Community size
From: David Mandel (dlmandelrcip.com)
Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 18:50:09 -0500
Hi folks.

I don't have time for a lengthy essay now, but especially for Rowena and
others wrestling with community size, I want to reiterate my quick 2 cents'
worth.

With all due respect to the opinions of my neighbor and friend Mela, I wish
our community were larger. I actually very much appreciate her point -- and
hadn't thought about it much before -- that it's easier to avoid having
rigid rules if our numbers are smaller and we can adjust to each other's
idiosyncracies more easily. But I believe that the same flexibility can be
achieved just fine with a somewhat larger group; it might just take a little
more time, but so what? And the other advantages of a larger community still
make me wish ours were larger: better economies of scale for goodies in the
common house, more diversity, more people to take on tasks, cook meals, ...
I could go on a long time. 

Even a small group tends to subdivide into subgroups of friends, and there's
nothing wrong with that. I didn't join cohousing to become intimate friends
with all my neighbors. Better there be more to choose among. 

So I say, Rowena, go for the larger number, and given the right site and
market, I'd love to see some even bigger projects happen. I think we've
become very narrow minded when Nyland's 42 sounds like the upper limit just
because it is so far. A cohousing community of 80 households would be
different in some ways, but it sure could have a lot going for it.

Someone want to try?

David Mandel, Southside Park

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