Re: early years/alternative model
From: David G Adams (dadamsworld.std.com)
Date: Sat, 28 Oct 1995 10:59:00 -0500
Judith Wisdom suggests...
> My thought is that in such places maybe the thing to do is to find a 
> neighborhood that's appealing in terms of look and other residents and 
> all the other things that would draw you to live there (and establish if 
> it were possible) a real traditional coho community, even if it were not 
> built from scratch.  Then, instead of finding contiguous properties and a
> common house, say in a circle or such, form a tight coho group and each 
> family unit purchase separate properties on several (if in the city and 
> that's what I'm thinking) streets nearby each other (or, if possible, one
> street).  If there is enough $s buy one for a common house. 
> 
> And stick together re dinners, meetings, group purchases, and all the rest
> 
> I offer this because it could (I think--no vast or really any experience 
> except life in regular neighborhoods) even draw in other like-minded folks
> 
This is what I think of as a mix between "virtual cohousing" and retrofit 
coho.  It's very much what a group in Cambridge, MA (Eerie St.) is doing now 
(no common house yet).  They started as a group of neighbors, and now are 
calling themselves coho, which should lead more coho oriented people to move 
into the neighborhood.  There's also a group here in Arlington that has a 
neighborhood newsletter, a neighborhood service exchange program, and 
monthly dinners.  Some of them want to turn that into coho eventually.  

I think we absolutely have to encourage this sort of behavior, even if the 
architects don't get to design Grand Visions.  These "infill/retrofit" and 
"virtual" coho communities can't have everything (100% accessability, most 
notably), but they are far more doable in urban / inner suburban settings, 
IMHO.

Dave Adams
??? Cohousing
Arlington MA

_____________________________________________________________________

  |\/\/\/|  David G. Adams           |  Homebrewer
  |____  |  U4 Consulting            |  Cohousing Wannabe
 OO    ) |  Arlington, MA            | "I used to be indesicive,
 (       |  dadams [at] world.std.com     |  but now I'm not so sure"
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