Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Making changes in our decisions

[Jeanne Goodman (GoodmanJ]

First of all, I'd like to say that I'm not trying to turn this post into a
dog poop thread. I'm interested in the decision making thread with this
example as the tool.

Now, my understanding is that the way this is supposed to be handled is that
you, Kay, would bring your concerns to a committee. Verify the policy on dog
poop and then make the effort to find out why this problem exists. (Granted,
we're not living there, yet. So perhaps I'm being naieve about this.)

Your fellow community members would then hear your concerns and make an
effort to address them. Just because you don't like dog poop on the lawn
doesn't mean you think that members of the community shouldn't be allowed to
own dogs, right? If no one in the community had any dogs, as a policy, who
would you feel should pick up after the strays?

What amendments to your existing policies might you recommend that would
satisfy your needs and the needs of others in the community? Have all sides
in the issue been heard and understood?

Jeanne Goodman
Jamaica Plain Cohousing
Boston, MA
Goodmanj [at] jpcohousing.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kay Argyle
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2003 20:55

> Or they leave in frustration which means cooperative
> living did not work for them

IN THAT PARTICULAR GROUP

> they wanted things their way, and it aint
> gunna happen.

There are status quo issues in our community that drive me bats.  For
instance, I'm "anti-dog" and authoritarian, because I resent dog poop on the
lawn, think that dogs shouldn't be left unattended outside and dog owners
should be responsible for cleaning up even after strays.  The rest of this
particular community sees nothing wrong in the status quo of wandering,
pooping-where-they-please dogs.  Yet in a different community, where someone
had made a  persuasive case for loose dogs being Bad For The Community, it
might be the loose-dogs folks who were failing at cooperative living instead
of me.

Don't regard yourself as a failure at cooperative living because you
discover you have some principles you dislike having to sell out to get
along.

Kay

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