(upbeat music) ♪ Good, good, good ♪ ♪ Good, good ♪ ♪ Good ♪ ♪ Good, Good Neighbor Club ♪ (upbeat music) - Good day, good neighbors.

I'm just waiting for my friend.

She's coming over... (Arden panting) Arden.

- Oh, Fredster.

(sighing) You will not believe what I just went through to get here.

- Rough day?

- I'm just gonna need some sort of cheese snack ASAP.

(audience laughing) (sighing) Thank you.

- Okay, so what exactly happened?

- (sighing) Fredster, it was wild.

There I was just trying to get from school to Planet Mars- - Uncle Mars' garage.

(audience laughing) - but lo, the new intersection by that new grocery store is bananas.

I mean, it's just cars, cars, cars, cars a ton, Cars-apalooza.

(audience laughing) And then, little old Arden just trying to cross the street safely so she could play checkers with her dear friend, Fred.

(audience laughing) - I should've warned you.

Ever since they put the new grocery store in, that intersection has been super hectic.

- I had to walk 10 minutes in the other direction to the stoplight just so I could cross the street safely.

(sighing) My legs feel like jelly.

(audience laughing) - I'm so sorry, Arden.

- I just wish there was a crosswalk at Bloomer and Parkview.

- That would be perfect.

- A safe place to cross the street, is that too much to ask?

(audience laughing) (pensive music) - I wonder.

- How they pack so much cheese flavor into one cracker?

Same.

(audience laughing) - No, I wonder, who decides where the crosswalks go?

- The crosswalk boss?

(gasping) Crosswalk boss-walk?

(audience laughing) - No, but seriously, that's gotta be someone's job.

- But I'm not that someone.

I'm just Arden.

Deep thinker, cheese enthusiast, checkers master.

(audience laughing) Let's consult the Good Neighbor Guide.

- Oh, yeah, the ultimate neighborhood scrapbook.

(audience cheering and clapping) (transition dinging) - Good day, good neighbors.

I am State Representative Morgan Cephas, and I have the distinct pleasure of representing my neighbors in the 192nd Legislative District out in West Philadelphia.

I also ensure that we are bringing back money to invest in our playgrounds, to invest in our schools, and to invest in our roads and our bridges and our sidewalks.

The one thing that will help initiate change is coming up with a new idea.

One of the things that you can do is you can work with the neighbors that are around you, you can work with the community organizations, the elected officials.

You also can work with your friends that can help you bring those new ideas to fruition and to actually, you know, figure out solutions.

It sometimes takes a while to make change because we want to always ensure that we identify an issue and the new idea, but we also gotta make sure that the solution actually solves the challenge.

And we also have to make sure that the community and the residents, you know, all agree on the direction that we're going into.

The most important thing is that we wanna ensure that we are listening directly to you, so we can make the community that you love to live in just like we love to live in.

Identify your local elected official, and I want you all to come up with one project in your community, in your neighborhood that you are gonna change.

And by the next time I come back, you're gonna be able to tell me about this new project that you worked on with your neighbors, your community and your elected official.

So I will see you next time.

Bye-bye.

(transition dinging) (upbeat music) (transition rustling) - I've had an idea.

- Same, same, Fredster.

Let's say it at the same time.

- Okay, three, two, one.

Write a letter.

- Start living in a penguin colony.

(penguins honking) (audience laughing) - Wait, what?

- No streets in the penguin colony, therefore no crosswalks.

(dramatic music) (audience laughing) - I would miss you.

- You could visit.

(audience laughing) - Well, before it gets to that, I was thinking we could write a letter.

- To the crosswalk-boss?

(audience laughing) - Yeah.

Our local commissioner's name is L. Roberts.

Now, all we have to do is write a letter.

(audience laughing) Hmm.

Do you know how to write a letter?

- Oh, absolutely.

(bright music) (audience laughing) I have like eight pen pals, including a kid who lives all the way in Nova Scotia, and a dog who lives in Pittsburgh.

(dog barking) (audience laughing) You start with the greeting.

- "Dear Commissioner Roberts."

- Then get into the body of the letter.

- Oh, is that like the middle part?

- Yep, I like to start with an introduction.

- "Our names are Freddy and Arden, and we live in the neighborhood."

- Then get right into the business.

- "Now that there's a new grocery store on Bloomer, there's a lot of traffic and not a safe way to cross the street."

- Unless you get jet packs and can just fly over all the cars.

(audience laughing) - We're not getting jet packs.

(audience laughing) "We were hoping you'd consider putting a crosswalk on Bloomer and Parkview to make it safer for all our neighbors."

- Now sign it off.

- "Sincerely, Freddy and Arden."

- And that is how you write a letter.

(audience cheering and clapping) - Now we just have to send it.

- And then instant crosswalk?

(audience laughing) - I have a feeling it won't be instant.

