Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: to build fences or not to

[NetiPotLady (NetiPotLady]

We at Stone Curves Cohousing went through a very long and difficult process 
to reach consensus on fencing the rest of our community ( we already were 
required  by the city to put up a wall on the large street that is to the east 
of 
us) and gating our parking lots after much theft and break ins to autos in the 
parking lots and people's yards and porches,  vandalism, grafitti and several 
incidents with weird people. We employ a security company at this point until 
our fencing and gating is completed. During development, it was stated many 
times to prospective buyers that if we needed to gate the parking lots, we were 
putting in the electric in that area. We have a good number of single women in 
our community and I know they found this comforting. Still when it came down 
to doing this, there was significant conflict surrounding the decision. I wish 
that it had been done to begin with also as doing it now after a year of 
living here has been difficult with the need for new permitting and design 
work.  
The losses that some people in the community suffered were significant and we 
lost at least one member partly because of the long time it has taken to do 
anything about the situation. The conflict and  things that were said to each 
other, were  damaging as well. 

My husband and I have a home that backs to the common green and in order to 
have any private outdoor space decided to put up a wall around our backyard. It 
has made a great difference for us to have some private outdoor space and we 
enjoy gardening in it and also eating our breakfast and dinners outside much 
of the time. We are a diverse community and with that we have varying needs for 
our personal space. 

Gina
Stone Curves Cohousing
Tucson, AZ