Investing reserves and Support Financial
From: Joani Blank (jeblankhooked.net)
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 23:34:47 -0600
At 04:03 PM 3/18/96 -0600, you wrote:
>                           COHOUSING-L Digest 15
>
>Topics covered in this issue include:
>
>  1) Re: Investing
>       by Buzz Burrell <72253.2101 [at] compuserve.com>
>  2) Talking to the neighbors about CoHo
>       by jmajor [at] dayna.com (John Major)
>  3) Re: Talking to the neighbors about CoHo
>       by Denise Meier and/or Michael Jacob <dmmj [at] wco.com>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Date: 18 Mar 96 09:52:12 EST
>From: Buzz Burrell <72253.2101 [at] compuserve.com>
>To: List <cohousing-l [at] mtn.org>
>Subject: Re: Investing
>Message-ID: <960318145211_72253.2101_EHJ33-1 [at] CompuServe.COM>
>
>David asked about investing their reserve fund, and Joani also was
interested in
>a socially conscious place to invest.
>
>Keep in mind that listmember and Rocky Mountain Coho maeven Zev Paiss has
>started Support Financial Services for investing in new coho developments.  The
>rate of return would be good, and the socially conscious factor would
presumably
>be very high.
>
>Zpaiss [at] aol.com
>
>Buzz Burrell
>Boulder, CO
>(my commission is negotiable)
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Mon, 18 Mar 96 12:40:03 -0700
>From: jmajor [at] dayna.com (John Major)
>To: cohousing-l [at] MTN.Org
>Subject: Talking to the neighbors about CoHo
>Message-ID: <742662.ensmtp [at] dayna.com>
>
>Hi -
>
>We are just now going through the CoHo-standard step of talking to the
>neighbors, assuring them that we don't bite, that their land values won't go
>down, and so forth. I have a few questions that I need anecdotes and answers
>for from the rest of you - please reply as soon as you can, we have a public
>appearance in two days that we need to be prepared for, and statements from
>people now living in CoHo are tremendously persuasive. I need real-life
>stories to reassure folks that are understandably nervous about something new
>and different. So, here goes:
>
>1) Was your development going into what was considered a "higher-crime" area?
>How has this situation/perception changed since you moved in? We've all talked
>about how the many eyes of a *real* community increase the sense and reality
>of security, and we are going in on a urban wooded area (the last open
>farmland in Salt Lake City - sigh...) that will stop being a hang-out for
>undesirables once we are there. But at least one neighbor thinks our
>development will make things *worse* - she is concerned that:
>- Our clustered parking will become a target for nasty people, what with all
>those cars not in garages 'n' all, and that these nasties will then go on to
>mess up the rest of the neighborhood even more than they do now.
>-Folks won't watch out for other folks' stuff as well as they do their own, so
>for example the cars must be in garages. 
>
>Admittedly, she listens to her police scanner a lot and strikes me as pretty
>paranoid, but I want to have real answers for people with the same concerns.
>
>2) Did your community face concerns about traffic? We are several blocks over
>from a busy street (and they make 'em WIDE in SLC - something about turning
>wagons around   ;->    ) which we will be turning off of, to get to our two
>entrances. Do any of you have stories about how the traffic from CoHo
>developments was *less* than anticipated, or how it compares to equivalent
>StandardSuburb developments?
>
>3) And of course, land values - although the concern that we would drive down
>real estate $$ in the area is a bit laughable to us, considering the crazy
>upward zoom of real estate in SLC, and the amount of money we're actually
>spending on our units (another collective sigh...). It would be great to have
>a few anecdotes about how the resale value of your CoHo neighbors went up
>*faster* than equivalent homes nearby.
>
>Thanks for your ear - bring on those tales of tribulation and triumph - I
>think it is the shared stories that bind this larger community of CoHopis
>together - and wish us luck - this is one of the big steps in the process, I
>understand!
>
>Thanks -
>
>John Major
>Wasatch CoHousing
>Salt Lake City, Utah
>jmajor [at] dayna.com
>wk: 801/269-7346
>hm: 801/487-3148
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 12:32:02 -0800 (PST)
>From: Denise Meier and/or Michael Jacob <dmmj [at] wco.com>
>To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
>Subject: Re: Talking to the neighbors about CoHo
>Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960318121631.14090A-100000@shell>
>
>Good luck, John. We're going through much the same process, and although
>the crime isn't an issue, density, property values, and traffic are. 
>
>One thing we learned from our first meeting is that one of our group
>started going on about how wonderful cohousing is and how it helps make
>life so much better, and sitting in the audience with my empathic powers
>on HIGH, I could hear it as "your isolated suburban lifestyle really
>sucks, and this is what we're doing so we won't have to live like you do".
>Of course, this is not what we meant, but afterwards people said things to
>me like "you know, we have a block party every July 4th.  We have a real
>community here already, you know." So the lesson I'm trying to impart is
>to be careful not to put down the people you're talking to. 
>
>Another thing is that although perhaps cohousing communities do generate 
>less traffic than the same number of individual dwelling units, it is 
>really unrealistic to expect the city or the neighbors to accept that as 
>traffic mitigation. It isn't possible to know who will be living in your 
>community in 10 years, and whether it'll still even be cohousing. So 
>though we've tried that tack, it's been shot down by the neighbors and I 
>have to admit I think they're right.
>
>On a positive note, the first time we tried this, in a different
>neighborhood, there had been rumors about us as a cult, a group of hippies
>who were planning to import welfare mothers from Oakland to live here. So
>by the time we got that straightened out they were all pissed off, and not
>in a mood to be appeased about traffic or density issues, either.  This
>time around we approached the neighbors early, before word got around, and
>even those who are likely to show up at the city council hearings and
>speak against our density seem to like the idea (at a lower density), and
>wish us well.  If you have any friends/supporters in the neighborhood, beg
>them to come to the meeting and speak up in your favor. That helped us A
>LOT! If you have people who are the least bit favorable, cultivate them. 
>
>Serve food, dress nice, be polite, and last but not least, listen to 
>their concerns and let them know you understand their fears, even if 
>inside you think they're silly. We learned that arguing against people's 
>fears doesn't work. Listening to them and then presenting calm 
>information works a lot better.
>
>Good luck
>Denise Meier
>Sebastopol, California
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>End of COHOUSING-L Digest 15
>****************************
>
>

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