When you live in an apartment building, getting to know your neighbors is no easy feat. While the rest of us might be content to just complain about today’s lack of neighborly spirit, one incredible woman decided to take matters into her own hands and actually do something about it. Get ready to have your heart warmed, because this awesome landlord created a gas leak in her building so that all her tenants could finally meet each other.
Now that’s how you really foster a community.
In the decades Leah Krauss has owned and managed her 30-unit apartment building in New Brunswick, she’s noticed just how little her tenants interact with each other. After 35 years, she finally decided to change that for the better. Using a nail to puncture the heating gas pipe at key points throughout the building, Leah was able to start a gas leak and force a total evacuation, giving everyone living in the building the perfect chance to meet, talk, and bond.
Thanks to Leah’s community-minded ingenuity, residents went around and finally introduced themselves after years of living side by side, asking each other if they felt light-headed or smelled rotten eggs. And once the tenants had evacuated the building, they had plenty of common ground to talk about, ranging from how long they’d lived in their apartments to whether they were worried if the entire building would explode. Even once emergency services showed up, the residents continued chatting and getting to know one another, forming bonds that could last for years provided their building did not get condemned by the city.
Leah even made sure to cause the gas leak in the early evening, when the majority of her tenants would be at home. In fact, the only ones who missed out were the newlyweds in unit 107 who didn’t end up evacuating with the rest despite their apartment lights being on. Emergency responders eventually stormed into their unit to retrieve them, but the couple didn’t make any effort to mingle or be conscious. Talk about party poopers!
Wet blankets aside, the impromptu sidewalk meet and greet turned out to be a lovely occasion for the majority of the building’s residents. Kudos to Leah for being so committed to making her building feel like a home for its tenants. If only every landlord cared this much!
