New website for Overlea Community (replaces this one)
Megen Cox
Hello Overlea neighbors,
Thank you so much for participating in this Google listserv/group! As many of you know, Kevin established it as part of his effort to build a safer and more cohesive neighborhood. It has served us well as a tool for reporting and discussing maintenance and safety issues and we thank all of you for your timely and candid posts on issues of concern to Overlea as participation has certainly made this a more enjoyable place to live.
However, it came to our attention recently that it is not a private list (anyone can search Google groups and see postings written by our members). Several people expressed discomfort with the public nature of the list and proposed that a private list would be preferable. At a recent talk given by Scott Zimmerman (our District 6 Community Liaison police officer), he mentioned NextDoor (https://nextdoor.com/) as a platform that many neighborhoods have been using around the country. A few of us set up an account for Overlea and have tested it out.
It contains the same features that we're accustomed to, such as email settings preferences (choose immediate updates, daily digests or no email delivery (you can choose to login to view when you want)) and others that we're not, like the ability to see postings from other nearby neighborhoods if we choose. It also contains categories (Classifieds, Crime & Safety, Documents, Free Items, General, Lost & Found, and Recommendations) by which postings can be grouped, and a map and events calendar. We're certain it will encompass and expand upon what we've already started in the Google group, are happy with its privacy settings, and find it easy to use.