Cohousing-L Mailing List: why cohousing is safer than any "gated community"

[Raines Cohen (rc2-coho-L]

This is just a little example (email excerpt, below) of why living in 
cohousing is way more secure, in many ways, than any "gated community" 
could ever be... my neighbors checking up on an unannounced/unknown 
visitor, while I'm thousands of miles away!

>From:        [a friend of mine who stopped off to return an item he borrowed]
>
>[...] I already left it in front of your door on top of some 
>boxes. I don't know that anyone would take it. You have a few good 
>neighbors who carefully asked who I was--good security!
>
> On 4/27/04 11:03 AM, [my friend] wrote:
>
>> Raines, I hope to return the [item] I borrowed from you long ago 
>> either
>> today or tomorrow. I will leave it in front of your door, as you
>> originally left it for me.

---

Another example: When I returned to Hearthstone coho's CH last week to 
look for an item I thought I had left behind after the Coho/US Best 
Practices workshop the previous day, my host wasn't there but a resident 
dog-walker who hadn't met me previously noted that the CH door wasn't 
locked properly when I got in to search for it (it had seemed unlocked to 
me, but apparently just wasn't latched right when it was locked) and so 
sent the community a security alert about my visit that I heard about for 
a week afterwards when I ran into members of the community at a 
subsequent common dinner and at the FIC soiree ("so, you were the 
mysterious stranger?").

Or a week ago Sunday, while visiting Wild Sage coho in Boulder, even 
though most folks there just in the process of moving in and quite 
busy/distracted, nearly everyone took a moment to meet and identify me. 
Or during the week at Nomad Cohousing, where I ended up providing some 
impromptu childcare coverage after one neighbor who had taken another 
neighbor's kids rock climbing arrived back before the other and assumed 
the parents were already back.

Sure, the physical design is certainly an element of all these, but I 
believe it's the community... in particular, PEOPLE who CARE and know 
each other, that makes the difference.


Raines Cohen <my initials,2,dash,coho,dash,L at my first name .com>

  Member, Swan's Market Coho [Oakland, CA] <http://www.swansway.com/>
Where a women's shoe spa just opened up downstairs in the building.

  Secretary, Berkeley [CA] Cohousing
Looking forward to getting home after three weeks on the road.

  Supporter, East Bay Cohousing <http://www.ebcoho.org/>
Meeting this Saturday at Doyle St. Coho in Emeryville; now seriously 
evaluating sites in El Cerrito and Oakland.

  Boardmember, Coho/US <http://www.cohousing.org/>
writing from Joe's Crab Shack in Newport, KY, looking across the river at 
Cincinatti, after a very educational Best Practices workshop at 
Hearthstone coho in Denver and FIC board meeting at Highline Crossing in 
Littleton. Next stop: Takoma Village Cohousing for the Sociocracy 
workshop this weekend.