Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Private? Public? or something in between?

[Eileen McCourt (emccourt]

I am not a cohousing member simply to improve my own living environment.  To
me cohousing has a broader appeal, and being a good neighbor within the
larger community is definitely part of it.  Of course, there are lots of
different ways to be a good neighbor.  But treating open space in the
community as private property where neighbors are not welcome is not part of
it.

--eileen

Eileen McCourt
Oak Creek Commons
Cohousing in Paso Robles, CA
emccourt [at] mindspring.com
http://oakcreekcommons.org


-----Original Message-----
From: cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org
[mailto:cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org]On Behalf Of Hans Tilstra
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 6:41 PM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: Re: [C-L]_Private? Public? or something in between?

Hans >" I wouldn't want to deprive the surrounding community of the
awareness that there is a price that comes with having a conventional
housing solution."

Racheli responded: > "Most of the people who live near us couldn't afford a
unit in Sonora even if they were dying to join!  I think quite a few
cohousing communities are located in places where there is a socio-economic
discrepancy between the coho dwellers and the neighbors.  Simply barring
neighbors might mean not having any friends around once one leaves the
boundaries of the community.  I think this is short-sighted, and certainly
not what many of us are looking for in terms of integration into the larger
community."

There's this concept called an approach avoidance dilemma: the closer I get
to a goal, the more ambivalent I feel about it. Yet, when I am far from
achieving the goal, it seems more tantalising than ever.

We start off "thinking globally & acting locally". The main focus is social
& environmental. We are surrounded by people who act in private - public
terms, it's in that context that we introduce the nuanced idea of group
private spaces in between the public & private areas. So, someone drives
into the cohousing community, ignores the signs and acts as if to say:
either it's public, or it's private! A visiting teenager graffiti's the
common house.  That's not integration, that invasion.

We want a better community and overcome the challenges of planning
conservatism, steep learning curves, lots of meetings, all in pursuit of a
better living environment. We embrace social & environmental ideals, some
cohousing groups even embrace socio-economic ideals.

Once that goal is achieved, are we reluctant to enjoy the fruits of that
labour?

:-) Hans
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~cohouse

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