Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: cats and dogs and sociocracy, and a copy of our pet policy

[CJ Q (homeschoolvideo]

I love this joke!  Can I use it in my blog?  I found another joke in a
1970s Communities magazine.
How many community members does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Answer: Who knew you could get inside a light bulb.

On Tue, Oct 19, 2021 at 10:46 PM Richard L Kohlhaas <rlkohl [at] earthlink.net>
wrote:

> Before we moved into Casa Verde, we had many discussions about a pet
> policy and a smoking policy.  We were finally able
> to agree that pets would not be allowed to smoke anywhere on the
> property.
>
>
> -------------------------
> Dick Kohlhaas
> Member of Colorado Springs Cohousing Community at Casa Verde Commons
> 34 households on 4 acres  1.5 miles from center of city.  Built in 2002.
>  www.casaverde.us
>
>
> From:                   Jerry Koch-Gonzalez <jerry [at] sociocracyforall.org>
> Date sent:              Mon, 18 Oct 2021 20:28:19 -0400
> To:                     Cohousing-L <cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject:                [C-L]_ cats and dogs and sociocracy, and a copy of
> our pet policy
> Send reply to:          cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
>
> > In my opinion, the outdoor cat issue was the most painful one we've
> > had to deal with in our 27-yer history. We switched from consensus to
> > dynamic governance/sociocracy about 8 years ago and only then were we
> > able to resolve the tensions. Not likely we could have resolved it in
> > meetings of the whole community of 40-50 people deciding by consensus.
> > When we shifted to sociocracy, our Community Life Circle took on the
> > responsibility for the pet policy. The 6 or 7 of us in the ComLife
> > Circle surveyed, interviewed, researched and drafted a proposal. We
> > shared that proposal with the whole community, got some feedback, made
> > some minor revisions, and we, the Circle not the whole community, made
> > the decision on the new policy. That was 7 years ago and not a meow
> > since then. We tackled the dog policy and that also worked out without
> > problems until someone brought in a too-lively dog a couple of years
> > ago. We then added an enforceable accountability mechanism to the
> > policy which led to more training of the dog and its owners. These
> > aren't perfect policies but the policies and the process by which we
> > created them have served the community well. If you want to hear more
> > about sociocracy in community, come to the Sociocracy in Community
> > Conference on November 20.  More info and the schedule is on the
> > website:
> > https://www.sociocracyforall.org/sociocracy-in-communities-conference-
> > 2021 If you are wondering about the policies we adopted, you will find
> > it below.
> >
> > Jerry Koch-Gonzalez
> > Pioneer Valley Cohousing, Massachusetts
> >
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