Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: What's on your bulletin boards?

[Kay Argyle (argyle]

We have

* a whiteboard (abt 2x3 ft) in the mail room for "urgent" messages ("Meet
visitor, dessert & coffee Friday 7 p.m.," "Where is the lawn mower?" etc.).
It's too small:   To write something on it you usually have to erase
somebody else's message.

* a little corkboard below it, about 2 sq ft.  Officially the ride board.

* a filebox of hanging folders, one for each unit plus the management
committee, for internal mail: notes, proposals, misdelivered mail, condo
fees, meal payments, reimbursements, etc.

* a corkboard for meal signup sheets.  Holds about four 8x11 pages; needs
to be three or four times that size.  For lack of room, the calendars for
signing up to cook or clean up are pinned onto the wall.

* a wall calendar for meetings, parties, etc.

* a ~2x3' corkboard, mostly photos from the last social event, plus a few
notices -- political rallies, yoga classes, etc.  Because it's slightly out
of the flow of traffic, you have to lean around the coatrack to look at it,
& stuff hangs on it for weeks, people don't check it frequently. If you
want everyone to read something, you have to announce it's there.

* a corkboard dedicated to community meeting stuff -- agenda, minutes, etc.

* clipboards for the minutes for each committee, most of whom don't keep
minutes.  This is in a fairly high-traffic area, & in my opinion doesn't
need to be.  It would be better to turn this space over to a use with
higher turnover.

* a wall in the kids' room painted with chalkboard paint from knee-high to
above head-height, framed with molding.

We need 

* a bigger "urgent notices" board (and a better name for it).  Instead of a
white board, I'd prefer a chalkboard, like in the kids' room:  Chalk is
cheaper than whiteboard markers, doesn't add to the landfill, doesn't make
me wheeze (unlike the markers), and you can create your own board, as big
as you like, with a gallon of paint.  Unfortunately, there isn't much
wallspace in the mailroom, which gets the highest traffic.

* a corkboard for the cooking calendar.

* an "appreciation board" for acknowledging people's efforts &
accomplishments.

* a "community work" corkboard for posting the monthly work roster, job
descriptions ("how to clean the kitchen," "Nightly lock-up"), work party
sign-ups, to-do lists, requests for volunteers for particular jobs, etc.

Likely you'd get a different "need" list (or none) from other residents,
some of whom seem happy with strictly verbal communication occurring
informally, and seem to feel that's quite adequate.  We have a community
email list but it averages a message or two a month (requests for rides to
the airport, etc.).  I get frustrated -- I seem to be a visual learner (I
remember things I read better than things I hear), I don't spend a lot of
time chatting, & I don't attend common meals.  Certain residents I only see
at community meetings, and there's no chance to actually talk to them then.
 I feel I don't know what's going on & that I don't have the chance to let
others know things or to ask questions or whatever.

Kay
Wasatch Commons, SLC

P.S. Sorry this is delayed, I am still digging my way through the avalanche
of email awaiting my return from vacation.