Re: Seniority-Much Ado About Nothing
From: Berrins (Berrinsaol.com)
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 23:29:35 -0700 (MST)
In a message dated 10/31/2000 2:16:48 PM, lilbert [at] earthlink.net writes:

<<  I know I piss people off when I complain, but I'm asking each of you to 
consider what use this list really is, if we sit around talking about what we 
agree on all day
long? >>

This list, I assume, is to help folks into cohousing and those already in.  
Picking your house lot is an issue, however small, that someone wanted input 
on.  Answering that post is sharing our history and advice, which is what 
cohousing is partly about. And it's a little issue that will go away quickly.

Actually, not everyone agrees on this issue.  Most do, but so what?  Is it so 
bad to know this?  

<<  I would be gratified if some of the people who have developed cohousing 
would
answer some of the tougher questions sometimes, rather than every so often
there being this flurry of easy-to-swallow sound-bite posts. >>

Lots of tough questions have been asked and responded to.  But life has lots 
of little questions, too; why not get some advice on these?  Why do they all 
have to be big?  Also, it's easy in hindsight to see some problems as little 
ones, but when you're in midstream they appear bigger.  And anyone who's been 
following this list for awhile will see issues resurfacing again and again.  
Even big issues can get smaller with repetition, or seem smaller if they 
don't apply to you.

Sound bite posts?  I prefer to think that the people who post to this list 
are good writers. 

<<  ...while in fact, it is an enclave for the rich and guilty. >>
Do you know the financial history of everyone living in cohousing?  My wife 
and I do okay, but we're far from rich.  And many folks in this community are 
scraping by to live here, working two jobs and living cheap.

We tried to get more financial diversity, but were unable to figure out how 
to get lower income units without sacrificing either the site itself (land in 
Northampton is expensive) or giving up the energy efficient aspect.  We 
definitely didn't pat ourselves on the back on this.  But we don't feel 
guilty about it, and we'll keep trying.

However, we did build a lot of moderate cost housing.  I could go into 
detail, but how to keep housing costs down is an issue that has been 
discussed many times on this list.  I feel sorry for you if your community 
has housing prices that are way out of reach for low and moderate income 
folks, but don't generalize this to all of cohousing.

<<  There are so many issues that get brought up that nobody ever replies to. 
 >>
Such as?  Every issue I've ever seen asked has been replied to.  If you've 
got issues you want replies to, ask away!!  I may not have a ready reply, but 
I'd be surprised if nobody does.

<<  "treatises of denial"  >>  Loaded words, and ones that imply whatever 
answers we give won't be good enough.  Maybe cohousing isn't living up to the 
all the dreams, but give us a break, we're just getting started.   The best 
is yet to come.

Roger Berman
Pathways
Nothampton, MA

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