Cohousing-L Mailing List: Cautionary Tale?

[Collaborative Housing Society (cohosoc]

I'm not sure how this ended up in my mailbox, but it didn't come from this
list, so I thought I'd post it here as it seems to be a relevant, if 
cautionary, tale.

Russell Mawby
Coll. Hsg. Soc.
Toronto
cohosoc [at] web.apc.org

* * * * * *

Greetings.

In 1990, my wife and I became involved in a community known as Cerro Gordo, 
located in Southern Oregon. This community, founded over 20 years ago, 
describes itself as a "demonstration eco-village." The community site consists 
of over a 1000 acres of woodland and meadows. It's stated goal
is to create a village of about 2000 people. The village will demonstrate
ecological principles of development and living. For example, dwellings will
be grouped in clusters to preserve most of the land as natural landscape.
Cars will be banned from the village itself.

It sounded very good to us. However, our participation has left us
frustreated and unhappy. We did not live there, though we hoped to some
day. In the meantime, we participated as much as we could by attending
meetings and "gatherings," and by investing and donating money. We
eventually discovered that the community's policies and activities violated
our personal beliefs and ethical standards. We are currently engaged in
legal action against the community. 

We also eventually found that our experiences were not new. From the
beginning of the community, it has been polarized between those who are
supportive and loyal and by those who are disappointed and critical, many
of whom claim financial losses. 

The problem I want to address here is that newcomers to Cerro Gordo are
likely to hear only from boosters and loyalists, because disillusioned people
drop out of contact.  When we first became involved in Cerro Gordo, we
never heard anything critical. Consequently, during our first two years of
participation, we rationalized away problems as the "normal" difficulties of
an ambitious project. These problems would have greatly disturbed us if we
had realized they represented a longstanding pattern. It was only after we
had discovered serious problems on our own that we began to find out that
others had experienced similar problems and patterns of behavior
throughout the history of the project. 

Cerro Gordo is not for everyone. You're not likely to hear that from its
supporters. We feel an obligation to alert people who might be attracted to
this community to investigate it carefully and thoroughly _before_ they
make serious committments such as investing money or moving there. I
would suggest at least a year and preferably two years of intense
involvement and observation. 

Cerro Gordo has its passionate defenders who consider my opinions of the
community to be without merit or validity. I have no desire to get into
arguments with such people if they post to this discussion. Such arguments
go nowhere, and no one gets convinced of anything different than they
already believe, because we're talking about basic values. The bottom line
is that you may love Cerro Gordo, in which case I wish you much joy of it,
or you may detest it, in which case I want you to discover that BEFORE
you invest a lot of time/effort/money.

Because of the optimistic goals described in Cerro Gordo's promotional
materials, many people who have never visited it have the impression of a
substantial community. The reality is that it consists of about 9 dwellings,
most on a dirt road. Maybe 50 or so people total living there. Some of
those (maybe a quarter of the residents) are very unhappy with the project
and its leadership, but they make the best of living there, and usually don't
talk to casual visitors or make waves. The other three-quarters or so are
dedicated supporters.

There are various excuses for the lack of progress. The biggest one is that
they had so much difficulty in getting land-use development permits under
Oregon's strict land-use laws. There is truth to that, but I regard it as a
very incomplete explanation. My feeling is that Cerro Gordo's internal
failings have contributed as much or more to the community's problems
and setbacks. Your mileage may vary.

If you are attracted to Cerro Gordo, I suggest you investigate the following
areas very carefully, digging beyond the information provided by the
community's leaders and supporters.

LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE (We found it autocratic and
lacking in accountability or checks and balances.)

FINANCES (You might try asking for financial statements for its
investments and its non-profit wing. Or ask about unpaid "short-term
loans.")

GETTING THE JOB DONE (For many years, the leadership of Cerro
Gordo has promised to complete such tasks as publishing a regular
newsletter, publishing a community plan, and implementing a limited stock
corporation to rationalize the current crazy-quilt of land and limited
partnership investments, many held by people who long ago lost all interest
in the development, but can't get their money out. Investigate Cerro
Gordo's record of actually getting any of these or other promised tasks
done.)

INFORMATION (Evaluate what information is shared with the entire
community, and what is kept secret or shared only with a handful of close
associates.)

PEOPLE (Talk with both supporters and residents AND dropouts and
disillusioned former participants.)

Again, I'm not going to argue about any of this. Just be aware that the
community is controversial, and very disappointing to many people who
once were enthusiastic, and then come to your own conclusions

I'll monitor this topic for only a short time, as I'm narrowing down how
many networks I follow, and I'm probably going to close out my igc
membership pretty soon, so I don't intend to participate in extensive
follow-up discussion. If you need to contact me--for instance, if you would
like to contact former participants--send me e-mail at skahn [at] europa.com.
This email address may change also, but should be good for at least a few
months.

I wish everyone good fortune and personal fulfillment in their search for
community.

S. Kahn