Pretty sure in Brooklyn, and other NYC boroughs, that is more of a cultural thing rather than a "try to create a sense of neighborliness" thing.

As a cultural thing, that type of community behavior has likely been going on for most of the past century in NYC.

But the person in the article tries to create that in a place where there is no cultural proclivity to that kind of behavior. That's actually a far more difficult thing to do.

Still, it is awesome to have it just as a cultural practice. No question.