Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing Tours

[Joani Blank (joani]

Thanks to Sharon for her comments on the mid Atlantic Tour she 
attended.  As some readers of this list know, Northern California cohousing 
tours were run here for about six years led by Ken Norwood and architect 
and planner who co-authored Rebuilding Community in America. In the middle 
of 2002, he passed the reins to me and I did two tours in that 
year.  (after a very successful 55 person tour that I did just before the 
2001 National Conference.

Since the beginning of 2003 the tours have been an official activity of 
Cohousing/US. This year we have had two N. California Tours (one in March 
and one earlier in July). We also had two tours just ahead of the Boulder 
Conference last month. I can heartily agree with Sharon's judgement that 
nothing comes close to these tours for giving folks an idea what cohousing 
is REALLY like. Since the Mid Atlantic tours have a good life of their own, 
in the coming months/year, we will be focusing on getting similar tours 
going in the Seattle area and assuring that tours continue in Colorado. Our 
next area for tour development will probably be Massachusetts now that it 
has 6 completed communities and two projects in development that are 
practical to visit in one day.

Sharon's suggestions for even better tours are well taken.  Some of those 
areas are already covered in the Guidelines for Tour Leaders that I've 
prepared. Leading the Colorado tours I realized that I need to do separate 
guidelines for the community hosts and those are  on my to-do list for 
August when I return from the last of four consecutive out of town trips.

If anyone (or a small group) from the Seattle area who is reading this 
posting--or a Colorado person other than those I've already spoken too 
about it--might be interested in doing the organizational work "on the 
ground" of a cohousing tour in your area (such as arranging for the bus and 
lunches/snacks and lining up community hosts; the guidelines tell you how), 
please do get in touch with me off-list.  The whole registration thing is 
handled by the Coho/US office so you don't have to deal with it.  And I'll 
come to your area (at the expense of the Association) to lead the first 
tour and give some guidance to, we hope, several potential tour leaders. 
Then you'll be off and running.

As for multi state and special tours, a Southern California developer with 
a strong interest in collaborative housing wants to bring a group of 
"public officials" up to the Bay Area early next year to do a tour that he 
and I will co-lead. And I'm hoping, perhaps next year to get together a 
small tour for 10 to 12 people that would visit Colorado, Northern 
California and Western Washington (and maybe Vancouver area) communities 
over a 10 day period, flying between the three metro areas. Even  at cost 
it'll be kinda pricey, but I think that at least a few folks will find it a 
good investment. This one will take some major planning, so it may be a 
while before we undertake it, but I thought I'd lay out this dream to you 
now anyway......

Joani
Member of the Board
Tour Coordinator for 2003
Cohousing Association of the United States
(Sounds important, doesn't it? It IS important. Join now for a very reduced 
rate and support our movement and the Association's wonderful work!) 
http://www.cohousing.org/tcn/benefits.html

Joani Blank
510-834-7399
Cell: 510-387-1315
joani [at] swansway.com
www.joaniblank.com


> Raines asked last week about cohousing tours since Coho-US wants to perfect
> their tours so....
>
> I took the Mid-Atlantic Cohousing tour a couple of months ago and can't
> recommend it highly enough to both cohousing residents and those interested
> in cohousing. It was an excellent way to see a large number of communities
> in one day and get a lot of information that you wouldn't get if you showed
> up alone. We had a full busload of people and saw 6 communities, from vacant
> land to completed and lived in, and heard several presentations while
> on-board the bus about the communities we were going to see.
>
> It was very efficient, very informative, and very enlightening. It also made
> me feel that I'm part of a network of communities since I need to see things
> to believe them. I don¹t care how many people I know who live in Liberty
> Village, for example, it wasn't real until I saw it and felt the sun, the
> wind, and buildings there.
>
> Important to consider:
>
> Informative presentations on the bus so the travel time is well used.
>
> Introductions of tour takers by the leader (since only the leader has a
> microphone) so everyone knows why other people are on the tour. I found out
> too late, for example, that three people on my tour were city council people
> who were refusing a zoning variance to a new community. After the tour
> (without my help) they were enthusiastic and all in favor. It's nice to know
> who is looking and where they are from. Some were from Pennsylvania and
> planning to build there.
>
> Organized lunch and snacks at stops. This both allowed more socializing and
> was necessary since we were all famished and thirsty.
>
> Organized tour guides at the stops. It takes a determined person with strong
> vocal cords to get group of people in and out of houses on a time schedule.
> A couple of our guides were solicited on an emergency basis and spent more
> time talking to a few people in whispers than guiding the group so we both
> missed houses and slowed down other groups who probably missed houses as
> well.
>
> People in their homes as we went through so they could answer questions like
> where did you get ....? Do you really like....? Do you wish...? Some homes
> were empty and others had people who couldn't answer any questions.
>
> Written materials and fancy packets were not as important unless the
> community had homes to sell and you were planning to buy homes in those
> communities - which at least half the people on my tour were not. A map of
> all the communities with a brief description and contact info would have
> been fine. The more expensive and labor intensive materials could have been
> available on request.
>
> Before the tour, prepare a list of the attendees with information on how to
> contact them and distribute this with the map. It would be incomplete but
> the list we all tried to do on the bus understandably never got distributed
> -- it was mostly illegible. Try writing an email address riding on the
> bus!!!!!
>
> Get a good bus with a nice driver -- we had a lovely one and it was
> important because it was a long day and we were on and off a lot.
>
> IDEA: Plan a tour with even larger dimensions -- a tour of four states with
> sight seeing in between. Two buses of people! Three! Add mountain climbing
> in Colorado! A tour of the California coast! Scoping sites in upper New York
> State!
>
> The sky is the limit!
>
> Sorry this is so long. I got carried away,
>
> Sharon
> --

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