| Saturday - Conference | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: George Marx (gmarx jps.net)
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| Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 11:21:05 -0600 (MDT) | |
Saturday - arriving at the site, there
was plentiful food (as there was Friday evening) and a warm environment
to listen and talk with others there. We were slow at
going to the large group session. The panel there was nicely
balanced with a Danish woman sharing her experiences together with a
founding member of Muir Commons in Davis who had lived there the first
ten years of North American cohousing talking first.
Peter Jessop's emotional response describing the community he has at
Pioneer Village with others' children and other men was very
moving. Kathyrn Lorenz caringly discussed how she had
evolved from a renter to home owner and into her primary partnership all
within her cohousing community.
My first smaller group session was on building below market rate cohousing. I was amazed at the Fannie Mae rep who was most clear on how this quasi-governmental business locally (at least) was interested in options for integrating lower income members in cohousing communities. The workshop was useful in pointing out both the complexities of blending funding with market rate purchasers and the opportunities which exist. The speakers again fit together very well, though they were individually very different from each other.
After a nice lunch in the nearby Telegraph Avenue Area with other cohousers, I went to a workshop on finding and purchasing a site which was lead by a developer and his partner who works with him. I was amazed at the complexities he discussed in purchasing land and getting permission to build. His forcefulness and "do it my way" approach seemed both a little dogmatic and obviously practical and important in getting projects built. Unfortunately he initially misunderstood and then reacted poorly when he better understood a questioner who is trying to get a cohousing project going for developmentally delayed children and their families. I would hope that he and others in similar circumstances would show more consideration for "different" situations and not uniformly lump them in with their previous professional efforts. An attendee was most helpful in supporting and clarifying some of the concerns of the initial questioner.
Katie, Mary and Laura (from Pioneer Valley in Amherst) lead a wonderful hand-on site planning exercise workshop together in the late afternoon. Their sharing of similar and different experiences was most helpful and it was fascinating to work with others in three smaller groups with little wooden "houses" trying to do a mock site plan for three projects they had worked on in urban, suburban and non-urban settings.
Saturday night's supper together, auction for the Cohousing Network and dance was quite successful. The food was very good, the auction raised a goodly amount of money and Peter Jessop's auctioneering was delightful! If possible in future conferences it would be helpful if the "community meal" (or meals) could be proximate if not on the conference site rather than several miles away. Many of us were very tired and starting supper at 7:00 p.m. and having a set of music before the auction made things very late. It's hard to adjust things, however I'd recommend pushing for supper in the 6:00 - 6:30 p.m. - at future conferences and having the auction start as early as possible. None of us will forget the band member's takeoff on "The Eve of Destruction" (a mid-60's protest rock song) - cutely worded - "The Eve of Construction" amusedly talking of delays!
Saturday - another wonderful day for me!
George Marx, Alameda, California - private and posted responses, criticisms etc. are most welcome!
_______________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org Unsubscribe and other info: http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l
My first smaller group session was on building below market rate cohousing. I was amazed at the Fannie Mae rep who was most clear on how this quasi-governmental business locally (at least) was interested in options for integrating lower income members in cohousing communities. The workshop was useful in pointing out both the complexities of blending funding with market rate purchasers and the opportunities which exist. The speakers again fit together very well, though they were individually very different from each other.
After a nice lunch in the nearby Telegraph Avenue Area with other cohousers, I went to a workshop on finding and purchasing a site which was lead by a developer and his partner who works with him. I was amazed at the complexities he discussed in purchasing land and getting permission to build. His forcefulness and "do it my way" approach seemed both a little dogmatic and obviously practical and important in getting projects built. Unfortunately he initially misunderstood and then reacted poorly when he better understood a questioner who is trying to get a cohousing project going for developmentally delayed children and their families. I would hope that he and others in similar circumstances would show more consideration for "different" situations and not uniformly lump them in with their previous professional efforts. An attendee was most helpful in supporting and clarifying some of the concerns of the initial questioner.
Katie, Mary and Laura (from Pioneer Valley in Amherst) lead a wonderful hand-on site planning exercise workshop together in the late afternoon. Their sharing of similar and different experiences was most helpful and it was fascinating to work with others in three smaller groups with little wooden "houses" trying to do a mock site plan for three projects they had worked on in urban, suburban and non-urban settings.
Saturday night's supper together, auction for the Cohousing Network and dance was quite successful. The food was very good, the auction raised a goodly amount of money and Peter Jessop's auctioneering was delightful! If possible in future conferences it would be helpful if the "community meal" (or meals) could be proximate if not on the conference site rather than several miles away. Many of us were very tired and starting supper at 7:00 p.m. and having a set of music before the auction made things very late. It's hard to adjust things, however I'd recommend pushing for supper in the 6:00 - 6:30 p.m. - at future conferences and having the auction start as early as possible. None of us will forget the band member's takeoff on "The Eve of Destruction" (a mid-60's protest rock song) - cutely worded - "The Eve of Construction" amusedly talking of delays!
Saturday - another wonderful day for me!
George Marx, Alameda, California - private and posted responses, criticisms etc. are most welcome!
_______________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org Unsubscribe and other info: http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l
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