Re: Consensus, Majority Vote, "Blocks"
From: Michael Barrett (mbarretttoast.net)
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011 08:47:44 -0700 (PDT)
Rebecca Reid said:

. . . . but no one else agrees, the proposal can go forward and they step aside.

I agree that some mechanism is needed to get past the intransigent homeowner. When you say they "step aside" that presumes they always will. The step aside is, of course, used by many communities. But if they won't step aside they must be eventually "put aside", or overruled, or in effect "voted down" (even if with no votes actually cast). Maybe you have the good fortune to have never reached this point.

Michael Barrett - at Shadowlake Village, Blacksburg, VA where we have had to overrule a block (by voting) only once (as far as I know) in about 10 years of residence.


Rebecca Reid <rreid [at] cohousing.com>
is the author of the message below.  It was posted by
Fred, the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org>
after deleting excess quoting of digest.
--------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------
ok, the big list of synonyms:

willingness to compromise

At Pioneer Valley there is no such thing as a "block"--that is, no one
person can unilaterally veto something. Since everyone contributes something essential to the discussion, even what seems like an unreasonable objection
has some piece of truth in it.  If there is a person who has a serious
objection to a proposal, it means we haven't finished yet.  If the person
with the objection manages to convince the rest that their objection is
truly for the sake of the good of the whole, It is wise to consider it and
see if changes to the proposal can fix it. If the person remains convinced even after being heard and having the proposal altered that the proposal is
detrimental to the community, but no one else agrees, the proposal can go
forward and they step aside.


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