Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: will TIme requirements for first generation cohousing limit

[Tom Lent (tlent]

Rob said:

> I disagree that the group needs to be developers at all to form
> community. I think that the best route to the future is to let
> developers be developers and do that work, and have faciliated community
> building happen amoung the residents, teach and learn group process and
> decision making, do the design input work, but leave ALL the ugly legal,
> permit, etc. details to other people and focus your group energy and
> learning to be a group and building a sense of trust and community and
> friendship amoung the group.
> 
> Thoughts?

I STRONGLY agree. I've been playing a central role in the development 
of the Berkeley cohousing project on Sacramento Street. It has been  
a fascinating process, in which I have learned much, but have also 
become quite burned out and risked my poor family for whom this is 
suppose to be a value. There has got to be a better way. I think 
leaving the development to professional developers is key. After all, 
we are after the dream community here, not the dream house and much 
of the development process gets us to bogged down in learning what we 
need to learn to make structures and making an infinite number of 
decisions that will have little to do with how strong the community 
is - but could make us go broke...
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Tom Lent * 2220-A Sacramento St * Berkeley, CA 94702-1907
           email: tlent [at] igc.apc.org * phone: 510/845-5243
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