Re: re Group vision/goals
From: Nancy Wight (wightwal.hp.com)
Date: Thu, 5 May 94 13:10 CDT
> Nancy of New View,

> if the issue that you spoke of in a generic way isn't too sensitive to share
> in a specific way, I would be really interested in a concrete example of how
> the core group's vision can be too utopian and eventually fall prey to more
> worldly values of new members.  That is to say, the hypothetical example
> that somebody (Rob Sandelin? provided was interesting, but maybe not as 
> instructive as an actual case...

> - Jim Slotta (Pittsburgh, for now)

Actually, I think it is the other way around - the core group's vision
isn't utopian enough for some people. But I'll try to get a little
more specific.  Here's an example of what we called our "primary goals" - 
that with which we felt we could not do without:
        1. Less burdensome lifestyle (i.e. sharing, neighborliness, watching
           each other's kids, etc.)
        2. Affordable
        3. Ecologically sound practices
        4. Natural beauty, healing and serene (surroundings)
        5. Age diversity
        6. Not based on a particular idealogy or dogma
        7. Good schools (in the town we choose)
        
To this we added a list of "secondary goals" - very desireable to have
as many of them as possible:

        1. Commute less than 40 minutes to Boston/Cambridge
        2. Supportive to families
        3. Fully participatory
        4. Participates in surrounding community
        5. Shared work projects
        6. Community service projects
        7. Community garden
        8. Common dinners
        9. Privacy balancing community
        10. Diversity
        11. Child play areas, child care
        etc.

This was put together in the fall of 1989.  If I had it to do over again,
knowing what I know now, I would probably want to move some things
around.  Some of these things are very vague (on purpose, I think).

Now, what Jim Slotta referred to as "more worldly values of new members"
were actually, in my opinion, "less" worldly  (unless I have it backwards!)
things that some of the older members also found desireable, but weren't 
necessarily a "showstopper" for them.  These were things like affordable 
housing (a specific program that qualifies as such by some government agency 
or other), various gradations of solar energy, composting toilets with 
greywater treatment system (i.e. no septic tank and no leaching fields), etc.  
(Please, no flames about what is and isn't utopian or worldly - I really have 
no idea myself - I'm just using my understanding of these words to respond to 
Jim's question).  

- Nancy

-- 
New View Neighborhood Development, Acton, MA

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