Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Handling emergency decisions

[fmancino (fmancino]

On Wed, 22 Feb 1995 JSA [at] laspau.mhs.harvard.edu wrote:

> 
> Hello.  My name is Judy Adler and I've recently become an associate 
> member of the Cornerstone cohousing group in the Boston area.  My 
> committee is interested in finding out about what procedures other groups 
> have come up with for making emergency decisions, even down to the level 
> of what constitutes an emergency decision.  We use group concensus to 
> make decisions, but it has occured to us that we may at some point need 
> to make a speedy decision in less time than it takes to convene a general 
> meeting.  One example that came up was the need to make a bid on a site 
> within a very short period of time in order not to lose the property.  
> 
> All suggestions are welcome.
> 
> jsa [at] laspau.mhs.harvard.edu  
> 
> 

I have been involved with two or three cohousing groups (after a while, 
it becomes difficult to determine whether or not there is a formal 
cohousing group or just some people taking financial and sociological 
risks together); in each instance, everyone spoke to the issue of using 
consensus decision-making for major group decisions, yet when the time 
came for deciding upon a site, consensus decision making was not used.  I 
personally think it should not be used, since a person's choice of a 
site is tied to their needs, and not to the good of the group.  
>From my (limited) perspective, I think the major considerations in 
forming a group to buy land and act as a developer for cohousing should 
be a capacity for risk-taking, coupled with an ability to trust the other 
partners, and some energy to make things happen.  Of course there are 
organizational and legal issues to consider, but in the early phase of 
cohousing, you need those "pioneer" types who had no idea about the 
territory they were to traverse, but got in their wagons, and set off.
Not all pioneers made it to the promised land but that is another story.

Frank Mancino
Maryland Cohousing              "Try to make it real/but compared to what?"