Cohousing-L Mailing List: Neighbornets [Was Other Communities]

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> From: "Rob Sandelin" <floriferous [at] msn.com>
> 
> For awhile there was a thing called neighbor nets which connected like
> minded people in neighborhoods around Seattle. I think it is still going on,
> I've just dropped out of that loop and no longer keep track.

When a project did not get built in time for a family with three children to
settle into a school district, one of the most interested families chose a
neighborhood and started a Neighbornet. Knowing absolutely no one in any of
the houses around, the norm in Florida, she invited everyone to her house to
get to know each other. She left a note and a bag of apples on each doorknob
and asked for an RSVP. No one responded to her invitation. She was deadly
discouraged. But on Sunday afternoon at the appointed time, they ALL showed
up.

They now share many activities, social and supportive, and she is ecstatic.
Her husband is even happier since he never wanted to live in cohousing in
the first place.

A second family in that group did a similar thing by moving into the
neighborhood where all the children lived who went to her daughter's school.
The common bond of the school and having children the same age established
immediate common bonds. From their visions formed by cohousing, they began
instituting "cohousing-like" activities, like organized sharing, group
purchases, and shared storage.

In both instances it was the cohousing concept that got them started on
defining exactly what they wanted and realizing they could have it without
building or convincing 35 other households to up and move. It was also
cohousing principles and experience with cohousing communities that taught
them _how_ to go further than even friendly neighborhoods generally go.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org

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