Nextdoor.com helps connect Peoria residents, neighborhoods

A social-networking website is revolutionizing how neighbors communicate with one another, and it’s not Facebook.

Nextdoor.com, founded in 2010, is a nationwide website built to encourage conversation within neighborhoods enrolled in the program.

Peoria Police Chief Roy Minter said the website works much like other social networks on the Internet. But the focus is all about one’s neighborhood, from how to deal with roof rats to recommending a good handyman.

“It allows residents to get to know their neighbors, it allows them to ask questions between each other, and it also allows for the exchange of local advice and recommendations,” he said.

With 58 Peoria neighborhoods and 1,359 residents actively using Nextdoor .com, Minter said he is pleased with his city’s involvement in the website.

“We’re seeing a growing number of neighborhoods in our community who are signing up for this program and we are continuing to hear very positive things about this program,” Minter said. “People think that this is really beneficial for them to enhance the level of communication in their communities.”

Minter said he sees several benefits to Peoria residents using Nextdoor.com, public safety among them.

“We see Nextdoor as another way our department and the community can real- ly use technology to stay informed, reduce crime and increase awareness,” he said. “I think there’s huge potential for this to assist us with our crime-reduction initiatives.”

Increasing public safety is not the only benefit to using the website, according to Sherrie Vanluven, a Nextdoor.com leader in Peoria’s Pinecrest neighborhood.

“I created a community garage sale, I try to coordinate monthly get-togethers, our neighborhood-watch meetings, all kinds of things,” Vanluven said.

The website also has been useful in more serious situations, she said.

“One of our neighborhoods, not mine, had issues with kids going around and shutting down electrical boxes,” she said. “So, the police contacted a leader and sent a notice out on Nextdoor, along with other various communication tools, and that community knew to watch out for kids and to keep an eye on their electrical boxes.”

Cindy Stapleton, director of the city’s Fletcher Heights Homeowners Association and an active leader on Nextdoor .com, also said this website is ideal for promoting a sense of community as well as an increased awareness of public safety.

The Fletcher Heights neighborhood registered on the website, and 177 neighbors have joined the site to discuss public safety to health hazards.

“Somebody just recently started a big discussion on roof rats. I’ve never heard of us having roof rats,” Stapleton said.