Living in Battery Park City has had a profound influence on the creation of neighBORROW.com. The community feel of BPC in such a big city makes it very special. The sheer volume of residents, stuff, the close knit neighborhood atmosphere, the friendly doorpeople and the existence of storage/mailrooms makes BPC an ideal place to share things with our neighbors. I thought to myself, "I live in this great place, with all of these people, have all of this stuff I might be willing to lend out, walk by my doorpeople or go to my office SEVERAL times a day (to drop the actual items off, or make an exchange)... I knew there was a way to create/coordinate/engineer something special, as long as privacy and accountability were addressed, since all of these other pieces were already in place.
Personally, I would feel comfortable, and would find it very convenient, to drop off a movie, book, or anything else with my doorperson. Or bring it to work. Or give it directly to the person borrowing it. I realized that with so many options, users would be able to dictate their own levels of privacy and convenience. We already trust our neighbors, we don't steal each other's newspapers or laundry, and have some things, if not many things in common. So a website that not only helps to organize this new inventory, but also requires security deposits and facilitates exchanges, is the perfect solution to allow everyone to take advantage of all of this stuff and feel completely comfortable doing so... And it's not a bad way to meet the neighbors and make new friends. The only reason I built this site is because I would use it myself, I HOPE YOU WILL TOO.
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