BLOCK PARTIES ARE AIMED AT RENEWED NEIGHBORLINESS

Once upon a time, before air conditioning and TV kept everyone indoors year around, neighborhoods were -- well, neighborly. Everyone knew everyone else on the block. Neighbors shared laughter and tears. They watched out for each other. They played together. They helped each other.

Nowadays, too many of us don't know who are neighbors are. We see them leaving for work or returning from the grocery store. That's about it.

The Livingway Foursquare Church on Bloomfield Road is trying to restore some neighborliness. The church held a block party last weekend in a effort to get reacquainted with nearby residents.

Other towns have programs that foster neighborliness. Topeka, the capital of Kansas, allows neighbors to get one-day permits for a block party. The city even sends out a municipal truck and crew with barricades and picnic tables to be used on the day of the party.

Block parties may not solve all the problems of today's society, but they sure would go a long way toward introducing us to each other -- again.