Courtesy Do Not Disturb List
Why we need a Courtesy Do Not Disturb list
What do you do when you receive an unexpected knock at the door?
Do you rush to say hello? Do you freeze and hide, waiting for your unwanted visitor to go away? Do you salivate in anticipation of the food that you ordered? Do you yell, curse, or grumble that you are on the no soliciting list?
As a candidate for public office (and as a volunteer for other candidates stretching back for over a decade), I have been knocking doors in Waltham neighborhoods for several years now. I have found that on a typical street (on a weekend or evening) roughly about 1 in 4 (or 5) houses I approach will answer the door. This includes about half of the houses where no one is home, which means in my experience approximately 1 in 2 (or 3) houses with someone home will answer the door.
In my experience, about half the people who answer the door (including those who have “no soliciting” signs posted) are cordial and/or excited to talk to about local politics with a neighbor — with the other half being some combination of politely disinterested and/or are busy with life (cooking, chasing after kids, or entertaining guests). However, there is a small minority (much less than 1 in 100) who react aggressively (sometimes very aggressively) complaining that they are on the no soliciting list (even if they don’t have any signage posted) before they even take the time to understand who you are and why you are there.
When I first started door knocking in Waltham, I politely ignored “no soliciting” signs as I was campaigning (which is how I learned that most people with “no soliciting” signs are actually happy to talk about local politics), because door-to-door solicitation laws only apply to vendors engaged in commercial enterprises, that is: selling a product or service. They very specifically do not apply to protected first amendment speech, including: political campaigning or activism, religious organizations, and charitable organizations.
If you didn’t know this, you are not alone. It is a common misconception that “no soliciting” means that is illegal for anyone to knock on your door. [I’ve also learned that in Waltham specifically (but no where else that I’ve lived before), there is another a surprisingly common (but still incorrect) assumption that living on a privately owned road means that someone is breaking the law by ringing your doorbell. In fact, for most scenarios there is a legal presumption on private roads (just like on a private driveway or walkway) that visitors are allowed to approach the front door unless or until someone asks you to leave the property.]
Therefore, in my first campaign for public office in 2024 I made a commitment to knock every door on the street, because I dislike the approach by most traditional partisan candidates to only engage with people who vote on a regular basis (generally ignoring people who only vote occasionally or not at all). My logic at the time was that I wanted to make sure that everyone of any party (or none at all) should have a chance to meet their candidates and elected officials.
This time around, as I make my 20 month “walk for office” ahead of the 2027 municipal elections, I recalibrated my approach. I recognized that while it is important for the public to have access to candidates, not everyone wants that “access” at their front door. Instead, I wanted to better respect people’s desire to “disconnect” while relaxing at home. As a result, I created campaign materials in the form of “do not disturb” door hangers similar to what you would find at a hotel, so that residents could declare their preferences (one side for welcoming political discussions and the other for avoiding politics at the front door). I even provided an offer on my website for Waltham residents to receive a permanent sticker if they have a strong preference to opt-out. In this campaign, I am still visiting every house I pass during my neighborhood walks, but for houses with a clearly posted “no soliciting” sign I simply leave the do not disturb hanger without ringing or knocking.
Even with all of this consideration for privacy at home, I have still encountered a couple of people that have been angered by a stranger approaching their home. I understand this frustration. Therefore, in the spirit of confirming that Waltham is a community that cares about both its neighbors wishes at home and in civic engagement, I would like to propose a solution to bridge the gap between the “no soliciting” (mis)perceptions that exist and our constitutionally protected first amendment rights.
I propose the creation of a Courtesy Do Not Disturb list for Waltham residents. This new list should be separate and distinct from the legally-binding No Soliciting list maintained by the police department and enforced against door-to-door commercial vendors. Instead, I would ask that the Courtesy Do Not Disturb list be maintained by the City Clerk’s office.
At a minimum, residents should be prompted in the annual city census to decide if they want to opt-in to the list (or to proactively renew their opt-in from the previous year that expires if not rejoined each year). Then, candidates (who already visit the City Clerk’s office for other reasons) and any other local charity and religious organizations who intend to knock on doors in Waltham should be able to request access to the list of addresses who have requested the courtesy of not being disturbed at home.
If the Waltham City Council is willing to authorize the appropriate funding, I would further recommend that the city establish a dedicated webpage with a more detailed “door knocking preferences form” that provides a single place for residents to be added to both the legally enforceable no solicitation list as well as indicate their preferences with regard to various types of political, religious, and charitable organizations. [For example, maybe someone does not want to be visited by salespeople, politicians, or religious organizations but is perfectly happy to have the Girl Scouts or the local little league booster club stop by.]
If done correctly and in a manner that preserves privacy rights, the courtesy list could go beyond simply avoiding contact altogether by allowing residents to provide instructions about where to leave materials, preferred visitation hours, and/or alternative contact options (such as emails or phone numbers) for organizations to reach out if they align with the resident’s preferences.
Ideally, the Courtesy Do Not Disturb list should be maintained in an always up-to-date database format, which can be readily accessed for free by local people and organizations that are verified as having a legitimate non-commercial reason for knocking on doors in Waltham but should not be openly posted online for data-scraping AI bots to collect or subjected unnecessarily to FOIA requests.
I would further encourage the City Council to require that the webpage hosting the form proactively inform residents about what each option actually means: What legal protections do they have on their property and under what circumstances? What are the differences between living on a public vs private road when it comes to visitors? What is just common courtesy that might not be observed by everyone? What actions should someone take if they notice “a suspicious person” knocking doors on their street (aside from just complaining about it on social media)?
I hope that introducing a Courtesy Do Not Disturb list will offer Waltham the best of both worlds: a civically engaged public and an opportunity for a bit of peace and quiet at home. In the meantime, for residents who specifically don’t want to see me at their door, I have created my own personal Do Not Disturb list on www.sean.diamonds, so that I can continue to exercise both courtesy and my own free speech rights to as I visit neighbors in Waltham.