Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: What's a member, and what's an adult?

[John Imbur (john_imbur]

In Shadowlake Village here in Blacksburg, Virginia we are having a similar
soul searching over the concept of membership... what is it, who are and
aren't members, what are the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities...
We just had a salon on the topic and the feelings were all over the map
ranging from self selective to objective criteria, from strictly home owners
(excluding renters) to all adult residents (including renters).  Now that we
are about to dissolve our LLC, this is a good time for us to work on this
question and it is clear we will have a lively process getting to consensus
on the issue.

My own personal sense is that one could look at membership like the USRDA
food pyramid... there are different categories of activities, all important,
some more critical for the long term health.  In this analogy, I would put
meetings and workshare at the base of the pyramid as both equally important,
participation in community meals above that, and social/community play above
that (time in the hot tub at the very top as the fats and salt? ;).  Anyway,
it is important to have a well balanced co-housing diet and different people
will have different needs at different times. 

With the renters in my house (I have rooms to let) I ask all of my tenants
to take advantage of as much as the community has to offer as they feel
inspired to share in... ideally getting several hours a month in each of the
areas.  Making it more of an opportunity (as opposed to an onerous chore)
seems to help, because ultimately living in community is why all of us
(hopefully including renters) are living where we are.

Peace, 
John Imbur, john_imbur [at] hotmail.com, www.shadowlakevillage.org