- Okay, five days, and then boom, instant crosswalk?

(audience laughing) - Well, change takes time.

A lot of people have to be really thoughtful about the best way to make change so that it helps the most people.

- Maybe we should reconsider the jet packs.

(audience laughing) - Hey, Uncle Mars always says, "Start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can."

Writing a letter is a great start to make our voices heard.

And besides, I've seen you on roller skates.

I don't think I trust you with a jet pack.

(audience laughing) (upbeat music) Okay, Neighbor Net, how do you make change happen where you live?

(audience cheering and clapping) (computer whirring and hissing) (boxers faintly chanting) - Sound off.

- One, two.

- Sound off.

- Three, four.

- [Reporter] A gym is a place where neighbors exercise, which is why this group though it would be the perfect place to try out a new idea.

- My name is Ted Zale.

I've been retired now for 10 years and doing this for 10 years, (laughing) so it's really great to be back into the gym again.

Back in 2017, Ron's wife called me up and said, "Hey, you gotta come over and take a look at this program that I taped on a DVR for you."

So my wife and I went over, and of course it was "Rock Steady Boxing."

I had never heard of it before.

So I got into that, and I said, "You know, we could do that here in Lansing."

- [Reporter] Ted designs exercises and boxing drills to work the muscles and brains of members affected by Parkinson's.

Let's hear from some of the members.

- My name is Monica Haloska.

What else do you wanna know?

I was diagnosed a couple years ago.

My husband comes here with me.

He does not have Parkinson's.

I asked my doctor, when he diagnosed me, I asked him about dementia, 'cause I've taken care of people that have Parkinson's, so I knew Parkinson's-related dementia was a thing.

And he said exercise would help, he said, "If it's good for your heart, it's good for your brain.

How about boxing?"

And I told him how old I was, and he told me his mother was older and she boxed and she loved it.

(punches smacking) - Ron Howe, and I was diagnosed with Parkinson's about three years ago.

I've been coming here maybe 2 1/2 years.

It's my understanding there is a chemical that your brain manufacturers that help you control your muscles and a lot of parts of your body.

I don't have enough of that right now, so I have to take some medicine to supplement that.

- [Reporter] What started as an idea for exercise became a way to change lives and build community.

- My name is Ron Horowitz.

I'm a physician in Lansing, Michigan.

Well, Rock Steady had its genesis one Sunday, my wife and I were watching TV and we saw this program that talked about Parkinson's disease.

And my wife thought (laughing) that would be a great idea.

The goal that we started with was to decrease the rate of loss of skills, but here they reacquired a skill which gave them mobility and kind of reopened the world to some folks.

And I thought that was a good way to participate in a community activity that benefited a lot of people.

- [Reporter] The key to a great idea is using it to help others.

Good luck, good neighbors.

(upbeat music) (audience cheering and clapping) (transition rustling) - We have the letter.

- And now we hunt for a stamp.

Huzzah.

(audience laughing) - Hey, Arden.

Hey, Freddie.

(laughing) Y'all headed out?

- To the search for the elusive stamp, Marsy Stars.

(audience laughing) - We wrote a letter to our commissioner asking her to put a crosswalk on Franklin and Parkview.

- That's a great idea.

That road is super crazy.

But why don't you just hand the letter to Commissioner Roberts?

- (scoffing) How would we do that?

Sneak in past her moat into her giant castle and leave it on her throne?

(audience laughing) One does not simply hand a commissioner a letter.

(audience laughing) - Even if she's standing right here in the garage with you?

(dramatic music) (audience laughing) - Freddy, Arden, I'd like you to meet Commissioner Roberts.

(Arden gasping) - You can just call me L.

- Your Majesty.

(audience laughing) - Uh, no, just your neighbor.

I live in the neighborhood just like you guys.

I ran for office because I care about making this place safe and awesome for the whole community.

- Well, we think that a crosswalk would make it safe and awesome.

(audience laughing) - I totally agree.

I'll bring it to the meeting next week.

- Whoa.

I can't believe we're in the presence of a real-life commissioner.

(audience laughing) - Thank you so much for your help.

- Aw, thank you for caring to make a change.

- It's like I always say, start where you are.

- Use what you have.

- Do what you can.

- And reward yourself with a cheesy snack.

(audience laughing) I added that part.

(audience laughing) - I like it.

So tell me more about this crosswalk.

Where do you think it's gonna be?

- [Arden] Well, we're Parkview, as you know.

- Real change happening in our neighborhood, and we started it.

Maybe we could get more people to write letters.

Ooh, or sign a petition.

Ooh, and we can even get a volunteer group of people to paint the crosswalk.

- (gasping) That is such a good idea.

- Thank you.

(audience clapping) (upbeat music) (computer hissing and whirring) - [Announcer] Lead support for this program had been provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with additional support from the William Penn Foundation, and viewers like you.

(upbeat music)