building for community | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Casey Morrigan (cjmorrpacbell.net) | |
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 13:52:07 -0600 (MDT) |
It seems tempting to talk about this stuff in the abstract. I'd like to talk about how it has worked here. We have had a wish list. It has some negative history to it, as some of it consists of items that some of us thought would be completed as part of construction. We prioritized it, in a lengthy process that was imperfect but that applied the values in our mission statement in a methodical way. We decided through another lengthy process (cuz we are in cohousing and that's what we do) that if someone wanted to buy the community something on the wish list, no matter the priority order, they could. We never did reach consensus on the obvious related issue, if we had community money to spend, whether it would go to the wish list. So: no decision. An off-site member then contributed toward buying a dishwasher for the community. That was great even though it wasn't top on the list. With some community money we decided to build an arbor; I can't remember where on the list it was or even if it was. Says something about how I don't track the wish list, although I could look it up in the decisions binder whenever I wanted. Now we are in the process of deciding to spend money (along the model of Tierra Nueva on the central CA coast) on a solar photovoltaic system. We have not yet decided to do it but it seems that a consensus is developing and I think it will get the green light at our next meeting. This was nowhere on the priority list when we put it together but it has become important recently. If we do it, the funding will likely come from the community as a whole and it will be the biggest single item that we have ever spent money on since construction. We haven't been very methodical in knocking off our wish list items. I don't know if that's good or bad. I've tried to develop this attitude about our purchases: if I can live with it, I go along with it. It is very hard to reach agreement on things and so many of us have felt discouragement in the community in trying to get things up and running and getting negative feedback, getting stuff shot down. It is hard to have individual intiative here - there is always someone to bump up against with a different idea or opposition. This is one of the difficulties of living somewhere where you've agreed to consult with others on many aspects of your life and built environment. I do my best to say "yes" (or at least a grudging "OK"!!)if it looks like it is going to bring joy to someone, even if it is not what I would have picked or even if it's not on the group's priority list. That way we have people invested in the community-- joyful people. Someone recently spoke at a meeting about how much the re-landscape of a particular garden section meant to her. I had no idea. It looked fine before (to me) and looked fine afterward. But I was glad that we supported it with community money if it meant so much to her. I'd be interested in knowing how people in our community feel about money, time and other forms of "concentrated energy" as expressed through projects completed here. We have a wide distribution of incomes, of time availability for the community, etc. Maybe that would be a good thing to talk about at a community meeting. Casey Morrigan Two Acre Wood Sebastopol California > -----Original Message----- > From: Racheli Gai [mailto:racheli [at] sonoracohousing.com] > Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 9:38 AM > To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org > Subject: Re: [C-L]_Power, Money, and Values. > > > > I see it pretty much in the terms Robert put forth, ie: if > someone puts > lots of money into the community, there could very well be strings > attached, mostly in terms of power unbalance. While there > isn't a clear > line between what amounts to a lot of money and what isn't, I > think this > distinction is important. I want to comment, though, on one > point made by > Robert, > in reference to a prioritization list: I'm not sure that the > fact that item A is higher than item B on the list means, > necessarily, that the group wishes to have item A before > item B *under all circumstances*. It could mean that that's > how the community feels regarding the use of *community > money*, but that if some other money is found for something > lower - then this might not present a problem. I often feel > that way: Some low-priority items are not something I'm > dying to have, but if it was really important to someone in > the community > to the point that they're ready to shell money > for it - I'd have no objection. The group should have a > discussion, of > course, to make sure that it's not low on the list because some people > truly don't want it, and haven't bothered to comment because > it seemed > out of reach anyway. > > R. > > > >From Robert's valuable post is this excerpt... > >Now, it's true that these are things that the whole > community wants--the > >question was originally whether a policy should be made to > "accept gifts > >but only to fund the items in the VE priority order." > > >********* > > >Here's what I don't believe I've seen addressed here. Forgive me if I > >missed it... > > >Let's imagine that I have some money, not a lot, but more > than I need. (I > >wish that were more than imaginary.) I know my community has > not raised > >enough money to get everything on their value engineering list. I > >certainly don't have enough money to donate the cast-iron > plumbing for > >the community, but I would like to donate the patio, which I could > >afford. I know the reason the community put that choice off > was because > >it felt like something they could raise money for in the > future or try to > >build themselves. > > >Is that a power thing if I get it for them even though it > wasn't as high > >a priority as the cast-iron pipes? Is it a power thing if it > wasn't as > >high a priority as screen doors? I see the patio as an > important part of > >the community and the screen doors as an important part of > the individual > >units. > _______________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org Unsubscribe and other info: http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L
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building for community Casey Morrigan, September 30 2003
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