in using my bike for transportation is that many public places don’t provide adequate facilities for locking it up. I’ve had to MacGyver a few, and I’m curious to see what others have done. Email me a photo* of your bike—I suppose it could belong to someone else—locked to something out of the ordinary, and I’ll post it for others to vote on**. The winner will receive a shiny gift certificate to the bike shop of his or her choice.

* By emailing the photo, you’re claiming you have the right to do so, and giving me permission to post it. Please don’t include photos of naked people on your bike.

** If the winner is blatantly obvious, I reserve the right to make the selection. It’s my party, and I’ll blog if I want to.

In cleaning out the closet in my home office, I found a few publications that I’ve collected over the last few years. I was about to toss the Fall 2006 edition of FresnoState: The Magazine of California, State University, Fresno into a pile of recyclables, when I realized who was on the front cover (I’ll only imply a comment about the photo…).

From the article, “Fresno State’s efforts vital to Improving the region’s economy:”

“Ashley Swearengin, RJI director and director of Fresno State’s Community and Economic Development, says the goal is to create 30,000 jobs by 2008 through partnerships in key industry clusters.

The focus is on taking advantage of the area’s competitive assets to help create a ‘healthier, more vibrant civic infrastructure,’ she says.”

I’m not sure I know what Fresno’s competitive assets are, but I do know that Swearengin is now top of the chain in the (ah hem…“vibrant”) civic infrastructure she’s been working toward.

Welcome to office, Mayor Swearengin. I look forward to following your lead.

Then, yesterday…the "for sale" sign was up-rooted and placed behind the side gate. Could it be?

In related news, the boarded house around the corner is now occupied, so Kim and I will be welcoming our new neighbors with baked goods.

My church hosted Halloween on Pollasky for the second year in a row, cramming a reported 8,000 people along two blocks of Old Town Clovis. The photos offer only a highlight of the festivities…

Kim didn’t agree, and argued that such a vehicle should be parked in front of the home it is visiting. I pointed out that not all neighbors have sufficient curb space (due to bends in the road), but I’ll agree that it was blocking the line of sight of any drivers coming around the corner; then again, our street isn’t heavily trafficked.

By the time I returned from my bike ride, the RV was gone, but my question still remains: what harm was being done? Why are we so quick to throw up walls and protect space that isn’t even ours?

Kim has already removed a couple of topiaries from the adjacent (abandoned) properties, with a promise to “take care” of them until a new owner moves in. But that was before the summer heat drained the entire landscape.

Unfortunately, our hose just doesn’t help much (though it does make some difference). After almost two months without significant water flow, the shrubs and larger plants next door are starting to die, and I can’t imagine they’ll be capable of revival when the bank finally agrees to an offer.

So, again, I ask: Is it stealing if the plants are going to die anyway?

I haven’t tested the system out, but it seems like a great idea, and one I’d like to research for our neighborhood. As I understand it, however, the system is targeted at crime and emergencies, and I wonder if our neighborhood couldn’t benefit from something a bit more broad.

For example, as I road out onto California tonight, on my way to Starbucks, I noticed four marked police cars clustered just to the right of our street (it was hard not to notice them). I have no idea why they were there; perhaps they’re targeting drivers who speed down that road. Or perhaps they were on the lookout for wire thieves. Or maybe they were just passing time waiting for a call. Whatever the reason, a simple messaging system would allow me to alert the neighbors, and/or question their knowledge of a potential situation.

Okay, so maybe that fits within the crime/emergency alert model—I’ll use another example that doesn’t involve the police. Across California Ave. was a large gathering, likely a birthday party. Several tables, dozens of chairs, and a bounce house. When events like this are planned, the host could send the neighborhood a note asking for patience with parking and noise (or inviting them to join the fun).

If this sounds complicated, it doesn’t have to.

As I’ve explained Twitter to a few people lately, I’ve noted that its purpose varies from person to person, and among different organizations. Many people post useless information, though many of their "followers" consume such information with vigor. I think that for neighborhood communication, Twitter (or FriendFeed, for that matter) could prove quite valuable.

So, any takers? You can find me here, and here.