Los Gatos Promotes Neighborhood Social Network

The Town of Los Gatos has announced that it will be assisting Nextdoor, the first private social network for neighborhoods, to foster neighbor-to-neighbor and citywide communication.

The service will try to help Los Gatos residents get to know their neighbors, ask questions and exchange local advice and recommendations.

Topics of discussion on Nextdoor are as varied as local events, school activities, plumber and babysitter recommendations, disaster preparedness, recent crime activity, upcoming garage sales and even lost pets, officials said in a written press release.

"We believe more engaged residents create stronger neighborhoods and community," said Los Gatos Town Manager Greg Larson.

Participants must verify that they live within the neighborhood. Information shared on Nextdoor is password-protected and cannot be accessed by those outside the neighborhood or found on Google or other search engines.

Also, Nextddor doesn't share personal information with third parties and unlike an email listserv or other online groups, posts are organized and archived for future reference, according to town officials.

Six Los Gatos neighborhoods have already embraced Nextdoor, they said.

Los Gatos blogger Mary Pope-Handy, who's also a local realtor, said since starting to use Nextdoor for her east Los Gatos enclave known as Belwood-Belgatos there's been great sharing of information such as advice on service providers, experiences with crime that otherwise the neighborhood wouldn't have known about and what to watch out for.

Catherine Briggs, lead of Nextdoor Surrey Farms, the Los Gatos neighborhood near Kennedy Road and Longmeadow Drive, said she had used Nextdoor to gather her neighbors via a secure, online forum.

She said so far, nearly 60 percent of households have joined. She added the neighbors are using the service to communicate about activities such as a block party and coordinate painting the fence at the entrance of her neighborhood.

Those interested in joining their neighborhood's Nextddor website can visit www.nextdoor.com and enter their address. If the service is available in their area, they can immediately sign up, officials said.

If a Nextdoor website has not yet been established for their area, they are invited to apply to bring Nextdoor to their neighborhood.